Almost three decades after commencing his maritime epic with Master and Commander, Patrick O'Brian is still at it. The 20th episode, Blue at the Mizzen, is another swashbuckling adventure on the high seas, complete with romantic escapades from smoggy London to Sierra Leone, diplomacy, espionage, the intricacies of warfare, and imperial brinksmanship. As always, these events are bound up in the ongoing friendship between two officers of the Royal Navy. Jack Aubrey is the naval captain, bold yet compassionate, innovative yet cautious, as fearless in war as he is bumbling in affairs of the heart and household. His boon companion Stephen Maturin is the ship's surgeon - and additionally a spy for the British government, a wealthy Catalonian aristocrat, a doting Irish father, and an avid naturalist. That may sound like a lot to keep track of. However, it's not necessary to carry around a scorecard or ship's roster while reading Blue at the Mizzen. The ostensible issue is whether Jack will finally be promoted to Admiral of the Blue. But long before he hears any word from the Napoleonic era's equivalent of Personnel, he loses half his crew to desertion, his ship undergoes a disastrous collision, and the entire company comes close to perishing in the ice-choked seas off Cape Horn. Meanwhile, the widowed Maturin issues a surprising proposal of marriage to a beautiful, mud-bespattered fellow naturalist while trekking through an African mangrove swamp. (The two lovebirds happen to be searching for a rare variant of 'Caprimulgus longipennis', the long-tailed nightjar, which they hope to surprise in full mating plumage.) Still, this is hardly a plot-driven novel. O'Brian takes time to get anywhere, and invariably enjoys the journey more than the arrival. So even as we get constant hints of the climax to come - Jack's spectacular naval action on behalf of the infant Republic of Chile - we don't mind hearing about the nuances of shipboard existence or the secret life of the white-faced tree duck. We're treated, for example, to this snippet about managed care, circa 1816: "Poll, Maggie and a horse-leech from the starboard watch have been administering enemas to the many, many cases of gross surfeit that have now replaced the frostbites, torsions, and debility of the recent past, the very recent past. Strong, fresh, seal-meat has not its equal for upsetting the seaman's metabolism: he is much better kept on biscuits, Essex cheese, and a very little well-seethed salt pork--kept on short commons." And we're grateful! We can only hope that the elderly author will favor us with at least one more novel, so that his avid followers can avoid their own form of short commons. Life without Aubrey and Maturin would be a deprivation indeed. - Andrew Himes

This novel portrays the thrilling adventure of an intrepid Hindu boy and a Buddhist hill girl who undertook to resolve the curse that befell the Buddhist hill people who had inadvertently dishonored a powerful Hindu goddess. This is a story of love, adventure and mystery of tantric cult.Shannon and Ally love the fall when they can go to the cabin and have fun with their cousins at Thanksgiving. Their new dog Becca has fun too, swimming in the pond.

BEFORE THE MAN BECAME THE LEGEND. BEFORE THE BOY BECAME THE MAN. MEET BOND. JAMES BOND. Kidnap. Violence. Explosions. Murder. No ordinary weekend. But then, James Bond is no ordinary boy… In a North London cemetery a professor is kidnapped at gunpoint. A suspicious letter crammed with cryptic clues arrives at Eton. To decipher the deadly mystery, James Bond must take a series of dangerous gambles. Once the code is cracked, he has just 48 hours to save the professor from the dark forces that threaten to destroy them both. And if the professor can’t escape, it’s not only his future that’s under threat. It’s the rest of the world’s… The first five books and companion novel in the series are written by Charlie Higson, with the rest being written by Steve Cole. The series consists of the following titles; 1. SilverFin 2. Blood Fever 3. Double or Die 4. Hurricane Gold 5. By Royal Command 6. Shoot to Kill 7. Heads You Die 8. Strike Lightning 9. Red Nemesis

The third instalment in Bernard Cornwell's King Alfred series, following on from the outstanding previous novels The Last Kingdom and The Pale Horseman, both of which were top ten bestsellers. The year is 878 and Wessex is free from the Vikings. Uhtred, the dispossessed son of a Northumbrian lord, helped Alfred win that victory, but now he is disgusted by Alfred's lack of generosity and repelled by the king's insistent piety. He flees Wessex, going back north to seek revenge for the killing of his foster father and to rescue his stepsister, captured in the same raid. He needs to find his old enemy, Kjartan, a renegade Danish lord who lurks in the formidable stronghold of Dunholm. Uhtred arrives in the north to discover rebellion, chaos and fear. His only ally is Hild, a West Saxon nun fleeing her calling, and his best hope is his sword, with which he has made a formidable reputation as a warrior. He will need the assistance of other warriors if he is to attack Dunholm and he finds Guthred, a slave who believes he is a king. He takes him across the Pennines to where a desperate alliance of fanatical Christians and beleaguered Danes form a new army to confront the terrible Viking lords who rule Northumbria. 'The Lords of the North' is a powerful story of betrayal, romance and struggle, set in an England of turmoil, upheaval and glory. Uhtred, a Northumbrian raised as a Viking, a man without lands, a warrior without a country, has become a splendid heroic figure.

