Showing results by narrator "Jennifer Van Dyck" in All Categories

Inseparable since childhood, Jack and Gin Rathbone inhabit a world of privilege and eccentricity into which no strangers are permitted. Until, that is, Jack falls passionately in love with Vera Savage: a flamboyant and reckless artist over ten years his senior. When they flee to New York City within weeks of meeting, Gin is forced to witness their relationship unfold from a bruised, bereft distance.

The chase begins when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agent Venus Diamond is summoned by local authorities to the scene of a bloody ambush: Eight men are dead and one woman is missing from one of Canada's prestigious diamond mines. Along with the woman, presumed to be a hostage, one of the world's priceless diamonds, the 384-carat Lac de Lune, has disappeared. The rare blue diamond was recently mined from the Zone Mine Big Jim Hardy and his little mine on the map in the diamond industry.

The honeymoon is over for Seattle Fish and Wildlife agent Venus Diamond. Literally. Hawaii and her new husband must wait while she heads a massive search into the disappearance of a baby in the Bogachiel wildlife preserve. Natives believe the baby was snatched by "the Unknown," a half-man, half-elk creature of Native American lore. Venus suspects the incident may involve a recent elk poachings in the area, and carcasses found with sawed-off hooves.

When eco-terrorists blow up a series of dams crossing the Columbia River, US Fish & Wildlife undercover agent Venus Diamond attempts to find out what happened to her friend and fellow eco-cop Louie Song, believed drowned during the massive explosion at the Priest Rapids Dam. A dead salmon sent to Venus suggests the reason behind the series of dam blasts, and simple logic maps the deadly path that lies ahead, including the potential eco-disaster that could come with blowing up the grandest of them all...

For Fish and Wildlife Agent Venus Diamond, it's the perfect day to investigate a murder. It's foggy and raining on the Olympic Peninsula, Venus's eccentric mother is having trouble with her adopted son Timmy, and her fiancé has just broken off their engagement - by email, no less. What better distraction from this sudden mayhem than a crime scene?

In the savannas of East Africa, where endangered elephants are illegally slaughtered for their ivory, undercover wildlife avenger Venus Diamond faces down a savage band of big game poachers who deserve every bit of what Venus delivers. Might the orphaned elephant calves she rescues portend the gathering menace of rising terror on the other side of the planet?

Nursing heartbreak and a bullet wound, undercover wildlife avenger Venus Diamond has learned all the survival tricks at the government's rehab facility in Hawaii, and has just about decided that life on a tropical beach, however tarnished with disgrace, is tolerable, unlike the real world, where she'd barely survived. Her self-indulgent wallowing is interrupted, though, by the arrest of her stepbrother who's charged with drowning a young girl.

Bill Buford spends a wild night in the park; Jonathan Safran Foer envisions it as a tiny, transplanted piece of a mythical Sixth Borough; and Marie Winn answers definitively Holden Caulfield's question of where the ducks go when the park's ponds freeze over. There are bird sightings and fish sightings; Jackie Kennedy and James Brown sightings; and pieces by Colson Whitehead, Paul Auster, and Francine Prose. This vibrant collection presents Central Park in all its many-faceted glory, a 51-block swath of special magic.

Abby has always considered herself to be a little vanilla - sweet, plain, but not very exciting. So when she finds herself flying across the ocean to London, trying to forget her problems with her cheating ex-boyfriend and her overprotective parents, she figures her semester abroad is her chance to become one big hot fudge sundae. And she isn't disappointed. London boasts a plethora of funky pubs and shops, drivers on the wrong side of the street, French fries called chips, and a very charming Brit named Ian.

Cat Wilcox has left chilly Boston for sunny Mexico and a summer of girl bonding with her best friend, Sabrina. But Sabrina has a surprise. She is accompanied by her boyfriend - a boyfriend Cat didn’t even know existed. So rather than Sabrina and Cat spending their study-abroad semester working together at the orphan school building site, Cat expects she’ll be hammering nails all by her lonesome. Then she meets Aidan. He’s cute, he’s smart, and he’s paying her a lot of attention. Cat can’t tell if he’s flirting or friendly, but she’s not sure it matters.

Swede escape! Calista Swanson has begun her study abroad semester in Stockholm, Sweden, and she couldn’t be happier! There’s finally some distance between her and the constant piano-playing of her annoying sister Suzanne. Calista isn’t at all focused, but she always has her friends, and a boyfriend, by her side. Jonas, who’d been an exchange student at her high school in Wisconsin, lives in Stockholm. He’s the main reason Calista is studying in Sweden. Calista loves Sweden from the moment she arrives, but...why hasn’t Jonas called?

From the outside in, the Devlin family lead almost-perfect lives. Dashing father Nick is a successful businessman long married to sweetheart Jean, who upholds the family home and throws dinner parties while daughter Lily attends Catholic school and is disciplined into modesty by the nuns. Under the surface, however, the Devlins are silently broken by the death of their little boy.

Marina has been waiting her whole life to get out on the open sea. And now she's studying abroad in the Caribbean. She loves the feel of the sun on her face, the sand between her toes, and the island music swaying over her. And even better, she's getting hands-on marine biology experience. But while her experiences tell her she's in exactly the right place, her boyfriend wants her home in Vermont. And her distractingly cute Aussie boatmate couldn't disagree more. As the island heat rises, Marina must decide once and for all where her heart is - on land or at sea.

Daphné loves to spend time with her late husband's family in its sprawling mansion in the South of France. It was there that she spent the happiest years of her life married to Ivan before he died tragically in a domestic accident. Eight years on, she still spends time there with Max, her father-in-law, a famous sculptor who's been a recluse since his son's death; Nelly, the matriarch; and Ivan's siblings.

Caribbean-born novelist Tobias Buckell established himself as a gifted new voice in science fiction with his stunning first novel, Crystal Rain. Now, in his first collection, Buckell demonstrates his strengths in the short form, offering readers a collection of stories that are compelling, smart, wonderfully imagined, and entertaining. Tides from the New Worlds contains 19 stories that range from multicultural science fiction to magical realism, some in print for the first time.

This short story is from the anthology Mitigated Futures. Twelve science fiction stories about the oncoming future, each of them representing a possible glimpse of what could be just around the corner... or much further down the corridor. These stories previously appeared in places like Clarkesworld Magazine, The Year's Best SF, Subterranean Magazine, and in various anthologies. They deal with the future of war, our climate, and technology's effect on our lives.

Vaun, born a peasant in the stinking mud flats of Ult, a thriving colony planet, claws his way to survival and fame by becoming the toughest young officer in the Space Patrol. A veteran of the brutal training academy, he seizes opportunities as they arise, leading the first ship out against a surprise attack by the mysterious Brotherhood. He returns to a hero's welcome as the Brotherhood ship falls to the surface of his home planet in shattered pieces.