The Naturalist

Not every European experiment in the New World ended in success. Companies failed. Expeditions were lost. Whole colonies vanished. Sometimes the cause was starvation... Sometimes it was simple miscalculation... Sometimes it was...something else. “In the distance, I could hear men shouting, and heard two pistols fired in quick succession, but from my seated position, I could not see past the trembling grass heads. I got to one knee, and started to search along the road for my companions, but before I could spot them, a situation much nearer to hand caught my attention—the liquid was surging closer. And it wasn't liquid. It was a boiling mass of insects...” Amateur naturalist Calvin Brown dreams of the day he can pay off his debt and finally claim the land his parents have left him. Land that should provide him with enough income to live, if not in luxury, then at least in comfort. But when disaster strikes an outlying town, Brown discovers that sometimes, thoughtless destruction of the rainforest might have unforeseen circumstances. Circumstances that will have Brown, and everyone he knows, fighting desperately for their very survival. Sometimes, you don’t want to wake up what slumbers in the deep jungle. Not if you want to live.