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Detonation
Erik A. Otto - 2018
There's a dark side to every invention, one which we have been fortunate to contain for most of history. But are we hurtling into the future too fast?Detonation is an epic, action-packed dystopian tale that is a cautionary reflection on our own innovation-obsessed culture. It follows two societies that are connected, but centuries apart, and their struggle against a superintelligent machine. Amid ideological clashes and political plotting, a diverse cast discovers this insidious threat, one which few can fathom, and fewer can challenge, and they are forced into an escalating conflict against a tireless enemy."A highly entertaining and absorbing combination of philosophy and action featuring robustly individualized characters." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Beautiful Hero: How We Survived the Khmer Rouge
Jennifer H. Lau - 2016
Surrounded by unimaginable adverse forces, one strong woman would ultimately lead her entire family to survive. Beautiful Hero is an autobiographical narrative told from a daughter’s perspective. The story centers around Meiyeng, the eponymous Beautiful Hero, and her innate ability to sustain everyone in her family. She shepherded her entire family through starvation, diseases, slavery and massacres in war-torn Cambodia to forge a new life in America. Over two million people—a third of the country’s population—fell victim to a devastating genocide in Cambodia. The rise of the Khmer Rouge posed not merely a single challenge to survival, but rather a series of nightmarish obstacles that required constant circumvention, outmaneuvering, and exceptional fortitude from those few who would survive the regime intact. The story eerily unravels the layers of atrocity and evil unleashed upon the people, providing a clear view of this horrific and violent time of the Cambodian revolution.br>
The Ground You Stand Upon: Life of a Skytrooper in Vietnam
Joshua Bowe - 2018
Wilbur E. Bowe was living on his family’s farm when he was drafted in 1965 and assigned to Alpha Company, 5th Battalion, 7th Calvary. The 5/7th Cavalry was formed as a brand-new battalion in order to fill out the 1st Air Cavalry Division’s 3rd Brigade. The young men of the battalion were largely drafted together in 1965 as the build-up of regular Army forces in Vietnam had just begun. Together, these impossibly young men would be trained in the airmobile infantry and become what were known as “skytroopers”. They would then be sent deep into the jungles of Vietnam, where together they would learn what “search and destroy” meant and face the reality of this new war.The story features many of the letters and photographs my dad sent home from the war zone. His dispatches were sent from some of the most remote valleys and outposts in Vietnam, written under the most austere of conditions, often scribbled in haste before another mission, or by flashlight, under a poncho in the rain. They would travel over 8,000 miles across the ocean, to be placed in a mailbox that stood across from a farmhouse, along a rural county road in Wisconsin.Many former skytroopers of Alpha Company were interviewed for this story, and their personal accounts recall much of the humor and friendship they shared, along with the sadness and tragedy that would accompany a year spent in the jungles of Vietnam. The story also draws upon the 5/7th Cavalry’s daily staff journals and situation reports for every day of the battalion’s first year in Vietnam.This is their story, told in great detail from their time spent training together at Fort Carson – through their historic journey across the ocean aboard the USNS Gaffey, where they would encounter a massive typhoon – through their many battles fought together in Vietnam – and eventually, their final patrol.
This Is How You Vagina: All About Your Vajayjay and Why You Probably Shouldn't Call It That
Nicole E. Williams - 2021
Nicole Williams presents readers with a much-needed education on the history, science, and attitudes of the most fascinating and misunderstood part of the female anatomy: the vagina. She covers valuable information about sexual function, childbirth, and physiology and provides answers to her patients’ (and probably your) most asked questions. She matter-of-factly dispels the most common myths and misinformation concerning female genitalia, including— • No, your vagina doesn’t need steaming • Those panty liners are unnecessary—your vagina needs to breathe • It’s actually perfectly normal for your vagina to have an odor—consider it your personal brand This book is an easy-to-understand guide, complete with illustrations, for women to explore and understand their vaginas in a way they never have before. You will learn what's normal and what's not, including that, yes, yours is most certainly normal too.This is How You Vagina is essential reading for anyone who is looking to better understand the form and function of this most majestic and fascinating organ.
