After Rae's ear is shot off by a jittery security guard at the health food store, the insurance settlement allows her to take a year off from teaching. She spends it volunteering at the Los Angeles Zoo. These days, except for her best friend Jennie, Rae has little use for human beings. She loves cats–lots of cats, and the refugee she cares for, airlifted from Afghanistan to safety, is not a person but a mountain goat.As the US goes to war and baboons fall deeply, tragically, in lov...

Two households on a back road: a devastated family and an apocalyptic cult. Here are people driven to the edge, forced to draw the line that can't be crossed and learn what happens after you cross it.

When a research institute in the Mojave Desert falls under suspicion in the aftermath of 9/11, a Turkish hydrogeologist is "in the wind"; the American office manager is detained as a material witness; a Mexican herpetologist needs to find a place of safety; a US college dropout must decide if violence is the answer; DIY citizen-scientists conduct unconventional experiments; and an FBI specialist, born in a refugee camp in Africa, proves his loyalty to his adopted country.How do the...

Stories that affirm the indelible bond among humans and animalsThe relationships among human and non-human animals go back to the beginning of time—and the ways in which these relationships have evolved (and sometimes not) is the inspiration for this collection of contemporary short fiction, penned by writers from across the globe.This diverse collection of stories explores the ways in which we live among—and often in conflict with—our non-human counterpart...

A near death experience leaves a coldly rational neurosurgeon haunted by that moment of transcendence. In search of unearthly light, Dr. Martin Singer descends into the dark. A price will be paid by his family, a soldier gravely injured in Vietnam, and the two nurses he can't get out of his increasingly troubled mind."The best OR nurse can become part of one's body and mind. The author of this intensely dramatic tale understands that as well as the harm done by emotional withdr...

Number One New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown returns with another suspenseful thrillerDr. Emory Charbonneau, a paediatrician and marathon runner, disappears on a mountain road in North Carolina. By the time her husband Jeff, miffed over a recent argument, reports her missing, the trail has grown cold. Literally. Fog and ice encapsulate the mountainous wilderness and paralyze the search for her.While police suspect Jeff of 'instant divo...

This collection of short stories & photos is about the author's zookeeping experiences while working as animal habitat manager at Grandfather Mountain in Linville, NC. In this delightful book ... meet Nola the Magician, an otter too curious for her own good, who performs a Houdini-like disappearance; Carolina and Dakota, two bear pranksters who always steal the show; Wilma the bald eagle who fiercely guards her precious wooden egg; and Heidi the deer, who always makes a pest of herself at ...

Antiques-shop clerk Maggie O'Neill was a little weirded out when she discovered her new boss Felicity was a witch. But when Felicity becomes the suspect in a local murder, Maggie must enlist Felicity's wiccan friends for help--and discover her own spellbinding talent.

People love their pets--cats more so than any other (or so the cats would like to think). And if there is anything cat-lovers enjoy almost as much as stroking their beloved feline friends, it's reading about cats. In the tradition and style of her previous smash hits, Callie Smith Grant brings readers a brand-new collection of uplifting stories about the amazing creatures that warm our hearts--and our laps! With stories from Melody Carlson, Jill Eileen Smith, Robert Benson, Kathi ...

THE BABY MISSIONAn illegal adoption ring–using kidnapped babies–has to be stopped. To gather the necessary evidence, U.S. marshal Serena Summers goes undercover–as a married woman desperate for a baby. Her "husband" is her own partner, U.S. marshal Josh McCall, whom Serena blames for her brother's death. How can she act like a loving wife when she has to constantly fight her feelings for a man she isn't sure she can trust? The closer they get to unraveling the dark web of deceit, t...

**The acclaimed second collection of poetry by Patricia Lockwood, Booker Prize finalist author of the novel No One Is Talking About This and the memoir PriestdaddySELECTED AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times * The Boston Globe * Powell’s * The Strand * Barnes & Noble * BuzzFeed * Flavorwire“A formidably gifted writer who can do pretty much anything she pleases.” – The New York Times Book Review**Colloquial and ...

Whether we live in cities, suburbs, or villages, we are encroaching on nature, and it in one way or another perseveres. Naturalist Susan Shetterly looks at how animals, humans, and plants share the land—observing her own neighborhood in rural Maine. She tells tales of the locals (humans, yes, but also snowshoe hares, raccoons, bobcats, turtles, salmon, ravens, hummingbirds, cormorants, sandpipers, and spring peepers). She expertly shows us how they all make their way in an ever-changing ha...