Skip to main content

The laughing kookaburra

The laughing kookaburra

Marty’s photo of the day #3050: This is a laughing kookaburra, photographed in Australia. Here’s what I wrote about the birds 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: […]

Lost in Spain

Lost in Spain

Marty’s photo of the day #3030: This is one of the many mountain villages Deb and I drove past while exploring northern Spain for the Europe chapter of Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. If I remember correctly, we were lost when I took this photo. Then again, we just needed to make […]

Momma Elephant? Don’t mind us!

Momma Elephant? Don’t mind us!

Marty’s photo of the day #3023: For the last chapter in my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, I wanted something special for the big finish. When most people go to Africa, they are secured safely inside Land Rovers. Deb and I, however, hiked 53 miles across Mana Pools National Park […]

Athabasca River Elk

Athabasca River Elk

Marty’s photo of the day #3011: I’m so glad I no longer use film cameras! I used film cameras for about half of my travels for my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, before forever switching to digital. The bitch about film is that if something went wrong, I wouldn’t know […]

The bullet ant encounter

The bullet ant encounter

Marty’s photo of the day #2958: I photographed this bullet ant in the Amazon Rainforest of Peru. According to multiple studies, the bullet ant is the most venomous insect in the world, and it delivers the world’s most painful sting. If you’ve read my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, you […]

Bay of Biscay

Bay of Biscay

Marty’s photo of the day #2957: Last night Deb and I were reminiscing about how much fun we had working on the Europe chapter for my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. We explored Spain, France, Switzerland, and Andorra, without any real plans. We had no GPS, no hotel reservations—just a […]

No! Note this side!

No! Note this side!

Marty’s photo of the day #2956: This anaconda photo appears in my first book, “Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents.” Oh, and the anaconda bit me after I took this shot. It wasn’t a serious bite, but it did draw blood and let me know that she didn’t appreciate me photographing her on […]

Post hippo-attack

Post hippo-attack

Marty’s photo of the day #2949: When Deb and I were canoeing down the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe, a hippo bit through our canoe, lifted us high into the air and threw us onto a muddy riverbank. Not many people survive a hippo attack, but we did—and it was a hell of a ride. You […]

Looking the part

Looking the part

After I wrote Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents and turned it into a college show, I realized that I was getting a bit heavy in my face. Since I’ve been a talent agent most of my life, and I was now agenting myself, I followed the advice I would give to any […]

The intrepid wife

The intrepid wife

Marty’s photo of the day #2912: When my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, came out, and national reviewers read about Deb’s and my adventures racing a flash flood in Borneo, swimming with piranhas in the Amazon Rainforest, and surviving a hippo attack in Zimbabwe, they all settled on a common […]

The feet tell the story

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 […]

Which is better: nonfiction or fiction?

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 […]