The contemporary geopolitical order is marked by profound instability: international law appears fractured and largely ineffective, might is often right as power prevails over principle. This book identifies one fundamental reason for the apparent gangsterish anarchy— lack of enforcement power for international institutions and the primary premise of international law being that of an effectively absolute national sovereignty. Drawing on the political philosophies of Hobbes and Kant this b...

The Priest HunterIn the early 1700s a conniving man in Ireland could earn a mighty wage betraying his friends, his family, and his faith. Priest hunters they were called, bounty hunters scouring the countryside for Catholic clergy. Countryside like the Burren, a desolate, treeless landscape of unrelenting stone.In Irish a wolf is called ‘mac tíre’, which means literally, ‘son of the countryside’. But the Burren is no country for wolves.A priest hunter couldn’t run i...

In May 1915, the RMS Lusitania, then the world's fastest liner, departed from New York. Seven days later she was torpedoed off the Irish coast with the loss of 1,198 lives. Suspected by the Germans of carrying clandestine munitions to Britain, the great ship steamed into a fatal encounter with the German submarine U-20. One of the largest naval disasters in history, it was a factor in bringing America into the First World War. Patrick O'Sullivan presents the complete story of the Lusitania...

When wine flows tongues wag. Tempers flare. A war of words escalates toward bloody war, resurrecting the sins of the past and threatening to surpass them.A blind harper; harsh-tongued, hot blooded, bearing a grudge that could spark a war.A merciless judge; discarded, exiled, determined to see the Queen’s law enforced to the letter.And Daniel Duncanava; dutiful son, faithful servant, loyal subject. A mild man, determined to stop these two jabbering fools. Stop them b...

Hiro's WelcomeNot all soldier’s homecomings are filled with joy.And not all sweethearts remain true.Sergeant Kintoki Hiro knows this.But he has hope.Two years living out of a helmet and hope is all he has.In just one moment he’ll learn the truth.Is hope enough for a man?Or for a woman?This romantic story originally appeared in, “Fiction River: Hidden in Crime.”

The Best ManTen years Mary Breen has been trying to decide whom to wed, and ten years failing.That’s why, on the weekend before the All-Ireland Road Bowling Championship, two strong men will square off in a winner-take-all shootout.Davis Tone and Barry Murphy, warriors equally matched, waging a final battle in a cross-border rivalry that’s been simmering for the better part of a decade.A battle for the hand of Mary Breen, the woman each man professes to love...

O'Casey's WarAfter four years serving in the South Pacific John O’Casey knows the score.Take one step into another man’s jungle and the rules get real simple, real fast.Kill or be killed.That’s why, once O’Casey’s heels kiss New York concrete, he keeps moving.Moving up 5th Avenue, toward the mansion of Josiah Stride, the crooked Wall Street alchemist whose wartime profiteering turned lead into gold and American boys into casualties.Stride, li...

A Man of His TimesRead the pulp-inspired story Publishers Weekly called, “a delightful World War II romp.”Things turn from bad to worse when the aircraft carrying war correspondent Preston Hall develops engine trouble over a mysterious South Pacific island.Hall must face danger after danger in a headlong race to survival, all while untangling a hidden plot that could shift the balance of power in the Pacific and alter the course of the Second World War.Fans ...

A mysterious uncle from Ireland. A magic fiddle. And a dark secret from beyond the grave that will destroy a family — or save it.According to Matty’s dad, busking is another name for begging. The day he catches Matty playing music in the street is the day Matty can pack his things and go.That’s fine for Dad to say, but Matty needs answers, and his uncle’s magic fiddle only works miracles under the naked sky. Matty needs a miracle. The Keane family is seriously screwed up, a...

When high school student Ernesto Suarez wins the Lamplighter Prize for Best Amateur Space Blog he finds himself thrust into the heart of a hidden conspiracy that will forever change the course of human space exploration.This short story is the 2013 grand prize winner in the James Patrick Baen Memorial Writing Contest sponsored by Baen Books and the National Space Society.

Laws change from culture to culture, decade to decade. Strange laws make criminals of ordinary citizens. Like the Massachusetts woman whose brother asks her for help, slave hunters at his heels. Or the little Irish girl who needs to protect a priest from a different kind of hunter. Or the Native American detective searching New York’s Stonewall Bar for a ratfink on the night of a world-changing riot. These stories and more prove that once again, Fiction River’s crime volumes have, in the w...

Imagine paying a fine for walking across town. Or hiding an illegal marriage. Or losing your life for playing the harp. Strange crimes, dangerous activities, some from the not-so-distant past, return to life in Hidden in Crime. See why Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine says Fiction River’s crime volumes have “high quality throughout,” and why Publishers Weekly states “… fans of the unconventional will be well satisfied.” Join some of the best authors in the business ...