Rancher, writer and retired English professor, Dr. Jim Hoy has a new book about life on the great plains. Hoy is also a board member of the Kansas Oral History Project, Inc. He is also a retired English professor at Emporia State who grew up in a ranching family near the Flint Hills town of Cassoday. He is still involved in ranching. As Rex Buchanan points out, "Jim knows Chaucer AND cattle." The book is called Gathering Strays: Stories from Kansas and the Southwestern Plains and is available from the University Press of Kansas. Rex Buchanan's closing comment: "If you've spent much time in Kansas, this book will increase your appreciation for the state's people and their history. And if you're new to Kansas...you'll get a first-class introduction to the place we call home. There's no place like it."