Books with author David Alexander

We fight, so the rest shall not have to.In a world where single combat determines the fate of nations, the Grievar fight so that the rest can remain at peace.Cego is a mysterious Grievar boy forced to fight his way out of the slave Circles into the world's most prestigious combat school. At the Lyceum, Cego will learn a variety of martial arts from eclectic teachers, develop deep bonds of friendship and fight against contentious rivals to climb the school's rankings. But, Cego will find far more than combat studies at the Lyceum. He will find the mystery of his past unraveled by forces greater than he could ever imagine.

Logicide! Heretic! Everyone knows cats can't talk. Everyone except Niclas, a halfwit slum boy who's just landed a new job as a talking cat's man-servant. But this is Laburnum and the age of Rationalism. Here, the Academy's Inquisition takes illogical happenings very seriously. Locking people up, throwing away keys, that sort of thing. And it's not just the Crimson Men Niclas and his new master have to worry about. A man with no name has come to the capital in search of the Black Science - they call him Witchhunter.

Logicide! Heretic!Behold, the city of Laburnum, where all the gods are dead.The all-seeing Academy has outlawed faith and superstition. Those caught whispering about unreasonable things quickly disappear.But in this cruel city dripping with lies and conspiracy, an aristocrat and a slum boy are about to have their fates wound together by a mysterious cat. They will soon discover the dark underworld behind their city's curtain — and that evil has more than one face.Pure Dickensian Voodoo.Widdershins is a dystopian thrill-ride of top hats, politics, misfits and blood magic, from a striking new voice in fantasy.

In a world where single combat determines the fate of nations, the Grievar fight in the Circles so that the rest can remain at peace. But given the stakes, things are never so simple. The Daimyo govern from the shadows and plot to gain an edge by unnaturally enhancing their Grievar Knights.Cego and his team enter year two at the world's most prestigious combat school, the Lyceum. Though he'd like to focus on his martial studies, Cego feels the pull of his mysterious past and two missing brothers.Solara Halberd, daughter of the fighting legend, embarks on her own quest to bury the past. She must utilize every lesson her father taught her to explore unknown lands where evil lurks in the shadows.

A WONDERFUL READ ALOUD ABOUT WINTER AND THE SIMPLE THINGS IN LIFE. Winters in Bern are long and cold and deep. On winter nights, when the snow is falling, Pippa goes to sleep knowing she’ll wake up to tracks in front of her farmhouse. The tracks are small, and they come from the woods—those same woods that her mother says are full of witches and elves and trolls, and her father says are full of wolves and bears and demons. But these tracks are the Tompte’s, and he is a friendly creature. Or at least that’s what Pippa hopes. . . The Tompte borrows and mends things, he takes and he sometimes leaves things, and such is life on a farm at the edge of the realm. Her mother calls it tradition. Her father calls it a curse. And when things start going missing and trouble comes their way, Pippa’s not sure what to believe. Soon enough, she'll have no choice but to go into the woods to find out. . . Winter comes and north wind blows,And with it comes the winter snow. Through the pines, he leaves his track,Over hill and here and back.The Tompte he looks after land,With quiet feet and silent hand. He comes from woods, alone and weary,On winter nights, dark and dreary.Through the farm, he peeks about,Checking in, and on and out.Taking gifts and leaving tokens,Mending bits that have been broken. His beard is long, his feet are small,He’s like a child, about as tall,But Tompte is old and wise as well,And deep in forest is his dell.So, on winter nights when you’re asleep,Along comes Tompte in silence deep, On quiet feet, with food to shareWith quiet hands, and traded fare. Winters come and Autumns go,And with it comes the Tompte through snow.Always watching, never seenLeaving tracks of where he’s been.

A male prostitute, a mangy cat, a murder and an obsession that threatens his career, his impending marriage and his life. Nothing is going as planned for Austin Glass. Austin Glass seems to have it all, A loving fiancee, a future with the FBI and a healthy sized trust fund. At least on the surface. He also has a grin and a wisecrack for every situation. But the smile he presents to the world hides a painful past he’s buried too deeply to remember, and his quips mask bitterness and insecurity. Austin has himself and most of the whole world fooled—until he meets a redhead in a pair of bunny slippers. As events unfold in the biggest case of his life, Austin’s carefully planned future unravels, and he finds himself pushed into making quick, life-changing decisions. But can he trust himself or anything he feels, when each event seems to be just a series of volatile reactions?

Are lessons ever really learned?Incredibly detailed and highly emotive, The Unprofessional Soldier gives a first-person account of the Mesopotamian campaign of the Great War. David Alexander has cleverly interwoven his grandfather's original manuscript, diaries and recollections of conversations together, with additional details of the wider context of the campaign. The result is a moving tale of what drives a man to become a soldier and motivates him to fight, to kill and to survive.Insights into military authority, the narrative of wartime decision-making, the ebb and flow of battlefield successes and failures, and the detail of local tactics are balanced by descriptions of day-to-day living and surviving in harsh and dangerous environments where the combination of disease and Arab attacks were as damaging to the British forces as were the Turks themselves. And the images of war are evocative. The bloated bodies of comrades in the desert sun. The anger and rage produced by the instant and violent death of a fellow soldier from a gaping head wound. The cold accounts given by the Battalion's ‘hangman'. The failed attempt at aerial re-supply of the besieged and starving British army at Kut-al-Amara.But Alexander has also included the shades of regret and how a man can justify killing another expressed in his grandfather's own words.A fascinating, well-researched tale which makes one contemplate the futility of war.

We fight, so the rest shall not have to.In a world where single combat determines the fate of nations, the Grievar fight so that the rest can remain at peace.Cego is a mysterious Grievar boy forced to fight his way out of the slave Circles into the world's most prestigious combat school. At the Lyceum, Cego will learn a variety of martial arts from eclectic teachers, develop deep bonds of friendship and fight against contentious rivals to climb the school's rankings. But, Cego will find far more than combat studies at the Lyceum. He will find the mystery of his past unraveled by forces greater than he could ever imagine.

In a world where single combat determines the fate of nations, the Grievar fight in the Circles so that the rest can remain at peace. But given the stakes, things are never so simple. The Daimyo govern from the shadows and plot to gain an edge by unnaturally enhancing their Grievar Knights.Cego and his team enter year two at the world's most prestigious combat school, the Lyceum. Though he'd like to focus on his martial studies, Cego feels the pull of his mysterious past and two missing brothers.Solara Halberd, daughter of the fighting legend, embarks on her own quest to bury the past. She must utilize every lesson her father taught her to explore unknown lands where evil lurks in the shadows.