Whether it’s a breath-taking mountaintop or a humble backyard, nature gets inside the souls of Mainers.

For high school senior Amanda Guay of Bradley, it’s her dad’s hunting camp, a spot that’s just a four-wheeler drive away from home, a place where she has been going all her life.

Guay is one of 76 authors who share their connections to nature in a new book of essays called “Maine Voices: A Celebration of the People of Maine and the Places They Love.” A joint effort of The Wilderness Society and the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, the book went on the shelves at local stores in May.

The idea was to convince people of all ages, hometowns and political persuasions to share their common love of the Pine Tree State.

“I think there are just a handful of states that [still] have that deep connection to place,” Jeremy Sheaffer, The Wilderness Society’s Maine Projects director and a “Maine Voices” organizer. The book includes stories of hunting trips and of heartbreak at watching a dead bird fall to the ground. It tells of logging in the North Woods and canoeing through wilderness. It talks of the solitude of a snowy forest and the strong links to friends and family that are forged outdoors.

“The experiences are so vast,” says Sheaffer who was drawn to Maine because of its wealth of natural resources. “The one connection is that they all just absolutely love the Maine outdoors.”

Gov. John Baldacci, The Wilderness Society and Maine Writers & Publishers will mark the release of “Maine Voices” by jointly hosting a reception at 10 a.m. Friday, June 18, in the State Capitol Building in Augusta. The public is invited to attend.

Sheaffer says essays were chosen for the quality of the writing, but also for the diversity in the authors and the stories they tell.

“There was no good or bad,” he says. “We didn’t necessarily care how you said it. We just wanted to hear what you had in your heart, in your gut.”

The effort drew nearly 2,000 essays – many more than the 76 full pieces and 86 excerpts featured in the book.

“This just took on a life of its own,” Sheaffer recalls.

Its creators didn’t intend for “Maine Voices” to be a moneymaker. If the book does turn a profit, the revenue will be used to continue the project and perhaps publish a book of essays written by school children.

Sheaffer says the idea is to bring Mainers together, regardless of their varied opinions on preserving Maine’s wilderness, bear-baiting, snowmobiling and other issues.

“We took all the politics out of it,” he says. “It was just Mainers talking about Maine.”

For more information or to order a copy directly from the publisher, e-mail mainevoices@tws.org. Misty Edgecomb can be reached at 990-8250 and medgecomb@bangordailynews.net.