Konformist Book Club: Hard Target

From HowardGordon.com:

Gideon Davis has settled into the quiet life of an academic and is weeks away from being married when he discovers evidence of an impending terrorist attack on U.S. soil. He brings his suspicions to his ex-girlfriend, FBI Agent Nancy Clement, but her bosses are leery of Gideon's source: a meth-head informant affiliated with a white supremacist group. When their informant is murdered before they can get more details from him, Gideon enlists his brother, Tillman — newly sprung from prison through a presidential pardon — to infiltrate a group of white supremacists who may be involved.

Together, Gideon and Tillman expose the audacious plan to eliminate the entire top tier of the U.S. government during a high-value, mass-casualty attack. With only Nancy's support, Gideon and Tillman go rogue to stop the powerful titan behind the conspiracy before the entire government is toppled.

Touchstone, January 2012
ISBN-10: 1439175829
ISBN-13: 978-1439175828

Amazon URL:

http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Target-ebook/dp/B004T4KRBU/thekonformist

Robalini Gladiators

"Kicking Ass Ten Yards at a Time..."

In 2010, Konformist.com did its first venture in sports sponsorship by backing the Robalini Gladiators fantasy football team in the Cantina Football League. (The league has as its headquarters the Paradise Cantina of Las Vegas, across the street from The Hard Rock Hotel, hence the league's name.) In 2011 the investment paid off: thanks to the adept drafting of Robert Sterling (the Gladiators owner and Konformist chief editor) the team dominated the 16-team league, going 13-2 and winning the league's title at Margarita Bowl II.

Key acquisitions in the draft: Drew Brees as the league's fourth pick, both Wes Welker and Larry Fitzgerald as wideouts, Sebastian Janikowski as kicker, and both the SF 49ers and Baltimore Ravens defenses. But the most important pick came in the seventh round, when the Gladiators took a chance on rookie Cam Newton, who combined with Brees pretty much made this championship team.

(If none of what I said makes any sense, it's because you aren't a fantasy football junkie, which means you have a life.)

The team was so successful that Konformist.com may demand a team name change to the Konformist Gladiators to keep the corporate sponsorship. In any case, to read more about the Gladiators, check out the URL below, and check out the 20-man roster over the season that contributed to this powerhouse. Go Glads!!!

http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/732195/11

Starters
QB Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
QB Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers
WR Wes Welker, New England Patriots
WR Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals
WR Brandon Marshall, Miami Dolphins
RB Cedric Benson, Cincinnati Bengals
RB Donald Brown, Indianapolis Colts
TE Tony Gonzalez, Atlanta Falcons
K Sebastian Janikowski, Oakland Raiders
DEF San Francisco 49ers

Backups
QB Vince Young, Philadelphia Eagles
WR Michael Crabtree, San Francisco 49ers
WR Randall Cobb, Green Bay Packers
RB LaDainian Tomlinson, New York Jets
RB Stevan Ridley, New England Patriots
RB Carnell Williams, St. Louis Rams
RB Deji Karim, Jacksonville Jaguars
TE Jeremy Shockey, Carolina Panthers
K Ryan Longwell, Minnesota Vikings
DEF Baltimore Ravens

Konformist Book Club: Coup d'Etat

Ben Coes

Print List Price: $25.99
Kindle Price: $12.99 includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: $13.00 (50%)
Sold by: Macmillan

The wait is over—Ben Coes, whose debut Power Down was called “the must read thriller of the year” (Vince Flynn) is back and at the top of his game with a mesmerizing new novel.

Wanting only a peaceful, obscure life, Dewey Andreas has gone to rural Australia, far from turbulent forces that he once fought against. But powerful men, seeking revenge, have been scouring the earth looking for Dewey. And now, they've finally found him - forcing Dewey to abandon his home and to fight for his life against a very well armed, well trained group of assassins.

Meanwhile, a radical cleric has been elected president of Pakistan and, upon taking power, sets off a rapidly escalating conflict with India. As the situation spins quickly out of control, it becomes clear that India is only days from resorting to a nuclear response, one that will have unimaginably disasterous results for the world at large. With only days to head this off, the President sends in his best people, including Jessica Tanzer, to do whatever it takes to restore the fragile peace to the region. Tanzer has only one viable option - to set up and execute a coup d'etat in Pakistan - and only one man in mind to lead the team that will try to pull off this almost unimaginable task in the nerve-wrackingly short time frame, Dewey Andreas. If, that is, Jessica can even get to Dewey and if Dewey can get out of Australia alive...

Ben Coes has worked at the White House as a speechwriter for the administrations of President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush. Coes subsequently wrote speeches for Texas oilman billionaire T. Boone Pickens. For more than a decade, Coes has been in private industry, where he is a partner at The Mustang Group LLC. He served as campaign manager for Mitt Romney’s successful run for Governor of Massachusetts and was subsequently invited to be a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. A graduate of Columbia College, where he won the prestigious Bennett Cerf Memorial Prize for Fiction during his senior year, Ben lives in the Boston area with his wife and four children.

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 664 KB
Print Length: 480 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0312580762
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (September 27, 2011)
Sold by: Macmillan
Language: English
ASIN: B004VMV50W

Amazon Kindle URL:
http://www.amazon.com/Coup-dEtat-ebook/dp/B004VMV50W/thekonformist

Amazon Hardcover URL:
http://www.amazon.com/Coup-dEtat-Ben-Coes/dp/0312580762/thekonformist

Amazon Mass Market Paperback URL:
http://www.amazon.com/Coup-dEtat-Ben-Coes/dp/0312580770/thekonformist

Amazon Audio URL:
http://www.amazon.com/Coup-DEtat-Dewey-Andreas-Coes/dp/1455827452/thekonformist

Are You a Konformist?

click to enlarge

From Humbug, Volume 1, No. 11, October 1958

Courtesy of Kenn Thomas of SteamshovelPress.com...