Nick Brown - Böcker

270 ADRome has ruled Syria for over three centuries. But now the weakened empire faces a desperate threat: Queen Zenobia of Palmyra has turned her Roman-trained army against her former masters and the once invincible legions have been crushed. Arabia, Palestine and Egypt have fallen and now Antioch, Syria's capital, stands exposed. Cassius Corbulo is a young intelligence agent fresh from officer training. He has been assigned the menial task of rounding up wounded legionaries but then urgent new orders arrive. He is the only ranking Roman officer left in the line of the Palmyran advance. He must take command of the fort of Alauran, the last stronghold still in Roman hands, and hold it against the enemy until reinforcements arrive. What Cassius finds at Alauran would daunt the most seasoned veteran, let alone a nineteen year old with no experience of war. A mere scattering of divided and demoralised legionaries remain, backed up by some fractious Syrian auxiliaries and a drunken Praetorian Guardsman. With the Palmyrans just days away, Cassius must somehow find the discipline, resourcefulness and courage to organise the garrison, save Alauran and secure Rome's eastern frontier...

272 ADThe Roman Emperor Aurelian has defeated Queen Zenobia and crushed the Palmyran revolt.Faridun's Banner, hallowed battle standard of the Persian Empire, has fallen into Roman hands and is to be returned to the Persians as part of a historic peace treaty. But on the eve of the signing the banner goes missing. Recalled to Syria, imperial agent Cassius Corbulo is charged with recovering the flag. Accompanied by his faithful servant Simo and ex-gladiator bodyguard Indavara, Cassius must journey across the dangerous wastes of Syria to the equally perilous streets of Antioch. He and his companions face ruthless brigands, mysterious cults, merciless assassins and intrigue at every turn.

When the deputy commander of Rome's Imperial Security Service is assassinated on the island of Rhodes, Cassius Corbulo swiftly finds himself embroiled in the investigation. Assisted once more by ex-gladiator bodyguard Indavara and servant Simo, his search for the truth is complicated by the involvement of the dead man's headstrong daughter, Annia. Braving hostile seas, Cassius and his allies follow the assassin's trail south aboard a ship captained by a roguish Carthaginian smuggler and manned by his disparate, dangerous crew. Their journey leads them to the farthest reaches of the empire; to a ruined city where the rules of Roman civilization have long been abandoned, and a deadly battle of wits with a brutal, relentless foe.

Unable to make any progress in locating the missing Indavara, a desperate Cassius has been given an unrewarding assignment in Antioch. But when an old ally's daughter is kidnapped, he feels duty-bound to repay a long standing debt. Disillusioned with the tawdry demands of the Imperial Security Service, he disobeys his superiors and leaves Syria, determined to do some good.Accompanied by nomadic chieftain Kabir and a trio of warriors, Cassius soon finds himself in Greece hunting a vicious band of slave-traders trafficking women across the Empire. But these are no common criminals, and as Cassius sets out to bring them down, he finds himself up against ruthless, cunning men with powerful friends and a lot to lose.For the Agent of Rome, desperate times call for desperate measures.

AD 273. Obsessed by the solar religions of the east, the emperor Aurelian sets out to obtain every sacred object within his realm. But one - a mysterious rock said to channel the power of the sun god - lies beyond his reach. Warrior-priest Ilaha has captured the legendary stone and is using it to raise an army against Rome.For Imperial agent Cassius Corbulo and ex-gladiator bodyguard Indavara, stopping him constitutes their greatest challenge yet. Assisted by a squad of undercover soldiers and a Saracen chieftain, they trek south across the deserts of Arabia, encountering sandstorms, murderous money-lenders and a ruthless German mercenary. And when they finally reach Ilaha's mountain fortress, they face thousands of warriors who will give their lives to protect him ... and the black stone.

