Counsel Wars

Ever wonder what it would be like to be able to hire a team like the one from “Mission: Impossible” to solve your relationship woes? A young communications professor attempts to do just that in “The War Council." After the love of her life leaves her for a job on the other side of the world, Professor Maggie McGrew is devastated. To Maggie, his leaving—and not taking her with him—was just not logical.

In the future there is no want, no war, no disease nor ill-timed death. The world is a paradise - and then, in a moment, it ends. The council that controls the Net falls out and goes to war. Everywhere people who have never known a moment of want or pain are left wondering how to survive. But scattered across the face of the earth are communities which have returned to the natural life of soil and small farm. In the village of Raven’s Mill, Edmund Talbot, master smith and unassuming historian, finds that all the problems of the world are falling in his lap.

In the distant future, the world was a paradise - and then, in a moment, it was ended by the first war in centuries. People who had known godlike power, to whom hunger and pain were completely unknown, desperately scrabbled to survive. As the United Free States, the bastion of freedom and center of opposition to the tyrants of New Destiny, prepared for the long-feared invasion by the Changed legions of Ropasa, Edmund Talbot realized that bureaucratic ineptitude and overconfidence was setting the USF naval forces of ships and dragons up for a disastrous defeat at sea.

Paradise falls. Humanity is thrown back to an age of steel and blood. Now the fuel that powers the "changed" world is up for grabs in an orbiting spacecraft. With only days to plan, rough and ready paladin Herzer Herrick must assemble a team of expert warriors capable of both seat-of-the-pants engineering and hand-to-hand combat in space. In the meantime, Herzer must face his own demons. And if that's not enough, there's a horde of "changed" orcs and goblins who are intent on delivering the power above to their totalitarian masters below.

Duke Edmund Talbot has been assigned a simple mission: Go to the Southern Isles and make contact with the scattered mer-folk-those who, before the worldwide collapse of technology, had altered their bodies in the shape of mythical sea-dwelling creatures. He must convince them to side with the Freedom Coalition in the battles against the fascist dictators of New Destiny. Just a simple diplomatic mission. That requires the service of a dragon-carrier and Lieutenant Herzer Herrick, the most blooded of the Blood Lords. Because New Destiny has plans of its own.

When Congress originally created the National Security Council in 1947, it was intended to better coordinate foreign policy after World War II. Nearly an afterthought, a small administrative staff was established to help keep its papers moving. President Kennedy was, as John Gans documents, the first to make what became known as the NSC staff his own, selectively hiring bright young aides to do his bidding.

Eli Monpress is vain. He's cocky. And he's a thief. But he's a thief who has just seen his bounty topped, and he's not happy about it. The bounty topper, as it turns out, is his best friend, bodyguard, and master swordsman, Josef, who has been keeping secrets from Eli.

Royal children no longer desire merely the throne of their kingdom. The prize they seek is a seat on the High Council as a God. The quake of footsteps from the divine shape the fabric of the realm. These All Beings walk among mortals and their children hold the titles of king and queen. When blessed blood is threatened, lines are drawn. Aron Barre II, a newly crowned ruler, is thrusted in the middle of a conflict between the rivaling kingdoms of the Fallows. The political journey he embarks on will change the course of Caldonia forever.

Plan of Attack is the definitive account of how and why President George W. Bush, his war council, and allies launched a preemptive attack to topple Saddam Hussein and occupy Iraq. Bob Woodward's latest landmark account of Washington decision making provides an original, authoritative narrative of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, examining the causes and consequences of the most controversial war since Vietnam.

The Council is the governing Coven over the Land of Five, a region entirely inhabited - and split apart - by witches with varying powers. Lilith Lace, a witch thought to be born powerless, happily resides in Ignis, the Coven of Fire, until she suddenly develops telekinesis, an ability only seen in some witches born in Mentis, the Coven of the Mind. She's terrified of it, unsure who she can trust. Her best friends, Helena and Clio, are hot and cold about what she can do, leaving Lilith even more unsure about her future.

Too often over the past several years, American communities have felt the wrenching pain of domestic terrorism. Black church members slaughtered during their bible study in Charleston. A synagogue in Pittsburgh targeted for supporting immigrants. A gunman spraying bullets at an El Paso Walmart to target Latinos. It goes against everything our country strives to stand for in the world, and it poses a direct challenge to America’s national security, our democracy, and our national unity.

Thrust into a fight 700 years in the making, Chelsea and her friends find themselves against an immortal emperor. If they return the true heir of Ione to her rightful throne, then they will finally be free of the magical world of Amar. But that’s easier said than done. They will need the support of the other kingdoms of Amar if they hope to stand a chance at defeating Axius. But who would follow four kids into battle? Survival isn’t enough. They have to find a way to start this war. And they have to win it. Or else they will never get home.

Iran in 2021 is on the threshold of fundamental change. The clerics' supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, finds his regime increasingly weak and in jeopardy following a series of uprisings since 2017, systemic corruption, a bankrupt economy, and an explosive society. Faced with these realities, Khamenei has opted to close ranks and consolidate power in the hands of those absolutely loyal to him. Ebrahim Raisi, a notorious mass murderer, was handpicked by Khamenei, to take on the position of president of the regime.