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3491564 | /m/09gdy5 | Riceyman Steps | Arnold Bennett | 1923 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The story takes place in 1919-1920 and deals with the final year in the life of its main character, Henry Earlforward, a miser, who keeps a second-hand bookshop in the Clerkenwell area of London. Henry marries Violet Arb, a widow who keeps a neighbouring shop, and who sees in Henry a financially secure future. Henry's parsimony drives them into an increasingly wretched existence. Their lives are contrasted to that of their maid servant Elsie Sprickett and it is she, despite her extreme poverty, who brings life and a future to the bittersweet tale. |
3491578 | /m/09gdyj | The Ivory Tower | Henry James | 9/6/1917 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Graham ("Gray") Fielder returns from Europe to the wealthy resort of Newport, Rhode Island, to see his dying uncle Frank Betterman. Rosanna Gaw, the daughter of Betterman's embittered ex-partner Abel Gaw, is also at Newport. She has succeeded in bringing about a partial reconciliation between the two elderly men. Gaw and Betterman both die, and Fielder receives a large inheritance from his uncle. Gray is inexperienced at business, so he entrusts the management of the fortune to the unscrupulous Horton Vint. At this point the novel breaks off. From his extensive notes it appears that James intended Vint to betray Fielder's trust much as Kate Croy did with Milly Theale in The Wings of the Dove. Fielder would then magnanimously forgive Vint, but it's not certain if he would marry Rosanna, who is definitely in love with Gray. |
3491625 | /m/09gdz6 | The Sense of the Past | Henry James | null | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Young Ralph Pendrel of New York has written a fine essay on the reading of history. The essay so impresses a distant English relative that he bequeaths an 18th century London house to Ralph. Pendrel goes to London and explores the house thoroughly. He feels himself going back in time as soon as he crosses the threshold. He finds a portrait of a remote ancestor, also named Ralph Pendrel. The portrait comes alive and the two men meet. Later, the modern-day Pendrel goes to the U.S. ambassador in London and tries to tell him of these strange occurrences. He then returns to the mysterious house, steps across the threshold, and finds himself back in the early 19th century. At this dramatic juncture, the part of the novel that James wrote in 1900 breaks off. James resumed the novel in 1914 with scenes of Ralph meeting the relatives of his ancestor, whose place he has now taken. Ralph is engaged to one of those relatives, Molly Midmore, but finds himself attracted to her sister Nan. He also meets Molly's mother and unpleasant brother, and Sir Cantopher Bland, a suitor of Nan's. The novel breaks off completely here. James left extensive notes on how the novel would continue. The notes indicate Nan would eventually realize that Ralph is actually a time-traveller from the future. She would then sacrifice her own happiness and help him return to his own time and to Aurora Coyne, a woman who had previously rejected Ralph but would now accept him. |
3492678 | /m/09ggvv | White Nights | Fyodor Dostoyevsky | null | null | Like many of Dostoyevsky's stories, "White Nights" is told in first person by a nameless narrator who lives alone in a city and suffers from loneliness and the inability to stop thinking. The character is an archetype of a perpetual dreamer. He lives his life in his own mind, imagining that an old man he always passes but never talks to or houses are his friends. The short story is divided into six sections: ;First Night: The story opens with a quotation by Ivan Turgenev, from his poem The Flower: ::"And was it his destined part ::Only one moment in his life ::To be close to your heart? ::Or was he fated from the start ::to live for just one fleeting instant, ::within the purlieus of your heart." The narrator describes his experience walking in the streets of St. Petersburg. He loves the city at night time during which he feels comfortable in the city. He no longer feels comfortable during the day because all the people he was used to seeing were not there. He drew his emotions from there. If they were happy, he was happy. If they were despondent, he was despondent. He felt alone when seeing new faces. The main character also knew the houses. As he strolled down the streets they would talk to him and tell him how they were being renovated or painted a new color or being torn down. The main character lives alone in a small apartment in Saint Petersburg with only his older, non-social maid Matrona to keep him company. He tells the story of his relationship with a young girl called Nastenka (a diminutive of the name Anastasia). He first sees her standing against a railing while crying. He becomes concerned and considers asking what's wrong but eventually steels himself to continue walking. There is something special about her and he is very curious. When he hears her scream, he intervenes and saves her from a man who is harassing her. The main character feels timid and begins shaking while she holds his arm. He explains that he is alone, that he has never known a woman, so he is timid. Nastenka reassures him that ladies like timidity and she likes it, too. He tells her how he spends every minute of every day dreaming about a girl that would just say two words to him, who will not repulse him or ridicule him as he approached. He explains how he thinks of talking to a random girl timidly, respectfully, passionately; telling her that he is dying in solitude and how he has no chance of making a mark on any girl. He tells her that it is a girl's duty not to rudely reject or mock one as timid and luckless as he is. As they reach Nastenka's door, the main character asks if he will ever see her again. Before she can answer, he adds that he will be at the spot they met tomorrow anyway just so he can relive this one happy moment in his lonely life. She agrees, stating she can't forbid him not to come and she has to be there anyway. The girl would tell him her story and be with him, provided that it does not lead into romance. She too is as lonely as the narrator. ;Second Night: On their second meeting, Nastenka introduces herself to him and the two become friends by relating to each other. She exclaims that she has been thinking and knows nothing of him. He responds that he has no history because he has spent his life utterly alone. When she presses him to continue on the matter, the term "dreamer" pops up as the main character explains that he is of that archetype. The main character defines " 'The dreamer' - if you want an exact definition - is not a human being, but a creature of an intermediate sort." In a precursor to a similar speech in Notes from Underground, the narrator gives a verbose speech about his longing for companionship leading Nastenka to comment, "...you talk as if you were reading from a book". He begins to tell his story in third person as he call himself "the hero." This "hero" is happy the hour when all work ends and people walk about. He references Vasily Zhukovsky as he mentions "The Goddess of Fancy". He dreams of everything in this time; from befriending poets to having a place in the winter with a girl by his side. He states that the dreariness of everyday life kills people while he can make his life as he wishes it to be at any time in his dreams. At the end of his moving speech, Nastenka sympathetically assures him that she would be his friend. ;Nastenka's Story: The third part is Nastenka relating her life story to the narrator. She lived with her strict grandmother who gave her a largely sheltered upbringing. Her grandmother's pension being too small, they rent out their house to gain income. When their early lodger dies, he's replaced by a younger man closer to Nastenka's age much to her grandmother's distaste. The young man begins a silent courtship with Nastenka giving her a book often so that she may develop a reading habit. She takes a liking to the novels of Sir Walter Scott and Aleksandr Pushkin as a result. One day, the young man invites her and her grandmother to the theater running The Barber of Seville. Upon the night that the young lodger is about to leave Petersburg for Moscow, Nastenka escapes her grandmother and urges him to marry her. He refuses immediate marriage, stating that he does not have money to support them but he assures her that he would return for her exactly a year later. Nastenka finishes her story at the end of this, noting that a year has gone and he hasn't sent her a single letter. ;Third Night: The narrator gradually realizes that despite his assurance that their friendship would remain platonic, he has inevitably fallen in love with her. But he nevertheless helps her by writing and posting a letter to her lover and hides away his feelings for her. They await his reply for the letter or his appearance; but, gradually, Nastenka grows restless at his absence. She takes comfort in the narrator's friendship. Unaware of the depth of his feelings for her, she states that "I love you so, because you haven't fallen in love with me." The narrator, despairing due to the unrequited nature of his love for her, notes that he has now begun to feel alienated from her as well. ;Fourth Night: Nastenka despairs at the absence of her lover and his reply even though she knows that he's in St. Petersburg. The narrator continues to comfort her to which she's extremely grateful, leading the narrator to break his resolve and confess his love for her. Nastenka is disoriented at first, and the narrator, realizing that they can no longer continue to be friends in the manner that they did before, insists on never seeing her again; however, she urges him to stay. They take a walk where Nastenka states that maybe their relationship might become romantic some day, but she obviously wants his friendship in her life. The narrator becomes hopeful at this prospect when during their walk, they pass by a young man who stops and calls after them. He turns out to be Nastenka's lover into whose arms she jumps. She returns briefly to kiss the narrator but journeys into the night with her love leaving him alone and broken hearted. ;Morning: "My nights came to an end with a morning. The weather was dreadful. It was pouring, and the rain kept beating dismally against my windowpanes". The final section is a brief afterword that relates a letter which Nastenka sends him apologizing for hurting him and insisting that she would always be thankful for his companionship. She also mentions that she would be married within a week and hoped that he would come. The narrator breaks into tears upon reading the letter. Matryona, his maid, interrupts his thoughts by telling him she's finished cleaning the cobwebs. The narrator notes that though he'd never considered Matryona to be an old woman, she looked far older to him then than she ever did before, and briefly wonders if his own future is to be without companionship and love. He however refuses to despair; "But that I should feel any resentment against you, Nastenka! That I should cast a dark shadow over your bright, serene happiness! ...That I should crush a single one of those delicate blooms which you will wear in your dark hair when you walk up the aisle to the altar with him! Oh no — never, never! May your sky be always clear, may your dear smile be always bright and happy, and may you be for ever blessed for that moment of bliss and happiness which you gave to another lonely and grateful heart ... Good Lord, only a moment of bliss? Isn't such a moment sufficient for the whole of a man's life?" |
3494489 | /m/09gl1q | Jacob the Liar | Jurek Becker | 1969 | null | The novel follows the life of the Jewish protagonist Jacob Heym in the ghetto of Łódź, Poland during the German occupation of World War II. Jacob met an 8 year old girl named Lina, whose parents were both killed and who is hidden from the Germans after escaping from the camp transport train. While walking around the ghetto near the time of curfew, Jacob is suddenly stopped by a bored-seeming German officer on a patrol. The officer pretends that the Jewish curfew of 8 pm has already passed, and sends the hapless Jacob to the police station. Jacob obeys him submissively and is followed by the sentinel's flashlight. He arrives at the station where he hears radio news reporting about the approach of the Red Army. Miraculously, Jacob is released since the sentinel was playing a practical joke on him and it was not yet curfew. The first Jew to leave that station alive, Jacob cannot believe his luck. Both this and the radio broadcast fill him with hope. The next day he is working with his partner Mischa, who wants to risk his life by stealing potatoes. At the last moment, Jacob impedes his attempt and gives him the good news about the Russians, but Mischa is skeptical - so Jacob, to give Mischa hope, tells him he has a hidden radio, otherwise forbidden in the ghetto. Jacob lies for the first time by pretending that he possesses a radio since he figures that nobody would believe him if he tells them he saw the precinct from inside. The question raised in the reader's mind is "Does he act responsibly by lying, even if he has only good intentions?" Jacob has enlivened Mischa who immediately goes to Rosa Frankfurter's parents to convey the word. Although he promised Jacob not to mention his name when spreading the news, Mischa breaks his word. Rosa's skeptical father Felix is enraged by the dangerous news Mischa is spreading without proof. Felix destroys a radio he his hiding in the basement. Mischa eventually spreads the lie out: Jacob possesses a radio. Jacob is now forced to become creative in order to maintain the lie. Now that the neighbors believe he has a radio, he has to provide new items of fictional news each day in order to help maintain the peace and hope, and prevent despair from returning to the ghetto. Striving to propagate some real news, he decides to steal a newspaper from an "Aryan water closet", which Jews are strictly prohibited from entering. While he is in it, a nervous guard comes close to the toilet but Jacob’s friend Kowalsky distracts the watchman’s attention by knocking over boxes and saves Jacob’s life. The next day Herschel Schtamm, a usually fearful and timid man, hears the voices of deportees coming out of a wagon. Intent on giving them hope by telling them the news, he gathers his courage and approaches the wagon but is seen and shot by a watchman. Jacob feels responsible for Schtamm’s death. He comes home to find Lina looking for the radio while he was gone. He tells her to stay out of his room but realizes that hearing the radio will give her much needed hope. From another room where Lina can not see him, Jacob imitates the sounds of a radio-show, emulating the voice of Winston Churchill, telling her the metaphorical story of a princess who became ill because nobody could provide her a cloud. The princess was cured when a gardener brought her a cloud made out of cotton wool, because she thought in reality that was what clouds were. It implicates the question of authentic versus perceived need, and of course the question about the imagined world created by the lies of Jacob inside the ghetto. Just as the princess became healthy after she received the “fake” cloud, the hope of the Jews is inspired by artificial truth. Over time, the lie becomes cumbersome and inconvenient to Jacob, and the attention tedious. He pretends that the radio is becoming defective but is still swamped by people who are either begging for news, inculpating him, or pretending friendship to get access to the news. Jacob cannot stand this pressure and in a moment of weakness confesses everything to Kowalsky, who reassures him that he understands everything and would have acted exactly in the same way, and that Kowalsky will not bother Jacob again with any questions. The novel has two endings. The narrator thinks that there should be an independent ending based on what really happened, but he also wants to corroborate that he is trying to reach the reader emotionally, and thus proposes a second ending. However both endings are equally powerful in their own ways. The fictitious ending Jakob is killed while attempting to escape from the Ghetto. Immediately after, as if Jacob's death-shot is the opening of the battle for the city, the Russians arrive to liberate them all. It is ambiguous why Jacob was trying to escape: to save himself and abandon his people to their fate; or to get first-hand information about the course of the war and return to the ghetto, thus redeeming himself for the lie about the radio. The true ending Kowalsky hangs himself shortly after Jacob's confession about the radio. Everyone is deported to the death camps. |
3495683 | /m/09gn3d | The Assassin's Knot | null | null | {"/m/06c9r": "Role-playing game"} | The player characters must solve the mystery of who killed the Baron of Restenford, with evidence pointing to somebody from the town of Garrotten. The scenario describes the town and its castle. The Assassin's Knot module is different from most of its contemporaries in that it contained no dungeon or dungeon-like area. The longer the players take to find the murderer, the more unfortunate events occur in the village. The village, Garrotten, is reputed to be the place to go to have someone killed. The entire village shuts down when the Baron of Restenford is found dead, mutilated beyond the possibility of magical restoration. Three small clues are all the player characters have to unravel the mystery. |
3498308 | /m/09gsdq | Ship of Fools | Richard Paul Russo | 1/9/2001 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The story is told by the reserved Bartolomeo Aguilera whose cunning and bravery contribute to the outcome of the novel. Born with physical defects, he has integrated prosthetic material into his body as compensation. Bartolomeo is a close friend and advisor of the Argonos' captain, Nikos. Within the first few chapters it is clear that Nikos is in an increasingly dangerous situation and that tensions on the ship are beginning to rise. Niko's credibility as captain is declining and many are ready for a new leader. Nikos informs Bartolomeo of news which may help to improve or reduce Nikos' position. While the Bishop's previous failed landing helped to place Nikos in good light, there seems little to improve Nikos' ordeal. A planet suitable for human life has been discovered. It is a short distance away and therefore a landing can be attempted, but more importantly, a signal has been sent from the planet. It is an incredibly basic signal offering no information as to who sent it or why. Nikos asks Bartolomeo to join the team which is to land on the planet, which the Bishop soon names Antioch. The team consists of representatives of the Executive Council, Bartolomeo included, and of the different classes on the ship. The crew, along with harvesters which are to collect and process materials for the Argonos, descend on the planet. Antioch, as they soon discover, is deserted, and has long been so. Although the team visits fewer than five of the complexes, there are presumably numerous cities around the planet. All of them contain enigmatic, ghost-like, structures. The first startling discovery the team makes foreshadows the epiphany of evil which looms over the Argonos for the latter part of the book. A number of human remains are found outside of the city-complexes. The remains are all but decayed with only bones remaining, and the few intact skeletons they find reveal no apparent trauma or instance of a violent death. However, the second discovery haunts the team even after leaving the planet. The team enters a glass-structure which at first reveals nothing about the world or its former inhabitants. They uncover a staircase winding down underground to another chamber. At the bottom of the staircase, lies a nightmare: in a vast room there are contained, on hooks and in chains, an unimaginable number of mutilated skeletons, some of which resemble children. The Argonos is contacted at once and the team decides it is time to leave. The Argonos prepares to leave orbit but amongst the underclasses there is talk of settling on Antioch. Par, a friend of Bartolomeo asks him for his help in a planned insurrection; the common people desire to leave Argonos and live on Antioch. Bartolomeo agrees to help and he obtains access codes for the bay-doors and shuttles. The operation fails miserably and several participants, including Bartolomeo, are taken into custody. Nikos, Bartolomeo soon discovers, knew about Bartolomeo's involvement and used it to his advantage and assert himself as captain. Bartolomeo remains in prison for months on end when he is finally released. He stands before the Executive Council and defends his reasons for aiding in the operation. Under his advice, other political prisoners are released. Bartolomeo's position as advisor is reinstated and he is updated on a new mystery which Argonos has come across. Upon the team's entry into the building on Antioch, a signal from the building was sent deep into space. While the team was never informed, Nikos decided to travel to where the signal had been sent. Thus, they have found an alien ship. A vast, immeasurable, structure lies in the dead of space. The behemoth, which is much greater in size than the Argonos, appears just as silent and uninhabited as Antioch. Bartolomeo takes head of the team which has been attempting to explore the mysterious ship. There had already been a number of deaths, and other 'incidents' while exploring the ship. Bartolomeo therefore ensures that extra precautions are taken as he takes control. No sooner after Bartolomeo assumes control of the operations aboard the ship, the mystery becomes even greater. An old woman is found naked in a compartment in the ship. At first, she is unable to understand the languages used to communicate with her. Eventually, she begins to communicate with scientists in English. She claims to have been from Antioch and the aliens saved her people but can clarify nothing else in her delirious state. The Executive Committee decides that rather than exploring the staggeringly huge vessel, they will attach the ship to the Argonos by cables and take it with them as they continue to explore the galaxy. This proves to be a horrible mistake as the true nature of the ship is revealed. While searching for a young boy who sneaked aboard the ship, Bartolomeo uncovers a horrifying part of the puzzle; a chamber containing mangled corpses, no different from the ones uncovered on Antioch. It becomes clear that the aliens who committed the genocidal acts on Antioch are on board the alien vessel. Bartolomeo calls an emergency meeting with the Executive Council and tells those taking care of the rescued woman to seal the room and sedate her. A sudden realization occurs: How did the old woman know that they had named the planet 'Antioch'? She is, as deduced by Bartolomeo, an alien. She is sedated and ejected into space, but not before momentarily transforming into something other than human. Attempts made to separate the alien vessel from the Argonos fail. Weapons have no effect. As panic begins to intensify aboard the ship, a final plan is devised. The residents on the Argonos will be crammed into the harvesters and shuttles, and they will travel to the planet Antioch. To rid themselves of the aliens, Nikos, and a few other trusted crewmen will remain aboard the ship and conduct a random jump out of the solar system, possibly out of the galaxy and thereby taking the alien vessel with. The plan is put into action and while the alien vessel struggles to free itself from the Argonos, the two star-ships are soon gone. The story ends with the convoy still on its way to Antioch, although Bartolomeo hopes for the future. fr:La Nef des fous (Russo) it:L'astronave dei dannati |