Fresh off a "too close" encounter with the terrorist group, the Ghost Cell, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Q and Angela head to San Antonio, Texas. As their parents' band, Match, prepares for a concert at the Alamo, the two discover that the Ghost Cell has its tentacles everywhere, including the Lone Star State. With each passing hour, Q and Angela uncover more clues and discover more leads. And the mysterious Boone and his SOS group leave them with more questions than answers, for there is much more to Boone than meets the eye. With time running out to stop another Ghost Cell attack, Angela and Q and the others begin to wonder. Are they following the Ghost Cell or is the Ghost Cell following them?

When Chalice sets off for Branbury in the middle of the night with her grandfather’s instructions, she has no idea of the dangers that await her. With the help of a friendly Chinuk, an old man, and a book that she discovers along the way, not only does she find true friends and true love, but she also finds her true self and what it means to be the Raie’Chaelia.What People Are Saying"Douthit’s love of words is apparent and her use of language highly inventive. She has a firm grip on believable dialogue."- Kirkus Reviews"Lively, fast-paced and satisfyingly complex! Can’t wait for the second in the trilogy!"- Diane Donovan, eBook Reviewer, Midwest Book Review"An exceptional tale with plot twists and turns that cannot be predicted. If you like Eragon, you will like this. It keeps you wanting more."- Ian Derrick"What a great story! I really enjoyed reading this adventure. It definitely kept me on my toes."- Annell Schmerfeld, Dragonflowers and BooksStory SummaryWhen Chalice sets off for Branbury in the middle of the night with her grandfather's instructions, she has no idea of the dangers that await her. The King's men have destroyed her home village of Canton and she is suddenly thrown into a Terravailian world that she does not know. Lost and alone, she is hard pressed to evade the iron grasp of the madman who rules the land. With the help of a friendly Chinuk, an old man, and a book that she discovers along the way, not only does she find true friends and true love, but she also finds her true self and what it means to be the Raie'Chaelia.About the AuthorMelissa Douthit grew up in North County of San Diego, California. After graduating with a Computer Science degree in Southern California, and working for a summer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in New Mexico, she moved to the Bay Area to work at NASA Ames Research Center for a year and then at Lawrence Livermore National Lab for another four years. From there, she moved to Monterey, California, to work at the Naval Postgraduate School on a government project for two years. She currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, working with the Army Corps of Engineers on another government project. Since high school, she has been a voracious reader of books of all genres, with an emphasis in fantasy and science fiction. Her literary work is strongly influenced by her professional experience and includes many elements of her scientific background.

Following the story line of the Gonkers series, Sofia finds a mysterious door under the stairs of her church basement. She opens the door and is transported back in time. Let the fun begin. This is an excellent tool for teaching Bible history for Catholics and their children.‘There are other places to go; places I shouldn’t have put off visiting for as long as I have. This’ll be the last of my sudden disappearances. The last time I’ll be a summer breeze, gone too soon…’From an empty hotel room in London, Scott Drake takes a freewheeling trip across the East of England and back again. On trains, in cars, and on foot, the journey lets him say goodbye to the people he has loved and lost; finally allowing him to let go of the pain of the past and find peace in the present.The tenth and final short story in the ‘Diamonds’ collection is about love, survival, and finding ways to appreciate the beautiful things that make life worth living.

A refugee from a doomed planet, Mira must learn to be Belle, a normal earth-girl -- or as normal a girl as she can be with powers of body and of mind that she develops as she grows into her teens. As she deals with her life's strangeness, she must learn how to obey three commands given her: "Remember the Homeworld, perpetuate the People,and save the Earth."A refugee from a doomed planet, Mira must learn to be Belle, a normal earth-girl -- or as normal a girl as she can be with powers of body and of mind that she develops as she grows into her teens. It hardly helps things that her ex-military adoptive father sends her on missions against the very nation that he served.As she deals with her life's strangeness, she must find scattered survivors of her lost world and learn how to obey three commands given her by a doomed king the night before his world would end: "Remember the Homeworld, perpetuate the People, and save the Earth." Ever more, she comes to fear that saving the Earth may mean destroying it!An homage to all of the tales of children of lost worlds who become superheros -- or villains -- on the earth.Cover composed by Helen E. Davis

A story in the style of Roald Dahl. One of best and strangest things that happened to me when I was a boy was the time my socks magically changed colour. Yes, they really and truly changed colour!This article highlights the harmful effect of Yerba mate tea and explains what all elements the caffeine amount consist in this can trigger with its daily consumption. So read the article and be safe from harmful effect of caffeine and Yerba mate tea.

