War Ready: In My Father's Shadow


Mary Lou Darst - 2011
    Her father served in the military, and she traveled the world with him and her family. His assignments took them to Alaska, Virginia, Japan, Texas, and Germany, as part of the US Army's responsibilities in policing the world. This candid memoir recounts her family's life in new places and cultures following World War II. What was it like to be a child living in Japan seven years after the war? What was it like to be a thirteen-year-old living in Germany twelve years after the war? What was it like to grow up moving between cultures? This is the story of one family bound to service in the military at a time when the world was being redefined. For a young girl, it was the adventure of a lifetime as she learned the secrets of finding her own way in that new world. The author's story was informed by reading her father's diary, which offers up intimate and candid insight into the life of a typical soldier in a time of war. His entries describe his time serving aboard a battleship built for 800 soldiers--but carrying 6,000 to war. His tales--told from the perspective of a young soldier in southern England, Wales, and Scotland from 1943 to 1945--are glimpses into a life many will never know firsthand.

Across Great Divides


Monique Roy - 2013
    When Hitler came to power in 1933, one Jewish family refused to be destroyed and defied the Nazis only to come up against another struggle-confronting apartheid in South...

Little Bighorn


John Hough Jr. - 2014
    Colonel George Armstrong Custer hires her eighteen-year-old son Allen Winslow as an aide for his 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Cheyenne. Traveling west against his will, Allen finds himself in the company of Addie Grace Lord, sixteen, sister of one of Custer’s regimental surgeons. The two fall in love, and it is with foreboding that Addie Grace watches Allen and her brother George ride out with Custer’s Seventh Cavalry. Weeks later in Montana, hundreds of miles to the west, the Seventh brings its quarry to bay beside the river called the Little Bighorn.Beautifully written and filled with unforgettable characters, Little Bighorn brings to life the American West and its heartbreaking history, brilliantly portraying the flawed and tormented Custer.

The Gender Experiment


L.J. Sellers - 2016
    After discovering they were born at the same clinic two decades earlier, she investigates further and uncovers a startling list. With the realization that more gender-fluid people are targeted for elimination, Taylor kicks her investigation into high gear. But the researchers who conducted the experiment aren’t about to let anything interfere with their plans. Soon Taylor is in deep trouble and needs the help of FBI Special Agent Bailey. As Bailey scrambles to track down leads, events spin out of control and she finds herself blocked at every step by powerful military forces. With the clock ticking on Phase 2 of the experiment, can Bailey and Taylor uncover the truth in time to save the other subjects?

The Beech Tree


Don Phelan - 2011
    We follow Johnny and Margo, Johnny's lifelong, albeit socially taboo, friendship with his friend, “Bullet Joe” Rogan, a pitcher in the Negro Leagues.Johnny introduces his granddaughter, Debby, to the tree in 1957, an era of bobby socks, roller-skating carhops and Elvis music, and Debby meets Mason in 1967's Summer of Love, just before Mason is drafted to fight in Vietnam.For 30 years, Debby wonders whatever became of the boy who changed her life. Then she finds out.

Call Me Pomeroy


James Hanna - 2015
    But Pomeroy plays by his own set of rules. He may be on the dole, but he’ll tip his breakfast waitress $20 just for being nice to him, even if it means he has to sit an extra hour on the street corner to make ends meet. He’s a skirmish-loving, dumpster-diving, ego-starved crazy who thinks that he can sing and that all women are in love with him—or should be. His parole officer, an Hispanic woman who tells Pomeroy he’s off-base and he 1) won’t become a rock star, 2) needs to find a decent job, and 3) would be better off if he stayed out of trouble, is totally exasperated by him. But Pomeroy is his own man, takes no advice, and has more wisdom that we’d like to admit. You may find yourself laughing when you shouldn’t. (“A good strong piss is better than sex. Lasts longer too.”) May find his egocentric opinions politically incorrect. ("There ain't a dyke alive ol' Pomeroy can't turn straight.") But don’t blame yourself if you start rooting for this anti-hero, you’ll have a lot of company. (Note: Adult language and situations.)

Real Monsters


Liam Brown - 2015
    The lines are now so blurred, no one knows who the real enemy is anymore.Reeling from the terrorist attack that killed her father, Lorna lurches through an inebriated adolescence until she finds redemption in a young soldier called Danny. However, her dream of a stable life is shattered when Danny is called to serve in war overseas.Danny is lost in the desert. Most of his unit is dead – victims, it would seem, of a brutal ambush. With their equipment destroyed and food running out, the small band of men stumble through the sand and shadows, desperate to find salvation. As their hope fades, they begin to turn on each other, until finally it becomes clear that only the truly monstrous will survive.Brown creates a compelling and gripping experience alternating between the soldier and home narrative. Cleverly employing letters and unique voices we are drawn completely into the raw desert while being left with a thought-provoking and graphic view of modern warfare.What Reviewers and Readers Say:'Beautifully written, smart and punchy'. Sam Mills, author of The Quiddity of Will Self'A memorable and moving portrait of the futility of 21st century conflict'. Benjamin Myers, author of Pig Iron and Beastings

