Outside of town Eliza Hewlie, a 65-year-old widow brokering the sale of an abandoned gold mine just upstream from Lester, has to contend with the threat of the deal contaminating the town's groundwater. As Jeremy and Lester design a project which becomes a huge environmental scavenger hunt, involving dozens of high school students and half their parents, the tale of a town galvanized into action is told in alternating chapters by Jeremy and Eliza. In parallel coming-of-age stories, both begin feeling frustrated and trapped at the opening of the story but free and in control of their lives at the end for the first time. "*****THE EXECUTION IS THOUROUGHLY ENTERTAINING. People are never what they are made out to be. 'The Extraordinary Pupfish of Calaveras County' is a story with two unique view points. One follows Jeremy McGinnis, a fifteen-year-old whose reputation is overblown as a hero when he helps an old man suffering from an asthma attack. The other follows Eliza Hewlie, a sixty-five-year-old faced with a decision that could wreak havoc on the town's environment. 'The Extraordinary Pupfish of Calaveras County' seems unusual in set up, but the execution is thoroughly entertaining, leading it to a recommendation." Midwest Book Review, Oregon, WI

Outside of town Eliza Hewlie, a 65-year-old widow brokering the sale of an abandoned gold mine just upstream from Lester, has to contend with the threat of the deal contaminating the town's groundwater. As Jeremy and Lester design a project which becomes a huge environmental scavenger hunt, involving dozens of high school students and half their parents, the tale of a town galvanized into action is told in alternating chapters by Jeremy and Eliza. In parallel coming-of-age stories, both begin feeling frustrated and trapped at the opening of the story but free and in control of their lives at the end for the first time. "*****THE EXECUTION IS THOUROUGHLY ENTERTAINING. People are never what they are made out to be. 'The Extraordinary Pupfish of Calaveras County' is a story with two unique view points. One follows Jeremy McGinnis, a fifteen-year-old whose reputation is overblown as a hero when he helps an old man suffering from an asthma attack. The other follows Eliza Hewlie, a sixty-five-year-old faced with a decision that could wreak havoc on the town's environment. 'The Extraordinary Pupfish of Calaveras County' seems unusual in set up, but the execution is thoroughly entertaining, leading it to a recommendation." Midwest Book Review, Oregon, WI

Outside of town Eliza Hewlie, a 65-year-old widow brokering the sale of an abandoned gold mine just upstream from Lester, has to contend with the threat of the deal contaminating the town's groundwater. As Jeremy and Lester design a project which becomes a huge environmental scavenger hunt, involving dozens of high school students and half their parents, the tale of a town galvanized into action is told in alternating chapters by Jeremy and Eliza. In parallel coming-of-age stories, both begin feeling frustrated and trapped at the opening of the story but free and in control of their lives at the end for the first time. "*****THE EXECUTION IS THOUROUGHLY ENTERTAINING. People are never what they are made out to be. 'The Extraordinary Pupfish of Calaveras County' is a story with two unique view points. One follows Jeremy McGinnis, a fifteen-year-old whose reputation is overblown as a hero when he helps an old man suffering from an asthma attack. The other follows Eliza Hewlie, a sixty-five-year-old faced with a decision that could wreak havoc on the town's environment. 'The Extraordinary Pupfish of Calaveras County' seems unusual in set up, but the execution is thoroughly entertaining, leading it to a recommendation." Midwest Book Review, Oregon, WI

Isolated and unsure of their purpose in life, three adolescents begin to realize that the entire world is just as mundane as the suburbia they're running away from. And while being surrounded by nothing but boredom and superficiality seems bad enough, they soon learn that a dormant life is not that much worse than all of humanity in general. Two Stories About Nothing Significant is just that-two separate accounts of mediocrity and superficiality in a not-so-average light. Through the seemingly insignificant conflicts and let-downs, the characters begin to dissect their own insecurity in order to understand just where they're all going and what they have to do to get there.

Isolated and unsure of their purpose in life, three adolescents begin to realize that the entire world is just as mundane as the suburbia they're running away from. And while being surrounded by nothing but boredom and superficiality seems bad enough, they soon learn that a dormant life is not that much worse than all of humanity in general. Two Stories About Nothing Significant is just that-two separate accounts of mediocrity and superficiality in a not-so-average light. Through the seemingly insignificant conflicts and let-downs, the characters begin to dissect their own insecurity in order to understand just where they're all going and what they have to do to get there.

Of course there is the cannibal tribe! Maria and a prince are drawn together by extreme dangers. How do they end up in Arabia? What about her stepfather?

"Seymour Mann's stories and poetry are always inventive and unique. His background is both diverse and wide as a teacher, scholar and a practitioner in governmental affairs and labor relations. In all his writing he draws on these experiences in a way that is enriched by his fertile imagination, and certainly that is exhibited in this story. I highly recommend it, and I salute Seymour for the achievement it represents"
-Herman Taube, Author of Golden Leaves; Kyszl Kishlak/Refugee Village

Of course there is the cannibal tribe! Maria and a prince are drawn together by extreme dangers. How do they end up in Arabia? What about her stepfather?