Long Gone & Lost: True Fictions and Other Lies by Bobby Horecka

Encounters With Nature - a collection of prose, poetry, and art by members of Amelia Island Writers and Artists edited by Mandy Haynes

Coming Soon!

Sea turtles, pelicans, roseate spoonbills, and humpback whales! Spanish moss hanging from aged live oak trees! Sand dollars and fossil shark teeth on the beach! On Amelia Island, we have all this and more.

I am excited to write this foreword for a book that showcases the enthusiasm of both newcomers and longtime residents for the wildlife that share the island with us. Within these pages writers and artists share their experiences, interesting facts, and thoughts about the creatures they encounter, often with joy, sometimes with trepidation, on Amelia Island.

People here enjoy, first and foremost, the happenings at the beach. Whether it is crabs scuttling across the sand, pelicans diving into the waves, giant sea turtles leaving tracks on the beach, or wild horses roaming freely just across the channel on Cumberland Island, we all find something unique to admire and ponder. Each has been cleverly written about and beautifully illustrated.

One writer explores the magical way two creatures inhabit two totally different bodies in their lifetimes. Another tells the amusing story of a downtown rooster that crowed on “island time” at ten a.m. Then there’s the subliminal excitement of swimming in the ocean where sharks happily exist. Our writers and local artists have documented all this and more, in their own words, in their own way.

Just performing basic activities here brings our wildlife to light for these writers. One writer reports on the travails of gardening with a mockingbird intent on dive-bombing her. And just pity the real estate promoter trying to explain the presence of alligators around a prestigious golf course.

Pets often show us sides of nature that we might have missed. One writer’s dog developed a fixation on a box turtle that occasionally fed on scraps in the compost pile. Another dog with a hatred for vultures is always on the alert to protect its owner from these hazards.

In one story, we’ll find a group of creatures that live in a deserted house and try to discourage potential rehabbers from coming there. In other stories you will discover a wide variety of birds: red shouldered hawks, eagles, woodstorks, and cormorants.

Many of us develop a fondness for individual animals that we encounter often and some of us give them names. I named a black racer in my backyard, Sylvester. Within these pages you will meet Cleo the box turtle, Otto the gopher tortoise, Charlie the great blue heron, Edith the egret, Rosy the spoonbill, Hannah the pelican, and Lawrence the green anole among others.

The joy of watching wildlife is contained within these pages. And sometimes, the spiritual side of nature watching comes into play. In one story a World War II vet’s encounter with a dead humpback whale brings him back to his time at sea. One writer’s spirit animal, a hawk, presides over her major life decisions. I feel this bond too, whenever I see river otters, my own spirit guides through the journey of life.

Whether written in first person, fictional form, nonfictional essays or poems and haikus, there’s a lot to be learned within these pages. You will leave this book with a deeper knowledge about the history of horses on Cumberland Island, the life of sea turtles, and how wildlife integrates into our lives on the island. But we hope you find even more to take home from this book too. As you can tell from these stories, this is a place worth visiting and revisiting, worth savoring and saving. It is books like this one that help unite us in efforts to protect the natural splendor of Amelia Island. In keeping with that theme, Keep Nassau Beautiful, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that seeks to preserve the beauty of our natural environment through their many excellent programs, will receive all proceeds from the book sales. Find out more about them at here.