Author: Tomás F. Summers Sandoval Jr. NA

Author: Edited by Mark Todd The 2015 theme for Manifest Wests annual anthology is Western Weird. The works in this collection reflect both myths and suspected truths about the part of the United States we call the West. But this years edition focuses entirely on the tradition of the strange. To borrow from Jeff VanderMeers definition for speculative fictions New Weird, this volume creates a new parallel genre for work that subverts the traditional romanticized ideas about place, playing with cliches about the West in order to put these elements to discomfiting, rather than consoling, ends.

Author: Gene Helfman and George H. Burgess Answering every conceivable question about sharks, authors Gene Helfman and George H. Burgess describe the fascinating biology, behavior, diversity, and cultural importance of sharks (there are more than 1,000 species worldwide), their close relations to skates and rays, and their critical role in healthy ecosystems. Helfman and Burgess take readers on a round-the-world tour of shark habitats, which include oceans as well as lakes and even rivers (as far up the Mississippi as St. Louis). They describe huge, ferocious predators like (Great) White and Tiger sharks and species such as Basking and Whale sharks that feed on microscopic prey yet can grow to lengths of more than 40 feet. The mysterious and powerful Greenland shark, the authors explain, reaches a weight of 2,200 pounds on a diet of seal flesh. Small (less than 2-foot long) Cookiecutter sharks attack all of these and even take a chunk out of the occasional swimmer. Despite our natural fascination with sharks, we have become their worst enemy. Many shark species are in serious decline and a number are threatened with extinction as a result of overfishing and persecution. Sharks: The Animal Answer Guide presents a perfect mix of current science, history, anthropology, intriguing facts, and gripping photographs. Whether your fascination with sharks stems from fear or curiosity, your knowledge of these animals will improve immensely when you consult this book.

Author: John Mark Sibley-Jones Fear and brutality grip Columbia, South Carolina, in the harsh winter of 1865 as General William TecumsehSherman continues his fiery march to the sea and advances on the capital city where secession began. John Mark Sibley-Joness By the Red Glare takes us into the lives of representative citizensblack and white, men and women, Confederates and Unionists, civilians and combatants, freed and shackled, sane and insaneon the eve of historic destruction. The Columbia hospital is overcrowded with wounded soldiers from both sides. As word of Shermans advance spreads, old animosities threaten an outbreak of violence in this place of healing. Less than two miles from the hospital stands the Lunatic Asylum, whose yard is occupied by more than twelve hundred federal prisoners guarded by old men and boys too young to join the Confederate army. The most violent madman in the asylum hatches an escape plan that requires the aid of prisoners who, knowing they cannot trust him, nevertheless will risk their lives to gain freedom. In the heart of the city, Confederate leaders gather around a table in the home of General James Chesnut to study a tattered map and plan a battle strategy, only to stare at one another in disbelief as the first sound of cannon fire announces the imminent arrival of Shermans troops. Sibley-Joness riveting story of the collapse of the Confederacy includes a cast of memorable characters: General Wade Hampton, stoic but fierce in his rage; Mary Boykin Chesnut, brilliant but suffering from bipolar disorder, who records the events of the war with eerie devotion; Louisa Cheves McCord, who maintains that slavery is Gods will and who promises to do all in her power to abet the war that took the life of her only son; a slave who vows to kill the man who beat him mercilessly at the whipping post in the town center; two sworn-enemy soldiers who must assist each other in their jaunts to the brothel district at the citys edge; and Joseph Crawford, the hospital steward troubled by his own shifting allegiances as he wonders whether these are the end of days. Rife with literary and historical merits, By the Red Glare is published on the eve of the sesquicentennial of the burning of Columbia, as monumental an episode in Civil War history as any other in the lore-soaked South. The novel includes a foreword by historian Marion B. Lucas, author of Sherman and the Burning of Columbia.