The Influencer: Speed Must Have a Limit
Abhaidev - 2021
He is instead what some people call an Influencer. Yes! Literally! He is one of the few fortunate men who with the power of their minds can make other people agreeable and servile.To the outside world, Aditya is just another employee on the government’s payroll. But secretly, he is part of a shadow organization called WIS. With his special abilities, Aditya helps the most powerful man in his country, the PM, to have the better end of the deal.Life for Aditya had been smooth until one careless mistake precipitates into his wife knowing his big secret. WIS can tolerate anything but not a defector. It takes WIS some time but eventually they find out Aditya’s big goof up. It, therefore, declares war on the renegade. Aditya’s death is what they want.What will Aditya do? How will he fight this decree of the behemoth that once nurtured him?The Influencer is a story of a man who has never taken no for an answer. It’s a thrilling account of a single man who is facing the wrath of a powerful but dubious organization with highly-skilled, super assassins at its disposal.Will Aditya succeed in dodging WIS? Or will the evil organization get what it wants? How far will this fugitive go to protect everything he cherishes?
Sleepaway
T.R. Pearson - 2019
A Blue Ridge camping trip goes sideways for two young brothers and their minder in this sweet, brief novel of calamity and kindness.
The Desert Flowers - Rose
Judith S. Keim - 2021
He’s dying of cancer and needs her help overseeing the sale of his hotel, the Desert Sage Inn, to another hotel group. With her marketing skill and as the owner of a very successful blog, she’s his perfect choice to make the sale a smooth transition while ensuring the new owners will maintain the reputation and image of the upscale property after the sale. She arrives to find Alec has summoned two other women to help with the project. Lily Weaver was once Alec’s assistant, and Willow Sanchez was like a daughter to him. They join forces to help him, lovingly accepting his nickname for them—the Desert Flowers, similar to the well-known Charlie’s Angels of TV fame.When Rose is assigned to work alongside Hank Bowers, an independent consultant to the hotel company’s team, she shudders at his reputation as an outgoing guy who always uses sports analogies and is certain they won’t get along. But Alec counsels her to give Hank a chance and, later, as they work together as a team, Rose is left to wonder if falling for one another is part of Alec’s secret plan even if one of Hank’s grown daughters fights the idea.A series for those who love stories about strong women facing challenges and finding love and happiness along the way.
Relay
Roy Lieberman - 2019
Russ saw it all and wants to tell Dad. However, Dad is suspicious, since the last incident ended with his slippers being found in the dishwasher. Follow Dad’s keys as a team of strange contraptions airlift into the house to conduct a nightly key-relocation operation. The keys are hoisted by micro cranes, hauled using a minuscule cable car, and are carried upstairs by a three-legged walking machine. But where did the keys end up? Did they go down the drain as Dad suspects?
Silent Spring: Deadly Autumn of the Vietnam War
Patrick Hogan - 2019
I began the process without much enthusiasm and quickly got side lined by my new civilian life. Little did I realize that I wouldn’t re-visit my disability claims again until almost forty years later, when I watched President Barack Obama give a speech on the horrors of the Vietnam War. I’m still not quite sure what happened that day, but after listening to the president, I committed myself to investigate the causal link between my tactical pesticide exposures and the myriad health problems plaguing my life and the lives of many other Vietnam veterans. My post-service medical problems began mildly enough but soon balloned and were followed by more serious health issues. Every time I would ask one of my doctors what was causing my illness, I would usually get the answer, “I don’t know, but---.” When I began my research in 2012, I would learn that Agent Orange, along with several other military pesticides, were all very capable of impacting every biological system in my body and could actually be linked to many wide-ranging ailments for which many of my doctors could only say they weren’t sure of the cause. Despite the uniqueness of Vietnam veterans and the incredibly diverse range of hazardous chemicals to which we were exposed, the DVA insists on assessing our illnesses by using civilian epidemiological studies, resulting in appallingly inadequate standards for evaluating our toxic exposures during the war. During my years of research, I have quite literally reviewed thousands of studies and documents. The vast majority of those records came to the same inescapable conclusions as I eventually did at the end of my investigation. Low-level exposures to just the various known chemicals discussed in my book will attack living organisms on an undetected hormonal, genetic, and cellular/molecular level, producing covert systemic damage and alterations to immune, cardiovascular, endocrine, respiratory, and neurological systems of any human unlucky enough to be put in their path. Exactly how that damage and those alterations manifest depends on the several exposure factors which I discus in the book. Regrettably, I couldn’t go back over the last half a century to get a do-over or to have the war conducted differently. I couldn’t force our legislative or military leaders to make better decisions. I couldn’t rewrite the unpleasant history of the Vietnam War, with all the numerous negative impacts that war had on me and every other soldier, marine, or sailor who served the United States in South Vietnam and in the blue waters of the surrounding ocean. The very best I could do, almost a half century after the war, was to write an account of our betrayal and describe our exposures to the toxic pesticides and abhorrent conditions of the Vietnam War. All in the sincere effort to correct the present so that what occurred in South Vietnam will never happen again to new generations of military personnel, their families and their children and quite possibility their grandchildren’s children. The mountain of evidence presented in my book points to one common sense conclusion: Exposure to the tactical pesticides used in the Vietnam War were extremely injurious to the health of military personnel, as well as, the health of anyone else exposed to them. Despite all the facts, the government still places the burden of proof on veterans instead of taking responsibility for the mess they made during the Vietnam War or in the words of Dr. Jeanne Stellman, the Vietnam War is, "the largest unstudied environmental disaster in the world."
