"The further story of Sam "Starman" Hoyt, his niece Jan Hoyt and their great GrandFather Jeremiah "Buck" Hoyt the Dragon slaying Cowboy. A tale of adventure, spycraft, Aliens and Apaches, oh yes... Cowboys too. Add a pair of brilliant Nerds, a Warrior Alien, A cute Army Military Police captain, a short stout Cherokee woman and the Pasty Faced Man in Black who loves her leads to a comic and wild ride across North America, a visit to Scotland and Alien planets. As in the first we get to visit Tom and Vacaro in the Plieadies to sample his Purple Pumpking and inventive excursions in brewing alcoholic beverages."--publisher's website

In a fresh study of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, Heere examines how the British imperial system wrestled with Japan's unique status as an Asian power. Empire Ascendant combines the study of diplomacy with issues of cultural representation, race, migration, and inter-imperial relations.

A “completely original and inventive” epic fantasy set in a land of blood mages and sentiment plants, dark magic, and warfare on a scale that spans worlds (Locus) Loyalties are tested when worlds collide… Every two thousand years, the dark star Oma appears in the sky, bringing with it a tide of death and destruction. And those who survive must contend with friends and enemies newly imbued with violent powers. The kingdom of Saiduan already lies in ruin, decimated by invaders from another world who share the faces of those they seek to destroy. Now the nation of Dhai is under siege by the same force. Their only hope for survival lies in the hands of an illegitimate ruler and a scullery maid with a powerful—but unpredictable—magic. As the foreign Empire spreads across the world like a disease, one of their former allies takes up her Empress’s sword again to unseat them, and two enslaved scholars begin a treacherous journey home with a long-lost secret that they hope is the key to the Empire’s undoing. But when the enemy shares your own face, who can be trusted? As the convergence between the two worlds strengthens, alliances are made and broken, magic and mayhem abound—and before it’s all done, at least one world will be shattered and broken.

The brothers are united, but storm clouds gather on the horizon. War has come to Dravith The Dark Legion have been beaten back, and for the first time the brothers are allied against the savagery that the UnderVerse has thrown at them, but the storm clouds of war are gathering, and not everyone will see the sun rise again. Jax has one chance to keep his people safe from the storm and the war that's building on the horizon, but it'll take balls of steel, brains of mince, and he's really going to need to be lucky as hell to pull this one off... The Legion rises along with their Scion, buoyed aloft on waves of hope, but not all are as dedicated as they may seem, and a tiny pin-prick can be all that makes the difference, when it's made at just the wrong time...

Contemporary America, with its unparalleled armaments and ambition, seems to many commentators a new empire. Others angrily reject the designation. What stakes would being an empire have for our identity at home and our role abroad? A preeminent American historian addresses these issues in light of the history of empires since antiquity. This elegantly written book examines the structure and impact of these mega-states and asks whether the United States shares their traits and behavior. Eschewing the standard focus on current U.S. foreign policy and the recent spate of pro- and anti-empire polemics, Charles S. Maier uses comparative history to test the relevance of a concept often invoked but not always understood. Marshaling a remarkable array of evidence—from Roman, Ottoman, Moghul, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and British experience—Maier outlines the essentials of empire throughout history. He then explores the exercise of U.S. power in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, carefully analyzing its economic and strategic sources and the nation’s relationship to predecessors and rivals. To inquire about empire is to ask what the United States has become as a result of its wealth, inventiveness, and ambitions. It is to confront lofty national aspirations with the realities of the violence that often attends imperial politics and thus to question both the costs and the opportunities of the current U.S. global ascendancy. With learning, dispassion, and clarity, Among Empires offers bold comparisons and an original account of American power. It confirms that the issue of empire must be a concern of every citizen.

Ascendant Sun is the direct sequel to The Last Hawk, in which Kelric, heir to the Skolian Empire, crash-landed his fighter on the Restricted planet of Coba. He was imprisoned by the powerful mistresses of the great estates--women who, over time, fell in love with him. After 18 years of living in their gilded cage, Kelric finally made his escape. In Ascendant Sun, Kelric returns to Skolian space, only to find the Empire in control of the Allied forces of Earth. With little more than the clothes on his back, Kelric is forced to take work on a merchant vessel. But when that vessel enters Euban space, Kelric finds his worst nightmare realized: he becomes a slave to the cruel Aristos--humans who use torture and sex as the ultimate aphrodesiac. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Rethinking Civilization offers an alternative view of human civilization in a globalizing age. Majid Tehranian analyses the transition from nomadic, to agrarian, commercial, industrial, and digital civilizations and argues that the growing gaps among the five major civilizations have led to terror operating as a form of global communication. This new book explores the uneven pace of development of human societies, particularly in the last two centuries, and argues that this is leading to a global civil war. Taking a long-term historical perspective, and developing a model that explains how empires, resistance, and civilizations have evolved alongside major technological breakthroughs in history, Tehranian offers a multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary analysis of the phenomenon. Seeking to counter the current rhetorical trends, Tehranian reconceptualizes "civilization" to make it a useful analytical rather than ideological category. defines the varieties of terrorism, including structural, nuclear, state, opposition, messianic, and anomic. addresses the contemporary problems of global governance and the evolution of international relations. traces the evolution of global communication from orality to literacy, print, electronic, and digital modes. forecasts the emerging problems of encounters among the five civilizations. This unique and original volume will be of great interest to students and researchers of globalization, international relations, peace studies and sociology.

In 1521, Suleiman the Magnificent, Muslim ruler of the Ottoman Empire at the height of its power, dispatched an invasion fleet to the Christian island of Rhodes. This would prove to be the opening shot in an epic struggle between rival empires and faiths for control of the Mediterranean and the center of the world. In Empires of the Sea, acclaimed historian Roger Crowley has written his most mesmerizing work to date–a thrilling account of this brutal decades-long battle between Christendom and Islam for the soul of Europe, a fast-paced tale of spiraling intensity that ranges from Istanbul to the Gates of Gibraltar and features a cast of extraordinary characters: Barbarossa, “The King of Evil,” the pirate who terrified Europe; the risk-taking Emperor Charles V; the Knights of St. John, the last crusading order after the passing of the Templars; the messianic Pope Pius V; and the brilliant Christian admiral Don Juan of Austria. This struggle’s brutal climax came between 1565 and 1571, seven years that witnessed a fight to the finish decided in a series of bloody set pieces: the epic siege of Malta, in which a tiny band of Christian defenders defied the might of the Ottoman army; the savage battle for Cyprus; and the apocalyptic last-ditch defense of southern Europe at Lepanto–one of the single most shocking days in world history. At the close of this cataclysmic naval encounter, the carnage was so great that the victors could barely sail away “because of the countless corpses floating in the sea.” Lepanto fixed the frontiers of the Mediterranean world that we know today. Roger Crowley conjures up a wild cast of pirates, crusaders, and religious warriors struggling for supremacy and survival in a tale of slavery and galley warfare, desperate bravery and utter brutality, technology and Inca gold. Empires of the Sea is page-turning narrative history at its best–a story of extraordinary color and incident, rich in detail, full of surprises, and backed by a wealth of eyewitness accounts. It provides a crucial context for our own clash of civilizations.

World myth deciphered and organized into a coherent story of our past. It is almost impossible to read world mythology without noticing common threads and patterns that seem to paint a bigger picture. A story told by our ancient ancestors for future generations to remember and learn. What if the eyewitnesses to past events were taken seriously? What if we listen to their stories with unbiased ears, free of assumptions? What if their stories were backed up by scientific discoveries? What if the myths can explain the mysteries?