THE LAST WHALE HUNTER de Justin Vibbert

A gripping work of narrative nonfiction that transports readers to the remote island of Bequia and into a battle for the soul of the Caribbean.

THE LAST WHALE HUNTER
by Justin Vibbert
Diversion Books, November 2026
(via Kaplan/DeFiore Rights)

Bequia—a volcanic speck in the Lesser Antilles—finds itself in crisis. Chinese-backed infrastructure now stretches from Jamaica to Trinidad; meanwhile, U.S. developers are scrambling to counter Beijing’s influence with luxury resorts. The result: local workers, displaced by foreign labor and priced out of their homes, are migrating south down the chain of islands in search of jobs. For former fishermen and port workers Nico, Junior, Baby, and Eustace, whaling isn’t about preserving tradition: it’s about staying afloat.

The man they sail with, and the heart of this book, is Bruce Ollivierre, whose family has hunted whales for generations. In THE LAST WHALE HUNTER, we journey alongside Ollivierre and his crew of economic migrants as they battle millionaire environmentalists, crumbling ocean ecosystems, and an ancient foe five hundred times their size.

Diving deep into Bequia’s resilient past, Vibbert details the epic story of Ollivierre’s enslaved ancestors, who built a whaling industry from scratch after British landowners abandoned the island and its failing sugar plantations. Now, as new empires carve up the Caribbean, Ollivierre has just days left in the season to land a whale and bring in enough money to keep schools open and his people housed and fed. All eyes turn to the 2025 Easter Regatta, where a final, high-risk hunt unfolds in full view of locals, yachting tourists—and Louise Mitchell, the island’s most powerful anti-whaling crusader, bent on shutting Ollivierre down for good. Failure could mean death for him and his men—and the end of whaling on Bequia altogether.

Justin Vibbert is a journalist and English Instructor at the City University of New York. His embedded reporting on underworld figures inspired the Off-Broadway play Royal Oak, now in development as a limited TV series. Justin has extensive magazine connections and has already been approached by The Explorers Club to give a presentation upon publication. This project has drawn early interest from Robert Downey Jr. and Gregg Bello, as well as documentary filmmaker Sasha Kneller (National Geographic, Discovery Channel). In addition to his writing, Justin is a model who has appeared in major brand campaigns for Ralph Lauren, American Express, and Google.

DIRECT DESCENDANT de Tanya Huff

This cozy horror novel set in modern-day Toronto includes phenomenal characters, fantastic writing, and a queer romance—the perfect balance of dark and delightful. This stand-alone novel from the bestselling author of the Peacekeeper novels mixes the creepy with the charming for plenty of snarky, queer fun—for fans of T. Kingfisher, Grady Hendrix, Sangu Mandanna and Erin Sterling.

DIRECT DESCENDANT
by Tanya Huff
DAW, April 2025
(via JABberwocky)

Generations ago, the founders of the idyllic town of Lake Argen made a deal with a dark force. In exchange for their service, the town will stay prosperous and successful, and keep outsiders out. And for generations, it’s worked out great. Until a visitor goes missing, and his wealthy family sends a private investigator to find him, and everything abruptly goes sideways.

Now, Cassidy Prewitt, town baker and part-time servant of the dark force (it’s a family business) has to contend with a rising army of darkness, a very frustrated town, and a very cute PI who she might just be falling for…and who might just be falling for her. And if they can survive their own home-grown apocalypse, they might even just find happiness together.

Queer, cozy, and with a touch of eldritch horror mixed in just for fun, this is a charming love story about a small-town baker, a quick-witted PI, and, yes, an ancient evil.

Tanya Huff spent three years in the Canadian Naval Reserve then earned a degree in radio and television arts from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. She is the author of numerous short stories and more than twenty novels, including the bestselling Blood books, the Smoke series, and the Keeper’s Chronicles. She has been the guest of honor at numerous American and Canadian conventions, and her work has been nominated for several awards, including winning the Aurora Award for Best Novel. She lives in Ontario, Canada. 

BRAIN FITNESS BLUEPRINT de Patrick K. Porter & Ruchika Sikri

A 30-day action plan to supercharge your brain and achieve peak performance using a proven combination of holistic ancient wisdom and modern BrainTap technology.

BRAIN FITNESS BLUEPRINT:
Integrating Ancient Wisdom and Modern Technologies for Peak Performance
by Patrick K. Porter & Ruchika Sikri
Hay House, October 2025
(via The Gernert Company)

Your brain wasn’t built for the world we live in. Poor sleep, excessive screen time, and modern stressors have disrupted brain function, leading to mental fatigue, decreased focus, and emotional imbalance. So how are we going to thrive?

Dr. Patrick Porter, founder of BrainTap, and Ruchika Sikri, founding partner of Wisdom Ventures and former Head of Well-being Learning at Google, will help you restore your cognitive clarity, find emotional balance, and achieve lasting vitality with an integrative framework that harnesses the tools of holistic spiritual practices alongside the insights of cutting-edge research.

