From the Introduction by Jack Driscoll

Michael Delp's Mad Angler alter ego is equal parts environmental crusader and water shaman, and his hostility toward those feral hogs of greed isn't so much invective or diatribe as it is an appeal for sanity in a world gone, well, mad. And at the heart of the heart of these poems is a voice attempting to transpose madness into song, rant into meditation, the mist coming off the water, and in spite of the piss swill of corporate runoff.

And so, the occasion of these persona poems is twofold: First, to confront and speak - and in direct and unavoidable proximity to those darker hearts of developers - the language of cherishing and its corollary, the spirit and pursuit of preservation. And secondly to foster a respect for, and to defend the ancient and abiding imperative of committed stewardship.

I say, cheers for such madness left unchecked and unapologetic, a wildness of heart that celebrates and holds every feeder creek and current, every wetland and backwater and swamp. Edgy, irate, calling out the soul traders, the Mad Angler's passion for moving water runs deep and in the mysterious, and beautiful and oftentimes haunting images of these poems.

New short fiction by some of Michigan's well-known and highly acclaimed authors.

Bob Seger's House and Other Stories is a collection of short stories written by some of Michigan's most well-known fiction writers. This collection of twenty-two short stories serves as a celebration not only of the tenth anniversary of the Made in Michigan Writers Series but also of the rich history of writing and storytelling in the region. As series editors Michael Delp and M. L. Leibler state in their preface, The stories contained in this anthology are a way to stay connected to each other. Think of them as messages sent from all over the map, stitching readers and writers together through stories that continue to honor the ancient art of the fire tale, the hunting epic, and all of the ways language feeds the blood of imagination.

The scope of this project reflects the dynamic and diverse writing that is currently taking place by people who consider their home to be the Great Lakes state. Stories are far-ranging, from the streets of Detroit and the iconic presence of the auto industry to the wild tracts of the Upper Peninsula. The book vibrates with that tension, of metal versus rock and human frailty taking on the pitfalls and hardships of living in this world.

In his foreword, Charles Baxter asks, Does a region give rise to a particular kind of literature? Michigan is so fiercely diverse in its landscapes, its economy, and its demographics that it presents anybody who wants to write about it with a kind of blank slate. You can't summarize the state easily. These storytellers exude a Michigan aesthetic in their writing, something that cannot be learned in a textbook or taught in a classroom but can be felt through the tales of these storytellers.

The experience of picking up this collection is akin to taking a drive from the mechanized world and arriving several hours later in one of the wildest places on earth. Readers of short fiction will enjoy the multitude of voices in this anthology.

A dark, rollicking collection of stories about men prone to foolishness trying to make their way in a modern world.

In As If We Were Prey Michael Delp presents working-class male characters who are tried, tested, and pushed to their limits. Struggling with the demons of childhood and the indignities of adult life, they work dead-end jobs, keep the peace within their families, and attempt to assert themselves against authority whenever they can. While Delp's characters are fathers and sons, students and teachers, they all share a sense of alienation and melancholy that propels them to antics and ill-conceived plans. Although they hope that their rash actions will prove their independence, they generally only reveal their essential vulnerability.

Set mostly in small-town northern Michigan, Delp follows boys and full-grown men who know how to fight, fish, and hunt, but struggle to use those skills to overcome the emptiness and dysfunction of their day-to-day lives. A boy takes revenge on the neighborhood bully and watches his downfall with unexpected emotion, a man visits a tourist attraction with a caged bear and empathizes with the creature, a teacher quits his job and hits the road as a one-man trivia quiz show, a father shares his childhood stories of defeat with his young daughter and inspires her to settle a score, two men catch a giant bass and keep it in the bathtub all winter to fatten it to prize-winning size, and a Vietnam vet and shop teacher switches into combat mode to teach his students a chilling lesson.

The stories in As If We Were Prey are both humorous and haunting, fast-paced and tender. Fans of Delp's writing as well as all readers of fiction will enjoy these stories of men pushing the limits of their lives.

