Sidney C. Philips, an easygoing Alabama teenager, enlisted along with a friend. 'Manila John' Basilone was the son of immigrants who found happiness in the rough-and-ready life of a marine. Eugene B. Sledge watched his best friend and brother go off to war - and finally rebelled against his parents to follow them. 'Shifty' Shofner was the scion of a prominent family with a long record of military service. Ensign Vernon 'Mike' Micheel left the family farm to complete flight school. Between America's retreat from China in late 1941 and the moment that MacArthur's plane landed in Japan in August 1945, these five men fought many of the key battles of the war in the Pacific. Here, Hugh Ambrose focuses on their real-life experiences and those of their fellow servicemen, enhancing and expanding upon the story told in the HBO miniseries. Covering nearly four years of combat with unprecedented access to military records, letters, journals, memoirs, photographs and interviews, this volume offers a unique historical perspective on the war against Japan, from the debacle in Bataan to the miracle of Midway, the relentless vortex of Guadalcanal, the black terraces of Iwo Jima and the killing fields of Okinawa - and ultimately the triumphant yet uneasy return home. These are the true stories of the men who put their lives on the line for their country, who were dispatched to the other side of the world to fight an enemy who preferred suicide to surrender; men who suffered hardship and humiliation in POW camps; men who witnessed casualties among soldiers and civilians alike; and men whose medals came at a shocking price - a price paid in full by all.

Awaken your inner Force with 29 intergalactic breakfast recipes. Fuel up with Hans Soloatmeal, battle hunger with Admiral Ackbars, and so much more! These easy-to-make, mouthwatering recipes feature characters and scenes from Star Wars: The Force Awakens as well as from the upcoming film Star Wars: The Last Jedi. And photographs featuring Star Wars figurines re-creating epic moments from the films provide an extra helping of humor. and TM Lucasfilm Ltd. Used Under Authorization

A hero’s journey starts with a single step—but what if that step rested on a broken foundation? When all you know about your world crumbles into ashes. When truth rests on a broken foundation. When what you believe to be true lies on a broken foundation. A book, a broken faith, a promise of hope. Never open a book without knowing what lies between its covers. When what you knew to be truth crumbles in the face of reality. When your heritage leads you to doubt all you’ve known. Diondray's Discovery is the first book in The Diondray's Chronicles that will transport you to the world of Kammbia, an imaginative and colorful world in which Diondray discovers his inner hero. If you can't get enough of rich new worlds, breathtaking adventure, introspective characters, and subtle social commentary, then you're ready to ride along with Diondray as he discovers his destiny.

Bianca Wells, the President’s daughter, experiences a close encounter with the aliens who invaded Earth five years ago. The Krinar are powerful, attractive, but also mysterious. There is one in particular she can’t get out of her head—the seductive Krinar Ambassador named Soren. With his hauntingly beautiful eyes and god-like body, he invades her dreams, spinning sensual encounters that leave her aching and breathless. But he, like the others of his kind, is dangerous. With impossible speed and strength, wielding incredible intelligence and advanced technology, the Krinar control this planet and every human on it. Bianca should want nothing to do with Soren. A single touch from him might cause an interstellar war. But after one scorching, forbidden kiss, she’ll risk everything to be with him. Soren came to Earth to ensure the survival of his people, but now he has one desire: to possess the brave and irresistible Bianca. Knowing he could destroy peaceful relations with the humans if anyone sees him with her, he takes matters into his own hands, rescuing her from an assassin. After one “big-bang” of a kiss, he knows he can’t let her go home. She belongs to him, and he will break every rule in his carefully controlled world to keep her. After their forbidden night of passion, Bianca enters Soren’s dark, seductive world. But her new life as Soren’s woman puts a target on her back, and her status as First Daughter only makes things worse. As enemies surface all around them, Bianca realizes she will have to trust Soren with her heart, even if it means giving up her freedom.

