Katie Harris is a young nurse returning home to Ohio from the Civil War with the desire to become a doctor. As a woman of 1865, she knows that there will be many obstacles to her quest, but she hadn't counted on solving her brother's murder as one of them. Heartbroken by the news, Katie is then frustrated and angry when she learns the village's inept marshal has done little to find her brother's killer. She fears the murderer will go free and sees no other recourse than to investigate his murder herself. As Katie pursues her investigation, she learns more about her brother's past. Some of his secrets lead her to befriend a fortune-telling gypsy, renew old friendships, and gain a new friend and ally, a handsome newspaper reporter eager for a story. Thwarted by deception and cruel men with rattlesnakes, Katie fights a high-stake's battle for justice and her future as a doctor.

On January 17, 1781, a remarkable battle took place in the backwoods of South Carolina. British Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton, handpicked by General Charles Cornwallis for command due to his dash and record of accomplishment, was opposed by Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, a rough-and-tumble son of the American frontier. Morgan employed a scheme so brilliantly conceived and masterfully executed that within an hour, the British found themselves overwhelmed, enveloped, and routed from the field. In response to this stunning American victory, Cornwallis embarked on a reckless, desperate trek north in pursuit of Morgan--a strategy that ultimately led to his own defeat at Yorktown.

In his compelling account of the Battle of Cowpens, Jim Stempel makes the case that Morgan's victory closely mirrors Hannibal's extraordinary triumph at Cannae, regarded by many as one of the greatest military accomplishments of all time. With a narrative style that plunges readers into the center of the events, American Hannibal will enthrall students of American history and newcomers to the subject alike.

The story opens with a US Navy SEAL raid on a container ship in Haiphong Harbor. The SEALS successfully rescue a high-ranking Chinese defector.At hearing from the defector that China has transferred nuclear weapons technology to North Korea, the American President is incensed. He orders the re-opening of the US Embassy in Taipei and announces his support of Taiwan's quest to remain free.A new Chinese, Western-educated and progressive, with new ideas of how to approach the West, is caught off-guard by the event. He comes up with a bold plan to bargain for the oil-rich Spratley Islands with Taipei. China's old guard, and an anxious Chinese Military decide to act.Navy Reserve Captain Ben McGuire, now the interim Naval Attaché at the newly opened embassy, works with the CIA station chief, Jake Harrison, to get to the root of stepped up espionage activities on the island. At a state dinner attended by the American, Chinese and Taiwanese leaders, an attempt on the life of the Chinese President kicks of a coup in China. Thanks to the heroic efforts of Ben McGuire, the assassin fails. Chinese agents, in an attempt to gain leverage, destroy Air Force One as it sits on the ground in Taipei. The American President, accompanied by his staff and McGuire, evacuate to nearby Navy ships while loyal Chinese Navy officers, led by Vice-Admiral Sun Xueliang, attempt to put down the coup. Chinese loyalists succeed in stopping the coup, but not before rebel generals launch a nuclear missile aimed at Taiwan. Now embarked aboard a US Navy anti-missile ship, Ben joins in to help destroy the missile before it can do any harm.

The US and China have emerged in the millennium as the preeminent superpowers. Japan and the US have worked in secret at a disused nuclear research center on a remote island in the South China Sea to pefect a viable nuclear fusion reactor. Suddenly the black veil of secrecy is shredded, the long shot project is on the verge of a breakthrough, and the Chinese want the prize located in their backyard.Navy Reserve Commander Ben McGuire, a Navy SEAL team, and an isolated group of scientists struggle with sabotage, a typhoon, and a rapidly approaching and powerful Chinese fleet, and a radical new reactor that some scientists are terrified of shutting down.Fission is the Holy Grail of the utility industry since it could provide limitless electricity without the downside of fusion based nuclear power. In Nuclear Dragon, the U.S. is on the verge of creating the first practical fission plant in a secret installation on the uninhabited Japanese island of Senkaku, part-way between Okinawa and Taiwan. Through espionage, a U.S. traitor, and hacking, the People's Republic of China learns about the facility and wants its secrets by any means possible. Nuclear Dragon's fast-paced and very realistic (and scary) scenario keeps the reader turning pages as one meets very interesting and believable characters, many of whom have history with each other. I highly recommend this outstanding book written by Ken Carodine, who is a retired Rear Admiral and a Surface Warfare Officer and knows his stuff.

