Los Angeles native Mike Stilkey has always been attracted to painting and drawing not only on vintage paper, record covers and book pages, but on the books themselves. Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer, Stilkey depicts a melancholic and at times a whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales. A lingering sense of loss and longing hints at emotional depth and draws the viewer into their introspective thrall with a mixture of capricious poetry, wit, and mystery. (Photo by Mike Stilkey)

The abandoned Moulton and Kyle Funeral Home in Jacksonville, Fla., which is more than 150 years old, was left to rot, with the premises eerily strewn with open caskets, a hearse and embalming chemicals. Much like the corpses that were laid to rest, the remains of this building too are slowly decomposing and decaying. Black mold has engulfed the walls, and chipped tiles from the collapsed ceilings cover many of the floors. (Photo by Abandoned Southeast/Caters News Agency)

Albert is not the happiest looking kitty in the world. Even Tard the Grumpy Cat looks more cheerful. Well… maybe not cheerful. But at least Tard doesn’t have a look of menace and a desire to kill in his eyes. What could have caused a kitty to wear such a stern look all the time? It might be the fact that he’s all curly. Almost no one likes to stand out too much, and maybe Albert is no exception. Despite his menacing appearance, Albert’s owner claims that he’s a very polite cat and plays nicely with children. Though it is hard to believe at first glance, we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, even when we’re looking at a cat.

Wildlife photographer Kevin Fleming has covered the world as a photographer for National Geographic and has been recognized America’s Best Observer by Readers Digest. His assignments have taken him into war and famine in Somalia, to the Mediterranean for a re-creation of the voyage of Ulysses and put him on a dogsled crossing the Canadian arctic. Now Kevin is working on his 27th book. Here: Red fox kits look out from a hollow log. (Photo by Kevin Fleming)

Smoke rises from a house days after part of the ground it was resting on collapsed into Lake Whitney, Texas in this June 13, 2014 file photo. I was covering the controlled burn of a house slowly falling into Lake Whitney due to the decaying cliff underneath. Asked to take photos from an aerial perspective, an instructor and I took off from Grand Prairie Municipal Airport around 9am. The burn, scheduled to start an hour later, was delayed. I love flying, but patience proved challenging as circling for nearly three hours gets boring fast. Once the fire started we only had 15 minutes to take photos because the plane was booked at 1pm. The owners invested their retirement savings in the house and were even advised by geologists that the ground was stable. To watch your investment literally go up in flames must take its toll emotionally. The owners said they don't expect their insurance to cover the loss. (Photo and caption by Brandon Wade/Reuters)

Grumpy Cat attends the “Grumpy Cat: A Grumpy Book” Book Event at Bookends Bookstore on October 16, 2013 in Ridgewood, New Jersey. (Photo by Michael N. Todaro/WireImage)

Stefan Sigmund, 29, from the Transylvanian city of Cluj, attempt to smoke 800 cigarettes through a self designed device in less than five minutes, in central Bucharest Tuesday, January 30, 1996, trying to enter the Guinness Book of Records. It is the last of his several attempts entering the record book which included eating 29 hard boiled eggs in four minutes and leaping into a lake from a height of 41 meters (135 feet) even if the Guinness Book of Records no longer rewards self damaging attempts. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)

A novice monk holds a book during an inauguration ceremony at Jogye temple in Seoul, May 11, 2015. Ten children on Monday were given the opportunity to experience life as Buddhist monks by staying at the temple until Buddha's birthday in two weeks. The writing on the book reads, “Novice Monk Prayer”. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)