Heralded by Science Fiction Chronicle as one of the Best Books of 2001. Across the waterworld of Aquasilva, change is being fought and ruthlessly suppressed by the Domain and its ferocious holy warriors, the Sacri. When Cathan, a count's son, inadvertently stumbles across a terrifying Domain plot to wipe out the rising discontent, he is thrust headlong into a fight beyond his control.

From the author of Colter and Where the Sea Used to Be comes a new and diverse collection of short stories.

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice A Rocky Mountain News Best Book of the Year Finalist for the Story Prize
At once expertly crafted and undeniably moving, these ten stories deftly explore our immutable connection with nature. The centerpiece of the collection is the arresting title story, in which a woman alone in her mountain cabin confronts a terminal illness. In the equally remarkable "Her First Elk," the same character recalls her most memorable and significant hunting experience. Set in locations ranging from Montana to Texas to Mississippi, the remaining stories further...

North America's fastest mammal, the pronghorn, can accelerate explosively from a standing start to a top speed of 60 miles per hour - but it can also cruise at 45 miles per hour for many miles. What accounts for the speed of this extraordinary animal, a denizen of the American outback, and what can be observed of this creature's way of life? And what is it like to be a field biologist dedicating twenty years to studying this species? Here, John A. Byers answers these questions as he draws an intimate portrait of the most charismatic resident of the American Great Plains. bison from the brink...

Rick Bass is one of the foremost writers of his generation, charging headlong past the hard surface of modern life to illuminate human beings and their relationship to the natural world. Platte River is a collection of three novellas, each a singular exploration of the human heart set against the backdrop of God's creation. Filled with arresting images-chinook winds flying through a valley, couples skating in the dark on thin ice, tools made from animal bones, a delicate shape frozen in a river-"Mahatma Joe" is about an evangelist who settles in Grass Valley, Montana, and the woman who...

Contemporary essays, literary nonfiction, poetry, short fiction, and excerpted fiction complete this anthology-the first since Paul Jamieson's Adirondack Reoder in more than twenty years-a sampling of some of the most exciting writers of the Adirondack Mountains. In the past twenty years the Adirondacks have inspired a resident population of writers and has gained regional and national prominence using the Adirondacks as their primary setting and subject matter or at least a significant point of departure. This anthology includes a mix of new and previously published works by forty-three...

Outside, where the wind is blowing, we see the world on nature's terms, and we see that it is severely endangered. Turning inward, we seek a sense of connection with nature that could perhaps help us through the current environmental crisis. In this book, some of the most observant Americans of our day explore these outer and inner worlds in powerful pieces that show the vitality and range of contemporary nature writing. John Hay's "A Faire Bay," an original collection of thoughts on the pollution of the Chesapeake, opens the book, and Edward Hoagland's "A Year as It Turns," a group of short...

Rick Bass's dog Colter is the brown dog of the Yaak who charges through the mountain valleys following the scent of game. Bass gives a history of his years with Colter as a way of understanding what is intuitive in his quest to create art

In 2004, journalist Bill Bishop coined the term "the big sort." Armed with startling new demographic data, he made national news in a series of articles showing how Americans have been sorting themselves into alarmingly homogeneous communities -- not by region or by state, but by city and even neighborhood. Over the past three decades, we have been choosing the neighborhood (and church and news show) compatible with our lifestyle and beliefs. The result is a country that has become so polarized, so ideologically inbred that people don't know and can't understand those who live a few miles...