Animal fables have been a passion of mine for decades. My first book, published in 1992, was titled Lakota and Dakota Animal Wisdom Stories. In 2000 I took a research trip to India to research a book of Buddhist animal fables based on the ancient Buddhist scripture, the Jatakas, that told stories of the previous lives of the Buddha, many times in animal form. This research led to the books Buddhist Animal Wisdom Stories and When the Buddha was an Elephant. A few years later, I did a book of Taoist animal fables, The Show-off Monkey and other Taoist Tales.
I have a small travel trailer permanently parked in the remote mountains east of Boise, Idaho. I use this rustic retreat two days a week to escape the city. Over the years, I have fallen in love with the critters of the area, and it was natural to create a book using them as the characters. I am the “Old Man” character in the stories. About a third of the fables are originals from my interaction with the wildlife; the remaining are inspired by my work with Asian and Greek fables; I significantly transformed these ancient characters into “my” animals and, many times, my sense of humor.

paintings are acrylic on paper, 12" X 12"
(most of the work in this project is available for exhibition or sale — contact markwmcginnis@gmail.com)
click on book cover >Amazon