Even as a prisoner on the remote island of St. Helena, Napoleon Bonaparte is embarrassing the British, and England is now the laughing stock of Europe. The answer is a new Governor: Lord Horatio Hornblower. The British government is betting that Hornblower's background, being so similar to Bonaparte's, will earn the Corsican's respect. Both men rose from humble beginnings to nobility by his achievements alone. Both have commanded men and lead them to victories. Hornblower's mission is simple: deal with the greatest military genius of the modern era and make him behave. Hornblower discovers a Bonaparte that history never knew, and learns the truth about the man who would be Emperor of the world.

The year is 1840. Twenty-three years ago, Horatio Lord Hornblower was governor of the island of St. Helena and hailer to its only prisoner, Napoleon Bonaparte. First mutual respect and later shared tragedy forged a clandestine friendship between the two men. Now King Louis Philippe of France has requested that the remains of the late emperor be returned, and Queen Victoria has granted that request. The French have also requested that the former-Governor Lord Hornblower attend the exhumation as the official British representative! Hornblower knows the situation is a veritable powder keg; the Ultra-Royalists, led by the ruthless Duke of Angouleme, will stop at nothing to prevent Bonaparte's remains from returning to France, while the Bonapartists, led by the late-emperor's nephew Louis-Napoleon, hope to use the return to stage a coup and establish a renewed French Empire. However, that would cause Tsar Nicholas of Russia to declare war and invade France! Hornblower must do his utmost to ensure the mortal remains reach French shores safely to pay a debt he has owed for over twenty years.

A chance meeting in a tavern on Martinique brings a man from Brewer's past back into his life. Brewer discovers this man - a mentor of his when he was a raw midshipman - has turned to piracy, and Brewer is determined to track him down and end his reign of terror over British shipping in the Caribbean. Captain Brewer soon discovers that still waters run deep when he is kidnapped by his former mentor and warned to stop while he still can. With the help of the US Navy, Brewer finds his quarry in the Bahamas, only to chase him to Washington City and find himself staring down the wrong end of a pirate's pistol!

Captain William Brewer has returned from the South Atlantic with hopes of spending some time with his wife, Elizabeth, and their new daughter, Anne. There is a new threat in the Caribbean - a pirate named Black Rose has created a panic among merchant sailors. The attacks are becoming increasingly violent and deadly, and the pirate always leaves a calling card to claim responsibility - a single black rose on a victim's body. Brewer is drawn in to the chase when a ship drifts into the harbor at St. Kitts full of dead and wounded, along with a single black rose. Brewer is sent out to find Black Rose, but he is soon recalled when news arrives that his old ship, HMS Revenge, has been taken over by mutineers! Brewer must find and deal with the traitors before turning his attention back to Black Rose, whose plan for revenge on Brewer and a member of his crew threatens to destroy them all!

It is summer of 2001, and renowned American painter Orla Castleberry is in Naples, Italy, as part of a project to call attention to human trafficking perpetrated by the Camorra, a notorious criminal organization. With the help of friends in unusual places, she is able to meet the lawyer who fiercely prosecutes the Camorristi on the rare occasions when any of them are brought to trial for justice, as well as the lawyer who defends them - and usually succeeds in winning their acquittals: Orla's realistic depictions of the abuse of young women, and of the nuns who labor to rescue them, are intended to increase public awareness and aid, but they also provoke the Camorristi into menacing Orla and her family.

It seems a godsend that Orla, her physician husband Celestino Bacci, and their ten-year-old twins Luisa and Lucca can move to Manhattan for the academic year of 2001: Orla with an endowed professorship, Celestino working with an AIDS research group. The twins get to attend a progressive school, and Orla gets to spend time with her adopted daughter, Mercy, and Mercy's husband, an entrepreneur with the Windows on the World restaurant, high in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Orla's joy is marred only by concern for her lifelong friend Tad Charbonneau, his health compromised by the AIDS virus and family stress.

And then, on September 11th, everything changes.

Loss after loss shakes Orla's considerable confidence and fortitude, causing her to question her life's work. Does art really matter? Can it ever make a difference?