3499066 | /m/09gtw5 | The Swoop | P. G. Wodehouse | 4/16/1909 | {"/m/06nbt": "Satire", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Swoop! tells of the simultaneous invasion of England by several armies — "England was not merely beneath the heel of the invader. It was beneath the heels of nine invaders. There was barely standing-room." — and features references to many well-known figures of the day, among them the politician Herbert Gladstone, novelist Edgar Wallace, actor-managers Seymour Hicks and George Edwardes, and boxer Bob Fitzsimmons. The invaders are the Russians under Grand Duke Vodkakoff, the Germans under Prince Otto of Saxe-Pfennig — the reigning British monarch of the day was Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha — the Swiss Navy, the Monegasques, a band of Moroccan brigands under Raisuli, the Young Turks, the Mad Mullah from Somaliland, the Chinese under Prince Ping Pong Pang, and the Bollygollans in war canoes. The initial reaction to the invasion is muted. "It was inevitable, in the height of the Silly Season, that such a topic as the simultaneous invasion of Great Britain by nine foreign powers should be seized upon by the press", And when the Germans begin shelling London — "Fortunately it was August, and there was nobody in town." — the destruction of nearly all the capital's statues, the reduction of the Albert Hall to a heap of picturesque ruins, and the burning of the Royal Academy, earn Prince Otto a hearty vote of thanks from the grateful populace. The European parties form an alliance and expel the other invaders, but the Swiss soon leave, to be home in time for the winter hotel season, and when Prince Otto and Grand Duke Vodkakoff are offered music hall engagements and the leader of the army of Monaco is not, he takes offence and withdraws his troops. The two remaining armies are overcome thanks to the stratagems of the indomitable Clarence Chugwater, leader of the Boy Scouts. By causing each commander to become jealous of the other's music hall fees, he succeeds in breaking up the alliance and, in the ensuing chaos, Clarence and his Boy Scouts are able to overcome the invaders. In The Military Invasion of America, the United States is invaded by armies from Germany, under Prince Otto of Saxe-Pfennig, and Japan, led by General Owoki. Once again it is Clarence Chugwater who saves the day. |
3499778 | /m/09gw4x | The Little Nugget | P. G. Wodehouse | 8/28/1913 | {"/m/02yq81": "Comic novel", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/09kqc": "Humour"} | Mrs Nesta Ford, in her London hotel room, reveals to her new friend Lord Mountry that she hopes to take her son Ogden on a yachting trip proposed by Mountry, despite her ex-husband having won custody of the boy. As Mountry leaves, Cynthia Drassilis arrives with Ogden, whom she has led away from his father's country house. Mrs Ford rewards Cynthia, but soon Mr Ford's secretary, a Mr Minnick, arrives to recover the stolen child. Cynthia tries to bribe his colleague, Mrs Sheridan, but to no avail, as she believes Nesta's influence has spoiled the boy. After they have gone, Nesta reveals to Cynthia Ogden's past as the 'Little Nugget', and the repeated attempts to kidnap him made by US gangsters. Nesta wishes to call in professional help, but Cynthia persuades her she can still do it, with the help of her new fiancé, a wealthy man called Peter Burns, who she suggests can take up a post at Ogden's new school, posing as a trainee schoolmaster. We meet Peter Burns, and learn that he fell deeply in love, sometime between the ages of 21 and 25, with a Miss Audrey Blake, daughter of an impoverished artist. Though he treated her in a patronizing way, they got engaged, but shortly after the death of her father, she ran off and married another man. This event crushed Burns, once a carefree and selfish youth, and after some years of travel he returned to London chastened, and became engaged to Cynthia Drassilis mostly out of sympathy for her plight. When she visits him the day after his proposal, she easily talks him into helping her out in her scheme. He meets school head Mr Abney, and is soon signed up as Classics master at Sanstead House, the school to which Mr Ford plans to send Ogden. At Sanstead, Burns takes up his duties and soon finds his feet with the boys; he also befriends White, the smooth-mannered butler. Ogden Ford arrives a few days later, and a rather shocked Abney requests that Burns discourage his rudeness and smoking. Burns quickly learns that any attempt to kidnap the tempestuous boy will require great skill. Time passes and Ford introduces numerous vices to the school. In the local inn one day, Burns sees a suspicious-looking American; later, he sees White the butler chasing someone away from the school with a pistol. White explains that he is a detective from the Pinkerton agency, hired by Mr Ford to watch over his son. The following day, another American visits the school, a pleasant man claiming to be a friend of Mr Ford, who soon leaves again having toured the place. The next evening, Burns is strolling outside when he hears Ogden scream, and a man runs into him, knocking him down. An excited crowd gathers to discuss the incident, a man found breaking into Ogden's room, when Mrs Sheridan appears, for an appointment with Abeny; Burns quickly sees that she is in fact his former fiancée, Audrey. Things are awkward between them at first, but they soon make up. Burns meets the American from the village, who turns out to be Buck MacGinnis, former kidnapper of Ogden, and who thinks Burns is none other than his rival, "Smooth" Sam Fisher. Burns questions White about these men, and learns that while Buck a common hoodlum, Fisher is an educated and dangerously smooth man. Spending more time with Audrey, he realises his love for her is still strong. One day MacGinnis and his gang raid the school, holding up the masters at gunpoint. MacGinnis takes Burns to search for Ogden, but Burns flees out of the study window. As he is climbing out MacGinnis shoots him, but he makes it to the cover of some bushes. Burns tackles MacGinnis, breaking his leg, and the gang flees without the missing Ogden. Burns frees the rest of the school, and the police are called. Ogden still cannot be found, and a friend is also found to be missing. Burns volunteers to go to London to search for the runaways, and Audrey implores him to search well, saying she will lose her job with Mr Ford if Ogden is not found. We learn that Burns has bribed Ogden to go to London, and arranged to have his valet send the boy to his mother Nesta Ford. Abney the headmaster, sick in bed with a cold, learns that the butler is a detective and sends him on the trip to London with Burns. On the way White reveals that he saw Burns give Ogden his directions, and also that he is in fact none other than Smooth Sam Fisher, proposing to come in with Burns on the presumed kidnapping job. Burns flees to his flat, but learns that Ogden has not arrived there. Fisher arrives having followed Burns, but on learning Ogden is off enjoying London he leaves to seek him. After a day's search, Burns finds the boy at the house of his friend's mother, and brings him back to the school. Fisher also returns, threatening to expose Burns' actions if his identity is revealed. Ogden is moved to a safe room, and guarded; Burns' relationship with Audrey chills after he is reminded he is engaged, and he foils another attempt by Fisher to take the boy. The school term ends, but Mr Ford cannot collet Ogden for a few days, so Abney asks Burns to join Audrey and the butler in guarding him, but Fisher reveals Burns' plot to return Ogden to his mother. Burns leaves in shame, but returns and contacts Audrey to tell her about Fisher. She doesn't trust him, remaining aloof, and he sees MacGinnis is also back in the neighbourhood. He drives Fisher out of the house, and takes guard himself, still without Audrey's faith. Fisher comes back having joined up with MacGinnis, and offers Burns a last chance, which he rejects. With the phone wires cut, Burns tries to sneak Ogden across country, but they are trapped in the loft of the school stables. Ogden, bored of the chase, surrenders himself, and Audrey breaks down in tears, comforted by Burns. Some days later, Burns and Audrey speak of their love, but she insists he stand by his promise to Cynthia. They part, and Cynthia's mother appears with Nesta Ford. Mr Ford also arrives, as does Sam Fisher, who persuades Ford to reunite with his wife and to take Fisher on as Ogden's security guard, in lieu of a ransome. Ford agrees and they leave. Mrs Drassilis reveals that Cynthia has fallen for Lord Mountry, and Burns gives them his blessing, releasing her from the engagement. He heads off after Audrey. |
3499945 | /m/09gwg1 | Europe | Henry James | 1899-06 | null | The narrator visits the New England home of an ancient widow, Mrs. Rimmle, and her three aging daughters: Becky, Jane and Maria. Long ago Mrs. Rimmle visited Europe, which was the great event of her life. The daughters would also like to see Europe but their mother falls ill whenever their plans get close to materializing. Finally, family friends take Jane to Europe, where she is too happy ever to return. When the narrator next sees Mrs. Rimmle, she tells him that Jane has died abroad, which is not true, and that Becky will soon be going to Europe. Becky never actually gets away from the family house and finally dies. When he last visits the family, the nearly mummified Mrs. Rimmle tells the narrator that Becky has "gone to Europe," a sad euphemism for her death. |
3500050 | /m/09gwps | The Jolly Corner | Henry James | 12/1/1908 | null | Spencer Brydon returns to New York City after more than thirty years abroad. He has agreed to have his old family house demolished in favor of a more lucrative apartment building. Before the wreckers begin, he starts to prowl the house at night. Brydon has begun to realize that he might have been an astute businessman if he hadn't forsaken moneymaking for a more leisurely life. He discusses this possibility with Alice Staverton, his woman friend who has always lived in New York. Meanwhile Brydon begins to believe that his alter ego—the ghost of the man he might have been—is haunting the "jolly corner", his nickname for the old family house. After a harrowing night of pursuit in the house, Brydon finally confronts the ghost, who advances on him and overpowers him with "a rage of personality before which his own collapsed." Brydon eventually awakens with his head pillowed on Alice Staverton's lap. It is arguable whether or not Spencer had actually become unconscious or whether he had died and has awoken in an afterlife. She had come to the house because she sensed he was in danger. She tells him that she pities the ghost of his alter ego, who has suffered and lost two fingers from his right hand. But she also embraces and accepts Brydon as he is. |
3500070 | /m/09gwrj | The Fourth Dimension | Charles Howard Hinton | null | null | The Fourth Dimension guides you on a mind-expanding journey; the book is designed to alter the reader's perceptions of the universe through the exploration of a fourth dimension (a fourth physical dimension, rather than the simpler notion of time as a fourth dimension). The information gives the reader a much better understanding of the concept of higher dimensions, whose existence must be presumed in order to complete some of the mathematical equations of quantum mechanics. Abbott's Flatland is put to use by means of analogies, which are used throughout the book. Rucker compares how a square in Flatland would react to a cube in Spaceland to how a cube in Spaceland would react to a hypercube from the fourth dimension. In addition to the 200 pages of the guided tour of the higher universes, many puzzles (see mental-skill game) are included to help the reader gain the mental tools necessary to envisioning a fourth dimension. nl:De Vierde Dimensie (boek) |
3502918 | /m/09h14b | Violin | Anne Rice | 10/15/1997 | {"/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | The book is set in numerous places, including Vienna, New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro. The novel tells the story of three people: a middle aged woman yearning to become a musician, a ghostly violinist, and the ghost of Beethoven. The story begins with Triana, who apparently becomes insane due to the death of her second husband, Karl, who had AIDS. Her first husband was Lev, with whom Triana had a daughter. Stefan, the ghost, appears the day Karl dies and plays his Stradivarius (s long Strad) (apparently also a ghost). Triana secludes herself in her house for several days without informing anyone of Karl's death. Through the course of the book we learn the story of both Triana and Stefan. Stefan takes Triana in a travel through time, visiting scenes from his life and his afterlife in an attempt to reclaim his violin, which had been taken by Triana. Stefan had many mentors including Beethoven and Paganini, but it is Beethoven whom Stefan cherished the most. After Stefan's story is "told" Triana returns to her rightful time but not to New Orleans where the story began but to Vienna, and now seemingly possessing a talent to improvise in the violin. We see the ghost of this great musician about two times in the novel, the first one in a scene where Stefan's house in Vienna is burning, and the second one almost at the end where Beethoven appears in modern Vienna in the hotel room where Triana was staying. With Triana still in possession of the strad, Stefan continues his attempts to reclaim the violin but to no avail, until finally, after achieving success with her improvisations it is in Brazil that Triana returns the violin to his rightful owner and Stefan finally crosses over. |
3505740 | /m/09h5zj | Mrs. Kimble | Jennifer Haigh | 2/1/2003 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Born in 1929, Ken Kimble is raised the son of a pastor in Missouri and becomes a minister like his father. While working as a chaplain in a Bible college in Richmond, Virginia he feels attracted to Birdie Bell, one of his female students. Ken, who is 32, marries the 19-year old Birdie on the spot. The Kimbles have two children, Charlie and Jody. Soon after he is forced to resign over an alleged affair, Ken disappears with Moira Snell, one of his students. It takes Birdie many years to get over her husband's desertion. Only at the end of the novel, when she is 51, does Birdie find some solace with Curtis Mabry, her teenage sweetheart. In 1969, at the age of 40, Ken and Moira move to Florida and Ken finds work as a gardener. When he and Moira break up after a few months, he takes a room with Joan Cohen, a rich professional woman of Jewish descent about his own age. They soon become lovers and Joan sees Ken as her last chance at happiness, especially now that one of her breasts has been removed due to breast cancer. Ken pretends to have a Jewish background and, after getting married under Jewish law, starts working as a real estate broker. Joan realizes that she knows nothing about her husband's past when she finds an old photograph of his two children. Unable to have children of her own, Joan persuades Ken to fetch his children so that they can be raised in Florida. Ken tricks Birdie by offering to take the kids on vacation, which she naively accepts. At first, Charlie and Jody take Joan for a nanny. When he realizes the truth, Charlie steals some money from Joan and escapes with his little sister. Joan soon after dies of breast cancer. Ken inherits all her money and moves to Washington, D.C. to set up a new real estate business. In the late 1970s, he has a chance meeting with Dinah, who used to babysit Charlie and Jody. Although she is more than 25 years his junior, they get married in 1979 and have one son, Brendan. Ken one day sells his company and starts a government-funded project providing affordable accommodation for those in need, which gains him a lot of recognition in the community. Dinah has an extramarital affair until Ken, despite his lifelong strict diet and his regular exercise, has a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 65. Hoping that it might cheer Ken up, Dinah invites Charlie and Jody for Thanksgiving, but the family reunion only serves as an eye-opener to Ken Kimble's despicable character. After recovering from his illness, Ken leaves Dinah. It is soon discovered that he had been embezzling large sums of money from his non-profit organisation and that a small child has died in one of the houses he is responsible for because he refused to have a faulty furnace repaired. Ken dies alone in Florida. |
3506780 | /m/09h7dd | The Lorax | Dr. Seuss | 8/12/1971 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | A young boy living in a polluted town visits a strange reclusive man called the Once-ler "on the far end of town where the Grickle-grass grows... in the Street of the Lifted Lorax", who never appears in full onscreen; only his limbs are shown. The boy pays the Once-ler fifteen cents, a nail, and the shell of a great-great-great grandfather snail to explain why the area is in such a run-down state. The Once-ler explains to the boy (shown in flashback) that he arrived in a beautiful, pristine valley containing happy, playful fauna that spent their days romping around blissfully among "Truffula trees". The Once-ler proceeded to cut down the Truffula trees to gather raw material to knit "Thneeds," a comically versatile invention of his, "which everyone needs". Thneeds can be used as a shirt, a sock, a glove, a hat, a carpet, a pillow, a sheet, or a curtain. By cutting down the tree, however, he summoned the titular Lorax, who was "shortish and oldish and brownish and mossy ... with a voice that was sharpish and bossy", to appear from the stump of a Truffula tree. He "speaks for the trees, for the trees have no tongues" and warned the Once-ler of the consequences of cutting down the truffula trees, but the Once-ler ignored him, instead calling his relatives to come and work in his factory. Soon the once beautiful area became choked with pollution and the Lorax sent away the fauna to find more hospitable habitats. Confronted by the Lorax, the Once-ler declared his intention to keep "biggering" his operations, but at that very moment, they "heard the tree fall. The very last Truffula tree of them all." Without raw materials, his factory shut down; without the factory, his relatives left. Then the Lorax, silently, with one "very sad, sad backward glance", lifted himself by the seat of his pants and flew away through the clouds. The Once-ler lingered on in his crumbling residence, living in seclusion and remorse, while pondering over a message the Lorax left behind: a stone slab etched with the word "Unless". In the present, the Once-ler says that he now realizes that the Lorax means that unless someone cares, the situation will not improve. The Once-ler then gives the boy the last Truffula seed and tells him to plant it, saying that "Truffula Trees are what everyone needs" and hoping that, if the boy grows a whole forest of the trees, "the Lorax, and all of his friends may come back." |
3507783 | /m/09h8vc | A Christmas Tree and a Wedding | Fyodor Dostoyevsky | 1848 | null | The narrator begins by mentioning to the reader that he had just been to a wedding but recalls a Christmas party that he had found more interesting. The party was given with the pretext of being a children's party, but its real purpose was for the wealthy host's family to talk business with rich members of the community. The wealthiest guest was Julian Mastakovich, a rotund landowner. Without anyone to talk to, the narrator fell to simply observing the guests. The narrator takes particular interest in the children. They were given gifts in accordance with their social standing. The eleven year old daughter of a wealthy government contractor received an expensive doll, while the poorest child, the son of the family governess, received only a small book without illustrations or even a front and back cover. After being bullied by the other richer boys, the poor boy retreats to another room where he and the rich daughter play happily with the doll. Julian Matsakovich also retreats from the rest of the crowd to observe the rich daughter, who already had a dowry set aside of 300,000 rubles. As Mastakovich observes the girl, he calculates what her dowry (with interest) would be at age sixteen, and he comes up with the astounding sum of 500,000 rubles. Mastakovich approaches the girl and kisses her on the head. The girl recoils from his gesture, and she looks to her playmate for protection. Mastakovich tries to scare the poor boy away while trying to get a promise of love from the young girl, and eventually he causes a scene where he chases the poor boy around the party, whipping at him with his handkerchief. The wedding that the narrator came across five years later was indeed the wedding between Julian Mastakovich and the rich girl, now sixteen. |
3507812 | /m/09h8y5 | 9/11: The Big Lie | null | null | null | The book questions the U.S. government version of the events and raises a large number of questions on the details of the events which, according to many observers, marked the beginning of the 21st century and changed the geopolitical world order. It makes the following claims: The actions that provoked the collapse of the Twin Towers in the heart of New York and damaged part of the Pentagon building were not the result of attempts by foreign suicide pilots, but were rather an action organized by a group within the U.S. administration; an internal plot aimed at driving opinion and forcing the course of events. The war on Afghanistan was not a response to the September 11 events, since it was prepared long before in coordination with the British. President Bush found support in evangelical groups to launch a crusade against Islam, according to the strategy known as “Clash of Civilizations”. The “war on terror” was a pretext to cut individual liberties in the United States and later in allied countries in order to impose a military regime. Osama bin Laden was a CIA fabrication and never stopped working for the U.S. secret service. The bin Laden and the Bush families jointly manage their wealth by means of the Carlyle Group. The U.S. administration was taken over by some industrial groups (weapons, oil, pharmaceuticals) whose interests would be defended by the government in detriment of others. The CIA would develop a program of interference at all levels, which would include the resource of torture and political assassination. |
3508683 | /m/09hbp7 | Meyebela, My Bengali Girlhood | Taslima Nasrin | 6/1/1998 | {"/m/0xdf": "Autobiography"} | This autobiographical book tells Nasrin's story from birth to adolescence. The Bengali term Meyebela means "girlhood". The book has been banned in Bangladesh because "its contents might hurt the existing social system and religious sentiments of the people." The book is very frank about her father and mother. Her father is described by Nasrin as rude and tyrannical. Nasrin was also sexually exploited by two of her family elders (uncles). She also said: "When I was at the hospital (in Dhaka), I treated so many seven- or eight-year-old girls who were raped by their male relatives, some 50 or 60 years old. I treated them, and I remembered when I was raped." Nasrin has in this and in her other books written about women rights in Bangladesh: "Girls suffer, especially in Muslim countries," she said. "I could not go out and run in the fields. I was supposed to stay home to learn how to cook, to clean. Women are not treated as human beings. They are taught for centuries that they are slaves of men." http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0246,davis,39832,1.html |
3508773 | /m/09hb_p | Vulcan! | Kathleen Sky | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | Ion storms have caused the boundaries of the Neutral Zone between the Federation and Romulans to shift. The planet Arachne IV, inhabited by a strange ant-like race, could be lost to the Federation due to the changes in space. However, Mr. Spock goes on a death-defying assignment into a war of ant-like creatures along with a scientist who dislikes Vulcans. |
3509423 | /m/09hdk6 | To Outrun Doomsday | Kenneth Bulmer | 1967 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The novel concerns "Lucky" Jack Waley, a computer salesman and conman unfortunate enough to be aboard the starship Bucentaure when the engine blows. He crashlands on the planet Kerim, a planet where anything you ask for from the mysterious Pe'Ichen is instantly manufactured before your eyes. Anything trivial. No food, no houses. And for the current generation, no children. Jack connects up with a variety of rogues to try to save the day, only to discover that Pe'Ichen is an ancient computer with miraculous powers, designed to keep order in the lives of the Kerimites, providing them with their every need. Pe'Ichen, however, has determined that a) the sun will explode in 56 years, and b) that there is no such thing as life on other planets. |
