A truly creepy book of truly grotesque tales.

This first novel introduces Ossie, the runt of a litter of swamp rats who survives a snake attack and is adopted by the legendary crocodile, Uncle Will, who teaches him about their swamp world.

The most beloved and decorated player in Florida history takes fans behind the scenes and into the locker room for one of the greatest eras in the annals of college football. Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel, now retired from the NFL, has finally had the time to look back, reminisce, and share his thoughts about that magical time when he was referred to by some "as the greatest passer to ever play college football." Wuerffel gives his many fans a first-time reflection into a variety of topics, including his relationship with Steve Spurrier, his rivalry with Peyton Manning, and how his strong Christian beliefs shaped his football career. Along with award-winning sports columnist and coauthor Mike Bianchi, he replays the big games from each of his four magnificent seasons, talks about the quarterback controversies and quandaries, discusses faith and football, compares Spurrier and Bobby Bowden, and takes readers on a glorious trip that starts with a recruiting visit to Gainesville and culminates with an incredible national championship victory over Florida State in New Orleans. Danny Wuerffel's Tales from the Gator Swamp will take readers on a delightful journey back to the "good old days" of the 1990s, when Spurrier's funning and gunning and cunning style of offense revolutionized the Southeastern Conference. After reading this book, fans will understand why Danny Wuerffel collected as much admiration and as many accolades as perhaps any player in the proud history of college football.

The Earth is all but done. The last remnants of humanity cling to a mountaintop island lost in endless floodwater. The parliaments of the Green, the Red, and the Rot have united their powers to summon an avatar-a horrific, humanity-killing monster who could only be stopped by Alec Holland. Shame he’s been dead for decades…Collects the complete miniseries Swamp Thing: Green Hell #1-3.

Florida's famous swamps—from the Everglades to Mosquito Lagoon to Tate's Hell—serve as fitting backdrops for these chilling original stories. Maybe it's because they are often wet, shadowy places of wild beauty where few people dare to penetrate. They are havens for snakes, alligators, black bears, wildcats, and who knows what. People on the run have often hidden in swamps, while others have gotten lost in the watery expanses; the swamp can be a refuge or a nightmare. Mysterious things just happen in swamps. Maybe it's because they are often wet, shadowy places of wild beauty where few people dare to penetrate. They are havens for snakes, alligators, black bears, wildcats, and who knows what. People on the run have often hidden in swamps, while others have gotten lost in the watery expanses; the swamp can be a refuge or a nightmare. Where else can you find a ghost baby, or an angry specter, or a lost soul? How about a ghost who is obsessed with the ghost orchid, or an alluring snake woman? Throw in a skunk ape or two and you've got the ingredients for many entertaining hours sharing these stories around a campfire or reading them to yourself or out loud.

A glimmering collection of new short fiction from the Booker Prize winner. “Lively writes with an astringent blend of sympathy and detachment, emotional wisdom and satiric wit.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times In such acclaimed novels as The Photograph, Family Album, and How It All Began, Penelope Lively has captivated readers with her singular blend of wisdom, elegance, and humor. Now, in her first story collection in decades, Lively takes up themes of history, family, and relationships across varied and vividly rendered settings. In the title story, a Mediterranean purple swamp hen chronicles the secrets and scandals of Quintus Pompeius’s villa, culminating with his narrow escape from the lava and ash of Vesuvius. “Abroad” captures the low point of an artist couple’s tumultuous European road trip, trapped in a remote Spanish farmhouse and forced to paint a family mural and pitch in with chores to pay for repairs to their broken-down car. Other stories reveal friends and lovers in fateful moments of indiscretion, discovery, and even retribution—as in “The Third Wife,” when a woman learns her husband is a serial con artist and turns a house-hunting trip into an elaborately staged revenge trap. Each of these delightful stories is elevated by Lively’s signature graceful prose and eye for the subtle yet powerfully evocative detail. Wry, charming, and keenly insightful, The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories is a masterful achievement from one of our most beloved writers.

