GWE Creative Non-Fiction

Deconstructing the fundamentals of identity. This work of fusion moves beyond memoir to become a juggling act of reality and imagination. The narrative travels through melded panoramas of past and present, this country, the others, certainties and doubts. Inserts of fiction-revealing ties between life and writing-enhance the journey.

Once Our Lives is the true story of four generations of Chinese women and how their lives were threatened by powerful and cruel ancient traditions, historic upheavals, and a man whose fate – cursed by an ancient superstition – dramatically altered their destinies. The book takes the reader on an exotic journey filled with luxurious banquets, lost jewels, babies sold in opium dens, kidnappings by pirates, and a desperate flight from death in the desert – seen through the eyes of a man for whom the truth would spell disaster and a lonely, beautiful girl with three identities.

An improbable journey through the world of strange and mysterious creatures. All Creatures Weird and Dangerous describes the author's experiences as a veterinarian drawn by chance to care for a variety of cryptozoological creatures. As a practicing veterinarian, the author is called upon, as if by strange forces, to care for a Chupacabra, Sasquatch, Lake Erie's monster Bessie, mermaids and fairies in Newfoundland, and eventually a unicorn in the Highlands of Scotland. Drawing on his experiences as a wildlife rehabilitator and exotic-animal veterinarian, the author cares for these odd creatures, describing his work in accurate medical detail and touching on the importance of compassion and the need to respect all creatures on our planet. An homage to James Herriott's All Creatures Great and Small, while touching on stories equally appropriate for an episode of the X-Files.