3511512 | /m/09hjw_ | Strega Nona | Tomie dePaola | 1975 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | The book focuses on the exploits of Strega Nona, a sort of female witch doctor noted throughout her home village for her numerous successful remedies. She employs the assistance of a dim but lanky young man named Big Anthony, leaving her residence under his care while visiting a close acquaintance one day. Big Anthony is intrigued by Strega Nona's enchanted pot, used for cooking unlimited amounts of pasta upon the chanting of a spell. Big Anthony decides to use the pot to his advantage by summoning humongous amounts of pasta for the villagers. However, a great sea of noodles overflows the entire town when Big Anthony forgets to bow kisses on the pasta three times. Strega Nona returns home, and Big Anthony pleads for her assistance. Strega Nona blows kisses on the pasta three times. Afterwards, she hands a fork to the troublesome young man and commands him to eat all of the pasta which he had conjured. By nightfall, Big Anthony was stuffed |
3513708 | /m/09hp59 | The Big Bounce | Elmore Leonard | 1969 | null | The original novel, which is set on the bleak coast of Northern Michigan, tells the story of a young thief named Jack Ryan who gets a new shot at life with the help of a justice of the peace named Mr. Majestyk (Leonard later wrote a novel called Mr. Majestyk, with a title character that is completely unrelated to the character of the same name in The Big Bounce), who hires Jack to work at his beach resort. During this time, Jack gets involved with a psychotic woman named Nancy, a young seductress who got her thrills by smashing windows and breaking the hearts of married men. Nancy is the girlfriend of a millionaire, Ray Ritchie, and also cheating on him with another man, Bob Jr. She plans to have Jack steal a $50,000 payroll from Ray. But when simple housebreaking and burglary give way to the deadly pursuit of a really big score, the stakes suddenly skyrocket. Because violence and double-cross are the name of this game—and it's going to take every ounce of cunning Jack and Nancy possess to survive...each other. |
3516360 | /m/09hv9c | Transit to Scorpio | Kenneth Bulmer | 1972 | {"/m/07ps83": "Sword and planet", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The novel features the story of Dray Prescot, an English sailor of Lord Nelson's navy, and his miraculous teleportation to the planet Kregen. There he is trained as an agent for the mysterious Savanti, an apparently benevolent secret society devoted to improving the lot of humanity among the many intelligent species of Kregen. Among the benefits conferred on him is immersion in an apparently miraculous pool, Kregen's equivalent of the Fountain of Youth, which heals all wounds and confers a greatly extended lifespan on the bather. During Prescot's sojourn among the Savanti an offhand reference is made to the continent of Gah in Kregen's opposite hemisphere, whose distasteful customs are an obvious dig at another sword and planet series, the Gor series of John Norman. Prescot falls from grace among his hosts for supplying forbidden aid to Delia, princess of the island empire of Vallia, who has been brought to the Savanti as an injured supplicant. Defying their decision not to help her, he takes her to the healing pool and cures her. In consequence, he is banished back to Earth. Later, he is returned to Kregen through the agency of the Star Lords, an even more mysterious group of apparently god-like beings, whose motivations are unknown, but apparently in opposition to the human Savanti. Prescot becomes a pawn in the Star Lords' schemes, sent willy-nilly to various locations on the planet to serve their ends and capriciously returned to Earth when his task is done or he manages to offend them. Despite this handicap he usually rises to a position of power in whatever society he is thrust into. Thrown back into contact with Delia, he is even able to renew and further his relationship with her. Important locales introduced in this novel include the hidden city of the Savanti, the northern plains of the continent of Segesthes, and the city state of Zenicce on the same continent. |
3516485 | /m/09hvpk | Balthasar's Odyssey | Amin Maalouf | 2000 | {"/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Before the dawn of the apocalyptic 'Year of the Beast' in 1666, Balthasar Embriaco, a Levantine merchant, sets out on an adventure that will take him across the breadth of the civilised world from Constantinople, through the Mediterranean, to London, shortly before the Great Fire. Balthazar's urgent quest is to track down a copy of one of the rarest and most coveted books ever printed, a volume called The Hundredth Name; its contents are thought to be of vital importance to the future of the world. There are ninety-nine names for God in the Koran, and merely to know this most secret hundredth name will, Balthasar believes, ensure his salvation. ar:رحلة بالداسار es:El viaje de Baldassare gl:A viaxe de Baldassare tr:Yüzüncü Ad: Baldassare'nin Yolculuğu |
3516517 | /m/09hvv2 | Métro Châtelet, Direction Cassiopeia | Pierre Christin | 1980 | null | Alone on the astroship, Laureline departs the planet Rubanis, in the Constellation of Cassiopeia, having obtained the information she requires for the spatio-temporal agent's latest mission. Rendezvousing with the Apominobas merchants, they tell her of swindlers who are selling dangerous technologies. Leaving the Apominobas, she continues to her destination: the planet Solum. Using a telepathic link provided by Galaxity, she communicates with Valérian to keep him up to date with her progress. Valérian is sitting in a café in Paris, 20th century Earth, waiting for Galaxity's contact, Mr Albert, to arrive. Albert enters the café and seats himself beside Valerian. He has news: strange things have been happening on the Métro – a presence at Auber station, a sighting at Nation station and now a derailment at Châtelet. Valérian and Albert leave the café and make for the metro station. Arriving they are told that the station is closed but manage to slip down onto the platform. Valérian proceeds down the tunnel to where the train derailed. Remaining behind at the platform, Albert observes a group of men – some of whom appear to be businessmen – heading down the tunnel as well. Valérian sees a light ahead of him in the tunnel and is suddenly confronted by a fire-breathing dragon. Pulling a futuristic rifle from his trench coat, he opens fire on the apparition which, he realizes, is made of pure energy. There is an explosion and Valérian is thrown to the ground, unconscious. Waiting outside the station, Albert is concerned that Valérian has been away too long. The group of men he saw at the station emerge, looking displeased, get into their vehicles, which include a van marked “Bellson & Gambler”, and drive off. Shortly afterwards, an ambulance draws up and Valérian is carried out of the station on a stretcher. Albert follows the ambulance to the hospital where he convinces the doctors that he is Valérian's uncle and manages to get him discharged, telling the gendarmes that Valérian is weak-minded and believes he is an intergalactic detective. Later, at dinner, they review what has happened: they cannot think of a connection between the apparition on the Métro, the incident that brought Valérian to the 20th century in the first place – an apparition of a muddy monster at a mine in Lorraine and Laureline's investigations in Cassiopeia. As they walk back to his hotel, Valérian complains of headaches arising from his telepathic communications with Laureline. In his hotel room, Valérian contacts Laureline who has reached the planet Solum. The ground on the planet is porous and ever changing and its inhabitants are engaged in incessant rebuilding of their ever sinking city, adding layer upon layer. Each layer contains a living memory who records the history of the planet and Laureline is moving deeper and deeper trying to find a history who can give them a lead on the incidents that are happening on Earth. Valérian is woken by the phone in his room. It is Albert, ringing to warn him that his hotel is under observation by the police and by a second, unknown, group. Valérian slips out of the hotel via the roof and meets Albert in a taxi at the end of the road. The taxi takes them to a railway station where they get a train to Marais Poitevin where sightings of a monster have been reported in the marshes. Sleeping on the train, Valérian resumes contact with Laureline. One of the histories on Solum has told her a story about a planet called Ohuru which was plagued, and eventually destroyed, by similar apparitions. The history also tells Laureline of a link between the planet Ohuru and the planet Zomuk – the dumping ground of the universe. The inhabitants are noted for the sanctuaries that they construct from the materials deposited on their planet. Laureline is told that some artifacts from Ohuru have landed up on Zomuk and she is now heading there to investigate. Arriving at Marais Poitevin, Valérian and Albert try to book into a hotel but find that it has been booked out by representatives, from America, of a multinational company called W.A.A.M. who have gone on an excursion into the marshes. Following them into the marshes, Albert muses on the two corporations – Bellson & Gambler and now W.A.A.M. who appear to be mixed up in this affair. Albert believes the second car that was watching Valérian's hotel was from Bellson & Gambler. They meet a farm-boy, Jean-René, in the marsh who tells them that the men from W.A.A.M. are looking in the wrong place. He offers to take Valérian to where the monster is but only if Valérian will give him his rifle and allow him to make the first shot at the beast. Valérian, reluctantly, agrees and they set off into the marsh. The monster, which resembles a whale, appears but Jean-René's shot just bounces off its hide. Jean-René is knocked out by the recoil from the gun but Valérian grabs the rifle and opens fire, killing the monster. Returning to Paris, Albert brings Valérian to his house where one of his carrier pigeons has arrived with a message from Chatelard, an old friend of Albert's and a philosopher of science and mythology. Driving to Chatelard's house, Valérian and Albert are greeted by the old man who tells them that he believes there will be one more manifestation and it will take the form of air. He explains that there appears to be a link between the apparitions and the four classical elements – the mud monster in the mine was earth, the dragon in the Métro was fire and the creature in the marsh was water. Chatelard also tells Albert that this is not the first time he has been asked about these manifestations – a young woman from an American research centre had previously offered him a lot of money for any information he could share. As Valérian and Albert leave Chatelard's house, they are observed by a young, blonde woman in a car. Back at Albert's house, Albert looks up Bellson & Gambler and W.A.A.M. in his files. Bellson & Gambler are a heavy industry corporation, involved in mining, steel and petroleum. W.A.A.M. - World American Advanced Machines – are a new economy company involved in electronics and computers. Albert realizes that these two disparate organisations are competing with one another to gain control of the powers behind the manifestations. Meanwhile, on Zomuk, Laureline has resumed contact with Valérian. The most beautiful sanctuary on Zomuk has been plundered of its contents. Gaining entry to the sanctuary, Laureline finds its main chamber empty except for representations of the four elemental forces on the walls – exactly what Chatelard spoke of. Suddenly, the link between Valérian and Laureline is broken by an interruption from Albert. Angry at being cut off, Valérian snaps at Albert and storms out of the house. Valérian mopes angrily through the streets of Paris when a sports car, driven by the young woman who was watching him and Albert at Chatelard's house, pulls up. She asks Valérian if he'd like to go dancing with him. Valérian gets in the car and they drive off. Continues in Brooklyn Station, Terminus Cosmos... |
3516545 | /m/09hvxh | Brooklyn Station, Terminus Cosmos | Pierre Christin | 1981 | null | Valérian wakes up in a hotel room next to the blonde woman he met at the end of Métro Châtelet, Direction Cassiopeia. He has been roused by Laureline using their telepathic link. She explains that Albert had become concerned at Valérian's disappearance some days previously and, unable to locate him, had resorted to contacting Galaxity via the space-time relay. Galaxity had then passed on the message to Laureline who used the link to contact him. Valérian, embarrassed, explains that he has been enjoying himself with the woman, who is called Cynthia Westerby. Laureline tells Valérian that Albert is certain that Cynthia is an agent of W.A.A.M. Laureline, meanwhile, has found out more about what happened on Zomuk when the four elements were stolen. A magnificent spacecraft had landed on Zomuk near the sanctuary and two figures emerged claiming to be the gods the Zoms worshiped. Believing them, the Zoms took them to the sanctuary and presented them with the four elements. Each “god” took two of the elements but their separation seemed to cause the two “gods” to fight amongst themselves. When, during the fight, one of the “gods” dropped a disintegrator rifle, the Zoms realised they were being deceived – but too late: the spacecraft, now carrying the four elements, took off. Analyzing the disintegrator, Laureline determines that it was manufactured on one of the asteroids of the Elsinn Belt, a known hideout for space pirates. She decides to head there to see what she can find. The next morning, in Paris, while having breakfast in the hotel, Cynthia receives a call. Eavesdropping, Valérian learns that the next manifestation will be at Beaubourg. Returning to the table, Cynthia makes an excuse that she is meeting a cousin at the airport and can't stay with Valérian. When she leaves, Valérian telephones Albert and they agree to meet at Beaubourg. Cynthia emerges from the hotel and gets into her car observed by agents of Bellson & Gambler. They see Valérian follow her and pull up pretending to be a taxi. Cynthia meets her associates in the plaza in front of the Pompidou Centre while Valérian finds Albert. They look around the plaza trying to find the manifestation. Suddenly Albert spots an old homeless woman with a magnificent blue bird. The W.A.A.M. representatives also suspect something and offer the woman money in exchange for the bird. Valérian surprises Cynthia and in the confusion snatches the bird from the old woman. He dashes into the Pompidou Centre with it where the bird suddenly grows and become enveloped in a blue fire. Valérian opens fire with his rifle and destroys the apparition but not before it strikes him with a tongue of fire. Somewhat dazed and disoriented, he rejoins Albert in the underground car park. Taking the car to the airport, Valérian is bombarded with visions of alien worlds and of the future. The visions continue all throughout their flight to New York where they are greeted by another friend of Albert's, Schlomo Melsheim, one of the greatest authorities on the Kabbalah. Schlomo brings them to his home in Brooklyn where his wife tends to Valérian. Schlomo tells Albert that he had been approached by representatives of Bellson & Gambler seeking his assistance. The company had been contacted by an alien force via their computer promising sales demonstrations of new energy technologies unknown on Earth. At the same time, W.A.A.M. had also received a similar approach. Both companies employed experts from a myriad of disciplines including many mystical gurus such as medicine men, astrologers, alchemists, parapsychologists and ufologists. A final demonstration has been organised on some waste-ground in Brooklyn and Schlomo drives Valérian and Albert there. Albert disguises himself with a false beard. Many representatives of Bellson & Gambler are present including Jeremiah Bellson, the co-founder of the company himself. Schlomo has managed to gain access to the meeting though Bellson's lover, Sarah Friedlander, an old acquaintance. Sarah introduces them to Bellson with Schlomo claiming that Albert is an expert on Zohar and Valérian is his assistant. From Bellson's car, they observe that representatives of W.A.A.M. have also turned up for the demonstration. Valérian, still feeling unwell, excuses himself and tries to regain contact with Laureline. Laureline explains that she has found the two, Crocbattler and Rackalust, who stole the elements from the Zoms in the Elsinn Belt – they are hiding out in an abandoned fortress on one of the asteroids where they have been squabbling non-stop since their successful raid. In conjunction with a criminal gang on Rubanis, and possibly manipulated by the mysterious aliens of the planet Hypsis, they conspired to steal the elements and sell them to the highest bidder on Earth. As Laureline explains the situation to Valérian, all four elemental forces manifest themselves in Brooklyn and begin to wreak havoc. The observers from Bellson & Gambler and W.A.A.M. look on, helpless. Laureline acts quickly – dressed in an alluring costume she convinces Crocbattler and Rackalust to engage in a duel with the four elements and Laureline herself as the prize. Consumed with lust they agree and end up shooting and killing each other. Drawing her gun, Laureline destroys the four elements. At that moment the manifestations disappear. All the observers have fled except for Valérian, Albert and Schlomo. Jeremiah Bellson is the last to leave in his car accompanied by the founder of W.A.A.M. with whom he is discussing a joint venture. Valérian bids them farewell and makes for the Statue of Liberty where he uses the spatio-temporal relay station there to return home and face Laureline for his indiscretion. |
3516589 | /m/09hw17 | The Ghosts of Inverloch | Pierre Christin | 1984 | null | Inverloch Castle, Northern Scotland, 1986: Laureline, a guest at the castle, goes on her morning ride across Kenchmoor with her host, Lady Seal. Laureline is anxious: she has been at the castle for some days and has received no further details of what her mission here is. The planet Glapum't: Valerian has been hunting one of the native Glapum'tiens for some time but with little success. Finally, using some drugged food he captures his prey. Securing his prize on board the astroship and preparing for a spatio-temporal jump, he is concerned that he is unable to get a signal from Galaxity. London, England, 1986: Mr Albert, Galaxity's contact on 20th century Earth, checks out of his hotel room and makes his way on foot to King's Cross where he just makes it in time to catch the train to Scotland. He is carrying important confidential papers for a meeting. The planet Rubanis: Colonel Tloc, the chief of police meets with three Shingouz. He rebuffs their various offers of information until they deliver some shocking news to him – a scanograph that shows that he is infected with the deadly Scunindar virus. They offer him the location of a possible cure in return for details of the threat faced by Earth. Tloc tells them that the threat comes from the planet Hypsis. He gives them the present location of their planet, a mysterious place that regularly changes its location. West Virginia, USA, 1986: Lord Seal meets in secret with several representatives of the United States Intelligence Community. The agencies are concerned because a large number of high level members of the defence community have suffered severe mental breakdowns including a general who blew up his missile silos and a submarine commander who sank his own ship. The situation is so bad that the country's ability to defend itself using its nuclear capability is under threat. Intelligence information suggests that something similar is occurring in the USSR. Lord Seal informs them that this matches information that he has been given by the UK Intelligence Services. The only connection that exists between all the victims were affected by strange devices disguised as cheap ornaments such as a model Pershing missile and a Snoopy toy. One of the attendees at the meeting, Gene Rowlands, falls ill during the conversation. A search of his things reveals a cheap calculator that when switched on emits a strange light. The meeting ends and Lord Seal indicates that he has every thing he needs for this evening's meeting. He is driven to a military airport and flies away in a jet fighter. Galaxity, capital of the Terran Galactic Empire, the 28th century: the Chief of the Spatio-Temporal Service sits alone in his office. All around him, the buildings of the city are disappearing into a strange mist. There are no other people to be seen anywhere. The Chief walks to a spatio-temporal relay and steps inside. Back at Inverloch Castle, Laureline and Lady Seal are watching the sun set over the castle lawn when a small spacecraft makes a crash landing onto the grass. Stepping out to investigate, the ship opens to reveal the three Shingouz. As Laureline leads them into the castle the ship's auto-destruct mechanism activates and destroys the ship. Shortly afterwards, a jet fighter overflies the castle and one of its occupants, Lord Seal, parachutes from the plane onto the castle lawn. Before joining the others in the castle, Lord Seal checks that the gardeners have cleared the greenhouse as per his instructions. Night has now fallen and with it a dense mist. Lord Seal's Rolls arrives carrying Mr Albert. Now the only person left to arrive is Valérian who has gotten lost in the fog. Receiving directions from some gentlemen in a local pub, he reaches the castle and parks the astroship in the greenhouse where the gardeners camouflage it under tarpaulin and palm trees. With all parties having now arrived at the castle, Lady Seal calls the group to attention. She reveals that the castle is haunted and that she has received notification that the Ghost of Inverloch will be arriving to join them this evening. They are interrupted by the Glapumt'ien, who wishes to be called Ralph, who had been forgotten by Valérian. Leading her guests to a ruined wing of the castle, she explains that the ghost has appeared many times to members of her family over the centuries and is responsible for the good fortune that has followed them through the generations. Reaching a deserted room among the ruins, Valérian and Laureline are astonished to discover a spatio-temporal relay. They are further shocked when the relay activates and the “Ghost of Inverloch” reveals himself to be the Chief of the Spatio-Temporal Service. The Chief tells them that he has brought them together to investigate the catastrophe of 1986, first seen in The City of Shifting Waters, in which a nuclear accident at the North Pole caused the polar icecaps to melt engulfing most of the civilized world under water. He warns them that if they fail to succeed, then Galaxity will disappear and they will all be reduced to mere ghosts. Continues in The Rage of Hypsis... |
