Return Of The God Ship

Senior battle craft pilot Ha, a “blob” of intelligent pure energy is tasked to find or create new beings capable of melding with Ha’s species to replace physical bodies taken from them. Nearly a billion years ago, Ha scattered “ancient life-seeds,” provided by his Species’ Council of Elders onto a young planet earth, and created an experiment station. We are its product. Ha defends the planet from destruction by the Dark Force and the human Apex Beings themselves. The earthlings have evolved to a state of acceptance. Ha is a magnificent Warrior Pilot, but he is not perfect. He makes mistakes, costing many human lives, manages to vanquish all intruders, and routinely answers to the God Council for his misdeeds. His ability to communicate with the Apex Beings under his care teaches Ha much about the future of the two species.

God Ship. The tormentor of worlds.For thousands of years, the Vraxar have brought ruin and misery across the universe. Each species they find has met the same fate - extinction and conversion into new soldiers for their ranks.An upstart race - humanity - has wiped out the aliens' advance fleet. The Vraxar will not give up - they must clear a way through Confederation Space in preparation for their future wars. Captain Charlie Blake is always in the wrong place at the right time. He's given a mission - take a heavily-armed warship and investigate an anomaly on a distant planet. Blake and his crew locate a catastrophically-damaged enemy Neutraliser, and there's no record of an engagement with human forces. Lieutenant Eric McKinney and his troops are left with the task of getting inside and finding answers. What they discover deep within the huge spaceship gives an idea of the horrors to come. The Vraxar have summoned one of their capital ships. Ix-Gorghal has arrived and even with assistance from an incredibly-powerful Ghast battleship, it will take every ounce of Space Corps firepower, ingenuity and plain old guts to survive the first punishing encounters.God Ship is a high-action science fiction adventure and the third book in the Obsidiar Fleet series.

New Russian Drama took shape at the turn of the new millennium—a time of turbulent social change in Russia and the former Soviet republics. Emerging from small playwriting festivals, provincial theaters, and converted basements, it evolved into a major artistic movement that startled audiences with hypernaturalistic portrayals of sex and violence, daring use of non-normative language, and thrilling experiments with genre and form. The movement’s commitment to investigating contemporary reality helped revitalize Russian theater. It also provoked confrontations with traditionalists in society and places of power, making theater once again Russia’s most politicized art form. This anthology offers an introduction to New Russian Drama through plays that illustrate the versatility and global relevance of this exciting movement. Many of them address pressing social issues, such as ethnic tensions and political disillusionment; others engage with Russia’s rich cultural legacy by reimagining traditional genres and canons. Among them are a family drama about Anton Chekhov, a modern production play in which factory workers compose haiku, and a satirical verse play about the treatment of migrant workers, as well a documentary play about a terrorist school siege and a postdramatic “text” that is only two sentences long. Both politically and aesthetically uncompromising, they chart new paths for performance in the twenty-first century. Acquainting English-language readers with these vital works, New Russian Drama challenges us to reflect on the status and mission of the theater.

The New York Times bestselling author of Darwin’s Doubt presents groundbreaking scientific evidence of the existence of God, based on breakthroughs in physics, cosmology, and biology. Beginning in the late 19th century, many intellectuals began to insist that scientific knowledge conflicts with traditional theistic belief—that science and belief in God are “at war.” Philosopher of science Stephen Meyer challenges this view by examining three scientific discoveries with decidedly theistic implications. Building on the case for the intelligent design of life that he developed in Signature in the Cell and Darwin’s Doubt, Meyer demonstrates how discoveries in cosmology and physics coupled with those in biology help to establish the identity of the designing intelligence behind life and the universe. Meyer argues that theism—with its affirmation of a transcendent, intelligent and active creator—best explains the evidence we have concerning biological and cosmological origins. Previously Meyer refrained from attempting to answer questions about “who” might have designed life. Now he provides an evidence-based answer to perhaps the ultimate mystery of the universe. In so doing, he reveals a stunning conclusion: the data support not just the existence of an intelligent designer of some kind—but the existence of a personal God.

Provides a background in Pacific geography, culture, and history, plus an overview of the different Pacific island groups.