Following its defeat in World War One, Germany was a country in ruins. Inflation, poverty, exhaustion, humiliation and disillusionment wrecked the nation. Out of the ashes arose a man that promised to revitalise the country and give it back its dignity. He would deal, for once and for all, with the nation’s internal enemies – the communists and the Jews. That man, of course, was Adolf Hitler.?Read about how Hitler turned Germany into a one-party state, of his murderous reign and the descent into war and genocide.The Clever Teens’ Guide to Nazi Germany covers all the major facts and events giving you a clear and straightforward overview: from the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party, his domestic policies and foreign dealings, the racism and murder to World War Two and the Holocaust. ?Ideal for your “clever teenager”.

20th Century War and Misery.The suicide of Hitler’s niece, the assassinations of Malcolm X and Franz Ferdinand, the Battle of the Somme and Stalingrad, and the betrayal of Anne Frank – these are some of the stories you’ll find in Rupert Colley’s new collection of articles, The Savage Years: Tales From the 20th Century.?Covering World War One, World War Two, the Cold War, the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and much more besides, immerse yourself in sixty stories from some of the key moments of modern (and a few not so modern) history.?Fully illustrated with 140 photos, this makes perfect reading for commuters, students or the curious.?A paperback version of this title is also available – an ideal birthday present for those who love a bit of war and misery.?Within?The Savage Years: Tales From the 20th Century, you’ll also meet Vladimir Lenin, Douglas Haig, Horst Wessel, Nikolai Bukharin, Fritz Haber, Joseph Goebbels, Joseph McCarthy, Rudolph Hess, Stalin’s mother and daughter, Leon Trotsky, Edith Cavell, Charles de Gaulle, Wilhelm II, Abraham Lincoln, Grigori Rasputin, and many, many more.?

A shapeshifter hero battles ancient spirits, a covert government agency, and his own dark past in a race to solve a murder that could mean the end of the world. Cree and Ojibwe legends mix with current day environmental conflict in this fast-paced urban fantasy that keeps you on the edge of your seat right up to its explosive conclusion. With an introduction by Charles de Lint. The Heroka walk among us. Unseen, unknown. Shapeshifters. Human in appearance but with power over their animal totems. Gwyn Blaidd is a Heroka of the wolf totem. Once he led his people in a deadly war against the Tainchel, the shadowy agency that hunts his kind. Now he lives alone in his wilderness home, wolves his only companions. But when an Ojibwe girl is brutally killed in Gwyn’s old hometown, suspicion falls on his former lover. To save her, Gwyn must return, to battle not only the Tainchel, but even darker forces: ancient spirits fighting to enter our world… And rule it. “An immersive and enjoyable reading experience. Readers will delight in learning more about Native American mythology, which is skillfully woven throughout the story. Smith’s novel is both well paced and deftly plotted—leaving readers curious about what comes next for the Heroka in the modern world.” — Publishers Weekly “What makes THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD such an engrossing read are the characters and Doug’s wonderful prose, a perfect blend between matter-of-fact and lyricism. I can’t remember the last time I read a book that spoke to me, so eloquently, and so deeply, on so many levels. ... I’ll be rereading it in the future because it’s that sort of book. Richly layered and deeply resonant. An old friend, from the first time you read it.” — Charles de Lint, World Fantasy Award winner

A ghost train carries a murderous secret deep through the North Georgia mountains. Betrayal colder than the wind blowing through the pines. A young girl with a burden a hundred years out of time.An old man’s tale of guilt and regret.A heartbroken woman caught in a mystery only she can solve.A boy long past living holds the key. Can unearthed secrets end the nightmare at last?

Akosua Annan is a confident and fiercely intelligent student at a posh girls' school in Cape Coast, Ghana. There she comes under the influence of a charismatic feminist teacher. Osman Said's background is very different. Upon the death of his parents, a police sergeant and an unschooled market trader, immigrants to the capital, Accra, from the impoverished north of the country, he is adopted by a retired school teacher, Hajia Zainab. After a spell as an apprentice in an auto workshop, he returns to school. There, finding the teaching inadequate, he becomes an avid reader and educates himself. Akosua and Osman are thrown together by chance in the course of a school visit to the slave dungeon at Cape Coast Castle. Their paths cross again as finalists in the national school debating competition where the subject is "The problem of poverty in Ghana is insoluble." They meet for the third time as students at the University of Ghana and as we leave them, it looks as if their relationship might develop into something permanent. This story won a Burt Award for African Literature in 2011. The judges commented: "This fascinating novel tells the story of how these two young people from disparate backgrounds are brought together as if by an unseen hand, in a process that teaches us about our history, our common humanity despite ethnic differences, the need to pursue our ambitions, the strength of human sexuality and the need for self-discipline, and, above all, the power of love."

