Musings of a Military Mind

Musings of a Military Mind
Author: BRIG Suyash Sharma VSM
Publisher: Notion Press
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2021-02-14
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1637455518

Take a peek into the “puntastic” (as one of the readers described the Musings of this Military Mind) collection of articles, anecdotes and topical commentary of global events. The range is huge starting from the US Presidential Elections and Covid 19 to the training regimen of the cadets in the Defence Academies. The author has captured his ruminations in a lucid and simple story narrative. “The Trump Card” The Trump(ets) of the world have heaved a sigh of relief after four years of having been blown non-stop, no wonder all that they produced these days was " Vivekamunandan..." When they were queried on their misery, they responded tongue in cheek that "They were 'biden' their time". “Independence Day the NDA Way” 2475 ft. was one of the peaks of the small hills in Khadakwasla. Why was it called 2475? No one knows. The actual height was probably a couple of feet less. Corporal then explained the modus operandi of the day's climb; we had to front roll up the slope...? Now this was turning out to be literally a bolt from the blue... a royal kick in the derriere provided the much needed booster. So began our very own freedom struggle, we the wretched second and third termers… the very lowly creatures in the food chain bore the brunt. “Oh those Bats” Apart from the social distancing, lockdowns and migrant labours, cricketers and baseball players are up in arms; they have asked for a change in the nomenclature of their “Bats”, they would not like to touch anything so vile in their wildest imagination. “Ode to NDA Masters” "Giving meaningful looks!” was how the charge read, forwarded by Dr (Mrs) SK Singh; the cadet was summoned to the squadron office and questioned. He was punished to be sent on liberty to Pune next Sunday to leave the instructor in question alone... “Quarantined” Covid 19 after all is a teen, adolescent, neither an adult nor a kid, quite confused, not taken seriously by the Americans nor by the Chinese. He is out to prove a point. How I wish the Chinks had waited for two more months before letting it lose, then it would have been christened Covid 20 and would probably have been more reasonable. “A Close Shave” Today's youngsters are all Virat Kohli look alikes... clones, same bearded chins with hardly any clean cut faces. I wonder why this reverse evolution has commenced in the men folk, where they have got so entangled in the facial hair that they have messed up Darwin's treatise itself. At this rate, soon they should be growing their vestigial tails on their derriere! “Close Encounters of the Hairy Kind(!)” The reason why we start to dread the visit to the saloon may be a matter of research. But to me it appears as though the blame lies squarely with our age old ‘samskaras’, ‘mundan’ as we all are aware, is our first introduction with this species of barbers or hair dressers, as they are addressed these days. Naturally after the ignominy of making a public spectacle of being shorn of one’s precious locks, the relations with the barbers were destined to be acrimonious.

Colonyside

Colonyside
Author: Michael Mammay
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2020-12-29
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 006298098X

A missing scientist and deep pockets pull Colonel Carl Butler out of retirement, investigating another mystery that puts him and his team--and the future of relations with alien species--in danger in COLONYSIDE, the exciting follow-up to Planetside and Spaceside. A military hero is coming out of disgrace—straight into the line of fire… Carl Butler was once a decorated colonel. Now he’s a disgraced recluse, hoping to live out the rest of his life on a backwater planet where no one cares about his “crimes” and everyone leaves him alone. It’s never that easy. A CEO’s daughter has gone missing and he thinks Butler is the only one who can find her. The government is only too happy to appease him. Butler isn’t so sure, but he knows the pain of losing a daughter, so he reluctantly signs on. Soon he’s on a military ship heading for a newly-formed colony where the dangerous jungle lurks just outside the domes where settlers live. Paired with Mac, Ganos, and a government-assigned aide named Fader, Butler dives head-first into what should be an open and shut case. Then someone tries to blow him up. Faced with an incompetent local governor, a hamstrung military, and corporations playing fast and loose with the laws, Butler finds himself in familiar territory. He’s got nobody to trust but himself, but that’s where he works best. He’ll fight to get to the bottom of the mystery, but this time, he might not live to solve it.

