John Alexander Brancy has narrated 7 audiobooks on Listento.it by 5 authors, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 5 ratings. The most-rated is Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Updated Edition.
Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Updated Edition
Summary
Some have claimed that war is too important to be left to the generals, but P. W. Singer asks what about the business executives? Breaking out of the guns-for-hire mold of traditional mercenaries, corporations now sell skills and services that until recently only state militaries possessed. Their products range from trained commando teams to strategic advice from generals. This new privatized military industry encompasses hundreds of companies, thousands of employees, and billions of dollars in revenue. Whether as proxies or suppliers, such firms have participated in wars in Africa, Asia, the Balkans, and Latin America. More recently, they have become a key element in U.S. military operations. Private corporations working for profit now sway the course of national and international conflict, but the consequences have been little explored. In Corporate Warriors, Singer provides the first account of the military services industry and its broader implications. Corporate Warriors includes a description of how the business works, as well as portraits of each of the basic types of companies: military providers that offer troops for tactical operations; military consultants that supply expert advice and training; and military support companies that sell logistics, intelligence, and engineering. This updated edition of Singer's already classic account of the military services industry and its broader implications describes the continuing importance of that industry in the Iraq War. This conflict has amply borne out Singer's argument that the privatization of warfare allows startling new capabilities and efficiencies in the ways that war is carried out. At the same time, however, Singer finds that the introduction of the profit motive onto the battlefield raises troubling questions-for democracy, for ethics, for management, for human rights, and for national security.
©2003, Postscript 2008 Cornell University Press (P)2014 Redwood Audiobooks
A Legacy of Light
Summary
The people of Requiem, an ancient kingdom, can grow wings and scales, breathe fire, and take flight as dragons. For years, Requiem's holy stars have blessed the kingdom with light and magic. But now a darkness falls. General Cadigus, traitor to the crown, has captured the throne. Bloodthirsty and cruel, he rules with an iron fist. He crushes his own people under his heel. He burns all foreign lands. The noble kingdom of Requiem fades; a dark empire rises. In the wilderness, a small light kindles. Rebellion brews. The rebels are haggard, outnumbered, and desperate. They hide in forests and ruins. They fight for the memory of Old Requiem, for a legacy of light. The Resistance is small, but its cry is loud: "The tyrant must fall."
©2013 Daniel Arenson (P)2014 Daniel Arenson
A Birthright of Blood (The Dragon War, Book 2)
Summary
The Dragon War, the fantasy trilogy beginning with A Legacy of Light, continues with a tale of blood, shadow, and dragonfire. Book Two: A Birthright of Blood Civil war rages. Brothers fight against sisters, friends against friends, sons against fathers. Requiem, an ancient kingdom whose people can become dragons, is tearing apart. The Cadigus family, usurpers of the throne, muster their greatest army yet. The Resistance, a small band of rebels, seeks new allies and new hope. For years, these two forces have fought in shadowy forests, forgotten ruins, and dark alleys. Now they fly to open war. The kingdom bleeds. The sky rains fire. The crows feast. Heir to the fallen dynasty, Rune was thrust into the uprising. He bears the torch of Requiem, a birthright of blood and fire. Yet when the hosts of Cadigus fly against him, an army that outnumbers his own ten to one, can Rune save the land of his fathers?
©2013 Daniel Arenson (P)2014 Daniel Arenson
A Memory of Fire
Summary
The Dragon War, the epic fantasy trilogy beginning with A Legacy of Light, concludes with a tale of darkness, hope, and dragonfire. Book Three: Memory of Fire Darkness covers Requiem. The cruel Cadigus family, usurpers of the throne, rule with an iron fist. The Resistance, a band of desperate rebels, lies smashed and scattered. Hope fades. Some say it is utterly lost. Bloodied, the Resistance hides in distant lands. Most of its fighters lie dead. One of its leaders, captured in battle, suffers torture in the dungeons of Cadigus. Old Requiem seems like nothing but a dying dream, a memory of fire and starlight. Yet even in the darkest night, the embers of defiance glow. The last few resistors muster. Rising as dragons, lighting the sky with fire, they fly to their last stand - an attack on the capital itself.
©2013 Daniel Arenson (P)2014 Daniel Arenson
The Colony: Genesis
Summary
Forget everything you know about zombies In under 10 minutes, 99.9% of the world's population will be dead... or changed. Conversion is instant. Headshots just make them angry. And they're getting smarter. Ken Strickland has made it through the first moments. But his family is still out there. Can he survive? Can he find them? Or will he become one more of the creatures that now rule our world?
©2013 Michaelbrent Collings (P)2014 Michaelbrent Collings
Three by Bunker
Summary
Three short fictional works: a short story, a novelette, and a short novel by Michael Bunker. "#NaNoWri War Z", a novelette: A government experiment in creating super-soldiers goes awry when a new virus is tested on a struggling independent writer from Leeds, and now peculiar zombies are on the loose in London and they are only eating good writers. As bad writers struggle to be validated by being eaten by zombies…who refuse to eat them…will England be left without any good writers at all? Will the country become just another France? "#NaNoWri War Z", written by Michael Bunker during the real #NaNoWriWee competition. "PENNSYLVANIA", a short story and first entry in the Pennsylvania series. Jedidiah Troyer signed up for an emigration program that is colonizing the planet of New Pennsylvania. He just wants to start a farm and homestead on some affordable land in a new Amish community on a distant planet. Space pioneering isn't as easy as it sounds when you're "plain." Things might work out for Jed…if he can ever get to his new home. "FUTURITY", a short novel: Everyone wants to travel to the past. Not Malcolm. He wants to go into the future…and he's just found out that Dr. Paulsen, Professor of Optics at Rochester-Finney University has figured out how to do it. Malcolm is a third year physics student and a gamer. He's about to get more than he ever bargained for and he's going to take you along for the ride.
©2013 Michael Bunker (P)2013 Michael Bunker
Life Descending
Summary
War, plague, and mad kings promise to rip the world of Leterra asunder. With the memories of a loyal Scout for the Northern Army, Tom Navo endures to wrap up one last brutal assignment, with dreams of living out a peaceful life with his family. As chaos threatens the continent, his imagined life becomes more of a fanciful illusion. A journey home soon becomes a fight for his life, a search for a mysterious and powerful relic only rumored to exist, and a firsthand account of how greed and delusion can make humans do the unspeakable. Surrounded by the most unlikely of friends, Tom faces challenges that he never could have conceived of even in his most twisted nightmares, not just for his own sake, but for the survival of an entire world, whose future teeters perilously on the brink of doom...before all life descends into shadow.
©2011 John Hennessy (P)2014 John Alexander Brancy