COUNTERSTRIKE When the alien war engulfing a distant planet spilled to Earth through a network of hidden portals, humankind was plunged into an apocalyptic, generations-old conflict between the Plysserians and the Chodrecai. Now, months after Earth’s most powerful military forces formed a tenuous alliance with the Plysserians and countered a devastating, three-pronged Chodrecai offensive, alien survivors continue to wreak havoc on a shell-shocked Earth. Martial law and civil unrest run rampant. Resistance cells and pockets of Chodrecai sympathizers are gathering strength. And two U.S. Marines—Sergeant Major Simon DiCarlo and Sergeant Belinda Russell— remain trapped on the alien planet of Jontashreena. Now, as human and Plysserian scientists and engineers race to unlock the intergalactic portals and harvest alien technology, Earth prepares for the most explosive battle for its existence. Joining the war effort are recruits like young Colin Laney, who will advance from Marine boot camp to the forefront of a massive invasion on alien terrain—with the fate of two worlds hanging in the balance.
It started small, with an unprepared band of Marine reservists encountering deadly extraterrestrial visitors in the backwoods of Missouri. But this fatal First Contact rapidly escalates into a global crisis as mankind discovers that two warring species of aliens have invaded our world through a network of hidden interdimensional portals. The apocalyptic conflict between the hastily labeled "Blues" and "Grays" has already devastated their home planet. Now Earth has become the final battleground in a cataclysmic war whose origins are barely understood. Forced into a hasty alliance with the alien Blues, humanity has no choice but to brave the awesome Gray onslaught in every corner of the Earth. From the mean streets of Atlanta to the mountains of Afghanistan, from Washington, D.C., to the alien's war-torn homeworld, all of humanity must unite to survive.
When China launches a blitz attack on the island of Taiwan, the world order hangs in the balance and the CIA must mobilize all forces to prevent the start of World War III. The operation by the People's Liberation Army is airtight, with a high-tech battle network that guarantees total occupation within ten days. The United States rallies every available asset on land, sea, and air to launch a desperate counter strike against the occupying forces. But in order to win, the US is forced to throw out the old playbook. What is required here is speed, audacity, and the application of the most advanced technology in the US arsenal. As the head of the CIA's Emerging Threats Group, Don Riley has seen his share of crises, but nothing has prepared him for the choices ahead. With millions of civilian lives at risk, the US must neutralize the Chinese threat without triggering World War Three. Counter Strike is the second book in a brand new series co-written by former submarine officer David Bruns and retired naval intelligence officer J.R. Olson. Packed with pulse-pounding action, realistic combat scenes, and page-turning twists, this military techno-thriller is a must-read for fans of Tom Clancy and Mark Greaney. ___________________________ Praise for the authors and the COMMAND AND CONTROL series: "A fascinating World War Three scenario, and an action-packed story. This is going to be an amazing series!" -Andrew Watts, USA Today bestselling author of The War Planners "With their background in the U.S. Navy, both Bruns and Olson have the right stuff to create a realistic military tale." ―Booklist "These two guys have lived it. Now they're writing it. Taut, tense, and totally believable, you will be dropped into the midst of a world with which few of us are familiar. A fine thriller indeed." -Don Keith, author of Only the Brave and Final Bearing "Command and Control is a masterpiece of a military thriller from the first page to the explosive ending...some of the best combat writing I've seen since Tom Clancy." -Jason Kasper, USA Today bestselling author of The Enemies of My Country
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER With the war in Europe winding down in the spring of 1945, the United States turns its vast military resources toward a furious assault on the last great stepping-stone to Japan—the heavily fortified island of Okinawa. The three-month battle in the Pacific theater will feature some of the most vicious combat of the entire Second World War, as American troops confront an enemy that would rather be slaughtered than experience the shame of surrender. Meanwhile, stateside, a different kind of campaign is being waged in secret: the development of a weapon so powerful, not even the scientists who build it know just what they are about to unleash. Colonel Paul Tibbets, one of the finest bomber pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps, is selected to lead the mission to drop the horrific new weapon on a Japanese city. As President Harry S Truman mulls his options and Japanese physician Okiro Hamishita cares for patients at a clinic near Hiroshima, citizens on the home front await the day of reckoning that everyone knows is coming.
A Morning After War fills a critical gap in C. S. Lewis biographies with unprecedented detail by tracing Lewis's wartime service, relationships, and earliest publications. Probing war's traumatic destruction upon Lewis's romantic expectations of tranquil life, this book surpasses literary analyses of Lewis's work by asserting a comprehensive definition of war literature. Equally, scholars and students of World War I, war literature, trauma studies, and C. S. Lewis will find this work an invaluable reassessment of central assumptions in their fields. Not least, here finally is the young C. S. Lewis preceding his usual and often idolized personas.
