Ten Thousand Islands

Government agent-turned-marine biologist Doc Ford sails an endless sea of questions when he agrees to investigate a death from the past. Years ago, off Florida’s Gulf Coast, a teenaged girl found an ancient gold medallion. Then, she began having nightmares. Then she was found hanging from a tree. Now, years later, the girl’s mother is being terrorized with break-ins, phone calls with no one there—and her daughter’s grave has been dug up. Somebody wants that medallion. The search for answers will lead Doc through a shadowy world of ancient ritual and modern corruption, to an evil that was born in the past—but lives in the present…

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • “Altogether gripping, shocking, and brilliantly told, not just a tour de force in its stylistic range, but a great American novel, as powerful a reading experience as nearly any in our literature.”—Michael Dirda, The New York Review of Books Killing Mister Watson, Lost Man’s River, and Bone by Bone—Peter Matthiessen’s great American epic about Everglades sugar planter and notorious outlaw E. J. Watson on the wild Florida frontier at the turn of the twentieth century—were originally conceived as one vast, mysterious novel. Now, in this bold new rendering, Matthiessen has marvelously distilled a monumental work while deepening the insights and motivations of his characters with brilliant rewriting throughout. Praise for Shadow Country “Magnificent . . . breathtaking . . . Finally now we have [this three-part saga] welded like a bell, and with Watson’s song the last sound, all the elements fuse and resonate.”—Los Angeles Times “Peter Matthiessen has done great things with the Watson trilogy. It’s the story of our continent, both land and people, and his writing does every justice to the blood fury of his themes.”—Don DeLillo “The fiction of Peter Ma­­tthiessen is the reason a lot of people in my generation decided to be writers. No doubt about it. Shadow Country lives up to anyone’s highest expectations for great writing.” —Richard Ford “Shadow Country, Matthiessen’s distillation of the earlier Watson saga, represents his original vision. It is the quintessence of his lifelong concerns, and a great legacy.”—W. S. Merwin “[An] epic masterpiece . . . a great American novel.”—The Miami Herald

Fifteen years ago, in the labyrinth of mangrove, sawgrass, and swamp called the Ten Thousand Islands, off Florida's Gulf coast, a young girl unearthed a four-hundred-year-old gold medallion, a relic of the Calusa Indians. Then she began having nightmares. And then she was found hanging from the limb of a tree.An accident, ruled the coroner, but now marine biologist Doc Ford isn't so sure. Strange things have been happening recently, the girl's mother tells him. Her home was broken into; the phone rings and there's no one there; and, worst of all, her daughter's grave has been dug up. Someone suddenly wants that medallion -- but why, and why now? The search for the answers will lead Ford into a labyrinth of another kind, a maze of ancient ritual and modern greed, and, finally, to a place of infinite evil....Filled with crackling prose and atmosphere, and some of the best characters in suspense fiction, Ten Thousand Islands is a triumph of storytelling.

Mollusks and Marine Environments of the Ten Thousand Islands provides the first comprehensive overview of the shells and habitats that are present in the last unexplored coastal area of southwestern Florida. The mysterious and primordial Ten Thousand Islands, where the rivers and marshlands of the Everglades empty into the Gulf of Mexico, house a number of remarkable marine ecosystems, many shown here in detail for the first time. Primary among these are unique worm shell “reef systems,” composed entirely of immense masses of vermetid gastropod mollusks. These previously unexplored and unstudied gastropod reefs, which are often many acres in size, are shown here to mimic coral reefs in their growth structure and represent the only large-scale molluscan reefs found anywhere on Earth. Living in association with the zonated gastropod reefs are a number of rare and unusual mollusks, some of which represent endemic species that are unique to the Ten Thousand Islands. These and many other southwestern Florida shells are illustrated throughout this book, along with detailed illustrations and descriptions of the marine and estuarine environments that dominate the archipelago and its adjacent lagoon systems.

Those who have been blessed enough to spend time among the St. Lawrence River's Thousand Islands know its breathtaking beauty and will forever speak of their adventure. You'll read about a family's weekend water skiing, swimming, boating, and best of all, being at peace. These colorful illustrations and playful words will allow you to relive old memories and be inspired to create new ones.