"Sentenced to a French penal colony for killing an officer (in self-defense), American Dusty Colton flees the French Foreign Legion he so willingly joined and rushes headlong into a Berber tribal lair. To his horror, he discovers a captive American woman who's in the process of being whipped and tortured by the bandit leader. Despite the low odds of him winning out against the entire Berber tribe alone, Dusty can't leave the woman behind. Even if he figures out an escape from the camp, he still has to manage a way to get them both out of the country alive with both the Foreign Legion and the Berbers at their heels."--Front flap
American Ann Halliday is as fiery as the Sahara sun. And now she's feeling some real heat, as the prize captive of the Berber leader Abd el Malek also known as "The Killer." But Abd el Malek wants Ann alive--and in chains--subject to his every whim and fantasy. Dusty Colton, however, an American deserter from the French Foreign Legion, has a different idea and he's determined to give "The Killer" a taste of his own bloody medicine. The only problem is Dusty himself is wanted for murder. Can Ann and Dusty team up and turn evil on its head? One thing's for sure--between Ann and the Hell's Legionnaire, the temperature is about to get even hotter. Also includes the adventure stories, "The Barbarians," in which a Legionnaire sets out to avenge a savage killing and makes a stunning discovery; and "The Squad That Never Came Back," the story of a man who has uncovered the secret to a city of gold--a secret that could turn into a death sentence. Experience the lust for power and the race to escape, as the Hell's Legionnaire brings all the passions of the desert to vivid life. "Action-packed ... standout ... hard-core graphic." --Library Journal * Awarded AudioFile's Best Audiobook of the Year Award for 2012
A blind obsession. A driving ambition. A relentless, unrestrained, single-minded pursuit of a shiny metal. These are the symptoms of a condition known as gold fever, and, like Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, American mining engineer Captain Humbert Reynolds has got it bad. Possible side effects include: temporary insanity, a propensity for violence, and death. The search for gold has taken Reynolds from the ruins of the Yucatan to the mountains of Ecuador to the wilderness of northern Canada. Now, his search for a yellow brick bonanza has brought him halfway around the world, to the Gobi desert. But the lure of the precious metal is about to lead Reynolds into a Golden Hell, as he plunges into an inferno—a mountain of horrors run by an unspeakably evil gang. And if he doesn’t find a way out, a path to redemption, he may find that instead of snatching the ultimate prize he will have to pay the ultimate price. In 1927 Hubbard served aboard a schooner sailing across the South Pacific bound for the coast of China. Making his way inland, he ventured deep into forbidden Buddhist lamaseries, shopped at the Thieves Market, made camp with Mongolian bandits, and witnessed the trade in stolen Chinese treasures. Drawing on those experiences as well as his time as a gold prospector, Hubbard infuses Golden Hell with extraordinary historical authenticity. Also includes the adventure “Pearl Pirate,” a story of betrayal and deceit in which an American captain loses his ship to a money-lender, and the only way to get it back is to outfight and outfox a ruthless pirate and bring home a fortune in black pearls.
Do you love a good whodunit? Detectives and mobsters, newshawks and murderers–all ingredients for disaster in this murder mystery collection. Whether it was sending a detective after zombie killers on the prowl or chasing down headhunters at a grisly carnival, Ron knew how to thrill readers and keep them guessing until the end. The 4-book collection includes 10 short stories along with illustrations from the original publications and glossaries of historical terms. The titles and short stories in this collection are: False Cargo (includes: “Grounded”), Hurricane, Mouthpiece (includes: “Flame City,” “Calling Squad Cars!” and “The Grease Spot”) and The Slickers (includes: “Killer Ape” and “Murder Afloat”). “One of the great pulp writers, with colorful prose, lively action writing, exotic locales, fresh variations on standard characters and situations, and well-constructed plots.” —Ellery Queen
In The Great Escape and Papillon, Steve McQueen embodied the tough guy on the run from captivity and injustice. But when it comes to toughness, McQueen is following in the daring and determined footsteps of Captain Spar. Wrongfully accused, Spar has been condemned to suffer the brutality of the guards and the conditions on Devil’s Island. But they haven’t broken his will, and now, escaping, he has one mission in life: revenge. Spar’s out to kill the man who put him into the devil’s hands. But he’ll have to take on a gallery of rogues who are as treacherous as the waters of the Caribbean. Pressure is rising and a storm is brewing. But even in the face of a natural disaster, Spar discovers that nothing is more volatile than human nature—as temptation and danger are about to collide with Hurricane force. In 1937 L. Ron Hubbard wrote to one of his editors: “You might have noticed that I am intensely wary of becoming any kind of a story specialist. I have sold the gamut of types: air war, air, western, detective, love, terror. . . . My one passion is to build a name for variety. . . . I like my freedom. I fight hard for independent individualism. I love to tie into a yarn and make it blaze in print.” Hubbard’s passion for writing, creativity and individualism certainly blazes across the page in stories like Hurricane. “Hurricane will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end as it unfolds.” —Mommy’s Favorite Things * An International Book Awards Finalists
