The time is 1939 and the world is on the brink of war. From the back alleys of Chicago to the jungles of South America, adventurer and top government agent Jack Ripcord clashes with a secret Nazi organization known as the Order of the Dread Angels, a merciless group intent on unleashing supernatural horrors against the United States. Ripcord follows the Nazis to South America where the Third Reich's occult leader, the Dragon, is about to unleash a demon of incredible power. Armed with a .45 automatic and an artifact called the Stonehenge Blade, Ripcord races to save the world from Nazi domination! Allied with a lycanthrope, Walter Kozak, and a witch, Trinity St. John, Jack Ripcord battles evil at every turn. Jack Ripcord is the premier adventure of a new pulp hero whose remarkable exploits are unequaled for whirlwind thrills and blood-curdling mayhem. Jack Ripcord is New Pulp Fiction for modern readers.
A novel about escape and connection, class, sex, and queer intimacy in the American Midwest. The oldest story: an insider pretends to be an outsider and receives praise for his empathy and imagination and intelligence. Maybe some asshole even says bravery. An outsider pretends to be an insider, is exposed as a fraud, a liar, and burned to the ground. In Ripcord, Nate Lippens continues his meditations on escape and connection, class, sex, and intimacy. Stuck in Milwaukee, the narrator cobbles together a living by bartending and catering weddings, enmeshed in a semiaffair with a younger, married man. Cruising apps while tallying his youthful romantic failures, he fantasizes about disappearance but finds both solace and frustration in his friendships with Charlie, an aging punk who was prominent in the 1990s Chicago queercore scene, and Greer, a painter who never broke through but continues making work.
Olduvai Countdown, a compelling medical thriller in the tradition of Michael Crichton, Robin Cook, and Michael Palmer, tells the story of Jack Cann, a world-renown virologist, tired of navigating the arcane politics of a highbrow Ivy League school, who returns to his Midwestern Kansas roots to lead the quiet life of a university professor. His Utopian plan is interrupted when an African village in the Olduvai region of Africa is consumed by death in a few hours. This isolated incident in a remote region devolves into worldwide chaos as death sweeps across Africa like a Serengeti grass fire. Jack and his Asian-American wife, anthropologist Marla Qui, lead a team from the CDC trying desperately to identify the maladya suspected genetically-mutated virus created by the North Koreansand find a cure before it decimates the Western Hemisphere. What they discover is more terrifying than any virus: a lethal genetic mutation present since the dawn of evolution that threatens all of civilization and leaves them racing against the clock to save their own lives.
When Chet Falcon returns to Los Angeles in the summer of 1945, his intention is to jump start his private investigator business, but his first big case begins to spiral out of control almost at once. Haunted by the deaths of his friends on Guadalcanal, and drinking heavily, Falcon is asked to investigate the disappearance of silent film actor Curtis Sterling twelve years earlier, but there are people who don't want to talk about Sterling. Soon Falcon is up against a complex mystery that involves sex, greed and family ties. Chet Falcon had survived the war, but surviving the mean streets of Hollywood will push him beyond the limits of endurance in this hard-boiled fast-action thriller.
About the Book Jack of All Trades introduces us to Jack, a guy who comes up with an idea, and as he tries to perfect his idea some evil men want to steal it, even if that means killing him and his associates. During his quest, Jack has to defend himself and others. This invention will change the world of travel as we know it. It will make people think about the future of not having any more accidents. Enjoy Jack of All Trades, and perhaps you can come up with your own ideas for the future of travel, to make it safe for everyone. About the Author Jeffery Wansley’s hobbies are raising cattle, helping people, traveling, and spending time with his family.