A Companion to the British and Irish Short Story

A Companion to the British and Irish Short Story
Author: David Malcolm
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 592
Release: 2009-01-30
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9781444304787

A Companion to the British and Irish Short Story provides a comprehensive treatment of short fiction writing and chronicles its development in Britain and Ireland from 1880 to the present. Provides a comprehensive treatment of the short story in Britain and Ireland as it developed over the period 1880 to the present Includes essays on topics and genres, as well as on individual texts and authors Comprises chapters on women’s writing, Irish fiction, gay and lesbian writing, and short fiction by immigrants to Britain

Let Me Off at the Top

Let Me Off at the Top
Author: Ron Burgundy
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2013-11-19
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 0385682190

The autobiography every true American has been waiting for: a shockingly candid and raw confessional from a national treasure. From his humble beginnings in a desolate Iowa coal mining town, his years at Our Lady Queen of Chewbacca High School to his odds-defying climb to the dizzying heights of becoming America’s most trusted and beloved television News Anchor, Ron Burgundy pulls no punches in Let Me Off at the Top! In his very own words Burgundy reveals his most private thoughts, his triumphs and his disappointments. His life reads like an adventure story complete with knock down fights, beautiful women and double-fisted excitement on every page. He has hunted jackalopes with Bobby Kennedy and Peter Lawford, had more than his share of his amorous exploits, and formed the greatest on-air team in the history of televised news. Along the way, he hobnobbed with people you wish you knew and some you honestly wish you didn't -- celebrities, presidents, presidents' wives, celebrities' wives, dogs, and, of course Veronica Corningstone, the love of his life. Walter Cronkite, Barbra Streisand, Katie Couric, the list goes on. Who didn’t Mr. Burgundy, or “Ron” as he is known to his friends, rub elbows with in the course of his colorful and often criminal life? This may well be the most thrilling book ever written, by a man of great physical, moral and spiritual strength and not surprisingly a great literary talent as well. This book deserves a real shot at a Pulitzer Prize. In fact if it doesn’t win one then we will finally have proof that the Pulitzer is rigged. Ron Burgundy has taken the time to write a book. We owe it to him, as honest Americans, to read it.

Three War Stories

Three War Stories
Author: David Mamet
Publisher: Bombardier Books
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2020-04-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1642933503

Spanning centuries and continents, Mamet uses war and its players to explore, among other themes, redemption and forgiveness as they unfold in the context of conflict in the form of three novellas. In The Redwing, the first of the three novellas, a 19th-century Secret Service naval officer turned prisoner, then novelist, and finally memoirist recounts his own transformations during the course of his service and imprisonment. The protagonist in Notes on Plain Warfare examines religion through the prism of the American Indian wars. Finally, The Handle and the Hold is a vivid, dialogue-driven tale of two ex-military men who steal a plane in the month before the Israeli War of Independence.

America's War Machine

America's War Machine
Author: James McCartney
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2015-10-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1466878762

A veteran Washington reporter reveals how years of military-slanted domestic and foreign policy have turned the U.S. into a perpetual war machine. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower prepared to leave the White House in 1961, he did so with an ominous message for the American people about the "disastrous rise" of the military-industrial complex. Fifty years later, the complex has morphed into a virtually unstoppable war machine, one that dictates U.S. economic and foreign policy in a direct and substantial way. Based on his experiences as an award-winning Washington-based reporter covering national security, James McCartney presents a compelling history, from the Cold War to present day that shows that the problem is far worse and far more wide-reaching than anything Eisenhower could have imagined. Big Military has become "too big to fail" and has grown to envelope the nation's political, cultural and intellectual institutions. These centers of power and influence, including the now-complicit White House and Congress, have a vested interest in preparing and waging unnecessary wars. The authors persuasively argue that not one foreign intervention in the past 50 years has made us or the world safer. With additions by Molly Sinclair McCartney, a fellow journalist with 30 years of experience, America's War Machine provides the context for today's national security state and explains what can be done about it.