The Book of Invasions is a globe-spanning adventure, a romp through history and mythology, a grudging love story, and an all-in battle against an evil hidden in plain sight. The world is stunned by the inexplicable murder of a dozen climate scientists at a remote research station in Greenland. When twenty-six-year-old Ricky Crowe, sister of a slain researcher, unexpectedly comes into possession of a parchment map found in Greenland's 5,000-year-old ice, she attempts to set aside the demons of her own grief and alcoholism-and a terrifying past that has left her with an eight-inch facial scar-in order to determine whether the map holds a key to her sister's fate. Bringing it to experts at the foundation that funded her sister's research, she sets in motion a race with her new allies to unravel puzzles hidden in tombs in Egypt and Ireland, and in an obscure book of Celtic myth-The Book of Invasions-before the secrets are lost to the ruthless cult that has searched relentlessly for the world-changing evil the map promises since before the pyramids were built.

It is said that a man is grown by his past, and so it was with William Brewer. Before he took command of HMS Defiant in a hurricane and before he hunted pirates in HMS Revenge, Brewer endured a crucible of fire that molded him into the legend he became. Fresh from the tutelage of Napoleon Bonaparte on St. Helena, Brewer signs on for a cruise under Captain Bush in HMS Lydia to the Mediterranean to battle the Barbary Pirates. Here Brewer learns to fight, but he also learns what it means to command men in battle and what it takes to order men to their deaths. Their enemy is a Scottish renegade who is responsible for the deaths of dozens of his fellow sailors over the years and the selling of hundreds of Europeans into African slavery. Along the way, Brewer is introduced to new heroes and new devils. He also receives sage advice from no less than the Duke of Wellington himself. In the end, Brewer has to use all he's learned - not to mention going beyond all that - to save HMS Lydia from total destruction at the hands of pirates.

Naval war, Pirates, Hornblower stories, sea stories

After gaining valuable experience as an aide to Governor Lord Horatio Hornblower, William Brewer is rewarded with a posting as first lieutenant on the frigate HMS Defiant, bound for American waters. Early in their travels, it seems as though Brewer's greatest challenge will be evading the wrath of a tyrannical captain who has taken an active dislike to him. But when a hurricane sweeps away the captain, the young lieutenant is forced to assume command of the damaged ship, and a crew suffering from low morale.

Brewer reports their condition to Admiral Hornblower, who orders them into the Caribbean to destroy a nest of pirates hidden among the numerous islands. Luring the pirates out of their coastal lairs will be difficult enough; fighting them at sea could bring disaster to the entire operation. For the Defiant to succeed, Brewer must rely on his wits, his training, and his ability to shape a once-ragged crew into a coherent fighting force.

Walter Woodrow Pillow would have moved through life unremarked if he had not committed the most outrageous and traitorous act in American history. A young design engineer in a Texas bomber factory, he had become consumed with guilt and remorse for his role in designing the deadliest weapons system of the Vietnam era. So, one day, in 1965, he sabotaged the mighty bombers. Wally made tracks for the border, the FBI, the CIA and Interpol hot on his trail.The Glass Guitar is the story of Wally's efforts to elude government agents and along the way champion causes promoting peace, fairness, and justice in an imperfect world. He is joined by a number of kindred souls, including a beautiful prostitute known as Angel of the Arroyos, an Italian movie director whose mother dated Mussolini, and a reformed explosives expert who penned the classic Ethics and the Firecracker. In its efforts to make right the wrongs of the world, this merry band of fugitive-reformers leaves a path of devastation across the social landscape. The story is a cautionary tale suggesting that there are often unexpected consequences for doing the right thing.

In a cruel, centuries-old tradition, lovely sixteen-year-old Marpessa of Lokris is chosen by lot to serve as a slave for one year in distant Troy, across the Aegean Sea. She can return, but only if she survives. Marpessa leaves behind her devoted mother, and also a ruthless oligarch, Klonios, who vows to have her as his wife upon her return. The young slave Arion is sent to escort the maiden on her treacherous journey. After delivering her safely, he escapes slavery to eke out a living on the Trojan shore, until barbarians raid Troy. Captivated by the girl from the sea journey, Arion rushes to save her. The two find themselves marooned in a rough, unforgiving land teeming with dangers. Struggling to survive, they yield to a forbidden love. Marpessa longs to remain with her beloved, but Arion knows he must give her up. When they lose everything in a deadly flash flood, he must return her safely home, despite the price on his head as a runaway slave and the evil Klonios who lurks in wait. By the time they reach Lokris, Marpessa is with child. Enraged, Klonios orders their deaths, but Arion will stop at nothing to save Marpessa's life. Even at the cost of his own.

