A dog describes being mistreated by a cruel master but then later being taken in by a kind family.

Pet lovers will cherish this "autobiography" of a special dog from Maine named Beautiful Joe. Subjected to horrible, sadistic abuse at the hands of his original owner, Joe is eventually adopted by a caring family. Despite the terror of his early years, Beautiful Joe overcomes his past and develops an affectionate personality.

Dogwise Publishing is pleased to reunite again with Pat Miller for the publication of her second volume of Positive Perspectives, a collection of her recent articles. This collection is more advanced than volume one, with particular emphasis on understanding the latest in canine behavioral research so that you can become a more effective trainer and/or owner. Written in Pat's understandable but sophisticated style, Positive Perspectives 2 presents the latest "positive" thinking on body language, training and behavioral concepts, teaching behaviors, problem behaviors, and aggression.

A recently discovered work of Gene Stratton-Porter, this work was a prize winner in the American Humane Society's contest of 1893 and was published anonymously. It is the fictional story of the Shanes, a farm family of Indiana in the late 19th century.

In Pet Projects, Elizabeth Young joins an analysis of the representation of animals in nineteenth-century fiction, taxidermy, and the visual arts with a first-person reflection on her own scholarly journey. Centering on Margaret Marshall Saunders, a Canadian woman writer once famous for her animal novels, and incorporating Young’s own experience of a beloved animal’s illness, this study highlights the personal and intellectual stakes of a “pet project” of cultural criticism. Young assembles a broad archive of materials, beginning with Saunders’s novels and widening outward to include fiction, nonfiction, photography, and taxidermy. She coins the term “first-dog voice” to describe the narrative technique of novels, such as Saunders’s Beautiful Joe, written in the first person from the perspective of an animal. She connects this voice to contemporary political issues, revealing how animal fiction such as Saunders’s reanimates nineteenth-century writing about both feminism and slavery. Highlighting the prominence of taxidermy in the late nineteenth century, she suggests that Saunders transforms taxidermic techniques in surprising ways that provide new forms of authority for women. Young adapts Freud to analyze literary representations of mourning by and for animals, and she examines how Canadian writers, including Saunders, use animals to explore race, ethnicity, and national identity. Her wide-ranging investigation incorporates twenty-first as well as nineteenth-century works of literature and culture, including recent art using taxidermy and contemporary film. Throughout, she reflects on the tools she uses to craft her analyses, examining the state of scholarly fields from feminist criticism to animal studies. With a lively, first-person voice that highlights experiences usually concealed in academic studies by scholarly discourse—such as detours, zigzags, roadblocks, and personal experience—this unique and innovative book will delight animal enthusiasts and academics in the fields of animal studies, gender studies, American studies, and Canadian studies.

HOW DO YOU HANDLE A MAN-SIZED MESS? Brothers Joe and Eddie Jones's fragile world is built around Sparkle Cleaners, their Seattle crime scene cleanup business. Not even overprotective Joe knows that autistic Eddie's a savant at more than cleaning-he's also got an incredible gift for sensing what's left behind in the wake of murder. When a killer strikes much too close to home, a dark secret pulls the brothers back to their deepest past, and pushes them forward into unknown territory where failure threatens death-and success promises a better life than either dared imagine.

Though little known today, from 1860 to 1940 Canadian novelists from the Maritime provinces were writing highly successful books which were widely read in Canada, the US, and Britain. Although today only Lucy Maud Montgomery is remembered and read, there were several dozen writers who enjoyed the same level of success and renown. This book brings these authors and their most successful books back into the spotlight of Canadian writing. In 2001, Canadian literature specialist Gwen Davies and Formac publisher James Lorimer set out to republish books by these largely forgotten Maritime authors. Readers can now discover 35 of their novels, all reprinted in Formac's Fiction Treasures series. For each book, series editor Gwen Davies commissioned an introduction by a contemporary scholar who offers a brief biography of the writer and a discussion of the text itself. As Gwen Davies notes, "These introductions not only capture new research in literary biography or publishing history, but also broaden our understanding of regional popular reading tastes from the era of Queen Victoria to the Second World War." This book brings these introductory essays together in a single volume so that readers can discover these writers and get an overview of their best works.

What happens next? That was the question asked of early-twentieth-century authors Nellie L. McClung, L. M. Montgomery, and Mazo de la Roche, whose stories and novels appeared serially and kept readers and publishers in a state of anticipation. Each author answered through the writing and dissemination of further instalments. McClung’s Pearlie Watson trilogy (1908–1921), Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables books (1908–1939), and de la Roche’s Jalna novels (1927–1960) were read avidly not just as sequels but as serials in popular and literary newspapers and magazines. A number of the books were also adapted to stage, film, and television. The Next Instalment argues that these three Canadian women writers, all born in the same decade of the late nineteenth century, were influenced by early-twentieth-century publication, marketing, and reading practices to become heavily invested in the cultural phenomenon of the continuing story. A close look at their serials, sequels, and adaptations reveals that, rather than existing as separate cultural productions, each is part of a cultural and material continuum that encourages repeated consumption through development and extension of the originary story. This work considers the effects that each mode of dissemination of a narrative has on the other.

How might we react if the spirit of a coal miner killed in a tragic labor incident in 1922 were to confront us? In fact, Joe Bailey is confronted by such a spirit. And, what if you or I were that miner, unable to find peace after all this time? Then, both cosmic and human forces, in fine alignment with Joe as their trip-wire, could be our only hope for closure and for peace. Nick Shebellko was cut down in the prime of his life during the vividly described battle at the Cliftonville mine. But eight decades later Joe, an outdoorsman and real estate agent, meets and befriends Nick s spirit. He and teacher friend Jessie Randall fight to bring peace to Nick s spirit, and to eight other deceased miners, while restoring their own tattered reputations. In the process they not only learn about, but experience 1920 s coal mining camp life, its heartaches and its customs. Set in the locale of the world-famous Meadowcroft archaeological dig, this story is both timely and timeless. Hardcover edition.

When a woman is hiding from a predator, who can she turn to for help? Without planning to, artist turned private investigator Freddie Lark has developed a reputation for helping underdogs. When her neighbour Ellie comes to her with the story of a friend whose child is missing, Freddie is moved. When she discovers that the child's mother is part of the underground network that helps women and children escape abusive family members, Freddie is determined to help. From award-winning, Amazon bestselling author Alexandra Amor comes a new contemporary mystery series featuring a sleuth who makes up for her lack of experience (not to mention credentials) with grit, an obsessive need to know the answers, and a sassy mouth. Fans of Stephanie Plum and Robert B. Parker's Spenser mysteries will love Freddie Lark, a tenacious, independent sleuth who is a heroine set firmly in the 21st century. This series is perfect for readers who like their mysteries with well-drawn characters and a lot of heart.