The Pirate Queen begins in Ireland with the infamous Grace O'Malley, a ruthless pirate and scourge to the most powerful fleets of sixteenth-century Europe. This Irish clan chieftain, sea captain, and pirate queen was a contemporary of Elizabeth I, a figure whose life is the stuff of myth. Regularly raiding English ships caught off Ireland's west coast, O'Malley was purported to have fought the Spanish armada just hours after giving birth to her son. She had several husbands in her lifetime, and acquired lands and castles that still dot the Irish coastline today.But Grace O'Malley was not alone. Since ancient times, women have rowed and sailed, commanded and fished, built boats and owned fleets. As pirate, captain's wives, lighthouse keepers and sailors in disguise they've explored coastlines and set off alone across unknown seas. Yet their incredible contributions have been nearly erased from the history books. In The Pirate Queen, Barbara Sjoholm brings some of these... Views: 45
Humans have always wanted to fly. As soon as there were planes and cars, many people saw a combination as the next step for personal transportation, and visionary engineers and inventors did their best to make the flying car (or the roadable plane) a reality. This book is a breezy account of hybrid vehicles and their creators, and of the intense drive that kept bringing inventors back to the drawing board despite repeated failures and the dictates of common sense. Illustrated with archival photos, this entertaining survey takes readers back as far as Icarus and forward into the present day, with a look toward the future. Includes author's note, source notes, bibliography, index. Views: 45
The adventures continue for Rivers, the blind Alaska racing sled dog, his buddies, and their human companion Mike. Racing across the trails of Alaska, the team finds a lost child in a blizzard and helps a foster child find his forever home, while searching for their destiny on the snowy trails. A tale from the trail of friendship, loyalty, and devotion. The magic continues as the story may touch your own life's experiences. Rivers, Through the Eyes of a Bind Dog, has something for everyone, child, adult, and of course, dog lover. From Alaska, where else? Views: 45
Cray got into the same college his father attended and is expected to go. And to go pre-med. And to get started right away. His parents are paying the tuition. It should be an easy decision.But it's not.All Cray knows is that what's expected of him doesn't feel right. The pressure to make a decision—from his family, his friends—is huge. Until he meets Rayne, a girl who is taking a gap year, and who helps him find his first real job, at a home of four adults with developmental disabilities. What he learns about himself and others will turn out to be more than any university could teach him—and twice as difficult. Views: 44
This sequel to Hadassah parallels the lives of Hadassah and Queen Esther in modern day Israel and the Persian kingdom. Each woman must remain strong as she fights for her people.The modern-day Hadassah, introduced to readers in the previous novel, is the wife of Israel's Prime Minister, with all its reflected power but also its isolation. The inner pain she feels as her beloved land and people are terrorized by political strife and bombings is made even more personal as her own father comes under attack. And then she learns of information that could have tragic repercussions on Jews living in Iraq, where Queen Esther had laid her own life on the line to save her people. The successor to Xerxes has no love for the Jews, and when he discovers the Star of David medallion on Leah (the young queen's candidate Esther wrote to in Hadassah), he is outraged. Leah is delegated to the "rejected" category, virtually a prisoner for life in the king's palace, with no hope and no... Views: 44
Wandering through his own land, Coinneach is startled by a mystifying discovery. The howls of the night always struck a certain chord with him, but now they coalesce into outright song. Taken from his village into the throes of revolution, Neach will face fear, love, and curiosity head-on, or be forced to deal with the consequences of inaction. Follow the author on Twitter @kewalterauthor Views: 44
Darius Burns is a second-stringer for the Troy Central High Trojans, but lately he's been stepping up his game. He even has a shot at the team's starting halfback spot. The biggest thing in his way is a guilty conscience. Because Darius hasn't improved through hard work alone. He's also getting "nutritional supplements" from an assistant coach.Soon Darius is reading about nasty side effects and worrying about his health. But if he goes to Troy Central's head coach, will he blow his chance to play in the state championship—or even cost his team the victory? Views: 44
When Sammy must spend weeks alone with his grandfather, he learns that the old man isn't quite as boring as he thought . . .When his parents leave for Detroit, Sammy is left alone with his out-of-touch grandfather in a dull, creaky house. All Sammy wants to do is run away to rejoin his folks. But Grandpa's world holds a few surprises, including a majestic crane found in the woods with a broken wing. Sammy finds himself seeing his grandfather's world through new, wild eyes. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Betsy Byars including rare images from the author's personal collection. Views: 44