Newly returned from the Battle of the Nile, Alexander Clay and the crew of the Titan are soon in action again, just when he has the strongest reason to wish to abide in England. But a powerful French naval squadron is at large in the Indian Ocean, attacking Britain's vital East India trade. Together with his friend John Sutton, he is sent as part of the Royal Navy's response. On route the Titan runs to ground a privateer preying on slave ships on the coast of West Africa, stirring up memories of the past for Able Sedgwick, Clay's coxswain. They arrive in the Indian Ocean to find that danger lurks in the blue waters and on the palm-fringed islands. Old enemies with scores to settle mean that betrayal from amongst his own side may prove the hardest challenge Clay will face, and a dead man's hand may yet undo all he has fought to win. Will the curse of the captain's nephew never cease to bedevil Clay and his friends?

Hills of Cotabato is the story of Eddie Finn, a United States security investigator for the American government who, after being stationed in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, is three years later posted at the U. S. Embassy in the Philippines. He has been informed by his government to negotiate the release of three American Peace Corp volunteers, and a Chinese priest, who have been kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf, a known terrorist group in the southern province of Mindanao. This single event, the kidnapping of three American Peace Corp volunteers, sets off a series of unforeseen events with the culmination leading Eddie Finn to Cotabato City and the jungles of Mindanao. The question of loyalty, personal and official obligation, and the regional conflict of religion and culture incite a web of intrigue and revelation.

It's a deadly game of cat and mouse, with humanity as the mice!

Vlad Dracula is trying to live a quiet life on the outskirts of Seattle, minding his own business and producing wines from his vineyard, which is tended by satyrs and guarded by rusalki. His guest, a young barista named Cammy, is getting her life together after the harrowing events of the past year. Some of her friends know about Dracula, others have suspicions.

A rogue agent of Ophois, that mysterious group of international, supernatural mercenaries, has traded his soul for the powers of an angry jaguar god. Ocelotl has decided that what the world needs now is not love, but a good old-fashioned Armageddon, Mezzo-American style. Ocelotl's allies include murderous were-tigers, vampire cats, and a ccoa that can control the weather, but his most powerful weapon is his persuasiveness. Plus, he's prepared a special way to kill Dracula, if Dracula refuses to join his cause. The government shadow agency that tries to keep a lid on supernatural manifestations in Seattle is short-handed, struggling to suppress stories of missing persons and abducted children, so the director, Boese, is even more obnoxious than usual. And he has a very personal reason to hate magical cats. He's threatening to imprison and torture Dracula - again if Dracula doesn't put a stop to Ocelotl, but he also has plans to recruit or suborn Cammy and her friends. No one gets to remain neutral when Ocelotl summons the old gods. Even Cammy realizes that sometimes being nice just isn't enough. Tenshi's Dracula possesses a commanding presence... he is like a humorless, edgy Cary Grant, with the insights of six centuries informing his actions - John Danielski

A ferocious attack on a caravan en route to Jerusalem forever changes the life of young Talon de Gilles, leading to danger, adventure, and romance.

Talon, son of a Frankish Christian knight, is only 13 when Saracens attack his family's caravan and take him captive. Instead of selling him into slavery, slaying him for their amusement or ransoming him, his captors impose a dire fate upon the boy, forcing Talon to become one of them, an Assassin of the Ismaili, the most feared and hated sect in all of Persia, and far beyond.

The Master of the Ismaili has plans for this young ferengi, who will be able to pass unnoticed among Europeans to reach victims that not even the most skillful Saracen could approach undetected - but only if he survives his training and initiation.

But when Talon, his friend Reza, and Rav'an, the Master's own sister, become targets of treachery in the stronghold of Alamut, they must flee. Using all their skills to evade the ruthless assassins who are sent to hunt them down, they cross frozen wastes of snow-laden mountain passes to the flowering gardens of Isfahan and beyond, in search of an elusive sanctuary beyond the reach of the Assassins of Alamut.