Product DescriptionThe world’s most elite counterterrorism unit has just taken its game to an entirely new level. And not a moment too soon . . .From behind the rows of razor wire, a new breed of counterterrorism operator has emerged. Just as skilled, just as fearsome, and just as deadly as their colleagues, Delta Force’s newest members have only one thing setting them apart—their gender. Part of a top-secret, all-female program codenamed The Athena Project, four of Delta’s best and brightest women are about to undertake one of the nation’s deadliest assignments. When a terrorist attack in Rome kills more than twenty Americans, Athena Team members Gretchen Casey, Julie Ericsson, Megan Rhodes, and Alex Cooper are tasked with hunting down the Venetian arms dealer responsible for providing the explosives. But there is more to the story than anyone knows. In the jungles of South America, a young U.S. intelligence officer has made a grisly discovery. Surrounded by monoliths covered with Runic symbols, one of America’s greatest fears appears to have come true. Simultaneously in Colorado, a foreign spy is close to penetrating the mysterious secret the U.S. government has hidden beneath Denver International Airport. As Casey, Ericsson, Rhodes, and Cooper close in on their target, they will soon learn that another attack—one of unimaginable proportions—has already been set in motion, and the greatest threat they face may be the secrets kept by their own government. Book DescriptionTucked away in a remote corner of North Carolina’s Fort Bragg, behind rows of razor wire and heavily armed guards, lies the headquarters of the nation’s most elite counter-terrorism unit - the United States Army’s 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta. Here, a brilliant new approach to combating terrorism has just been born. Its codename: The Athena Project. The novels will follow an elite team of female warriors from their recruitment as top-level athletes, through their training, to their deployment on some of the most exciting and dangerous international assignments the fiction world has ever seen. Brad Thor’s readers will be electrified as he employs his vast knowledge of covert operations and military intrigue to bring to life his most heart-pounding, globe-trotting thrillers yet. Views: 34
From BooklistThough the prolific Genghis Khan fathered numerous sons and daughters, historians have dutifully recorded the foibles and follies of his male heirs while virtually ignoring the accomplishments of his female offspring. Weatherford seeks to remedy this glaring omission by providing a fascinating romp through the feminine side of the infamous Khan clan. Surprisingly, old Genghis himself seems to have been impressed enough by the leadership abilities of his womenfolk to want to reward some of them with pieces of his vast empire. At least four of his daughters became queens of their own countries, exercising power over their courts, their armies, and, of course, their families. Important linchpins in the Mongol Empire, these women supplied the balance of power necessary to appease fractious tribes and territories. Unfortunately, soon after Genghis Khan’s death, the female rulers were challenged by their male relatives, and the fragile bonds that held the Mongol Empire together quickly disintegrated. Ironically, it wasn’t until the emergence of a new queen, two centuries later, that the once-mighty Mongol nation was reunited. Let’s hear it for the girls. --Margaret Flanagan Product DescriptionThe Mongol queens of the thirteenth century ruled the largest empire the world has ever known. Yet sometime near the end of the century, censors cut a section from The Secret History of the Mongols, leaving a single tantalizing quote from Genghis Khan: “Let us reward our female offspring.” Only this hint of a father’s legacy for his daughters remained of a much larger story. The queens of the Silk Route turned their father’s conquests into the world’s first truly international empire, fostering trade, education, and religion throughout their territories and creating an economic system that stretched from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. Outlandish stories of these powerful queens trickled out of the Empire, shocking the citizens of Europe and and the Islamic world.After Genghis Khan’s death in 1227, conflicts erupted between his daughters and his daughters-in-law; what began as a war between powerful women soon became a war against women in power as brother turned against sister, son against mother. At the end of this epic struggle, the dynasty of the Mongol queens had seemingly been extinguished forever, as even their names were erased from the historical record.. One of the most unusual and important warrior queens of history arose to avenge the wrongs, rescue the tattered shreds of the Mongol Empire, and restore order to a shattered world. Putting on her quiver and picking up her bow, Queen Mandhuhai led her soldiers through victory after victory. In her thirties she married a seventeen-year-old prince, and she bore eight children in the midst of a career spent fighting the Ming Dynasty of China on one side and a series of Muslim warlords on the other. Her unprecedented success on the battlefield provoked the Chinese into the most frantic and expensive phase of wall building in history. Charging into battle even while pregnant, she fought to reassemble the Mongol Nation of Genghis Khan and to preserve it for her own children to rule in peace.At the conclusion of his magnificently researched and ground-breaking narrative, Weatherford notes that, despite their mystery and the efforts to erase them from our collective memory, the deeds of these Mongol queens inspired great artists from Chaucer and Milton to Goethe and Puccini, and so their stories live on today. With The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, Jack Weatherford restores the queens’ missing chapter to the annals of history.From the Hardcover edition. Views: 34