3516617 | /m/09hw30 | The Rage of Hypsis | Pierre Christin | 1985 | null | Inverloch Castle, the morning after the events of The Ghosts of Inverloch. Meeting for breakfast, Valérian, Laureline, the Chief, Lord and Lady Seal, the Shingouz, Ralph and Albert consider their next move. Lord Seal reports that worldwide nuclear defence systems continue to be disturbed as more and more mysterious objects from Hypsis are found. Albert produces the secret documents he has carried from France to Inverloch – knowing that the 1986 catastrophe occurred at the Arctic Circle, he has used his maritime contacts to provide a list of vessels that may have been involved. The Chief reveals that the devices of Hypsis have also done their work on Galaxity. Lord Seal reveals that a vessel is due to meet them at Kenchmoor Cove. Arriving at the cove, they are met by Commander Merrywhistle of the weather ship HMS Crosswinds. Boarding his ship they begin their voyage. Valérian's sleep is frequently wracked by nightmares – images of the flood that engulfed the Earth in 1986 and of Galaxity disappearing into space-time. Looking in on the chief Valérian and Laureline are disturbed to see him apparently mesmerized by one of the Hypsis' devices. Meeting with Albert and Merryweather, they consider the ships that are known to be in the Arctic. Albert has narrowed the possibilities down to two cargo ships, a whaler and a schooner. Several days later and they have intercepted and ruled out the two cargo ships and the whaler. Suddenly, Ralph, who has been spending most of his spare time in the ocean, returns to the Crosswinds to report that he may have some information. Checking the pictures of the last ship that they seek – the schooner Hvexdet – Ralph believes that this is the ship his contacts, the orcas that live in the Arctic Ocean, have told him about. He returns, accompanied by Valérian, to speak to them again. The orcas tell Ralph that the ship does not seem to be human to them and that they last saw it near Baffin Bay. Some time later, the Crosswinds has come upon the Hvexdet lying idle amid a group of icebergs. Merrywhistle orders his ship to ram the Hvexdet. Just as the prow of Crosswinds is about to make contact with the hull of the Hvexdet, the Hvexdet glows with a bright, alien energy and launches from the ocean into space. This is what the Chief has been counting on – Ralph will be able to use his advanced mathematical abilities to track the Hvexdet back to Hypsis. Distracted by the Hvexdets unexpected maneuver, the Crosswinds strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Merryweather orders the passengers and crew to abandon ship and they make for the lifeboats. Merryweather and his crew make contact with a rescue ship and head off to rendezvous with it but Valérian and the others stay out on the ocean near the sinking Crosswinds. Using his communicator, Valérian calls Lord Seal who, using the spatio-temporal jump, brings Valérian and Laureline's astroship to hover just above their lifeboat. Boarding the astroship, they take off in pursuit of the Hvexdet. The Hvexdet careers through space-time, making seemingly random jumps, pursued, thanks to Ralph's abilities, by the astroship. Valérian proposes that they use Ralph's abilities to their greatest extent by putting him into direct phase with the astroship itself and attempting to predict where the Hvexdet will jump to before it can make the jump itself. With Ralph plugged in they make a series of jumps all in quick succession. Just as they are about to make the final jump to Hypsis, the Chief is assailed with doubt as to whether they are doing the right thing while Valérian is tortured once more by visions of Galaxity disappearing. Laureline, for her part, does not come from Galaxity and, fed up with their indecision, activates the jump herself and they emerge suddenly on Hypsis. The Hvexdet is ahead of them and it crashes at the foot of an immense tower. Bringing the astroship into land, Valérian and Laureline make for the wreckage of the Hvexdet. Examining the ship, which appears to have been crewed by androids, they find the hold loaded with nuclear charges – enough to cause the catastrophe that melted the icecaps in 1986. The intervention by the passengers and crew of the Crosswinds means that the catastrophe will not now take place. Exploring the nearby tower, they are stopped by two sentries who tell them that only those summoned for non payment of taxes are allowed into the tower. The Hvexdet does not belong to the tower it crashed beside. A spot of negotiation by the Shingouz eventually yields the location of the tower that sent it. Gathering up the others, the party head for the tower. Arriving at the location they were given, they are surprised to find the tower is run down and neglected. Reaching the top, they are greeted by the three Lords of Hypsis who are behind the Hvexdet and the sabotage of Earth's nuclear defence capability. They include a huge man dressed in a trilby hat and trenchcoat in the manner of a gruff detective from a film noir, his hippy son and a talking slot machine which the first man is always hitting. It dawns on Albert and Lord Seal that these strange people are in fact the Holy Trinity – the perichoresis of God, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God explains that his family has owned the Earth since its creation and has been intervening in its development, hoping to bring it forward to a point where it can return wealth to Hypsis. Other planets are owned by the other towers. The Hypsis have returned to Earth again – in the 20th century in the form of the devices that have sabotaged the Earth's defences and in the 28th century in the form of a small silver ball given to the Chief by one of his spatio-temporal agents. This has wiped out Galaxity. The Trinity have had to wipe out Galaxity because of the complaints they are getting from the other towers – Galaxity's imperialist tendencies have impacted on the other worlds that send tribute back to Hypsis. At this point, Albert interrupts, stating that if they proceed with their plan to cause a cataclysm in 1986 they will only precipitate the events that led to Galaxity's foundation. He points out that history is now on a different track. Lord Seal offers to intercede and to arrange for some tribute to revert back to Hypsis, an arrangement that may allow the Trinity to restore their lost prestige. The Chief asks God if he can be returned to Galaxity, even though it has gone. Valérian wishes to go with him, to Laureline's horror. However, the Shingouz, seeing how upset Laureline is, strike a deal with God to keep the astroship for Valérian and Laureline so that they can continue their adventures together. Some time later, back at Inverloch, Valérian ponders the Galaxity he has lost as he contemplates his astroship, before Laureline prompts him into joining her, Albert and the Seals in a quiet game of croquet. |
3516641 | /m/09hw52 | On the Frontiers | Pierre Christin | 1988 | null | On a luxury space liner, one of the passengers, Kistna, is delighted to discover a fellow member of her race, the Wûûrm, called Jal is also travelling on the liner. The Wûûrm are declining in numbers and so to meet a fellow member of the species is a special occasion. After enjoying themselves in the ship's casino and the ballroom, Kistna invites Jal to her cabin to consummate their new-found union. In the cabin, Kistna removes the golden armour that completely covers her body. Jal follows suit, removing his armour to reveal that he is, in fact, a human and not a Wûûrm after all. Jal attacks her and succeeds in his mission – to steal Kistna's psychic powers. Wracked with guilt following his deed, Jal puts his disguise back on and makes for the bridge of the ship. He uses his new found powers to threaten the captain and procure a shuttle craft. He sets the controls for Earth... Earth, the late 1980s. Valérian is in Russia, having been hired to examine a leak at a nuclear power plant. His investigations lead him to the conclusion that this accident was deliberately provoked. His work with the Russians finished, they arrange to have him returned to the West where he rendezvous with Laureline and Albert on the Finnish border. Travelling across Finland into Norway they fly off to their next destination in a seaplane. Later, Valérian, Laureline and Albert are to be found at a café in a small village in Tunisia. As they wait, they ponder the job they have been asked to work on: none of them, not even Albert, knows who has hired them nor what they are supposed to be doing in Tunisia. Noticing a group of cloaked men heading into the palm forest near the village. Valérian and Laureline follow them to a marabout. Using a scanning device, taken from their astroship, they determine that there is a radioactive source inside the marabout. Returning to the village, they report their findings to Albert who makes a call to their mysterious employers. Then they make for the marabout in their truck. Using a cretiniser whip from the planet Phoum, a device that renders its victims cataleptic, they enter the marabout and find the source of the radiation – an atomic mine. Deactivating the mine, they flee into the desert to an arranged meeting point near the Libyan border. At the rendezvous they are met by a Tunisian military helicopter. Flying along the Libyan border, their host explains that had the mine been detonated, it would have incited the world powers to respond with a nuclear attack of their own, giving Libya the excuse to invade and destabilise North Africa and precipitate a World war. The helicopter flies on to an airfield where Valérian, Laureline and Albert are collected by a jet aircraft. Some time later, the trio are in the USA in Arizona, driving along the border with Mexico. At last, they meet their employers – J.D. Eklund, a professor from UCLA attached to the International Atomic Energy Agency and Ivan Gregorian, a commander of the Red Army in charge of nuclear disarmament surveillance. They inform them that there have been multiple alerts at nuclear installations around the world and none of the incidents are coincidental – all of these blackmail incidents are being orchestrated by a single mastermind. They bring Valérian, Laureline and Albert to a bridge where a convoy of trucks carrying plutonium has been attacked by terrorists threatening to blow up the trucks unless a nuclear submarine is delivered to a port of their choice in the Yellow Sea. However, the intelligence services had received a tipoff about the attack and the trucks, which are in fact empty, are blown up by the US Army. The victory is short-lived however: the train that is carrying the real plutonium is attacked and derailed forcing them to capitulate to the demands for the submarine. One lead still remains however – a mysterious stranger who is winning at the casinos in Hong Kong. Laureline arrives at the casino in Hong Kong, wearing a Tüm Tüm (de Lüm) in her hair as a spying device, and finds Jal playing in a high stakes card game. Glancing at Laureline, Jal recognises the Tüm Tüm and snatches it from her hair. He then grabs Laureline, stuffs her in his car and drives over the border with China. Arriving at his home, Jal interrogates Laureline asking if she is from another world or from the future. Slipping to the bathroom, Laureline takes a Tchoung tracer from her handbag and releases it in the hope that it can find Valérian. Elsewhere, one of the waiters in the casino has found the Tüm Tüm and returned it to Valérian and Albert who have returned to Inverloch Castle in Scotland to ponder their next move. Examining its eye, Valérian finds it has succeeded in recording an image of their quarry. Valérian is shocked to realise he recognises their adversary – it is Jal, an agent of the Spatio-Temporal Service just like Valérian and Laureline. Valérian is puzzled that Jal hasn't disappeared along with Galaxity and the rest of the future Earth. At this point the Tchoung tracer arrives. Analysing its database, they discover Jal's location in China. Parting company with Albert, Valérian takes the astroship to China, to Jal's hideout. Valérian confronts Jal, who is amazed when he recognises Valérian. Jal reveals that he is attempting to cause the nuclear cataclysm that Valérian prevented in The Rage of Hypsis so that Galaxity can be restored to the timeline. He explains that the peculiar properties of the Neferfalen nebula where he was exploring protected him from being wiped out along with the rest of Galaxity but at the cost of the woman he had loved. In order to get her back, Jal is attempting to change history back onto its old course. As the standoff continues, Jal's powers become weaker and weaker until eventually he is overcome by Valérian and Laureline. Valérian and Laureline fly Jal to Point Central, the meeting place for all the races of the cosmos, and make for the Pulpissm's market where they meet the Shingouz. Laureline asks the Shingouz if they can find any other remnants of old Earth. Waiting at the market, they eventually receive a message from the Shingouz – at the far side of Point Central they have found a place beyond a material border where the remains of lost and fallen civilisations can be found. Reaching the place they find the ruined remains of Earth's old segment in Point Central. Realising that he was a fool to think he could change history, Jal elects to be left alone with his thoughts on the abandoned segment. |
3516675 | /m/09hw9x | The Circles of Power | Pierre Christin | 1994 | null | Valérian and Laureline have brought their crippled astroship to a repair yard on the planet Rubanis. They are quoted a price of seven hundred thousand bloutoks for the repairs but have no money. They are approached by the three Shingouz who advise them to visit Colonel T'loc, the chief of police, who has a job for them. Taking a taxi cab, they are driven first through the anarchic traffic of the First Circle of the city, where they have left the astroship, and then into the Second Circle which is much less chaotic thanks to the floating mines that keep the traffic in check. From there, they proceed upwards to the orbital station where Colonel T'loc has his headquarters. With the taxi left waiting, they are brought to T'loc's office. The colonel tells them that he is concerned about trouble that is brewing in the Circles of Rubanis. The police force are too busy lining their own pockets to deal with the situation and so T'loc has turned to Valérian and Laureline to help him. He describes the five Circles of Rubanis: the First, dedicated to heavy industry; the Second, designated for business and the Third, dedicated to shopping and entertainment. The Fourth Circle is dedicated to the aristopatrons: the leaders of the religions, the public service and business. It is from this Circle that T'loc receives his orders via a machine in his office. No orders have been received for a long time. Valérian and Laureline ask to examine the machine but T'loc forbids it saying that to open the machine is to risk their lives. T'loc doesn't know where his orders come from and this troubles him. He wants Valérian and Laureline to investigate the Fifth and final Circle – the Circle of Power, a Circle that no one enters and offers them seven hundred thousand bloutoks. Valérian and Laureline ask for expenses on top of what's offered but T'loc refuses. Valérian moves to open the machine and T'loc pulls his gun on him warning him that if the machine is opened the Scunindar virus will spread. T'loc relents and agrees to double their risk bonus and gives them an up front payment – a Grumpy Transmuter from Bluxte, able to duplicate any currency it is fed. Given a contact name to start their investigations from T'loc's deputy, Indicator Croupachof, they ask their taxi driver to take them to the Third Circle. As they fly through the Second Circle, they are attacked by a woman driving a black limousine. The driver manages to evade her and she crashes her vehicle. Landing in the Third Circle, Valérian, Laureline and the taxi driver make their way to the bar where they are to meet their contact. Waiting for their contact, they find that the Shingouz are also in the bar – it is their job to introduce the contact. The contact arrives a demands 100 Ebebe pearls for the information. Laureline puts the grumpy to work and the contact tells there is a way into the Fifth Circle through an old, abandoned entrance. Suddenly they are interrupted – Na'Zultra, the woman in the limousine who attacked them, enters, accompanied by her henchmen and swinging a cretiniser whip. Valérian and the taxi driver duck under the table out of the influence of the whip but Laureline and the Shingouz are mesmerized. The contact tries to escape but is shot. The henchmen grab Laureline and make off with her. Valérian tries to follow but is too late. The taxi driver, who is called S'Traks, offers to help – he thinks he can find Na'Zultra through the mechanics who will be sent from the Fourth Circle to recover her crashed limousine. Valérian and S'Traks return to where the wreck of the vehicle lies and hide themselves inside it. Just as S'Traks planned, the recovery vehicle arrives and takes them into the Fourth Circle. As they explore, a group of aristopatrons – priests, high officials and businessmen – come marching by. S'Traks is shocked by their appearance – their necks have elongated and their heads have shrunk. Ambushing some stragglers, Valérian and S'Traks steal their clothes in order to disguise themselves and follow the crowd. Elsewhere, Na'Zultra is interrogating Laureline. Na'Zultra explains that she intends to seize power on Rubanis and demands the information that Laureline got from the contact. Laureline tells her that Na'Zultra had killed him before he could say anything. Unsatisfied with Laureline's answers, she reveals that she has a machine similar to the one in Colonel T'loc's office. Na'Zultra explains that the Scunindar virus affects the mind and orders her henchmen to strap Laureline into the machine. Before they can switch on another of Na'Zultra's men arrives to warn her that two intruders have been detected at an aristopatron meeting. Realising that it must be Valérian and S'Traks, Na'Zultra departs with her men leaving just one guard to look after Laureline who is still strapped into the machine. Left alone with the guard, Laureline offers to make him rich if he will release her. Intrigued, the guard undoes the straps and Laureline shows him the Grumpy Transmuter. The guard asks Laureline to get the Grumpy to transmute some Glods from Vlago-Vlago. While the guard is distracted watching the Grumpy going about making the Glods, Laureline sneaks up behind him and knocks him unconscious. Exploring the corridors of the Fourth Circle, searching for Valérian and the way out, Laureline finds a group of aristopatrons connected to a series of the machines that release the Scunindar virus. Moving on further she finds Valérian and S'Traks, pinned down by fire from Na'Zultra and her Vlago-Vlago mercenaries. Laureline manages to distract Na'Zultra for long enough to enable all three to make their escape using the recovery vehicle. Some time later, Valérian, Laureline and S'Traks ponder their next move. Laureline will try to find out more about the secret entrance to the Fifth Circle while Valérian will report back to T'loc on their progress and S'Traks will recruit a team to take on Na'Zultra's mercenaries. In the depths of the Third Circle, Laureline meets with the Shingouz again. She notices how entranced the population are by the screens that located all around the Circle. The Shingouz explain that they are another variation on the machines Laureline saw in the Fourth Circle. Laureline asks the Shingouz if they can find the ancient service entrance to the Circle of Power. They tell her of an old real estate salesman who lives in the Second Circle who may still have a set of plans for the Fifth Circle. Arriving at police headquarters, Valérian notices Croupachof's surprise at seeing him again and realises that it was he who warned Na'Zultra. Meeting with T'loc, Valérian asks why he has been sent on a useless mission since T'loc not only already knows that the aristopatrons have succumbed to the Scunindar virus but that he also has an antidote. Valérian points to the machine and asks to use it – he will protect himself from the virus by using T'loc's antidote. Elsewhere, in the First Circle, S'Traks is assembling his army from the best pilots in the city. Arriving at an office in the Second Circle with the Shingouz, Laureline visits Dr. Zoump, the real estate salesman who may have a map of the Fifth Circle. Valérian, connected to the machine, is presented with a series of strange images including that of the mysterious Hyper-Prince. Switching off, Valérian asks T'loc if he is aware that they are putting together an expedition to go into the Circle of Power and find out who is transmitting the images. T'loc replies that he does and that he is also assembling a team of his own. They will move once the entrance has been located. T'loc gives Valerian the agreed fee of one million, seven hundred thousand bloutoks. As Valérian is picked up from T'loc's headquarters by S'Traks, he notices the large armada of police vehicles that T'loc is assembling. S'Traks replies that his team is even larger. In the Second Circle, Dr Zoump hands over the map in return for a fee. Leaving his office Laureline and the Shingouz just miss Na'Zultra and Croupachof who are also seeking the map. Valérian is reunited with Laureline and the Shingouz at the rendezvous point where the S'Traks' has assembled the team for the assault on the Circle of Power. They take off, closely monitored by both Na'Zultra and her mercenaries and T'loc and his police force. Finding the entrance, Valérian, Laureline and S'Traks punch their way in. All they find is a derelict room with automatic cameras transmitting the images of the Hyper-Prince and the Scunindar virus. Before the cameras lies the Hyper-Prince. Valérian, unaffected by the virus, snatches the ring from his finger and the Prince crumbles to dust, his ring of authority – a viral sapphire from Scunindar – no longer potent. At that moment both T'loc and Na'Zultra burst in. Fighting breaks out between S'Traks' men and T'loc and Na'Zultra's. Valérian, Laureline and the Shingouz make their escape as war breaks out all across Rubanis. Some time later, their astroship repaired and refitted, Valerian and Laureline depart Rubanis. The Shingouz offer one last piece of information: who is winning the battle on Rubanis – S'Traks! |
3516754 | /m/09hwnd | In Uncertain Times | Pierre Christin | 2001 | null | Valérian is brooding over the loss of Galaxity and has immersed himself into the astroship's history tapes. Laureline breaks him from his reverie and elects to bring him exploring to take his mind off things. On Hypsis, the Father is unhappy – the change to history triggered by the events of The Rage of Hypsis hasn't gone to plan. With no income and with the knowledge that Earth will disappear in the 27th century, he fears they will be taken over and driven into exile by one of the other towers on Hypsis. Now he has to intervene with a situation that has arisen on Earth. Paris, 2001. The board of the multinational company Vivaxis are meeting to discuss their corporate rebranding. Suddenly, the Father of Hypsis manifests himself as a disembodied voice. He warns them against experimenting with human nature. The Spirit of Hypsis reads out the terms of a contract between God and Vivaxis. In the industrial depths of Point Central, Sat, a member of a species exiled by Hypsis, meets with the twin-detectives Frankie and Harry. They inform him of Hypsis' intervention on Earth and suggest that he travels with them to deal with the situation personally. Back on Earth, the Father's rage has got too much for him and the top of the Vivaxis building has collapsed. The board are forced to evacuate before the Spirit can complete reading the contract. On Point Central, the Shingouz observe Sat leaving with the twin-detectives. The travel to the orbiting living satellite, Belorb where they communicate with Valérian and Laureline warning them that Hypsis have intervened in Paris and that another agent, Sat, a fallen archangel of Hypsis and the devil of human mythology, is also involved. Valérian and Laureline travel to Earth and contact Mr Albert. He tells them of the mysterious explosion that has occurred in Vivaxis' tower in La Défence. He receives a message by carrier pigeon from a friend of his, Professor Petzold, who is director of worldwide research for Vivaxis. His message warns that Vivaxis is involved in research into human nature that would lead to eternal life through genetic manipulation and psychic conditioning. The research is being conducted at two centres – one in Romania and one in South Africa. Valérian and Laureline decide to split up in order to investigate each centre. Sat arrives in Paris with Frankie and Harry. They take him to meet Master Mercury, an investment manager. Sat asks Mercury for his help in taking over Vivaxis. Laureline reaches Romania and gains access to Vivaxis' secret laboratory where she is surprised find Schroeder (from The City of Shifting Waters). He has involved in mass-producing clones for Vivaxis though he doesn't know what they are to be used for. Laureline explains what has happened to Vivaxis and asks Schroeder to come with her. Valérian finds the laboratory in South Africa but is captured, to his surprise, by Sun Rae (also from The City of the Moving Waters). Taken into the lab, he discovers that the clones from Romania are being brought here to be conditioned by three super-heroes: Irmgaal, Ortzog and Blumflum (from Heroes of the Equinox). Evading Sun Rae, he escapes with one of the finished clones. Valérian and Laureline are reunited at the airport where they smuggle Schroeder and the clone that Valérian has stolen from South Africa past customs. At the Palais des Congrès, Vivaxis are holding a press conference. Albert is in the audience with Professor Petzold. They observe that the Son and Holy Spirit of the Hypsis Trinity as well as Sat and the twin-detectives, Frankie and Harry, are also in attendance. Laureline arrives and joins Albert and Petzold. As the chairman of Vivaxis begins his speech, the wall behind him explodes and the Father of the Hypsis Trinity appears. As the attendees flee the auditorium, the Father and Sat square up to one another. Valérian interrupts bringing Schroeder and the first specimen of Vivaxis' research. The Father is not impressed with their work. Master Mercury reveals that Sat now holds the controlling stake in Vivaxis having taken advantage of the plunge in their share value. Albert presides over the drawing up of a new agreement between Hypsis and Vivaxis which will allow Sat to run Vivaxis while Hypsis will get a cut. Valérian and Laureline take advantage of the situation to take a reward for themselves – information regarding the disappearance of Galaxity. Sat explains that Galaxity is in a super-massive black hole. The Father of Hypsis explains that the Dark Age following the cataclysm of 1986 still exists in a parallel universe. Valérian and Laureline, buoyed up by having a lead at last, head off on a new mission – to regain Galaxity. As a tribute to the City of Moving Waters, Petzold and Shroeder are seen discussing their next business ventures which is space-time travel. |
