In this follow-up to the highly successful Kill Zone, former Marine sniper Kyle Swanson faces his most deadly enemy yet, a legendary enemy sniper working with a fringe Islamic organization that has created a terrifying new weapon of mass destruction In Baghdad's Green Zone, an Iraqi scientist is murdered just before he is to reveal the monstrous secret that Saddam Hussein took to his grave: the Palace of Death, home to a chemical weapon that Islamic militants quietly have been developing and whose formula is nearly complete. The assassination is the work of a mysterious sniper called Juba, who was originally trained by the British but now works with a twisted mastermind determined to wrest leadership of the terrorist world from Al Qaeda. Kyle Swanson, once the top sniper in the Marine Corps, has become the key member in a secret special operations team known as Task Force Trident. When Juba tests the new weapon by killing hundreds of people at a British royal wedding in London, Swanson is assigned to hunt down his old special ops rival. The birth of a new reign of global terror can be stopped only by a confrontation between the two best snipers in the world, a duel in which the first shot wins. Usually.
When Donald Davis walked into his 45th high-school reunion, he had two startling visions. The first was that the only signage he saw read, WELCOME HARLEY RIDERS.
After discovering that he and his classmates would be sharing space with the bikers, Davis had his second surprise: 'I was amazed to see how many parents had come.'
In The Time Machine, Davis offers us both the story of the reunion and the collectively remembered story of his classmates' senior year. In 1962, Waynesville, North Carolina, was that small town where the school principal also served as a teacher, the football coach, and the Sunday-school superintendent. One classmate spends his time in the bar wishing for a time machine, so he can go back to his teenage years with his accumulated experience.
An American general is captured in the Middle East. They threaten to behead him within days. But moments before he is rendered unconscious during the attack, the General realizes that his unseen captors are American. Gunnery Sergeant Kyle Swanson, a top level Marine sniper, receives top-secret orders to rescue the General. But upon landing in the Iraqi desert his men come under ferocious attack and Swanson is the only one left alive. How did the enemy know details of a mission known only to a few top government officials? Swanson soon realizes he is fighting a particularly ruthless and dangerous enemy-American mercenaries working with the White House. They're part of a clandestine conspiracy whose agenda is nothing less than total control of the American military. Full of the kind of action author Jack Coughlin lived during his career as a Marine sniper, Kill Zone marks the debut of an extraordinary writing team.
We all have our personal phobias and white-knuckle moments. The title story of Irrational Fear tells of Davis's mother's fear of snakes and the way she eventually got even with him for making fun of her. (She always came out on top.)
The second story, 'The Red Coat', tells why his father and his father's brother-in-law finally stopped playing Christmas tricks on their sisters and wives.
Here's another hilarious send-up from one of America's favorite storytellers.
Sibling rivalry. Sometimes, a kid just isn't ready for some little squirt to come along and invade his space, his own room. So what if there's an extra bed in the room; isn't that where the stuffed animals are supposed to sleep?
How could a couple of otherwise sensible parents just bring a new kid home without even consulting their very own son? Still, a younger sibling can be in need of a big brother's guidance. And a big brother, even if not so very big, can have a lot to offer once he gets used to the idea.
If you've ever been in the car while a loved one was learning to drive, then think of this as cheap therapy!
Learning to drive has occasioned emotions ranging from reasonable caution to unbridled terror. Learning under the watchful eye of one's spouse is an added challenge. Undertaking the task with anxious children in the backseat can only heighten the sensory richness of the moment. Davis recalls his mother's driving lessons through the objective eye of a patient and restrained child, in contrast with his little brother, whose oft-shouted refrain, 'You're going to kill us all!' rings in memory.
An August House audio production.
Braces hurt. Braces are embarrassing. Braces are inconvenient. Many get fitted with them at the very time of their life when their self-confidence is lowest and their self-consciousness is highest. This coming-of-age story, created and performed by Donald Davis, employs the author's trademark characterizations and humor to explore the state of uncertainty that getting braces throws one into. Also includes another Davis favorite, Everybody Goes to the Beach, which recalls the time he talked his mother into letting him go to Myrtle Beach with his friends under the supposedly watchful eye of one friend's grandmother, who, Davis recalls, 'was a better enabler than governor'.
For Adults and Young Adults.
An August House audio production.
