Marvin Kananen

For twelve wonderful years Marvin Kananen lived in a 10 x 10 cabin in the Cascade Mountains of Western Washington. He sought only two things, to write and to live soberly. Unexpectedly, he found a third thing, a mentor to tame his wild soul (there are stories that continue to be told about him) and give him peace. The name of his mentor is The Wilderness. The one who entered the forest was not the same as the one who exited a dozen years later. These 36 poems tell that story with the heart of one who lived in awe of the Wilderness. It is, most incredibly, a love story. The poems are seasonal but not chronological. They do not tell you the end of the story, how Kananen eventually married, moved to the city, became a university professor, and concluded his working career as a missionary among the Maasai in East Africa. All this happened because there was a lost and lonely soul who dared enter the big woods. These poems are not the work of the poet, they are the work of the Wilderness.

Study Guide for the Cloud of Unknowing for this translation is now available. The 8 1/2 x 11 study guide covers all 75 chapters. THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING is a classic piece of 14th century writing. Unfortunately it is generally transcribed in a manner so stiff and stilted that it is practically unreadable, and if not unreadable it still often is incomprehensible. Marvin Kananen has paraphrased this work to be more easily readable. He has not been faithful to the text, he could not be. He chose communication over rigid interpretation. Kananen freely transcribed the document into a more friendly form, readable and comprehendible. The idea in THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING is that we live in a sinful world. But if we seek God, we can move first into a dark Cloud of Forgetting whereby we can move above sin. If we, by the Grace of God, can enter, we can forget our sins (from which we have already been forgiven) and move toward God.The second cloud, the Cloud of Unknowing, is all that then separates us from God Himself. It is where we need to strive to be. This book's purpose is to help the seekers find their way from this world's sin and along the path to God. There is peace in that layer above the Cloud of Forgetting and into the Cloud of Unknowing. It is not a journey for the timid; it is a journey for those who love God. Welcome.

WILD PITCHES by Marvin Kananen Is there anything better to read about than baseball? The answer to that question is: "No." Baseball is a universe separate from the cares of this world. It is an arena of hope. Young players dream dreams and old players cherish memories. Baseball is a constant that flows through the generations, through lifetimes. Baseball is as close to magic as we can find. Baseball is a legacy that parents can bestow onto their children. There is nothing better to read about than baseball. Marvin Kananen's WILD PITCHES is a collection of 33-1/3 short baseball stories (yes, 33 1/3 is a record; and yes, there is a third of a story at the end of the book). The stories are based on a fictional character, Arnold "Ellie" Grimes. They cover his time from playing in Little League(R) to the time when only memories linger. The writer claims all stories are fictional and yet confesses all are based on baseball. They are baseball stories and they are wonderful, entertaining, and full of that baseball strangeness that feels like love.