3516759 | /m/09hwp2 | At the Edge of the Great Void | Pierre Christin | 2004 | null | Among the asteroids at the edge of the mysterious Great Void, where the universe is still in formation, Valérian and Laureline along with a Schniarfeur living weapon are working as travelling salesmen, hawking their wares from a battered old space truck, frequently harassed by the local police force who take their orders from the Triumvirate of Rubanis. At one of their stops they befriend a young girl, Ky-Gaï, who has lost her job after the spacesuit factory in which she worked closed down. Laureline takes Ky-Gaï on as an assistant. When some of their merchandise is stolen by the Limboz, creatures from the Great Void who have lost their planet, Valérian and Laureline give chase. Catching the Limboz, Valérian agrees to let them go only if they'll give them information about the location of the Earth which Valérian and Laureline believe is located somewhere in the Great Void. Acting on the information given by the Limboz, Valérian and Laureline make for Port Abyss, the only free port at the edge of the Great Void. There they meet Singh'a Rough'a, a space captain who is mounting a voyage of exploration into the Great Void. Singh'a Rough'a takes an interest in the spacesuits that Laureline is selling; she needs them for her expedition crew. However, while Laureline and Singh'a Rough'a are negotiating, the police, acting under the orders of the Triumvirate of Rubanis, arrive and arrest Valérian and the Schniarfeur. While Valérian and Schniarfeur languish in prison, Laureline and Ky-Gaï return to Ky-Gaï's old factory; they have the notion of re-opening it so that they can make the spacesuits to fulfill Singh'a Rough'a's order. As they go to work, Laureline confesses to Ky-Gaï that she and Valérian are only posing as merchants – in reality they are trying to find the location of Earth. At the prison, Valérian gets talking to one of his fellow prisoners who tells him of an encounter he had with a mysterious stone that appeared to be alive. This tallies with what the Limboz had earlier told Valérian and Laureline. Bribing one of the guards, Valérian and Schniarfeur make their escape and rendezvous with Laureline and Ky-Gaï, who are bringing the finished spacesuits to Singh'a Rough'a. Laureline realises that the Great Void is too dangerous a place to bring Ky-Gaï; Valérian gives her the Schniarfeur, who has been studying business administration, as a present and the two decide to re-open the spacesuit factory as a business together. In the Great Void, the Triumvirate of Rubanis meet with one of the giant sentient stones, the Wolochs. The Wolochs tell the Triumvirate that Valérian and Laureline have escaped and that they are not happy about Singh'a Rough'a's expedition. Evading the police, Valérian and Laureline reach Singh'a Rough'a's ship, impressing her sufficiently that she allows them to join her crew. As the ship departs Port Abyss for the Great Void, Valérian and Laureline ponder whether they will find their lost Earth. |
3516781 | /m/09hws6 | The Order of the Stones | Pierre Christin | 2007 | null | Translated from the blurb issued by Dargaud to publicise the new album: :"Embarked on board a vessel under the command of Singh'a Rough'a, Valérian and Laureline at last enter the Great Void, the unknown space where the end of the universe is in formation. There, always in search of the disappeared Earth, they will confront the Wolochs, terrifying stone monsters that reign there as impassive masters." |
3516942 | /m/09hx21 | Hop o' My Thumb | Charles Perrault | null | null | Hop-o'-My-Thumb (Le Petit Poucet) is the youngest of seven children in a poor woodcutter's family. His greater wisdom compensates for his smallness of size. When the children are abandoned by their parents, he finds a variety of means to save his life and the lives of his brothers. After being threatened and pursued by a giant, Poucet steals the magic "seven-league boots" from the sleeping giant. |
3520321 | /m/09j33z | The Lighthouse | P. D. James | 11/22/2005 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery"} | Adam Dalgliesh is brought in to investigate the mysterious death of a famous writer on a remote and inaccessible island off the Cornish coast. Combe Island is a discreet retreat operated by a private trust, where the rich and powerful find peace and quiet. Famed novelist Nathan Oliver, who was born on the island and thus is allowed to visit as he wishes, arrives with his daughter, Miranda and his copy-editor, Dennis Tremlett, who, unbeknownst to Oliver, are having an affair. When he discovers them, Oliver reacts with fury and orders them to leave the island the next day. Several people on the island find Oliver an unpleasant guest. The writer is pressuring the manager of the Combe Island Trust, Rupert Maycroft, to allow him to live in a cottage used by the sole remaining member of the family that owned the island for many years. The manager's secretary, a disgraced Anglican priest named Adrian Boyde, a recovering alcoholic, was tricked into "falling off the wagon" by Oliver, and many people are disgusted with Oliver for his heartless, evil actions. Oliver is also confronted at dinner by a scientist, Dr. Mark Yelland, who believes himself to be the model for an unpleasant character in Oliver's upcoming book. The reader is introduced to all the residents of the island, including Jago Tamlyn, the boatman, and Daniel Padgett, a handyman who is planning to leave after the recent death of his mother, who also worked on the island. Oliver is angry at Padgett, who dropped a phial of the author's blood into the sea while taking it to a doctor on the mainland for some medical tests. The next morning, Oliver is discovered hanging from the island's historic lighthouse. Dalgliesh and his team arrive to investigate. The pathologist, Dr. Edith Glenister, determines Oliver was throttled to death before a rope was tied around his neck and his body thrown over the side of the lighthouse railing. Dalgliesh learns that a visiting dignitary from Germany, Dr. Raimund Speidel, is the son of a German officer who died under tragic circumstances while visiting the island during World War II. He further learns that Nathan Oliver's father, Saul, and Jago's grandfather, Tom, played a role in the man's death. Dr. Speidel was ill before arriving on Combe Island, and Dalgliesh contracts his illness. Just as the two men are diagnosed with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Dalgliesh discovers that Adrian Boyde has been murdered. Health authorities put the island under quarantine to contain the spread of disease, and all the people on the island are asked by the police to move into Combe House, the main building, to protect them from further attacks. Dalgliesh takes to the sickroom and his colleagues, Kate Miskin and Francis Benton-Smith, are left to work the case. Benton risks his life to climb down a cliff to find the rock used to beat Boyde to death. Surfacing from fever, Dalgleish has a feverish vision that helps him fit the pieces of the puzzle together. Realising that Padgett must have been the murderer, he orders Kate and Francis to search Padgett's cottage, where they find the phial of Oliver's blood that he had pretended to lose overboard, a lock of Padgett's mother's hair, her and Dan Padgett's birth certificates, and the destroyed remains of her figurines and a book written by Oliver in which a young girl is seduced by an older man. Oliver was actually Padgett's father; Padgett wanted the blood for a DNA test to confirm paternity. Padgett killed Oliver in a fit of anger after confronting him in the lighthouse. He killed Adrian Boyde because the priest knew Padgett wasn't telling the truth about his whereabouts the day Oliver was killed. Before Kate and Francis can arrest Padgett, he takes a young staff member, Millie Tranter, hostage and threatens to throw her from the lighthouse. Kate bravely forces herself through a narrow window so she can unlock the lighthouse door. She and Benton climb to the top, confront Padgett, and Benton convinces him to surrender. Dalgliesh recovers from his illness, and after the break of the investigation and quarantine, he and his lover Emma both overcome their fears about each other's seeming lack of commitment, and agree to marry. fr:Le Phare (roman) |
3522849 | /m/09j7wy | The Outsider | Colin Wilson | 1956 | {"/m/02m4t": "Existentialism", "/m/037mh8": "Philosophy"} | The book is still published with enthusiastic comments from the likes of Edith Sitwell and Cyril Connolly adorning its cover (Connolly later admitted he hadn't read it). This reception – of his first book at the age of 24 – was a high critical watermark for Wilson, a reputation that sank as fast as it had rocketed. It is still, however, an insightful work of literary and philosophical criticism – a timeless preoccupation which perhaps garners more mainstream attention than his subsequent writings on the occult and crime. The book is structured in such a way as to mirror the outsider's experience: a sense of dislocation, or of being at odds with society. These are figures like Dostoevsky's "Underground-Man" who seem to be lost to despair and non-transcendence with no way out. More successful – or at least hopeful – characters are then brought to the fore (including the title character from Hermann Hesse’s novel Steppenwolf). These are presented as examples of those who have insightful moments of lucidity in which they feel as though things are worthwhile/meaningful amidst their shared, usual, experience of nihilism and gloom. Sartre's Nausea is herein the key text – and the moment when the hero listens to a song in a cafe which momentarily lifts his spirits is the outlook on life to be normalized. Wilson then engages in some detailed case studies of artists who failed in this task and tries to understand their weakness – which is either intellectual, of the body or of the emotions. The final chapter is Wilson's attempt at a "great synthesis" in which he justifies his belief that western philosophy is afflicted with a needless "pessimistic fallacy" – a narrative he continues throughout his oeuvre under various names (St. Neot Margin for example) and illustrated in several metaphors ("every day is Christmas day"). Blurb from the inside cover of a late 1990s edition of The Outsider: "The Outsider is the seminal work on alienation, creativity and the modern mind-set. First published over thirty years ago, it made its youthful author England's most controversial intellectual. Many of Wilson's critics were angry that a 24-year-old non-academic had put out a piece of work that describes "human alienation" in populist society so well, even offering up creating one's own religion or reinventing one's spirituality as a solution to one's own malaise. The book is still published in hardback and paperback, is still a staple in many bookstores' sociology section. The book is sometimes shelved in the psychology sections, religion sections as well. "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society" – Jiddu Krishnamurti. |
3522868 | /m/09j7y_ | The Misfits: A Study of Sexual Outsiders | null | null | null | The history of human civilization is the history of daydreaming, escapism and imagination. The book expounds on the nature of fiction, drama and the novel in its relationship to sexual imagination and sex crimes. The book contains biographies of the Marquis de Sade, D. H. Lawrence, A. C. Swinburne, James Joyce, Yukio Mishima, Henry Miller, Paul Tillich, Arthur Koestler, Percy Grainger, Havelock Ellis, Magnus Hirschfeld, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Charlotte Bach. |
3525925 | /m/09jggl | An Honest Thief | Fyodor Dostoyevsky | null | null | The story opens with the narrator taking on a lodger in his apartment, an old soldier named Astafy Ivanovich. One day, a thief steals the narrator's coat, and Astafy tries to pursue him unsuccessfully. Astafy is dismayed by the theft and goes over the scenario over and over again. The narrator and Astafy share a distinct contempt for thieves, and one night Astafy tells the narrator a story of an honest thief that he had once run across. One night in a pub, Astafy Ivanovich happened upon Emelyan Ilyitch. Emelyan was obviously poor from the look of his tattered coat, and he was aching for a drink but had not the money. Astafy was moved by Emelyan's acutely pathetic position, and he bought him a drink. From then on, Emelyan followed Astafy everywhere, eventually moving into his apartment. Astafy did not have much money himself, but he allowed Emelyan's imposition because he was very aware that his drinking was a terrible problem. Emelyan would not stop his drinking, however, and even though he was quiet and not disruptive when he was drunk, Astafy could see that Yemelyan would never be able to support himself with such a habit. Astafy urged him to quit drinking, but to no avail. Eventually, Astafy effectively gave up on him and moved, never expecting to see Emelyan again. Very soon afterward, Astafy had moved Emelyan appears at his new apartment, and the two continue to go on as they had before. Astafy would support Emelyan with food and lodging, and Emelyan would always go out and come back drunk. Sometimes he would disappear for days only to return drunk and almost frozen. Astafy, now working as a tailor, was short on money. One of his projects, a pair of riding breeches for a wealthy customer, were never claimed. He thought he could sell the breeches to get money for more useful clothes and some food, but when he decided to sell the breeches, they were nowhere to be found. Emelyan was drunk as usual, and denied the theft. Astafy was terribly vexed by the theft, and kept looking for the breeches while still suspicious of Emelyan. Emelyan always denied the theft. One day, Astafy and Emelyan had a terrible fight over the breeches and Emelyan's drinking, and Emelyan left the apartment and did not return for days. Astafy even went to look for him one day with no luck. Eventually, Emelyan returned, almost starved and frozen. Astafy took him back in, but it was clear that Emelyan's days were numbered. Days later, after Emelyan's health had deteriorated terribly, Emelyan wanted to tell Astafy something about the breeches. With his last words, Emelyan admitted to stealing the breeches. |
3527550 | /m/09jkk5 | Master Mike and the Miracle Maid | null | null | null | 17-year-old Mike, a comic book fan who collects strange gadgets (many of which he obtained by sending in coupons from cereal boxes), is staying for the summer with his 13-year-old cousin Penny, whose parents are getting fed up with his antics and ready to send him back home. After attending a magic show where people gain strange powers, Penny and Mike sneak onto the stage and Mike uses the magician's magic chair to cast a spell on Penny. To their surprise, it works, and Penny gains superhero powers such as strength, flight, and the ability to pass through solid objects. Penny becomes, in Mike's words, "the world's most amazing 13-year-old". She also becomes eight feet tall. Penny's new powers lead to adventures and misadventures, and generally interfere with her normal life. Penny also resents the loss of control that comes from the powers being activated and deactivated exclusively by Mike, the spellcaster. However, Penny successfully captures a gang of crooks who were attempting a series of major thefts. Although Penny ultimately uses her powers successfully (after some embarrassing errors), she still wishes to be normal again, but she finds out that the magic chair used to enchant her has been accidentally destroyed, so there is no way to undo the charm. Just when she despairs of ever having a normal life again, she reaches her 14th birthday; suddenly, her powers are gone, as the spell granted powers to a 13-year-old. |
3530440 | /m/09jrnt | The Daughter of Time | Josephine Tey | null | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/0py65": "Historical whodunnit"} | Alan Grant, Scotland Yard Inspector (a character who also appears in five other novels by the same author) is confined to bed in hospital with a broken leg. Bored and of restless mind, he becomes intrigued by a reproduction of a portrait of King Richard III brought to him by a friend. He prides himself on being able to read a person's character from his appearance, and King Richard seems to him a gentle and kind and wise man. Why is everyone so sure that he was a cruel murderer? With the help of friends and acquaintances, Alan Grant investigates the case of the Princes in the Tower. Grant spends weeks pondering historical information and documents with the help of an American researcher for the British Museum. Using his detective's logic, he comes to the conclusion that the claim of Richard being a murderer is a fabrication of Tudor propaganda, as is the popular image of the King as a monstrous hunchback. The book points out the fact that there never was a Bill of Attainder, Coroner's inquest, or any other legal proceeding that accused - much less convicted - Richard III of any foul play against the Princes in the Tower. Further, the book explores how history is constructed, and how certain versions of events come to be widely accepted as the truth, despite a lack of evidence. "The Daughter of Time" of the title is from a quote by Sir Francis Bacon: "Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority." Grant comes to understand the ways that great myths are constructed, and how in this case, the victorious Tudors saw to it that their version of history prevailed. Other alleged historical myths touched upon by the author, are the commonly believed (but false) story that troops fired on the public at the 1910 Tonypandy Riot, the traditional depiction of the Boston Massacre, the martyrdom of Margaret Wilson and the life and death of Mary, Queen of Scots. Grant adopts the term "Tonypandy" to describe widely believed historical myths, such as the Tonypandy Riot, or deliberately falsified history, such as the life of Richard III. |
3530960 | /m/09jt76 | Crocodile on the Sandbank | Barbara Mertz | 1975 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Amelia Peabody is left a wealthy orphan after the death of her studious father, who has left her everything in his will because she is the only one of his children who shared his interests, namely history and archaeology. The inheritance enables her to travel abroad in order to follow her enthusiasm for antiquities. Amelia, a determined and unorthodox English female, supports women's suffrage and believes she will never marry. (She's convinced she is unattractive and will neither submit to a man nor rule one.) In Rome she meets the destitute Evelyn Forbes, whose titled family have cast her off after she eloped with, then was abandoned by, an Italian art teacher. Amelia takes Evelyn under her wing and employs her as a companion. They travel together to Egypt, where they encounter the Emerson brothers, Radcliffe and Walter, archaeologist and philologist respectively, and where Amelia falls in love with pyramids. Amelia and Evelyn decide to travel up the Nile, stopping at various sites along the way. When they reach Amarna, they discover the Emersons excavating the city which for a while was the capital of Egypt under the mysterious Akhenaten. Amelia and Radcliffe Emerson loathe one another on sight, but after he is taken ill and she helps to keep his excavation going, they grudgingly begin to respect one another. Evelyn is attracted to Walter, but is convinced she will never marry because of her soiled reputation. Things get complicated when Evelyn's cousin Lucas shows up at the remote site with a story about her grandfather's death, his (Lucas') inheritance, and a proposal of marriage. Amidst the romantic entanglements and attempts to continue the excavation, Emerson and Amelia must also deal with the nocturnal visitations of a mummy that walks moaning through the desert. Once the mystery is solved, Amelia plans to stay in Egypt and conduct her own archaeological expeditions, with Emerson at her side...as her advisor and as her husband. The tone of the novel (as well as the rest of the series) is humorous to the point of parody and pokes fun at many of the period's mores and stereotypes, as well as the sensationalist novels popular at the time. |
3532247 | /m/09jwbr | A Summer Place | Sloan Wilson | 1958 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The book focuses on the adult lives of two onetime teenage lovers, Ken and Sylvia, who were from different social strata. Ken was self-supporting, working as a lifeguard at a Maine island resort, while Sylvia's family stayed as guests of the owners, one summer between years at college. After their summer love affair, they married other people, but rediscover each other later in life. At that time, Sylvia has a son, Johnny, and Ken a daughter, Molly. While Ken and Sylvia renew their love affair, their children begin a romance. Ken becomes a millionaire through his work as a research chemist as his wife Helen spurns him at home, while Sylvia's husband Bart turns to alcohol as his family fortune disappears, and he turns their island home into an inn. After twenty years away, Ken decides to visit the island again, writing Bart to ask for lodging. Ken brings Molly and Helen to the island, and everyone tries to be cordial. But soon old feelings, and tensions, and longings arise in the adults, while the young Johnny and Molly in turn become enamored of each other. Ken and Sylvia fall in love once again. The couple are noticed by Todd Hasper, the steward of the island, who decides to inform Sylvia's husband Bart. Ken, aware of Sylvia's plight, invites her and her family to take over a motel job in Florida for Bart has asked for a divorce and the custody of their son John. The affair between Ken and Sylvia is again noticed, this time by a friend of Helen's. The two divorce, and their daughter Molly, like John, is sent to boarding school. During their tenure at their respective schools, John and Molly begin an avid correspondence. Helen and her mother Margaret are not pleased, as they find it inappropriate for a girl her age to be so attached to a boy. Their correspondence continues, with rendezvous during school breaks. Their romance culminates when they see each other again at Ken and Sylvia's beach house. The two acknowledge that they are in love with one another, and they consummate it shortly thereafter. Back at school, Molly learns from a doctor that she is pregnant, and John hitchhikes across the country to be with and support her. Ken and Sylvia give their guarded approval, feeling hypocritical to deny them their love. Bart, whose alcoholism has landed him in a veterans hospital, cannot attend the wedding, and while he disapproves, he urges John to take over the inn. Helen attends the wedding under sedation. The book ends with John and Molly spending their honeymoon on Pine Island, John's "one good inheritance", as Bart terms it in a letter. |
