Meet, Mingle, Read: Blackmail Earth and It's Raining Fish and Spiders

The

Director’s “Meet, Mingle, Read” series continues! Join us in welcoming

author and meteorologist Bill Evans who will discuss his two latest

books, Blackmail Earth (Tor Books) and It's Raining Fish and Spiders (Forge Books).

Blackmail Earth: When The Morning Show’s star

meteorologist, Jenna Withers, receives a controversial appointment to a

special White House task force on geoengineering, she learns about a lot

more than the President’s desire to use technology to address global

warming. Through old contacts, Jenna hears that Muslim extremists in

the Maldives have begun to publicly blame the West for the rising seas

that imperil the tiny Pacific island nation. They are planning a

suicide bombing that could lead to a sudden and disastrous cooling of

the planet.

Rick Birk, an aging, alcoholic colleague of Jenna’s, is dispatched to

report on the turmoil in the Maldives. To his—and everyone else’s—shock,

he becomes a central – and bizarre – figure in the unfolding panic.

News of the Islamist threat sets off an even more horrifying plan in

North Korea. The Supreme Leader, desperate for aid, threatens to hold

the world hostage with his own, disaster-creating brand of

geoengineering, one that takes aim at the skies.

Those escalating international tensions are set against the grisly

murder of an intriguing Pagan woman in rural New York, Jenna Withers’s

budding romance with an organic dairy farmer, and a fiercely contested

presidential campaign.

This swiftly paced tale takes Jenna from the Oval Office to the sandy

shores of the Indian Ocean, from the sophisticated set of The Morning

Show to her new boyfriend’s dusty dairy farm. Filled with fascinating

and unusual characters, and told from multiple and deeply moving points

of view, Blackmail Earth culminates in a furious battle raging in the heart of Manhattan.

It's Raining Fish and Spiders: One of the things Bill Evans

enjoys the most is talking to young people about weather.

Middle-schoolers in particular, Evans says, are deeply interested in the

natural world and in weather.

It’s Raining Fish and Spiders covers everything, from tornadoes

and hurricanes to lightning and the different kinds of snowflakes. Evans

addresses weather myths and facts, from “Can it really rain fish?” to

“Will opening a window save my house during a tornado?”

Evans also tells his most exciting personal weather stories: flying with

the Hurricane Hunters, riding pell-mell through Tornado Alley with

storm chasers, and visiting the coldest place on Earth. The book

includes simple weather experiments that can be performed at home

without expensive equipment.

Extensively researched, fact-filled, and packed with charts, tables, illustrations, and amazing photographs, It’s Raining Fish and Spiders is an entertaining and educational addition to the library of anyone interested in weather, science, and the natural world.

All are invited to attend this free program. Books will be available for purchase from The Harvard Coop Bookstore. Light refreshments will be served.