A Spectacular Autumn Drone's-Eye View Of the Mohonk Preserve...

The explosion of Fall colors on New York's Shawangunk Ridge are second to none. I've spent many a weekend hiking around up there trying the capture the spectacular vista with my Zone VI 4x5 camera, but this video gives you a view of what it must be like for a raptor riding the thermals around those cliffs.

You're also provided with several unique views of the Mohonk Mountain House and of SkyTop Tower, a landmark that features prominently in my novel, Little Birdies!  Enjoy your trip...

Hike Until You Drop (But Don't)...

Towards the end of Little Birdies!, Willie Nolan, an environmental program specialist with the Bureau of Wildlife division of New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation, is at the Mohonk Mountain House and needs to get to Sky Top Tower to see how closely the birds are being monitored by the authorities. He's forced to climb the Labyrinth at night, to avoid the State Trooper parked at the base of Sky Top Road.

When he returns, two hours later, he describes the trail to Dan Grant: "It was blazed by sadists for crazy people," an observation that anyone who has attempted the near-vertical scramble knows to be true. Here's a great up-close and personal look at the entire trail, from the bottom up to the Tower:

And, yes, I've done it. My advice? Carry water and little else, wear sturdy, supportive footwear and don't fall...

The Carriage Road to SkyTop Tower...

Here's a great look at the carriage road leading from the Mohonk Mountain House to SkyTop Tower. Towards the end of Little Birdies!, Mandy and her friends track the birds to the tower, where they've taken up residence and enjoy riding the thermals during the day. Enjoy your walk...

Literary Comfort Food for a Fed Up Citizenry ...

How to sell books. That's the question, isn't it, at least for those of us who've chosen to commit stories to print in the hope that another will pay for the pleasure of reading them.

I've always marched to the beat of my own drummer when it came to the stories that I've chosen to tell. I've written two pretty straightforward novels of libertarian political suspense (The Third Revolution and Middle America), a soft sci-fi/adventure about a young girl and her runaway pets (Little Birdies!), a sort of speculative political thriller about a new alcohol prohibition and a group of neighborhood friends who decide to go another way on the matter (The Last Bartender), a soft sci-fi, archaeologically-themed action/suspense/political farce (The Cenacle Scroll) involving the political and religious chaos that follows the unexpected appearance of the (assumed) Holy Grail in the US, and a soft sci-fi mystery/adventure (Aqua Vitae) about a wildlife biologist who accepts a too-good-to-be-true job and ends up having to unpack several puzzling ecological mysteries before finding herself targeted by the government agency whose failed experiments have gone native.

This eclectic portfolio has been, as you might guess, marketing suicide. You don't need an MBA to see that the smart move here would be to pick a lane (i.e. a literary genre), and stick to it. Become the political thriller guy, the sci-fi/adventure guy, the dystopian future guy, the detective/crime procedural guy, the medical mystery guy, the vampire/zombie/time travel guy. Pick a lane!

Targeted advertising is easier if you pick a lane. Building a unified reader base is easier if you pick a lane. Finding a traditional agent/publisher is easier if you pick a lane. Using an outside marketing service is easier if you just pick a damn lane!

The truth is that I have picked my lane, though I've chosen to go with theme, rather than the more easily marketed concept of genre. If I may:

Ben Kane finds that he bit off more than he could chew when he takes over the Governor's office in Montana, and finds himself arrayed against the might of the US federal government, but is simply unable to back away from his principles.  

Young Mandy Grant finds it impossible to accept the death sentence demanded by a nervous public and their government representatives for her runaway pets, and plots their rescue.  

In the aftermath of a newly imposed prohibition on the production and sale of alcohol,
Justin Gardiner and his friends just want a damn beer, and they're prepared to do what they have to do to get one.

Graduate student Jennifer Goodwyn makes one ill-considered decision regarding an ancient relic and finds herself swept up in a religious and political maelstrom of her own making. It needs to be fixed, and she needs to do so without getting caught, and without anyone else getting hurt in the process.

After a string of career setbacks, wildlife biologist Jackie Bannon takes a leap of  faith, unintentionally stirs up a mystery that was better left untouched, and needs to extract herself and her friends from a sudden and dangerous game of "kill the messenger."

