The Chaos Guardian

The Chaos Guardian
Author: Sandra Hartly
Publisher: Sandra Hartly
Total Pages: 4
Release: 2024-05-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

This is a fantasy novel about a girl named Alex, who was born into the family of the Duke and Duchess of Savoyar, the owners of the Borderlands. The Savoyar family has been serving as the guardians of these lands for several centuries, as only male heirs of this lineage possess a unique magical power necessary to contain the monsters breaking through the Rift. The Rift is a place infused with magic, from which portals to other worlds open, allowing dangerous creatures to threaten the Borderlands and neighboring kingdoms. However, Alex becomes the first female heir of the Savoyar family to possess the power of the Guardian, despite girls in this family not usually developing such magical abilities. Now she must uncover the secrets and learn what young women are not taught in this world where strong and cunning men rule. The story unfolds as Alex grows up and experiences her first love for Prince Sebastian. Their relationship is filled with complexities and ambiguities. Sebastian is an experienced and clever prince from the neighboring Forest Kingdom. Alex questions whether the prince is merely playing with her or if he truly harbors feelings for this extraordinary girl. A love triangle forms, entangled with palace intrigues. Alex must not only navigate her own feelings but also confront cunning kings who seek to control the young Guardian and her lands.

Chaos

Chaos
Author: Tom O'Neill
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 524
Release: 2019-06-25
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 0316477575

A journalist's twenty-year fascination with the Manson murders leads to "gobsmacking" (The Ringer) new revelations about the FBI's involvement in this "kaleidoscopic" (The New York Times) reassessment of an infamous case in American history. Over two grim nights in Los Angeles, the young followers of Charles Manson murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, then eight months pregnant. With no mercy and seemingly no motive, the Manson Family followed their leader's every order -- their crimes lit a flame of paranoia across the nation, spelling the end of the sixties. Manson became one of history's most infamous criminals, his name forever attached to an era when charlatans mixed with prodigies, free love was as possible as brainwashing, and utopia -- or dystopia -- was just an acid trip away. Twenty years ago, when journalist Tom O'Neill was reporting a magazine piece about the murders, he worried there was nothing new to say. Then he unearthed shocking evidence of a cover-up behind the "official" story, including police carelessness, legal misconduct, and potential surveillance by intelligence agents. When a tense interview with Vincent Bugliosi -- prosecutor of the Manson Family and author of Helter Skelter -- turned a friendly source into a nemesis, O'Neill knew he was onto something. But every discovery brought more questions: Who were Manson's real friends in Hollywood, and how far would they go to hide their ties? Why didn't law enforcement, including Manson's own parole officer, act on their many chances to stop him? And how did Manson -- an illiterate ex-con -- turn a group of peaceful hippies into remorseless killers? O'Neill's quest for the truth led him from reclusive celebrities to seasoned spies, from San Francisco's summer of love to the shadowy sites of the CIA's mind-control experiments, on a trail rife with shady cover-ups and suspicious coincidences. The product of two decades of reporting, hundreds of new interviews, and dozens of never-before-seen documents from the LAPD, the FBI, and the CIA, Chaos mounts an argument that could be, according to Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Steven Kay, strong enough to overturn the verdicts on the Manson murders. This is a book that overturns our understanding of a pivotal time in American history.

Guardian of Chaos

Guardian of Chaos
Author: Michelle Manus
Publisher: Seclusion Publishing
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2021-04-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1954400047

Welcome to Earth Between. The inhabitants are magical, the fugitives dashing, and the new Guardian is having a seriously strange life. It’s easy to feel forgettable. Nyx literally is, and the condition seems to be getting worse. Homeless, alone, and with no memory of her past, she's at the end of her rope when she stumbles into Earth Between. Here, a Waystation connects the planet to the rest of the inhabited universe, and magic and intergalactic travel are just the order of the day. Becoming the Station’s Guardian seems too good to be true. It means a home and stability, surrounded by people who can actually remember she exists. But when an illegal traveler slips into Earth Between, she’s given an ultimatum: apprehend him or lose Guardianship of the Station. Nyx will do whatever it takes to keep her new life, even if it means following the fugitive to the world’s most dangerous prison planet. But that action has life-altering consequences, thrusting her into the middle of a conflict that started centuries before her birth. Nyx is about to come face to face with the powers of the universe—and discover that being seen is even harder than being forgotten. Honorable mention in the fantasy category of the Writer's Digest 9th Annual Self-Published E-Book Awards.

Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks

Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks
Author: John Curran
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 561
Release: 2010-03-13
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0062006525

A fascinating exploration of the contents of Agatha Christie's seventy-three private notebooks, including illustrations and two unpublished Poirot stories When Agatha Christie died in 1976, at age eighty-five, she had become the world's most popular author. With sales of more than two billion copies worldwide, in more than one hundred countries, she had achieved the impossible—more than one book every year since the 1920s, every one a bestseller. So prolific was Agatha Christie's output—sixty-six crime novels, twenty plays, six romance novels under a pseudonym and more than one hundred and fifty short stories—it was often claimed that she had a photographic memory. Was this true? Or did she resort over those fifty-five years to more mundane methods of working out her ingenious crimes? Following the death of Agatha's daughter, Rosalind, at the end of 2004, a remarkable legacy was revealed. Unearthed among her affairs at the family home of Greenway were Agatha Christie's private notebooks, seventy-three handwritten volumes of notes, lists and drafts outlining all her plans for her many books, plays and stories. Buried in this treasure trove, all in her unmistakable handwriting, are revelations about her famous books that will fascinate anyone who has ever read or watched an Agatha Christie story. How did the infamous twist in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd really come about? Which very famous Poirot novel started life as an adventure for Miss Marple? Which books were designed to have completely differ-ent endings, and what were they? What were the plot ideas that she considered but rejected? Full of details she was too modest to reveal in her own autobiography, this remarkable new book includes a wealth of excerpts and pages reproduced directly from the notebooks and her letters, plus, for the first time, two newly discovered complete Hercule Poirot short stories never before published.

Call Sign Chaos

Call Sign Chaos
Author: Jim Mattis
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2019-09-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0812996844

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A clear-eyed account of learning how to lead in a chaotic world, by General Jim Mattis—the former Secretary of Defense and one of the most formidable strategic thinkers of our time—and Bing West, a former assistant secretary of defense and combat Marine. “A four-star general’s five-star memoir.”—The Wall Street Journal Call Sign Chaos is the account of Jim Mattis’s storied career, from wide-ranging leadership roles in three wars to ultimately commanding a quarter of a million troops across the Middle East. Along the way, Mattis recounts his foundational experiences as a leader, extracting the lessons he has learned about the nature of warfighting and peacemaking, the importance of allies, and the strategic dilemmas—and short-sighted thinking—now facing our nation. He makes it clear why America must return to a strategic footing so as not to continue winning battles but fighting inconclusive wars. Mattis divides his book into three parts: Direct Leadership, Executive Leadership, and Strategic Leadership. In the first part, Mattis recalls his early experiences leading Marines into battle, when he knew his troops as well as his own brothers. In the second part, he explores what it means to command thousands of troops and how to adapt your leadership style to ensure your intent is understood by your most junior troops so that they can own their mission. In the third part, Mattis describes the challenges and techniques of leadership at the strategic level, where military leaders reconcile war’s grim realities with political leaders’ human aspirations, where complexity reigns and the consequences of imprudence are severe, even catastrophic. Call Sign Chaos is a memoir of a life of warfighting and lifelong learning, following along as Mattis rises from Marine recruit to four-star general. It is a journey about learning to lead and a story about how he, through constant study and action, developed a unique leadership philosophy, one relevant to us all.

Chaos Under Heaven

Chaos Under Heaven
Author: Josh Rogin
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 389
Release: 2021-03-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0358393833

The explosive, behind-the-scenes story of Donald Trump’s high-stakes confrontation with Beijing, from an award-winning Washington Post columnist and peerless observer of the U.S.–China relationship There was no calm before the storm. Donald Trump’s surprise electoral victory shattered the fragile understanding between Washington and Beijing, putting the most important relationship of the twenty-first century in the hands of a novice who had bitterly attacked China from the campaign trail. Almost as soon as he entered office, Trump brought to a boil the long-simmering rivalry between the two countries, while also striking up a “friendship” with Chinese president Xi Jinping — whose manipulations of his American counterpart would undermine the White House’s already disjointed response to the historic challenge of a rising China. All the while, Trump’s own officials fought to steer U.S. policy from within. By the time the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in Wuhan, Trump’s love-hate relationship with Xi had sparked a trade war, while Xi’s aggression had pushed the world to the brink of a new Cold War. But their quarrel had also forced a long-overdue reckoning within the United States over China’s audacious foreign-influence operations, horrific human rights abuses, and creeping digital despotism. Ironically, this awakening was one of the biggest foreign-policy victories of Trump’s fractious term in office. ​Filled with shocking revelations drawn from Josh Rogin’s unparalleled access to top U.S. officials from the White House and deep within the country’s foreign policy machine, Chaos Under Heaven reveals an administration at war with itself during perhaps our most urgent hour.

