Meet an unusually gifted girl, a timid weasel, and a great and powerful lake. Spirit Girl, on the threshold of adulthood, hikes solo through a forest to a mysterious pond. Little Stone’s weasel family sends him into the high mountains to face the unknown and return as a leader of his village. And in I Am Lake, the disappearance of Pumas feeds Lake's determination to protect herself and those who live within and around her waters. Illustrations by David Stout "This book is for the adventurer who dreams beyond the practical, who is enchanted by the magical, and who believes in the spiritual power of our relationship with nature.” — Bev Magennis, Ceramic Artist and Author of Alibi Creek , Desplazado , Nothing Fancy , and Equity In Puma Stories, Gail Springer guides us on three fantastical journeys through a natural/mystical world. Touch, smell, joy, love, and fear seduce the reader into engaging with creatures who possess both animal and human qualities. Springer's imagination knows no bounds. Natural phenomena and landscape are exquisitely described and imbued with thoughts and feelings. A pond morphs into a woman. A weasel embarks on a rite of passage and discovers he is stronger when paired with a best friend. A lake invites us to share its identity. This book is for the adventurer who dreams beyond the practical, who is enchanted by the magical, and who believes in the spiritual power of our relationship with nature. — Bev Magennis, Ceramic Artist and Author of Alibi Creek , Desplazado , Nothing Fancy , and Equity In Puma Stories we have three mythical tales of elementals, rooted firmly in earth, light, wind and water. Each is a tale of vitality, adventure, and of being ecstatically present and attuned to nature. — Regina McBride, Author of Stranger from Across the Sea Gail Springer's latest work, Puma Stories, continues a theme of her writing, that undergirding the life cycles of the creatures and living things on our planet is a robust spirituality. The writer takes three bites at this apple in her story trilogy. It's satisfying to know enlightenment is also hard for the elements. There is warmth and mystery in these stories to engage readers of all ages. — Jim Linnell, Author of Take it Lying Down , Walking on Fire , and on Substack "Give A Dog A Bone" My six-year-old grandson creates imaginary worlds every day, worlds he enters through invisible portals with the wave of a sword or a plastic tube of glitter. Best of all, he takes me with him on his escapades through the rooms of our home, or through the trees and on the paths of our desert surroundings. It is serious business, this transformation into superheroes or talking cars or animals. And though few adults run through a house yelling lines from a book or movie, most of us generate impressively high-level magic within our minds when we read fiction, projecting ourselves into the book's adventures and living through the characters' joys and sorrows as though they were our own. Puma Stories springs from experiences I've had in nature. Little Stone was born while I was hiking in the mountains above Las Trampas, New Mexico. I came upon a beautiful young weasel poised on the side of the trail. His eyes met mine, I held my breath and tried not to blink. Neither of us moved, though in my mind I was shouting, "Stay! Don't go, don't go!" What was he thinking? The moment passed, and he melted into the forest. The setting for  Spirit Girl   was inspired by another moment in the woods. It was late fall, and I awakened to the first winter storm. I hiked a trail in the Sangre De Cristo mountains above the San Luis Valley under a clear blue sky, for the storm had blown out as quickly as it had blown in. Some of the aspens still held onto their golden red leaves. The forest floor, which had been littered with leaves before the storm, was covered in three or four inches of high-altitude powder snow, so light that the fallen leaves gleamed up through the snow like orange beacons. Like Spirit Girl, who I had yet to imagine, I dug down into the snow to collect those gold coins and stash them in my pockets."   I Am Lake springs from the years I swam and played on Lake Michigan. The sand dunes formed a protective barrier between my family's cottage and the lake's storms. Even in summer, Lake Michigan projected a powerful presence, gentle then violent, so like my own childhood emotions. Some nights, safe but wide awake in my bed, the wind's howls drove me to hide my head under my blankets till dawn. After breakfast in the light of day, I'd run down to the beach to see what mischief the wind had caused, to wonder at how far the lake's waves had flowed, how close to flooding our cottage. To my relief and a secret disappointment, the dunes always stood strong, the wind calmed, the clouds cleared, and Lake Michigan retreated. I hope Puma Stories and David Stout's gorgeous images are a source of inspiration for you, and that reading this vi