Showing results for "F F Bruce" in Literature & Fiction

AD 265, Gaul—The Roman Empire is on the brink. Emperor Gallienus has amassed a huge army across the Alps to seize back the mountains from the usurper Posthumus. War has come. Ballista and his cavalry are on the frontline, battling in the most brutal of conditions. But if he is to survive the campaign and finally retire to his beloved Sicily, it's not just the battlefield he needs to navigate. As he and Praetorian Prefect Volusianus lay siege to Posthumus' armies, it becomes clear the greatest threat to Ballista's life might just come from within his ranks.

In the summer of 1968, the year of Prague Spring with a Cold War winter, Oxford students James Borthwick and Eleanor Pike set out to hitchhike across Europe, complicating a budding friendship that could be something more. Having reached southern Germany, they decide on a whim to visit Czechoslovakia, where Alexander Dubcek's 'socialism with a human face' is smiling on the world.

Meet Tommy Bruce—he's washed-up already, marooned in a ramshackle hotel inherited from dead parents in the armpit of Perthshire, that's just too far off the main tourist trail to be viable. He's too young to be middle-aged, but too old to be what you could call young (and too lazy to care about it, really). Saddled with debt, grotty premises that are falling down around him and a crippling loneliness, Tommy is slowly but determinedly drinking himself and his business out of existence. Until one day into the lounge-bar, and out of the blue, walks Fiona McLean.

Obsessed with his ex-girlfriend, Alistair Haston heads off to Greece, where she is on holiday. Then he is robbed of everything. So when Ricky, a charming Aussie, shows up and offers Alistair a job recruiting tourists to pose for his wealthy boss, Heinrich, a charismatic German artist, Alistair accepts. He soon realises that it is more than just painting that Heinrich has in mind. Swept away on a tide of wild parties, wild sex, fine food and drugs, Haston sheds his reserve and throws himself headlong into the pursuit of pleasure. Until the body of a missing tourist is found....

When Valens, a junior officer in the Roman Army, joins a crack squad of soldiers on a dangerous mission, little does he know what's in store for him. Tasked with rescuing the young Prince Sasan, who has been imprisoned in the impenetrable Castle of Silence, the troops set out across Mesopotamia and into the mountains south of the Caspian Sea. Deep in hostile territory, inexperienced Valens finds himself in charge. And as one by one his soldiers die or disappear, he begins to suspect that there is a traitor in their midst and that the rescue is fast becoming a suicide mission.

Being a young Mafia boss was an enormous boost to a man's ego. Some men couldn't take the pressure and responsibilities. They were simply eliminated. Tony and I had our challenges. A man is born weak and has to be taught to be strong. He needs to ignore things that would make a normal man emotional. That was the Mafia thinking. The Mafia way. We were exposed to the dirtiest, unethical situations. Laws and conscience didn't steer our lives. The problem was that people got hurt. The people that counted. The very people that meant the most got trampled.

When saving a life in 1946 Alabama, Amish giant Konrad took one in return and must run before the electric chair claims him. In New York, Nazi propaganda fools him into jumping on a ship to Berlin, the capital of the Third Reich. In 1965, at Gothengau, an SS-run colony in Ukraine, a terrorist rocket attack on Berlin compels soldier-farmer Konrad to focus on his duty: commanding an SS convict battalion. He must flex his muscle for the armed forces or the Holocaust's perpetrators--his superiors, colleagues, and neighbors in Ukraine.

The Devil's Pool is George Sand's most popular novella. Set in rural France, the narrative explores relations between the sexes, the power of fantasy in human life and the plight of the underprivileged. Two of the main characters are Father Maurice and his son-in-law Germain, who is considering marriage again after the death of his wife. His father-in-law organises a meeting with the rich widow, Catherine Leonard, but he finds her vain and haughty and much in demand. He seeks out the company of Marie, a shepherdess from his own village, who would prefer a younger husband.

