Don't catch a leopard by the tail, but if you do, don't let it go - Ethiopian Proverb ***************************************************************************** Author Sam McManus has collated 15-years' worth of adventure travel writing in Ethiopia, Japan, Bolivia, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Mongolia, Lebanon, Oman & Costa Rica in this collection of travel stories, which revolve around a central solo journey exploring the mountains of Ethiopia over a three-month period in 2015, which led to the founding of sustainable adventure travel company YellowWood Adventures. ***************************************************************************** The most prized form of Ethiopian Amharic prose and poetry, loosely translated as 'wax and gold' [sam-enna warq], is meticulously comprised with a focus on the duality of its meanings. The surface meaning, the wax, must be stripped away to reveal the hidden core of gold underneath. Ethiopia as a country also encourages you to look deeper within yourself, to fully understand and appreciate a deeply rich spiritual significance, that often resonates beneath simple or plain exteriors. *************************************************************************** This is pure travel writing: "Ethiopia can be difficult, prickly, cutting, ruthless, unforgiving, infuriating, stark, confused and complex. Yet, like a densely constructed novel exposing the fundamental contradictions of human nature, or, say, the bright plumage of a flowering cactus, when her treasures are revealed, they are all the more exceptional for the contrasts they manifest. Rarely do I open a book or read a travel article on Ethiopia that does not include the famous line from 18th century historian Edward Gibbon's masterwork The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: 'Encompassed on all sides by the enemies of their religion, the Ethiopians slept near a thousand years, forgetful of the world by whom they were forgotten.' It still perfectly encapsulates what makes this land so unique, so much from ancient times still remaining. ***************************************************************************** Although the modern world now has a stable foothold in the cities of Ethiopia, when one ventures out to the interior, this thin veneer rapidly falls away, unveiling the unchanged soul of the nation. One memory illustrates this perfectly: A man and his young son were ploughing a terraced wheat field below their grass hut with two oxen. Their field on the edge of a small river, this fell away off the high plateau in a series of three waterfalls. Their plough had a small sharp metal tip lashed to its wooden triangular sides, the long beam and ploughman's handle comprised of bark-stripped eucalyptus. They wore a few items of Western clothing - a shirt and a raggedy pair of trousers, both in bare feet. Aside from these few tiny elements that have seeped in from the outside world, the scene was timeless. I believe it is the search for this timelessness that continues to drive me to travel to the wilder corners of this world." ***************************************************************************** McManus grew up in the countryside of Kent in the UK until he walked out one midsummer morning into a lifetime of travel and adventure. Travel and books: these two passions have fuelled journeys to over 60 countries whilst living on four continents. He has always favoured the road less travelled: whilst living in Japan he took his tent and surfboard and spent three months island-hopping down the 1100km of Ryukyu archipelago; in the Amazon rainforest he spent two weeks with an Indian guide carrying only a machete, fishhooks, salt, sugar and coca leaves, learning to live off the land. Be it the highest plateau in Africa, ice-climbing in the Tian Shan Mountains or exploring the lost assassins' castles in the Alborz Mountains of Iran; a veritable mountain of banana sandwiches, history books, novels, travel writings and biographies always accompany these adventures, and wherever possible a horse or two. In partnership with www.yellowwoodadventures.com

A poem is a series of words, emotions, and ideas, tightly crafted and put together in an order that complements those words, emotions, and ideas, but that also leaves room for multiple interpretations, all of which are correct. That's the glory of poetry (and most writing, actually), that it lends itself to many interpretations depending on the history of each and every reader. I love to read reactions to my poetry, and to plumb the depths of the myriad definitions that surround each one that come from each individual reader. In fact, poetry writing, to me, has become an exchange between me and each person who reads my poems. I can almost hear the conversation as I'm writing, and that makes me smile.

Four bank robbers, one objective: get away clean. How far will they go to make it a reality, even with increasingly poor odds stacked against them? The bank robbery was the easy part, planned down to the last second, but the real story starts when everything falls apart. Mark Harris is the perfect criminal, but his reliance on others might just be his downfall. As the aftermath of the robbery leads to a full-scale manhunt, can he remain one step ahead of the pursuers? Secrets abound in the fast-paced world that this book inhabits, where death waits around every corner, and where contingencies become absolute.

What would you do if you could live three lifetimes at once? For Andre Winters, this is a reality. Detours is the story of one man with real problems, struggling to identify himself through the relationships he forms with women, and ultimately finding a sense of solace. Taking place over the course of twenty-one years and three cities, it is the ultimate journey of self-discovery. Haven't you ever wanted to take a detour?