Showing results by author "A J F" in All Categories

Cole Riker is a Slip Runner. A contractor tasked with finding alien salvage in exchange for credits. For an ex-smuggler like Cole, there’s a catch: Don’t break the terms of parole. That means doing things by the book. Find salvage, turn it in, get paid. But everything changes when a retrieval mission lands him in a previously unknown sector. There, he finds the material he’s been sent to recover, along with something more. A brand-new form of ancient alien life.

The first wave was just the beginning. The United States is in ruins. It has just suffered one of the worst hurricanes in history; the people are demoralized, and the president is a religious fanatic. Then things get really bad - the Clickers return. Thousands of the monsters swarm across the entire nation and march inland, slaughtering anyone and anything they come across. But this time, the Clickers aren't blindly rushing onto land - they are being led by an intelligence older than civilization itself.

A compelling call to rediscover the transformative power of art in an age of distraction, coercion and spectacle - with a new introduction by Donna Tartt In Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice, J. F. Martel offers a compelling and incisive meditation on the nature of art in a world dominated...

The eight kingdoms have not spoken for 100 hundred years after destroying the land of the witches, turning the kingdom into a wasteland. Until now. Mal blackburn will end the feud between the kingdoms by marrying the fire prince, known across the lands for being cruel. But Mal is not looking to conquer the cruel prince's heart. She wants to stab it. For if Mal kills the fire prince, she will end the curse no one believes to be true. However, killing him might not be so simple . . .

Despite a warning to return home, Cole isn't about to leave his allies before their little slug infestation has been dealt with. This time, he plans to take the fight to them. Of course, when humans make plans, the powers that be just sit back and laugh.

In a world increasingly shaped by secularism, Understanding Atheism: The Rejection of God, Faith & Religion offers a compelling, balanced, and deeply thoughtful exploration into one of the most significant worldview shifts of our time.

After escaping from the colony ship in a faraway system, Cole has uncovered sinister evidence of August Walton's oppression: a castoff civilization living in the past and forced to comply with the Eternal leader's unjust edicts. It doesn't take long for Cole to realize that the planet has its own secrets. Navigating lies and half-truths leads to a brewing rebellion led by the one person who might hold all the answers he seeks. But, as any good Renegade knows, nothing's ever easy.

The lectures address-in chronological sequence-a series of major works that have shaped the ongoing development of Western thought both in their own right and in cultural dialogue with other traditions. In the process, the course engages many of the most perennial and far-reaching questions that we face in our daily lives.

In mid-2020, I was not okay—and I didn't know how to find my way out of that darkness. But I could put one foot in front of the other until I figured it out. So, after tackling my fears of what might happen, I walked the Pilgrims’ Way from Southwark Cathedral in London to Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England. The following year, in October 2021, as I recovered from COVID-19, I walked the St Cuthbert’s Way from Melrose in Scotland to Lindisfarne, Holy Island, on the north-east coast of England.

Cole Riker is a free man. Or close enough. He no longer has the weight of his past hanging over him, threatening to put him away for the rest of his days. All it took was finding an unknown alien lifeform and agreeing to escort it back to its homeworld. Except his newfound luck doesn’t want to last. Gray doesn’t remember how to get home, and all the evidence says his people abandoned him after an unknown threat came calling. And that’s only the beginning.

Whether you’re an artist, a technologist, or simply curious about the future of creativity, this audiobook offers a comprehensive and accessible exploration of how AI is transforming the arts. Packed with insights, examples, and forward-thinking perspectives, it’s a must-listen for anyone looking to stay ahead in an age where algorithms meet imagination.

Now that August Walton is dead and new information has come to light, Cole Riker and his team of misfits are finally back on the cosmic highway to another unknown location. This time they might actually have a shot at completing the mission and getting back home in one piece. Victory isn’t all it seems, however.

Chapter authors review theories, conceptual models, and measures of gatekeeping, and evaluate its consequences for parent-child relationships. Offering a holistic perspective, this book not only explores mothers' gatekeeping of fathers but also considers the potential roles of others, including fathers, as gatekeepers. Chapter authors also explore parental gatekeeping processes in at-risk families, including separated and divorced families and those with adolescent and nonresident fathers.

Mortimer Moorecook, retired Wall Street raider, avid collector, is losing his fight against cancer. With weeks to live, a package arrives at the door of his hillside mansion—an artifact he paid millions for…a hominoid skull with elongated teeth, discovered in a farmer's field in the Romanian countryside. With Shanna, his beautiful research assistant looking on, he sinks the skull's razor sharp fangs into his neck, and immediately goes into convulsions.

Gray has been taken captive and become the host of a Controller. But not for long, not if Cole has anything to say about it. Determined to recover his hijacked crew member, he sets out to do what he does best: raise hell and kick ass.

What's a soldier to do when the war is over? When he's only known conflict his whole life? Since time immemorial the solution has been to find another war, this time for pay. Whoever has the credits and wins the high bid gets the experienced fighter. Sometimes, though, the money isn't enough to cover the price. In the tradition of Hammer's Slammers and Falkenberg's Legion, a new universe of mercenaries and warfare takes place in the ruins of an alien empire.

The lives of the sons of Eleanor of Aquitaine are the stuff of legend. Her daughters, however, are less well known, and the fascinating personalities of her daughters-in-law have been almost entirely overlooked, as have those of the daughters she bore Louis VII of France. The Families of Eleanor of Aquitaine redresses this balance and showcases the lives, travels, and careers of these ten very different women, who formed a great international network of political alliances that linked their parents, siblings, husbands, and children all across Europe and the Holy Land.

Small though they were, PT boats played a key role in World War II, carrying out an astonishing variety of missions where fast, versatile, and strongly armed vessels were needed. Called "weapons of opportunity", they met the enemy at closer quarters and with greater frequency than any other type of surface craft. Among the most famous PT commanders was John F. Kennedy, whose courageous actions in the Pacific are now well known to the American public.

Sergeant Alex Slaughter and the Marines of Alpha Squad were on a routine training exercise near Quantico when everything went silent. No comms. No command. No clue. What they find when they return to base is worse than anything they trained for: a bioweapon has unleashed a zombie virus that has shattered civilization, and now they must survive the Collapse.

Edited by three of the policymakers who led the government's response to the crisis, with chapters written by the teams tasked with finding policy solutions, this book provides a comprehensive accounting of the internal debates and controversies surrounding the measures that were taken to stabilize the financial system and the economy. Offering previously untold insight into the key choices (including rejected options) and a frank evaluation of successes and failures, this volume is both an important historical document and an indispensable guide for confronting future financial calamities.