Waist Deep in Black Water

Intriguing and well-wrought essays from a southern boy who is a collector of stories, each like a pretty rock gathered from some high place. Lane's pockets are full. His informants are wind and sage, storms and dark water, a love of land, the strange muteness of history. This is a book of searching, traveling through the uncharted territory where the human psyche meets wildness, to glean what lies in the depths of life. Lane's adventures carry us down many unknown and beautiful roads; like the best of journeys, they bring us back to ourselves.

* author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood *

Lane has a fluid eye in a 'world where time moves in more than one direction and no landscape holds steady for long,' and it's energizing to see through that eye, open as it is to both light and darkness.

Let this author take you away from the cacophony of the modern world to the wild places—eons-old settings that remain unchanged. . . . Lane’s collection of eighteen outdoor essays features exquisite descriptions that recall the beauty and mystery of the earth as it must have been in raw and unfettered times. . . . For those seeking escape from the crush of contemporary times, this book leads to sanctuary.

The work of a deep soul . . . The many-sided graciousness of his prose reminds us that the past is not dead, and that 'we don't stand in a line. It's more like a circle, and anyone at anytime can be the center.'

John Lane's essays are each a gem: occurring naturally, apparently effortlessly, but revealing beauty beyond anything man-made. This is a wonderful collection, and Lane is an important American author.

* author of Jewel *

Lane writes with equal measures of wit, wisdom, passion, and humor about natural places that matter to him—a medicine wheel in the Big Horns, a cypress swamp in Florida, a rain forest in Suriname, a barrier island off the coast of Georgia, not to mention the priceless woods and rivers near his home in South Carolina. Like all good nature writers, Lane explores himself as he explores the landscapes that inspire him, and this book is a wonderful account, written with clarity and depth, of his travels within and without. John Lane takes the land seriously. His essays matter.

* author of Another Country: Journeying Toward the Cherokee Mountains *

In this engaging collection of narrative essays, Lane has taken the notion of Southern story telling beyond its immediate boundaries, letting it roam to the cairns of Wyoming, the crocodile lairs of the Yucatan, the cypress swamps of Florida, even the jungles of Suriname. Reflective, attentive to both people and place, naturalist Lane carefully reveals the landscape—of outer geography and inner spirit—that helps define us.

* author of Deep Cuba *

A trek into two realms: wild landscapes that are among the most mysterious and compelling on earth, and the tangled halls of human experience. Lane's writing is casual and honest, but also full of insight. He gracefully accomplishes two of the essayist's most difficult tasks: building a sense of place and revealing the workings of his heart.

* author of Hatteras Journal