The portrayal of the events, people, and company that created a boomtown and a rare glimpse into the wheelings and dealings of cattle barons, oil tycoons, and politicos on a truly Texas scale.

At the age of thirty-three, Ekow Eshun—born in London to African-born parents—travels to Ghana in search of his roots. He goes from Accra, Ghana’s cosmopolitan capital city, to the storied slave forts of Elmina, and on to the historic warrior kingdom of Asante. During his journey, Eshun uncovers a long-held secret about his lineage that will compel him to question everything he knows about himself and where he comes from. From the London suburbs of his childhood to the twenty-first century African metropolis, Eshun’s is a moving chronicle of one man’s search for home, and of the pleasures and pitfalls of fashioning an identity in these vibrant contemporary worlds.

The city states of the Lowlands have lived in peace for decades, bastions of civilization, prosperity and sophistication, protected by treaties, trade and a belief in the reasonable nature of their neighbors. But meanwhile, in far-off corners, the Wasp Empire has been devouring city after city with its highly trained armies, its machines, it killing Art . . . And now its hunger for conquest and war has become insatiable. Only the aging Stenwold Maker, spymaster, artificer and statesman, can see that the long days of peace are over. It falls upon his shoulders to open the eyes of his people, before a black-and-gold tide sweeps down over the Lowlands and burns away everything in its path. But first he must stop himself from becoming the Empire's latest victim.

Blue Flames, Black Gold is a story of persistence. It's the intrepid wildcatters who ventured into Australia's dead heart and took a punt on drilling an oil well in virgin territory. It's the young Adelaide lawyer who dared to dream, and those on the sidelines who watched and scoffed. It's two school chums who started an exploration company amidst the oil fervour of 1954--a company that, 60 years later, would be the biggest company in South Australia. The history of Santos covers the excitement of exploration and discovery in the 1950s and '60s, the boardroom tussles and political wrangles of the 1970s and '80s, and the rise of technological developments in the new millennium. It tells the tale of an industrial township that forms in the remote Australian outback; of Alan Bond's controversial stock market deal which led to the South Australian government capping shareholdings for 28 years; the construction of the 1,100-km Moomba-to-Sydney pipeline bringing natural gas to Sydney for the first time; and the birth of the Coal Seam Gas industry. Blue Flames, Black Gold is not just the story of South Australia's biggest company but a story that encompasses the social and political history of the state and Australia's transition to the new energy sources of the future. It is the story of pioneers exploring new frontiers. It is a story of faith and vision and perseverance.

In Gold Wings Rising, the final installment of Alex London's Skybound Saga, Kylee and Brysen must fight for their lives and their humanity. Book 1 was a Today Show Book Club Pick! The war on the ground has ended, but the war with the sky has just begun. After the Siege of the Six Villages, the ghost eagles have trapped Uztaris on both sides of the conflict. The villagers and Kartami alike hide in caves, huddled in terror as they await nightly attacks. Kylee aims to plunge her arrows into each and every ghost eagle; in her mind, killing the birds is the only way to unshackle the city’s chains. But Brysen has other plans. While the humans fly familiar circles around each other, the ghost eagles create schemes far greater and more terrible than either Kylee or Brysen could have imagined. Now, the tug-of-war between love and power begins to fray, threatening bonds of siblinghood and humanity alike.