WINNER OF THE PEACEMAKER AWARD Surrounded by ranches, farms, and precious metal mines, the town of Dover Station, Montana is ripe for the plucking. It’s up to Sheriff Aaron Mackey to keep the peace—and keep the dregs of humanity from trying to make a killing . . . WHERE THE BULLETS FLY, VENGEANCE REIGNS If anyone can smell an investment opportunity, it’s railroad men and big city bankers. They’re not the kind of folks that Sheriff Mackey is used to dealing with. But greed is greed, and if anyone knows how money can drive men to murder, it’s the sheriff of a boomtown like Dover Station. But when Mackey is forced to gun down a pair of saloon rats, it brings a powderkeg of trouble—with a quick-burning fuse of vengeance named Alexander Duramont. This bloodthirsty psychopath wants to kill the sheriff for killing his buddies. And he plans to get his revenge using a highly combustible mix of fire, fear, and dynamite . . . Mackey’s not sure how he’s going to stop this blood-crazed lunatic. But it’s going to be one heck of an explosive and very violent showdown . . . “Hard to put down . . . because of the gritty and stylish narrative, the virtually nonstop action.” —Publishers Weekly on Terrence McCauley’s Sympathy for the Devil
The sheriff of a Montana mining town faces a blood-thirsty bandit out for revenge in this award-winning series debut: “An exceptional Western novel” (Historical Novel Society). Surrounded by ranches, farms, and precious metal mines, the town of Dover Station, Montana is ripe for the plucking. It’s up to Sheriff Aaron Mackey to keep the peace—and keep the dregs of humanity from trying to make a killing. If anyone can smell an investment opportunity, it’s railroad men and big city bankers. They’re not the kind of folks that Sheriff Mackey is used to dealing with. But greed is greed, and he knows all too well how money can drive men to murder. When Mackey is forced to gun down a pair of saloon rats, it brings a powder keg of trouble—with a quick-burning fuse of vengeance named Alexander Duramont. This bloodthirsty psychopath wants to kill the sheriff for killing his buddies. And he plans to get his revenge using a highly combustible mix of fire, fear, and dynamite. Mackey’s not sure how he’s going to stop this blood-crazed lunatic. But it’s going to be one explosive showdown . .
In an instant, the shock of a shooting death or injury from a violent crime can tear families apart. The unalterable changes which come about from random or intentional acts of shooting turn many lives upside down and incite both moral and spiritual challenges. In this, his first novel, When Bullets Fly, Ronald McKeever skillfully explores the colorful life of a community which undergoes challenges to their beliefs about family and friends, their individual relationships to God and God's love, and their responsibilities to each other. Struggle and hard work have always been a part of life for Chris and Shante Watson. However, they also have a strong faith in God. But, when the shock from a shooting so close to home challenges their love and trust, their family bonds will be potentially shattered forever. Lives get turned upside down when the changes begin, good and bad, and it feels just like they are being shot by the bullet, again. Weaving through this realistic and compelling story are three shootings which challenge family members, friends, and neighbors who must now find new ways to interact in each other's lives. Each person has to choose whom they will serve- God or the devil. They must gain enough spiritual strength to have faith and trust in a God they have never seen, and they must want Jesus Christ to be in their lives. Their only way to solve this dilemma is a return to God by restoration from the fuel of jealousy, drugs, alcohol, hatred, and fear, which ignited the shootings in the first place and which now threatens to rip them all apart. The battle will test their love for each other and their faith in God by having to trust above all understanding. When Bullets Fly compels readers to examine their own beliefs as they are subtly drawn through a full range of emotions. This book will be discussed over and over as the characters' relationships, which include spouses, children, siblings, classmates, best friends, sweethearts, sworn enemies, and God are carefully considered. It's a book which won't soon be forgotten.
