Plant Fiction

From oat milk flirtations to vegan taco truck confessions, The Heart Beet serves up 30 sizzling short rom-coms where love sprouts over greens, grains, and garlic-naan first kisses. Whether it’s a butcher’s son accidentally swapping dishes with a tofu sculptor, or a grumpy traditional baker falling for a pastry student with a vegan croissant to prove, each story dishes out bite-sized romantic chaos with a veggie twist.

H Is for Hell is the eighth book in an epic series of 26 horror anthologies. In this book, you will find a collection of 13 horrific tales from some of the most talented independent horror writers on the scene today. Each tale brings to life a different vision of Hell, each unlike anything you have heard before. H Is for Hell will take you to the depths of the Underworld, and you may not return unscathed.

Within the pages of this book are seven short stories plus bonus stories meant to start at least seven long conversations, seven nightmares, or even seven solutions to the world's largest problems. Post-apocalyptic, sub-human, vampire-ish, sweet revenge, implied earth-shattering sex, and more. Something for every adult. Which will be your favorite?

The Mozinskis experience music like no family you've ever met. Struggling musicians Vincent Mozinski and Grace Klinefelter marry in the early 1960s, drawn together by the shared ability to see the music they play. The two pass this unique skill along to their ever-growing family of musical prodigies: Clara, Ellington, Bix, Allegro, Thelonious, and Viola. After the children record a radio commercial for a local business, Vincent realizes the best chance of achieving his dream of musical stardom is with and through his children.

Something was missing. There was something satisfying, yet unsettling with her relationship. Will the new man in her life quell her thirst for a satisfying life on the ranch? Nestled in the hills of the Lake Michigan shoreline, the ranch overlooks open fields and rich oak, maple and beech tree groves. It has been owned by the Katzen family for generations. Once a working ranch producing cattle and milking cows, it has now turned into a therapy ranch for a multitude of special populations. Spring has sprung and It is time for planting and birthing on Living River Ranch. Belle and Stormi are ...

Talking to Plants is about how a man comes to terms with his growing relationship with nature. You might not view a pot plant in the same way once you have heard his story. His imagination is affected as he receives communication that engages his life. We talk about a plant lover rather jokingly at times, but this really takes the cake. Who knows, maybe there are some people out there who have gone through what he has. Do plants really talk to us? This is not what they teach us at school.

According to a 2021 study from the IPCC, conditions of extreme drought are 1.7x more likely than they were 100 years ago. That is, at any given time we are nearly twice as likely to be experiencing an extreme drought than our desert-dwelling ancestors had a century ago. And this problem is not trending in the right direction. Though drought conditions can impact so many areas of our lives, the beauty and diversity of our lawns does not have to be one of them.

When a group of animals and plants in a Jamaican mesic forest learn that the government of Jamaica has implemented the construction of a major highway that is supposed to run through and destroy their forest home, the helpless animals and plants enlist the help of a twelve-year-old asthmatic orphan boy. Clueless as to where to begin, the powerless boy put together a motley crew that includes a Rastafarian callaloo, a mentally disturbed marijuana, a posh rose, a facetious croaking lizard, a warmonger tomboy worker bee, a gentle blackbird, a protester layer chicken, and the boy’s rescued ...

Meet Nancy Youngblood, a blithe and vivid heroine of an investigating disposition. When Nancy inherits a minor interest in a factory soon to become vital to the winning of World War II, she sees it as a chance to get closer to Robert Dalhart, who has taken over the factory on his father's death. Nancy has always loved him but because they grew up together on the same block Robert thinks of her as a kid sister. But soon sabotage, murder, and strikes threaten the plant and Robert - who evidence suggests may be the culprit, perhaps as an agent of the German government.

After spending a life wandering around, confused, anxious, and alone, Terra, a florist, acquires a series of six esoteric self-help discs that are designed to help those struggling to ascend to their higher selves from her sister’s yard sale.

