MY WORLD AND WELCOME TO IT
The eagerly awaited sequel to Sten And The Mutineers debuts just in time for the holidays. A great gift for yourself, or your friends. Here is what The Queen is about: With the Empire poised on the edge of war, Sten spearheads the Eternal Emperor's crackdown on the pirates and traitorous profiteers who are arming his enemies with vital war supplies. A trap is baited to lure the villains into a truel - a three-way duel. Only one thing stands in Sten's way: Venatora, the beautiful pirate queen he's grown to love. When it comes down to it, can he overcome loyalty and duty and pull the trigger?
A complete set of Stens would make a fabulous present for the holidays. There are now ten novels in the series and two companion books.
WAR COMES TO PARADISE: Between February and May of 1942 German U-boats operated with impunity off the Florida coast, sinking nearly two dozen freighters from Cape Canaveral to Key West and killing five thousand people. Residents were horrified witnesses of the attacks – the night skies were aflame and in the morning the beaches were covered with oil and tar, ship parts and charred corpses. The Germans even landed teams of saboteurs charged with disrupting war efforts in the factories of the North. This novel is based on those events. For my own purposes, I set the tale in the fictitious town of Juno Beach on the banks of the equally fictitious Seminole River – all in the very real Palm Beach County, a veritable wilderness in those long ago days. Among the witnesses were my grandfather and grandmother, who operated an orchard and ranch in the area.
LUCKY IN CYPRUS is a coming-of-age story set in the Middle East during the height of the Cold War. An American teenager - son of a CIA operative - is inspired by grand events and a Greek Cypriot teacher to learn about survival and his art. He witnesses earthquakes and riots and terrorist attacks, but in the end it is his teacher's gentle lessons that keep him whole. What readers say about Lucky In Cyprus:
"Bravo, Allan! When I finished Lucky In Cyprus I wept." - Julie Mitchell, Hot Springs, Texas "Lucky In Cyprus brought back many memories... A wonderful book. So many shadows blown away!" - Freddy & Maureen Smart, Episkopi, Cyprus.
"... (Reading) Lucky In Cyprus has been a humbling, haunting, sobering and enlightening experience..." - J.A. Locke, Bookloons.com
In the depths of the Sixties and The Days Of Rage, a young newsman, accompanied by his pregnant wife and orphaned teenage brother, creates a Paradise of sorts in a sprawling Venice Beach community of apartments, populated by students, artists, budding scientists and engineers lifeguards, poets, bikers with a few junkies thrown in for good measure. The inhabitants come to call the place “Pepperland,” after the Beatles movie, “Yellow Submarine.” Threatening this paradise is‘The Blue Meanie, a crazy giant of a man so frightening that he eventually even scares himself.
Tales Sometimes Tall, but always true, of Allan Cole's years in Hollywood with his late partner, Chris Bunch. How a naked lady almost became our first agent. How we survived La-La Land with only the loss of half our brain cells. How Bunch & Cole became the ultimate Fix-It Boys. How an alleged Mafia Don was very, very good to us. The guy who cornered the market on movie rocks. Andy Warhol's Fire Extinguisher. The Real Stars Of Hollywood. Why they don't make million dollar movies. See The Seven Pi$$ing Dwarfs. Learn: how to kill a "difficult" actor… And many more.
From Library Journal: A kaleidoscopic treatment of the Vietnam War, this long novel maneuvers back and forth between the American viewpoint and, to a lesser extent, the Vietnamese. From October 1967 to January 1968 the military on both sides, as well as Vietnamese civilians, struggle to kill each other and/or survive. Major Shannon and General Sinclair and men of the first squad are highlighted, as are General Duan and his aide Lau. There are brief flashbacks to civilian life. The authors have created a frighteningly realistic overview of battle, punctuated with vignettes of individual triumph and failure. The climax is the Tet Offensive and bloody recapturing of a city. Three things finally emerge: the necessity for survival, the stupidity of war, and the suggestion that America might as well have been on the other side. Recommended.
The year is 1778 and the Revolutionary War has young America trapped in the crossfire of hatred and fear. Diana, an indentured servant escapes her abusive master with the help of Emmett Shannon, a deserter from the desperate army at Valley Forge. They fall in love and marry, but their happiness is shattered and Diana Shannon must learn to survive on her own. From that moment on she will become a true woman of her times, blazing a path from lawless lands in the grips of the Revolution, to plague-stricken Philadelphia, to the burning of Washington in the War of 1812.