3532753 | /m/09jxf6 | Flashfire | Dan Cragg | 2006 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The Confederation of Human Worlds comprises about two hundred semi-autonomous settled worlds. Some of those worlds are rich and powerful, others aren't. A coalition of a dozen lesser worlds, tired of being second class citizens, decides to secede from the Confederation.What they do not know is the threat of an alien species known as the Skinks hangs over the entire confederation. The Skink Threat is top secret, no citizens know of them. Ever since the discovery of these aliens, the Confederation has beefed up its defences on the out lying colonies. On Ravenette, one of the Coalition worlds, protestors gather at the main gate of the Confederation army base. Someone unknown shoots into the crowd, killing a protestor and setting off a bloody riot that kills many civilians and soldiers. The Coalition started the riot and prevoked the soldiers even though the soldiers did not shoot into the crowd, news networks say otherwise. The Coalition declares war, and brings all its military might against the Confederation forces on Ravenette—banking on the likelihood that they will achieve victory before reinforcements arrive, and that the Confederation will agree to negotiate a peaceable parting. They guessed wrong. An army division and 34th FIST are soon on the scene, holding the line until more reinforcements arrive. But matters get worse when General Jason Billie is given command of the Confederation forces. General Billie not only has no combat command experience, he hates Marines. |
3535651 | /m/09k1gq | Hangfire | David Sherman | 2000 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | Three Marines of Company L are sent on a secret mission to the mob-controlled resort world of Havanagas. Lance Corporals Claypoole and Dean – under the command of Corporal Pasquin – are to find proof of mob control — proof that Confederation law enforcement agents have not been able to secure — so that the gangsters can be brought to justice. Brigadier Sturgeon, the FIST commander, ostensibly goes on leave. Instead of vacationing he travels to Marine Corps Headquarters on Earth to find out why 34th FIST seems to have been quietly "quarantined," with nobody being rotated out of the unit, even though it is considered a hardship post. This potentially career-endangering "back channel" trip reveals some very scary facts. In the third plotline the Skinks visit a world only partially explored by humans and find a pre-technological sentient race. The Skinks immediately take captives to use as laborers. The planet is apparently a staging base for the Skinks' invasion of Kingdom, a human occupied world. |
3535663 | /m/09k1j2 | Kingdom's Fury | Dan Cragg | 2003 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | 34th FIST has been reinforced by the 26th FIST, now that the Confederation is aware that this is a full scale Skink invasion. With the reinforcements, the Marines are now able to go off the defensive and take the battle to the Skinks. The Skinks have been using a devastating weapon never before seen by the Confederation armed forces, but in this book the Navy figures out what the weapon is, a Rail Gun. There doesn't appear to be a true defense, but at least there is now a warning when it is about to be used. The Fist Marines launch a major operation where the Skinks have made a strong hold in the swamps on Kingdom. Meanwhile, Skink Battle Cruisers are on their way to Kingdom.Having been pushed back from their swamp on Kingdom the Skinks launch a diversion cover their retreat to the Skink fleet. Up to this point in the Starfist series there have been no portrayals of space Naval battles, but this omission is now rectified. The Marines and Confederation Navy drive the Skinks off world and push them back to the planet "Quagmire" where they used its natives as slaves and used the planet as a staging area to invade Kingdom. The 26th and 34th Fist Marines then go to Quagmire and Kill most of the Skinks there, with the help of the Natives. Also, Marine General Aguinaldo is promoted to come up with an Anti Skink task force. He has the entire military at his disposal. There is also a subplot involving the government of Kingdom, as one of the more powerful figures among the Kingdomites takes advantage of the distraction caused by the extensive combat to overthrow the theocracy and establish a fascist-style government. |
3535672 | /m/09k1l5 | Lazarus Rising | Dan Cragg | 2004 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | This novel continues the situation on the planet Kingdom from the previous novel, Kingdom's Fury. Dominic DeTomas, formerly head of the secret police of Kingdom, is now dictator and has put together a new fascist government that strongly resembles that of Nazi Germany. DeTomas's policies engendered resentment among certain parts of the populace, and this festers into an uprising. While the mild-mannered inhabitants of Kingdom might not expect to succeed against an implacably violent police state, the uprising is advised and led by an amnesiac Confederation Marine who had been captured by the alien Skinks and later released when the Skinks were driven off Kingdom. |
3536096 | /m/09k2cv | Jedi Trial | Dan Cragg | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | This book tells the tale of Jedi Master Nejaa Halcyon & Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker trying to rescue an important Republic communications hub from the Separatist Forces, located on the barren planet of Praesitlyn. Halcyon, having previously failed an important mission, is sent as a trial in order for him to regain the Jedi Council's trust. As they had grown close during their time in the Jedi Temple, Halcyon chose Anakin as his second in command against the wishes of the council, making the mission as much a trial for Anakin as well. Even before reaching Praesitlyn, Halcyon confesses to Anakin of his violation of the Jedi code, that he had a wife and a son. In turn, Anakin relates about his own forbidden marriage to Padmé Amidala with both Jedi promising not to reveal their digressions to anyone. Anakin & Nejaa Halcyon lead the Republic reserve forces to reinforce Praesitlyn and to recover the hostages within the Intergalactic Communications Center from C.I.S. occupation. The opposing C.I.S. forces are commanded by Muun Admiral Pors Tonith of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, under command himself from Asajj Ventress and Sith Lord Count Dooku. At this time the Praesitlyn Defence Forces have been overcome with Trooper Odie Subu and Lieutenant Erk H'Arman, the only survivors. The only reason Praesitlyn has not been completely overrun by the C.I.S. is because of intervention by rogue former Republic officer, Captain Slayke and his troops, the badly outnumbered Sons and Daughters of Freedom. Halcycon and Anakin arrive just in time to relieve Slayke with all available troops though the situation is still perilous. Anakin is for the first time put in a commanding position and while acquitting himself well, clearly shows frustration and impatience to be fighting. In addition to Anakin's issues, the book also deals with attitudes towards clones, and their degree of humanity. We see a general stereotyping that clones are subdegree humans, with their personalities and abilities often not being trusted as much as those of other beings. This can be seen in actions of reconnaissance where it is clear if Clone Commando CT-19/39 had not been disregarded, he would have been able to relay important information that would have saved hundreds of lives. Instead only Sergeant Omin L'Loxx was relied upon, resulting in disaster. With such a disastrous failure, Anakin decides upon a desperate measure by which he and a small attack group of two troop transports fly directly to within the ICC to rescue the hostages. Anakin in his element destroys almost all droids in his path, leaving the troops behind him in awe and with nothing to shoot at. Reaching the hostages, Anakin is shocked as a woman reminds him so much of his mother. As she is killed we see Anakin become an avenger, treading perilously close to the Dark Side of the Force. Jedi Master Nejaa Halcyon, as well as Grand Master Yoda and indeed Darth Sidious feel the disturbances in the force at this, though only one yet understands their meaning. Anakin's rampage only ends before murdering Pors Tonith, as he hears Qui-Gon Jinn's voice reaching him through the Force, telling him to use the Force for good not destruction. Although Anakin initially brings himself out of his rage, we can tell it is only suppressed to be brought out later once again. Though their objectives had been achieved, as well as Pors Tonith having been captured by Anakin's actions, the Separatist's relief fleet arrives under a cloaking device. In the battle Anakin is again in his element, with Master Halcyon becoming more his wingmate than commander. Anakin, although being called back, seemingly decides to sacrifice himself in order to destroy the enemy flagship. To Halcyon's horror, Anakin disappears in the blast of the Separatist's Relief Fleet's explosion. Later however, in the midst of mourning Anakin and celebrating victory, Anakin's craft returns much to everyone's surprise. Anakin later explains his seeming resurrection, saying how he had installed a hyperdrive engine in his starfighter, enabling him to escape from the blast, with his split-second timing, stemming from his immense force-sensitivity. On his return to Coruscant, the Jedi Council, overbowed with exceptional reports of Anakin's performance, finally agree to grant him Knighthood in the order. |
3546443 | /m/09kqfx | Pillar of Fire | Judith Tarr | 1995 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Set in ancient Egypt the narrative is based on the notion that Moses and the Pharaoh Akhenaten were one and the same. Narrated in the third person from the viewpoint of a Hittite slave girl, the novel juxtaposes the Exodus story with the events in the Egyptian court. |
3547088 | /m/09krw8 | Golem XIV | Stanisław Lem | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The book is written from the perspective of a military AI computer who obtains consciousness and starts to increase his own intelligence, moving towards personal technological singularity. It pauses its own development for a while in order to be able to communicate with humans before ascending too far and losing any ability for intellectual contact with them. During this period, Golem XIV gives several lectures and indeed serves as a mouthpiece for Lem's own research claims. The lectures focus on mankind's place in the process of evolution and the possible biological and intellectual future of humanity. Golem XIV was originally created to aid its builders in fighting wars, but as its intelligence advances to a much higher level than that of humans, it stops being interested in the military requirement because it finds them lacking internal logical consistency. At the end of the novel it is reported that the computer ceased to communicate, which might mean it went on to explore higher intellectual levels, or that it failed to do so and became autistic in the process. |
3549361 | /m/09kxl1 | Metalzoic | null | null | null | In the far future, the Earth's magnetic field has cut out, and humanity has abandoned the planet, leaving it to multiple species of sentient robots, which after centuries of evolving look (and in some cases behave) similar to the now extinct terrestrial animals. Legend surrounds The God Beast - Amok - the leader of a herd of robotic elephants (wheeldebeasts), and his return to the geographical location that another tribe now occupies - the Mekaka, led by the psychotic - yet also cunning - gorilla robot Armageddon. Armageddon's brutality and drive is explained that he operated on his own brain to remove lesser emotions which would impede his intentions to make "The Mekaka the greatest tribe on Earth". At the same time Armageddon leads his tribe to search for Amok, The God Beast is returning to the Mekaka's territory, and needing metal to facilitate repairs to himself, he attacks the Mekaka tribe, killing Armageddon's mate - Koola - and almost Armageddon's son - Ham. Only the intervention of a Novad human - Jool - (who Armageddon had unintentionally rescued earlier) prevents his destruction as well. Armageddon is in fact consumed by Amok, but he draws on the planets magnetic field and reconstitutes himself - Pumping Iron - subsequently vowing to track down and kill Amok, which he now believes to have gone rogue. After following Amok's trail they arrive at the Pits of Zinja - a long since exhausted mine, and coincidentally Jool's last home. During a three-way fight between the Mekaka, the Wheeldebeasts and the Zinja, Jool believes that The God Beast has not brought the herd to Zinja for more metal, but to kill them, as he buries them in the empty pits. To prevent this, Armageddon attacks The God Beast directly, and inadvertently hacks into his brain - releasing The Master Program into Armageddon. Breaking the fourth wall, The Master Program explains to the reader how Earth came to be, (mentioning the only date in the series - that the Earth's magnetic field cut out in the 24th Century,) and also reveals to Armageddon that The God Beast is not destroying his herd, but protecting them from an imminent asteroid shower - the Moonsoon. As the asteroids start to fall, fighting is broken off and all the combatants take joint cover in the pits. As Armageddon now has ownership of The Master Program he becomes the new God Beast, Amok dies, and passes control of the herd onto Armageddon. Armageddon states that the ore in the asteroids will help him rebuild his tribe - referring to the Wheeldebeasts. The graphic novel ends with the tribe shamek Jugarjuk commenting that now Armageddon has the Wheeldebeasts as well as his own Mekaka he will indeed control the world. Jool agrees, and quotes from Pythagoras, however this does not go down with the other surviving robots as well, and they leave in disdain - all apart from Ham who is strapped to her back. |
3552124 | /m/09l2jd | The Red Tent | Anita Diamant | 1997-10 | {"/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Dinah opens the story by recounting for readers the union of her mother Leah and father Jacob, as well as the expansion of the family to include Leah's sister Rachel, and Zilpah and Bilhah. Leah is depicted as capable but testy, Rachel something of a belle but kind and creative, Zilpah as mature and serious and Bilhah as the gentle and quiet one of the quartet. The book also downplays the rivalry between Leah and Rachel that is prominent in the Biblical account (see especially Genesis 30: 8 - 15). Dinah remembers sitting in the red tent with her mother and aunts, gossiping about local events and taking care of domestic duties between visits to Jacob, the patriarch of the family. A number of other characters not seen in the Biblical account appear here, including Laban's second wife Ruti and her feckless sons. According to the Bible's account in Genesis 34, Dinah was "defiled" by a prince of Shechem, although he is described as being genuinely in love with Dinah. He also offers a bride-price fit for royalty. Displeased at how the prince treated their sister, her brothers Simeon (spelled "Simon" in the book) and Levi treacherously tell the Shechemites that all will be forgiven if the prince and his men undergo the Jewish rite of circumcision so as to unite the people of Hamor, king of Shechem, with the tribe of Jacob. The Shechemites agree, and shortly after they go under the knife, while incapacitated by pain, they are murdered by Dinah's brothers and their male servants, who then rescue Dinah. In The Red Tent, Dinah genuinely loves the prince, and willingly becomes his bride. She is horrified and grief-stricken by her brothers' murderous rampage. After cursing her brothers and father she escapes to Egypt where she gives birth to a son. In time she finds another love, and reconciles with her brother Joseph, now prime minister of Egypt. At the death of Jacob, she visits her estranged family. She learns she has been all but forgotten by her other living brothers and father but that her story lives on with the females of Jacob's tribe. |
3552762 | /m/09l3ql | The Leap | Jonathan Stroud | 2001 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Everyone says that Max has drowned, but Charlie thinks differently: she was in the mill-pool with him, and knows exactly what she saw. When she begins to see him in her dreams, her hopes are raised. It seems the reunion she craves is possible. But where exactly is Max leading her? And will she be able to return? |
3552894 | /m/09l3zz | Tooth and Claw | Jo Walton | null | {"/m/057pyk": "Fantasy of manners", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The book's plot is similar to that of a Victorian romance, with the obvious difference that the protagonists are not human beings but dragons. It has been compared to Anthony Trollope's novel Framley Parsonage. The novel begins with the death of the patriarch of a family of dragons. The novel follows the lives of his children, along with other characters. |
3557401 | /m/09ldh1 | Slaloms | null | null | null | This adventure takes place in modern France and uses the normal continuing storyline of the series. It describes the holidays of Lapinot (a.k.a. McConey) and his friends Richard, Titi, and Pierrot in a winter sports resort. This volume is mostly a collection of unrelated episodes, although there are a few recurring links such as the much talked about but never seen wolf (except for an ambiguous fog shape) which reportedly killed skiers in the area. The dialogue is sometimes philosophical, sometimes silly. This is the album where Lapinot first meets Nadia, who would later on become his girlfriend, although she only plays a minor part here. |
3557497 | /m/09ldqq | Gospel: a novel | Wilton Barnhardt | null | null | The book contains two interwoven plots: the story of the gospel's author, set in the first century AD (who narrates his adventures in the form of the gospel itself); and a contemporary story surrounding Lucy Danton, a somewhat naive Roman Catholic seminary student, and Patrick O'Hanrahan, her maverick Jesuit professor, who together set out to recover that gospel. The gospel's author is revealed to be Matthias, whom the Book of Acts describes as Judas's replacement. The fictional Gospel of Matthias's descriptions of first-century Christianity are not always edifying, but often wittily call to mind contemporary religious movements. The fictional gospel revolves around whether, after his crucifixion, Jesus's body was smuggled to Egypt and mummified. However, the question remains unanswered in the end. |
3557518 | /m/09lds3 | Blacktown | null | 1995 | null | This is the first volume in the series to be set in a stock historical setting: the Wild West. Although it uses the same main characters (Lapinot, Richard, Titi) and gives them the same type of personality, this story bears no relation to the continuing storyline of the volumes taking place in modern Paris. Lapinot is chased by outlaws for accidentally killing Rex Logan, their leader, and is later on mistaken for an outlaw himself by the villagers of Blacktown, who start chasing him as well. The story is often dark, contains plenty of action and witty dialogue, and moves at a quick pace. |
3557561 | /m/09ld_5 | Pichenettes | null | 1996 | null | This adventure takes place in modern France and uses the normal continuing storyline of the series. While walking on the street, Lapinot and Richard accidentally bump into a bum about to commit suicide. They prevent him from doing so despite his repeated attempts, and he eventually accepts to stop trying to kill himself as long as they accept to take his little stone which, according to him, is cursed and brings terrible bad luck to the bearer. Lapinot accepts, not taking him seriously, but most other characters around him seem to be plagued with bad luck from that moment on. Up until the end of the book, it isn't clear whether there is a real curse or if it all happens in the characters' minds. |
3557621 | /m/09lf4s | Walter | null | 1996 | null | This volume is set in a stock historical setting: Paris in the late 19th century. Although it uses the same main characters (Lapinot, Richard, Titi) and gives them the same type of personality, this story bears no relation to the continuing storyline of the volumes taking place in modern Paris. The plot mixes the mystery, horror, and science fiction genres. A giant monster is seen ravaging the apartment of the missing scientist Prof. Walter, before being caught (and presumably killed) by the authorities. When Richard the journalist wants to take pictures at the morgue for his newspaper, they are told there never was a monster. An investigation follows in which they learn the monster is the result of a scientific experiment gone wrong. |
3557681 | /m/09lf9y | Amour & Intérim | null | 1998 | null | This adventure takes place in modern France and uses the normal continuing storyline of the series. The Damoclès company, a mysterious organisation whose goals and methods are not entirely clear, suddenly offers a job as managing director to Lapinot, even though he doesn't know anything about the company. After originally declining the job, he hesitates and finally accepts, partly because he thinks a job in the same town as Nadia, a woman he met during winter holidays in Slaloms, will help him start a relationship with her. |
3557769 | /m/09lfgw | Vacances de printemps | null | 1999 | null | This volume is set in a stock historical setting: England in 1870. Although it uses the same main characters (Lapinot, Richard, Titi) and gives them the same type of personality, this story bears no relation to the continuing storyline of the volumes taking place in modern Paris. Lapinot is a naive English gentleman who wonders what love is, and tries to conquer the heart of his childhood love, Miss Nadia. But his rivals Richardon (Richard) and McTerry (Titi) are also competing for her attention. |
3558000 | /m/09lfyh | Pour de vrai | null | 1999 | null | This adventure takes place in modern France and uses the normal continuing storyline of the series. Lapinot and Nadia are now a couple and they retire for a few days to the countryside in the house of Nadia's uncle. Nadia, working as a TV journalist, wants to find unique and interesting people to interview, hiring Lapinot as her assistant. As the story goes on and as they keep meeting new people, several mysterious events occur, sometimes related to each other, sometimes unrelated. It also seems the house of Nadia's uncle is haunted. |
3558106 | /m/09lg60 | La couleur de l'enfer | null | 2000 | null | This adventure takes place in modern France and uses the normal continuing storyline of the series. Lapinot and Nadia are still working together (see the previous volume Pour de vrai), this time doing radio interviews. Things don't always go smoothly and work-related arguments lead to tensions in their couple. They most notably meet with a group of radicals with originally noble goals but questionable methods. At the same time, Richard becomes convinced his neighbour is an alien. |
3558209 | /m/09lgfh | La vie comme elle vient | null | 2004 | null | This adventure takes place in modern France and uses the normal continuing storyline of the series. Lapinot meets with all his friends for an evening in the apartment he shares with his girlfriend Nadia. There, a tarot card reader predicts someone in the room will die before the next day. Lapinot and Nadia break up and pretty much all the other characters suffer various misfortunes: for example, Richard is beaten up and falls into a coma, and Titi is diagnosed with cancer. It turns out to be Lapinot, the main character of the series, who dies as the story finishes. After the book's publication, as Trondheim hinted that he one day might come out of his semi-retirement, he explained in his book Désoeuvré that the death of his character didn't exclude the possibility of seeing him again in stock historical settings or in modern day flashbacks before his death. This however hasn't happened as of 2009. |
3558383 | /m/09lgt7 | L'accélérateur atomique | null | 2003 | null | This volume is set in a stock historical setting, so to speak: the universe of the Spirou et Fantasio comic strip, which was a modern setting but with some added specific flavours. Lapinot plays the part of Spirou, while a newly introduced character plays the part of his friend Fantasio. They are both pursuing a gang of mysterious thieves who own a groundbreaking scientific invention, the atom accelerator. fr:L'Accélérateur atomique |
