High Crusade

Others have written science fiction on the theme of immortality, but in The Boat of a Million Years, Poul Anderson made it his own. Early in human history, certain individuals were born who live on—unaging, undying—through the centuries and millennia. This story follows them over two thousand years, up to our time and beyond—to the promise of utopia, and to the challenge of the stars.

In a 2010 terrorist plot, Al-Qaeda hid a bomb in a FedEx shipment addressed to Reynald de Chatillon, a knight who had died centuries ago in the Crusades. A reviled figure in Islamic history, often portrayed as the very epitome of brutality, Reynald remains as controversial - and as vividly present in the minds of many in the Middle East - as the story of the Crusades themselves.

Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy, along with the men and women of the USS Walker, have chosen sides in a war not of their making. They have allied with the Lemurians - a mammalian race whose peaceful existence is under attack from the warlike, reptilian Grik. The Lemurians are vastly outnumbered and ignorant of warfare, and even the guns and technology of Walker cannot turn the tide of battle.

Spacers call the warp point Charon's Ferry. No star ship has ever entered it and returned since a vengeful Orion task force pursued a doomed Terran colonization fleet into it in 2206. Almost a century has passed. The fiery hatreds of a quarter-century of warfare between the Terran Federation and the Zheeerlikou'valkhannaieeee, the cat-like species humans called the "Orions", have eased at least a little.

Throughout the Gulf War of 1991, unprecedented restrictions on the media’s access to the battlefield kept the true story of that brief, brutal conflict from being told. Now, after two years of intensive research, Rick Atkinson has written what will surely come to be recognized as the definitive chronicle of the war.

The story of the wars and conquests initiated by the first Crusade and its successors is itself so compelling that most accounts move quickly from describing the Pope's calls to arms to the battlefield. In this highly original and enjoyable new book, Christopher Tyerman focuses on something obvious but overlooked: the massive, all-encompassing, and hugely costly business of actually preparing a crusade.

He was sent into space to protect the U.S. Lunar Colony. Instead, when faced with orders that would do nothing but get his soldiers killed, Sergeant Stark lead a rebellion. Now he and his soldiers must fend off deadly aggression from their own country without igniting a full-scale civil war.

Islamophobia has spiraled into a global menace, and democratic and authoritarian regimes alike have deployed it as a strategy to persecute their Muslim populations. With this book, Khaled A. Beydoun details how the American War on Terror has facilitated and intensified the network of anti-Muslim campaigns unfolding across the world. The New Crusades is the first book of its kind, offering a critical and intimate examination of global Islamophobia and its manifestations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and regions beyond and in between.

The book, the cup, the sword; ancient alien relics buried on Earth have been recovered. But before they can be put to use, two old friends must be saved. Angelica and Jax codenamed Angel and Spartan have been gone since the end of the Voy invasion. With no communication received from the two original members of the Pack Protocol, the search begins. Daniel will lead a team to discover the truth and the nightmare that waits for them.

Jenn has lived and trained at Spain's Sacred Heart Academy Against the Cursed Ones. She is among the few who have pledged to defend humanity or die trying. But the vampires are gaining power, and the battle has only just begun. Forced to return home after death takes a member of her family, Jenn discovers that San Francisco is now a vampire strong-hold. As a lone hunter apart from her team, Jenn is isolated and at risk. She craves the company of her fighting partner, Antonio: his protection, his reassurance, his touch.

Old ways have been broken in the blood and smoke of the Battle of Thornhurst by Allystaire Stillbright and followers of the Goddess. Now the Paladin must recover from his ordeal, carve out a hopeful future for the shattered Baronies, and prepare for the next attack upon the Goddess' new and fragile following. But the corrupt deity, Braech, the Sea-Dragon, will not easily let go of the power that has long been his. Braech's minions march on the now-weakened Baronies. The final battle, a crusade against the Mother and all of her followers, is near.

Isaac Lestroud, admiral of the Exilium Space Fleet, has spent the last three years working with Ambassador Amelie Lestroud to build an alliance against the Rogue Matrices, AIs bent on converting every world into a paradise, regardless of whether anyone lives on it. As Isaac hunts the Rogue that destroyed one of their allies’ homeworlds, Amelie begins negotiations with a potential new ally that could tip the balance.

Picking up from where Dragonwall left off, the book sheds light on the Cormyrean king, masterminding and then leading the crusade in the defense of the entire continent following the invasion of eastern Faerun, Ashanath, Rashemen, and Thesk, by Khahan Yamun and the Tuigan horsemen. Crusade is written from King Azoun's and subsequently the West's perspective. In addition, there are two parallel stories running: the king's relations with Alusair, his estranged daughter, and the adventures of John Razor.

Christian Hunt and the small band of Camp Holly survivors begin their trek west toward Hoover Dam. There, Doctor Tripp believes she and the refugees that have fortified the dam can develop a cure from Christian's blood. Zombies are an ever-present danger, opportunistic humans threaten their very lives, and scabs are evolving into apex predators, with humans on the menu. As if the near impossibility of making it past all of these obstacles wasn't enough, Christian strives to search for his family. Did his parents or sister survive?

Born to fight. Sworn to protect. Destined to be betrayed. Will Campbell is a Templar Knight, trained for war. But as a member of the secret brotherhood known as the Brethren, he is also a man of peace. After years of bloodshed, the Brethren have helped to create an uneasy truce between the Christian and Muslim forces in the Holy Land. But there are those on both sides for whom peace is not an option.

The year is 1095. Thousands of men, including many of the leaders of the Christian world, have assembled in a meadow in France near Clermont. Pope Urban appeals for the liberation of Jerusalem and the people shout, Deus lo volt! The cry is taken up, echoes forth, is carried on. The crusades have begun. Wave upon wave of Christian pilgrims assault the growing power of the Muslims in the Holy Land, and will do so for the next 200 years.

"Crusade" was first published in 1968 in The Farthest Reaches. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

In a riveting portrait of the world's largest HIV/AIDS medical-care provider, award-winning journalist Patrick Range McDonald reveals AIDS Healthcare Foundation's unlikely rise from a feisty grassroots organization during the height of 1980s AIDS crisis to its position today as a global leader in the fight to control HIV and AIDS. This untold story highlights AHF's bold history of activism, its hard-charging advocacy on the behalf of vulnerable people, and its heroic efforts to provide free HIV drug treatment around the world.