An enchanted bookstore in a town full of magic.A story of childhood and best friends revisited.A town forced to face the music.A modern myth from a land before time.A charming collision of numbers and magic.Unwelcome change in a land of dragons. In this second fantasy short story collection from Kari Kilgore, she visits lands familiar and strange, mythological and fantastic. From Allsentia to Appalachia to Atlanta, from modern mythology to dragons to joys of distant childhood. Join this talented storyteller on a journey through magical bookstores and haunted towns, lands lost in time and friendships forged across new dimensions. Includes Odds and Endings, Dawn Visitor,?The Earworms, The Spider Who Ate the Elephant,?Little Five, and The Last Dragonkeeper. Odds and EndingsVisit an enchanted bookstore in a town full of magic.Chris Ramsey grew up visiting the Odds and Endings Bookstore in Lightning Gap, Virginia.Wandering the shelves. Finding endless adventures in the pages.Wishing he helped create the magic.Years later, Chris gets his chance.What would you do for the opportunity of a lifetime? Dawn VisitorA beloved dog brings a special gift, especially to a young girl’s life.One that lasts and endures no matter how many years pass.Toby welcomes Ellie home as only a first best friend can.A touching story of childhood and best friends revisited. The EarwormsWhat if your whole town had to face the music?Estonoa, Virginia. A lovely little town tucked deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains.Hiking and ATV trails. Kayaking along the scenic Clinch River.A thriving community focused on the future.Erin Evans loves her hometown, except for one thing.The Earworms.Will Erin find the answer before the music drives her and everyone else crazy? The Spider Who Ate the ElephantA Modern Myth.?An eerie natural phenomenon.In the distant past, in a distant land…Grandmother Spider faces a sad problem far too big and difficult for her to solve.The end of her family and all the creatures in her land.Find out how her triumph echoes from then to now, and into forever.A tale of compassion, survival, and love. Little FiveBarry Evans: An oddball in the oddest land of all.A gray-suited accountant navigating colorful hair, crazy clothing, and questionable businesses.After three months in Little Five, nothing surprises Barry anymore.Until the day he meets a true stranger in town.What happens when numbers meet magic? The Last DragonkeeperWyja, Senior Dragonkeeper of the Upper Abramshire Academy, tends to young dragons and keepers alike.Each group challenging, and exhausting, in their own way.Unwelcome change sets in when dragon birthrates drop to dangerous levels.No one knows why.Can Wyja solve the problem before it’s too late?

