Two young Parthians, brother and sister, are caught up in the great rivalry between Rome and Parthia in Asia Minor during first century A.D.. At that time Parthia was Rome's greatest enemy, fightng over land as well as trade routes to Seres, land of silk. Larius and Kyra become wards of Rome when their father, a Parthian nobleman, is killed in battle. In order to save his sister from slavery and possibly worse, Larius is caught up in political intrigue when he agrees to become a spy for his would-be benefactor, the Roman procurator, Publius. From this point on things become more complicated for both Kyra and Larius. As their lives intertwine with history, they experience the good and the bad. Most of all, they survive, heroic and strong. Jack Adler is a widely published author who teaches UCLA extension classes in Journalism and writing.

The Reluctant Spy is the timely story of Calvin Evan, a smart, but flawed CIA agent, beginning with the 1979 Iranian revolution. Cal develops a critical Iranian operative and becomes embroiled in the audacious, yet little honored effort to liberate the American embassy hostages. Romantically, he's caught between his love for a rescued refugee and the aggressive intentions of his boss' manipulative daughter. Ensnaring him, the savvy daughter navigates his career away from the political fallout of the mission's failure and directs him to the battleground of the 1980's- the Nicaraguan Contra war where Cal runs an illegal funding operation. Morally conflicted and victimized by his erratic behavior, he slips into a burned out funk, posted to Switzerland. There, amidst the rise of Middle Eastern terrorism, his past pulls him into conflict with his former Iranian asset, possibly a double agent, and reunites him with his long ago betrayed love, now a death squad target. The Reluctant Spy is the tale of Cal's torment in trying to reconcile his heroic and destructive behaviors, his successes and failures, and his search for happiness and contentment. The backdrop of his struggles is the American foreign policy establishment's often futile efforts to influence and control global events while carrying on insidious bureaucratic warfare. John H. Goodwin is a 1981 graduate of Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, Magna Cum Laude. John used his experience living abroad and knowledge of foreign cultures and American political and military affairs history in writing The Reluctant Spy. John manages global investment portfolios for wealthy American and international families at Morgan Stanley's Private Wealth Management business.

In 1980, the world is teetering on the edge of darkness. The president of the Republic of Liberia, Charles Dunbar Cooper, is preparing to sign a treaty with the Soviet Union that will remove the presence of America in West Africa and signal the continued spread of Communism on the continent--an event that both American and European intelligence agents are working to prevent.

CIA officer Tom Walsh is used to traveling to Monrovia as an undercover journalist who collects sensitive information--but Walsh knows this trip will be unlike any before. Assigned to an operation with French intelligence agent Yvette Dubois to prevent the Soviet takeover of Liberia, Walsh knows they are under the gun. With just days to organize key members of the Liberian government and army and stop President Cooper from traveling to Moscow, Walsh and Dubois soon find nothing is going as planned.

One of their key players is assassinated while another is arrested and charged in a series of ritual murders. During a demonstration in the capital protesting the government crackdown on human rights, both civilians and soldiers are killed. The government foils an attempted coup and then must defend itself against another.

As the oldest republic and the most stable government on the African continent tumbles headlong into a maelstrom of nightmare and chaos, sucking in everything within its radius, two spies face the mission of their lives, leaving them to wonder if either will make it out alive.

Was the financial crisis of 2008 caused by a small group of greedy Wall Street bankers-or was there something more sinister at work? Did it begin when free-market politicians gained control of Washington DC, or was it linked to a longer history, starting decades-or even centuries ago?

Points On A Line narrates an epic tale of manipulation of economic and political events by a secretive group of privileged citizens determined to regain control over the world order.

For Jude Anders, the blue-collar kid of a single mom, the journey begins in campus protests of the Vietnam War. Fleeing to Toronto to dodge the draft, he meets eventual lifelong friend Anton Tomasin, an enigmatic young man adopted into wealth and privilege. Their apparently coincidental meeting sets the course of Jude's future, dragging him into the heart of American economic policy during the military coups in Chile and Argentina in the 1970s through the complicated chain of events that ultimately brought about the collapse of the world economy in 2008.

As an advisor to the newly elected President with an intransigent Congress, Jude offers him a chance to reset America's financial future with a drastic economic elixir called Plan B.

A suspenseful tale of Borgesian circularity, "Shadowing Botticelli's Beauty" features an unusual cast drawn from three distinct spheres: C.I.A. operatives running sensitive operations during the Cold War; players from the art world among them a painter-architect based in Buenos Aires, and from ages past, the Renaissance master, Sandro Botticelli; and colorful inhabitants of an elite, New England prep school. But throughout this sinuous tale of intrigue, there is the constancy of "Abel Baaker Charlie: " devoted husband; journeyman case officer; apprentice school master; autodidactic painter; and, last but not least, self-appointed art detective. While weathering the chaos of revolutions, personal tragedies, identity crises, a treacherous colleague, and radical career shifts, the novel's dauntless protagonist tenaciously stalks a lost masterpiece looted by a Nazi war criminal in the closing days of World War II. Baaker's story, which has a basis in fact, is told with the assuredness of a veteran insider privy to the clandestine realm of spies, the arcane province of art historians, and the twisted turf of private boarding schools. While making for a fine read, with its rewarding resolution, "Shadowing Botticelli's Beauty" ponders the opposing roles of chance and grand design in the destiny of its memorable characters.

Move over James Bond; meet Captain Peterson Smith, formerly of the US Navy. Smith is the son of a famous senator. He's a former US Navy SEAL, an F-14 pilot, and an intelligence specialist-all without breaking a sweat. He even makes time to have coffee with his mother. Yes, Smith is the perfect soldier and perfect son ... and the only person on earth who can save the world from mass destruction. Follow Captain Smith through three separate vignettes into the brave world of minisubs in Sweden. We first meet the honorable Smith in "Minisub 83," as the captain leaves his American home to serve in the Royal Swedish Navy. There's no time to acclimate, however; he must use specially designed weapons against an evil foe. In "Minisub 99," Smith must find a way to destroy wicked Dr. Dimitriov's underwater headquarters. If Dimitriov succeeds, he could blow the planet to smithereens But of course Captain Smith has more than a few tricks up his sleeve. Finally, in the rousing, rampant "Minisub 2010," the notorious Wizardess has plans for global domination by mining gold from the Martian surface. Can she be stopped? It's all up to Peterson Smith.