The book "Wings of Soil. Stories from Piraeus, Kokkinia, and Athos" is published by Thermaikos editions. Manolis Vithynos, by "diving" into his memories, offers us a series of true stories that mark the course of his life and shape his character. Stories of simple, everyday people, set against the backdrop of the troubled Kokkinia, the Piraeus of the Occupation and the Civil War, and the mystical Athos, within a web of pure emotions and selfless sacrifice, which ultimately give wings to these beautiful souls...    Excerpt from the book These stories, stories of another time, another era but not at all forgotten, of the time of the great unjust war, the Occupation, the Civil War, and the bitter and difficult years of tortured Greece struggling to stand again with correct steps and with wrong steps, true stories - or almost true - happened in the beloved places where good fortune destined me to live in times past and difficult and happy. In Piraeus, in Kokkinia, now called Nikaia, and in Athos. With these stories, I kept the hope that perhaps some, by reading them, would agree that those people who no one would ever believe could rise higher, above the earthy roads, above the routine of their insignificant daily life, sometimes, with luck but also with incredible will, act unexpectedly, offering even their lives to save or sweeten the lives of others. Many years have passed since then. But I do not count them. I do not reckon them as I often think of them and retell the stories to myself and bring back to life those who lived them and what they did. And the more I learn them, the more I admire them and rejoice. And I rejoice doubly when today and every day, opening both eyes and soul, I discern some souls giving themselves, offering themselves, saving other souls that were about to darken, to be lost. I lived such stories and heard them being told. And I and those who told them believed that the gain from the given lives was great. Truly, I felt that these souls, indeed, grew wings and flew reaching the heavens, serene, calm, happy... Author's Biography Manolis Vithynos was born, raised, and lives in Nikaia, Piraeus, formerly Kokkinia. He is an architect (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), a PhD in Communication (University "Louis Pasteur" Strasbourg), and a former professor of Graphic Arts and Communication. He has worked in public services, supervised the construction of public buildings, and the reconstruction of a section of a monastery on Mount Athos. Inspired by his work at the family printing house, he began systematic studies in Graphic Arts and Communication and authored a series of books, published by the Ministry of Education, the Pedagogical Institute, and the Hellenic Open University. In recent years, his studies focus on Communication and Social Psychology, while he continues an old writing activity. In the 1960s, still a student, he worked as a collaborator at the magazine PROTO with director Giannis Maris, where dozens of his short stories were published with "Neighborhood Stories," "Sea Stories," etc.