During the Vietnam war, GIs who managed to survive their tour of duty in one piece – more or less - were flown home in chartered airliners. They called those planes “Freedom Birds.” This is the story of three young men – from wildly different backgrounds – who meet on such a plane and make a pact to spend three days together in San Francisco. Their goal: to spend every cent of their mustering out money in a party of a lifetime. And they’ll get more than they bargained for: because when they land, it is July 1967 – in a time that would come to be known as “The Summer Of Love.” A place and time where each young man will have to confront the ghosts who followed them home from the jungles of Vietnam and contemplate a future none of them had imagined.
"When The Gods Slept: is the first book in The Timura Trilogy - an epic fantasy inspired by Omar Khyyam’s The Rubaiyat. The trilogy has won international praise for portraying a world of breathtaking beauty and savagery. Of noble sacrifice and base betrayal. A world where the most powerful magic of all, for good and evil, lies in the divided hearts of humans and demons. King of Kings, Lord over Men and Demons Alike: Only one ruler had ever held that title, and now Iraj Protarus, an orphaned prince exiled to a small village high in the Valley of the Clouds, dreamed of being the next great conqueror. The key to his destiny would be Safar Timura, a youth with an awesome gift for sorcery, whose visions foretold Iraj's rise to power. And in those visions, Safar stood at Iraj's side, his soul-blasting spells enabling his friend to attain his dreams. But Safar had other visions with darker portents, and his spellbound knowledge raised secrets better left buried. The road the two men followed would be rich in titles and fortunes, but it would also be rich in death and disaster, in intrigue--and in unforgivable betrayal ... The other the novels in series are: WOLVES OF THE GODS and THE GODS AWAKEN.
A nameless evil stalks the land, preying on all that lives, human and demon alike. Only one man has the power to stem the ravening tide: Safar Timura, greatest wizard of the age, whose matchless magic once raised Iraj Protarus to the throne of all Esmir ... and then, when king turned tyrant, destroyed him. Now Safar is done with the deadly intrigues of courts and kings. Back in his mountain home of Kyrania, he wants only to be left alone. But when a brutal murder smashes his solitude, Safar must lead his people on a desperate trek to safety--a perilous journey to fabled, far-off Syrapis guided only by a magical vision and the words of a sorcerer long dead. The road leads straight through dark Caluz, a once-proud land now fallen beneath the sorcerous yoke of an unspeakable darkness. But there is no going back. Close at Safar's heels another evil follows like a rapacious wolf: Iraj Protarus. For the King of Kings has returned from the dead, hideously transformed--and thirsting for Safar's blood.
What if the Cold War never ended? What if a demonic cabal altered history to feed off a burning, unreasoning hatred? And then kept Americans and Russians on the razor-edge of all out war for a thousand years to satisfy that hunger?
But then one day in uttermost space thousands of innocents are killed—victims of “military
error”—and the deadly balance is upset. Suddenly all that stands between Galactic annihilation of human and spirit-world creatures alike is a halfbreed boy and a cranky old Engine Devil named Scratch.
For the first time in literary history, an American and a Russian combine literary forces to tell a tale that soars to the outer reaches of imagination. A place where fantasy and science fiction collide to create a world you have never experienced before.
THE FAR KINGDOMS: Allan Cole and the late Chris Bunch - the bestselling authors of the Sten series - now turn their storytelling talents from science fiction to epic fantasy--with a magnificent quest novel. The Far Kingdoms: a place of wonders, riches, magic, and terrors . . . a place where a young trader will seek wealth beyond imagination and find the adventure of a lifetime. Finalist in the World Fantasy competition. "Fantasy of the year." - Locus Magazine. "Breaks new ground." Publishers Weekly. "Classic!" Kirkus Reviews. The novel was a finalist in the World Fantasy Best Novel competition. This is one of four books in the series. The others are The Warrior's Tale, Kingdoms Of The Night, and The Warrior Returns, which was written by Allan solo.
