Kirjahaku

The tradition of the poet warrior endures throughout human history, finding expression in the Bible's King David, the Vikings of Iceland, Japan's Samurai, the Shambhala teachings of Tibet, the ancient Greeks and medieval knights. Mike Bond, an award-winning poet, critically acclaimed novelist, ecologist, and war and human rights journalist, is in the same tradition.Initially published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti in City Lights Books, Bond has won multiple prizes for his poetry and prose, and now brings the multitude of his diverse life to his remarkable new book of poetry. His poetry dances between reflections on the majesty of wilderness, the joys and sorrows of love, and passionate expressions of life's greatest existential questions. Prefacing the book is Bond's insightful essay on why poetry is an essential part of cognitive awareness, "how we find meaning in the incomprehensible, beautiful, tragic and sacred mystery of life."Poetry, Bond notes, has existed since our Paleolithic days, found not just in humans but also in the songs of wolves and whales, and an imperative for everyone to enjoy. "Reading poems enlarges our personal awareness of life's exuberance, its terrible destiny," he says. "To learn in our own lives from the visions of others."

Special Forces veteran Pono Hawkins races from a Tahiti surfing contest to France when he learns that an ISIS terrorist he'd thought was dead, Mustafa al-Boudienne, has an Iranian backpack nuclear weapon and plans to destroy Paris. Pono was once Mustafa's prisoner in Iraq and is now the only one left alive to identify him.When Pono reaches Paris he finds that his closest comrade has been kidnapped, and that the date to destroy the city is fast approaching. Joining forces with allies from US and French intelligence, and with a fearless and brilliant French agent, Anne Ronsard, with whom he soon falls in love, Pono sets out against impossible odds to catch and kill Mustafa and his terrorist cell before they can destroy the most beautiful city on earth. As they dig deeper into the terrorist networks, their own lives are more and more endangered, while the terrorists change tactics again and again to outwit them as the time to save the city runs out.Spanning a fast two weeks in and around Paris, Goodbye Paris is a window to today's France, its elegance and poverty, humanism and fanaticism, beauty and despair, to the still-magical French countryside with its white castles and dark forests, the food, wine, and joyous ironic people, the magic of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame and the tragic fate awaiting them.Another Pono Hawkins adventure following the best-sellers Saving Paradise and Killing Maine, Goodbye Paris takes us into never-before revealed depths of covert action on three continents, to insider secrets in the war against terrorism, into intense memories of combat in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, and to the depths of love when everything seems lost.Based on the author's years of experience with terrorism and Middle East wars, and his deep knowledge of French and US intelligence and military operations, Goodbye Paris is a stunning thriller, an entrancing love story, and an exciting account of anti-terror operations from Paris and Morocco to Afghanistan.Goodbye Paris is a hallmark Mike Bond thriller: tense, exciting, and alive with real details and places, and that will keep you up all night.

From its riveting start in the night skies of Afghanistan to its stunning end in the recent Paris terrorist attacks, Assassins is an insider's story of the last 30 years of war between Islam and the West. A US commando, a French woman doctor, a Russian major, a British female journalist, a top CIA operator, an Afghani woman, and a Taliban warlord fight for their lives and loves in the dangerous streets and lethal deserts of the Middle East. Drop by parachute into the deadly mountains of Afghanistan, feel the passion of love when at any instant you both can die, experience the bone-chilling fear of an American agent in an Al Qaeda group and of women who face death every day, fight door to door in the bloody cities of Iraq, know the terror of battle inside a Russian tank - it's all there, all real, in Assassins. Did the Saudis finance 9/11? Did GW Bush let Osama bin Laden escape Afghanistan and then lie about Weapons of Mass Destruction so he could invade Iraq? Did Obama's decision to leave Iraq in 2011 lead to the rise of ISIS? It's all there, all real, in Assassins.

Two hunters and their guide find a crashed cocaine plane in the Montana wilderness. Each has a reason to steal the cocaine - who will? The two who do steal it soon find themselves hunted by the Mexican cocaine cartel, the DEA, Las Vegas killers, their guide, and the police of several states. Zack, a former NFL star now a TV sports icon, owes two million to some nasty people in Vegas. Steve, a Wall Street broker, may have lost all of his and Zack's investments. Curt, their guide, a half-Cheyenne mountain man, is trying to save his ranch from an energy company takeover. Diego is an executioner for the cocaine cartel. Mar a Christina, a Harvard grad and Yale MBA, runs the cartel. Whitney Castro is a black girl from the Denver slums, now a brilliant DEA agent. Kenny Stauffenberg is an easy-going Montana sheriff who never gives up a hunt. From the frozen peaks of Montana to the heights of Wall Street, the slums of Denver and the million-dollar tables at Vegas, SNOW is an electric portrait of today's American culture, the invisible line between good and evil, and what people will do in their frantic search for love and freedom.

An American climber in the Himalayas stumbles on a shipment of backpack nuclear weapons headed into Tibet for use against China. Pursued by spy agencies and other killers across Asia, North Africa, Europe and the United States, he is captured then rescued by a beautiful young woman with whom he forms a deadly liaison. They escape, are captured and escape again, death always at their heels. A terrifying international manhunt and stunning love story, Tibetan Cross is a European best-seller.

