LISTEN TO THE WOLVES

About the Book

Can a man, alone in the Canadian wilderness, in the depths of the worst winter in memory, surrounded by wolves, survive and fulfill his unique destiny? John has just finished eight grueling years of study in First Nation’s People. His Ph.D. and professorship will happen when he returns from his summer of research and a unique medical mission in the northern reaches of Canada. His background in a small bush town with a legendary bush pilot grandfather raising John gives him a deep understanding of the bush, a strong desire to help the First Nation’s People, and a pilot’s license. Accompanying him, a young doctor, Sky, by chance, is a childhood nemesis, the daughter of a chief and friend of John’s Grandpa Johnny. They competed on every level and she usually won whether it was a foot race or catching the most fish. Separated by differing life trajectories and cultures for ten years they find themselves sharing this summer mission of four months. A wilderness emergency forces Sky’s departure with a patient before the mission is completed. John’s return flight home ends in a sudden violent storm. John crashes and faces the dilemma of a lifetime, break a cardinal rule in the bush – stay with the wreckage until found. John also finds his survival in the unforgiving bush requires him to abandon the conventions of civilization and instead rely on the lore and wisdom of the very people he studies. The apex creature of the wilderness is not man, it’s the wolf. To survive John must ‘listen to the wolves’. But it’s not the haunting howls, the excited yapping of the hunt, or the growls of a pack feeding. It is their harmony, adaptability, and rhythm to the world they live. John must hear their message or perish.

About the Author

Born and raised in rural Woodstock, Illinois, Steve became a teacher and later with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration became an executive director of a municipal association of thirty-five communities. He now works on multiple writing projects in screenplays and novels and enjoys being a professional storyteller. Humble beginnings meant family vacations consisted of piling into a station wagon for a twenty-hour drive to Sioux Lookout, Ontario, Canada to visit members of his mother’s family. Steve grew to love the town in the bush, its local characters, and wildlife. He became enamored with his Uncle Johnny whose life and adventures as a bush pilot were the inspiration for this book. Those vacations and a father who took Steve into the woods and fields to hunt and fish also created an appreciation, respect, and knowledge of our precious eco-systems and a diet that was more wild game than domestic meat. Steve knew, as Aldo Leopold proclaimed, food did not come from the grocery store. Many nights of camping in tents and cabins made him aware that heat did not come from a thermostat. His involvement in environmental areas led to being selected a Conservation Teacher of the Year in Illinois and a Midwest Region Environmental Quality Award recipient. Fulfilling a dream of owning a farm enables Steve to grow foods such as hazelnuts and chestnuts, beautify lives with lavender and sunflowers, contribute to the ag-economy with corn, soybeans, and wheat, warm homes with firewood, and provide many acres of wildflowers/pollinators for both honey and a source of wildlife feed. Soon solar fields will be providing clean renewable sources of electricity for hundreds of homes, decreasing global warming by taking tons of carbons from the atmosphere returning them into the ground, and improving the groundwater with the purifying vegetation.