THE WARRIOR'S TALE: Captain Rali Emilie Antero came from an illustrious family of traders, wizards, and adventurers. But Rali cared little for magic and even less for journeying. She was a soldier, captain of the elite Maranon Guard, staunch defenders of the majestic city of Orissa. But her family legacy was about to catch up with her. For the Guard's latest mission was sheer suicide: a sea-going odyssey in search of an evil master wizard the last Archon of Lycans who had fled with a secret doomsday spell that could destroy all of civilization. It would be Rali's greatest challenge: a desperate pursuit, raging across the great Western Sea to the fire reefs that marked the end of the world and beyond, to places unmarked even in legend. But only in the uncharted territories of her own soul and the heritage of the Aneros would Rali find the power to defeat the Archon and return to Orissa in triumph. Note from Allan: The Amazon.com page devoted to this book the publisher mistakenly credits the new introduction to Allan's co-author, the late Chris Bunch. Wish it were so. Alas, Chris has been dead for many years now. The introduction was written by yours truly, Allan Cole.
The third volume in the Far Kingdoms series brings Amalric Antero a new quest — for the Kingdoms of the Night, whose existence may hold the answer to the survival of his city! This authorized edition adds a new preface by Allan Cole explaining the origin of the series. "Cole and Bunch continue one of the most satisfactory recent fantasy trilogies, the saga of Amalric Antero and his kin. Amalric, now an aging widower whose sister Rali (of The Warrior's Tale) has vanished and who thinks all is well, is visited by the great-granddaughter of his old, sorcerous mentor, Janos Greycloak. It turns out that the Far Kingdoms (the Kingdoms of the Night) have not, as was thought, been found after all. Those kingdoms remain key to the survival of Amalric's city, Orissa, in the face of growing dangers, so Amalric must go questing once more in a dark-toned, even grim, tale that sees him succeed only at a high price. Cole and Bunch bring readers all the virtues they have previously displayed as they deftly balance world building, characterization, action, believable magic, and simple, sound use of the English language to produce a conclusion that, like its predecessors, is highly recommended." -- Booklist
THE WARRIOR RETURNS: For those who thrilled to the adventures and wonders of the voyages of the Anteros, here is the book where all the secrets from KINGDOMS OF THE NIGHT are finally, dazzlingly, revealed. In this fourth and final volume of the Far Kingdoms books – written by Sten co-author, Allan Cole - all of Orissa believes that Rali Antero, legendary warrior and sorceress extraordinaire, was dead, lost at sea during some grand adventure gone wrong. In fact, Rail is not dead, but was left entombed in ice to dream for eternity--until a goddess awakens her for one last desperate quest . . . Allan completes the Far Kingdoms series. The other three novels were written with his longtime writing partner, the late Chris Bunch.
Christmas, 1953: While the rest of Philadelphia sings Jingle Bells, Thomas Grubb gets his first taste of a cop's life. Before he cashes his first paycheck he encounters: a man gutted by a knife-wielding mugger, a fighting-mad mental case intent on destroying a hospital emergency room and the hushed-up shooting death of an undercover cop. That first week is nothing compared to what lies ahead. Working as a street cop, an undercover officer, a detective and finally gang control, Grubb will spend the next thirty years going toe-to-toe with all the fast-changing and sometimes violent events that have rocked American society. A Cop's Life: The remarkable story of a truly remarkable man. The late Thomas Grubb was Allan's uncle.
After laboring as a Doctors Without Borders physician in the teeming refugee camps and minefields of South Asia, Dr. Ann Donovan thought she'd seen Hell as close up as you can get. And as a fifth generation CIA brat, she thought she knew all there was to know about corruption and betrayal. But then her father - a legendary spymaster - shows up, with a ten-year-old boy in tow. A brother she never knew existed. Then in a few violent hours, her whole world is shattered, her father killed and she and her kid brother are on the run with hell hounds on their heels. They finally corner her in a clinic in Hawaii and then all the lies and treachery are revealed on one terrible, bloody storm-ravaged night. Allan wrote this novel with his daughter, Susan - the Dr. Beck Cole of the title. She is a senior vice president and head of science and research at Gwyneth Paltrow's company - GOOP. Like the heroine of the book, Susan is a medical doctor, has a masters in Chinese medicine and has a black belt in the martial arts.
Mac thought he’d seen every human evil. A former Company man, he’d witnessed mass murder and systematic torture. And he’d meted out justice to the perpetrators whenever he had the chance. But now that he was living the idyllic life of a Boca Raton beach bum, he figured that was all behind him. Then his housekeeper’s granddaughter was kidnapped and Mac was plunged into a conspiracy born from the hells, involving an exiled Central American dictator, the Company, and fifty innocent children. By the time he finds out it’s almost too late and Mac must become a one-man army to save the day.