Survival Short Stories

In a time when a pandemic is threatening the entire population, Risa and her family apply for coveted acceptance into a new Safe City - a place designed to keep the virus out and to preserve a select few of the population. But getting accepted into the city may not be worth it - especially when she is sedated for secure transport and wakes up, unable to find her family. Meeting a few new friends and an intriguing soldier named Camsen Luck may help, but none of them can convince her that self-preservation is more important than finding her family; or that trying to escape is suicide. 

For the animals and plants of the Arizona desert, every day is about staying alive. But it’s all the other stuff—desire, fidelity, hope, envy, grief, betrayal—that bridges the gap between science and fiction, and highlights the interconnectedness of the human and natural worlds. A wealthy Gila monster suffers from halitosis. A young peccary chooses a side in war. A rattlesnake upends the historic enmity between serpent and man. A subterranean termite princess comes home. These and dozens more characters run, hop, slither, and fly through captivating storylines.