Plant Fiction

According to a 2021 study from the IPCC, conditions of extreme drought are 1.7x more likely than they were 100 years ago. That is, at any given time we are nearly twice as likely to be experiencing an extreme drought than our desert-dwelling ancestors had a century ago. And this problem is not trending in the right direction. Though drought conditions can impact so many areas of our lives, the beauty and diversity of our lawns does not have to be one of them.

Humble, absent-minded Doctor Kinoklevsky, after travailing as a scientific researcher for twenty-odd years, is suddenly excommunicated from the institute he works for because they fear he may actually find a cure for The Plague which would negate all future funding. Rather than despair, he soon realizes he's free to get to the crux of the matter in the privacy of his own apartment/lab.

The year is 1200, well, let’s just say it’s a time of brutal beauty, where the clash of steel echoes through the valleys and the stench of death hangs heavy in the air. Forget the polished tales of valiant knights and virtuous queens.

Rick and Abby grew up together, became best friends, and ultimately fell in love. Circumstance tore them apart in their early teens, though, and they went on to lives less idyllic than they dreamed about in those early days. Rick has had a very successful career, but his marriage flat-lined. Abby has a magical daughter, Paige, but Paige's father nearly destroyed Abby's spirit.

Sansevieria Sam and his plant family move to a new town. Just when Sam gets used to his new school, he meets Oxy, a school bully, who makes his high school experience much less enjoyable. What’s a houseplant to do?

Elise and the Big Bad Plant is a story in which Elise sees a plant with thorns that grows up very quickly after her family has moved to a new house. As the plant grows larger and larger, she wonders about its odd purple flowers and finds it a little scary. Soon she is even dreams about it. So what will happen to Elise and this “big bad plant”?

The rhyme Mary, Mary, quite contrary How does your garden grow? is included with steps for sprouting your own seeds indoors. A bonus of the apple cycle from seed to apple is also included.

Janie Mason just wants to get through the season. She's under enormous pressure at work, her boss is brilliant but self-centered, and the holidays bring up a lot of memories she'd rather leave unremembered. The only thing that's making things tolerable for her right now is that she's getting to work more closely with Bill Sparks, the man she's crushing on, and Jeremy, someone who was just beginning to be a friend pre-lockdown and who has become the only person she can rely on now that everyone is back in the office. January really can't come soon enough.

Welcome to Scaredy Spider! This story takes us into the world of a little clan of tiny spiders who sing their songs of adventure, and one tiny spider in particular, who rolls into a little ball every time a new adventure appears. Until this time, where he finds himself in his own adventure, discovering his true abilities. This story reminds us about how even the scarediest of creatures can take little tiny steps that might even lead to large grand adventures.

Jimmy Kozlowski has a regular gig playing Paul McCartney in the Beatles tribute band Help!. The band is part of a cottage industry built around mimicry, where each group strives to be the ultimate Fake Fab Four. And none strives harder than Help!, thanks to Gene Klein, its John Lennon and leader. Gene's just gotten his Medicare card and spends much of his time caring for his ailing mother. But he hasn't lost a step on guitar or vocals and is determined to take Help! to the top, his goal being to perform in Liverpool one day.

In the 1990s American workplace, survival of the fittest is sometimes less about clawing your way to the top than developing good camouflage. And Audrey Rohmer is doing her very best to blend in as an undistinguished middle manager. Uninspired by her job and uneasy about her father's new marriage, Audrey coasts through the work week leaning on her “partner in apathy”–an admin assistant named Pooter–to keep her relationship with the married head of her department from becoming water cooler gossip.

Andy, a typical twelve-year-old boy living in Stockport, England, is about to embark on an adventure unlike any other. His ordinary life, filled with school, homework, and his two loyal dogs, is about to be turned upside down. The catalyst for this extraordinary journey is a secondhand PlayStation, a gift that seems quite ordinary at first glance.

It is said that money gotten illegally never brings happiness and comfort. Only legal money does. However, sometimes, legal money may also bring some evil incidents. This true story is about a lawyer whose legal profit makes him suffer an undesired and unbelievable situation.

Making the world a greener place is not an easy task, but after Peri finds friendship in an unexpected gift, opportunities begin to sprout. Together, Peri, Lavie, and Snotty will heal the Earth. Will you join them?

Wangari lives in the lush, green land of rural Kenya, where the soil is perfect for planting, the trees tower into the sky and the streams are full of mysterious creatures. All day, she plays beneath her favourite fig tree, and at night, she gathers around the fire with her family to listen to her mother's stories. Then Wangari grows up and goes away to school, and things start changing at home. Farmers chop down the trees. Landslides bury the stream. The soil becomes overworked and dry, and nothing will grow. People go hungry.

Allegra Gordon knew there was much she could learn from Faith Hale. From the moment she met the esteemed writer and feminist icon on the campus of New York's Abigail Stone College, Allegra understood that Faith would be a force in her life, one that would wrench the best work from her and encourage her to lay her soul bare. The relationship that evolved would simultaneously be the most liberating and most shattering Allegra ever encountered. And it would change both women in profound ways.

Jesse Sienna doesn't believe that love can last. His parents' marriage was caring but passionless, and his own romantic history tells him that love can burn bright, but that it cannot burn for long. So when his elderly father, Mickey, moves in with him and seems unable to understand Jesse's no-strings-attached relationship with Marina, his current girlfriend, Jesse barely pays attention. It's just another example of how different they are - and more evidence that he and his father will never connect on any meaningful level.

H Is for Hell is the eighth book in an epic series of 26 horror anthologies. In this book, you will find a collection of 13 horrific tales from some of the most talented independent horror writers on the scene today. Each tale brings to life a different vision of Hell, each unlike anything you have heard before. H Is for Hell will take you to the depths of the Underworld, and you may not return unscathed.

In this instalment, Leah the biology expert and Gustavo the history buff are whisked away on a mission to a forest in North Carolina, USA. There, they meet a botanist working to protect the amazing Venus flytrap - an endangered species of plant - from being stolen by poachers and sold for money. It'll take every bit of brainpower, bravery and expertise that Leah and Gustavo have to stop the poachers and rescue the plants.

ஆ. மாதவனின் சிறுகதைகள் எதார்த்தவாதப் பிரிவைச் சார்ந்தவை. அன்றாட வாழ்வில் நமது பார்வைக்குத் தட்டுப்படும் மனிதர்களும் நிகழ்ச்சிகளுமே அவரது புனைவுலகிலும் இடம்பெறுகின்றன. அவை நமக்குச் சாதாரண மனித நடவடிக்கைகளாக மட்டுமே பார்வையில் பட்டுக் கலைந்து போகின்றன. நமது பார்வைக்கு அகப்படாத அந்த உலகின் இயக்கத்தை மையமாகக் கொண்டது மாதவனின் கலைப்பார்வை.