Charles Bailus has written mostly user manuals and letters to newspaper editors. Still, he doesn’t chase publication for money or fame. He writes because he has a vision.

On a trip from Sydney, BC, to Seattle, WA, he saw it clearly, like something waiting just out of reach. A young woman rode atop a giant snail. He tried to shake it loose. He couldn’t. The image stayed.

He believed the vision carried a warning. It pushed back against our stubborn drive toward a single-species planet.

In his youth, he flew planes. Then a dead-stick, downwind landing ended the idea of flying for a living. He never looked back.

He has also sailed the coastline from San Diego, CA, to San Francisco in a small racing sailboat, the Columbia Saber, powered by a four-horsepower Seagull outboard.