In his quest, Sabienn Feel and his brothers venture to the country of Turrland, a land that his homeland of Hayddland has been at constant war with. His mission is to seek the occult stone, the Symbol of Military Success and make sure it never falls into the hands of his Father who wants only to push the planet into the abyss of war. In this journey, he needs to seek a book that was once owned by a mysterious monk. ? But what of Turrland? Is it to be invaded or not invaded? And how will he react when in his attempt to get answers, there is conflict within his group and a much loved brother dies? Why The Sister Moons Swallowed Rage is the third of twelve books in the Sabienn Feel Adventures.??? Interview with the Author Q – That’s three books down. How’s the journey unfolding? A - The characters are evolving. The more adversity they face the more they grow. There’s significant skin taken off Sabienn Feel in this book. His character is gaining wisdom. It was a pleasure to write this third book in the series. Q – Any news on the next book? The fourth in the series? A – I’m working with the tentative title, “The Two Men Who Kill to Be Carbon”. This is actually explained on the final page of “Why The Sister Moons Swallowed Rage” and also explains why the first book “When The Stone Shepherds Awaken” had to be so long. It is to be a study into the hunter and the hunted. Twins, two men, have been assigned to kill Sabienn and his brothers. One man is Sabienn’s best friend. The other has killed the woman he loved. It’s a mission of kill or be killed. Q - What inspired you to write?The Sabienn Feel Adventures? A – I’ve always loved the idea of the epic journey. I’m acquainted with the book?Journey to the West?but was more familiar with the TV series in the 80’s based on the book called?Monkey. The idea of four souls travelling across a wide expanse of geography to complete a quest appealed to me. So I planned a series of twelve books to go from one place in the south of this space colony that they live on twice removed from Earth, to end up in the north, meeting danger at every turn. Q – Why does your main character Sabienn Feel grow wings? A - Good question. I wanted something very drastic to occur to these people physically. Something that would be difficult to hide and offer an immediate prejudice. The idea of growing wings constantly came up for me. There’s a Pearl Jam song I found inspiring that says, “And?sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky.?A?human being?that was?given to fly”. And in my mind’s eye, I could see this figure. Almost like the Led Zeppelin Icarus logo but with bat wings.?But they couldn’t fly otherwise they’d hit the sky and the journey would be over in no time. I made them only able to swim because being submerged in water has elements of dealing with the subconscious. To me it satisfies all elements of those prophecy, fantasy, epic adventure type of stories that involve friendship and brotherhood. Q - So, why should readers give these books a try? A – Well I would say they were humour-filled, page-turning, epic, fantasy adventure novels which involve a quest. But then that’s what you would expect me to say. Why not try and read one of the books and let me know what you think? Some of the books are free so you’ve got nothing to lose.

Leo Sabov never imagined a day without his beloved wife Maria. Now he faces the rest of his life alone. After bringing Maria to rest in her native Transylvania, Leo only wants to escape the rumors and superstitions taking over the tiny mountain village. A former Communist Party boss, a string of unexplainable deaths, and an ancient mama dog force him into mysteries he can’t understand or explain. Will Leo survive a test even greater than the heartbreaking?death of his wife, one with life or death consequences?

If ever a writer needed an introduction Arthur Conan Doyle would not be considered that man. After all, Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the foremost literary detective of any age. Add to this canon his stories of science fiction and his poems, his historical novels, his plays, his political campaigning, his efforts in establishing a Court of Appeal and there is little room for anything else. Except he was also an exceptional writer of short stories of the horrific and macabre. Something very different from what you might expect. Born in Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. From 1876 - 1881 he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh following which he was employed as a doctor on the Greenland whaler Hope of Peterhead in 1880 and, after his graduation, as a ship's surgeon on the SS Mayumba during a voyage to the West African coast in 1881. Arriving in Portsmouth in June of that year with less than GBP10 (GBP700 today) to his name, he set up a medical practice at 1 Bush Villas in Elm Grove, Southsea. The practice was initially not very successful. While waiting for patients, Conan Doyle again began writing stories and composed his first novel The Mystery of Cloomber. Although he continued to study and practice medicine his career was now firmly set as a writer. And thereafter great works continued to pour out of him.

Henrik Ibsen (20th March, 1828 - 23rd May, 1906) is often referred to as the father of realism and ranked just below Shakespeare as Europe's greatest ever playwright especially as his plays are performed most frequently throughout the world after Shakespeare's. Ibsen was Norwegian and although set his plays in Norway, he wrote them in Danish and lived most of his professional life in Italy and Germany. His affect on the theatre is still evident today and shapes the distinction of plays being art as opposed to entertainment since he broke down all previous traditions and explored issues, developed characterisation, revealed uncomfortable truths, challenged assumptions and broke down facades in ourselves as well as society. These factors are clearly demonstrated in Hedda Gabler where Ibsen presents one of the most interesting and elusive heroines in theatrical history. Hedda is the daughter of a deceased General and enters into a loveless marriage with the lacklustre George Tesman. Hedda's desperation is totally misunderstood by those around yet portrayed so realistically with some of his finest most memorable prose that we can empathise with her behaviour. Hedda aptly points out: "e;I think I have a natural talent for boring myself to death."e; This Ibsen work certainly does not bore and is an essential riveting read.