The book details the adventures of the eldest son of a working-class family from the urban Midwest who enters the army in the late 1960s and is transformed from a naive cowboy idolizer into a devious, larcenous, gun-carrying reprobate. He delves into the world of black market activities, prostitutes, drugs, and race relations and emerges a callous man for whom death is divided into two basic classes: bodies that are sent away and those that are dismissed as the impersonal enemy. Raised in an all-white environment and having had only one long-term exposure to a person of color, during a short period attending a seminary, he was taught to treat others fairly or to ignore them if their behavior warranted it. In the army, he encounters young men from every part of the country. Some require special treatment, while others introduce him to layers of the spectrum of life, which he did not know existed. He receives specialized training and, instead of being sent directly to Vietnam, is dispatched to Germany to participate in the Cold War in a very active manner. While in the army from 1967 to 1970, he wrote over five hundred letters, many to a girl with whom relations ended upon his return from Vietnam. She gave all the letters back, and they stayed on a shelf, waiting to fulfill the promise to someday write a book about the things that happened. His father also returned the letters that were written to him, which described the language used, the abuse suffered, and the status of race and homosexual relations, as well as the horrors of war, in no uncertain terms. The letters remained untouched for nearly fifty years, but he would sometimes recount an incident to friends or family, receiving in return an urging to write the stories for them. His older daughter chronologically organized the letters, while his other daughter edited the manuscript as it was being written. The idea to write this book, as well as its title, struck while joking with fellow GI’s in the barracks about someday telling the world that no one would believe the things they were doing in the name of serving their country. They would develop audacious pranks to outdo one another or minimalize a situation and just be glad to live another day. They often remarked about spending parents’ and grandparents’ tax money on atrocious wastes of effort and material. The military personnel during the late ’60s fit three distinct categories: juicers, heads, and straights. The first included men from every state, since almost everyone drank now and then. The second referred to the use of acid by some, while smokers and dopers fit right in. Lastly, there were some individuals who preferred not to get wasted by any means. Homosexuals and blacks could occupy any of the groups. The story details army life for a middle-class Midwest man who is introduced to conditions and concepts he had never imagined in Europe, then in the States, and finally in Vietnam. The intended audience is adult, mostly because of the language and the portrayal of man’s cruelty to man, while on the other hand, the book is both nostalgic as well as informative.
The Complete Rip Cord Trilogy: The Reunion: Gil Davis hated high school. Ever the geek, he has no intentions of attending his 10th year class reunion. The last thing he wants is to relive the taunting and teasing he received during his teenage years. However, there is one thing he misses from high school: the star Varsity football player. The one he had a crush on from the first day he laid eyes on him. But the last thing he expects is the now pro football player to come back to their home town to attend a lame high school reunion. Known as the Bad Boy of the NFL, Ripley "Rip" Cord, not only shows up, but shows up without a date and an eye for Gil. The Weekend: Geek Gil Davis hasn't heard a word from NFL player, Rip Cord, since hooking up at their class reunion. Then Rip calls him unexpectedly, he's taking Gil to his cabin for a weekend of exploration. The Ever After: When Rip Cord is kicked out of the NFL, he shows up unexpectedly at Gil Davis' front door. With his career over, Rip's finally ready for a future with Gil, if Gil's willing to give him another chance. NOTE: The Rip Cord trilogy was previously published as three separate novellas. It has now been combined into one edition. This is a gay second chance romance with a guaranteed HEA.
When a beautiful journalist drowns mysteriously off Waikiki, Special Forces veteran Pono Hawkins, now a well-known surfer and international correspondent for surfing magazines, soon gets embroiled in trying to find out why she died. What he learns quickly makes him a target for murder or life in prison as a cabal of powerful corporations, foreign killers and crokked politicians places the blame on him. Haunted by memories of Afghanistan, and determined to protect the Hawaii he loves from dirty politics tied to huge destructive energy developments, Pono turns to Special Forces buddies and his own covert skills to fight his deadly enemies, trying both save himself and find her killers. Alive with the sights, sounds and history of Hawaii, SAVING PARADISE is also a deeply rich portrait of what Pono calls "the seamy side of paradise," and an exciting thriller of politics, lies and remorseless murder.
Re-released, this definitive edition of Trail of the Burned Man benefits from a fresh line edit and includes special features, including a glimpse into the story behind the book, and classic cover artwork by Walter Stackpool. Paperback only! No e-books or digital versions will be produced.Trail of the Burned Man is a vivid adventure in the old west! When Rafe Morgan rides into a Wyoming town called Twisted Oak, he gets into a saloon brawl and horribly disfigures an outlaw named Dutch Williams. Vowing Revenge, Dutch and his men pillage the town and take two hostages, including the marshal's daughter. Rafe joins Deputy U.S. Marshal Ethan O'Hara and a small posse in the hunt for Dutch, but they soon realize that Dutch didn't take hostages to negotiate, he took them as bait. Dutch won't be satisfied with stolen money, he wants blood, and he'll stop at nothing until Rafe and the posse are destroyed. Following the outlaw's trail, the posse now find themselves in a desperate struggle for their very lives.
