Kirjahaku

"I am drawn to the empty quarter, to open country, to the place on the map where there are dragons and giants, and the vast open spaces of mountains, canyons, rivers, prairies, and oceans. However, as the subtitle of this book declares, I am merely an ordinary adventurer in search of extraordinary places."In this series of fascinating and beautifully written essays about his deep desire for meaningful connection with the natural world, his steadfast commitment to protecting the wilderness, and his life on this vast and precious planet, Legault invites us to explore the intricate relationships that develop between people and place when we immerse ourselves in wild nature. Whether comfortably ensconced in a favourite easy chair or bedded down by a raging river under a canopy of stars, readers will slip between sheer canyon walls, walk a wind-torn ridge high in the mountains, meet Blondie the grizzly bear, and perhaps discover their feral selves and the possibilities for a better future that this awakening might bring.

"I am drawn to the empty quarter, to open country, to the place on the map where there are dragons and giants, and the vast open spaces of mountains, canyons, rivers, prairies, and oceans. However, as the subtitle of this book declares, I am merely an ordinary adventurer in search of extraordinary places."In this series of fascinating and beautifully written essays about his deep desire for meaningful connection with the natural world, his steadfast commitment to protecting the wilderness, and his life on this vast and precious planet, Legault invites us to explore the intricate relationships that develop between people and place when we immerse ourselves in wild nature. Whether comfortably ensconced in a favourite easy chair or bedded down by a raging river under a canopy of stars, readers will slip between sheer canyon walls, walk a wind-torn ridge high in the mountains, meet Blondie the grizzly bear, and perhaps discover their feral selves and the possibilities for a better future that this awakening might bring.

Cole Blackwater's life isn't what it used to be. Once a political superstar within Ottawa's environmental movement, he now runs a nearly defunct conservation strategy consulting firm that distinctly lacks a paying client. His ex-wife loathes him for a scandalous affair that ended their marriage, he feels he's failing his eight-year-old daughter as a father, and he's turning far too often to the bottle to solve his problems.When Peggy McSorlie, head of the Eastern Slopes Conservation Group, seeks his help to stop a mining project planned for Alberta's magnificent Cardinal Divide, Blackwater jumps on the opportunity to earn enough money to pay the rent and buy a few pints at his favorite pub. But when Mike Barnes, head of the mining project, is brutally murdered and a radical member of Eastern Slopes is accused of killing him, Blackwater must first prove the man's innocence in order to save his own business, and the future of the Cardinal Divide.

Eight months after his own brush with death over Alberta's Cardinal Divide, Cole Blackwater has learned that his good friend and former client Archie Ravenwing is presumed dead on the waters of British Columbia's Broughton Archipelago. Days before his disappearance, Ravenwing was on the brink of unravelling a corporate conspiracy surrounding an outbreak of sea lice that could decimate wild salmon along the BC coastline. While Cole and newspaper reporter Nancy Webber search for answers, Cole is haunted by the dark secret surrounding his own father's mysterious death. For Nancy Webber, whose long-forgotten feelings for Cole have risen to the surface again, getting to the bottom of Cole's family history becomes both a professional and personal obsession. "The Darkening Archipelago", the second book of the "Cole Blackwater" series, is a race to keep both human souls and wild ecosystems from falling into darkness.

It is the winter of 1884, and five hundred Canadian Pacific Rail workers have halted their push through the Rockies at Holt City, an isolated shantytown in the shadow of the Continental Divide. The men are tired and cold, and patience is as scarce as the rationed food. Then, Deek Penner, a CPR section boss, is brutally murdered at the end of the track. His body is found frozen on the banks of the Bow River. Durrant Wallace, a veteran of the celebrated March West by the North West Mounted Police a decade earlier, is returned to active duty to investigate the murder. Durrant lost his leg in a gun battle with whiskey traders three years previous, and he struggles with being a Mounted Police officer who cannot ride. When Durrant arrives, Holt City is ripe with possible suspects: illegal whiskey smugglers, spies for rival railways, explosives dealers and a mysterious Member of Parliament who insists on getting his meddling fingers into everybody else's business. Durrant must use his cunning and determination to discover to identify the killer before he finds his next victim and derails the great Canadian national dream in the process.

Silas Pearson is looking for answers. It's been more than three years since his wife, Penelope de Silva, disappeared while working on a conservation project in Utah's red rock wilderness. Law enforcement authorities have given up hope of finding the adventurous Penelope alive. And some suggest that she may not have vanished into the desert at all but simply left Silas for another man. Silas moves to Moab, where his wife was last seen, with one purpose: finding his wife, dead or alive. His search takes him into a spectacular wilderness of red rock canyons, soaring mesas, and vertical earth, where he must confront his failures as a husband and his guilt for not being there when Penelope needed him most. "The Slickrock Paradox" is the first book in the Red Rock Canyon Mysteries, a series of books that explores an iconic American landscape through an atypical anti-hero who is deeply flawed, reluctant, and yet familiar.

It is the spring of 1885 and rebellion has broken out in Canada's North West Territories. Amid the chaos and strife of the Battle of Batoche, Reuben Wake is murdered: shot at point blank range. Terrance Le Biche, a Metis man, is arrested for the crime. But Le Biche claims innocence he admits he had every intention of killing Wake, but says someone beat him to the foul deed. When Durrant Wallace, a sergeant in the North West Mounted Police, begins his own investigation into Le Biche's possible motives, he learns there were many who wanted Wake dead. And their grievances with Wake mirrored the varied causes of the Northwest Rebellion itself. Durrant uncovers a series of covert conspiracies surrounding Metis leader and prophet Louis Riel, and, during the weeklong intermission in Riel's trial, he and his friends set a trap for Wake's true killer. This is the second book in the "Durrant Wallace" Series of historical mysteries.