The Peyton Brooks' Mysteries Box Set
M.L. Hamilton - 2017
Over 1,000 pages of action and adventure from San Francisco’s top detective. The Peyton Brooks’ Mystery series follows the career of San Francisco Homicide Detective Peyton Brooks and her partner Marco D’Angelo as they fight crime in the City by the Bay.
Paradise: A Michael Quinn Short Story
Kevin Scott Olson - 2018
An unforgettable evening awaits him... if he lives through it. Past collides with present... temptations and tensions simmer... until they erupt.
Secrets of the Magic Ring
Karen McQuestion - 2011
Once that’s done, he’s shocked by the sudden arrival of a strange boy named Henry who demands Paul hand over his newfound treasure. Luckily, Paul’s dog scares off the intruder, leaving Paul to discover the contents of the box: a ring with directions for making wishes. When the ring ends up in the hands of his Aunt Vicky, her greatest wish quickly comes true. Could this ring be magical? Do wishes really come true? Paul is about to find out.This vibrant, imaginative tale reminds us that like eating too much ice cream, sometimes the things that start off as fun can lead to big trouble.
The Odd Fellows Society
C.G. Barrett - 2015
First, historian Jasper Willoughs, his closest friend, didn’t toss himself off a dormitory roof. Second, a Georgetown University secret society—a running joke on campus—has blood on its hands. Torres’s pursuit of the truth embroils him in a bizarre and thrilling scavenger hunt. The clues, scratched out on parchment by the mysterious Odd Fellows Society, lead Santi to risk everything he holds sacred: his job, his life, even the woman he secretly loves. As for his relationship with his God? Well, that’s complicated. A hold-your-breath thriller that explores our national obsession with race, The Odd Fellows Society will have you looking at the U.S. capital—and its monuments’ secrets—in a whole different shade of black and white.
Braiding Roses
Elise Stoltenbreck - 2021
Things nosedive from bad to terrible when she finds herself in a shouting match with Gareth, resident doctor and her boss, on her first day.Between the love of her life urging her to return to Perth and a prickly, dismissive, and rude boss practically tossing her to the curb on day one, Mandy faces the coming year with thorns bared, determined to come out with her head held high. While she hones her doctoring skills in order to prove herself to the highly capable Gareth after their less-than-ideal first encounter, she might learn a little something about herself, too.
Angle of Attack
Leo J. Maloney - 2021
Maloney launches an electrifying new series featuring Alex Morgan, daughter of legendary operative Dan Morgan and a formidable force in her own right.ANGLE OF ATTACKAlex Morgan’s new mission for Zeta plunges her into a web of danger threatening Europe’s glamorous Formula One racing circuit. It quickly escalates into a race against time to track down a missing supply of weapons-grade plutonium headed for North America. From a secret prison in Iran to the glittering casinos of Monaco, to the jungles of Malaysia, and to the dark side of Montreal, Alex is up against a deadly and far-reaching conspiracy. Each step of the way, she’s dogged by a shadowy figure determined to destroy her. Alex has the grit to deal with any external threat, but this is a new kind of peril from a source shockingly close to home—one that will make Alex question everything she once believed...