Blair Beebe, M.D. Medical lessons from Vietnam; what did we learn? Almost fifty years after the beginning of American involvement in the Vietnam War, we still remain embroiled in military actions that generate disease, disability, and death. Frontline physicians who were in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Vietnam faced the medical consequences of war every day. My new novel, Doc Lucas USN, based on real people and real events, brings the war down to a human scale, one person at a time. History gives us statistics and dates, but fiction helps us to better understand the meaning behind those facts. One of my old professors defined history as "lies we tell about dead people." We understand more from reading Homer, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Margaret Mitchell, and Stephen Ambrose than we ever learned from dry history textbooks. Paradoxically, the truth comes out in fiction. During my time in Vietnam, and for many years after, I listened to stories from other physicians who served during the war and from naval aviators and marines who faced combat every day. I also heard different points of view from Vietnamese civilians who had come to America to escape the chaos after the war. Their eyewitness accounts are the true history, but unless someone writes them down, we lose them forever. Moreover, individual stories may have little meaning to us if they lack context. I've often heard both veterans and civilians say, "I don't talk about my experiences, because anyone who wasn't there could never understand how bad it was." That's why we need a novel to give us a complete account in an organized way. Each character and each scene moves the action to develop a central theme about the war. We want more than anecdotes. We want to understand the how and the why of the unfolding tragedy. Doc Lucas not only recounts the stories, he lives them. We feel his anxiety, his terror, and at times, his joy. When things go wrong, we know why, and we can feel his despair. In the good times, and there are many, we laugh along with him. In the end, Doc Lucas learns important lessons about himself and his values centered on human rights and the relief of suffering. He emerges from the war better equipped to take his place with stronger convictions about his role in his society.

In a final desperate attempt to establish his legacy, the forty-third president of the United states, Gerald W. Burke, issues an ultimatum to the leaders of Israel and Palestine to resolve their conflict on his terms-or else. The ultimatum triggers a chain of unforeseen consequences that cause Burke to be marked for death by al-Qaeda-or is it al-Qaeda? That's the question Kathy Romano, Homeland Security Terrorism Analyst, has to answer as she follows a labyrinth of clues that lead to a shocking discovery that can forever shatter the friendly relations between Israel and the United States.

At the center of the action, is Ari Bugari, an Israeli undercover agent, recruited into al-Qaeda after Iraq is invaded and defeated by the coalition forces. On orders from the al-Qaeda leadership, Ari pursues President Burke across three continents. Caught between his Israeli and al-Qaeda masters, Ari, himself, becomes the hunted quarry and is forced into hiding when he learns the explosive truth that underlies his relationship with Mossad Director General Shalom Eitan.

In this tale of adventure, betrayal, and redemption, President Burke must do everything in his power to salvage the peace agreement and his presidency.

Codename: FLAME is the parallel to Dr. Niklewicz's first riveting historical novel, "Last Train to Dachau." That story was based on his mother's wartime experiences and the plight of the Miller family that lived and survived the terrible challenges and brutality that was forced upon them by the Nazis.

As was his first book, Codename: FLAME is an historical novel based on the true-life struggles of courageous Poles in the time of war. His father Stanislaw Niklewicz was such a person and his life is featured in this second book. The contrast between the two stories is vast. The Millers, a family of five survived through patience and the strength of a family unit that did everything to stay together. Stanislaw on the other hand, was all alone as he ran away from his pending draft into the Hitler Youth at the age of 15; eventually becoming a Partisan fighter.

Follow the hardships that Stanislaw endured while being alone in the forests of Poland; first as a teenage Boy Scout courier and then as a Partisan fighter. The saga of Stanislaw (Staszek) is a portrait of a defiant boy turned into a man by the necessity and passion to live free or die fighting against the tyranny of the Germans.

His defiance and determination for freedom continued even after being captured behind enemy lines during a secret mission and his subsequent brutal imprisonment at the infamous Mathausen Concentration Camp.

As you read this book, try to think of what it was like to be a boy soldier at 15. Then try to think of the courage and fortitude it took to survive through the torture of an extermination camp. A camp that had no other purpose than to work you to death; something you were equally determined to boldly defy.

Oblivion Rouge follows the career of a young teenage villager named Oumi as she becomes embroiled in a conflict that threatens a futuristic Africa and the world itself. In the near future, a virus called the LEUP has infected half the population. The resulting war between the people of Liam, known as the infected, and the people of Galoum, known as the immune, becomes a bloody and brutal affair. When a mysterious army called the Hakkinen emerges to quell the war between the two countries, they adopt children of war to aid them. Oumi and her friends are enlisted to help find a cure and end the bloodshed. With an all-African cast, Oblivion Rouge stems from the roots of West African philosophy. It is both a brutal dystopian depiction of the future and a beautiful adventure that explores the depth of the human spirit. Oumi has made a promise to never suffer the losses and humiliation she has already seen in her young life. But with strange forces gathering against her continent, can she overcome her own insecurities to lead her people to paradise? Oblivion Rouge is rated OT for Older Teen, recommended for ages 16 and up. Saturday AM, the world's most diverse manga-inspired comics, are now presented in a new format! Introducing Saturday AM TANKS, the new graphic novel format similar to Japanese Tankobons where we collect the global heroes and artists of Saturday AM. These handsome volumes have select color pages, revised artwork, and innovative post-credit scenes that help bring new life to our popular BIPOC, LGBTQ, and/or culturally diverse characters. Join in even more adventures with the other action-packed Saturday AM TANKS series:Apple Black, Clock Striker, Gunhild, Hammer, Henshin!, The Massively Multiplayer World of Ghosts, Saigami, Soul Beat, Titan King, Underground, and Yellow Stringer.