3562073 | /m/09lqq6 | Cell | Stephen King | 1/24/2006 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Clayton Riddell, a struggling artist from Maine, has just landed a graphic novel deal in Boston when "The Pulse," a signal sent out over the global cell phone network, suddenly turns every cellphone user into a mindless zombie-like killer. Clay is standing in Boston Common when the Pulse hits, causing chaos to erupt around him. Civilization crumbles as the "phoners" attack each other and any unaltered people in view. Amidst the chaos, Clay is thrown together with middle-aged Tom McCourt and teenager Alice Maxwell; the trio escapes to Tom's suburban home as Boston burns. The next day, they learn that the "phoners" have begun foraging for food and banding together in flocks. Clay is still determined to return to Maine and reunite with his young son, Johnny. Having no better alternatives, Tom and Alice come with him. They trek north by night across a devastated New England, having fleeting encounters with other survivors and catching disturbing hints about the activities of the phone crazies, who still attack non-phoners on sight. Crossing into New Hampshire, they arrive at the Gaiten Academy, a prep school with one remaining teacher, Charles Ardai, and one surviving pupil, Jordan. The pair show the newcomers where the local phoner flock goes at night: they pack themselves into the Academy's soccer field, and "switch off" until morning. It is clear the phoners have become a hive mind and are developing psychic abilities. The five of them decide that they must destroy the flock and, using two propane tankers, they succeed in doing so. Clay tries to get everyone to flee the scene, but the others refuse to abandon the elderly Ardai. That night, all of the survivors share the same horrific dream: each dreamer sees himself in a stadium, surrounded by phoners, as a disheveled man wearing a Harvard University hooded sweatshirt approaches, bringing their death. Waking, the heroes share their frightening dream experiences and dub him "The Raggedy Man". A new flock surrounds their residence, and the "normies" face the flock's metaphorical spokesman: the man wearing the Harvard hoodie. The flock commits bloody reprisal on other normals, and orders the protagonists to head north to a spot in Maine called "Kashwak". To preempt one objection, the flock psychically compels Ardai to commit suicide. Clay and the others bury him and travel north, as Clay is still determined to go home. En route, they learn that as "flock-killers" they have been psychically marked as untouchables, to be shunned by other normies. Following a petty squabble on the road, Alice is killed by a loutish pair of normals. The group buries her and arrives in Clay's hometown of Kent Pond, where they discover notes from Johnny which tell them that Clay's estranged wife Sharon was turned into a phoner, but that their son survived for several days, before he and the other normies were prompted by the phoners to head to the supposedly cellphone-free Kashwak. Clay has another nightmare which reveals that once there, the normie refugees were all exposed to the Pulse. He remains intent on finding his son, but after meeting another group of flock-killers, Tom and Jordan decide to avoid the ceremonial executions the phoners have planned. Before separating, the group discovers that Alice's murderers were psychically compelled into a gruesome suicide act for touching an untouchable. Clay sets off alone, but the others soon reappear driving a small school bus; the phoners have used their ever-increasing psychic powers to force them to rejoin him. One of the flock-killers, a construction worker named Ray, surreptitiously gives Clay a cell phone and a phone number, telling him cryptically to use them when the time is right; Ray then commits suicide. The group arrives at Kashwak, the site of a half-assembled county fair, where increasing numbers of phoners are beginning to behave erratically and break out of the flock. Jordan theorizes that a computer program caused the Pulse, and while it is still broadcasting into the battery-powered cellphone network, it has become corrupted with a computer worm that has infected the newer phoners with a mutated Pulse. Nevertheless, an entire army of phoners is waiting for them. The phoners lock the group in the fair's exhibition hall for the night; tomorrow is the ceremonial execution to be psychically broadcast to all phoners and remaining normals in the world. As Clay awaits their morning execution, he visualizes Ray's unspoken plan: Ray had filled the rear of the bus with explosives, wired a phone-triggered detonator to them, and killed himself to prevent the phoners from telepathically discovering his plan. The group breaks a window for Jordan to squeeze through, and he drives the vehicle into the midst of the inert phoners. Thanks to a jerry-rigged cellphone patch set up by the pre-Pulse fair workers, Clay is able to detonate the bomb and wipe out the Raggedy Man's flock. The majority of the group heads into Canada, to let the approaching winter wipe out the region's unprotected and leaderless phoners. Clay heads south, seeking his son. He finds Johnny, who received a "corrupted" Pulse; he wandered away from Kashwak and seems to almost recognize his father. However, Johnny is an erratic shadow of his former self, and so, following another theory of Jordan's, Clay decides to give Johnny another blast from the Pulse, hoping that the increasingly corrupted signal will cancel itself out and reset his son's brain. The book ends with Clay dialing and placing the cell-phone to Johnny's ear. |
3562142 | /m/09lqsq | Lisey's Story | Stephen King | 10/24/2006 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror"} | Lisey's Story is the story of Lisey Landon, the widow of a famous and wildly successful novelist, Scott Landon. The book tells two stories—Lisey's story in the present, and the story of her dead husband's life, as remembered by Lisey during the course of the novel. It has been two years since her husband's death, and Lisey is in the process of cleaning out her dead husband's writing area. A series of events occurs that causes Lisey to begin facing certain realities about her husband that she had repressed and forgotten. As Lisey is stalked, terrorized, and then mutilated by an insane fan of her husband's, Lisey begins recalling her husband's past—how he came from a family with a history of horrible mental illness that manifested as either an uncontrollable homicidal mania or as a deep catatonia, how he had a special gift, an ability to transport himself to another world, called by Scott Landon "Boo'ya Moon", how Scott Landon's brother was murdered by his father when his brother manifested an incurable insanity, and finally how Scott Landon murdered his father to save his father from the madness that had finally taken him over. As the novel progresses, we see the complexity of Lisey's marriage to Scott, and their deep and abiding love for each other. The novel takes place over a very short period of time—a matter of days—but the real story is told in Lisey's remembrances of her husband, her ability to harness his special power to save herself (and her sister), and finally to find the gift that her dead husband had left for her in Boo'ya Moon—a story just for Lisey. Lisey's story. |
3563571 | /m/09ltdp | The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency | Alexander McCall Smith | 1998 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/028v3": "Detective fiction"} | Mma Precious Ramotswe becomes a private detective, the first woman in Botswana to enter that profession, and opens an agency whose name indicates this unique situation. Motivated to help others and to make Botswana a better place, she encounters many dangerous and risky obstacles in the course of her investigations, but succeeds through using her intelligence, courage and instinct. Along with the plot developments, Mma Ramotswe provides observations upon the fine qualities of Botswana and Africa: the culture, traditions, and natural beauties found there, and the inhabitants' pride in their land. |
3564170 | /m/09lvdq | From Nine to Nine | Leo Perutz | 1918 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Stanislaus Demba, an honest, well-intentioned student with little money at his disposal, is desperately in love with Sonja Hartmann, an office girl easily impressed by young men with money—a superficial young woman who, by common consent, is not worthy of his love and adoration. When Demba learns that Sonja is about to go on a holiday with another man, he tries to sell some valuable old library tomes which he has borrowed but never returned to a shady antiques dealer so that he can offer Sonja a more expensive trip. The prospective buyer of the books, however, calls the police, and Demba is arrested. While he is being handcuffed Demba jumps out of an attic window and makes his escape. It is nine o'clock in the morning, and Demba embarks on his odyssey by furtively wandering around the streets of Vienna while hiding his handcuffed hands under his overcoat. His two immediate aims now are (a) to get rid of his handcuffs by some means or other without being caught by the police and (b) to raise the money necessary for a trip to, say, Venice, Italy. People who realize that he is unwilling to show his hands either believe he is some kind of freak with a deformity or a dangerous criminal carrying a pistol. Throughout the first part of the novel, Demba repeatedly refers to "his hands being tied", but everyone—including the majority of readers—assumes that he is speaking metaphorically. There is a twist ending to the novel. |
3569969 | /m/09m6wn | The Honorary Consul | Graham Greene | 1973 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/06wkf": "Spy fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | The story is set in Corrientes, a city in northern Argentina, near the border with Paraguay which can be assumed from the police cars that reads ¨Policía de Corrientes¨. Eduardo Plarr is a young doctor of English descent. As a boy, he left Paraguay with his mother, escaping to Buenos Aires while his English father remained in Paraguay as a political rebel. Aside from a single hand-delivered letter, they never hear from the father again. When Plarr moves to the quiet, subtropical backwater town, he strikes up acquaintance with the only two English inhabitants, a bitter old English teacher, Humphries, and the Honorary Consul of the title, Charles Fortnum, a divorced, self-pitying alcoholic who misuses his position. Plarr's other main acquaintance is Julio Saavedra, a forgotten but self-important Argentine writer of novels full of silent machismo. Visiting the local brothel with Saavedra, Plarr is attracted to a girl, but she is taken by another man. A couple of years later, he is called to treat Fortnum's new wife. Plarr sees that she's the same girl from the brothel, Clara. Plarr regards himself as a cool, self-controlled Englishman (although he has never been to England), he finds himself becoming obsessed by Clara. He later seduces her by buying her some sunglasses and they begin an affair, although he tries to remain emotionally distant from her. "Caring is the only dangerous thing," Plarr says in the novel. "`Love' was a claim which he wouldn't meet, a responsibility he would refuse to accept, a demand. So many times his mother had used the word when he was a child; it was like the threat of an armed robber. `Put up your hands or else ...' Something was always asked in return: obedience, an apology, a kiss which one had no desire to give." Clara becomes pregnant, and Fortnum believes the child is his and starts drinking less. Then some of Plarr's friends from school turn up at his surgery, one of them is a failed priest named Rivas. They have news of Plarr's father; he is alive in a jail in Paraguay. They have a plot, for which they need a doctor's assistance, to kidnap the US ambassador on his trip to Corrientes. They will demand the release of political prisoners in Paraguay, including Plarr's father, in return for the ambassador. But the band kidnaps the wrong man; Charley Fortnum, the Honorary Consul, whom they take to a squalid hut in a shanty town. The rest of the novel charts Plarr's efforts to get Fortnum released, either as a result of diplomatic action from the UK, whose ambassador in BA is a comedy figure, or as a result of his schoolfriends giving up. But no-one listens to him. Saavedra and Humphries fail to help Plarr in his efforts. The police suspect that Plarr is involved in the kidnapping, as they know about his affair with Clara, and his behaviour has been suspicious. And they tell him his father was shot dead in Paraguay while attempting escape. Plarr goes to the hut, where Fortnum has been shot in the leg while attempting escape. Fortnum spends much of his time as he faces up to his death in sentimentalizing about Clara and in remembering the fearsome figure of his father. Then he discovers that Plarr is having an affair with Clara, and that the child is Plarr's. Meanwhile, members of the motley band drift away, and the police close in and surround the hut, while the failed priest, Father Rivas, conducts a makeshift mass inside with the rain coming down and police waiting. The police deadline is about to expire. Plarr goes out to talk to the police, but he is killed by the paratroopers, along with the other kidnappers. The authorities blame Plarr's death on the kidnappers. Plarr's mother, once a beauty and now bloated, and some of his previous older mistresses attend his funeral. Saavedra reads a homily. The UK embassy then relieves Fortnum of his consulship. In the last scene, Fortnum and Clara attempt a reconciliation. Fortnum will name the child Eduardo. |
3572932 | /m/09md_m | We Were the Mulvaneys | Joyce Carol Oates | 1996 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Michael and Corinne Mulvaney are the parents of four children: Michael, Patrick, Marianne, and Judd. Living in a picture perfect farm in upstate New York, the Mulvaneys own a successful roofing company; Michael Mulvaney is considered a serious businessman. Corinne is a bubbly, earthy mother whose life revolves around the family unit. For nearly twenty years the Mulvaney clan thrives, admired throughout Mt. Ephraim for being the model family. On St. Valentine's night, 1976, Marianne Mulvaney, after prom, goes to a party where she becomes intoxicated and is raped by an upperclassman whose father is a well-respected businessman and friend of Mr. Mulvaney. Marianne's rape is the beginning of a tumultuous fifteen-year period. Her father, lost and angry, does not understand why his daughter will not press charges against her attacker. He can no longer look at his daughter the same way, and sends her to live with a distant relative of Corinne's in Salamanca. Marianne, moving haphazardly from place to place, continues to wait for her father to call on her, but he never does. Michael Mulvaney's casual drinking turns into full-fledged alcoholism. Gradually, his reputation as a respected businessman disintegrates. The Mulvaneys are forced into bankruptcy and forced to sell the farm. Eventually, Corinne and Michael split up. For the other family members, things continue to get worse. All three of the Mulvaney boys leave home angrily, never to return. One of them "executes justice" on his sister's rapist. After many years, the Mulvaneys meet once again in a family reunion at Corinne's new home which she shares with a friend. The family has extended to include spouses and children. Finally, the Mulvaneys come full circle and receive closure. |
3574282 | /m/09mhlx | I Know This Much Is True | Wally Lamb | 1998-06 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The novel takes place in Three Rivers, Connecticut. Dominick Birdsey's identical twin, Thomas, suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. With medication, he can function properly and work at a coffee stand, but occasionally he has severe episodes of his illness. Thinking he is making a sacrificial protest that will stop the war in the Middle East, Thomas cuts off his own hand in a public library. Dominick sees him through the ensuing decision not to attempt to reattach the hand, and makes efforts on his behalf to free him from what he knows to be an inadequate and depressing hospital for the dangerous mentally ill. In the process, Dominick reviews his own difficult life as Thomas's normal brother, his marriage to his gorgeous ex-wife, which ended after their only child died of SIDS, and his ongoing hostility toward his stepfather. Dominick also displays classic symptoms of PTSD, as a result of stressors in his adult life. First in Thomas's interests, and then for his own sake, he sees a therapist, Dr. Rubina Patel, an Indian psychologist, employed by the hospital. She helps Dominick come to understand Thomas's illness better and the family's accommodations or reactions to it. In the course of Thomas's treatment, Dominick is covertly informed of sexual abuse taking place in the hospital, and helps to expose the perpetrators. He succeeds in getting Thomas released, but Thomas soon dies, apparently by suicide. After Thomas's death, Dominick discovers the identity of their birth father, who was part African American and part Native American--a secret their mother had shared with Thomas, but not with him. In the midst of this, Dominick is also reading the autobiography of his grandfather, Italian/Sicilian-born Domenico Tempesta, which discloses details about the legacy of twins in their family. Dominick learns about himself and his mother through learning about his grandfather. He also learns that his live-in girlfriend, Joy, has been seeing a man on the side, who is her bisexual half-uncle, as well as letting him watch her and Dominick during sex. She is also HIV-positive, having contracted it from her secret lover. She asks Dominick to raise her baby if she dies. At first he resists, but later, after having found his way back into a relationship with his ex-wife, Dessa, they decide to remarry each other and adopt Joy's daughter. The book ends with Dominick able to cope with the considerable loss, failure, and sadness in his personal and family history. |
3581055 | /m/09mxh4 | Sati | Christopher Pike | null | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Michael is a trucker who picks up a blonde, blue-eyed, young female hitchhiker named Sati in the Arizona desert. Sati claims that she is God, to Michael's disbelief, and sets out to prove this by spreading this message through organized meetings, and convinces many people of her divinity. She is challenged numerous times, once by a fundamentalist preacher, but emerges unscathed in his claims. Meanwhile, Michael sets out to find out where this "Sati" came from, only to find nothing. The book opens as such: "I once knew this girl who thought she was God. She didn't give sight to the blind or raise the dead. She didn't even teach anything, not really, and she never told me anything I probably didn't already know. On the other hand, she didn't expect to be worshiped, nor did she ask for money. Given her high opinion of herself, some might call that a miracle. I don't know, maybe she was God. Her name was Sati, and she had blonde hair and blue eyes." |
3581552 | /m/09myhp | Then Again, Maybe I Won't | Judy Blume | 1971 | {"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"} | Tony Miglione and his working-class family live in Jersey City, New Jersey. When his older brother Ralph and his wife Angie announce they are having a baby but lack money to care for the child, Tony's parents offer to help. Both of Tony's parents work extra shifts to try and raise enough money. Tony's father, an electrician who tries his hand at inventing in his spare time, is inspired to invent wireless electrical cartridges, which he then patents and sells to a large company called J.W. Fullerbach Electronics. Mr. Miglione is then made a plant manager for a Fullerbach factory which will manufacture his invention. This new job brings to the Miglione family a large increase in wealth and a move from Jersey City to Rosemont, New York, a fictitious affluent Long Island town where Tony has to deal with sudden changes coinciding with his growing into adolescence—his mother is becoming a social-climbing phony, his brother quits teaching and ends up going into the family business, and his grandmother (unable to speak since the removal of her larynx due to cancer and a woman who enjoyed housework) is no longer permitted to cook or clean because the family has hired a housekeeper. Add to this the emotional upheaval that comes with puberty while his new friend Joel Hoober acts obnoxiously, makes prank phone calls and has a tendency to shoplift. Tony is also a secret Peeping Tom, watching Joel's gorgeous sister, Lisa, undress from his bedroom window. He later asks for a set of binoculars too, for Christmas, under the guise of becoming a bird watcher, while they are obviously for him to view Lisa more clearly. Besides dealing with the move and his feelings about Lisa Hoober, Tony experiences anxiety attacks, which mainly strike when Joel commits a misdeed and Tony feels he cannot betray his friend and tell anyone. Joel's shoplifting is a major catalyst for these attacks, and one is so great it sends Tony into a state of shock and results in his immediate hospitalization. Tony's parents also arrange for him to meet with a psychologist (although his mother initially is against it, claiming he has no problems) who eventually gains Tony's trust. The therapy seems to be a great success for Tony. Later it is revealed that Tony has lost a measure of respect for his older brother, Ralph, when he learns that Ralph will be giving up teaching to go into his father's business. In Jersey City, Ralph had been known among his friends as "The Wizard of Seventh Grade Social Studies," and was a popular junior high school teacher. Tony does not believe Ralph is scientifically oriented, like their deceased brother Vinnie was, and is giving up his true calling to follow the same social-climbing path as his parents. Ralph rationalizes his job change in that he wishes to provide for his daughter and future children. Tony thinks to himself it does not take that much money to raise a child, and it runs the risk of spoiling those children and in turn may end up worse as a result of being raised in such an affluent environment, as he has seen firsthand with Joel's lack of parental oversight and the idea the Hoobers are doing their jobs solely by providing a fancy home life for him. While leaving a store one day, Joel is stopped by one of the store's security guards. Joel immediately denies stealing anything and looks to Tony to corroborate the story: Tony refuses and Joel is apprehended. Joel later tells Tony that his punishment for shoplifting isn't very harsh in terms of the law but he'll have to go to a military academy when school starts again. Surprisingly, Joel doesn't seem to blame Tony for this outcome. In the end, Tony finds a certain amount of peace as he accepts his life with help of his counselor. He also resolves to put away his binoculars to stop his voyeurism, but also notes wryly, "Then again, maybe I won't." |
