Wasp Webinar Presentation to Athol Bird & Nature Club

Last night I presented a webinar on "Wasps: The Astonishing Diversity of a Misunderstood Insect" to the Athol Bird & Nature Club. Here is the embedded recording from Youtube if you would like to view it. I cannot guarantee an indefinite duration for the link. Thank you.

Surprise!

You won't believe me if I tell you that this new book came as a surprise to the authors, but it is true. Dr. Greg Paulson and myself just had the second edition of Insects Did it First published by Xlibris, as of Friday, November 16. These days the wheels of digital presses turn much faster than us old school writers are accustomed to.

The theme of the book is the parallel between human innovations and social behaviors and those evolved by insects. The similarities are uncanny, inspirational, and occasionally downright mind-blowing. Perhaps we should call this the twenty-first century edition of the original, as we added some chapters resulting from discoveries made after the first edition's 1992 publication date. Were I not such a procrastinator, we might have turned the book out even earlier, but thanks to Greg's diligence, here it is at last.

The initial concept was the brainchild of the late Dr. Roger D. Akre and E. Paul Catts, and Greg Paulson, who conspired together at Washington State University where Akre and Catts were professors, and Paulson a graduate student. Dr. Akre spearheaded the campaign, gathering many "insect inventions" over several years, recruiting many of his colleagues and contemporaries for suggestions. Dr. Catts contributed not only his own knowledge, but his artistic talent as well, rendering a wealth of cartoons to illustrate the chapters. The resulting book enjoyed a popular but brief run thanks to Ye Galleon Press.

Thanks to the solid foundation of the first edition, this latest version continues the tradition of strong, lively prose complemented by Catts' whimsical humorous illustrations. We updated the introduction to honor the original "cast," and added an epilogue to set the stage for what we imagine will be an even brighter future full of new discoveries and human plagiarism of natural "patents." Mother Nature is full of limitless surprises that inspire daily.

We are eager for you to enjoy this unique publication, but not exclusively for our own financial benefit. In fact, portions of the proceeds from sales will go toward scholarships in the name of Dr. Akre and Dr. Catts at Washington State University. It is the least we can do to pay our respects to these two giants of entomology.

While the book is also available through Amazon, we respectfully ask you to consider purchasing through the publisher, Xlibris. The sooner we reach the break-even point for publishing costs, the quicker we can begin contributing to those scholarships. When we receive instructions on how to secure our author's discounts, we will also be offering the book through those channels, too, and, as always, I am happy to sign and ship copies to my followers here. I will update this post as developments warrant. Thank you.

One of my Articles Won an Award?

Having "Google Alerts" on my name and blog title provided an unexpected bonus last week. It turns out that one of my magazine articles won an award from the Association for Conservation Information. The award was for first place in the "Magazine Wildlife Article" category, and awarded to Wonderful West Virginia magazine. My article "Stealth Hunters," about assassin bugs, took the prize.

© WVDNR

Curiously, the Google Alert was to a television news story that mentioned me by name. The award itself did not. However, Wonderful West Virginia changed publishers and staff recently, so that may account for why they never notified me themselves.

The full slate of awards is available for viewing in this PDF

I honestly don't think about potential accolades when I am writing. I strive to write captivating, informative, and understandable prose of a quality that I am proud to put my name on. Feedback from readers and blog followers is even more appreciated than recognition in the "red carpet" sense. I have peers who I think far exceed me in skill, knowledge, and initiative, and I hope they are recognized and appreciated, too. It literally "takes a village" to spread the word about fauna, flora, and the need to conserve habitats.

Field Guide, Anyone?

The Christmas shopping season is fast approaching, and I would like to make your gift-giving decisions easier by offering signed copies of the Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America to you, my loyal followers, for a discount.

I am happy to write a personalized message in the book and send it to you for $16.00 U.S., plus shipping. This is a savings of nearly three dollars off the cover price of $18.95. Please place your requests by October 15 to insure ample time for me to order additional copies from the publisher, and ship the book(s) to you in time for you to deliver it to your family members, friends, students, yourselves, or other loved-ones for the holidays.

Please e-mail me with "Field Guide Order" in the subject line: BugEric24ATyahooDOTcom. I will keep you appraised of the timeline for receipt of the book(s) so you can know when to expect delivery. I can accept only checks for payment, please.

As always, I also greatly appreciate donations to keep this blog running; and I always welcome your requests for topics and other improvements to this site. Thank you!