Working in an American primitive style animated by the humor and storytelling genius for which he is renowned, Caldecott Winner artist Paul O. Zelinsky puts oils to cherry and maple for this tall-tale competition between a Tennessee woods-woman extraordinaire and a hungry, fearsome bear.Thundering Tarnation has a bottomless appetite for settler's grub. When word goes out about a competition to hunt this four-legged forest of stubble, a young woman, second to none in buckskin bravery, signs up. "How about baking a pie, Angel?" the other hunters taunt. "I aim to," says Swamp Angel. "A bear pie."What follows is as witty a round of roughhousing as ever jostled the ranks of Americana. Anne Isaacs' original text unfolds in a crackling combination of irony, exaggeration, and bold image-making. Zelinsky's paintings respond with deft yet hilarious expressions, rhythmic shapes, and a sense of monumental motion, as benefits a heroine who can wield a tornado like a lasso, drink a lake dry, and snore down a forest. In the course of these grand shenanigans, the Great Smoky Mountains are stirred up, Montana's short-grass prairie laid down, and Thundering Tarnation's fate proves to have no less a reach than the starry heavens.Swamp Angel marks the debut of a promising new storyteller and adds to the tall-tale traditions a pictorial counterpart that will entertain and endure for a long time to come.

Raquel Clairvoux is forced to take a hard look at the origins of her family and her distant aunt the Legendary Swamp Witch Angelique Clairvoux, a mulatto girl born in the swamps of southern Louisiana and raised by her grandmother in the ways of Voodoo that she learned on the island of Martinique. She sees the history of the region and culture of the original Creole people of Louisiana. When slave catchers came into St Martinsville to collect undocumented people of color Angelique was attacked and mortally wounded flees into the swamp with her life savings she calls on the Spirits to guard her and her savings. Raquel learns about the men who over the next century and a half try to find Angelique's treasure and how they trigger the curse that finally brings them down. Raquel is taken through the history and evolution of a unique culture and historic area of the country and must decide where she and her family fit into it. While this is a story of pure fiction the author did exhaustive research of the area covering the years between 1712 and the present. The town of St Martinsville is an actual town in St Martin Parish, Louisiana and the Bayou Tesche is located there. St Martinsville was a town open to free people of color during the time of slavery and is considered to be the Creole capital of the United States. This book is a work of fiction that mixes historic fact and culture to transport the reader through decades of drama in an evolving southern Louisiana.

From Bill Russo, the author of The Creature From the Bridgewater Triangle, comes new tales from the 200 square mile area that is sometimes called 'America's Bermuda Triangle'. This time the stories are fiction - and yet these yarns come from a place where 'real' and 'unreal' collide and exist in an uneasy truce in the same space. Four young friends gather at a summer camp near the eerie Hockomock Swamp. They spin a few campfire yarns. The oldest of the group tells a story that could be called The Cold, Clammy Touch of Death. His narrative is derided by his companions so he offers them a far darker scenario when he relates the bizarre life of Jimmy Catfish of the devilish body of disparate waters called Codfresh Lake. As the last hushed words of the story fade away, more firewood is piled on the campfire and an unforeseen event ratchets the mood of the friends from jocular to tense as they contemplate a new horror - a reanimated warrior from a hundred years ago who wears a string of scalps around his neck and head - some of which are fresh with blood from the newly dead.

Behind Every Legend Lies the Truth. Moving is nothing new for ten-year-old Nikki Landry. Her father relocates their raggedy old houseboat several times a year in search of better crabbing spots. However, their latest move has brought her to a mysterious bayou where she feels something is watching her from a nearby island. Nikki learns of a local legend about something sinister inhabiting those swamps, stealing the souls of dogs...which would explain the strange howling sounds. Papa reassures her there's nothing on the island but gators and snakes. He should know. He's spent his whole life trapping and fishing those bayous and swamps...But maybe there's something Papa doesn't know. Nikki and her new friends begin to uncover strange happenings from years ago that may have started the old legend...and town folks aren't talking. Then her beloved beagle goes missing. Join Nikki as she seeks to discover the real truth behind the legend of Ghost Dog Island...before it's too late.