Taking Up the Sword


Book Description

Randall Bennett served 25 years as a Special Agent for the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service. His memoir reveals his evolution from a new Special Agent to one of the most experienced in the U.S. government.




The Magnolia Sword


Book Description

CHINA, 484 A.D. A Warrior in Disguise All her life, Mulan has trained for one purpose: to win the duel that every generation in her family must fight. If she prevails, she can reunite a pair of priceless heirloom swords separated decades earlier, and avenge her father, who was paralyzed in his own duel. Then a messenger from the Emperor arrives, demanding that all families send one soldier to fight the Rouran invaders in the north. Mulan’s father cannot go. Her brother is just a child. So she ties up her hair, takes up her sword, and joins the army as a man. A War for a Dynasty Thanks to her martial arts skills, Mulan is chosen for an elite team under the command of the princeling—the royal duke’s son, who is also the handsomest man she’s ever seen. But the princeling has secrets of his own, which explode into Mulan’s life and shake up everything she knows. As they cross the Great Wall to face the enemy beyond, Mulan and the princeling must find a way to unwind their past, unmask a traitor, and uncover the plans for the Rouran invasion…before it’s too late. Inspired by wuxia martial-arts dramas as well as the centuries-old ballad of Mulan, The Magnolia Sword is a thrilling, romantic, and sharp-edged novel that lives up to its beloved heroine.




Dressed to Kill


Book Description

In Dressed To Kill, Rick explains with exacting detail the purpose and function of each piece of Roman armor. In the process, he describes the significance of our spiritual armor not only to withstand the onslaughts of the enemy and but also to overturn the tendencies of the carnal mind. Furthermore, Rick delivers a clear, scriptural...




Sisters of the Sword


Book Description

I see you blink with surprise. A girl? you are thinking. Surely a girl cannot be asamurai. But you are wrong. Kimi dreams of being a great samurai warrior, but she and her sister, Hana, are young ladies of ancient Japan, daughters of the Jito of the province. Her future seems clear: Girls do not become samurai. Then, a murderous betrayal shatters the sisters' world. Suddenly, Kimi and Hana are thrown headlong into a life of warrior codes, deadly swords, and dangerous enemies. Life has swept them into an adventure more heart-pounding than the sisters ever could have imagined . . . and once it has been set in motion, nothing will ever be the same.




Daughter of the Sword


Book Description

As the only female detective in Tokyo's most elite police unit, Mariko Oshiro has to fight for every ounce of respect, especially from her new boss. But when he gives her the least promising case possible, the attempted theft of an old samurai sword, it proves more dangerous than anyone on the force could have imagined. Mariko's investigation has put her on a collision course with a curse centuries old and as bloodthirsty as ever. She is only the latest in a long line of warriors and soldiers to confront this power, and even the sword she wields could turn against her.




Sword & Citadel


Book Description

A Major work of twentieth-century American Literature.




Son of the Sword


Book Description

"Ancient sword of my people, bring me a hero, to save from tyranny the sons and daughters of this land. Let a Matheson lay hands on you and become that hero." So speaks the faerie Sianann as she musters what is left of her powers in a desperate attempt to save her beloved homeland. In 1713, Scotland's Jacobite rebels face their darkest hour. They need new blood, a new leader to help them fight English oppression. And they are about to get one... Dylan Matheson is an ordinary guy with ordinary problems: family, girlfriend-the usual. But he likes his life, living above the dojo where he teaches martial arts and swordfighting. Then one day at a Medieval Faire, he sees a magnificent broadsword. He takes it in hand-and is transported to a time and place he's only read about. Now Dylan Matheson, ordinary guy, is about to embark upon an extraordinary adventure. And it will take all of his skills-plus a bit of magic-just to survive.




Giving Up the Gun


Book Description

Lord Hideyoshi, the regent of Japan at the time, took the first step toward the control of firearms. It was a very small step, and it was not taken simply to protect feudal lords from being shot at by peasants but to get all weapons out of the hands of civilians. He said nothing about arms control. Instead, he announced that he was going to build a statue of Buddha that would make all existing statues look like midgets. It would be so enormous (the figure was about twice the scale of the Statue of Liberty), that many tons of iron would be needed just for the braces and bolts. Still more was required to erect the accompanying temple, which was to cover a piece of ground something over an eighth of a mile square. All farmers, ji-samurai, and monks were invited to contribute their swords and guns to the cause. They were, in fact, required to. -- from publisher description.




The Crimson Sword


Book Description

The Age of Man has begun. The "undesirable" creatures of legend have been driven from their lands, magic has been forsaken, the old gods reduced to myth.Now humans will rule the kingdoms of the island continent of Pentania. But they are not alone. Alson's king has been assassinated, its capital besieged by a malevolent wizard. The chaos and terror now sweeping the land have come to the remote village of Diln -- sending young Jarom far from his home to seek aid against the nefarious usurper. But a mysterious council has decreed Jarom must find one of the mythical Swords of Asahiel -- the divine talismans the elven avatars used to forge the earth -- in order to save a quarrelsome, fledgling humanity. For a Demon Queen has awakened from the abyss -- and humankind is about to discover its powerlessness in the face of the ancient terrors of the world.




The Sword of Heaven


Book Description

“Any attempt at peace must be attended by a knowledge of self,” discovers writer and photographer Mikkel Aaland, who grew up with a bomb shelter for a bedroom, in terror of nuclear war. At the height of the Cold War, Aaland finds himself drawn into a mysterious Shinto priest’s plan to save the world. Traveling from Norway to the Philippines, Iceland to South Africa, he places pieces of a sacred Shinto sword in key power spots around the world. Along the way, he comes face to face with his deepest childhood fears of war and destruction, encounters the compelling and mysterious Shinto religion, struggles with the uncertainties of love, and learns to face life with an open heart. The Sword of Heaven tells the extraordinary true story of a journey in which all boundaries are pushed—geographical, cultural, and personal—and in which the healing of the world and the healing of one man appear to be inextricably linked.




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