Edgar Rice Burroughs was born on September 1, 1875, in Chicago, Illinois. His early career was unremarkable. After failing to enter West Point he enlisted in the 7th Calvary but was discharged after heart problems were diagnosed. A series of short term jobs gave no indication as to a career path but finally, in 1911, married and with two young children, he turned his hand to writing. He aimed his works squarely at the very popular pulp serial magazines. His first effort 'Under The Moons Of Mars' ran in Munsey's Magazine in 1912 under the pseudonym Norman Bean. With its success he began writing full time. A continuing theme of his work was to develop series so that each character had ample opportunities to return in sequels. John Carter was in the Mars series and there was another on Venus and one on Pellucidar among others. But perhaps the best known is Tarzan. Indeed Burroughs wanted so much to capitalise upon the brand that he introduced a syndicated Tarzan comic strip, movies and merchandise. He purchased a large ranch north of Los Angeles, California, which he named "e;Tarzana."e; The surrounding communities outside the ranch voted in 1927 to adopt the name as their own. By 1932 Burroughs set up his own company to print his own books. Here we publish 'The Cave Girl' a tale that shows just what Burroughs can do when his talents and craft are unleashed.

John Dryden was born on August 9th, 1631 in the village rectory of Aldwincle near Thrapston in Northamptonshire. As a boy Dryden lived in the nearby village of Titchmarsh, Northamptonshire. In 1644 he was sent to Westminster School as a King's Scholar. Dryden obtained his BA in 1654, graduating top of the list for Trinity College, Cambridge that year. Returning to London during The Protectorate, Dryden now obtained work with Cromwell's Secretary of State, John Thurloe. At Cromwell's funeral on 23 November 1658 Dryden was in the company of the Puritan poets John Milton and Andrew Marvell. The setting was to be a sea change in English history. From Republic to Monarchy and from one set of lauded poets to what would soon become the Age of Dryden. The start began later that year when Dryden published the first of his great poems, Heroic Stanzas (1658), a eulogy on Cromwell's death. With the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 Dryden celebrated in verse with Astraea Redux, an authentic royalist panegyric. With the re-opening of the theatres after the Puritan ban, Dryden began to also write plays. His first play, The Wild Gallant, appeared in 1663 but was not successful. From 1668 on he was contracted to produce three plays a year for the King's Company, in which he became a shareholder. During the 1660s and '70s, theatrical writing was his main source of income. In 1667, he published Annus Mirabilis, a lengthy historical poem which described the English defeat of the Dutch naval fleet and the Great Fire of London in 1666. It established him as the pre-eminent poet of his generation, and was crucial in his attaining the posts of Poet Laureate (1668) and then historiographer royal (1670). This was truly the Age of Dryden, he was the foremost English Literary figure in Poetry, Plays, translations and other forms. In 1694 he began work on what would be his most ambitious and defining work as translator, The Works of Virgil (1697), which was published by subscription. It was a national event. John Dryden died on May 12th, 1700, and was initially buried in St. Anne's cemetery in Soho, before being exhumed and reburied in Westminster Abbey ten days later.

James Shirley was born in London in September 1596.His education was through a collection of England's finest establishments: Merchant Taylors' School, London, St John's College, Oxford, and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. degree in approximately 1618.He first published in 1618, a poem entitled Echo, or the Unfortunate Lovers.As with many artists of this period full details of his life and career are not recorded.He wrote his first play, Love Tricks, or the School of Complement, which was licensed on February 10th, 1625.For the next two decades, he would write prolifically and with great quality, across a spectrum of thirty plays; through tragedies and comedies to tragicomedies as well as several books of poetry. Unfortunately, his talents were left to wither when Parliament passed the Puritan edict in 1642, forbidding all stage plays and closing the theatres.His death, at age seventy, along with that of his wife, in 1666, is described as one of fright and exposure due to the Great Fire of London which had raged through parts of London from September 2nd to the 5th.He was buried at St Giles in the Fields, in London, on October 29th, 1666.

