Fiona Fraser

In the tradition of The Stand, The Man in the High Castle, and The Road, comes an epic story of struggle against tyranny in a future America.... The year is 2141. Islam controls most of the civilized world, including all that exists of the former United States. Climate change has made fresh drinking water a scarce, and valuable, commodity. Islamic states that once controlled the oil now control the largest fresh water deposit in the world, the American Great Lakes. Washington D. C. and New York City are mere memories of the old world, as a new regime of Caliphs has ruled the eastern half of the country for the past century. The barren 'no man's land' east of the Mississippi River is but an encroaching desert, and the realm of the Great Lakes-known as Al-hayat Miyaah-dictates life for the rest of the realm. Jihadic allegiance and the Lakes' bounty decide a person's worth, where clean, drinkable water is far more precious than gold... and more valuable than the lives of infidels. In this hostile environment, Joaquin Martinez and six others risk certain death, as fugitives crossing state lines to reclaim loved ones stolen from Hernando, Mississippi, and sold into slavery in Detroit. Meanwhile, survivalist Malcolm Foster and his daughter Renee begin a journey to Kentucky with other survivalists hoping to strike a blow to the Muslim empire. Lastly, in the heart of Al-hayat Miyaah, the youngest son of the Caliph, Abdul-Bari, sets out on a quest to determine the truth about infidels... their worthiness of scorn and indiscriminate death. Much is at stake for them all, as a crossing of paths determines who inevitably is destined to win... and who must lose everything.

A pictorial history of Birmingham Town Hall, showing the many events, occasions and people to which it has played host. Birmingham's magnificent Town Hall has hosted events of every kind and variety during its long life. Now, after a 35m refurbishment and restored to the original 1834 design, it reopens in October 2007 - an occasion which this pictorial history commemorates. Lavishly illustrated with some 250 pictures, it recalls many of the astonishing events and occasions that the Hall has witnessed in its 173-year history. These range from royal visits by Queen Victoriaand subsequent monarchs, outsize banquets, usage in wartime, legendary speakers including Charles Dickens and the many famous personalities of each decade, even a riot. The Hall's amazingly rich musical history is also traced, from the days when Mendelssohn, Dvorak and Elgar conducted their new works in person, through appearances by every international musician of subsequent decades right through the phenomena of all night jazz and the coming of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, to its temporary closure in 1996.