Since the early 1990s the media and cultural fields in China have become increasingly commercialized, resulting in a massive boom in the cultural and entertainment industries. This evolution has also brought about fundamental changes in media behaviour and communication, and the enormous growth of entertainment culture and the extensive penetration of new media into the everyday lives of Chinese people. Against the backdrop of the rapid development of China’s media industry and the huge growth in social media, this book explores the emotional content and public discourse of popular media in contemporary China. It examines the production and consumption of blockbuster films, television dramas, entertainment television shows, and their corresponding online audience responses, and describes the affective articulations generated by cultural and media texts, audiences and social contexts. Crucially, this book focuses on the agency of audiences in consuming these media products, and the affective communications taking place in this process in order to address how and why popular culture and entertainment programs exert so much power over mass audiences in China. Indeed, Shuyu Kong shows how Chinese people have sought to make sense of the dramatic historical changes of the past three decades through their engagement with popular media, and how this process has created a cultural public sphere where social communication and public discourse can be launched and debated in aesthetic and emotional terms. Based on case studies that range from television drama to blockbuster films, and reality television programmes to social media sites, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Chinese culture and society, media and communication studies, film studies and television studies.
Learn C++ from scratch and get started building your very own games About This Book This book offers a fun way to learn modern C++ programming while building exciting 2D games This beginner-friendly guide offers a fast-paced but engaging approach to game development Dive headfirst into building a wide variety of desktop games that gradually increase in complexity It is packed with many suggestions to expand your finished games that will make you think critically, technically, and creatively Who This Book Is For This book is perfect for you if any of the following describes you: You have no C++ programming knowledge whatsoever or need a beginner level refresher course, if you want to learn to build games or just use games as an engaging way to learn C++, if you have aspirations to publish a game one day, perhaps on Steam, or if you just want to have loads of fun and impress friends with your creations. What You Will Learn Get to know C++ from scratch while simultaneously learning game building Learn the basics of C++, such as variables, loops, and functions to animate game objects, respond to collisions, keep score, play sound effects, and build your first playable game. Use more advanced C++ topics such as classes, inheritance, and references to spawn and control thousands of enemies, shoot with a rapid fire machine gun, and realize random scrolling game-worlds Stretch your C++ knowledge beyond the beginner level and use concepts such as pointers, references, and the Standard Template Library to add features like split-screen coop, immersive directional sound, and custom levels loaded from level-design files Get ready to go and build your own unique games! In Detail This book is all about offering you a fun introduction to the world of game programming, C++, and the OpenGL-powered SFML using three fun, fully-playable games. These games are an addictive frantic two-button tapper, a multi-level zombie survival shooter, and a split-screen multiplayer puzzle-platformer. We will start with the very basics of programming, such as variables, loops, and conditions and you will become more skillful with each game as you move through the key C++ topics, such as OOP (Object-Orientated Programming), C++ pointers, and an introduction to the Standard Template Library. While building these games, you will also learn exciting game programming concepts like particle effects, directional sound (spatialization), OpenGL programmable Shaders, spawning thousands of objects, and more. Style and approach This book offers a fun, example-driven approach to learning game development and C++. In addition to explaining game development techniques in an engaging style, the games are built in a way that introduces the key C++ topics in a practical and not theory-based way, with multiple runnable/playable stages in each chapter.
Since the end of the Bosnia War in 1995, a tradition was embraced by the West of vilifying the Serbs as the villains, and the Muslims as their victims. This necessitated the military intervention of the U.S. and NATO on the Muslim side, which caused an untold travesty of justice to the Serbs. For indeed, there was enough blame to go around to condemn all parties in that war, including Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, of committing massacres and huge abuses of the other parties. To single out the Serbs as the bad guys simply distorts the facts. This collective volume, which is the product of a Commission of Inquiry, worked 18 months on this project, redressing the balance based on a meticulous and well-documented report about the process of this inquiry, step by step.
In 1699 John Aubrey began to compile notes for a scheme for the education of young gentlemen. The manuscript he left has never been published. The editor of the volume organized and re-arranged the text and has provided an historical Introduction and detailed notes. Aubrey gives a graphic account of education at the time. He displays a remarkable breadth of knowledge of the broad issues of history, law, mechanics, science and pedagogy and he was intensely curious about the practicalities of teaching language and number, the effects of puberty, diet, travel, games and music.
