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How does the U.S. military train its soldiers for new forms of armed conflict, all within the constraints of diminished defense budgets? Increasingly, the answer is cutting-edge video game technology. Corey Mead shows us training sessions where soldiers undertake multiplayer “missions” that test combat skills, develop unit cohesion, and teach cultural awareness. He immerses himself in 3-D battle simulations so convincing that they leave his heart racing.

After conquering the mountains in Afghanistan, Peak Marcello goes to Myanmar, a country that has been in the grips of a brutal military regime for more than fifty years, to visit Alessia. When he’s invited to climb Hkakabo Razi, one of the most isolated mountains in the world, Peak can’t pass up the opportunity. But getting to the mountain will involve a four-week trek through tropical rainforests rife with hazards—from venomous reptiles and leeches to corrupt police and military.

A tribute to America's favorite past time, Chicken Soup for the Baseball Fan's Soul is written by people at every level of competition, from World Series champions to tee-ball moms. Their inspiring stories highlight the best of baseball, the importance of sportsmanship and a love of the game. Whether these stories take place on the field of a local YMCA or under the bright lights of a major league ballpark, the focus is the same: The Love of the Game.

Frank Blaichman was 16 years old when the war broke out. In 1942, the killings began in Poland. With his family and friends decimated by the roundups, Blaichman decided that he would rather die fighting; he set off for the forest to find the underground bunkers of Jews who had already escaped. Together they formed a partisan force dedicated to fighting the Germans. This is a harrowing, utterly moving memoir of a young Polish Jew who chose not to go quietly and defied the mighty German war machine during World War II.

In his plebe year at the prestigious US Naval Academy, Nick’s world comes to a screeching halt. A sudden collapse lands him in the famous Walter Reed psych ward, where he must finally face the overwhelming grief and anger he feels about his father’s marital infidelity. In rehab, with the help of his therapist and mother, Nick slowly comes to terms with the cascade of secrets, loss, and trauma created by his own father’s many extramarital affairs. 

In his debut novel, YouTube personality and author of We Should Hang Out Sometime Josh Sundquist explores the nature of love, trust, and romantic attraction. On his first day at a new school, blind 16-year-old Will Porter accidentally groped a girl on the stairs, sat on another student in the cafeteria, and somehow drove a classmate to tears. High school can only go up from here, right?

Two teenagers come together in a future where staying alive is the only ambition. Here in a vast lost valley, society has split into two: the Wanderers, who team together to battle against the elements and each other in the harsh world of the desert, and those who live in the pyramid-city of Arcone, whose closed environment and tightly controlled society enable them to maintain a more civilized existence in the face of an environmentally devastated planet. Conflict is inevitable....

Batting Stance Guy never expected he would become a YouTube celebrity, racking up more than two million views, landing profiles in The New York Times and USA Today, and even scoring an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. But when a friend and neighbor started capturing this man’s unusual talents with a video camera, that’s what happened. With uncanny precision, Batting Stance Guy can mimic any baseball player he’s ever seen, and the results will take you back - to the game last night, or last year, or in 1980, or anywhere in between.

Jeremy Waverly is a pro snowboarder down on his luck (busted knee, Oxy addiction, abandoned by his girlfriend and sponsors) until a younger rider ends up in a coma during training, freeing up a spot for Jeremy to compete on the U.S. half-pipe team at the Vancouver Olympics. With his estranged father and two closest buddies - the remaining members of his entourage - watching in the stands, this is his last shot: can he stay away from the painkillers - a banned substance at the Olympics - long enough to hold his own with the younger, flashier riders and reclaim his title as the original King of Big Air?

After her elderly owner passes away, Star—a deaf Australian shepherd—is brought to a local shelter. Star feels scared and alone—until she meets 12-year-old Julian. After getting in trouble at school yet again, Julian volunteers at the shelter and realizes he can communicate with Star in a way that no one else can. Their bond continues to grow, and Julian and Star become inseparable. Then the unthinkable happens: Funding for the shelter dries up. The only way to save Star is to adopt her, but he has to prove that he can stay out of trouble and train a dog like Star.

When storied delinquent Cullen Hickson enters the orbit of the O'Dell siblings, everything changes. Bri and Ray find an alluring, addictive outlet in Cullen, who opens their eyes to a world they didn't know existed. For Ray, that means experiencing the singular thrill of crime - from breaking and entering to grand theft auto - while Bri quickly dives into an all-consuming romance with the enigmatic upperclassman.

The Year is 1910. Eighteen-year-old Will Edwards has landed a prestigious apprenticeship at Detroit’s Tesla Industries, the most advanced scientific research center in the United States. It’s a plum prize for a young man who dreams of a career in the new science of Otherwhere Engineering.

Sixteen-year-old Luke was trapped in Chicago when the lights went out and civilization began to unravel. Determined to get home to his family, Luke begins a 1,000-mile odyssey that will show him the depths of human depravity while also giving him a chance at redemption. In an abandoned house in Missouri, Luke makes a discovery that changes the way he acts and feels, as the suffering of another forces him to fight yet again. Luke is already haunted by what he has seen, and he fears what is yet to come as he takes on a partner in his travels.

Growing up in a doomed hometown with a missing father and a single mother, Nicholas Dawidoff listened to baseball every night on his bedside radio, the professional ballplayers gradually becoming the men in his life. A portrait of a childhood shaped by a stoical, enterprising mother, a disturbed, dangerous father, the private world of baseball, and the awkwardness of first love, The Crowd Sounds Happy is the moving tale of a spirited boy's coming-of-age in troubled times.

After a memorable meeting on the road, survivors Luke and Amy head for a possible sanctuary, as their new friends extend an invitation. Able to rest easy for the first time in months, Luke soon discovers he will have to fight, once again, for his life and to protect this safe haven. Learn more about Luke's past, his fateful flight from Chicago, and just how far he is willing to go to protect his friends and the one he loves.

Luke and Amy arrive at the Messner ranch to discover not everything has gone according to plan. Reunited with his family, and bringing new friends into the fold, Luke works hard to forget the horrors of their journey and make a fresh start with Amy. But others have plans as well, and Luke discovers there is no real safety in this new world. When the lights go out, the rats come out to play.

Amy and Luke have survived four months in a savage land completely disrupted by the massive power outage, but this last leg of their journey will demand all of their courage as the pair navigate a desperate landscape. Now, new factions begin to take action, and sudden violence signals a change in someone's policies. As they begins this last sprint across a war-torn countryside, Luke will need to reach deep for his last ounce of determination if he intends to ever make it home alive.

When Ryan O'Connell went to stay for a week at the glamorous Chateau Marmont hotel last summer, he didn't quite know what to expect. Would he become instant BFF's with Lindsay Lohan and do lines of coke off of John Belushi's ghost? Would he have vacuous sex in the hotel elevator with Benicio Del Toro, just like Scarlett Johansson once did during an Oscars after-party? Or would he just be really, really bored like Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning were in the movie, Somewhere? The answer, it turned out, was none of the above.

Featuring all-new tales of dark fantasy, cosmic horror, supernatural revenge, and the sorcery of terror from masters of the craft, this issue includes stories and poems by Alma Katsu, Heather Graham, Maurice Broaddus, Fran Wilde, Priya Sharma, Anne Walsh, Yvonne Navarro, Jake Bible, Gabrielle Faust, and Christina Sng.

Based on the historical record of Bessie’s "confession" to witchcraft in 16th-century Scotland, the episodic structure of the play shows the many characters and events that supposedly made up the catalogue of her crimes, but which in fact testify to her innocence and goodness.