Citizen of Earth

Citizen of Earth
Author: Joseph Kassabian
Publisher:
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2019-05-17
Genre:
ISBN: 9781949645293

Vincent Solaris is a teenage malcontent whose future changes dramatically when he is arrested and sentenced to three year's service in the Earth Defense Forces. Any dreams of him lazing away his years of servitude are shattered when an alien horde called the Alliance attacks. Along with a Martian gangster named Fiona, he must find a way to survive

The Hooligans of Kandahar

The Hooligans of Kandahar
Author: Joseph Kassabian
Publisher: TCK Publishing
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2018-08-09
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1631610910

An Army combat veteran’s personal account of his time in service during the Afghan War with an unconventional squad. In the birthplace of the Taliban, some men lose their lives, some lose their sanity, and others their humanity. They are the Hooligans . . . During the peak of the Afghanistan War, a group of soldiers is dropped by helicopter into the remote mountains outside of Kandahar City. Mismanaged and overlooked by command, the squad must rely on each other to survive. Their mission is to train and advise the Afghan National Police and help rebuild the country of Afghanistan. The Afghan Police station they are assigned to live in is dangerous health hazard. Many of the police officers they are supposed to train are Taliban sleeper agents or the family of Taliban fighters. The ones that aren’t are often addicted to drugs, illiterate, or smuggling child slaves. The squad’s leader is Slim, a staff sergeant in his late twenties with so many mental health issues that his insanity is his most dominant personality trait. An alcoholic with a penchant for violent outbursts against both his own soldiers and the Afghans, he is more comfortable at war than at home. Joseph Kassabian is the youngest and most junior fire team leader in the squad. He’s charged with leading a team of soldiers not even old enough to drink. He himself is only 21 years old. As a combat veteran from previous deployments with four years in the Army, he assumes he has seen it all. But he has no idea how bad things can get in war-torn Kandahar . . . Humorous and grim yet honest, The Hooligans of Kandahar is Jarhead and The Hurt Locker meets I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Winner of the 2017 eLit Awards Gold Medal in Current Events Praise for The Hooligans of Kandahar “A frighteningly realistic snapshot of the current war. Mr. Kassabian paints a deeply moving portrait of the struggles faced by men and women in uniform caused by our current foreign policy (or lack thereof), while bringing us along for a horrific, often . . . hilarious ride through the life of an American soldier.” —William Fulton, author of the critically acclaimed book The Blood of Patriots, Hill vets 100 awardee, SME/Consultant Domestic Terrorism

Fobbit

Fobbit
Author: David Abrams
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2012-09-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0802194087

An Iraq war comedy that “is everything that terrible conflict was not: beautifully planned and perfectly executed; funny and smart and lyrical; a triumph” (Darin Strauss, author of Half a Life). Fobbit ’fä-bit, noun. Definition: A US soldier stationed at a Forward Operating Base who avoids combat by remaining at the base, esp. during Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003–2011). Pejorative. In the satirical tradition of Catch-22 and M*A*S*H, Fobbit, a New York Times Notable Book, takes us into the chaotic world of Baghdad’s Forward Operating Base Triumph. The Forward Operating base, or FOB, is like the back-office of the battlefield—where people eat and sleep, and where a lot of soldiers have what looks suspiciously like a desk job. Male and female soldiers are trying to find an empty Porta Potty in which to get acquainted, grunts are playing Xbox and watching NASCAR between missions, and a lot of the senior staff are more concerned about getting to the chow hall in time for the Friday night all-you-can-eat seafood special than worrying about little things like military strategy. Darkly humorous and based on the author’s own experiences in Iraq, Fobbit is a fantastic debut that shows us a behind-the-scenes portrait of the real Iraq war. “This novel nails the comedy and the pathos, the boredom and the dread, crafting the Iraq War’s answer to Catch-22.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

A Brief History of Vice

A Brief History of Vice
Author: Robert Evans
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2016-08-09
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 0147517605

A celebration of the brave, drunken pioneers who built our civilization one seemingly bad decision at a time, A Brief History of Vice explores a side of the past that mainstream history books prefer to hide. History has never been more fun—or more intoxicating. Guns, germs, and steel might have transformed us from hunter-gatherers into modern man, but booze, sex, trash talk, and tripping built our civilization. Cracked editor Robert Evans brings his signature dogged research and lively insight to uncover the many and magnificent ways vice has influenced history, from the prostitute-turned-empress who scored a major victory for women’s rights to the beer that helped create—and destroy—South America's first empire. And Evans goes deeper than simply writing about ancient debauchery; he recreates some of history's most enjoyable (and most painful) vices and includes guides so you can follow along at home. You’ll learn how to: • Trip like a Greek philosopher. • Rave like your Stone Age ancestors. • Get drunk like a Sumerian. • Smoke a nose pipe like a pre–Columbian Native American. “Mixing science, humor, and grossly irresponsible self-experimentation, Evans paints a vivid picture of how bad habits built the world we know and love.”—David Wong, author of John Dies at the End

The Prisoner's Dilemma

The Prisoner's Dilemma
Author: Joe Kassabian
Publisher:
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2021-07-09
Genre:
ISBN:

When the Galaxy is on fire, there are no heroes... Vincent Solaris is a teenager drifting through life who manages to graduate Ethics School by the skin of his teeth. His unplanned future changes dramatically when he is arrested and charged with crimes against the Central Committee after a night of drinking. While he escapes the gallows, Vincent is sentenced to three years of service in the Earth Defense Forces. Vincent is sent off to train, thinking that he'll simply spend the next few years lazing away at the edges of Human controlled space. This idea is shattered when a mysterious alien army attacks. On his way to the far-flung killing fields of war, Vincent meets Fiona, a Martian gangster serving a life sentence. Together, they must find a way to survive against the most terrifying foe that humanity has ever faced. Experience the start of a debut Military Sci-Fi Series from Army veteran Joe Kassabian. It's perfect for fans of Galaxy's Edge, Rick Partlow, and Josh Hayes.

