The Devil's Teeth

The Devil's Teeth
Author: Susan Casey
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2006-05-30
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1466800518

A journalist's obsession brings her to a remote island off the California coast, home to the world's most mysterious and fearsome predators--and the strange band of surfer-scientists who follow them Susan Casey was in her living room when she first saw the great white sharks of the Farallon Islands, their dark fins swirling around a small motorboat in a documentary. These sharks were the alphas among alphas, some longer than twenty feet, and there were too many to count; even more incredible, this congregation was taking place just twenty-seven miles off the coast of San Francisco. In a matter of months, Casey was being hoisted out of the early-winter swells on a crane, up a cliff face to the barren surface of Southeast Farallon Island-dubbed by sailors in the 1850s the "devil's teeth." There she joined Scot Anderson and Peter Pyle, the two biologists who bunk down during shark season each fall in the island's one habitable building, a haunted, 135-year-old house spackled with lichen and gull guano. Two days later, she got her first glimpse of the famous, terrifying jaws up close and she was instantly hooked; her fascination soon yielded to obsession-and an invitation to return for a full season. But as Casey readied herself for the eight-week stint, she had no way of preparing for what she would find among the dangerous, forgotten islands that have banished every campaign for civilization in the past two hundred years. The Devil's Teeth is a vivid dispatch from an otherworldly outpost, a story of crossing the boundary between society and an untamed place where humans are neither wanted nor needed.

The Argonaut

The Argonaut
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 428
Release: 1921
Genre: San Francisco (Calif.)
ISBN:

Paladin's Grace

Paladin's Grace
Author: T. Kingfisher
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2023-11-21
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0356524302

'Funny, frightening, and full of heart; I loved it' Alix E. Harrow, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January on Nettle & Bone Whilst foraging for startleflower, perfumer Grace finds herself pursued by ruffians and rescued by a handsome paladin in shining armour. Only, to outwit her hunters they have to pretend to be doing something very unrespectable in an alleyway. Stephen, a broken paladin, spends his time knitting socks and working as a bodyguard, living only for the chance to be useful. But that all changes when he saves Grace and witnesses an assassination attempt gone wrong. Now, Stephen and Grace must navigate a web of treachery and poisoners, while a cryptic killer stalks one step behind. Perfect for fans of Legends and Lattes, Paladin's Grace is a darkly whimsical fantasy featuring sock-knitting paladins, badass perfumers, courtroom hijinks and heart-racing romance, from Nebula and two-time Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher. Praise for T. Kingfisher: 'T. Kingfisher solidifies her place as natural and inevitable heir to the greats of her genre, while remaining clearly and unquestionably a unique voice in fantasy' Seanan McGuire 'Exciting, deeply wise, sad, brutal and compassionate all at once. And beautifully written, with a plot as cunning as fine embroidery' Catriona Ward 'Creepy, funny, heartfelt, and full of fantastic characters I absolutely loved' Melissa Caruso, author of The Tethered Mage "Nettle & Bone brings Kingfisher's signature honesty and authenticity to a fairy tale setting: the result is refreshing, earnest but not naive, and deeply satisfying. I devoured it. This is one that's going to stay with me for a long time' Sarah Gailey, author of Magic for Liars 'A delight throughout' Louisa Morgan, author of A Secret History of Witches 'T. Kingfisher uses the bones of fairy tale to create something entirely her own, written in gloriously clear and transparent prose' Emily Tesh, author of Some Desperate Glory 'Funny, frightening, and full of heart; I loved it' Alix E. Harrow, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January 'Charming and macabre, often both at the same time' A. K. Larkwood, author of The Unspoken Name 'Absolutely delightful and full of charm and truth' Naomi Novik, on Thornhedge

Demon Fish

Demon Fish
Author: Juliet Eilperin
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2011-06-14
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0307379795