All of my protagonists want the usual things out of life, and take seemingly rational steps to reach those goals, modest or otherwise. Other people, more organized people (say, local, state or federal government agencies, for example) sometimes take exception to individual needs, wants or circumstances, and do what they can to thwart individual action. Some individuals (say, the ones I choose to write about) feel they have no choice but to follow their conscience and do what they have to do to get where they need to get, regardless of the forces brought against them.

So if you don't mind veering out of your literary comfort zone just a bit, I believe you'll find that at the heart, my stories have what you're looking for: regular people, who for whatever reason, suddenly find themselves up against it and, along a few close friends, choose principle over authority.

As always, thanks for your support...

Free Kindle Reading Apps...

I assume everyone is aware of these free applications, but it doesn't hurt to spread the word. All six of my books are available as Kindle ebooks, and there's no need to shell out the bucks for a Kindle device if you don't need to. I download and read Kindle books on my old Windows XP Dell laptop, and it works just fine. Reading apps are available for pretty much every imaginable device (smartphones, tablets, computers) and across a broad selection of operating systems.

You can download the apps here: Free Kindle Reading Apps. And please consider my reasonably priced and entertaining offerings to get your Kindle collection started: Books by Anthony F. Lewis.

No Birds Were Harmed in the Making of this Christmas Card...

All photo credit to my sister, Lesley A. Lewis.  Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all.

A Set of Golf Clubs and this Grey is Good to Go...

Proof positive that when really smart people and really smart parrots get together, hilarity ensues. I particularly like how the folded newspaper slips securely into the retaining slots below the driver. Nice touch...

"Proving that robots aren't just for people any longer, African grey parrot, Pepper, has learned to drive a robot that was specially designed for him. Pepper, whose wings are clipped to preventing him from flying around his humans' house and destroying things, now manipulates the joystick on his riding robot to guide it to where ever he wishes to go.

This robotic "bird buggy" was the brainchild of his human companion, Andrew Gray, a 29-year-old electrical and computer engineering graduate student at the University of Florida. It was inspired by Pepper's growing frustration with his human family's rude behaviours."

Read the whole story here: Tool use by an African grey parrot 

For more hijinks involving really, really smart African Grey Parrots, please check out my book, Little Birdies!  And I'd really appreciate it if you could take a moment to "Like" my Amazon Author's Page; it really helps with my visibility. Thanks.

An interview with Jurassic Park paleontologist Jack Horner

Mostly out of necessity (extreme dyslexia), Prof. Jack Horner has been a lifelong, bona fide rule breaker; a guy who doesn't know the meaning of thinking inside the box. Grab a cup of coffee and find ten minutes to watch this fascinating interview:



Paradigm shifting breakthroughs don't happen by following the rules...

Marc Morrone talks Birds 101...

Television personality Marc Morrone is here doing what he does best, educating the public about pet keeping. This is a great, concise primer on the pros and cons of keeping exotic birds as companion animals:



Marc had some very kind words for my third novel, Little Birdies! :

"One of my favorite books of all time was Watership Down, by Richard Adams. The author's descriptions of the pastoral English countryside were vivid and organic, and transported the reader into an imaginary world in ways that only a great novel can do.

It's that ability to carry readers away and immerse them in a fictional world that I most like about Little Birdies! by Anthony F. Lewis. The fact that the setting for much of the book was New York's densely forested Hudson Valley and the spectacular Mohonk Mountain House only upped the measure of personal satisfaction for me. Lewis captures the region's look and feel in a manner that effortlessly sweeps the reader away to the woodland steams and primordial highlands that inhabit the story.

Another mark of a world-class novelist--the late Michael Crichton comes to mind here--is attention to detail; especially scientific detail. There are few things more upsetting for me than when an author ruins a perfectly good story by getting the facts wrong. Such is not the case here. Like Crichton, Lewis has exhaustively researched his subject matter, providing the reader with a convincing and realistic platform from which to launch the story.

There are many good stories around. What sets books like Little Birdies! apart from the rest is the author's attention to detail and the ease with which he draws the reader into the story. Do yourself a favor ... curl up with a copy of Little Birdies! and be prepared to be transported."

