A couple of weeks ago my friend and colleague, John Miller, and I submitted a 50-page book proposal to Ashgate Publishing for a new collection of essays under the working title Transatlantic Literary Ecologies: Nature and Culture in the Nineteenth-Century Anglo-Atlantic World. After a remarkably fast turnaround, we learned this week that the book will be recommended to the Ashgate editorial board for an advance publishing contract. The board will discuss this recommendation at their next meeting, which is due to take place on April 8th. John and I are looking forward to the outcome with high hopes and fingers crossed. More on the book as events unfold…