Showing results for "Oil!" in Literature & Fiction

As he did so masterfully in The Jungle, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Upton Sinclair interweaves social criticism with human tragedy to create an unforgettable portrait of Southern California's early oil industry. Enraged by the oil scandals of the Harding administration in the 1920s, Sinclair tells a gripping tale of avarice, corruption, and class warfare, featuring a cavalcade of characters, including senators, oil magnates, Hollywood film starlets, and a crusading evangelist.

From 1501 to 1505, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti both lived and worked in Florence. Leonardo was a charming, handsome 50-year-old at the peak of his career. Michelangelo was a temperamental sculptor in his mid-20s, desperate to make a name for himself. Michelangelo is a virtual unknown when he returns to Florence and wins the commission to carve what will become one of the most famous sculptures of all time: David.

In Oil!, we follow the journey of James Arnold Ross, affectionately known as Dad, and his son, James Jr., fondly called Bunny. This captivating tale, inspired by the real-life figure Edward L. Doheny and set against the backdrop of World War I, delves into the tumultuous events reminiscent of the Teapot Dome Oil Scandal during the Harding administration. Like many of Upton Sinclair’s works, it explores profound themes of social conflict, the struggles between labor and management, the clash of democracy and socialism, and the moral dilemmas of life. As Bunny navigates his complex ...

In his Locus review of Two Worlds and in Between - the first volume of The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan - Gary K. Wolfe wrote, “...it makes you wish the second volume were here now.” Well, the long wait is over. This second volume completes this ambitious undertaking, collecting the finest of Kiernan’s stories from 2004 to 2012, selected by the author herself. The book includes 25 short stories and one poem, plus the short novel Black Helicopters - more than 200,000 words of fiction, including the World Fantasy Award-winning “The Prayer of 90 Cats”.

Ever since it was first drilled more than 150 years ago, oil has been both a blessing and a curse. It has enabled economic growth, provided an efficient energy source, fuelled our entire infrastructure - and caused wars, pollution and global warming. These seven dramas, set between 1951 and 2045, and taking us from postwar Iran to futuristic Lancashire, examine the role oil has played in shaping our world: recounting incredible stories of wealth, power, politics and corruption.

It's the end of oil. We knew it was coming one day. But it happened so fast! Devlin Quinn turns 16 the same week that a battle in a distant war shuts off the flow of imported petroleum to the US. Gas runs low, then runs out, and soon the highways are empty. And then it gets very serious. The grocery store shelves are empty, and people become desperate for food. Dev is trained to fight-his father made sure of that-but is he trained enough? Smart enough? Tough enough? He is about to find out when people desperate for food flee the burning cities and attack....

BEAUTY IS PAIN . . . Exploring themes of ambition, authenticity and empowerment, this taut, politically charged feminist thriller delivers a scathing take-down of the wellness industry, perfect for fans of The Drop Out and Yellowface. 'A propulsive read with a healthy dose of cynicism' - The...

A razor-sharp literary thriller about three women vying for power at a wellness startup, where the cost of ambition might be deadly One woman’s elixir is another woman’s poison Rhoda West is Silicon Valley’s favorite female CEO: the luminously charismatic founder of the fast-growing...

Life is so unfair, and it sends many things to try Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, in the proud Bavarian city of Regensburg. There is the undeserved rise of his rival (and owner of a one-legged dachshund), Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer; the interminable ramblings of the librarian, Herr Huber; and the condescension of his colleagues with regard to his unmarried state. But when his friend Ophelia Prinzel takes it upon herself to match-make, and duly produces a cheerful heiress with her own Schloss, it appears that the professor's true worth is about to be recognised.

Meet Carl Heller, a maverick son of the modern West. Heller's a man you can turn to when your life's in danger - if you can get him off his butt. Born in the Colorado high country, he's a part-time rancher who savors a laid-back approach to living. But Heller's also a law school dropout with a head for justice that's as hard as the Rockies and with a mile-wide stubborn streak. So he hires out to hopeless cases, hurtling into action when some big guy is putting the squeeze on a little guy - or gal. Heller fights hard and plays harder.

Usually it takes Stringer a little while to rile folks in a new town. But no sooner does he step off the train in Tulsa, than some sidewinder is doing his best to turn Stringer into yesterday's news. The hot story in Tulsa is the oil boom. It seems you can't dig a grave without hitting black gold. And Stringer's there to write the story. But MacKail's never seen such a sorry assortment of low-down, hornswoggling bushwhackers. Because, as Stringer well knows, where there's money, there's outlaws and lawyers....

Angie Righetti is the daughter of a sprawling but close-knit Italian American family. She's out and they're proud. Jillian Clark's family is the white bread to Angie's olive oil. Stoic and emotionally buttoned up, they don't want to think about Jillian's sexuality. It's 1988 when they move in together, on the brink of starting their careers. Like every couple at the start of their life together, they expect to live happily ever after. And for 23 years life happens.

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Twenty-five years after the end of oil, Dev hears the shocking sound of hoofbeats on the road. No one has been up the road in six years, and now the last people he wants to see have arrived: a dozen armed men on horseback, promising a return of government and order. Dev doesn't believe their promises, and they come with too terrible a cost, starting with a tax on food that he cannot afford. He and the neighbors are barely scraping by. He had feared that drought and heat would slowly kill them all, but now the danger is much more immediate.

The enemies in nearby Payson have attacked. Now they'll suffer retaliation. Sierra's tactical brainstorm leads the neighborhoods into a surprise attack. Sierra, Dev, and the others need to liberate those under the control of the brutal invaders from the valley to guarantee their own safety. The numbers are against them. The stakes are high. And it has to be done now.

Ten years after the end of oil, no one has the bullets left to shoot at Dev and Sierra or their neighbors. But the climate seems determined to kill them with drought and relentless heat. As the irreplaceable technologies of the civilized world break down, survival becomes more and more of a struggle - and more of an imperative, as they have a daughter, Zoe, to care for now. When a battered family escaping a terrible situation moves in down the hill at their grain farm, the neighbors have a tough choice to make. 

Join young Arizona cowboy Dave Sanders as he embodies the spirit of the classic Western hero—honest, brave, and fiercely loyal. In a thrilling tale set against the rugged backdrop of the Old West, Dave confronts treachery at every turn while striving to clear his name from a wrongful murder accusation. As he battles deceitful scalawags and defends his friends, horse, and freedom, this gripping story reveals how the oil boom transformed the cattle country and ushered in a new era. - Summary by Scotty

In The Only Meaning of Oil-Wet Water, two old friends, Pilar and Hand, reunite in Costa Rica for a kind of loveless love affair. Pilar takes two planes from Champaign, Illinois to San José, rents a car, and meets Hand in Playa Alta on the Pacific coast because she wants to sleep with Hand and Hand wants to surf.

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O poder corrompe. Seria essa uma verdade sobre a família Kingston? Diante de problemas inesperados, Lane descobre que precisa se casar. A questão é: com quem? Como um workaholic assumido, ele não tem tempo para sair à procura de uma mulher, muito menos para viver em matrimônio. Sua salvação se torna a inesperada Betsy O’Connell, uma blogueira altiva e esfuziante que curte viver a vida, enfrentando problemas reais que não tiram o sorriso do seu rosto. Se eles são tão diferentes, como se encontraram?