A political science major with three years of college under his belt, Charlie R. McNeil has planned his future, but serving in the military and fighting in a war is not part of the future he imagined. The American government thinks otherwise, however; he is drafted into the military, and sent to Korea-an assignment no one asks for. McNeil neither complains nor make waves; he goes where he's told to go and does what he's told to do. When the unexpected happens in Korea and the North Koreans cross the thirty-eighth parallel, Corporal McNeil finds himself immersed in war-a war that came so quickly after WWII that no one believed it possible and none of the military services were prepared. While McNeil moves up in military rank he never loses sight of his goal to earn a degree and work in Washington, DC. But first, he must survive Korea and return home to the United States. A military novel, "McNeil" captures the essence of war and the hardships of life on the battlefield from one young man who has other dreams.

Families are like snowflakes, in that no two are exactly alike. Each individual has a part to play on the stage of family drama, and those characters can be so different and yet so much alike as they share that clan identity. An individual can change the name or wear a mask, and move away to seek obscurity or fashion some other identity on near or distant frontiers or foreign shores, to dwell among strangers. Fame and fortune are calling, and for some a hermit's life is more attractive. The American traditions of love and romance, marriage and creation of another family institution have conventional conservative designs, but occasionally there is the unorthodox merger of opposites or the union of similar spirits in a compatible but unconventional connubial design. Children are born and grow up in these milieus to inaugurate their own family dramas, taking with them into those relationships all the features that genetics, nature and nurture have provided to equip them for assuming their place to play their part in the drama of human life in the American family tradition. This story is about one of those resulting families of unconventional design.

Andy Bishop's quest begins promisingly when he leaves Columbus, Ohio, in 1914 after graduating from the University of Notre Dame. In Austria, Hungary, his goals are threefold: make contact with distant Austrian relatives, practice his nascent journalistic skills, and discover why his aristocratic ancestor, Matthias zu Windischgratz, immigrated to America so long ago. The scenery changes drastically as Andy witnesses the last stand of imperial Austrian society. He arrives just three weeks before the assassination of the Kaiser's nephew, the Habsburg Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, Sophie. This event sparks the fateful slide toward world war and chaos for both family and friends. Andy's fateful decision to remain in the doomed Habsburg Empire after the war begins-and his irresistible attraction to a young Austrian countess-lead him to Budapest, Rome, and finally Paris, as Europe is convulsed by the greatest war since the defeat of Napoleon. Told from the perspective of Andy Bishop, "An American in Vienna" presents historical insight into the Austrian court, royal society, and the demise of a once-powerful empire as it becomes embroiled in the Great War.

Thessaly alienates her husband Karl, an American air force officer stationed in England, as she defends her mother, a bitter war-widow. Mum attempts to dominate Karl as she does Thessaly. The stress between the trio builds when Mum follows her daughter and Karl to the United States and Gloucester, Massachusetts.

As Karl and Thessaly's children grown up, Thessaly suffers seizures while being haunted by images of Shadowbrooks, the country house where she and her mother fled to during the stepped up bombing in World War II.

Plagued by sleepless nights, Thessaly wonders if the years she can't remember could be connected to this haunting Shadowbrooks house.

Mum comes to stay with them for a month each August which disrupts Thessaly, Karl and their children as Mum distorts and denies the life she and Thessaly had led at Shadowbrooks. Thessaly profoundly dreads her mother coming as she still attempts to dominate them. When Mum suddenly dies, Thessaly's seizures accelerate, but her medical tests are negative.

Convinced her illness is to do with Shadowbrooks. Thessaly sees a Boston psychiatrist who brilliantly unravels her Shadobrooks hauntings. After a trip back to Shadowbrooks, England, Thessaly not only discovers the disturbing story behind her mother and herself, but also the cover-up that had sent both into decades of denial

"The Last Hookers" is intrigue, danger, action, and romance about aviators in Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Laos Colonel Dunn who were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Their story shines light into dark corners of the NSA and CIA during covert operations in Southeast Asia.

Sumia Sukkar's The Boy From Aleppo Who Painted The War is about a 14-year-old boy with Asperger Syndrome who attempts to understand the Syrian conflict and its effect on his life by painting his feelings. Yasmine, his beautiful older sister, devotes herself to him, but has to cope with her own traumas when she is taken by soldiers. Their three brothers also struggle - on whether or not to take sides and the consequences of their eventual choices. The book has recently been dramatised by BBC Radio 4. The Boy From Aleppo Who Painted The War is the powerful and deeply moving debut novel from 21-year- old Sumia Sukkar. It chronicles the intimate sufferings of a family in the midst of civil war with uncommon compassion, wit and imaginative force. Told mainly from a challenged young man's perspective, it achieves the timeless dignity of a true report from an unpredictable and frightening place. It will take its place among the list of necessary books to read about how we preserve love and beauty during brutal times. The story is sure to become a beloved classic, as it follows in the footsteps of other novels touching on the lives of young people during war. "Writing my timely novel was a way for me to express my grief towards the tragedies of what's happening in my country," says Sumia. "Readers will find it interesting to experience the traumatising events of war through the eyes of an innocent young autistic boy who has lived his whole life completely dependent on his family and then having to be separated from them. It contains a blend of political events, emotional drive and Arabian tradition."