Agent of Chaos

Agent of Chaos
Author: Norman Spinrad
Publisher: Norman Spinrad
Total Pages: 219
Release: 1972
Genre: Revolutions
ISBN:

The Hegemonic Council has scanner eyes everywhere. If anyone is caught doing a forbidden act by the scanner eyes, they are vaporized. Scanner eyes are in every public place, and soon to be in private residences. The populace doesn't seem to mind too much, as their government has gotten rid of disease, hunger, unemployment, war, and other problems. Boris Johnson is part of an underground rebellion, the rather unorganized Democratic League. Plot after plot to unseat or assassinate the Hegmonic leader is squashed by a secretive group called the Brotherhood of Assassins, who has spies everywhere. The Hegemonic government is on the side of control and order, the Democratic League is on the side of personal freedoms, and the Brotherhood of Assassins are on the side of Chaos.

Guardian of Shadows

Guardian of Shadows
Author: Michelle Manus
Publisher: Seclusion Publishing
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2021-12-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1954400071

She’s been to the universe’s prison planet, why not check the black market off her bucket list next? Life at Nyx’s Station has been a little tense of late. There are the fugitives she’s hiding, the Harvester of Worlds she still doesn’t know what to do with, and then there’s the ex-boyfriend she’s been avoiding. So when someone from her elusive past shows up in Earth Between, Nyx jumps at the distraction—and the chance to finally get some answers. The only problem is, her childhood friend Seth has no intention of answering any of those questions. When he portal-jumps to the forbidden Shadow Market, it should be a guaranteed escape from a Station Guardian, but Nyx’s altered bond with her Station means following him is a possibility. One she has every intention of making a reality. Her newfound friends insist on coming with her, and really, what’s the worst that could happen from taking three ex-Enforcers, two Amazons, and one Tiagren shifter to the world’s most notorious black market planet?

Trouble in Toadpool

Trouble in Toadpool
Author: Anne Fine
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2012
Genre: Aunts
ISBN: 0857530631

Bliss! A lovely, quiet, nothing-to-do and nothing-on-the-calendar Sunday...Well, that's until bossy Aunt Susan - an unstoppable force - is on the phone insisting that Harry and his family come down to help her a local event she's promised to organise: the Great Toadpool Show. It means swinging from a trapeze. Or walking on stilts. Or riding a unicycle...And that's not counting the fortune-telling tent, the tombola, or the choir singalong. Aunt Susan has no idea of the mayhem she's about to unleash.

The Chaos Machine

The Chaos Machine
Author: Max Fisher
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 419
Release: 2022-09-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0316703311

Finalist for the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism From a New York Times investigative reporter, this “authoritative and devastating account of the impacts of social media” (New York Times Book Review) tracks the high-stakes inside story of how Big Tech’s breakneck race to drive engagement—and profits—at all costs fractured the world. The Chaos Machine is “an essential book for our times” (Ezra Klein). We all have a vague sense that social media is bad for our minds, for our children, and for our democracies. But the truth is that its reach and impact run far deeper than we have understood. Building on years of international reporting, Max Fisher tells the gripping and galling inside story of how Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social network preyed on psychological frailties to create the algorithms that drive everyday users to extreme opinions and, increasingly, extreme actions. As Fisher demonstrates, the companies’ founding tenets, combined with a blinkered focus on maximizing engagement, have led to a destabilized world for everyone. Traversing the planet, Fisher tracks the ubiquity of hate speech and its spillover into violence, ills that first festered in far-off locales, to their dark culmination in America during the pandemic, the 2020 election, and the Capitol Insurrection. Through it all, the social-media giants refused to intervene in any meaningful way, claiming to champion free speech when in fact what they most prized were limitless profits. The result, as Fisher shows, is a cultural shift toward a world in which people are polarized not by beliefs based on facts, but by misinformation, outrage, and fear. His narrative is about more than the villains, however. Fisher also weaves together the stories of the heroic outsiders and Silicon Valley defectors who raised the alarm and revealed what was happening behind the closed doors of Big Tech. Both panoramic and intimate, The Chaos Machine is the definitive account of the meteoric rise and troubled legacy of the tech titans, as well as a rousing and hopeful call to arrest the havoc wreaked on our minds and our world before it’s too late.