Lance L. Palmgren's debut book, The Walnut Warriors® (In a Nutshell)- Book One of the Trilogy within a 7–Book Series - introduces the Walnut Warrior characters. The Walnut Warriors are fearsome but lovable nuts. They live in a secret place deep inside the Misty Forest on and inside a huge, extremely old walnut tree. The book describes their lifestyle and home-life, their location, perils, friends, and typical enemies. It also sets the stage for the forthcoming adventures in Books Two and Three of the Trilogy.

Under a clear, sunny sky, early arrival spectator Nuts eagerly and excitedly began to fill the Grandstand: every other Misty Forest inhabitant followed. It was opening day for the First Annual Walnut Warrior Motocross Race. Anticipation electrified the air; cheering and shell clacking wafted over the track and into the Pits. Walnut Warriors were kick-starting their machines to slowly roll toward the line-up at the Starting Gate. Prior the start of the race, over the megaphone, Nick Nutley, the Announcer, boomed a fond Welcome Greeting to all and proceeded to discuss the racing rules and 'dicey' track conditions: steep hills, long high jumps, deep triple ruts, off-camber hairpin turns, and whoop-de-doos. As if that were not thrilling enough, there were several highly dangerous sections of track unrevealed to the spectators. . . these hazards would only be fully described as racers approached each peril or menace. Nutley secretly wondered if any riders would actually be able to finish the race. He solemnly reasoned any elsewhere but the courageous Walnut Warriors would have no chance. Riders braced, slightly hunched over their handlebars; engines screamed with clutch levers-in, front brakes held, and throttles wide-open – all waiting the last seconds before the Starting Gate dropped – no rider dared blink. Readers, emotionally exhausted, discover which Riders and bikes, if any, conquer all obstacles and cross the triple-jump Finish Line. They won't tell, will you?

Following instructions of the next Secret Mission Scroll, the noble Walnut Warriors embarked on an adventure far from the safety of their Misty Forest homeland: A trek truly into uncharted, extremely rugged territory; and, farther on into, perhaps, a perilous unknown. Aware menacing obstacles may await the courageous explorers; clubs were kept at the ready, in hand. Traversing perilously deep terrain fissures, dangerous rocks and huge boulders many times the size of the Warriors would have been impossible, had the Secret Mission Scroll not warned of the need to create and build suitable all terrain vehicles; thus, the creation of (with, of course, CashShoe technological assistance) Walnut Warrior Monster Trucks. Yes, indeedy, successful all terrain vehicles were created; BUT, WHAT ABOUT RAGING WATERFALLS AND TREACHEROUS, SCALY, GREEN-LOG BEASTIES? Could the Warrior Monster Trucks cope; could the Walnut Warriors survive? What of a possible treasure discovery? Readers know, will you? Accompanied by the Author's fully-colored illustrations (referred to and coined by Lance as technical cartooning), The Walnut Warriors (Go Monster Truckin') is a treasure trove of fun and adventure, seeded with nuggets of wisdom. For children of all ages, an excellent choice of reading material for parents who want to make storytelling and reading as educational as it is entertaining.

Get ready to start your engines and roar into the exciting world of drag racing with the group of mixed nuts in The Walnut Warriors GO TO THE DRAGS. The Walnut Warriors are fearsome but lovable nuts who live in a secret place deep inside the Misty Forest. In the prior Trilogy, two exciting Secret Missions were completed successfully by the Warriors. To bestow upon his loyal Warriors and new nutty-friends, much deserved appreciation, King Nut, IV decreed, for the enjoyment of all, an entertainment facility be built. Utilizing CashShoe guidance and their technological talents, the first attraction -- a raceway where custom-built Walnut Warrior Race Cars, sporting custom-built engines, competed against each other -- set CashShoe designer-nuts happily to work. Created were necessary specifications for the Drag Strip and the production of Exhibition and Alcohol Funny Cars; Top Fuel Dragsters and Jet Cars. Walnut Warrior Laborers followed the blueprints precisely.While following construction of various racing machines, spectators learn interesting facts; such as, types of various racing fuels. Courageous Warriors exhibit amazing driving skills while experiencing the perils of drag racing. Dangerous thrills and edge-of-your-seat excitement; blurring-speeds, crashes and engine explosions will electrify reader imaginations.