Sonny and Tony were found not guilty for the murder of a federal agent. Instead, they were sentenced to spend two years in the state penitentiary for extorting and racketeering. They made it very clear to the warden, guards, and inmates that they were Mafia bosses and would not be strong armed. After showing pictures to the warden and the guards of their families, it was obvious that the Mob could get to anyone on the inside as well as the outside.

When I was young my father lost his life saving Carmine Mancini, who later became "Don" Carmine Mancini of the Miami Mafia.... My family didn't have life insurance, so the Mob secretly supported us. When I became of age my mother found me a job at a car rental center. It wasn't long before strange things began to happen. I was paid well to look the other way. I liked the extra money, and it was the first time I had an abundance of it.

Sonny's wife Paulina tells him she wants another child. He agrees to expand the family. Tony's wife Roberta hears the good news and she also wants a child. She confides in Sonny that Tony is too stubborn to find out why he can't get her pregnant. She had been examined and the problem is not with her. Both mobsters are trying to deal with this delicate situation when all of a sudden someone slits the throat of Robert Rizzo, crime boss of the Damato family, and his bodyguard Jesse.

I missed the period of my life when I trusted everyone. I think most people have that period. I blindly trusted until, one by one, I was betrayed by the people who was closest to me. The people who were supposed to love me and be honest to me let me down. I lost confidence in humanity. I lost confidence in love, loyalty. and family. The only friends that remained were some of my workers. We were life's misfits, sharing our stories of lost dreams and failures.

Eric was a respected contractor, he made a fortune during the building boom. He lived a clean humble life and invested his money well. His employees did the opposite - they spent all they earned and partied away their savings. Some of them despised Eric, they felt that he had capitalized on their strong backs. They felt that Eric looked down on them, most of them were in legal troubles. Some had drug problems and others had child support troubles from several woman.

A large party was given to me and Tony for our release from prison. We were also celebrating our promotions to Capo. Our new business venture was to run drugs and counterfeit money in phony taxis. They were perfect replicas of cabs that traveled thru the city. We operated right under the cop's noses --- making the mob millions. Don Mancini was pleased until I had an accident. I actually had two --- one with the taxi and the other with my girlfriend, both were life changers. Don Carmine Mancini was a brilliant and he turned my negatives into positives.

Father Kent was given a parish that could soil the reputation of the holiest man. A priest has vows, and one of them is to keep the secrets of confessions. Father Kent's conscience was tested when he heard confessions from members of the crime family the Marconis. His church was their family parish. They gave large donations, and expected absolution for their sins. The mafia women were no different than the men.

I was in the land of the Patriot. I met a beautiful girl at a frat party, but I was too slow to get her number. I saw her again at a victory bonfire. She dropped her phone, and I found it. The next day when I went through it, I found she had training pictures of terrorists' camps. I showed it to my professor whom I trusted. He turned the phone into the Homeland Security Department, and I was contacted by two agents. They informed me that there was a tracking app on the phone, and the terrorists not only knew who I was, but where I was.

Stan was a misfortunate orphan, he was raised by his uncle Hector. Hector was mentally unstable and the worst foster father a parent could leave their child to. Hector was a war scorn madman that brought Stan to the remote woods to be raised. Hector had an abnormal desire to hunt and kill. Although he hunted the most dangerous beast of the forest, he craved hunting humans. Living away from society kept him from becoming a serial killer. He passed on his sick thoughts as well as his exceptional hunting skills.

This is the story about a high school football star that turns to drugs to enhance his game. He experiments with steroids and other mind altering drugs. He loses his high school sweetheart to drugs and alcohol. Francis mixed any drugs that he can get his hands on, risking his mental and physical health. He became delusional and he can't distinguish what is real or part of his drug induced illusions.

In a barracks on an abandoned military base, miles from the nearest road, Thomas watches as the man he has brought wakes up. Kev, a NASA astronaut, doesn't recognize his captor, though Thomas remembers him. Kev cries for help. He pulls at the chain. Thomas didn't want to have to resort to this. But they really needed to have a conversation, and Kev didn't answer his messages. And now, Thomas has a few questions.

Are you in for a treat? Get ready for six terrifying tales that will keep you up at night....