Askari

"In 1986 'Comrade September', a charismatic ANC operative and popular MK commander, was abducted from Swaziland by the apartheid security police and taken across the border. After torture and interrogation, September was 'turned' and before long the police had extracted enough information to hunt down and kill some of his former comrades. September underwent changes that marked him for the rest of his life: from resister to collaborator, insurgent to counter-insurgent, revolutionary to counter-revolutionary and, to his former comrades, hero to traitor. Askari is the story of these changes in an individual's life and of the larger, neglected history of betrayal and collaboration in the struggle against apartheid. It seeks to understand why September made the choices he did - collaborating with his captors, turning against the ANC, and then hunting down his comrades - without excusing those choices. It looks beyond the black-and-white that still dominates South Africa's political canvas, to examine the grey zones in which South Africans - combatants and non- combatants - lived." -- Publisher.

"But you are the Child of Muralia. You alone hold the key to our salvation... but beware, that same power can annihilate everything you hold dear." A young heir and a female warrior from enemy lands form an uneasy alliance and undertake a perilous journey to save their world from the ancient evil that threatens to destroy it. Their quest becomes more treacherous as forces from their respective lands pursue them for their betrayal of the laws. Death and destruction follow their pair as they make their way across the land of Muralia in search of the sacred stones that will complete the fabled Staff of Kulari, the only weapon capable of defeating the demons that have escaped abyss. Once they assemble the staff, they must find the prophesied Child of Muralia, the one with the power to wield the staff successfully. The last thing the expect is for the prophesied child to be even a greater threat to their world than the demons.

New archaeological material and research underpins this extensive, detailed and beautifully illustrated account of the famous Mamluk Askars who are credited with finally defeating and expelling the Crusaders, halting the Mongol invasion of the Islamic Middle East, and facing down Tamerlane. Probably the ultimate professional soldiers of the medieval period they were supposedly recruited as adolescent slaves, though recent research has begun to undermine this oversimplified interpretation of what has been called the "Mamluk phenomenon".

"You bear countless stories in yourself." Said the Sun and the Man on their first encounter. On every page of this book there is a different story. Some narrated by the Sun and some by the Man.

With GRIP back in his native land of Cuba and SONNY behind bars potentially facing the death penalty, RAHMELLO is anointed as the new boss of The Moreno Family. But when strict orders demand he lay dormant until the outcome of Sonny's trial, Rahmello becomes furious. No longer willing to stand by as the obedient younger brother, his lust for power accelerates into unpredictable actions. In a brash attempt to establish himself as his own boss, he forms an alliance with Sonny's arch nemesis--THE MEDELLIN CARTEL. With the Columbians backing him and a team of killers ready to annihilate anyone in his way, Rahmello will stop at nothing to reclaim the streets of Philly. Even if it means he has to go to war with his own family. The YBM, headed by THE REAPER, is on a full blown collision course with The Moreno Family. Unfortunately, Rahmello doesn't see it--he's too blinded by his own deceit. Will his thirst for power leave him vulnerable to the YBM's advance? Or will he reign supreme, totally independent of his family's bloodline?