W. Somerset Maugham was one of the seminal writers of the twentieth century, and his travel writing has long been considered among his finest work. Now, acclaimed travel writer Pico Iyer maps out a masterful tour of these vivid, evocative pieces that are collected here for the first time. Maugham worked as a secret agent in Russia, published novels in London, staged plays in New York, and traveled throughout Europe, Asia, India, and the United States, chronicling his travels, wherever he went, with exceptional insight. Beginning with “In the Land of the Blessed Virgin” and culminating in “A Partial View,” Iyer selects vignettes of Maugham’s razor-sharp prose that track his transformation from a boyish traveler in Spain to a worldly man of letters. This is Maugham at his most keenly observant, direct, and powerful. From the Hardcover edition.

The fifth installment of Bernard Cornwell’s bestselling Saxon Tales chronicling the epic saga of the making of England, “like Game of Thrones, but real” (The Observer, London)—the basis for The Last Kingdom, the hit BBC America television series. At the end of the ninth century, King Alfred of Wessex is in ill health; his heir, an untested youth. His enemy, the Danes, having failed to conquer Wessex, now see their chance for victory. Led by the sword of savage warrior Harald Bloodhair, the Viking hordes attack. But Uhtred, Alfred’s reluctant warlord, proves his worth, outwitting Harald and handing the Vikings one of their greatest defeats. For Uhtred, the sweetness of victory is soon overshadowed by tragedy. Breaking with Alfred, he joins the Vikings, swearing never again to serve the Saxon king. Instead, he will reclaim his ancestral fortress on the Northumbrian coast. Allied with his old friend Ragnar-and his old foe Haesten-he aims to invade and conquer Wessex itself.  But fate has different plans . . . In The Burning Land, Bernard Cornwell, “the reigning king of historical fiction” (USA Today), delivers a rousing saga of Anglo-Saxon England-an irresistible new chapter in his thrilling Saxon Tales, the epic story of the birth of England and the legendary king who made it possible.

Alexander Cold and his best friend, Nadia, the heroes of Allende's City Of the Beasts, are reunited in a new adventure. This time, Alexander's fearless grandmother and International Geographic are taking them to another remote niche of the world -- a forbidden kingdom tucked into the frosty peaks of the Himalayas. Their task: to locate its fabled Golden Dragon, a sacred statue and priceless oracle, before it is destroyed by the greed of an outsider. With the aid of a sage Buddhist monk, his young royal disciple, and a fierce tribe of Yeti warriors, and armed with the power of their totemic animal spirits, Alexander and Nadia fight to protect the holy rule of the Golden Dragon.

Those Cajun folk know the ins and outs of the swamp like the back of their hand. They love the swamp almost as much as a good practical joke. When a group of Yankee birdwatchers, Yankee being defined as anyone from anywhere North of Baton Rouge, show up looking for a guide, will they experience the trip of their lives or just end up with egg on all their faces?A young boy's family has a tradition of walking across a long path in the wilderness, but he does not want to take up the journey. The young boy's family would be ashamed of the boy if he didn't go, so what will the boy do?What lengths will a young boy go in order to avoid tradition?

Wyatt Holmes, the great human hunter revered by the clones, embarks on his final expedition. Sickness eats his bones and crowds his lungs. Yet Wyatt still marches deep into the new wild. For he alone owns the will to kill what the hungry clone stomachs require, and Wyatt fears what may befall the original world if no other man or woman shoulders the last responsibility reserved for humankind.Wyatt Holmes has claimed nearly every trophy offered by the new world. He has fallen the graceful genolope, conquered the furious razor boar, and bested the terrible splicer-lynx. Yet on a last hunt upon the savanna, Wyatt discovers a new creature introduced to the second creation that is more splendid than any animal the tall grasses ever revealed to him. And Wyatt fears that humanity owns no defense against it.Cayden Holmes joins his father on a thrilling voyage into the new wild. He is determined to show his old man that he too owns the courage required to pull his rifle’s trigger and drop the game encountered in the veld. But Cayden finds that the killing is easier said than done. For every creature centered in his weapon’s scope reminds him of everything the lost world wasted, until shame weighs upon Cayden’s heart so that pulling that trigger feels impossible.Kendra’s face bears the clone’s mark - a pair of blue rings circling the right eye that conveys the secrets of her genetic construction. Her life has never been easy upon the savanna, but it had been consistent before the great hunter Wyatt Holmes brought his son onto the hunt. The dry season ends by delivering cataclysmic change to Kendra’s community, a change that forces Kendra and her kind to rely as never before on the hunters’ courage to pull their weapons’ triggers.For a new hunger has arrived in the second creation, one that threatens to forever upend the natural distinctions between the human and the clone.

Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here Presents the story of three weeks in Tehran in February 1979: three weeks of fanaticism, passion, self-sacrifice and heartbreak. Caught between the revolutionaries and the forces of international intrigue is a team of professional pilots. They are ordered to flee to safety with their helicopters.