Wasp Wednesday: Audition Video

I had the privilege of auditioning for a pool of new talent with the BBC Natural History Unit back in December of 2008. They wanted a demo DVD, so I had to enlist some help. I decided I would use grass-carrier wasps of the genus Isodontia, family Sphecidae, as my subject. The result is shown below.

A huge amount of thanks goes to Kirk Sellinger of Kalypsis Productions. Kirk helped me out on a moment's notice, charged reasonable rates, and shared a few tricks of the production trade. When he isn't working with minor clients like me, Kirk joins National Geographic tours documenting both the natural history and the guests, making DVDs available to the guests at the end of the expedition.

Nothing became of this particular audition for the BBC, but they were most gracious. I would very much like to make a living interpreting insect and spider natural history through all types of media, regardless of whether I am in front of the camera or not. Watching myself in this video I might actually prefer to be behind the scenes. I welcome inquiries from those who produce nature documentaries, or referrals to production companies and others in that business.

I have appeared on television before, locally (at the "Bug Fest" at the Arkansas Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, July, 2000) nationally (a guest on Donahue in February, 1989 for a discussion on children of divorce), and syndicated (Make Peace With Nature in the 1990s). I have also performed stand-up comedy for a live audience at the end of a comedy workshop.

Since I will be out of my current part-time job come May of this year, I figure I better get started on my next move. Creative enterprises really are "my thing," and I look forward to collaborating with like minds. Oh, and I’ll be back next week with a bit more on Isodontia. Thanks.

Apologies, Excuses, Suggestions

The loyal followers of this blog deserve to be dazzled and amazed much more frequently than the writer has been able to do lately. I sincerely apologize for the time lag and anticipate that things will improve soon. Today I will do a little explaining.

I am delighted to report that part of the reason I have been “missing in action” is because I have acquired some assignments that, believe it or not, are actually paying me for online content I am creating. As a co-moderator with Mandy Howe, I’m monitoring submissions to SpiderIdentification.org for a modest monthly wage. I want to express my sincerest thanks to webmaster Kyle Williams for this opportunity.

Kyle had also purchased the domain name “DustMites.org,” but soon sold it to another individual. That person, Tim McGuiness, is out of the same amazing mold as Kyle in that he, too, has offered to pay me for creating content. I am in the midst of doing that right this instant, and am facing a pretty tight deadline. The research alone has had my head swimming. Obviously, I am also grateful to Tim for his generosity. Both the spider and dust mite websites will eventually include advertising that may generate more income still for all involved, but first things first.

Since it is springtime, I have also found myself out in the field quite a bit, though my allergies to pollens have sometimes made for miserable outings. It has also been extremely windy here in southeast Arizona, making it difficult to get respectable images of flowers, insects, birds, and other organisms to illustrate this blog with. I am very appreciative of my friends Margarethe Brummermann, Ned Harris, Fred Heath and his wife Mary Klinkel, John Rhodes, and others for including me in their own field trips.

I am hoping that all of you are also getting out and about, but if not, may I suggest investigating some of the blogs that I follow? Margarethe just started her own, all about Arizona beetles, bugs, birds, and more. My entomological colleague David Almquist also has a new blog. Both are listed, along with perennial favorites like “Beetles in the Bush” by Ted MacRae, on the sidebar of this blog.

Thank you again for your patience and understanding. May you enjoy the season.

Sunday Funnies

When Gary Larson debuted “The Far Side,” I was thrilled to see that I was not the only person on the planet with a bent sense of humor. That someone could actually combine their knowledge of natural history with a cynical view of human nature was even more astounding. That is when I decided to try my own hand at cartooning.

Insects are obviously a great source of comedic fodder because of the crazy things they do, but I’ve done cartoons about other forms of wildlife, and people, too. I started making personalized greeting cards for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Earth Day, and other occasions.

A handful of my creations actually made it into print. The American Entomologist, magazine of the Entomological Society of America, published this one along with the several other “Insectoons” by other entomologists/cartoonists in the spring, 1991 issue (volume 37, number 1):

I got solo appearances in the summer, 1991, winter, 1992, and spring, 1992 issues before the editor found other ways to fill space (advertisers, I presume).

This cartoon made it overseas into the publication Lucanus, a Swedish journal of entomology, in 2004. Funny to see the punchline in Swedish, of course.

Thanks to editor Bengt Andersson for making the effort to publish it.

I’d like to do more of this kind of thing, but I need to take a course or something to learn how to do it on the computer, or a combination of both freehand and digital renderings. Meanwhile, I’ll try and get my scanner up and running and share more of these. Don’t hold your breath, though.

.