Inside the Pentagon's secretive and revolutionary new strategy to fight terrorism--and its game-changing effects in the Middle East and at home In the years following the 9/11 attacks, the United States waged a "war on terror" that sought to defeat Al Qaeda through brute force. But it soon became clear that this strategy was not working, and by 2005 the Pentagon began looking for a new way. In Counterstrike, Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker of The New York Times tell the story of how a group of analysts within the military, at spy agencies, and in law enforcement has fashioned an innovative and effective new strategy to fight terrorism, unbeknownst to most Americans and in sharp contrast to the cowboy slogans that characterized the U.S. government's public posture. Adapting themes from classic Cold War deterrence theory, these strategists have expanded the field of battle in order to disrupt jihadist networks in ever more creative ways. Schmitt and Shanker take readers deep into this theater of war, as ground troops, intelligence operatives, and top executive branch officials have worked together to redefine and restrict the geography available for Al Qaeda to operate in. They also show how these new counterterrorism strategies, adopted under George W. Bush and expanded under Barack Obama, were successfully employed in planning and carrying out the dramatic May 2011 raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed. Filled with startling revelations about how our national security is being managed, Counterstrike will change the way Americans think about the ongoing struggle with violent radical extremism.
When an alchemical formula is stolen, the soldiers of Cygnar must find it before their enemies do, but all their hopes are pinned on a frighteningly small group about to go up against the most brutal martial power Cygnar has ever known.
As a string of unexplained attacks push superpowers to the brink, the clock is ticking toward the start of World War III. Don Riley, head of the CIA's Emerging Threats Group, has never seen anything like this. Riley and his team are tasked with identifying national security threats before they become tomorrow's bad news. But shortly after an Iranian vessel delivers a surprise attack to a US Navy Warship in the Arabian Gulf, a series of seemingly unrelated attacks crop up around the globe. The US military is rapidly being drawn into full-fledged shooting wars on multiple fronts. Now Riley must sift through the layers of deception in time to discover who-or what-is behind these events... ...before the clock reaches zero hour. Command and Control is the explosive first book in a brand new series co-written by former submarine officer, David Bruns, and former retired naval intelligence officer, J.R. Olson. Dive into this nail-biting techno-thriller today, and brace yourself for an electrifying dose of military action, political intrigue, twist-filled espionage.
C. S. Lewis was a prolific letter writer, and his personal correspondence reveals much of his private life, reflections, friendships, and the progress of his thought. This second of a three-volume collection contains the letters Lewis wrote after his conversion to Christianity, as he began a lifetime of serious writing. Lewis corresponded with many of the twentieth century's major literary figures, including J. R. R. Tolkien and Dorothy Sayers. Here we encounter a surge of letters in response to a new audience of laypeople who wrote to him after the great success of his BBC radio broadcasts during World War II -- talks that would ultimately become his masterwork, Mere Christianity. Volume II begins with C. S. Lewis writing his first major work of literary history, The Allegory of Love, which established him as a scholar with imaginative power. These letters trace his creative journey and recount his new circle of friends, "The Inklings," who meet regularly to share their writing. Tolkien reads aloud chapters of his unfinished The Lord of the Rings, while Lewis shares portions of his first novel, Out of the Silent Planet. Lewis's weekly letters to his brother, Warnie, away serving in the army during World War II, lead him to begin writing his first spiritual work, The Problem of Pain. After the serialization of The Screwtape Letters, the director of religious broadcasting at the BBC approached Lewis and the "Mere Christianity" talks were born. With his new broadcasting career, Lewis was inundated with letters from all over the world. His faithful, thoughtful responses to numerous questions reveal the clarity and wisdom of his theological and intellectual beliefs. Volume II includes Lewis's correspondence with great writers such as Owen Barfield, Arthur C. Clarke, Sheldon Vanauken, and Dom Bede Griffiths. The letters address many of Lewis's interests -- theology, literary criticism, poetry, fantasy, and children's stories -- as well as reveal his relation ships with close friends and family. But what is apparent throughout this volume is how this quiet bachelor professor in England touched the lives of many through an amazing discipline of personal correspondence. Walter Hooper's insightful notes and compre hensive biographical appendix of the correspon dents make this an irreplaceable reference for those curious about the life and work of one of the most creative minds of the modern era.
