Fish Science

A short story about an old lighthouse and the secrets that it protects.

It's the beginning of the worst knock-knock joke ever: a dead body, a pregnant vampire, and a murderous ex all show up on the same doorstep. Except this joke happens to be my life. The dead body is a "gift" from the notorious vampire serial killer. Doesn't anyone send flowers anymore? The only upside to his attention is that Nico, a one-eyed werewolf private detective, has decided to assign himself as my personal bodyguard. As if that wasn't enough, I'm also juggling a new cleaning job at a supernatural brothel and trying to hunt down a kidnapped baby.

¿Quién es la criatura más hambrienta en el mar del sur? El camarón antártico puede moverse en cardúmenes y el bacalao azul puede estar cazando para cenar, pero ninguno es lo suficientemente feroz como para estar en la cima de la red trófica. Este es un cuento con sabor a "pescado" sobre quién se come a quién. Los depredadores se vuelven presas y finalmente, sólo un animal llega a la cima. Bucea dentro del rítmico texto y averigua quién podría ser.

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.

So, an elder god hatched, destroying your planet and killing the love of your life. Would you be depressed? Would you want revenge? Would you just go fishing for the big bastard in your spacefaring house off the Iraq Nebula, aided by the inbuilt computer-generated assistant and an alien who crashed into you.... Of course you would.

The lives of five fishermen are forever altered when they embark on a fishing trip together. The trip brings forth an evil that beckons them to the fulfillment of their destinies. When an evil cult attempts to use the fishermen to their own means, a powerful time traveler comes to the rescue, but only after they are first led through a trial of great suffering and despair.

Eight years after a virus has left half of the population of the world mentally unstable, a man named Ethan Chase enters into a program to become a "Sitter", or caretaker, to two "Unstables". One of which, is a girl, a "Mirror", who believes that she leaves for Paris every Sunday and returns on Tuesday and often mimics and repeats the actions of those around her. The other, a highly functioning "Amnesiac" named Noah who is at one moment lucid and the next completely incoherent.

People of the Sturgeon is a history of the lake sturgeon in Wisconsin's Lake Winnebago region, told through a fascinating collection of stories on the culture, art, and science surrounding this mysterious fish. From some of the earliest inhabitants of Wisconsin, the Menominee Indian Tribe, to the spearers who flock to frozen Lake Winnebago for the annual sturgeon spearing season, people have always been drawn to this ancient fish.

Hector lives with his family at the Marina in an Italian coastal town where they organize tourist expeditions to explore the many wonders of the sea. Hector’s dream is to become a deep-sea diver, just like his father. Then, one day, an unscrupulous entrepreneur opens a much newer center next door, forcing them to close their business. This man has a single purpose, to find the legendary Pearl in order to sell it and make money. Hector decides to find a way to thwart the plan and save what matters most to him: the sea, his family, and his dream.

It ranges from the wild waters of the North Atlantic, the ice-filled fjords of Greenland and the remote islands of Faroe to the dining tables of London's middle classes, the bacalao restaurants of Spain and the Jewish shtetls of Eastern Europe. As well as following the historical thread and exploring how very different cultures were drawn together by the salt fish trade, John Goodlad meets those whose lives revolve around the industry in the twenty-first century and addresses today's pressing themes of sustainability, climate change, and food choices.

Kasis is an uninhabitable planet, yet there they were—inhabiting. It’s no wonder that prolonged colonization produced side effects. Or gifts. But with a militarized government that persecutes people for being different, using such a gift could mean certain death. Auburn Alendra is one of the gifted. Her power allows her to hear into the deepest corners of the polluted city, gathering secrets and using them to her advantage. When one of those secrets threatens her very existence—along with thousands of others throughout the city—Auburn must do everything it takes to fight back.

Leslie Starr thought she’d left her past behind when she’d joined the Shifter Federal Bureau of Investigation. Unfortunately, the series of violent crimes she’s investigating in Wyoming appear to target her best friend Grace, head of the SFBI…and the sister of her ex-fiancé, Roger. Leslie’s never fit in with Roger’s wolf pack. She doesn’t do sweet, subservient, or small-town living. The fact that she still burns for Roger doesn’t help, especially now that he’s the alpha of his group and needs to claim a mate.

Dive thirteen thousand feet below the ocean’s surface, where no ray of sunlight can penetrate. Resources are scarce, and fellow inhabitants scarcer. This is life in the midnight zone—life for the anglerfish, known as the Seadevil of the Deep. Still largely a mystery to scientists, the deep-sea anglerfish is a true source of fascination and awe.

The U.S. government's newest top-secret weapon is Sammi, the world's first android, and it's stronger, faster, and smarter than any human. But Sammi has become depressed and unable to work effectively, so the government hires a psychologist, Terra Smithwell, to cure him.

Despite exponential growth in the fishing industry, the global wild fish catch reached a plateau and stagnated. As numerous scientific reports showed, many fish stocks around the world collapsed, creating a genuine global overfishing crisis. Analyzing the ramifications of overfishing for the United States by investigating how fishers, seafood processors, retailers, government officials, and others have worked together to respond to the crisis, historian Mansel G. Blackford examines how these players took steps to make fishing in some American waters sustainable.

The show must go on...even when there's been a murder. I'm Paige Harper and I'm still trying to get back on my feet after being kidnapped. When my housemate, Darron, offers me a gig cleaning at the theater where he's directing his first play, it seems like an easy job. Until the girl playing Titania falls to her death during rehearsal. Of course, I'm gonna help Darron find the murderer. But somehow I also get roped into taking a part on stage too. Even worse, Nico, the one-eyed PI werewolf, joins the cast as well - as my love interest.

How does the First Amendment really work? Is it a principle or a value? What is hate speech and should it always be banned? Are we free to declare our religious beliefs in the public square? What role, if any, should companies like Facebook play in policing the exchange of thoughts, ideas, and opinions? With clarity and power, Stanley Fish explores these complex questions in The First.

In A Fish Rots from the Head Down: Exposing HPCSA Corruption—Dr. Luke Gordon describes the dysfunctional and corrupt Health Professions Council of South Africa. The HPCSA is the medical board which oversees complaints against doctors practising in South Africa. With its draconian stance on treating doctors charged with unprofessional conduct—contrary to common law principles—doctors are deemed guilty until proven innocent.

I’m operating on a low budget with a broken heart until a client makes me an offer I can’t refuse: Go undercover in a sex cult to find his sister. This cleaning lady isn't interested in getting down and dirty, but I could use the getaway. At first, the cult only seems interested in bringing humans and supes together...in bed. But I quickly discover there's way more than just group orgies happening here. Despite preaching peace and love, I suspect their real aim is to force their own brand of sexual healing onto the rest of the world.

Why a saltwater aquarium? There's nothing more spectacular than the diversity of the ocean. A saltwater aquarium setup allows you to bring a little sample of that spectacle into your own living room. Compared to plain freshwater tanks (which commonly contain goldfish and other lake-bred varieties of fish), there are many more options if you're planning to choose a saltwater aquarium setup. The fish and other ocean creatures you'll be able to host range from beautiful to fascinating to downright weird, some displaying flashy colors while others exude a quiet grace.