A group of traders huddles around a pile of dried shark fins on a gleaming white floor in Hong Kong. A Papua New Guinean elder shoves off in his hand-carved canoe, ready to summon a shark with ancient magic. A scientist finds a rare shark in Indonesia and forges a deal with villagers so it and other species can survive. In this eye-opening adventure that spans the globe, Juliet Eilperin investigates the fascinating ways different individuals and cultures relate to the ocean’s top predator. Along the way, she reminds us why, after millions of years, sharks remain among nature’s most awe-inspiring creatures. From Belize to South Africa, from Shanghai to Bimini, we see that sharks are still the object of an obsession that may eventually lead to their extinction. This is why movie stars and professional athletes go shark hunting in Miami and why shark’s fin soup remains a coveted status symbol in China. Yet we also see glimpses of how people and sharks can exist alongside one another: surfers tolerating their presence off Cape Town and ecotourists swimming with sharks that locals in the Yucatán no longer have to hunt. With a reporter’s instinct for a good story and a scientist’s curiosity, Eilperin offers us an up-close understanding of these extraordinary, mysterious creatures in the most entertaining and illuminating shark encounter you’re likely to find outside a steel cage.

Moonglow

Moonglow
Author: Michael Chabon
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2016-11-22
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 006222557X

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Winner of the Sophie Brody Medal • An NBCC Finalist for 2016 Award for Fiction • ALA Carnegie Medal Finalist for Excellence in Fiction • Wall Street Journal’s Best Novel of the Year • A New York Times Notable Book of the Year • A Washington Post Best Book of the Year • An NPR Best Book of the Year • A Slate Best Book of the Year • A Christian Science Monitor Top 15 Fiction Book of the Year • A New York Magazine Best Book of the Year • A San Francisco Chronicle Book of the Year • A Buzzfeed Best Book of the Year • A New York Post Best Book of the Year iBooks Novel of the Year • An Amazon Editors' Top 20 Book of the Year • #1 Indie Next Pick • #1 Amazon Spotlight Pick • A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • A BookPage Top Fiction Pick of the Month • An Indie Next Bestseller "This book is beautiful.” — A.O. Scott, New York Times Book Review, cover review Following on the heels of his New York Times bestselling novel Telegraph Avenue, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon delivers another literary masterpiece: a novel of truth and lies, family legends, and existential adventure—and the forces that work to destroy us. In 1989, fresh from the publication of his first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon traveled to his mother’s home in Oakland, California, to visit his terminally ill grandfather. Tongue loosened by powerful painkillers, memory stirred by the imminence of death, Chabon’s grandfather shared recollections and told stories the younger man had never heard before, uncovering bits and pieces of a history long buried and forgotten. That dreamlike week of revelations forms the basis for the novel Moonglow, the latest feat of legerdemain from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon. Moonglow unfolds as the deathbed confession of a man the narrator refers to only as “my grandfather.” It is a tale of madness, of war and adventure, of sex and marriage and desire, of existential doubt and model rocketry, of the shining aspirations and demonic underpinnings of American technological accomplishment at midcentury, and, above all, of the destructive impact—and the creative power—of keeping secrets and telling lies. It is a portrait of the difficult but passionate love between the narrator’s grandfather and his grandmother, an enigmatic woman broken by her experience growing up in war-torn France. It is also a tour de force of speculative autobiography in which Chabon devises and reveals a secret history of his own imagination. From the Jewish slums of prewar South Philadelphia to the invasion of Germany, from a Florida retirement village to the penal utopia of New York’s Wallkill prison, from the heyday of the space program to the twilight of the “American Century,” the novel revisits an entire era through a single life and collapses a lifetime into a single week. A lie that tells the truth, a work of fictional nonfiction, an autobiography wrapped in a novel disguised as a memoir, Moonglow is Chabon at his most moving and inventive.

The Bladed Faith

The Bladed Faith
Author: David Dalglish
Publisher: Orbit
Total Pages: 488
Release: 2022-04-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0759557098

A usurped prince prepares to take up the mantle of a deadly assassin and reclaim his kingdom, his people, and his slain gods in this epic fantasy from a USA Today bestselling author. Cyrus was only twelve years old when his gods were slain, his country invaded, and his parents—the king and queen—beheaded in front of him. Held prisoner in the invader's court for years, Cyrus is suddenly given a chance to escape and claim his revenge when a mysterious group of revolutionaries comes looking for a figurehead. They need a hero to strike fear into the hearts of the imperial and to inspire and unite the people. They need someone to take up the skull mask and swords and to become the legendary "Vagrant"—an unparalleled hero and assassin of otherworldly skill. But all is not as it seems. Creating the illusion of a hero is the work of many, and Cyrus will soon discover the true price of his vengeance.