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Behold, an Ashen Horse

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This is the Second Edition .

Five U.S. cities are destroyed by Islamic terrorists using nuclear devices. MG George Alexander, Secretary of Homeland Security, becomes president, forms an interim government, pulls the nation together, and then confronts the Islamic whirlwind sweeping across the globe.

494 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

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About the author

Lee Boyland

13 books3 followers
Lee Boyland earned a degree in nuclear engineering, and a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. After graduation, he entered active duty as an officer in the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps. A graduate of the U.S. Navy’s Explosive and Nuclear Ordnance Disposal Schools, Boyland was assigned to the Defense Atomic Support Agency in Albuquerque, NM. A member of DASA’s Nuclear Emergency Team responsible for nuclear weapons accidents, including the rendering safe of armed nuclear warheads, he had access to the design details of every nuclear and thermonuclear warhead developed by the United States through the Mark 63 warhead. His duties took him to the Nevada Test Site on many occasions (Clean Slate II, Pile Driver, Distant Plane). After leaving the Army, he designed conventional and special ordnance, and demilitarized chemical weapons at Rocky Mountain Arsenal and Tooele Army Depot. He made the transition to hazardous waste management by applying aerospace combustion technology to incineration of Agent Orange.
He was a member of a 2003 U.S. technology exchange team that spent a month in China to transfer Medical Waste treatment technology and management methods to Chinese environmental officials.
The impact of the 9/11 attacks had a profound impact on him. Two years later it became apparent that America had missed the message delivered by the four airplanes: Fundamentalists Muslims had declared war on America. He began researching Islamic terrorism and quickly realized that a series of escalating attacks that began in 1983 in Leadon were not over, and that each attack had been larger than the last. This had to mean more and bigger attacks. A nuclear or biological attack. Using his knowledge of weapons, he wrote The Rings of Allah, a technological accurate and completely feasible story of a nuclear attack on America by Islamic terrorists.
The story was too big for one book, so it became the Clash-of-Civilizations, an award winning trilogy that is tells a story of the attack, America’s recovery and retribution, and lays the foundation for electing a new government (The Rings of Allah, Behold, an Ashen Horse, and America Reborn). novel in a new series dealing with drug cartels and pirates.

Pirates and Cartels, the first book of a spinoff series was been published in 2011.

He has just released his new book, Revolution 2016: Take back America.

