A Cold Night For Alligators

A thrilling Knopf New Face of Fiction debut, A Cold Night for Alligators takes the reader on a breathtaking ride through the seedy, sensual Florida Everglades, unravelling a mystery at the heart of which lies a devastating family secret. Twenty-six-year-old Jasper hasn't seen or heard from his older brother, Coleman, in over ten years. Not since Coleman walked through the back gate one morning, leaving behind a distraught family concerned by his increasingly outlandish behaviour. Now Jasper's life has come to an impasse — he has settled into a rather stultifying existence as a corporate drone, living with a girlfriend he doesn't quite know how to break up with. Until a freak accident and strange phone call change everything. With little more to go on than a random phone call, Jasper follows his brother's trail southward into the Florida Everglades where a family mystery from his childhood may hold the key to Coleman's disappearance. Accompanied by brawny, devout Donny and the extremely eccentric Duane, Jasper embarks on a series of misadventures involving a gorgeous swamp moll, an estranged aunt and alligator poachers as he gets deeper into his search for his brother. All roads seem to lead to Uncle Rolly Lee, a rock-and-rolling swamp rat whose rather rough exterior belies an even rougher interior. Can Jasper uncover the secrets of the past and find his brother before he gets mired in the swamp and the machinations of Rolly Lee? Populated with unforgettable characters and a suspense-filled story at its heart, A Cold Night for Alligators is a first novel about loss, hope and the ties that bind family together.

A determined CDC epidemiologist goes rogue to tackle a mysterious outbreak in Savannah, only to find himself entangled with a pair of urban explorers and a dangerous, tortured soul in an abandoned theme park where dark forces stir.

Having survived since the Mesozoic era, alligators teetered on the brink of extinction in the 1960s. Their recovery in the 1970s was largely due to legislative intervention, and today populations are closely monitored throughout their range. American Alligator is the most up-to-date and comprehensive treatment of this resilient relic, a creature with a brain weighing less than half an ounce that has successfully adapted to a changing Earth for more than 200 million years. Kelby Ouchley chronicles the evolution of A. mississippiensis from "shieldcroc"--the last common ancestor of modern-day alligators, crocodiles, caimans, and gavials--to its current role as keystone of the ecological health of America's southern swamps and marshes. In Florida, the apex predator uses its snout and feet to clear muck from holes in the limestone bedrock. During the dry season, these small ponds or "alligator holes" provide refuge, food, and water for a variety of wildlife. In Louisiana, millions of dollars are spent on the bounty of the non-native nutria that overgraze marsh vegetation, but alligators prey on these coastal rodents free of charge. The loss of the American alligator would be a blow to biodiversity and an ecosystem disruption affecting all levels of the food chain. While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed it from the endangered species list in 1987 and today regulates the legal trade of the animal and its products, Ouchley cautions us not to forget the lessons learned: human activities, from urban development to energy production, can still threaten the future of the gator and its southern wetland habitat.

The clock was nearing midnight when John Parradine heard the knock at the door. "Now who could that be on such a stormy night?" he mused, and summoning the maid, said, "Bela Lou, go see." --excerpt from "Brainstorming," one of ten adventures in "Out of Texas," in which a cat-turned-human explores the world of men for reasons all his own. If you're a fan of old dark houses, lost civilizations, and pretty princesses in peril... If you like crazed villains with their fiendish plans to conquer the world... If you've ever wondered what would happen in a fight between a robot and a cabbage... Or what to do when feminist basketballs attack... If you want the real truth behind the extraterrestrial origins of Texas... Or if you just don't like Dallas, Then "Out of Texas" is for you. "Out of Texas"--it's about God, Texas, professional wrestling, and rock'n'roll--and a lot of other things as well. "Hold's stuff belongs right up there between Ernest Hemmingway and Robert E Howard--on an alphabetical bookshelf." --Basil Sage, "The Rosemary Times"

Driving to their Muskoka cottage with her son Davey, on a snowy afternoon, Kate Chandlers sole purpose is to get the shattered kitchen window fixed, (a window broken by vandals). Unknown to Kate, coming along behind her are Angel Baby, who wants to kill her Dr. Patrick ONeal, who wants to save her Mark Duncan, who wants to renew their old friendship And Nick DeLuca, who wants to be a helpful cop, and save everyone. Back in Toronto, Lester and Sonny want to find some excitement Paige Chandler just wants to get home safely from choir practice, on the stormiest night of the year. And Jill, well Jill just wants to take good care of the Chandler kids and cats. With a gun, a knife, a date-rape drug, open water on a frozen lake, and an unforgiving blizzard, there was just too much opportunity for evil. Could Kate and Davey possibly make it through that Cold Night in Hell?

"Alligators" offers a selection of 160 of Strawn's photographs in a unique book that combines art, science, history, folklore, land ethics, and literature to tell the story of America's southern landscape and one of its most evocative creatures.

In this devilishly clever collection of short fiction, renowned humorist Owen Egerton leads us on a wildly surprising, darkly comic, and often heart-wrenching ride into the terrible beauty of life's end. With razor wit and compassionate insight, Egerton has a crafted a work that brilliantly explores the pain and wonder of life, knowing that with the turn of any corner death could be panhandling for your soul.