Texas, My Texas

Texas, My Texas
Author: Lonn Taylor
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2012-03-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0875654975

In a collection of essays about Texas gathered from his West Texas newspaper column, Lonn Taylor traverses the very best of Texas geography, Texas history, and Texas personalities. In a state so famous for its pride, Taylor manages to write a very honest, witty, and wise book about Texas past and Texas present. Texas, My Texas: Musings of the Rambling Boy is a story of legacies, of men and women, times, and places that have made this state what it is today. From a history of Taylor’s hometown, Fort Davis, to stories about the first man wounded in the Texas Revolution, (who was an African American), to accounts of outlaw Sam Bass and an explanation of Hill Country Christmases, Taylor has searched every corner of the state for untold histories.Taylor’s background as a former curator at the Smithsonian National Museum becomes apparent in his attention to detail: Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, artists, architects, criminals, the founder of Neiman Marcus, and the famous horned frog “Old Rip” all make appearances as quintessential Texans. Lonn Taylor’s unique narrative voice is personal. As he points out in the foreword, it is the stories of Texans themselves, of their grit and eccentricities, that have “brought the past into the present . . . the two seem to me to be bound together by stories.” People—real Texans—are the focus of the essays, making Texas, My Texas a rite of passage for anyone who claims Texan heritage. There are just a few things every good Texan “knows,” like the fact that it is illegal to pick bluebonnets along the highway, or that the Menger Hotel bar is modeled after the one in the House of Lords in London. Taylor points out with his usual wit that it is not, in fact, illegal to pick any of the six varieties of bluebonnets that grow throughout our state, and that few Texans would know that the bar is modeled after the one in the House of Lords, as few Texans are Lords. These are just a few examples of Taylor’s knowledge of Texas and his passion for its citizens.

Broken Lands

Broken Lands
Author: Jonathan Maberry
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Total Pages: 544
Release: 2019-12-10
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1534406387

New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry returns to the world of Rot & Ruin with this first novel in a series that’s more thrilling and filled with exceptionally terrifying adventures. Ever since her mother’s death, Gabriella “Gutsy” Gomez has spent her days flying under the radar. But when her mother’s undead body is returned to her doorstep from the grave and Gutsy witnesses a pack of ravagers digging up Los Muertos—her mother’s name for the undead—she realizes that life finds you no matter how hard you try to hide from it. Meanwhile, Benny Imura and his gang set out on a journey to finish what Captain Joe Ledger started: they’re going to find a cure. After what they went through in the Rot & Ruin, they think they’ve seen it all, but as they venture into new and unexplored territory, they soon learn that the zombies they fought before were nothing compared to what they’ll face in the wild beyond the peace and safety of their fortified town.

The Short Stories Of Thomas Hardy

The Short Stories Of Thomas Hardy
Author: Thomas Hardy
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Total Pages: 1260
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 3849640469

This is the annotated edition including a rare biographical essay on the life and works of the author. This compilation of Thomas Hardy's short stories is one of the most complete on the book market. Every single story was tracked down and integrated into this book. Hours of enjoyable reading lies ahead of you because Hardy was a real genius among the English fiction writers. From the contents: A Changed Man The Waiting Supper Alicia's Diary The Grave By The Handpost Enter A Dragoon A Tryst At An Ancient Earth Work What The Shepherd Saw: A Tale Of Four Moonlight Nights A Committee-Man Of 'The Terror' Master John Horseleigh, Knight The Duke's Reappearance—A Family Tradition A Mere Interlude The First Countess Of Wessex Barbara Of The House Of Grebe The Marchioness Of Stonehenge Lady Mottisfont The Lady Icenway Squire Petrick's Lady Anna, Lady Baxby The Lady Penelope The Duchess Of Hamptonshire The Honourable Laura The Son's Veto For Conscience' Sake A Tragedy Of Two Ambitions On The Western Circuit To Please His Wife The Melancholy Hussar Of The German Legion The Fiddler Of The Reels A Tradition Of Eighteen Hundred And Four A Few Crusted Characters Tony Kytes, The Arch-Deceiver The History Of The Hardcomes The Superstitious Man's Story Andrey Satchel And The Parson And Clerk Old Andrey's Experience As A Musician Absent-Mindedness In A Parish Choir The Winters And The Palmleys Incident In The Life Of Mr. George Crookhill Netty Sargent's Copyhold An Imaginative Woman The Three Strangers ... and many more ...