Listening For God

Listening For God
Author: Renita J. Weems
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2000-12-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0684863138

One of America's most respected ministers teaches readers how to reignite their faith when their once warm and comforting relationship with God is interrupted by a period of spiritual isolation.

Yemen

Yemen
Author: Victoria Clark
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2010-02-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 0300167342

"Yemen is the dark horse of the Middle East. Every so often it enters the headlines for one alarming reason or another -- links with al-Qaeda, kidnapped Westerners, explosive population growth -- then sinks into obscurity again. But, as Victoria Clark argues in this riveting book, we ignore Yemen at our peril. The poorest state in the Arab world, it is still dominated by its tribal makeup and has become a perfect breeding ground for insurgent and terrorist movements. Clark returns to the country where she was born to discover a perilously fragile state that deserves more of our understanding and attention. On a series of visits to Yemen between 2004 and 2009, she meets politicians, influential tribesmen, oil workers and jihadists as well as ordinary Yemenis. Untangling Yemen's history before examining the country's role in both al-Qaeda and the wider jihadist movement today, Clark presents a lively, clear, and up-to-date account of a little-known state whose chronic instability is increasingly engaging the general reader"--Publisher description.

Redeployment

Redeployment
Author: Phil Klay
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2014-03-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 069815164X

Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction "Redeployment is hilarious, biting, whipsawing and sad. It’s the best thing written so far on what the war did to people’s souls.” —Dexter Filkins, The New York Times Book Review Selected as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post Book World, Amazon, and more Phil Klay's Redeployment takes readers to the frontlines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking us to understand what happened there, and what happened to the soldiers who returned. Interwoven with themes of brutality and faith, guilt and fear, helplessness and survival, the characters in these stories struggle to make meaning out of chaos. In "Redeployment", a soldier who has had to shoot dogs because they were eating human corpses must learn what it is like to return to domestic life in suburbia, surrounded by people "who have no idea where Fallujah is, where three members of your platoon died." In "After Action Report", a Lance Corporal seeks expiation for a killing he didn't commit, in order that his best friend will be unburdened. A Morturary Affairs Marine tells about his experiences collecting remains—of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers both. A chaplain sees his understanding of Christianity, and his ability to provide solace through religion, tested by the actions of a ferocious Colonel. And in the darkly comic "Money as a Weapons System", a young Foreign Service Officer is given the absurd task of helping Iraqis improve their lives by teaching them to play baseball. These stories reveal the intricate combination of monotony, bureaucracy, comradeship and violence that make up a soldier's daily life at war, and the isolation, remorse, and despair that can accompany a soldier's homecoming. Redeployment has become a classic in the tradition of war writing. Across nations and continents, Klay sets in devastating relief the two worlds a soldier inhabits: one of extremes and one of loss. Written with a hard-eyed realism and stunning emotional depth, this work marks Phil Klay as one of the most talented new voices of his generation.

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear
Author: Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2020-09-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1541788486

A tiny American town's plans for radical self-government overlooked one hairy detail: no one told the bears. Once upon a time, a group of libertarians got together and hatched the Free Town Project, a plan to take over an American town and completely eliminate its government. In 2004, they set their sights on Grafton, NH, a barely populated settlement with one paved road. When they descended on Grafton, public funding for pretty much everything shrank: the fire department, the library, the schoolhouse. State and federal laws became meek suggestions, scarcely heard in the town's thick wilderness. The anything-goes atmosphere soon caught the attention of Grafton's neighbors: the bears. Freedom-loving citizens ignored hunting laws and regulations on food disposal. They built a tent city in an effort to get off the grid. The bears smelled food and opportunity. A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear is the sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying tale of what happens when a government disappears into the woods. Complete with gunplay, adventure, and backstabbing politicians, this is the ultimate story of a quintessential American experiment -- to live free or die, perhaps from a bear.

Howl's Moving Castle Film Comic, Vol. 4

Howl's Moving Castle Film Comic, Vol. 4
Author: Hayao Miyazaki
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2005-11-08
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 9781421500942

Sophie thinks of herself as plain and boring, especially compared to her vivacious younger sister Lettie. Sophie expects to spend the rest of her life quietly making hats in the back room of her family's shop, but as her country prepares for war, she is forced to set out on an extraordinary adventure! With the Royal Sorcerer hot on their heels, Howl moves house, and Sophie finds herself back where she started, in her family’s hat shop. But she isn’t the same plain and timid Sophie—she’s been cursed, chased, and even fallen in love with an infamous wizard! Now her new strength will be tested as the war breaks out in the skies above town and Howl’s life is threatened by mysterious magic!