Their groundbreaking blueprint will reveal:

  • Why modern life is hijacking your brain—and how to reclaim control

  • How meditation, breathwork, and nature-based rituals reset your nervous system

  • How emerging technologies can enhance focus, sleep, and emotional regulation

  • Daily habits to support mental sharpness, resilience, and purpose

  • A 30-day action plan to rewire your brain for energy, clarity, and joy

Starting today, you can embark on the transformative path toward the vibrant, focused, and flourishing mind you were meant to have.

Patrick K. Porter, Ph.D., is an award-winning author, educator, researcher, and speaker. During a career spanning more than three decades, Dr. Porter has been on the cutting edge of brainwave entrainment technology. His newest brain-training platform, BrainTap, is distinctively designed to activate the brain’s neuroplasticity to achieve brain fitness, overcome stress, accelerate learning, enjoy superb sleep, and other lifestyle improvements. 

Ruchika Sikri is a visionary investor and entrepreneur. She founded Wisdom Ventures Fund, Mandala Ventures, and Ready Platform to support human flourishing through innovation and purpose-driven communities. With over 25 years of leadership experience at Microsoft, Cisco, and Google, she now follows her life’s mission to help build a more connected and compassionate world through globally accessible well-being solutions. 

THE LOVE AN ABALONE FEELS FOR THE SEA de Genki Ferguson

Take a cool dive into the waters of coastal Japan, the setting for Genki Ferguson’s exquisitely rendered coming-of-age novel, featuring traditional “ama” freedivers.

THE LOVE AN ABALONE FEELS FOR THE SEA
by Genki Ferguson
Counterpoint, Spring 2027
(via The Friedrich Agency)

During one fateful dive, Nagisa, a determined young woman joins the ama—who dive to depths of up to 65 feet without any scuba gear to hunt abalone and other shellfish —and doesn’t return to the surface.

Ren Ioka, Nagisa’s seventeen year old brother, finds himself unmoored by grief and uncertainty upon his sister’s disappearance. But after discovering an unsent love letter written by Nagisa years earlier, Ren becomes convinced that this confession holds the secret behind her inexplicable final dive.

In the process of retracing his sister’s hidden love, Ren meets Aiko, an inscrutable ama who once dove with Nagisa. As Ren gradually uncovers the truth behind his sister’s confession, he finds himself falling for Aiko, not realizing that she’s harboring a secret herself.

Genki Ferguson is a Canadian-Japanese writer and filmmaker, who spent the Spring of 2023 immersed in the world of ama divers in Mie, Japan, and based much of this story on his experiences living and working in their village. Genki’s previous novel, Satellite Love, was published in 2021 by McClelland & Stewart to critical acclaim and several award nominations.

CHILDREN OF THE SAVAGE CITY d’Elizabeth Heider

Fast-paced, evocative, and steeped in the tension of moral compromise, CHILDREN OF THE SAVAGE CITY explores the thin line between hope and illusion in a city where every choice carries a price.

CHILDREN OF THE SAVAGE CITY
by Elizabeth Heider
Penguin Books, February 2026
(via Dystel, Goderich & Bourret)

Some cities feed on secrets. Naples is ravenous.

A peaceful evening mass at the historic Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo is shattered when a young au pair is killed in one of the cathedral’s quiet chapels. The daughter of the US Ambassador sees it happen–but she’ll speak only to one person: Nikki Serafino.

Shaken by betrayal in her last high-profile case, Nikki has retreated from the relentless vigilance that once defined her work as liaison between Italian police and the US military. Withdrawn and mistrustful, she works her shifts, cares for her aging family, teaches self-defense classes, and avoids entanglement. But this case threatens her self-imposed invisibility–drawing her into a web of lies and resurfacing old wounds and buried loyalties. The murder investigation leads Nikki and her friend, Naples officer Valerio Alfieri, into a shadow architecture of power: built to protect the guilty and hide their secrets at any cost.

Can she and Valerio—each carrying dangerous debts—resist the undertow of corruption that swallows truth whole?

Set against the chaos of modern Naples—the city of Roberto Saviano’s Gomorrah and Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend—where grace and corruption share the same narrow streets, Nikki and Valerio navigate a landscape where even the most principled must confront the cost of survival.

Elizabeth Heider is the author of May the Wolf Die, named a New York Times Best Crime Novel, a Washington Post Best Mystery, and one of Publishers Weekly‘s best books of the year. Her short fiction has been recognized by the Santa Fe Writers Project and New Century Writer Awards. She holds a PhD in physics and most recently worked as a program manager for Microsoft’s AI4Science and as a scientist in the European Space Agency’s human spaceflight program. She’s authored original scientific research, a patent, analytical reports for the US government and military, and coauthored a journal article with astronaut Thomas Pesquet. She lived and worked in Naples, Italy, as a civilian analyst embedded with the US Navy’s mission in Africa, where she deployed aboard US and European naval ships. Originally from Utah, she now lives in The Hague, where she’s working on the next Nikki Serafino novel.