 Read the opening chapters of Little Birdies! here, the reviews here. And, of course, the book is available at Amazon, in both softcover and Kindle editions,

A Seasonal Selection of Christmas Parrots...

Who better to enjoy Christmas than a perpetual five-year-old?


















It's still not too late to get the parrot lover on your gift list a copy of Little Birdies! (softcover or Kindle). Sample chapters are right here, but that would sort of give away the surprise, wouldn't it?

The World's Largest Indoor Rainforest...

This is one helluva bird cage:

"Located inside of a giant, 22,000 square foot dome, the indoor tropical resort is about the size of eight football fields and wins the title of the world's largest indoor rainforest, as well as the biggest tropical sauna and spa complex in Europe. The complex is also home to more than 29,000 plants while cockatiels, parrots, and budgerigars provide animal life for the space."

I guess this means that Dan Grant's geodesic dome aviary featured in Little Birdies! is no longer as impressive as it once seemed, though for a backyard aviary a 100-foot diameter, 50-foot tall dome is still nothing to sneeze at.

Read the entire article here: Visit the world's largest indoor rainforest resort. 
More on the Tropical Islands resort at their website.

"Reading is Overrated."

Famed Jurassic Park paleontologist Prof. Jack Horner discusses his dyslexia and how reliance on his imagination fueled his rise in the scientific community: 

Dr. Pepperberg discussing her research with Alex...

Here's an interesting video of Dr. Irene Pepperberg discussing her research involving Alex, the African Grey parrot. It's remarkable the degree to which the concept of avian intelligence - something most scientists take for granted today - was brushed off, even mocked, when she first tried to get funding for her studies. And what's really extraordinary is the degree to which Alex was able to use his acquired language skills in ad hoc communications. It's fascinating stuff, far more important, I suspect, than we realize right now. Check it out; it's well worth the time:



The underlying scientific premise of my novel, Little Birdies!, is based on Dr. Pepperberg's work. You can read the reviews here, and read the opening chapters here: Little Birdies! excerpts. And of course, you can buy it here (available in both softcover and Kindle). Check it out; if you're an Alex fan you'll love the book, I promise...

"We will make a Dino-Chicken. Absolutely..."

I can't wait until these guys hit the pet stores. But what do you feed a chicken with teeth?

From the article:

"Hints of long-extinct creatures, echoes of evolution past, occasionally emerge in real life—they’re called atavisms, rare cases of individuals born with characteristic features of their evolutionary antecedents. Whales are sometimes born with appendages reminiscent of hind limbs. Human babies sometimes enter the world with fur, extra nipples, or, very rarely, a true tail. Horner’s plan, in essence, is to start off by creating experimental atavisms in the lab. Activate enough ancestral characteristics in a single chicken, he reasons, and you’ll end up with something close enough to the ancestor to be a “saurus.” At least, that’s what he pitched at this year’s TED conference, the annual technology, entertainment, and design gathering held in Long Beach, California. “When I was growing up in Montana, I had two dreams,” he told the crowd. “I wanted to be a paleontologist, a dinosaur paleontologist—and I wanted to have a pet dinosaur.”"

Read the entire article here: How to Hatch a Dinosaur.  Hmmm... perhaps someone should write a book...

On the fourth anniversary of Alex's passing...

Dr. Irene Pepperberg's famed partner, Alex the African Grey parrot, died unexpectedly four years ago today. In his memory, I'm reposting the full NOVA segment on Dr. Pepperberg and her work on animal intelligence with Alex. It runs just under twelve minutes:

Watch the full episode. See more NOVA scienceNOW.

The underlying scientific premise of my novel, Little Birdies!, is based on Dr. Pepperberg's work. You can read the opening chapters here: Little Birdies! excerpts. Check it out; if you're an Alex fan you'll love the book, I promise...

This post (from June 16, 2010) is also worth revisiting: 

In a rather moving interview, Dr. Pepperberg relates the story of Alex's passing, and the immediate, and unexpected public and personal reactions that followed:

Spix's Macaws to be released in the wild in 2013...

Here's an update on the critically endangered Spix's Macaw. Only 86 remain alive in the world, all in captivity:



Update (July 11, 2011) - More on this from The Washington Post: Qatari sheik takes endangered bird species under his wing.