Revenants: The Odyssey Home


Scott Kauffman - 2015
     A grief-stricken candy-striper serving in a VA hospital following her brother’s death in Viet Nam struggles to return home an anonymous veteran of the Great War against the skullduggery of a congressman who not only controls the hospital as part of his small-town fiefdom but knows the name of her veteran. A name if revealed would end his political ambitions and his fifty-year marriage. In its retelling of Odysseus’ journey, Revenants casts a flickering candle upon the charon toll exacted not only from the families of those who fail to return home but of those who do. “...Revenants will not fade quickly as less substantial novels do but will resonate in the reader’s heart and mind for years to come.”—Mark Spencer, Dean, School of Arts and Humanities, Professor of Creative Writing, Master of Fine Arts Program, University of Arkansas at Monticello. “Kauffman writes with a divinely inspired descriptive power that draws you in and leaves an image in the reader's mind to muse upon long afterwards.”—John H. Byk, Writers Alive. “The true damage of war is ... the damage done to the survivors and their families. … we see this damage portrayed movingly in his characters. This is a book you must read to see the truth of war.”—Robert Mustin, Sam’s Place: Stories. “... beautifully written … an intriguing story which will linger in the reader's mind far after the final page has been turned.”—Florentine, Readiculously Peachy Blog. “...compelling … skillful character development … makes us see just exactly what it is like to be wounded, in soul and spirit .... "—Brian Francis Heffron, Poet/Filmmaker, Author of Award Winning Novel Colorado Mandala.

Freedom (America, #2)


Mike Bond - 2021
    Daisy starts her PhD in brain research, and Tara battles heroin as her rock band reaches stardom.Troy is soon caught up in mind-numbing combat in Vietnam, while Mick returns to the States to lead the antiwar effort. Tara’s band signs a Motown contract amid the Detroit riots. At Stanford, Daisy expands her study of the human brain under LSD and other mind-altering drugs. Troy falls in love with a Vietnamese teacher and is slowly losing faith in the War.Freedom ends the night before the Tet uprising in Vietnam that will change the War, and trap Troy and his beloved in the fires of hell.

Loxley


John Bainbridge - 2015
    They exist under the sufferance of their brutal overlords. When a mysterious stranger saves a miller’s son from cruel punishment, the Sheriff of Nottingham sends the ruthless Sir Guy of Gisborne to hunt him down. His past life destroyed, Robin of Loxley must face his greatest challenge yet. Deadly with a longbow and a sword, he will fight tyranny and injustice, encounter allies and enemies old and new. The vast Sherwood Forest with its hidden glades and ancient pathways is the last refuge of wolfsheads. Here their bloody battles will be fought, friendships forged and loyalties tested. Loxley will become Robin Hood. Notorious leader of outlaws. Their daring deeds will become legend. This is the first in a four-part series "The Chronicles of Robin Hood", and includes an historical note on the origins of the famous outlaw.

Breakaway: Clan of the Ice Mountains


C.S. Bills - 2012
    The Warming is coming. The ocean ice they have lived and hunted on for generations is melting, and they must flee to the safety of an unknown land before they all drown. In this powerful tale of survival at the end of an Ice Age, the young hunter, Attu, must choose between saving his clan or saving Rika, the golden-eyed healer he is forbidden to love.Show more Show less --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Dictionary of Animal Languages


Heidi Sopinka - 2018
    Now in her nineties, the famously reclusive painter remains devoted to her work. She has never married, never had a family, never had a child. So when a letter arrives disclosing that she has a granddaughter living in New York, her world is turned upside down and the past is brought painfully to life.Disowned by her bourgeois family, the young Ivory had gone to interwar Paris to study art, and quickly found her true home among the avant-garde painters and poets who crowd the city's cafes. In fellow painter Tacita, she finds the sister she never had. In the Zoological Gardens, she finds a subject for her art capable of fascinating her endlessly. And in Lev, the brooding, haunted Russian 'migr' painter fleeing the Revolution and destined for greatness, she finds the love that will mark her life forever.But she loses all this, and more, when the Second World War sweeps away the life she has only just discovered. In her grief, she turns to the project she had begun in Paris, and which will consume the rest of her life: a dictionary of animal languages. Part science, part art, the dictionary strives to transcribe the wordless yearning of animals, the lonely and love-laden cries that expect no response.By nature solitary, Ivory withdraws fully into herself as she pursues her life's work. Until the discovery of one of Lev's paintings from 1940, inscribed to Ivory and now worth a fortune, brings to light a secret from her time in Paris that even Ivory could never guess. Now in her nineties, she is forced to acknowledge afresh all she has lost, and also to find meaning and beauty in a world defined by longing.Masterfully written, and emotionally charged, The Dictionary of Animal Languages is about love and grief and art and the realization that, like tragedy, the best things in life arrive out of the blue.