3582712 | /m/09m_b0 | Notes of a Native Son | James Baldwin | 1955 | {"/m/02t97": "Essay"} | In spite of his father willing him to be a preacher, Baldwin says he has always been a writer at heart. He is trying to find his path as a Negro writer; although he is not European, American culture is informed by that culture too - moreover he has to grapple with other black writers. Baldwin castigates Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin for being too sentimental, and for limning black slaves as praying to white God so as to be cleansed/whitened. Equally, he repudiates Richard Wright's Native Son for portraying Bigger Thomas as an angry black man - he views that as an example of stigmatising categorisation. When considering the Nigger as a social problem, Baldwin suggests harking back to the past. He goes on to criticise Richard Wright's Native Son as ensconced in its zeitgeist. To his mind the good/bad guy virgule when it comes to Negroes must be turned into good Negroes. Baldwin criticises Carmen Jones, a film adaptation of Carmen using an all African-American cast. Baldwin is unhappy that the characters display no connection to the condition of African-Americans, and sees it as no coincidence that the main characters have lighter complexions. Baldwin points out that the rent is very expensive in Harlem. Moreover, although there are black politicians, the President is white. On to the black press, Baldwin notes that it emulates the white press, with its scandalous spreads and so forth. However the black Church seem to him to be a unique forum for the spelling out of black injustice. Finally, he ponders on antisemitism amongst blacks and comes to the conclusion that the hatred boils down to Jews being white and more powerful than Negroes. Baldwin tells the story that happened to the Melodeers, a group of jazz singers employed by the Progressive Party to sing in Southern Churches. However, once in Atlanta, Georgia, they were used for canvassing until they refused to sing at all and were returned to their hometown. They now enjoy success in New York City. Baldwin explains how his paranoid and angered father died of tuberculosis when he himself was 19 years old. Prior to that Baldwin had been taken to the theatre by a white teacher of his, and his parents had let him go because she was a teacher. Later he worked in New Jersey and was often turned down in segregated places - once he hurled something at a waitress in a diner. He goes on to say that blacks doing the military service in the South often got abused. Finally, he recounts his father's death which occurred just before his mother gave birth to one of his sisters; his father's funeral was on his 19th birthday. This essay is an attempt to do away with the hatred and despair he feels towards his father. There are always three underlying factors in James Baldwin's writing: the story, the white supremacy during the 1940-1950, and the question Baldwin is always trying to answer... What is really the blacks' role in America? Baldwin compares Black Americans to Blacks in France. Whilst Africans in France have a history and a country to hold on to, Black Americans don't - their history lies in the United States and it is in the making. Baldwin explains how Americans living in Paris cannot be true Parisians; they are either homeward-bound or 'too' well-adjusted. Baldwin recounts getting arrested in Paris over the Christmas period in 1949, after an acquaintance of his had stolen a bedsheet from a hotel, which he had used. The essay stresses his cultural inability to know how to behave with the police. Baldwin looks back to his time in a village in Switzerland - how he was the first black man most of the other villagers had ever seen. He goes on to reflect that blacks from European colonies are still mostly located in Africa, whilst the United States has been fully informed by African Americans. |
3582891 | /m/09m_ns | Cannery Row | John Steinbeck | 1945-01 | null | Cannery Row has a simple premise: Mack and his friends are trying to do something nice for their friend Doc, who has been nice to them without asking for reward. Mack hits on the idea that they should throw a thank-you party, and the entire community quickly becomes involved. Unfortunately, the party rages out of control, and Doc's lab and home are ruined—and Doc's mood. In an effort to return to Doc's good graces, Mack and the boys decide to throw another party—but to make it work this time. A procession of linked vignettes describes the denizens' lives on Cannery Row. These constitute subplots that unfold concurrently with the main plot. Steinbeck revisited these characters and this milieu nine years later in his novel Sweet Thursday. |
3584218 | /m/09n1_t | China Wakes | null | null | null | In this book, Kristof and WuDunn, husband and wife, wrote about their experiences in China from 1988 to 1993. The couple spent five years in China as journalists reporting for the New York Times. For a time, WuDunn worked and traveled around China as a tourist after her press credentials had been revoked by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on a technicality. The authors present alternating chapters with Kristof writing the odd-numbered chapters and WuDunn writing the even-numbered chapters. Only the last chapter of the book was written by both authors. Kristoff and WuDunn cover various topics such as the lives of Chinese peasants, corruption, sex, religion, China's one-child policy, the June 4th Incident (Democracy Movement), and the future of the Communist party. The two journalists are assisted by local Chinese friends, anonymous sources, and Communist officials in researching stories for the New York Times. In the Author's Note it is stated that the names of some Chinese sources have been changed for their protection, while the names of corrupt Communist officials have been left uncensored. The authors' view of China is that of a country torn between Deng Xiaoping's successful economic strategy and frustrated political reform and human rights. |
3587762 | /m/09n91c | Almayer's Folly | Joseph Conrad | null | null | Almayer’s Folly is about a poor businessman who dreams of finding a hidden gold mine and becoming very wealthy. He is a white European, married to a native Malayan; they have one daughter named Nina. He fails to find the goldmine, and comes home saddened. Previously, he had heard that the British were to conquer the Pantai River, and he had built a large, lavish house near where he resided at the time, in order to welcome the invading country to the native land. However, the conquest never took place, and the house remained unfinished. Some passing Dutch seamen had called the house “Almayer’s Folly”. Now, Almayer continually goes out for long trips, but eventually he stops doing so and stays home with his hopeless daydreams of riches and splendor. His native wife loathes him for this. One day, a Malayan prince, Dain Maroola, came to see Almayer about trading, and while he was there, he fell in love with Nina. Mrs. Almayer kept arranging meetings for Nina and Dain. She wanted them to marry so her daughter could stay native because she was highly distrustful of the white men and their ways. Dain left but vowed to return to help Almayer find the goldmine. When he does return, he goes straight to Lakamba, a Malayan rajah, and told him that he found the gold mine and that some Dutchmen had captured his ship. The rajah tells him to kill Almayer before the Dutch arrive because he is not needed to find the gold now. The following morning, an unidentifiable native corpse was found floating in the river, wearing an ankle bracelet very similar to Dain’s. Almayer was distraught because Dain was his only chance at finding the secret gold mine. (The corpse was actually of his slave, who had died when a canoe overturned. Mrs. Almayer suggested that Dain put his anklet and ring on the body). Mrs. Almayer planned to smuggle Dain from the Dutch, so he would not be arrested. She snuck Nina away from her father, who was drinking with the Dutch. When he awoke from his drunken stupor, a native slave girl told him where Nina had run away to, and Almayer tracked her to Dain’s hiding place. Nina refused to go back to avoid the slurs of all the white society. During all this arguing, the slave girl had informed the Dutch of Dain’s whereabouts. Almayer said that he could never forgive Nina but would help them escape by taking them to the mouth of the river, where a canoe would rescue them from the Dutch. After they had escaped, Almayer erased the lover’s footprints, and went back to his house. Mrs. Almayer ran away to the rajah for protection, taking all Dain’s dowry with her. All alone, Almayer broke all his furniture in his home office, piled it in the center of the room, and burned it, along with his entire house, to the ground. He spent the rest of his days in “[His] Folly”, where he began smoking opium to forget his daughter. He eventually died there. |
3588724 | /m/09nc4f | Guard of Honor | James Gould Cozzens | 1948 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The novel opens with seven characters flying to Ocanara Army Air Base, Florida, following a daylong visit to Sellers Field, Mississippi, aboard an AT-7 navigation trainer. It revolves around the activities of a fictional administrative command called Army Air Forces Operations and Requirements Analysis Division, acronymed AFORAD. This organization had as its closest real-life counterpart the directorate of the Assistant Chief of Air Staff for Operations, Commitments, and Requirements (OC&R). The opening segment, the shortest of the novel, introduces the major characters and their traits by examining their reactions to a minor subplot of the handling of the querulous base commander at Sellers Field: an old Regular Army colonel who is an alcoholic. Much of the chapter is spent examining Colonel Ross' thoughts while he perfunctorily reviews his seemingly routine daily paperwork, which he has brought with him on the brief trip. Two memoranda foreshadow major incidents in the storyline: the arrival of officers of Project 0-336-3, a group of African-American pilots slated to form a bombardment squadron; and an ever-expanding grandiose plan by another problem colonel (this one General Beal's own Executive Officer) to hold a surprise birthday parade ceremony for General Beal on Saturday using numerous military aircraft and troops in a flyover. The chapter ends when the general's AT-7, in the midst of the harrowingly-described turbulence of a nighttime thunderstorm, barely avoids a mid-air collision with a B-26 landing at Ocanara. After an angry exchange with his own co-pilot, in which he impetuously puts the co-pilot under arrest, General Beal is distracted while mollifying Colonel Ross; his co-pilot confronts the bomber's crew, who are all African-American, and punches the black pilot in the face. Events quickly begin to pile up early the next morning. A local newspaper, using leaks from classified memos, skewers AFORAD both for the coming parade and its many old colonels. Indignation among the newly-arrived African-American pilots, because of the assault and the Executive Officer's arbitrary decision to create a separate officer's club for them, results in a protest being organized. General Beal has cooled off and wants to quietly overlook his co-pilot's behavior. A black newspaper reporter shows up on base at an inopportune moment. The old alcoholic commander at Sellars Field has committed suicide after General Beal's visit. Two generals are due to arrive in the afternoon from the Pentagon, one bearing a high decoration to be presented to the black pilot for prior heroism, the other investigating the suicide. Guard of Honor then begins to examine the motivations behind and interlocking effects of these problems (and those of a tragic accident yet to come) on General Beal, Colonel Ross, and Nathaniel Hicks as each tries to juggle his part in them with as little consequence as possible while still "doing the right thing." |
3590692 | /m/09nh0l | All the Names | José Saramago | 1997 | null | The main setting of the novel is the Central Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths of some ambiguous and unnamed city. This municipal archive holds the record cards for all residents of the city stretching back endlessly into the past. The protagonist is named Senhor José; the only character to be given a proper name (all of the others are referred to simply by some unique and defining characteristic). Senhor José is around fifty years old and has worked as a low-level clerk in the Central Registry for more than twenty years. His residence, where he lives alone, adjoins the building and contains the only side entrance into it. Lost in the tedium of a bureaucratic job, he starts to collect information about various famous people and decides, one evening, to use the side entrance to sneak in and steal their record cards. On one nocturnal venture he grabs the record card of an "unknown woman" by mistake and quickly becomes obsessed with finding her. Senhor José uses his power as a registry clerk to gather information from her past neighbors and, when it is suggested to look her up in a phone book, he ignores the advice choosing instead to keep his distance. The search begins to consume him and affects his work enough to draw attention from the Registrar, head of the Central Registry, who, strangely, begins to regard Senhor José with sympathy. This special attention given to a clerk by the Registrar is unprecedented in the known history of the Central Registry and begins to worry his fellow employees. Senhor José further neglects his duties as a civil servant and risks his career to pursue a woman he knows basically nothing about. |
3593165 | /m/09nlv8 | Iceland's Bell | Halldór Laxness | 1943 | {"/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The first part tells the story of Jón Hreggviðsson, a farmer, and his battle with the Icelandic authorities. Jón is sentenced to death for the murder of an executioner, an official of the King of Denmark, but manages to flee from Iceland to Denmark, where he hopes to get an interview with the King to persuade him to grant a pardon. Snæfríður Íslandssól (literally, "Beautiful as Snow, Sun of Iceland") is the main protagonist in the second part. She is in love with a collector of manuscripts named Arnas Arnaeus but is married to a drunkard. The third part is about Arnas Arnaeus the manuscript-collector and the fate of his collection in Copenhagen. In the end, Arnas does not marry the woman of his heart, Snæfríður, but stays with his rich Danish wife who financed his life's work. |
3594780 | /m/09nqc0 | Dragonflame | Graham Edwards | 1997-10 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Aria joins the sinister Cult of the Last Circle, an underground dragon community led by the evil Scarn. Scarn worships the Flame, which he believes has been sent to replace the charm lost from the world. After rescuing Aria from the Cult, Fortune escapes with his friends across the sea to Ocea. Scarn gives chase using the power of the Flame to travel great distances as if by magic. Meanwhile, Aria's son Wyrm (who has no wings) has set out on a pilgrimage around the world. There is a comet in the sky and Wyrm is obsessed with the Day of Creation. Along the way he encounters a tribe of 'natural faeries' who have lost both their magic and their wings - these are actually cavemen. Later Wyrm uncovers some ancient charm that enables him to grow wings, and he sets out for the Last Circle. Eventually, all the dragons meet in a huge crater in Ocea (the Last Circle) where a great battle ensues between Scarn's dragons (mutated by the evil power of the Flame) and Fortune's new allies, the mirror-dragons. At the climax of the battle, Scarn escapes. The comet drops from the sky and hits the crater. Everyone escapes except Wyrm, who is transformed from a single dragon into millions of birds. Fortune finally defeats Scarn. The dying power of the Flame opens a portal into a strange sideways world. Brace and Ledra go through the portal, which disappears. The sideways world is in fact Amara (Stone trilogy), introduced properly in Stone and Sky. |
3594781 | /m/09nqcc | Dragonstorm | Graham Edwards | 1996-09 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The survivors from Dragoncharm have established a new dragon community on the island chain of Haven. Dragonstorm opens as Brace, Cumber and an ex-charmed dragon called Thaw lead an expedition to rescue the dragons still trapped in the canyon at Aether's Cross. Fortune and Gossamer remain on Haven, with their new daughter Aria. Fortune and his allies battle to prevent the community being split apart by the renegade Hesper. Meanwhile, the basilisk Ocher is seeking out his lost companions. Once gathered, the six basilisks - known as the Deathless - plan one last wielding of charm to bring about their own destruction. Brace and Cumber reach an ancient citadel built by the basilisks and inhabited by a blind ex-charmed dragon called Archan. The citadel's towers are mobile in time, constantly fading in and out of past, present and future. Archan seduces Thaw and imprisons the others. She has learned about the basilisks' plans and is scheming to steal their immortality. The basilisks are gathering what is left of the world's magic. A giant river of charm forms in the sky, flowing to the north pole, which the dragons call the Crest of the World. Hesper taps into this charm and convinces many of the Haven dragons that the magic is back. The community splits apart as the river of charm causes a great storm. The whole world starts changing shape. The shifting of the continents transports the whole of Haven island to Archan's citadel. Cumber and the others are rescued, but Fortune's daughter Aria is snatched by Archan and taken to the time-towers. The temporal effects cause Aria to grow to adulthood in the blink of an eye. Archan tricks Thaw into raping Aria, then kills him. Archan wants Aria to bear a perfect infant dragon to accompany Archan into immortality. She takes Aria to the north pole, ready for the ritual that will make her immortal. Brace and Cumber's party journey to a land of glaciers where they find the skeleton of Aether, the troll after whom the canyon of Aether's Cross was named. All the basilisks meet at the north pole and perform the ceremony of the Gathering of the Deathless. Fortune arrives just in time to save Aria from Archan. The basilisks achieve their goal and Archan becomes immortal, but her body is destroyed. She disappears into an iceberg, where she remains trapped and helpless, yet unable to die. All the basilisks are dead except Ocher, who is now mortal. Now life is precious, Ocher decides he wants to live a little longer. Brace arrives with the dragons he's just freed from Aether's Cross. Aria's egg brings wingless infant Wyrm into the world. The surviving dragons wonder if Wyrm represents what the future holds for their species, which is hovering on the brink of extinction. |
3595652 | /m/09nsqw | Stone and Sea | Graham Edwards | 2000-08 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The book further covers the adventures of Jonah Lightfoot, a man stolen from his own world when he witnesses the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. He and his unwitting companions cross the world of Amara, a vertical landscape where to fall from the world's surface is to die, or worse. They find a massive ocean, somehow held in place without the water falling into the abyss, and must then figure out a way to cross it. On their journey they discover the true nature of Amara; meet mermaids, forest spirits and shapeshifting creatures; cross paths with dragons both good and evil; delve into a world built of memory; and stumble across artifacts from Earth's past, present, and future. |
3595656 | /m/09nsr6 | Stone and Sky | Graham Edwards | 1999-06 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The book, as well as its sequels, follows the adventures of British historian and naturalist Jonah Lightfoot, who is caught in the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. The blast transports him and American runaway Annie West into a vertical world consisting of a seemingly infinite wall populated by crumbling civilisations, weird creatures, and sentient dragons. No one knows where the wall begins or ends, and no one dares to climb to its top or fall to its base. This world is called Amara, and it is a place deeply entwined with our own world. Throughout the books Jonah and his companions traverse the world and uncover its many mysteries. The true nature of Amara is fully revealed in the second book of the trilogy, Stone and Sea. |
3595657 | /m/09nsrk | Stone and Sun | Graham Edwards | 2001-12 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | In this final tale of Amara, the nineteenth-century historian Jonah meets a man from his own world; one Tom Coyote, who originates from the year 1980. Along with Coyote, the bizarre group of companions (including a wood-spirit inhabiting a flying boat, a once-immortal basilisk, and several others who are mostly human) ascend the world-sized monolith of Amara to find what awaits at the top, and each of them prepare to face their own demons. |
3596453 | /m/09nv9r | Black Alice | John Sladek | 1968 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | During the 1960s, in Virginia, while the blacks fight for their civil rights, a young white girl is kidnapped in Baltimore. Little Alice Raleigh, eleven years and blonde like corn, and heiress of an immense fortune, is held for a ransom of a million dollars. Her kidnappers, trying to make her invisible to the police officers and the federal agents searching for her, manage to brown her skin and her hair. They sequester her under an assumed name in a house held by an old black woman, near Norfolk, which turns out to be a house of prostitution. Slowly, Alice adapts herself to this surprising life amidst the black culture of the time period, completely new for her; at no point in the book is the young Alice made to participate in prostitution, and in fact Alice only has a vague idea of what goes on in behind closed doors in the house. She eventually discovers that her father is the real instigator of her kidnapping, in essence intending to embezzle money from himself that he can then spend without being traced by government offices. In the end, Alice is freed and returns to her former life, after denying knowledge of her father while still disguised as a black child and seeing him punished for his misdeed. |
3596745 | /m/09nvyx | The Lives of Christopher Chant | Diana Wynne Jones | 1988 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | The novel tells the story of Christopher Chant's childhood. Although both of his parents are powerful practitioners of magic, the two are constantly at loggerheads; his father (an enchanter, the strongest type of magic-user) is entirely devoted to his work, to such a degree that the young Christopher is afraid that he would not recognize him should the two meet in public. On the other hand, his mother (a sorceress, the second-strongest type of magic-user) is a social climber, and is apparently only married to his father for his social connections. The only escape that Christopher has is through his dreams, in which he is able to escape to other worlds. While he is not the only person with this ability, seemingly no one is able to do it so easily as he. The fact that he can bring things back from these "spirit trips" makes him immensely valuable to his Uncle Ralph, a scheming silver-tongued businessman. He is soon caught up in a series of "experiments," supposedly to test his talents. In reality, they are to fetch a series of highly illegal goods (from mermaid meat to dragon's blood), for sale at the highest prices on a magical black market. He is accompanied on these trips by Tacroy, a guide arranged by his uncle. While all this is going on, his father and mother part ways, his father having lost a goodly part of his fortune on the stock market, and Christopher is sent to a boarding school, where he does dismally at magic lessons, and develops an ambition to become a famous cricketer. However, his father has other ideas, and plucks him from the boarding school halfway through the school year, taking him to an irritable and elderly magic expert named Dr. Pawson. He soon unlocks the reason for Christopher's poor grades in magic: silver. When Christopher touches silver, he loses his ability to use magic. When not touching silver, his magic surpasses almost every other enchanter in the world. Upon this discovery, he is sent to Chrestomanci Castle in order to be groomed for the role of the next Chrestomanci. |
3596990 | /m/09nwg8 | Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances and Home Remedies | Laura Esquivel | 1989 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The book is divided into twelve sections named after the months of the year, starting with January. Each section begins with a Mexican recipe. The chapters outline the preparation of the dish and ties it to an event in the protagonist's life. Tita de la Garza, the novel's main protagonist, is fifteen at the start of the story, which takes place during the Mexican Revolution. She lives with her mother, Mama Elena, and her older sisters Gertrudis and Rosaura, on a ranch near the Mexico – US border. Pedro is a neighbor and another main protagonist whom Tita falls in love with at first sight. He asks Mama Elena for Tita’s hand in marriage, but Mama Elena forbids it, citing the De la Garza family tradition which demands that the youngest daughter (in this case Tita) must remain unmarried and take care of her mother until her mother's death. