Marty’s photo of the day #2909: While working on my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, Deb and I were only the third outsiders to backpack with the Iban (a reformed headhunting tribe) across a special section of Borneo’s rainforest. You can read about our adventure in my book, so I […]
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Tag: Cool Creatures
The feet tell the story
Marty’s photo of the day #2846: Why am I posting a photo of Deb’s and my feet? If you’ve read my first book, “Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents,” you know. We were only the third outsiders to ever hike deep into a section of Borneo’s rainforest. We lost our guide halfway through […]
Kayaking the Amazon Rainforest
Marty’s photo of the day #2833: For most people, visiting the Amazon Rainforest during the rainy season is unthinkable. When I needed a very specific photo for my first book, “Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents,” Deb and I returned to the Amazon for a rainy season visit. In comparing our dry season […]
Gold for Catholic priests in Madrid
Marty’s photos of the day #2756: This week I’m featuring Catholic-related photos I shot in Italy and Spain. While visiting both countries, I thoroughly enjoyed all the opulent Catholic sights. That being said, how can a religion based on a book whose main character railed against the rich, turn around and waste so much money […]
The Florence Cathedral—just a little church in Italy
Marty’s photos of the day #2755: With this being Christmas week, I’m dedicating it to Catholic-related photos I shot in Italy and Spain. While visiting both countries, I thoroughly enjoyed all the opulent Catholic sights. That being said, how can a religion based on a book whose main character railed against the rich, turn around […]
Which is better: nonfiction or fiction?
Most book authors either write nonfiction or fiction. I started out with nonfiction, publishing Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents in 2006 and following up with Endangered Edens: Exploring the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica, the Everglades, and Puerto Rico in 2016. After that I switched to fiction, publishing Time Is Irreverent in 2018 […]
The Castle of the Sad Countess
Marty’s photo of the day #2667: This is the Castle of the Sad Countess, in Spain. Now that Time Is Irreverent 2: Jesus Christ, Not Again! is at my editors, I’m already thinking about having Marty Mann and Nellie Dixon go back to 1461 to visit this castle in Time Is Irreverent 3. In the […]
Neptune’s revenge
Marty’s photo of the day #2657: I took this photo on Deception Island, which is near Antarctica. You are looking at the remains of the Hektor Whaling Station. This short excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, provides more information: We went ashore instead at the more sheltered Whaler’s […]
Wandering albatross
Marty’s photo of the day #2592: I will let a short excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, explain this shot: Even though we were hundreds of miles away from any significant landmass, our Drake Passage voyage was never boring. I spent much of my time outside on the […]
The dramatic turnaround of a depressing day
My books have always received great reviews from both amateur and professional reviewers. Cool Creatures, Hot Planet has received 88% 4 to 5-star reviews, Endangered Edens has received 94% 4 or 5-star reviews, and my latest, Time Is Irreverent is currently at 79% 4 to 5-star reviews. Because Time Is Irreverent is a controversial satire, I […]
Inside a Spanish castle
Marty’s photo of the day #2558: I will let a short excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, explain this shot from Spain: If medieval real estate agents existed, they would have listed the Castillo de Monfragüe as a “starter castle.” Built in the fifteenth century, it was much […]
My day at MisCon
Marty’s photo of the day #2553: Yesterday, I was at MisCon (Missoula’s Science Fiction & Fantasy Convention) for several events. First I did a reading from “Time Is Irreverent.” I read the section where Nellie Dixon handles the cops expecting a sexual favor in her own “special way” and shocked the audience. But hey, I […]
Bush snakes, boomslangs, and cobras
Marty’s photo of the day #2539: This excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, explains today’s picture: I was looking forward to a nap until Ashley, the camp manager, mentioned over lunch that she had recently seen both a Mozambique spitting cobra and a spotted bush snake on […]
Don’t trust that laugh!
Marty’s photo of the day #2535: Here’s what I wrote about laughing kookaburras in my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents: Though not as stunning as the kingfishers or cockatoos, laughing kookaburras are handsome gray and white birds with a very famous call: Oo-oo-oo-aw-aw-aw-oo-oo-oo-aw-aw-aw. When motion picture soundtracks were in their […]
You can’t tell me that priest isn’t . . .
Marty’s photo of the day #2528: You’re looking at a section of art on the side of a church in Spain. And you can’t tell me that some of the priests aren’t checking out the boy’s ass! Spanish churches are amazing, but they also demonstrate the political aspect of religion that puts money and power […]
The day I held up the world
Marty’s photo of the day #2463: I can’t believe it’s been fifteen years since I held up the world! This excerpt from my book Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents explains the shot: I had a debt to pay for our successful Antarctica landing. Besides Shackleton and Neptune, another larger-than-life being had been […]
Writing fiction is more scary than writing nonfiction
Now that I have written two nonfiction nature-travel books and one science-fiction political-comedy, I have to say that writing fiction is more fun than nonfiction, but also more frightening. With “Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents” and “Endangered Edens,” I was pretty much limited to telling stories of adventures that I had already […]
Matterhorn at sunrise
Marty’s photo of the day #2452: While in Switzerland, Deb and I met up with Emad, our Swiss-Egyptian friend, and we stayed at a hotel at the base of the Matterhorn. The only way to get to the hotel was via gondola. Here’s a short excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures: Hot Planet: Exploring […]
Fun with dugouts
Marty’s photo of the day #2450: This photo, from Peru, explained with a short excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents: Other than Yaguas paddling in their dugouts (a skinny canoe carved from a log), we had the Rio Orosa to ourselves. When we passed the occasional tribal village, […]
Writing a sequel without shouting “squirrel!”
Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents took me four years to write and was published in 2007. Endangered Edens took me one year to write and was published in 2016. Time Is Irreverent also took me one year to write and will be published on March 1st. I’m now working on the sequel […]