The story opens on a man named Jacob Long, who’s carrying his infant daughter in a blizzard, encountering a great beast called a skinwalker, which gains different powers depending on what pelts it acquires. The creature protects the child when a pack of monsters attack. Readers soon learn that the monsters are under the control …
Ella remembers certain incidents with embarrassment—most notably an episode in kindergarten that resulted in her mother deciding to home-school her and an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts at a friend’s birthday party that necessitated a trip to the ER. Ella desperately hopes she’s starting to outgrow the allergies and, with her mother’s permission, returns to school. …
Political scientist McMahon opens with the most consequential single Supreme Court decision in our time: Dobbs, which overturned Roe v. Wade, undoing “a constitutional right that had been in the law books for nearly fifty years.” The decision scarcely elicited comment from the ruling majority and barely any dissent. The decision, notes the author, was …
The tots in this book embark on wild flights of fancy. The space between two coats in a closet becomes a window. A bookshelf with stuffed animals is transformed into a zoo. A picnic table doubles as a boat and a train. Concise sentences describe each scene: “This is an office. And now it’s a …
Fourteen-seasons-old Ogma guards the walls surrounding her village, like all the children who live there do. They keep a dense fog at bay, one that leaves the kids alone but somehow spirits away the adults. So, it’s the children, many of whom are younger than Ogma, who protect the older villagers. While the menacing fog, …
On April 16, 2014, the ferry MV Sewol capsized off the coast of South Korea, resulting in the deaths of more than 300 passengers, including 250 students and 11 teachers on a high school field trip. False reports that the passengers and crew had been rescued, and the lateness of the South Korean coast guard’s rescue …
This compilation includes works previously published in various literary magazines (including the Blue Mesa Review) and journals, such as the Journal of the American Medical Association. It’s split into three sections that appear to represent male youth, adolescence, and adulthood, respectively. They feature 12 emotionally resonant tales of male bonding, adventure, and interpersonal melodrama, primarily …
In some categories, a major component of the brand experience comes from human interaction, such as at premium hotels, restaurants and retailers, to name a few. Brands in these categories need their client-facing employees to be emotionally intelligent, attuned to customers’ needs, knowledgeable about the brand’s offer and motivated to look after customers. Having committed …
Don’t let demographics scare you. You’ve seen the alarming headlines. Sure, the ominous trends are ominous, worthy of headlines. But not determinate. There is more to the story. There is always room for growth. There are two scary trends. Declining fertility rates and an aging population. In other words, a population that is growing more …
In the opener, “Great American Scream Machine,” a teenager named Eva uncovers a secret her parents have kept since she was born: her undocumented status. Later, in “The World as We Know It,” a white couple who call Child Protective Services on their downstairs neighbors inadvertently kick-start the deportation process. In “The Fake Wife,” Chris, …