Orders is Orders


L. Ron Hubbard - 1937
    Japan’s war machine was pounding wreckage into ashes—wiping out a city that had thrived since the time of Genghis Khan. One of the few buildings still standing is the American consulate where one hundred and sixteen US refugees are facing almost certain death, either from high explosives, the ravages of starvation or Asiatic cholera. Unbeknownst to the refugees, their fate rests in the hands of one Marine-- Gunnery Sergeant James Mitchell--and his ability to negotiate two hundred miles of occupied territory in order to bring desperately needed gold and medicine, while overcoming bullets, dive bombers, butchery and his own personal nemesis—alcohol. Add to these seemingly insurmountable odds, a seductive American fan-dancer who hitches along for the ride and saving the lives of the hostages is far from a fait accompli.As a young man, Hubbard visited Manchuria, where his closest friend headed up British intelligence in northern China.  Hubbard gained a unique insight into the hostile political climate between China and Japan—a knowledge that informs stories like Orders Is Orders. In addition, he served as a First Sergeant with the 20th United States Marine Corps Reserve—giving him first-hand knowledge of what it means to be a Marine. “Demonstrating his unique ability to relate even to the most complicated story with a keen eye for detail and realism, Hubbard’s stunning writing ability and creative imagination set him apart as one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century.” —Publishers Weekly #NewGoldenAge

Wage Slave Rebellion


Stephen W. Gee - 2014
    It's a world of danger and excitement, and Mazik Kil'Raeus is . . . a door-to-door salesman. Though a skilled spellcaster, Mazik couldn't get a good job out of college, and now he's stuck in a dead-end one he hates. Along with his friends, Gavi Ven'Kalil (waiter at a local bar) and Raedren Ian'Moro (apprentice healer . . . it's not as glamorous as it sounds), Mazik is not happy with the way his life is going. Frustrated with boring work, selfish bosses, and wasting their lives for meager pay, the three friends decide to do something crazy—they're going to become monster-slaying adventurers. Not that it will be easy. With a consortium of powerful guilds determined to keep people like them out, they'll have to wow everyone to make it. That's when they set their eyes on a difficult quest: stopping a group of kidnappers who have been terrorizing their city for months. But when the kidnappers turn out to be acolytes of a power-hungry god, the quest transforms into an explosive battle that rampages across the city. The three friends are in over their heads, and nobody expects them to come out on top. That's an adventure they relish. After all, it's better to risk uncertainty and death now, than to accept mediocrity and die without ever having lived. WAGE SLAVE REBELLION combines the fantasy adventure of The Hobbit with the pulse-pounding combat of a Marvel action movie. It's medieval sword & sorcery meets urban high fantasy, in a tale about refusing to accept limits and living life to its fullest, no matter what anyone else has to say. WHO SHOULDN'T READ THIS BOOK: Anyone who doesn't like stories with drinking, cussing, fighting, or killing likely won't enjoy this book. The main characters are adults, and they live in a dangerous world; they act accordingly. Anyone who prefers their books serious or grimdark may be disappointed. This book has adult themes and situations, but above all else it's intended to be fun. If that doesn't sound like something you would enjoy, this book may not be for you. WHO SHOULD READ WITH BOOK: Anyone looking for an action-packed, fun-filled fantasy adventure. If you enjoy friendly banter, thrilling heroics, and tons of explosions, this book is for you. If you like stories with a certain lightness of tone which eschew angst in favor of punching problems in the face, this book is definitely for you. And if you've ever loathed your job or dreamed about going on adventures with your best friends, this book was written with you in mind. Want behind-the-scenes info, sneak peeks, and to be the first to learn about sequel announcements? Sign up for the author’s email list at www.stephenwgee.com. You’ll get a free prequel short story when you sign up. NOW AVAILABLE: The exciting sequel to WAGE SLAVE REBELLION and the second book in the FIRESIGN series. Join Mazik, Gavi, and Raedren as they continue their adventures in FREELANCE HEROICS.

Unshed Tears


Edith Hofmann - 2012
    It has only very recently been published. Although it has been written as a novel, it details events, which were all too tragically true.Edith Hofmann is a survivor of the Holocaust, born in Prague in 1927 as Edith Birkin. In 1941, along with her parents, she was deported to the Lodz Ghetto, where within a year both her parents had died. At 15 she was left to fend forherself.The Lodz Ghetto was the second-largest ghetto to Warsaw, and was established for Jews and Gypsies in German-occupied Poland. Situated in the town of Lodz in Poland and originally intended as a temporary gathering point for Jews, the ghetto was transformed into a major industrial centre, providing much needed supplies for Nazi Germany and especially for the German Army.Because of its remarkable productivity, the ghetto managed to survive until August 1944, when the remaining population, including Edith, was transported to Auschwitz and Chelmno extermination camp in cattle trucks. It was the last ghetto in Poland to be liquidated due to the advancing Russian army. Edith was only 17, and one of the lucky ones.For the majority, it was their final journey. A small group of them were selected for work. With her hair shaved off and deprived of all her possessions, she travelled to Kristianstadt, a labour camp in Silesia, to work in an underground munitions factory.