Returning readers of the Lance L. Palmgren experience, via his Walnut Warriors 7-Book Series, will come back to the Great Walnut Tree for Book Three of the Trilogy with good (if not grand) expectations: They will not be disappointed. The Walnut Warriors (Armada Of The Crystal Sea) is awash with warm humor, fun, exciting events at home; sailing adventures upon rocking seas in rollicking ships; and, foreign land marvels. It is another legendary Walnut Warriors' fascinating volume filled with sensational phenomena. At the behest of King Nut, IV, the indomitable Walnut Warriors build boats and prepare to, firstly, search for their lost Warriors that were carried away by giant birds; and then, as originally planned, explore new lands and trade routes across the Crystal Sea. A giant whirlpool is fought and when the Warriors approach and finally dock next to an unchartered island they, with much anxiety, encounter Peanut Pirates! Invited to go ashore, they meet the CashShoes (highly trained technical nuts); Brazil Nuts that dance the Limbo; and, other wondrous new life forms. Lost Warriors are excitingly found and many new friendships and trade routes are established. New friends and shared technologies will accompany the Warriors' return to the Great Walnut Tree. The Walnut Warriors, commanded by Grappler, man The Great Crystal Sea Armada and freewheel into happy parodies of history, get caught in whirlpools of comically serious dilemmas, and solve problems a l MacGyver-style. Their gap-toothed, nutty miens permeate this book with laugh-out-loud fun. One enters the Lance L. Palmgren experience via any of the substantial body of books in the series and travels waves of excellent chase-the-blues-away stories for boys and girls of all ages. The Walnut Warriors (Armada of the Crystal Sea) is as great an introduction to the series as any; although, the Author recommends reading the Trilogy in sequence for more fun before proceeding on to the adventurous Books 4, 5, 6 & 7.

Grey Eagle sits on a cloud in the heavens with other babies, children, and young-almost-adults who left the earthly world before their time. He can see his clan below, working the gardens, hunting, and fishing and going about daily tasks. He can see celebrations as well as everyday life. He can also see his mother, Green Willow. She is not the calm and loving person she was when he left the earthly world. He could see that she was in great pain and grieved for her lost son. "Listen to me, Mother," screamed Grey Eagle. Angry sparks flew from his fingers and caused fierce lightning bolts to streak across the heavens, only to become gentle fireflies dancing in the wind. Grey Eagle was unable to ease his mother's pain, and he became more and more irritated with the passing of time. His tears of frustration became gentle rain to cool his mother's face. His fists beat into the clouds and caused blinding snowstorms, but they became soft silken snowflakes silently kissing the ground and creating lacy mantles of white covering his mother's raven-black hair. Grey Eagle's pattern of hurt, anger, and deep frustration had been unchanged for many moons. Pleas and requests for help from the Great Spirit are a last resort for Grey Eagle and Green Willow, but will he listen?

This book provides a fascinating look at the creation of contemporary Muslim jihadists. Basing the book on her long-term fieldwork in the disputed borderlands between Pakistan and India, Cabeiri deBergh Robinson tells the stories of people whose lives and families have been shaped by a long history of political conflict. Interweaving historical and ethnographic evidence, Robinson explains how refuge-seeking has become a socially and politically debased practice in the Kashmir region and why this devaluation has turned refugee men into potential militants. She reveals the fraught social processes by which individuals and families produce and maintain a modern jihad, and she shows how Muslim refugees have forged an Islamic notion of rights—a hybrid of global political ideals that adopts the language of human rights and humanitarianism as a means to rethink refugees’ positions in transnational communities. Jihad is no longer seen as a collective fight for the sovereignty of the Islamic polity, but instead as a personal struggle to establish the security of Muslim bodies against political violence, torture, and rape. Robinson describes how this new understanding has contributed to the popularization of jihad in the Kashmir region, decentered religious institutions as regulators of jihad in practice, and turned the families of refugee youths into the ultimate mediators of entrance into militant organizations. This provocative book challenges the idea that extremism in modern Muslim societies is the natural by-product of a clash of civilizations, of a universal Islamist ideology, or of fundamentalist conversion.