“Paleontology is one of the most familiar and accessible of all sciences,” Roy Plotnick proclaims. Why? Dinosaurs, of course. Drawn in as children, a lucky few get the chance to make a career out of serendipitous fossil discoveries.... Read More

Set in the near future, Mark S. Johnson’s ominous novel "Though the Earth Gives Way" imagines American life in the wake of climate disasters. Elon—alone in a desolate, looted, and ravaged landscape with his thoughts and a shopping... Read More

In Fiona Snyckers’s dark and riveting novel "Lacuna", a young South African woman struggles in the aftermath of a gang rape. Lucy Lurie’s brutal assault is a personal tragedy and the perceived pivotal event of John Coetzee’s novel... Read More

A man grapples with his past and his racial identity in Paulo Scott’s novel "Phenotypes". Federico and his brother Lourenço are both Black. But Federico, being light-skinned, escapes much of the prejudice that Lourenço faces. These... Read More

Anthropocentrism and the untrammeled exploitation of Earth’s resources leads to climate and environmental crises, but "Becoming Rooted" charts an alternate path, prescribing a more sustainable, Indigenous American worldview of the... Read More

In Susan May Warren’s novel about a steady, fated romance, "Sunrise", a prodigal son returns to the shadow of Denali to take up the mantle of a bush pilot, all while confronting memories of the woman he left behind. After his estranged... Read More

A man learns, too late, the price of colonial ambition in Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu’s novel "The History of Man". From a young age, Emil was encouraged to become “a man of history,” a man who could further the aspirations of empire and... Read More

Ordinary people are haunted by loss and grief in Shahriar Mandanipour’s short story collection "Seasons of Purgatory". In these stories, death is a constant companion. For some, it has already come and gone, leaving survivors to cope... Read More