Precisely three and one half years ago I stood up in front of a classroom full of friends and peers and announced, quite confidently, that immediately upon graduating from university I would backpack around the world and write a book of my adventures. Well, they didn’t believe it any more than I did. And yet, “Vagabond Zoo” was published last month. To commemorate the occasion I’m giving away 1000 free e-books at my website.http://www.vagabondzoo.com
There is much to gain by taking some time off and traveling overseas. You learn about perspective and priorities, you learn that we humans are much more alike than we are different. In Australia and New Zealand it’s called a “gap year” – one year away from university to backpack around a favorite continent. It’s as much a part of college life as selling your books for beer money. In Britain, Ireland, even Canada, college students are making time to bounce around the world. It’s part of their culture. Now I’m trying to make it part of the youth culture in the U.S. And being that it’s spring break season the topic of travel is … well, topical.
If you send me an email with the words “free e-book” in the subject I’ll send you a complimentary copy of “Vagabond Zoo.” Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Mistretta
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx BOOK INFO xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Title: Vagabond Zoo
Author and URL: Nicholas Mistrettahttp://www.vagabondzoo.com
Publisher and URL: iUniversehttp://www.iUniverse.com
Publisher address: 2021 Pine Lake RoadSuite 100Lincoln, NE 68512
Publisher e-mail:general.inquiries@iuniverse.com
ISBN: 0-595-75506-2
Formats available: paperback and e-book
Price: paperback – $16.95 e-book – $6.00
Available for purchase at: amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, iUniverse.commany other online book sellers
Number of pages: 200
Genre: travel memoir
Brief excerpt:
The mad rush of vehicles and people finally thinned to a slow trickle, a dripping faucet of faces and sounds. The pulsating waves of humanity, the madness, the chaos, the fuckin’ insanity all went home to sleep for the night. The air was still thick, rancid, petroleum moonlight choking the lungs and inflaming the throat. Only the strongest of stars fought through the midnight cancer.
Milky orange shadows angled along dusty roads dotted with battered pavement. Laundry hung off balconies, while down below an anorexic cow wandered under a streetlamp. The brum rum rum of cars in the distance, the faint sounds of horns, bells and whistles, the lawnmower twang of a single auto rickshaw as it passed down below – the machinery of night. A woman coughed. Generators boomed, shut down and boomed again. Trucks went ronk, ronk, trains chug a lugged through the dynamo of early morning wonder. The concrete jungle was catching its breath for another sunrise filled with seething madness. I climbed to the roof of my hotel and smoked an unfiltered Indian cigarette.
