The deceptive, crooked path that led him to today began a few months back. Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, nineteen-year old Fleming was a professional baseball pitcher with the Chicago White Sox. His successful first year in the minor leagues was waylaid when he received his draft notice. Through a series of misadventures, he ended up enlisting for four years in an elite unit called the A.S.A. or Army Security Agency; the army’s equivalent to the N.S.A. or the National Security Agency. Once in the army, Fleming learned that the recruiter had manipulated him with a host of untruths. Then, to his dismay, he learned that the army had lost his orders and he was placed in an infantry unit. Once in Vietnam, Platoon Sergeant, Levine questioned Fleming and dragged out of him the sad story of how he had enlisted for four years and ended up in an infantry unit. He became the butt of the platoon’s jokes and underwent vicious ribbing by the other platoon members. That day, the platoon was ordered back to their base camp: L.Z. English. Before leaving, they endured a mortar attack and then a ground probe. Fleming’s foxhole mate was critically wounded. Fleming did everything he could to save the man but his wounds were too severe and he died in Fleming’s arms. Repulsed by the ordeal, Fleming was left wondering if he could endure a whole year of this. Twelve-year old Van Phan Duc and his two friends twelve-year old Hoi Anh Vanh and Dan Tri Quang lived happily in their village until the day a N.V.A. invaded and forced them to join their struggle and fight the invading Americans. They were then assigned to a Viet Cong unit where they met Sergeant Chi, the man who would train them to be soldiers for the revolution and lead them into battle. Three American soldiers had been captured. Chi ordered the three boys to participate in brutally torturing the Americans. Dan embraced the torture and it turned him into a brutal fighting machine, much to Chi’s satisfaction. On the other hand, Hoi was repulsed by the events and a part of him died that day. He performed the torture but it wasn’t to Chi’s satisfaction. Van, a devout Buddhist, was also repulsed. He realized that life, as a soldier was three hundred and sixty degrees opposite of Buddha’s spiritual path. The 173rd’s area of operations was the Central Highlands. The 173rd’s home base was in and around the town of Bong Son, but they patrolled all over the province of Binh Dinh. For the next few months, Fleming and Van’s units met on numerous occasions. The first time they engaged each other in combat was in a simple ambush that lasted only two minutes. Both men were left repulsed by the carnage that could take place in only two minutes. Right after the ambush, Fleming’s company was deployed in a battalion-sized operation located in the Dak To mountain range. It was an area where numerous North Vietnamese soldiers infiltrated into South Vietnam from neighboring Cambodia and Laos. Fleming’s company was dropped into an area far from Dak To and the men were forced to march (hump) to their final destination. During the trek, they had to carve their way through impenetrable jungle and cross leach infested rivers to reach their destination, all the while suffering under Vietnam’s oppressive heat. Van’s Viet Cong unit was sent to the Dak To mountain range to do battle with Fleming and his company. Months passed with Van and Fleming’s units constantly meeting. Both men had similar personalities. Both men overcame their initial shock at war’s brutality and became highly competent soldiers who bravely fought the enemy. Both men were ultimately made into squad leaders. Both men continued to hate the war, yet were entrapped in the insanity that was war. They both recognized what war was—a brutally insane series of events where lives were lost and where dreams died.

    His parents are dead, he hasn’t seen his sister since she was a teenager, and Kaunas has become the political center of the emerging state of Lithuania. He’s barely off the train when he’s recruited back into service, this time for the nascent government eager to secure his loyalty and vast experience. Though the administration may be new, its problems are familiar, and Adamonis quickly finds himself ensnared in a dangerous web of political corruption and personal betrayal.

