A trans-world journey with an extraorindary shorebird—from Australia's southern ocean to the Arctic and back—that explores the mysteries of the natural world and its power to heal. As the sun lowered and turned Gulf St Vincent fiery, they each called a high-pitched 'peeooowiii!', flashed their black wing-pits, spread their tail skirts and took flight... In a luminous new boook, Andrew Darby follows the odysseys of two seemingly-humble Grey Plovers, little-known migratory shorebirds, as they take previously uncharted ultramarathon flights from the southern coast of Australia to Arctic breeding grounds. On these death-defying flights they dodge predators, typhoons, exhaustion, and countless other dangers before they can breed...and then survive the jrouney all over again and return south to their feeding grounds. But the greatest threat to these, and other long-distance migrants on the flyway, is China's "dragon economy," which is engulfing their vital Yellow Sea staging spots. In Flight Lines, we meet the dedicated people of all nationalities and backgrounds working to save these intrepid birds, from Russia to Alaska, from the rim of the Arctic Sea to the coasts of the Southern Ocean. Out of their hard-won science Darby finds hope for the birds—an unexpected bright light for our times. But his journey to understand these marvellous birds almost ends when he is suddenly diagnosed with an incurable cancer. Then he finds science coming to his rescue too, as his own story and the journey of these little birds intersect in an unexpected and beautiful way.

Almost forty years of professional flying in more than a dozen aircraft types—from supersonic RCAF jet fighters to helicopters to B747s—along with summer flying training while attending The Royal Military College of Canada, a solid career on the flight decks of a fleet of Air Canada aircraft, RCAF/Government VIP Challenger flights transporting heads of state and royal houses, and a career finishing in the left seat of the Boeing 767 comprise the high-flying highlights of retired Captain A. Kent Smerdon’s career as a pilot. And it makes for a fascinating read. Here, find a highly personal collection of airborne war stories that capture the experience of a career spent on many different kinds of wings. Flight Lines: Assorted Lies, Recollections, and War Stories is fast-paced and delightfully studded with personal touches, high drama, and thundering humour. Readers are treated to the inside experiences of a flying man, complete with intimate insights, technical asides and a steady current of entertaining stories about the enduringly compelling adventures of a full-throttle life airborne.

THE STORIES: FLIGHT LINES. Anthony, a retired man in his sixties, and his wife, Christie, live in relative serenity until he is selected to sit on the jury for a sensational courtroom case. A terrorist, an attractive woman in her thirties, is being

EAST GERMAN AF VANGENT/BONTJE