Myriam Gurba has lived in California her entire life, with its plants and soils, forests and ecology, immersing herself in the language of the landscape as refracted through the languages and memories of her ancestors. In Poppy State, California plants serve as structural anchors in a wildly inventive work of narrative nonfiction that is part botanical criticism, part personal storytelling, part study of place. Gurba traverses themes of language, power, ancestry, and California's ecology, in masterfully constructed sentences that seem to defy gravity.

Eustacia Rose is a Professor of Botanical Toxicology who lives alone in London with only her extensive collection of poisonous plants for company. Her life is quiet. Her schedule never changes. Until the day she hears a scream and the temptation to investigate proves irresistible. Through her telescope, Professor Rose is drawn into the life of an extraordinarily beautiful neighbour, Simone, and nicknames the men who visit her after poisonous plants according to the toxic effect they have on Simone. But who are these four men? And why does Eustacia Rose recognize one of them?

Sansevieria Sam and his plant family move to a new town. Just when Sam gets used to his new school, he meets Oxy, a school bully, who makes his high school experience much less enjoyable. What’s a houseplant to do?

Throughout their married lives, baseball star Gaspar Bethlen's wife gave him a lovingly crafted mystery every year for Christmas. Solving the clues led him to his present, but the mysteries themselves were the true gift. Now, Beth has died, leaving Gasper a wreck of a man. But Beth left behind a clue, the beginning of one final Christmas mystery, and it's much more than either of them expected.

Imagine the mid-1980s, last day of school, summer break. A teen rushes to meet his mother, who is being released from the hospital after cancer surgery. When the teen arrives, he finds out his mother is dead, but his ex-gangbanging dad, who's been in jail the last eight years, is at the hospital, ready to take the teen home. Mendel is a coming-of-age story about a high school senior who must learn how to forgive as he navigates life without his mother. To honor his mother, he joins Mendel's track team, but his father's thuggish past catches up with them.

In "Professor Jonkin's Cannibal Plant," listeners are taken on a thrilling journey into the world of botany and mutation. Follow Professor Jonkin as he turns a carnivorous plant that feeds on insects into a pet plant, like a large dog, that consumes three Porterhouse steaks per day. Is Jonkin's plant a pet or a monster?

The Secret Garden Project A Short Story About Patience, Nature, and Community for Children Ages 4-8 The fourth heartwarming tale in the beloved "What Shall We Do Today?" series that nurtures young minds and warms young hearts When Imani, Tommy, and Maya decide to transform the newly cleaned vacant lot into a community garden, they discover that creating something beautiful takes patience, teamwork, and a little bit of magic. With dirt-smudged cheeks and hope in their hearts, these determined friends embark on their most rewarding adventure yet. This sweet short story helps children learn ...

Jimmy Kozlowski has a regular gig playing Paul McCartney in the Beatles tribute band Help!. The band is part of a cottage industry built around mimicry, where each group strives to be the ultimate Fake Fab Four. And none strives harder than Help!, thanks to Gene Klein, its John Lennon and leader. Gene's just gotten his Medicare card and spends much of his time caring for his ailing mother. But he hasn't lost a step on guitar or vocals and is determined to take Help! to the top, his goal being to perform in Liverpool one day.

In the 1990s American workplace, survival of the fittest is sometimes less about clawing your way to the top than developing good camouflage. And Audrey Rohmer is doing her very best to blend in as an undistinguished middle manager. Uninspired by her job and uneasy about her father's new marriage, Audrey coasts through the work week leaning on her “partner in apathy”–an admin assistant named Pooter–to keep her relationship with the married head of her department from becoming water cooler gossip.

Plant Stories: original stories related to plants plus a taste of plant-related African, Yoruba myths. Every culture has its myths and fables - tales from around the world that have evolved to explain how we interact with each other, nature, and the elements - tales that, above all, have evolved to help us cope with our fears, achieve our dreams, and help us understand our planet and our place in it.