    Instead of hiding from national ridicule, Coach Pete Carroll embraced the pain and used it as an opportunity to teach his ultra-competitive team about the quality he inspires the most in people: persistence. Pass Judgment is a poignant portrait of grit, an inside look at the Seahawks' taxing 2014 journey to the Super Bowl, the bond it restored, the heartache of losing and the arduous process to recover. How do you live with the worst error of your life? This is the story of how a proud team, led by a relentless coach, digested failure.Jerry Brewer is a sports columnist for The Washington Post. Before joining The Post in June 2015, he worked for The Seattle Times, where he wrote opinions about the entire Seattle sports scene for nearly nine years and chronicled the Seahawks' rise to NFL prominence under Pete Carroll. Before Seattle, he worked at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., The Orlando Sentinel and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He has received awards for his work from numerous journalism organizations, including the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors, Associated Press Sports Editors, Society of Professional Journalists, Best of the West and National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He lives in Arlington, Va., with his wife, Karen, and sons, Miles and Austin.Cover design by Adil Dara

    Moments before greeting the Hangman, Kat escapes, disappearing to parts unknown. World War 2 has changed the rules of the game. Kat is now an outlaw incognito, trapped hundreds of hellish miles behind Axis Lines deep in the heart of the Sahara Desert in Northern Africa. On her travels, Kat discovers Hitler's plan to destroy British oil reserves in Northern Africa. Kat is now desperate to bring that information to British Command in Cairo, Egypt. To do so, she must make it back to Allied Lines without being shot by the Waffen-SS as an MI6 spy or by the British as a traitor. Are you looking for High Octane kick-butt action, with a bit of dark humor just to break up all the mayhem? Pick up a copy of this World War 2 action-packed book and hold on tight for the ride of your life. 350 Action Packed Pages... Gruesome at times... Mostly by Kat... A World War 2 Sahara Desert Action Adventure Fiction.

    The pretty daughter of a wife-beating drunk, it is no surprise that she has grown up afraid of her own shadow. That is until 'Battling Bessie Ruddick' takes the young girl under her wing and into the heart of her bustling family.Growing into an attractive young woman, Mary Ann yearns to be loved and when her affection for Bessie's son, Dan, is finally returned she becomes a skipper's wife. But the arduous life aboard ship is clearly not for her and only the arrival of a daughter, Lizzie, seems to hold the marriage together. Yet, tragically, the family is torn apart when Mary Ann is seduced by the promise of a happier life.Although bewildered by her mother's disappearance, it is now up to Lizzie to help her father. For she, unlike Mary Ann, has inherited Dan's love of the river. But then, disturbingly, her life starts to follow the same pattern as her mother's . . .

    Gone are the days of scavenging for food and fighting for survival on the streets of eighteenth-century London. Instead, Jacky is becoming a skilled and respected sailor as the crew pursues pirates on the high seas.There's only one problem: Jacky is a girl. And she will have to use every bit of her spirit, wit, and courage to keep the crew from discovering her secret. This could be the adventure of her life--if only she doesn't get caught. . . .

    Life in the court of the new emperor, deranged Michael the Fifth, holds extreme danger at every turn, as Harald becomes a pawn in the various factions' thirst for power.Can he survive this dangerous place, and turn his mind towards regaining what is rightfully his?Praise for Varangian: "...perfect blend of reality and fiction. A great story from an insightful author." - Veritas Vincit Review " The author weaves a fascinating and compelling story that captures the reader instantly and never lets go. In this world, seduction is a principal instrument for control, influence, espionage, sabotage and just sheer pleasure. These characters are bigger than life itself and so were their appetites for power, control, wealth and influence. A compelling and heroic tale." - T.L. Needham, author

    He leaves wife, home, and all he owns to set out on the road to freedom. Ahead lies Mr. Sugg, the odd little man who teaches him the antiques trade, the generous hearted Olga who welcomes him into her home, and Rachel, the fascinating young girl who leads him into the springtime of love.

    

    Danger on the rails. A journey to save a family.It is 1933 inside a sweltering courtroom in Macon, Georgia. Fifteen-year-old Robert sits on a bench awaiting sentencing after being picked up for vagrancy and spending a night in jail. He left his home in Illinois with a neighborhood friend to ride the rails and find work to help their families. The friend turned back, too afraid to face the perils ahead. But going back empty-handed isn’t an option for Robert.THE ONLY WAY HOME is the story of one boy’s determination to survive loss and hardship to help his family — and how fate and a violin touch the course of his life.Fans of Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and Sold On a Monday by Kristina Morris will love this story set during the Great Depression of a fatherless boy fighting to keep his family together.

