Showing results by narrator "Oliver James Parkins" in All Categories

Dolores dela Cruz has been dying to spot one in the wild, and he fits the mold perfectly: strangler gloves, calculated charm, dashing good looks that give a leg up in any field ... including fields of unmarked graves. The new office temp is definitely a serial killer.

It's summer, 1984, in blue-collar Swaffham, Massachusetts. Mel is thirteen, drinking a Slush Puppie at the drugstore, when she hears a voice, ‘deep and movie-star dramatic, like Lauren Bacall': Sylvia. What follows is a story of transgender awakening. Sylvia's shameless swagger and tough-girl trans femininity is an affront to the Swaffham locals, and her presence triggers hatred and, ultimately, violence. But it is also a catalyst for Mel. Through her friendship with Sylvia, Mel comes to realize that not only is there a world beyond Swaffham, there are other ways of being.

Human, Animal is an ode to the wild, an elegy for what we have lost and a reproof of our society's inability to find common ground. Since the death of his brother, veteran dairy farmer George has been struggling to keep the family business afloat. His troubles only worsen when animal rights activists descend on his cowshed one morning to film content for their social media.

It’s been a journey, but I finally have a normal life. A nice life. A wonderful husband and a beautiful daughter. My sixteen-year-old soccer-loving girl is everything. But now he wants to take it all away. I won’t let him. It’s been twenty years, but this morning, I saw him again. Watching me. Taunting me. I was the girl who escaped. I was sixteen when he dragged me into the woods. I remember his harsh breathing and heavy footsteps, his weight falling on me. The broken branch I jammed into his throat. Twenty years ago he tried to kill me. I got away, but now he’s come back for my daughter.

The trip to the cottage should have been a fun family weekend for thirteen-year-old Zay, despite another summer of extreme weather. At least, that’s what his father and stepmother had in mind when they planned the weekend getaway. But that was before Zay’s older brother, Sam, decided to stay behind. Before Zay, Caleb, and Nia discovered their surroundings had inexplicably transformed overnight. Before they realized they were trapped inside a dome. And before the weekend turned into three long years.