The Lion S Gambit

Kota always knew he was a Prince by chance, not by blood as he arrived at the castle at a young age before the Queen took him into her family. Suddenly everything he knew changed in an instant. One day he receives a mysterious letter from an unknown sender with information about his mother. After answering the letter, he not only drags himself but those around him into an ancient mystery long forgotten. In this ancient world of swords and arrows, there are those who can call upon the powers of the elements. These elemental users are named Callers. Callers can create a flash of fire with a snap of their fingers while others can mold the earth to their will. Kota was not born with the power to call upon the elements but that does not mean he is not a capable fighter. Kota, including his allies, get caught in a plot that is orchestrated by an enemy that is smart as they are deadly. Those who who stand with him will have to use more than metal and callings to fight a mysterious foe that threatens everything they know.

Home to three very different cultures, Al-Rassan is a land of seductive beauty and violent history. Peace among the Jaddites, Asharites and Kindath is a precarious, elusive thing, made so by the ever-present shadow that divides the peoples but draws extraordinary individuals together. Ammar ibn Khairan—poet, diplomat, soldier; Rodrigo Belmonte—accomplished military leader; and Jeanne bet Ishak—brilliant physician; these three find their lives interwoven by a series of remarkable events that take Al-Rassan to the brink of war. Hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, The Lions of Al-Rassan is an exhilarating story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when passionate beliefs conspire to remake—or destroy—a world.

Last of the Lions is two histories woven into one remarkable story. It's a personal history – the evocative life of Clarence B. Jones, from his depression- and segregation-era upbringing at the hands of caring Irish Catholic nuns through our current era (when America elected a President to follow the first black man to hold the office with a man dog-whistling to white supremacists for four years). And all the amazing moments in between – his Ivy League years, his unprecedented dual role as simultaneous military draftee and protester, his work as an entertainment lawyer, financial and media entrepreneur, and more. But it's also the coming-of-age story of this country, with the kind of intimate observations and thought-provoking perspective that unfurl in classics like Soul on Ice, On the Road, and The Feminine Mystique. Between the time Jones was born and today, the landscape of America's relationship with her black citizenry has experienced a sea change. Jones is the bridge from one America to another – spanning poverty and prosperity, injustice and acceptance, Harlem and Wall Street, even spanning the militant philosophy of the radical black Nation of Islam and the Gandhian philosophy of Dr. King. His story is the connective tissue that clarifies our past, explains our present, and points to the way to the future. Jones suffered the iniquities, fought the battles, and unlike so many, lived to see both the fruits of his labor and its failings. But this book is far from a treatise on race; Jones witnessed (and participated in) nearly every one of the most important political and social movements from the 1950s right up until today. Eight crucial decades that defined the "American Experience" and Jones was in the thick of it. Last of the Lions offers a vibrant perspective on human nature and light and dark sides of American values. Jones presents a guide to the ever-pressing – and even after 400 years the still-unfinished – business in our country: the erasing of the color line. Ferguson could have happened half a century ago, but it happed half a decade ago. A path to true freedom laid out by perhaps the only man alive with the personal experience and social context to tackle the issue head-on. History never felt so present, philosophy so urgent.

The trouble with lions is that while you are conducting a pregnancy test, you need to be equally, if not more, aware of what you can learn from the lion's other end. That is one lesson that Jerry Haigh brings home in this fascinating collection of stories about working with wild animals in Africa. Conversational in tone, conservational in theme—you will be right beside Jerry, wife Jo, and a colourful cast of vets, guides, and wardens as they scour Africa’s sprawling vistas “troubleshooting” lions, rhinos, humans, and other indigenous mammals. Conservationists, veterinarians, and fans of real-life adventure tales will want to keep this memoir handy on the dashboards of their Land Cruisers.

How might the formal Christian doctrine of the Trinity make a real concrete difference in the lives of individuals and in the life of the church? This book proposes there are two parts to answering this important but elusive question. In the first place, how on earth did the Early Church actually reach its conclusions about this understanding of God, and why? What's the real point behind their endeavors? How might we apprehend what is otherwise sheer mystification--or even nonsense in some people's minds? Arising out of the answers to such questions, we can secondly construct an appropriately simple model of the Trinity. By means of this model, we can understand with sufficient justice the ways the triune God has come among us in our human history, ways that are still ongoing today. For the proposed model allows us to begin to appreciate the true mystery of the Christian Faith, while also making a practical difference to the lives of Christian discipleship, in prayer, worship, and mission.

How might the formal Christian doctrine of the Trinity make a real concrete difference in the lives of individuals and in the life of the church? This book proposes there are two parts to answering this important but elusive question. In the first place, how on earth did the Early Church actually reach its conclusions about this understanding of God, and why? What’s the real point behind their endeavors? How might we apprehend what is otherwise sheer mystification—or even nonsense in some people’s minds? Arising out of the answers to such questions, we can secondly construct an appropriately simple model of the Trinity. By means of this model, we can understand with sufficient justice the ways the triune God has come among us in our human history, ways that are still ongoing today. For the proposed model allows us to begin to appreciate the true mystery of the Christian Faith, while also making a practical difference to the lives of Christian discipleship, in prayer, worship, and mission.

While many books discuss how nations can prevent the proliferation of biological and nuclear weapons, this unique and controversial volume begins with the premise that these weapons will certainly multiply despite our desperate desire to slow this process. How worried should we be and what should we do? In From Lambs to Lions, Thomas Preston examines current trends in the proliferation of nuclear and biological weapons capabilities, know-how, and technologies for both state and non-state actors-and then projects these trends over the coming ten to fifteen years to assess how they might impact existing security relationships between states. With a new preface to the paperback edition, Thomas Preston also addresses the threat of biological and nuclear weapons proliferation that faces the Obama administration. How might a nuclear North Korea or Iran constrain U.S. freedom of action in its foreign or military policies? How might U.S. security be impacted by the current biotechnical revolution and spread of bioweapons know-how to opponents? How might terror groups like Al Qaeda make use of such weapons in future attacks against the United States or its allies around the world? These are the central, most fundamental questions facing American security policy over the coming decades, and to ignore them is to put ourselves at risk for new 9/11-style surprises. For answers, and for some potentially surprising reassurances, this clear and informative book will be invaluable.

The lion of revolution is coming, insidious and menacing, to the quiet West African republic of Free Guinea. In the hiatus following the Falklands War, a group of hardened SAS troops is sent as a safeguard against rumblings of political discontent against the moderate elected government. It is intended to provide the ideal location for the men to rest after the violent burst of full-blooded warfare in the South Atlantic. And so it does – that is, until a tourist is found dead on the beach. In the remote territory up country, the forces of violence and terror are gathering and it is certain that innocent blood will be spilled. That is when the legendary SAS captain returns. To the only woman he has ever loved. And to a brooding land of fear and unrest, swept by a rising tide of revolutionary fervour and bloodlust. ‘Frightening credibility’ Gloucester Citizen ‘An all-actioner which never slows’ Glasgow Evening Times