Category: eco-fiction

Out of Range

By C.J. Box

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Berkley Prime Crime, c2005, 2006

Genre: Mystery, eco-fiction

Series: Joe Pickett Novel; 5

ISBN: 9780425209455

Intended audience: Adult

Number of pages: 310

Setting: Saddlestring & Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Time period: early 2000s

Plot summary: When Will Jensen, the game warden for Jackson Hole, commits suicide, Joe is sent to temporarily cover this district for hunting season.  “Jackson is Wyoming’s very own California” (p. 42) and Joe must deal not only with hunters, but also land developers and animal rights activists.  Joe is also asked by his supervisor to try to find out why Will pulled the trigger and Joe is anxious to comply because he and Will had a lot in common. Continue reading “Out of Range”

Water Witches

By Chris Bohjalian

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Simon & Schuster, c1995, 1997

Genre: General fiction, eco-fiction

Series: Hardscrabble Books –fiction of New England published by University Press of New England

ISBN: 9780684826127

Intended audience: Adult

Number of pages: 340

Setting: Central Vermont

Time period: mid 1990s

Plot summary: Scott Winston works as a lawyer for the ski industry in rural Vermont.  He is also a member of a family of dowsers – or water witches – (by marriage), who have lived in the area for generations.  When a severe drought hits Vermont as a ski resort is trying to expand, Scottie finds himself at the center of an environmental conflict framed as jobs vs. the environment.  This would not be a new situation for him except that he and his nine year old daughter, Miranda, have witnessed something so rare that it completely changes his perspective on life. Continue reading “Water Witches”

Ill Wind

By Nevada Barr

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Berkley Books, 2004, 1995c

Genre: Mystery, eco-fiction

Series: Anna Pigeon mysteries; 3

ISBN: 9780425197257

Intended audience: Adult

Number of pages: 309

Setting: Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

Time period: mid 1990s

Plot summary: Anna Pigeon recently transferred to Mesa Verde National Park for a promotion.  She arrived just as the park is replacing old waterlines to public buildings.  Many of the park’s staff are distressed by the digging for pipelines in this archeologically rich area.  There have also been an unusually high number of visitors who have had to be carried out from Cliff Palace this summer.  Worst of all, though, is the death of a friend and co-worker, Stacy Meyers. Continue reading “Ill Wind”

The Family Tree

By Sheri S. Tepper

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Avon Books, 1997

Genres: Science fiction, fantasy, time travel fantasy, eco-fiction

ISBN:0380791978

Intended audience: Adults

Number of pages: 480

Settings: An unnamed American city and future landscapes and cities

Time period: The year 2000 and three thousand years in the future

Plot summary: Police officer Dora Henry is investigating the murder of a well liked scientist and discovers a link between this murder and and two other recent murders. All of the victims had been geneticists.  Meanwhile, strange new plants are sprouting up almost everywhere and the city is being transformed into a jungle. People who try to stop the plants from growing are winding up in hospitals.  And somewhere far away a varied assortment of peoples are embarking on a quest for they fear for their future and the safety of their people. Continue reading “The Family Tree”