Still recovering from his previous assignment in Arabia, imperial agent Cassius Corbulo has been spending most of his time and money on women and wine. Unfortunately for him, word of his achievements has reached the emperor Aurelian's deputy and he is sent north, tasked with smashing a counterfeiting gang. Cassius tracks the criminals to the city of Berytus, where his investigations are hampered by civil unrest and uncooperative officials, not to mention the personal problems of his servant Simo and bodyguard Indavara. Despite this - and intense pressure from his superiors - the young officer eventually closes in on the gang. But his enemies will do anything to protect their profits, and Cassius and Indavara soon find themselves fighting not only for the emperor, but for their very survival.

Seventy-four years is a long time to wait. A whole generation of supporters has come and gone since Brentford were last in the top division of English football. Now, under the astute management of Thomas Frank, the Bees are back in the big time. The 2021/22 season has seen the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United visit the Community Stadium, the dreams of years past now a reality. A lifetime of gazing up the football ladder and wondering what it would be like to be in the top tier has become a reality. So how would their trip into the unknown go? Would the Premier League turn out to be the land of milk and honey or would the dreams turn to nightmares? Follow their progress in this season-long diary of the highs and lows of the biggest season in the history of Brentford Football Club. Only one thing is certain - whatever the season would bring for the Bees, the players, staff, supporters and everyone connected with Brentford Football Club would be buzzing!

Former Glories and New Beginnings takes us on a nostalgia-filled journey through Aberdeen FC’s glory years, while looking ahead to a promising future.The mere mention of the word ‘Gothenburg’ to older Dons fans instantly conjures memories of European nights under the floodlights, of Simpson and Strachan, McLeish and Miller, of Munich and Madrid. Mention ‘Gothenburg’ to younger fans and they know – it is a story etched in the annals of Scottish football.This book recreates not just one magical European trophy-winning night in May 1983, but the club’s trophy-laden golden era of the late 1970s to mid-80s. The moment a young manager called Alex Ferguson arrived, the balance of power began to shift. Only the best win championships, only the best win trophies at home and abroad.Forty years on, Aberdeen has been away from the top table for too long. Under the stewardship of Dave Cormack, the club is entering a new era, giving fans high hopes for the future.

22 September 1996 was a landmark day in the history of Arsenal Football Club. It was the day Arsene Wenger became the club’s manager, ushering in an era of unprecedented success. Under his guidance, the Gunners collected trophies, transformed their style of play and earned worldwide renown and respect. So, what made Wenger a genuine all-time great? Innovation, motivation, drive, ambition, intellect, loyalty – he had the lot. He could turn a good player into a very good player, and a very good player into a world-class star. Arsene Wenger Through The Headlines is not a traditional biography, nor a season-by-season chronicle. Instead, it tells the story of his 22 years in North London through the headlines that defined them – from the sceptical ‘Arsene Who?’ in 1996 to the emotional ‘Adieu Arsene’ in 2018. The Wenger era is explored topic by topic: his fierce rivalry with Sir Alex Ferguson, the incredible ‘Invincibles’ season, his transfer philosophy and much more. A must-read not only for Arsenal supporters but for football aficionados everywhere.

This book constitutes revised selected papers from the workshops held at the 28th International European Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing, Euro-Par 2022, which took place in Glasgow, UK, in August 22–26, 2022Out of a total of 35 submissions 24 papers have been accepted, 19 of these are included in this book.They stem from the following workshops:- Workshop on Algorithms, Models and Tools for Parallel Computing on Heterogeneous Platforms (HeteroPar)- Workshop on Asynchronous Many-Task systems for Exascale (AMTE) - Workshop on Domain Specific Languages for High-Performance Computing (DSL-HPC)- Workshop on Distributed and Heterogeneous Programming in C and C++ (DHPCC++)- Workshop on Resiliency in High Performance Computing in Clouds, Grids, and Clusters (Resilience)In addition, the proceedings alsocontains 6 extended abstracts from the PhD Symposium.