Introducing Ranulf, "the unready," fictional descendant of Ethelred "the unready" a medieval Saxon Kinglet. Ranny, Seventh Viscount Lindley is tour guide for some troubled friends through the Balkans in 1914. There is Dimitrov and his bomb, the nicest Nihilist anyone could hope to meet but troubled at his girl friend Revolta's late nights out "at the library." Svetislof a fish truck driver/poet is troubled as his wife understands him but his mistress does not. And Princess Ireana of Illyria, disguised as a lady's maid but troubled to find the frequent bows of a maid before royalty causes leg...

The U.S. Marines have never had need of a publicist. Still they have had many. None can compare with Col. J.W.T. Jr. When one of his books came out with his sketches the young ridge runners, North and South would come down out of the mountains by the droves to have their manes roached, hoofs trimmed and enlist. Colonel T. established the idealized example of them as hard drinking, hard fighting, hard living, and hard to kill. Of course he was speaking of the "Old Corps" which never existed except in fantasy. Still generations of Marines have tried to live up to this mold. The following...