Update (June 24, 2016) -  Spix’s Macaw reappears in Brazil

Fun with Little Birdies! Visiting the Kakapo Chicks...

Barbara Heidenreich, from Good Bird, Inc, has posted this great video of her visit with Kakapo chicks before they were released into the wild. Fascinating little critters...



Read more about Barbara's adventures with the Kakapo chicks here:  Parrot Conservation and You!

Barbara was kind enough to review my novel, Little Birdies!. Here's an excerpt from that review:

"Most fiction these days seem to focus on murder mystery, crime or romance. I have to admit none of those genres spark my interest. However I recently came upon a novel perfectly suited for parrot enthusiasts who like character studies, suspense, drama and action!

Set in my old stomping grounds upstate New York, Lewis paints the terrain in great detail whether it be the university classroom, the parrot sanctuary, roadside fruit stands or wooded rolling hills. I enjoyed picturing the sights and sounds of upstate New York being invaded by a flock of misfits.

I think what I liked most about this novel was that it was a rollicking good adventure, full of science, suspense, a hint of romance, a few bad guys, a few heroes and of course birds as a focal point. Even with all that, there was also room for an important take home message. It certainly struck me when one of the good guys said to his bird "We take you into our home, and if we treat you right, if we earn your trust, you give us your hearts." Words of wisdom from a writer who knows the connection we share with animals." 

Her full review can be found here: Amazon Editorial Reviews. And please be sure to visit the Kakapo Recovery site. Like they say, there are six billion people on earth, and only 131 Kakapo. Give a bird a break...

Update (July 6, 2011): Here are some of the chicks being released into their new home on Codfish Island, NZ:

Banding Peregrine Falcon Chicks on the Throgs Neck Bridge...

 Three-week-old Peregrine Falcon chicks get free jewelry! It's good to see the species rebounding so strongly...



They tried banding one of the dinobirds in Little Birdies!, but without much luck...

Paleontologist Jack Horner on Building a Dinosaur from a Chicken...

Recorded at TED (Technology Entertainment and Design, March 2011), famed paleontologist Jack Horner touches on subjects ranging from Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, to recovering soft tissue from fossilized dinosaur bones, to his own efforts to retro-engineer a dinosaur from a chicken embryo. "If you want dinosaur DNA, go to the dinosaur." Fascinating stuff...



For my take on the subject, be sure to check out Little Birdies!  As always, you can read the opening chapters here.

Prehistoric Park: Capturing Dinobirds....

Here's a fun clip from the Animal Planet series Prehistoric Park.



Of course, in my book Little Birdies!,  Mandy and Willie have to cook up their own ad hoc plan for capturing escaped dinobirds:

“So what do you think?” Mandy asked Willie, as they finally stood together watching the birds munch and crunch their treats. “Man-eating, killer birds or homesick pets?”

He knew the rational answer was probably “both” but decided to hold his professional opinion in reserve. “They seem to like you just fine,” he said.

“I don’t think they’re ever going to be as friendly as parrots,” Mandy observed, with an innocence that belied the obviousness of her statement. “It doesn’t seem to be in their nature. They never took to Uncle Dan or my brother much, now that I think about it.” She suddenly turned to face Willie, looking him right in the eye. “How are you going to capture them and bring them home?” Her tone implied that she wouldn’t be put off this time.

“Your Uncle didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me.”

What the hell… “The best we could come up with is that I’m going to try to dart them, two or three at a time if I can, one at a time if I have to. Then we’ll just throw ‘em in the truck, bring them home, and come back for more.”

“How are you going to get past all the cameras and tourists and state troopers down there? And won’t the rest of the birds be scared away when they hear the gun go off? And if you shoot them when they’re on top of the tower won’t they fall off and hit the ground?”

“The gun’s not that loud—it’s an air gun; it has more of a dull pop than a sharp crack or bang like a regular rifle. As for the rest of it, I have no idea. This was a more play-it-by-ear sort of plan. We’ll have to figure it out as we go along.”

Mandy’s face darkened with disappointment. “That’s really not a very good plan," she said.

You can read the opening chapters here: Little Birdies! Excerpts.