The Rainy Season
The Rainy Season

Author: James P. Blaylock

Publisher: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.

Published: 2012-07-17

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 1936535718

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It's a gray, wet winter in southern California, and Phil Ainsworth is alone. The sudden death of his young wife has left him shaken, and he gets eerie sensations as he roams around the big, old house he inherited from his mother. He's sure he's seen people snooping around his property, by the old well that, in this wet weather, always seems ready to overflow. How much is real and how much is in his head? That's the question. A late-night phone call brings more bad news: Phil's sister has died, leaving her ten-year-old daughter Betsy an orphan and naming Phil as guardian. It seems like a bad time to bring a child into this unhappy house, but Phil had always promised he'd take care of Betsy - and now she's all the family he has left. What he can't know is that Betsy is a very special child. She has the ability to sense the powerful emotions of the past, to hear voices of the dead, and to see the uncanny powers that are closing in around this house... James P. Blaylock has set the standard for the contemporary ghost story. The Washington Post called him "a master." Dean Koontz has hailed his writing as "first rate." A brilliant blend of psychological insight and unearthly phenomena, The Rainy Season blurs the lines between the past and the present, the living and the dead, fantasy and reality. REVIEWS: "The author of Winter Tides continues to display an uncanny talent for low-key, off-kilter drama, infusing the modern world with a supernatural tint. Blaylock's evocative prose and studied pacing make him one of the most distinctive contributors to American magical realism." -- Library Journal "This may be Blaylock's weirdest yet: intriguing, dramatic, atmospheric." -- Kirkus Reviews

The Rainy Season
The Rainy Season

Author: Maggie Messitt

Publisher: University of Iowa Press

Published: 2015-04

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 1609383273

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The Rainy Season, a work of engaging literary journalism, introduces readers to the remote bushveld community of Rooiboklaagte and opens a window into the complicated reality of daily life in South Africa. It tells the stories of three generations in the Rainbow Nation one decade after its first democratic elections. This multi-threaded narrative follows Regina, a tapestry weaver in her sixties, standing at the crossroads where her Catholic faith and the AIDS pandemic crash; Thoko, a middle-aged sangoma (traditional healer) taking steps to turn her shebeen into a fully licensed tavern; and Dankie, a young man taking his matriculation exams, coming of age as one of Mandela's Children, the first academic class educated entirely under democratic governance.

The End of the Rainy Season
The End of the Rainy Season

Author: Marian Lindberg

Publisher: Catapult

Published: 2015-04-14

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 1593766025

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Marian Lindberg grew up being told that Walter Lindberg, the man who raised her father, was a brave explorer who had been murdered in the Amazon. She took her father’s claims at face value, basking in her exotic roots, until she started to notice things. The unverified legend became a riddle she couldn’t solve. As Lindberg moved from journalism to law, fell in love, and sought a family of her own, her father repeatedly interfered. He had a closed vision of his family, and she—unlike the silent Walter—was breaking out. Yet her father’s story of the past haunted Lindberg. Long after her father’s death, Lindberg set off for the Amazon, determined to find out the truth about Walter. Aided by generous Brazilians who adopted her search as if it were their own, she discovered as much about herself and her family as about Walter, whose true role in Brazil’s history turned out to be unexpected and deeply troubling. Sharply observant, wrought with honesty, and sweeping in its ambitions, The End of the Rainy Season is a powerful examination of identity and human relationships with nature, and between one another.

Death in the Rainy Season
Death in the Rainy Season

Author: Anna Jaquiery

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Published: 2015-04-09

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 144724446X

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia; the rainy season. When a French man, Hugo Quercy, is found brutally murdered, Commandant Serge Morel finds his holiday drawn to an abrupt halt. Quercy - dynamic, well-connected - was the magnetic head of a humanitarian organisation which looked after the area's neglected youth. Opening his investigation, the Parisian detective soon finds himself buried in one of his most challenging cases yet. Morel must navigate this complex and politically sensitive crime in a country with few forensic resources, and armed with little more than a series of perplexing questions: what was Quercy doing in a hotel room under a false name? What is the significance of his recent investigations into land grabs in the area? And who could have broken into his home the night of the murder? Becoming increasingly drawn into Quercy's circle of family and friends - his adoring widow, his devoted friends and bereft colleagues - Commandant Morel will soon discover that in this lush land of great beauty and immense darkness, nothing is quite as it seems . . . A deeply atmospheric crime novel that bristles with truth and deception, secrets and lies: Death in the Rainy Season is a compelling mystery that unravels an exquisitely wrought human tragedy.

Seeds
Seeds

Author: Carol C. Baskin

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 684

ISBN-13: 9780120802630

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Seeds: Ecology, Biogeography, and Evolution of Dormancy and Germination provides a working hypothesis of the ecological and environmental conditions under which carious kinds of seed dormancy have developed. It also presents the seed germination of morethan 3500 species of trees, shrubs, vines, and herbaceous species.

Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development of Protected Areas
Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development of Protected Areas

Author: Wei Wang

Publisher: Frontiers Media SA

Published: 2024-07-17

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 2832551823

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With the general consensus on sustainable development worldwide, the balance between nature conservation and poverty eradication has become an inevitable choice. Biodiversity (including ecosystem diversity, species diversity, and genetic diversity) refers to the ecological complex formed by living organisms as well as their surrounding environment. Biodiversity provides ecosystem services essential for human well-being and is also interrelated with regional socio-economic development. Protected areas are the most direct and effective initiative to conserve biodiversity while increasing evidence shows that the services provided by intact and functioning ecosystems in protected areas are also of great value to human livelihoods, health, and well-being. Therefore, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development within and around protected areas have become a central topic in the field of conservation ecology. With this aim in mind, we would like to invite scholars to share novel findings on biodiversity conservation and the sustainable development of protected areas. The research topic will cover progress in the maintaining and sustainable use of different features of biodiversity (ecosystems, animals, plants, micro-organisms, etc.). We welcome contributions to the fundamental theories, technologies and approaches, and practices, toward a better understanding of the relationship between biodiversity conservation and regional development within and around protected areas.

Tropical Forest Ecology
Tropical Forest Ecology

Author: Egbert Giles Leigh Jr.

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1999-03-04

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 0195357264

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In Tropical Forest Ecology, Egbert G. Leigh, Jr., one of the world's foremost tropical ecologists, introduces readers to the tropical forest and describes the intricate web of interdependence among the great diversity of tropical plants and animals. Focusing on the tropical forest of Barro Colorado Island, Panama, Leigh shows what Barro Colorado can tell us about other tropical forests--and what tropical forests can tell us about Barro Colorado. This book considers three essential questions for understanding the ecological organization of tropical forests. How do they stay green with their abundance of herbivores? Why do they have such a diversity of plants and animals? And what role does mutualism play in the ecology of tropical forests? Beautifully written and abundantly illustrated, Tropical Forest Ecology will certainly appeal to a wide variety of scientists in the fields of evolution, tropical biology, botany, zoology, and natural history.

Hydrology and Water Resources of Africa
Hydrology and Water Resources of Africa

Author: M. Shahin

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2006-04-11

Total Pages: 674

ISBN-13: 0306480654

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Africa, the cradle of many old civilizations, is the second largest world continent, and the homeland of nearly one-eighth of the world population. Despite Africa’s richness in natural resources, the average income per person, after excluding a few countries, is the lowest all over the world, and the percentage of inhabitants infected with contagious diseases is the highest. Development of Africa to help accommodate the ever-increasing population and secure a reasonable living standard to all inhabitants, though an enormous challenge is extremely necessary. Water is the artery of life, without it all living creatures on earth cannot survive. As such, a thorough knowledge of the meteorological and hydrological processes influencing the yield and quality of the water resources, surface and subsurface, and their distribution and variability in time and space is unavoidable for the overall development of any part of the world. It is highly probable that the said knowledge is at present a top priority to Africa, a continent that has been for so long-and probably still-devastated by the endless ambitions of colonial powers not to forget the corruption and destruction practiced by the internal powers, at least in some countries. The present book “Hydrology and Water Resources of Africa” is written with the aim of bringing together in one volume a fair amount of knowledge any professional involved in hydrology and water resources of Africa needs to know.

Climate Change and Vulnerability and Adaptation
Climate Change and Vulnerability and Adaptation

Author: Neil Leary

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-11-05

Total Pages: 847

ISBN-13: 1134072821

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'Sound and solid case studies on vulnerability and adaptation have been woefully lacking in the international discourse on climate change. This set of books begins to bridge the gap.' Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of United Nations Environment Programme 'Important reading for students and practitioners alike.' Martin Parry, Co-Chair, Working Group II (Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 'Fills an important gap in our understanding ... It is policy-relevant and deserves to be widely read.' Richard Klein, Senior Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Sweden The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded in its 2001 report that much of the developing world is highly vulnerable to adverse impacts from climate change. But the IPCC also concluded that the vulnerabilities of developing countries are too little studied and too poorly understood to enable determination of adaptation strategies that would be effective at reducing risks. These authoritative volumes, resulting from the work of the Assessments of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change (AIACC) project launched by the IPCC in 2002, are the first to provide a comprehensive investigation of the issues at stake. Climate Change and Vulnerability discusses who is vulnerable to climate change, the nature of their vulnerability and the causes of their vulnerability for parts of the world that have been poorly researched until now. Climate Change and Adaptation covers current practices for managing climate risks to food security, water resources, livelihoods, human health and infrastructure, needs for effective management of climate risks, the changing nature of the risks, strategies for adaptation, and the need to integrate these strategies into development planning and resource management.