'Eating Aliens' Review Copies!

The first few sample copies of 'Eating Aliens' in print just showed up via UPS today. I had no idea that these were even coming. These aren't the final version and they have 'UNCORRECTED PROOF' printed across the front. Yet its a real, readable book and I think that the designers at Storey made it look really good.

As you can see here, Hank Shaw was kind enough to write the introduction.  I can think of very few people who understand what the process of writing this book was like and Hank is one of those few. On the road, month and and month out, trying to accomplish difficult things in strange places with people you've never met and then turn the results into food. Hank is the hardest-working author I know.

The work that I started doing for this book never really stopped. Once I got plugged into hunting and researching invasive species for 'Eating Aliens' I wasn't able to pull back out. After the book was done I kept telling myself to cut it out and move on to other things but its become almost a compulsion now. I spent a few hours this afternoon collecting Chinese mystery snails in a bucket. I threw a cast net for over an hour just to survey what was in the water. Last week I drove for hours up to the Potomac River in part because I wanted to get the word on whats happening with snakeheads.

Why do I keep going with this? For a sequel? I don't know. There is so much at stake. The potential extinction of native species, in particular. I don't see anything else in the world around me where so little effort towards conservation can reap so much reward.