A rollicking meeting of two wildly different yet incredibly similar personas . . . the Deadman in the shape and form of a trickster and the voice of an apprentice river shaman, the Mad Angler.

Lying in the River's Dark Bed: The Confluence of the Deadman and the Mad Angler by Michael Delp is a collection of fifty-six poems that brings together two characters Delp has been perfecting for years: Deadman and the Mad Angler. The Deadman, a spirit that constantly shifts, is one part troublemaker, one part truth-teller, and one part demon who demands respect. The Mad Angler, on the other hand, could be called the Mad Shaman or Mad Activist, as he speaks of the water and nature and then of the greed of man. While these two personas are distinct in the collection (highlighted beautifully in the unique double-sided book design) they also come together at times in perfect harmony.

The Deadman and the Mad Angler are walking contradictions--twin sons of different mothers. The Deadman is a trickster figure, a hive of contradictions. He can be killed but cannot die. He is supremely intelligent, yet is as dumb as a stone. He is an enigma to himself and to all others, yet he understands the origins and the meanings of the inner lives of all things. He is impossible to understand, yet somehow through his musings enlightenment occurs. His poems inspire contentedness, even though they might frighten you first in order to do so. The Mad Angler is more finely tuned, focused primarily on the environment. He exercises more restraint and resistance than his scattered brother, focusing on nature and on what is flowing in the water around him and inside of him. His voice is sure and firm on all things water related because he is as much river as person. The collection embraces these voices as separate and unique identities, while highlighting a center section called Confluence, the place where these two come together to meditate on some of the most profound emotions evoked by the contemporary world.

Lying in the River's Dark Bed reflects the compatibilities and contradictions of the natural world. These ritualized poems are both funny and thought provoking and an example of persona writing at its best. Those interested in conversational poetry and environmental writing will be enthralled with this stirring yet soothing collection.

Under the Influence of Water is about moments--how time goes away on a river.

Although the theme is fly fishing, this book is really about the more esoteric, spiritual aspects of fishing. Through his poetry, essays, and short fiction, Delp writes about being haunted by fishing, about being taken over, literally, by the desire to fish and spend time alone on trout streams. He describes the experience as a pause, a deep breath in the crush of living. It seems incredibly simple, yet trout fishing illuminates an inner life, asks the mind and body to give themselves over to another power: '

Under the Influence of Water is about moments--how time goes away on a river. It's about waking up and finding out that what runs in your veins is river water mixed with blood. It's also about trying to find the courage to one day stand in a river and admit your life. Delp says that's what happens when you fly fish . . . you get your life back, if only for a few moments. When you go back to your other life, the river is still with you. If it's not, then you haven't really been on a river.

In his latest collection of poetry and prose, Michael Delp takes the reader back to nature and details his spiritual awakening within the freshwater of Michigan.

Michael Delp conjures with his writing the intense pull of nature on Michiganders and he allows the reader to discover--or rediscover--the marvels of life and sport amidst the Great Lakes. This collection of new work, along with some of Delp's important earlier work, will inspire anyone with a fondness for water, fishing, and Michigan's great outdoors.

Delp's writing is richly nuanced and sharply imaged with an authenticity that comes only from someone native to such experiences. His engaging portraits of Michigan, its freshwater landscapes, and their many invocations can function as metaphor for larger philosophical and ecological issues, but the first aim of The Last Good Water is to draw readers back to nature and allow them to relish its splendor. This collection is an important addition to the library of the creative, the ecocritical, and above all, the outdoorsmen and women of the Midwest.

This collection of contemporary Michigan poetry contains work from 56 writers from across the state, who share their poetic glimpses of trout streams, schoolrooms and restaurants, as well as portraits of friends, lovers and families.

Michael Delp explores the way rivers, lakes and streams seep into our daily lives and our consciousness, in this collection of short prose meditations and poetry. It reveals Delp's love for water and nature, and seeks to capture the essence of Northern Michigan's culture.