    Her entire family has been struck down with influenza, leaving her alone in the world—except for her cousin Philip. But Philip is bound for Oregon to meet up with Laurel, his fiancée, who’s waiting for him. Though Mary begs him to take her with him on the Oregon Trail, he resists. What would people think? Mary’s plan is simple. They already share a last name. They will pose as husband and wife. The wagonmaster is a firm man—and if he finds out the truth, he’ll force them to marry, dashing Philip’s dreams of a life with Laurel. But Mary promises it will be their secret, and Philip can’t leave her behind after all she’s lost. When Luke Sayer, their half-Indian trail scout, begins to spend evenings at their fireside, other travelers notice the obvious mutual attraction between him and Mary. Though Mary denies it, she struggles to keep her promise without bringing harm to either her dear cousin, Philip, who has risked everything for her—or to Luke, the love of her life. Mary's grit and determination will see her through the hardships and sorrows she encounters, but Luke’s love will give her hope for the future as they WALK THE PROMISE ROAD… “With exquisite details of wagon trains, women and the West, Anne Schroeder takes us on an authentic journey of love and hope giving us characters to cheer for and moments of meaning to cherish.” — Jane Kirkpatrick, Award-winning author of ALL SHE LEFT BEHIND. "The most accurate novel I've ever read on the Trail." — Michael Smith, Oregon Trail Preservation Committee

    Determined to remove the curse of poverty and crime from her family’s past, Lexie sets off to Charleston, S.C. to find the mythical treasure of Stede Bonnet.Professor Barret Johnson represents everything Lexie hates. Born to wealth and privilege, Barret’s family are pillars of the community, successful, educated, Christians who never suffered a day in their lives. Yet she has no choice but to allow him to help her decipher the letters.As the couple read each letter, we are transported into the past where we follow the adventures of Stede Bonnet from his start in Barbados, through each success and failure, and his eventual connection with Blackbeard himself.Lexie discovers a kindred spirit in her ancestor, Bonnet, and lessons learned from the past soon drift into the present. But someone is after the letters, and soon Barret and Lexie find themselves in grave danger. They must figure out the puzzle Bonnet left them and retrieve the treasure before whoever is after them gets desperate enough to end their lives.

    Settler wagons in their hundreds left the safety of the Cape Colony; generations on, their descendents are still fighting to keep a land they love...... "For that smallest of moments the two men stared at each other. Between them flew a hundred years, a thousand reasons. Ancient prophecies, the creak of wagons over rough ground and a woman's yearning for infinite horizons, the strengthening of one man's belief and the imminent death of another."From Rhodesia's final years, the clock turns back to the windswept, dusty streets of Kimberley’s infamous diamond fields. For Catherine Goddard and her son, Mathew, their decision to cross the Limpopo as part of a settler wagon train is one borne of desperation and a boy's need to be reunited with his father. For three months their ox-drawn trek wagon stands as their only defence against the African wilderness and the bloodlust of Lobengula Khumalo’s warring impis.Throughout the passage of a hundred years, three racially divided families are fatefully drawn together. Dynasties are shaped and smashed by kings, warrior chiefs and the indomitable lust for power and wealth by men like Cecil Rhodes and the perpetrators of Zimbabwe’s chaotic new order.From the latter part of the nineteenth century, Sons of Africa runs inexorably to the demise of Rhodesia’s white minority rule and the emergence of the new Zimbabwe.

    Spirit is the leader of a herd of wild mustangs. Rustlers, soldiers, and railroad builders capture and attempt to tame the stallion just as they are taming the land, but the mustang has a determination and a need for freedom that cannot be contained. Through bravery, cunning, and an unexpected friendship with a Native American boy, Spirit finds his way home again.

    Mesopotamia, 1914: in the Middle East tension is escalating between the British and the Arabs. Misfit Lieutenant Harry Downe is sent to negotiate a treaty with a renegade Bedouin Sheikh, Ibn Shalan, whose tribe is attacking enemy patrols in Iraq and cutting their oil pipelines. Greedy for arms, Shalan accepts British weapons but, in return, Harry must take his daughter Furja to be his bride. The secret marriage leads to a deep love, to the anger of Shalan and the disgust of Harry's fellow officers. But war is looming, and the horrors of the battlefield threaten to destroy Harry's newfound happiness, and change his life and that of his closest friends for ever. Long Road to Baghdad is a vivid, moving, historically accurate account of a conflict between East and Western Empires, based on the wartime exploits of war hero Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Leachman.