One of Hollywood's hottest action-film writers, James Byron Huggins is a master at keeping the action rolling and the pages turning. Here, the author of Cain ("may be the thriller of the year" -- BookPage), unleashes a lightning-quick tale that pits a man born out of his time against the future's deadliest creation. Nathaniel Hunter could track anyone -- or anything -- on earth. Now the military desperately needs him for a mission that his ultrasensitive instincts tell him he should refuse. A beast is loose somewhere north of the Arctic Circle. It has already decimated a secret research facility and annihilated a squad of elite military guards. And the raging creature is headed south toward civilization, ready to wreak bloody devastation. It's a job that Hunter can't turn down, but he soon discovers that his prey is terror incarnate, a half-human abomination created by a renegade agency through a series of outlawed genetic experiments. It has man's cunning, a predator's savageness, and a prehistoric power that has transcended the ages. And even if Hunter survives its unrelenting hunger for human blood, he'll still have to confront the grim reality that it may have grown immortal.Amazon.com ReviewThe first time we meet Nathaniel Hunter, the world's greatest tracker, he and his giant black wolf, Ghost, arrive at the scene of a massive search for a lost boy. "With primordial strength--an almost frightening animal strength brought to life with a single word--the enormous wolf turned, massive muscles bunching and hardening beneath the heavy black coat. The huge head, as broad as an anvil, went to the ground as it padded toward the treeline." No wonder Sylvester Stallone has bought James Byron Huggins's latest thriller for the movies! What a role--and the part of Hunter isn't bad, either...Hunter, a historic-looking mountain man who dresses in stylish leather garments designed by himself, finds the boy quickly and is ready to set off for Manchuria in search of a rare Siberian tiger when an even more dangerous target surfaces in the wilds of Alaska. An illicit medical experiment has gone wrong, and the attempt to combine the recovered DNA of one of our more violent and predatory predecessors with that of modern man has resulted in a creature whose amazing powers of brain and muscle are matched only by its survival instincts.As readers of his previous thrillers (Cain and Leviathan) already know, Huggins can make the most outlandish material instantly credible by creating scenes of great power and imagination. He also knows more about weapons and ways of killing people and animals than anyone. There's nothing cozy or literary about his work, but the action is nonstop and fully absorbing. --Dick AdlerFrom Publishers WeeklyHuggins's latest thriller (after the biblical Cain), about the clinical combination of modern man with the recovered DNA of a super-predatory but mercifully extinct proto-human, avoids falling into mere mindless action fiction by its unusually deft characterization. In the near future, illegal medical experiments in Alaska have created this nearly indestructible creature of incredible cunning and savagery, who goes on a rampage through the ranks of the research stations. To cover their blunder, the government sends out an elite team of special-operations warriors, led by the title character, Nathaniel Hunter, a mountain man born out of time and the best tracker in the world. Meanwhile, U.S. marshals are on the trail of the secret and the cover-up, intervening in the action in an unexpected way. Huggins's pacing is nonstop; his visual imagination is so compelling that the book will work splendidly as a movie; and the action scenes are fine if the reader has the stomach for a high body count. The author's expertise on weapons and wilderness survival keeps the narrative interest high, as do the well-fleshed characters such as Hunter; Bobbi Jo, the female sniper; and Takakura, a Japanese equally at home with modern weapons as with his ancestral katana. Huggins also chillingly gets inside the head of the savage, highly intelligent beast. This is a feast for gun nuts and pure entertainment for the more dedicated thriller reader. (Jan.) FYI: Hunter has been optioned for film by Sylvester Stallone.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 44
Like many adopted children, Teal Rhines has always wondered about her biological parents. Who they were. Why they'd abandoned her. In all of her imaginings, she's never gotten close to the truth: her parents were vampire hunters. When her new bodyguard, the attractive Elias Bane, shows interest in her, she never dreams that he is a part of the same supernatural world that her mother fled. Views: 44
Since 1953, North and South Korea have been in a stalemate…until now. Led by a group of hard-line generals bent on taking South Korea by force, North Korean troops roll across the border. Lieutenant Blake and his men are dropped behind enemy lines with one objective: eliminate the generals — by any means necessary Views: 44
This short story from the anthology FaceOff pairs Raymond Khoury and Linwood Barclay—and features characters from their bestselling novels—in a one-of-a-kind thriller matchup.FBI Agent Sean Reilly (hero of Khoury’s five-million-copy bestseller The Last Templar) is tracking a criminal who is in possession of a lethal biological agent and threatening to unleash it on innocent civilians. But now Reilly has a bigger problem: his quarry, known online as Faustus, has created an explosive diversion and stolen a truck from a restaurant parking lot—and inside that truck is a teenage girl. General contractor and single dad Glen Garber (of Barclay’s 2011 bestseller The Accident) had stopped to grab a snack for his daughter Kelly when they both got caught up in the chaos in the parking lot. Thinking she’d be safest in the truck, he ordered her inside, and that was the last time he saw her. Agent Reilly must... Views: 44
