Defiance

The UFS Phoenix is hunting for the long-lost drysine data-core. Within it lie the secrets to saving humanity from the resurgent deepynine machine-race. To recover it, Captain Erik Debogande must work together with the man who holds his sister hostage - the power-hungry parren leader Aristan. Aristan has sworn he will return Lisbeth Debogande once Phoenix grants him equal access to its prize. But now from the direction of hostile space comes word of a dark force hunting humans and parren alike, determined at all costs that the store of the lost Drysine Empire's knowledge should be possessed by neither...

Loubna Mrie was raised a staunch Syrian Alawite, the same sect as then President Hafez al-Assad. Her mother's father helped plan the coup that saw Hafez seize power in 1970 and bring the Alawites out of hiding and into a position of total control. Her father was intimately involved in Hafez's government as an enforcer and assassin. When the Arab Spring reached Syria in 2011, she attended a protest against his son Bashar's government out of curiosity and her life changed forever. When she returned to her grandparents' home in Damascus, her family called her a traitor. Unable to look back, she plunged ahead into a life of activism - in opposition to both the regime and her abusive father - with unimaginable consequences. Loubna's father was exiled, her mother murdered and her boyfriend, Peter Kassig, an American, was executed by ISIS. This memoir will tell her story in her own words.

Loubna Mrie was raised a staunch Syrian Alawite, the same sect as then President Hafez al-Assad. Her mother's father helped plan the coup that saw Hafez seize power in 1970 and bring the Alawites out of hiding and into a position of total control. Her father was intimately involved in Hafez's government as an enforcer and assassin. When the Arab Spring reached Syria in 2011, she attended a protest against his son Bashar's government out of curiosity and her life changed forever. When she returned to her grandparents' home in Damascus, her family called her a traitor. Unable to look back, she plunged ahead into a life of activism - in opposition to both the regime and her abusive father - with unimaginable consequences. Loubna's father was exiled, her mother murdered and her boyfriend, Peter Kassig, an American, was executed by ISIS. This memoir will tell her story in her own words.

" Defiance takes my breath away. A nail-biting tale of astonishing courage." --Jeannette Walls #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle "A heartbreaking account of a young woman's struggle for freedom against the rampaging forces of fanaticism and tyranny . . . Unforgettable." --Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower and T he Human Scale A stunning memoir of personal rebellion and political awakening from a young woman raised to be loyal to a brutal regime--and the unimaginable cost of choosing freedom Like any good Alawite girl, every day at school, Loubna Mrie pledged allegiance to Hafez al-Assad. When she complained about memorizing his speeches for class, she was told to shorten her tongue--without the president, her family believed, the Alawites would be persecuted by the Sunni majority, as they had been for centuries before the Assads came to power. A girl's role was to obey, not to question. Loubna's father, a mercurial businessman with close ties to the Assad regime, ruled over his wife and daughters with absolute authority. In their world, loyalty was sur-vival. Curiosity was blasphemy. Dissent was betrayal. But everything changed in 2011, when the pro-democracy uprisings of the Arab Spring reached Syria. Unable to suppress her curiosity, Loubna attended an anti-government protest. What she witnessed--the courage, the brutality, and the lies that followed--ignited something in her that would not be extinguished. She joined the resistance, risking her life by fearlessly proclaiming her Alawite heritage and, later, as a photojournalist documenting the war for Reuters and other outlets. Her defiance would come at a devastating cost: the loss of loved ones, her community, and ultimately her country. Leaving behind everything she knew, she would have to find a new home within herself. Defiance is the unforgettable account of one woman's fight for freedom--against a father, a dictator, and the weight of inherited belief. From the streets of Aleppo to exile in New York City, it offers an electrifying portrait of moral courage in the face of authoritarianism and violence. Told with clarity, fury, and grace, Defiance offers a rare ground-level portrait of what it means to wake up, to resist, and to become.

" Defiance takes my breath away. A nail-biting tale of astonishing courage." --Jeannette Walls #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle "A heartbreaking account of a young woman's struggle for freedom against the rampaging forces of fanaticism and tyranny . . . Unforgettable." --Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower and T he Human Scale A stunning memoir of personal rebellion and political awakening from a young woman raised to be loyal to a brutal regime--and the unimaginable cost of choosing freedom Like any good Alawite girl, every day at school, Loubna Mrie pledged allegiance to Hafez al-Assad. When she complained about memorizing his speeches for class, she was told to shorten her tongue--without the president, her family believed, the Alawites would be persecuted by the Sunni majority, as they had been for centuries before the Assads came to power. A girl's role was to obey, not to question. Loubna's father, a mercurial businessman with close ties to the Assad regime, ruled over his wife and daughters with absolute authority. In their world, loyalty was sur-vival. Curiosity was blasphemy. Dissent was betrayal. But everything changed in 2011, when the pro-democracy uprisings of the Arab Spring reached Syria. Unable to suppress her curiosity, Loubna attended an anti-government protest. What she witnessed--the courage, the brutality, and the lies that followed--ignited something in her that would not be extinguished. She joined the resistance, risking her life by fearlessly proclaiming her Alawite heritage and, later, as a photojournalist documenting the war for Reuters and other outlets. Her defiance would come at a devastating cost: the loss of loved ones, her community, and ultimately her country. Leaving behind everything she knew, she would have to find a new home within herself. Defiance is the unforgettable account of one woman's fight for freedom--against a father, a dictator, and the weight of inherited belief. From the streets of Aleppo to exile in New York City, it offers an electrifying portrait of moral courage in the face of authoritarianism and violence. Told with clarity, fury, and grace, Defiance offers a rare ground-level portrait of what it means to wake up, to resist, and to become.

The UFS Phoenix is hunting for the long-lost drysine data-core. Within it lie the secrets to saving humanity from the resurgent deepynine machine-race. To recover it, Captain Erik Debogande must work together with the man who holds his sister hostage - the power-hungry parren leader Aristan. Aristan has sworn he will return Lisbeth Debogande once Phoenix grants him equal access to its prize. But now from the direction of hostile space comes word of a dark force hunting humans and parren alike, determined at all costs that the store of the lost Drysine Empire's knowledge should be possessed by neither...