HOUSE OF JAGUAR: A tense, dangerous thriller of CIA operations and dirty wars in Latin America, guerrilla battles, drug flights, environmental catastrophes and genocides. Based on the author's own experiences as a war and human rights correspondent there.1. ARCHETYPAL STORY OF LOVE AND DEATH: The intensity of love when any instant you can be killed. There is no safety anywhere, and any mistake could doom the person you love.2. FEEL THE FEAR: What's it like to be hunted through the jungle, on foreign streets and in dirty barrios by endless faceless enemies? When you can never escape?3. EXOTIC: Midnight landings on mountain roads, guerrilla encampments, the Mexican underworld and California rock stars. HOUSE OF JAGUAR puts you there.4. AMERICA'S DIRTIEST WARS: HOUSE OF JAGUAR breaks the silence on the extensive war crimes perpetrated by US-backed military dictatorships in Central America. The author was the last foreign correspondent left in Guatemala when over 150 journalists had been killed by death squads, and worked thereafter as a human rights activist exposing US actions. See http: //nyti.ms/1jWunDe5. WE CAUSED IT BUT WE'RE INVISIBLE: Starting with the US overthrow of Guatemala's elected government in 1954, the US plunged that country into 45 years of civil wars and genocides. The present trial of ex-dictator Rios Montt has focused on numerous atrocities committed with the support of the Reagan administration, but the US has not even been cited in the trial.6. HISTORICAL THRILLER: House of Jaguar is the core of Tikal, Guatemala's ancient city civilization. What was it like?7. JUNGLE LIFE: The animals, trees, insects, the intensity of verdant thriving beings. The author traveled many miles of jungle and paddled many wild rivers and streams. HOUSE OF JAGUAR puts you there.8. DOES THE US TORTURE? What really happens inside the torture cells, the US covert groups, and genocidal Army units? HOUSE OF JAGUAR puts you there.9. KILLING CHRIST'S MESSENGERS: Why exterminate the Catholic clergy too? HOUSE OF JAGUAR tells why.10. THE SIX HOUSES OF HELL: House of Jaguar is the first of the six Mayan houses of Hell. Primeval myths and Mayan memories powerfully influence many Guatemalans. Are they a metaphor for what we've done?11. BEFORE THE FIRING SQUAD: Will you want the blindfold as they tie you to the bullet-splintered bloody pole and you look down the barrels of the waiting guns? HOUSE OF JAGUAR puts you there.12. A DOLLAR A DAY IS PLENTY OF PAY: The role of US fruit companies in stamping out democracy in Central America. HOUSE OF JAGUAR tells how.13. WANT MORE WEAPONS? You're a military dictatorship and the CIA wants to give you more weapons but you're so evil that Congress has suspended military aid. How does the CIA get you the weapons anyway? HOUSE OF JAGUAR explains how.14. YOU HAVE 30 SECONDS TO LIVE: You've just been grabbed off the street by a death squad and thrown into a Black Maria. In 30 seconds they'll pull up on a side street, drag you out and cut your throat. What are your last thoughts?15. EXTERMINATING THE RAIN FOREST: Can we protect the last vestiges of rain forest in Central America? And their magnificent animals?

The Battle of Beirut is worse than Hell, a maelstrom of implacable hatreds and frantic love affairs, of explosions, sniper battles and deadly ambushes. Neill, a journalist on a secret mission for Britain's MI6 intelligence agency, is trying to find Mohammed, a Hezbollah terrorist who could stop the slaughter. Andr , a French commando, is also hunting Mohammed, to kill him for the death of his brother, blown up with over 400 US Marines and French paratroopers by Hezbollah. For Rosa, a remorseless and passionate Palestinian guerrilla, Mohammed is one of few hopes for her people, and she will die to protect him. And for lovely Anne-Marie, Andr is the only one who can save her from Hell. Based on the author's own experiences in Lebanon, Syria and the Middle East, Holy War has been praised for its portrayal of civil war, and for its evocation of men and women caught in a deadly crossfire.

FIRST PRIZE FOR FICTION, LOS ANGELES BOOK FESTIVAL. "A stunning tale of love and loss amid a magnificent wilderness and its myriad animals, and a deadly manhunt through savage jungles, steep mountains and fierce deserts as an SAS commando tries to save the elephants, the woman he loves and the soul of Africa itself."With Africa's last elephants being killed for their ivory, Kenya rancher and ex-SAS officer Ian MacAdam leads a commando squad to hunt down the poachers. Pursuing them through jungled mountains and searing deserts he battles thirst, solitude, terror and lethal animals, only to find they have kidnapped a young archaeologist, Rebecca Hecht, whom he once loved and bitterly lost. McAdam embarks upon a desperate trek to save not only Rebecca but his own soul in an Africa torn apart by wars, overpopulation, and the slaughter of its last wildlife.An intense memoir of humanity's ancient heartland, its people, wildlife, deserts and jungles, and the deep, abiding power of love."One of the most realistic portrayals of Africa yet." - YAHOO REVIEWS... "Sheer intensity" - KIRKUS... "A gripping thriller." - LIVERPOOL DAILY POST (UK)