“A pleasure to read and nearly impossible to put down.” –Army Times “Embodies an experience that many have enjoyed in fantasy–few in reality.” –The Washington Post The French Foreign Legion–mysterious, romantic, deadly–is filled with men of dubious character, and hardly the place for a proper Englishman just nineteen years of age. Yet in 1960, Simon Murray traveled alone to Paris, Marseilles, and ultimately Algeria to fulfill the toughest contract of his life: a five-year stint in the Legion. Along the way, he kept a diary. Legionnaire is a compelling, firsthand account of Murray’s experience with this legendary band of soldiers. This gripping journal offers stark evidence that the Legion’s reputation for pushing men to their breaking points and beyond is well deserved. In the fierce, sun-baked North African desert, strong men cracked under brutal officers, merciless training methods, and barbarous punishments. Yet Murray survived, even thrived. For he shared one trait with these hard men from all nations and backgrounds: a determination never to surrender. “The drama, excitement, and color of a good guts-and-glory thriller.” –Dr. Henry Kissinger
A historical account of World War I literature. Hell on Earth is the second book written by Avigdor Hameiri (born Feuerstein; 1890–1970) about his experiences as a Russian prisoner of war during the second half of World War I. Translator Peter C. Appelbaum first became interested in Hameiri’s story after learning that one quarter of the Austro-Hungarian army was captured and imprisoned, and that the horrific events that took place at this time throughout Russia and central Asia are rarely discussed in scholarly texts. Available for the first time to an English-speaking audience, this reality-driven novel is comparable to classics like All Quiet on the Western Front and The Gulag Archipelago. The text is deeply tragic, while allowing some humor to shine through in the darkest hour. The reader is introduced to a procession of complex characters with whom Hamieri comes into contact during his imprisonment. The narrator watches his friends die one by one until he is released in 1917 with the help of Russian Zionist colleagues. He then immigrates to Israel in 1921. Hameiri’s perspective on the things surrounding him—the Austro-Hungarian Army, the Russian people and countryside, the geography of Siberia, the nascent Zionist movement, the Russian Revolution and its immediate aftermath—offers a distinct personal view of a moment in time that is often overshadowed by the horrors of the Holocaust. In his preface, Appelbaum argues that World War I was the original sin of the twentieth century—without it, the unthinkable acts of World War II would not have come to fruition. With an introduction by Avner Holtzman, Hell on Earthis a fascinating, albeit gruesome, account of life in prison camps at the end of the First World War. Fans of historical fiction and war memoirs will appreciate the historic value in this piece of literature.
Meet Lieutenant Flint: hard-edged and muscle-bound, radiating machismo—a bull of a soldier. In the opposite corner stands Captain Turner: with his pencil mustache and tailored shirts, he’s a Trick Soldier—smart, crisply-dressed, and always at attention. They’re fire and ice, oil and water... Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox in Casualties of War. Ten years ago and a thousand miles away, they attended boot camp together. They didn’t get along then . . . and they don’t get along now. Reunited in the Haitian jungles, in the midst of a fierce rebel uprising, they confront the most dangerous enemy of all—each other. It’s time for heroes to rise and cowards to fall, and in the case of Lieutenant Flint and Captain Turner, bravery runs deep. When brute strength confronts military honor, the true measure of a man is not in his fists, but in his heart. A First Sergeant with the 20th United States Marine Corps Reserve, Hubbard knew exactly what it meant to be a Marine. As he wrote in 1935: “Most of the fiction written about [Marines] is of an intensely dramatic type, all do-or-die and Semper Fidelis.” But the reality, he said, was far different. “I’ve known the Corps from Quantico to Peiping, from the South Pacific to the West Indies, and I’ve never seen any flag-waving. The most refreshing part of the U.S.M.C. is that they get their orders ... and do the job and that’s that.” It’s that kind of unique and pointed insight that he brings to stories like Trick Soldier. Also includes the military adventures He Walked to War, in which Marine Sergeant E.Z. Go appears to take it easy, but always gets the job done ... even if it’s hard as nails or dangerous as hell—in the end E.Z. does it; and Machine Gun 21,000, the story of a soldier who loses a gun and faces a court martial, but finds a way to save the day.