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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for Rick.
332 reviews2 followers
April 4, 2014
Behold, An Ashen Horse is the second novel in this series about an Islamic attack on five cities in the US with nuclear weapons. Written by Lee Boyland and his wife Vista in this novel. Well, if the first novel didn’t scare the liberalism out of you, this one may. It is not so much a political novel although there is much of that. The novel which is fiction, however utilizes numerous non-fiction references really shows the side of Islam that we are not subject to because of political correctness. If this book does not change your perception of Islam, then you must be skim-reading. The Boylands have put together a good, plausible story that I hope will never happen. It shows the real power of the US and the military. It shows a cooperative Russia and China. If I had one wish, I would like to have read more about the destruction of the cities as well as (spoiler) Dr. Ralph Eid. Ok, a morbid side shows……. I am looking forward to the next installment of this series.
Profile Image for Ronald Barak.
Author 9 books447 followers
January 16, 2019
I just finished reading Behold, An Ashen Horse, written by Lee Boyland with Vista Boyland. This is the second in a trilogy written by this husband and wife team, which they have titled Clash of Civilizations.
This is a singular, extraordinary and amazing piece of literature, one that the authors identify as “alternative history.” I do a lot of reading. I’ve never before come across a novel quite like Behold, An Ashen Horse.
This novel might be described as apocalyptic. But it is more than that. It is insightful. But it is more than that too.
In and of itself, the title of the novel is not all that indicative of what the reader is about to experience. By comparison, the title of the trilogy is far more revealing.
Clash? Check. This novel is about a consummate clash. Civilizations? Check. The question is, how many?
The dictionary defines civilization as “the stage of human social and cultural development and organization.”
So, Behold addresses a clash of at least two, and probably three, sets of civilization, the western world versus the eastern world, Islam versus Christianity and conservativism versus liberalism, the latter political school perhaps more realistically labeled progressivism in today’s anything but progressive (i.e., advanced) society. While conservativism versus progressivism might not intuitively be characterized as “civilizations,” given the extreme polarization of these two clashing ideologies in the United States today, civilization might indeed be a more apt label than ideology.
In Behold, a fool who would be “caliph” releases a video warning the west that he will imminently detonate five (count them!) nuclear bombs in five major U.S. cities. Remarkably, his threat proves true, in no less than 24 hours. New York, Boston, D.C., Chicago, and Atlanta all but destroyed. The immediate death toll: 2.5 million, and climbing.
The progressive U.S. president is killed in the D.C. bombing. So are the next seven in the constitutional line of presidential succession. (And virtually all members of Congress, the Supreme Court and the president’s cabinet.) Only the eighth in succession, the administration’s token conservative cabinet member, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, on a fortuitous trip out west, survives and becomes the all but self-anointed new U.S. president.
In a second video the caliph calls for a worldwide Jihad, not only to finish off the Great Satan (the U.S.) and to destroy the Little Satan (Israel), but to brutally mass murder all of the human race unwilling to submit to Islam.
The result is indeed an unparalleled clash of the civilizations, west versus east, Islam versus Christianity, progressives versus conservatives.
Not only is Behold page turning entertainment, if such a story can be called entertaining, but the questions it raises are also . . . profound. Beyond its terrorist extremists, are members of Islam generally peace-loving as they claim? Or is that a myth as much a part of fiction as much as Behold is? How will the ultimate cataclysm between progressives and conservatives play out when extreme measures are required to save the (western) world as we know it? Is Behold a harbinger of things to come, and the price to be paid, if the western world continues to turn the other cheek?
Are the Boylands ultra-conservatives or do they just know how to spin a great yarn? Reading Lee Boyland’s non-fiction writing will shed some light on the answer to this question.
Speaking of spinning a great yarn, Behold’s president bears a striking ideological resemblance to a certain real world president we all know. That said, however, Beyond was written long before our current president ever announced any political ambitions.
Either way, Behold, An Ashen Horse is a fascinating tale and glimpse into . . . alternative history. And the Boylands are perfectly well suited to tell this story. If you like Tom Clancy’s The Hunt For Red October, and Mr. Clancy’s technological proficiency, you will love Behold, An Ashen Horse. Want to know all about conventional and nuclear ordnance? Behold, An Ashen Horse is your ticket. Want to know everything there is to know about Islam? Behold, An Ashen Horse will tell you how it is. Maybe.
At a minimum, Behold, An Ashen Horse is an engaging tale that will keep you reading well into the night. With the lights on! More than that, however, it will give you pause to question just where our world is heading. And whether there’s still time for us to change course.

Profile Image for D.C. Gilbert.
Author 6 books31 followers
September 26, 2020
A Compelling Read!!

This is the second book in a series by this author. I have actually not read the first book, titled Rings of Allah, but still enjoyed this one immensely. I did read Revolution 2016 by this author and really liked it as well.

In this story, President George Alexander, who was the Secretary of Homeland Security in the previous story, must decide how to defend the United States and get the government operational again after a nuclear attack takes out 5 major U.S. cities, the President, his cabinet, and the Congress.

Lee Boyland is a veteran and an accomplished writer. He knows military weapons, the armed forces, the structure of the American government, and is quite knowledgeable about Islam. I have read several books on Islam as well as the Koran. While this is clearly an alternative history, you only need to read an honest English language version of the Korn to confirm the plausible reality of Boyland's narrative.
Profile Image for Lee Boyland.
Author 13 books3 followers
September 11, 2021
The second edition is now published and available on all e-book readers.
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