Jules Verne is probably the world's first science-fiction novelist. His Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) centers around a sea monster that keeps on menacing and damaging ships and ocean liners in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. When the US government eventually decides to destroy the monster, a group of whaling and marine biology experts from different nationalities led by Professor Arronax are invited to join the American ship Abraham Lincoln and engage in an expedition around the South American continent to search for the weird creature. After losing their first battle, the crew discover, to their surprise, that the supposed monster is rather a large metal body that travels under the water. They are soon abducted and brought inside the vessel to meet its eccentric commander Captain Nemo. The submarine's new passengers learn that Captain Nemo has built the vessel to isolate himself from world governments and to spend his lifetime exploring new worlds and conducting scientific research. Captain Nemo's treatment of his visitors is generally respectful and kind except for his radical rejection of their pleas to leave the submarine and go back home. By the end of the story, the submarine is attacked by another ship sent by Captain Nemo's enemies. Captain Nemo decides to destroy the attacking ship and to send it to the bowels of the ocean. The novel ends when the submarine encounters a very strong whirlpool named "e;Maelstrom,"e; allowing Professor Arronax to flee with the rest of his crew while the fate of Captain Nemo and his creation remains unknown.

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was born on October 16, 1888 in a hotel bedroom in what is now Times Square, New York. Much of his childhood was spent in the comfort of books at boarding schools whilst his actor father was on the road and his Mother contended with her own demons. He spent only a year at University - Princeton - and various reasons have been given for his departure. However whatever his background and education denied or added to his development it is agreed amongst all that he was a playwright of the first rank and possibly America's greatest. His introduction of realism into American drama was instrumental in its development and paved a path for many talents thereafter. Of course his winning of both the Pulitzer Prize (4 times) and the Nobel Prize are indicative of his status. His more famous and later works do side with the disillusionment and personal tragedy of those on the fringes of society but continue to build upon ideas and structures he incorporated in his early one act plays. Eugene O'Neill suffered from various health problems, mainly depression and alcoholism. In the last decade he also faced a Parkinson's like tremor in his hands which made writing increasingly difficult. But out of such difficulties came plays of the calibre of The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and A Moon for the Misbegotten. Eugene O'Neill died in Room 401 of the Sheraton Hotel on Bay State Road in Boston, on November 27, 1953, at the age of 65. As he was dying, he whispered his last words: "e;I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room and died in a hotel room."e;

Edgar Rice Burroughs was born on September 1, 1875, in Chicago, Illinois. His early career was unremarkable. After failing to enter West Point he enlisted in the 7th Calvary but was discharged after heart problems were diagnosed. A series of short term jobs gave no indication as to a career path but finally, in 1911, married and with two young children, he turned his hand to writing. He aimed his works squarely at the very popular pulp serial magazines. His first effort 'Under The Moons Of Mars' ran in Munsey's Magazine in 1912 under the pseudonym Norman Bean. With its success he began writing full time. A continuing theme of his work was to develop series so that each character had ample opportunities to return in sequels. John Carter was in the Mars series and there was another on Venus and one on Pellucidar among others. But perhaps the best known is Tarzan. Indeed Burroughs wanted so much to capitalise upon the brand that he introduced a syndicated Tarzan comic strip, movies and merchandise. He purchased a large ranch north of Los Angeles, California, which he named "e;Tarzana."e; The surrounding communities outside the ranch voted in 1927 to adopt the name as their own. By 1932 Burroughs set up his own company to print his own books. Here we publish 'The Outlaw Of Torn' somewhat different to what the title might suggest in the hands of an ordinary writer but in the hands of Edgar Rice Burroughs the title is just the beginning.....

Booth Tarkington was born on July 29, 1869 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is one of only three novelists to win the Pulitzer Prize more than once. When you look through the quality of his work it is easy to understand why. The Magnificent Ambersons, Alice Adams, Penrod, Penrod And Sam - all classics. The Penrod novels depict a typical upper-middle class American boy of 1910 vintage, revealing a fine, bookish sense of American humor. At one time, his Penrod series was as well known andregarded as Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Much of Tarkington's work consists of satirical and closely observed studies of the American class system and its foibles. Coming as he did from a patrician Midwestern family that lost much of its wealth after the Panic of 1873 the foundations for that outlook are clear. Today, he is best known for his novel The Magnificent Ambersons which contrasted the decline of the "e;old money"e; Amberson dynasty with the rise of "e;new money"e; industrial tycoons in the years between the American Civil War and World War I. In this volume you have an opportunity to read one his plays, The Man From Home.