The Times Thriller of the Year 2022' **A BBC Between the Covers Book Club Pick** **A Times Thriller of the Month** 'The world has been waiting for a worthy successor to Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong - now Philip Gray has delivered it' David Young, author of Stasi Child THE GUNS ARE SILENT. THE DEAD ARE NOT. 1919. On the desolate battlefields of northern France, the guns of the Great War are silent. Special battalions now face the dangerous task of gathering up the dead for mass burial. Captain Mackenzie, a survivor of the war, cannot yet bring himself to go home. First he must see that his fallen comrades are recovered and laid to rest. His task is upended when a gruesome discovery is made beneath the ruins of a German strongpoint. Amy Vanneck's fiance is one soldier lost amongst many, but she cannot accept that his body may never be found. She heads to France, determined to discover what became of the man she loved. It soon becomes clear that what Mackenzie has uncovered is a war crime of inhuman savagery. As the dark truth leaches out, both he and Amy are drawn into the hunt for a psychopath, one for whom the atrocity at Two Storm Wood is not an end, but a beginning. For fans of Ben MacIntyre, Munich by Robert Harris and Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. 'Haunting, cinematic, and utterly gripping' D.B. John, author of Star of the North 'Atmospheric and meticulously researched ' Abir Mukherjee, author of The Shadows of Men

Inspired by true events and set against the backdrop of the Second World War, Melanie Levensohn’s A Jewish Girl in Paris is a powerful novel about forbidden love.

Paris, 1940, a city under German occupation. A young Jewish girl, Judith, meets a young man, the son of a wealthy banker and Nazi sympathizer – his family will never approve of the girl he has fallen in love with. As the Germans impose more and more restrictions on Jewish Parisians, the couple secretly plan to flee the country. But before they can make their escape, Judith disappears . . .

Montréal, 1982. Shortly before his death, Lica Grunberg confesses to his daughter, that she has an older half-sister, Judith. Lica escaped the Nazis but lost all contact with his first-born daughter. His daughter promises to find the sister she never knew. The search languishes for years, until Jacobina is spurred on by her young friend Béatrice.

Soon the two women discover a dark family secret, stretching over two continents and six decades, that will change their lives forever . . .

Lieutenant Xavier Moran, USMC, better known as "X," is out of the Afghanistan battlefield-his first reprieve in over sixty days. As he arrives at the sprawling airbase at Bagram with nothing more than a pack, a weapon, and a reputation for getting things done, he secretly wishes he was back in the fight, where life is helter-skelter. When he is assigned a tough mission by Colonel Fran Matthews, X has no idea he is about to become immersed in the rampant corruption that surrounds the Afghan war.

Assigned to assume command of an isolated marine rifle company in disarray, X faces many challenges, including bringing casualties in line with operations, raising the marine's morale, and facing off with the current battalion commander. As he heads to Kotjay to begin his mission, X is apprehensive. He must succeed; failure could mean the end of his career-or the end of his life.

In this action-packed military tale, X bravely stands up to the entrenched powers in Afghanistan. Caught between doing what is right and doing what is expected, he makes powerful enemies intent on ensuring his failure. Only time will tell if they will be successful.

Age of Ice and Steel tells the story of a handful of lives transfixed and transformed by the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II. It follows the parallel and intersecting lives of Heinz Guderian and Georgi Zhukov, the two most dynamic and important commanders of the campaign, as well as the lives of ordinary citizens, Nadia, Lev, Anatoly, and Sebastian. But it is far from being a mere historical novel. It stands at the brink of literature and research, an approach which was essential to emphasize differences in tactics, attitudes, characters and philosophies. Guderian and Zhukov were the new archetypes of a modernized military philosophy and the brand new war doctrines by which modern leaders rule their generals and modern nations fight their wars. Indispensable and fascinating reading for anyone interested in World War II or modern warfare, Age of Ice and Steel is the essential novel of the War in the East.

The Sweet family have run the local bakery for as long as anyone can remember.Twins Ruby and Mary Sweet help their widowed father out when they can. Mary loves baking and has no intention of leaving their small Gloucestershire village. while Ruby dreams of life in London. But as war threatens, there will be changes for all of the Sweet family, with brother Charlie off to serve and cousin Frances facing evacuation. But there will be opportunities, too, as the twins' baking talent catches the attention of the Ministry of Food.... The gripping first instalment in Lizzie Lane's bestselling heartfelt, gripping Sweet Sisters trilogy. Praise for Lizzie Lane: 'A gripping saga and a storyline that will keep you hooked' Rosie Goodwin 'The Tobacco Girls is another heartwarming tale of love and friendship and a must-read for all saga fans.' Jean Fullerton 'Lizzie Lane opens the door to a past of factory girls, redolent with life-affirming friendship, drama, and choices that are as relevant today as they were then.' Catrin Collier 'If you want an exciting, authentic historical saga then look no further than Lizzie Lane.' Fenella J Miller