The Sixties shook America to its foundation - the assassination of an idealistic young president, a tragic and unpopular war, a battle for civil rights, a cosmic clash of riots and burning cities, and an explosion of sex, drugs and rock'n roll.For four young people, the Sixties is a decade of promise and freedom. For orphaned Troy, it's the joy of living with his new family and exploring the world of flight and outer space. For Tara, the girl he loves, the power of song as she evolves into a rock'n roll star. For his new brother, Mick, a football hero and rebel, a time to question everything, including the fast-growing war in Vietnam. And for Daisy, the girl Mick loves, a chance to fight for equality, join the Peace Corps, and expand her study of the human mind.America is the first of Mike Bond's seven-volume historical novel series, capturing the victories and heartbreaks of the last 70 years and of our nation's most profound upheavals since the Civil War - a time that defined the end of the 20th Century and where we are today.Through the wild, joyous, heartbroken and visionary lives of four young people and many others, the Sixties come alive again, as do its questions: what is life? What is freedom? What was lost, what was won?

"An extraordinary and deftly crafted novel that combines interesting characters within an historically detailed background... a fascinating read from cover to cover." - MIDWEST BOOK REVIEWFrom the war-shattered jungles of Vietnam to America's burning cities, near-death in Tibet, peace marches, the battle of Hu and the battle of the Pentagon, wild drugs, rock concerts, free love, CIA coups in Indonesia and Greece, the Six Days' War, and Bobby Kennedy's last campaign, Freedom puts you in the Sixties as if it were now.Mick leaves for the Himalayas while Troy heads to Vietnam with the Marines. Daisy starts her PhD in brain research, and Tara battles heroin as her rock band reaches stardom.Troy is soon caught up in mind-numbing combat in Vietnam, while Mick returns to the States to lead the antiwar effort. Tara's band signs a Motown contract amid the Detroit riots. At Stanford, Daisy expands her study of the human brain under LSD and other mind-altering drugs. Troy falls in love with a Vietnamese teacher and is slowly losing faith in the War.Freedom ends the night before the Tet uprising in Vietnam that will change the War, and trap Troy and his beloved in the fires of hell.

"A testament to the effect the politics and moral revolution have had on America." - MIAMI TIMES"An evocative novel of the 1960s that hits just the right tone." - KIRKUSThe 1968 Tet uprising plunges America deeper into the abyss of Vietnam. Martin Luther King is shot, and riots rage in 130 burning American cities. Students protesting the War take over American universities, and street battles in Paris nearly topple the French government. Senator Eugene McCarthy enters the Democratic presidential race against Lyndon Johnson, followed by Bobby Kennedy, who goes on to win the California Democratic primary.Mick joins the Paris student street battles, then returns to the US to work in Kennedy's presidential campaign. Daisy leaves Stanford to work also in Bobby's campaign. Troy faces increasing dangers as the Vietnam War widens into Cambodia and Laos. American astronauts land on the moon and safely return to earth.Tara and her band shine at Woodstock. The My Lai massacre is revealed, further darkening the tragedy in Vietnam, and America teeters on the edge of revolution.

First published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti in City Lights Books, Mike Bond is an award-winning poet, best-selling novelist, ecologist and former war and human rights correspondent. His previous poetry collection, The Drum That Beats Within Us received high praise and has been a best-seller repeatedly since its publication in 2018. This new collection draws from his extensive poetry on love, wilderness, wisdom and fate, on our everyday lives and the infinite and eternal universes in which we live.

The Doomsday clock is set at 90 seconds to Midnight. There's no time to lose.Mike Bond delivers the summer's must read thriller - our very survival depends on it.Nuclear war is coming.Can we stop it?Or is it already too late?On an October night, far out in the South China Sea, a diver sets explosive charges under a huge oil platform. On the platform above, geologist Liz Chaplin stands watching the Southern Cross sink beneath the waves.In New York, Ross Bullock, the CEO of Rawhide Energy and the platform's owner, states during a televised press conference that our country has made a fatal mistake in Ukraine and is headed for nuclear war.Immediately the White House, intelligence agencies, the media and financial world attack Rawhide for raising the specter of nuclear war and thus threatening the president's reelection.The action expands to Mongolia, Indonesia, Washington D.C., and Ukraine. The true perpetrator of these crimes becomes known - it is impossible, unbelievable, but true. Is the White House behind it?The president threatens nuclear war with Russia to distract voters from his fraudulent Ukraine and China deals and worsening polls. The Russians respond by increasing their nuclear readiness. But the president alone can decide to launch a nuclear war as he clings to the nuclear button.So begins CRUDE, Mike Bond's new super-thriller that takes us to the door of world annihilation and shows us what's inside."Mike Bond is the master of the existential thriller" - BBC"One of America's best thriller writers" - CULTURE BUZZ"A master of the storytelling craft" - MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW"One of the 21st Century's most exciting authors" - WASHINGTON TIMES"Mike Bond is a masterful storyteller." - SACRAMENTO BEE"Mike Bond's books are a national treasure." -WVOX