From Publishers WeeklyThe subtitle of Kent's first memoir, and first book since 2002's The Dark Stuff collected his writings on rock music, says it all: this is a staggering and vibrant account of one music critic's decadent decade. Kent, whose journalism helped define the UK's New Musical Express in its heyday, reportedly spent 15 years working on this book, sifting through his drug-addled memory to provide a blow-by-blow, year-by-year account of his dark and chaotic journey from teenage fan to celebrated music critic to serious junkie. Packed with up-close-and-personal encounters on both sides of the Atlantic with the likes of the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and Led Zeppelin, this memoir is a refreshingly bleak and grimy chronicle of an oft-mythologized era. Kent's sometimes unfavorable recollections seldom veer into character assassinations, nor does he glorify the sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll lifestyle that nearly killed him. Along the way, Kent falls in love with Chrissie Hynde, takes a beating from Sid Vicious, and finds a life-saver in Iggy Pop. Kent's personal, candid style makes the exploits, few of which are pretty or heroic, read like an intimate all-night conversation. 10 pages of b&w photos. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. ReviewThe Onion’s AV Club, 9/1/10“Apathy ping-pongs easily between personal reminiscences and more general overviews of rock’s shape each year.”Goldmine, 10/1“A vibrant story, an autobiography that never hits auto-pilot”_Library Journal_, 9/24“A candid, graphic, and fascinating memoir of [Kent’s] 1970s… Amazing true stories on every page… Highly recommended for anyone interested in the dark days of rock and in British rock journalism.”Hartford_ Advocate, _10/15/10“Nearly every page of Apathy contains a scene about which you find yourself muttering out loud, ‘No way,’ and two pages later Kent has fleshed it out so completely that you can almost hear him responding ‘Way’…If you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall to rock ‘n’ roll debauchery, Nick Kent is your man.”Buffalo_ News_“_Apathy_ is not some sordid tale of rockstar trainspotting…Kent mattered (and matters still) because he was a great writer, a passionate music love and a man able to tap into the cultural zeitgeist at will. Essential reading for anyone who cares about the rock culture of the ‘70s.”Glide Magazine, 10/27/10“[A]nyone who can write a memoir that includes folks like David Bowie, Chrissie Hynde, Lou Reed, and Keith Richards and never comes off as a name-dropper must be telling a pretty good story, wouldn’t you say?”_Milwaukee__ Shepherd Express_, 11/8/10“[A] compelling page-turner and revealing look at the origins of heavy metal, space rock, glitter and punk.”Crawdaddy! , 11/24/10“At once sentimental, salacious, and sometimes shocking slice of essential music memoir…If there is redemption in Kent’s decade of groping in the dark, it’s that he lived to illuminate it; his emotional appreciation of rock’s art prevails over 30 years of chitchat and theory about it…A whistle blower and old-time investigative journalist, Kent fulfills a necessary function as truth teller in the flighty discourse of pop culture. Reporting back from a time when the complicity of the press and the audience converged to become the great rock ‘n’ roll swindle, he’s done his due diligence and given us more than a glimpse behind the curtain.”Detroit_ Metrotimes,_ 11/30/10“One of the more fascinating reads of the year.”Metroland, 12/13/10“Englishman Nick Kent had a front-row seat for the tumult of music that spilled out of the ’60s into the ’70s…He depicts it all with the same honest flair that put him on the map as a journalist in the first place.” Houston_ Press_, 12/15/10“Know this: Nick Kent had more fun by age 24 than you will during your entire life. His fascinating eyewitness accounts include musical (but mostly non-musical) recreational pursuits with a who's who of '70s rock… An eminently readable and rollicking ride, Apathy for the Devil…is a great read. Kent's hero, and Almost Famous cameo, Lester Bangs would be proud.”Publishers Weekly, 2/28/11“A staggering and vibrant account of one music critic's decadent decade…A blow-by-blow, year-by-year account of [Kent’s] dark and chaotic journey from teenage fan to celebrated music critic to serious junkie. Packed with up-close-and-personal encounters on both sides of the Atlantic…this memoir is a refreshingly bleak and grimy chronicle of an oft-mythologized era…Kent's personal, candid style makes the exploits, few of which are pretty or heroic, read like an intimate all-night conversation.” Views: 34
Emily Tempest is appointed an aboriginal community police officer for the Moonlight Downs station. Investigating the possible murder of an elderly geologist, she encounters Danny, an emotionally fragile Stonehouse mob teenager who is traumatized by the image of "poison flowing green." The terrain of Australia, a Japanese rock garden painter, a rash of unexplained illnesses, and the implausibility of two elderly friends killing each other present Emily with a unique puzzle.From the Hardcover edition. Views: 34
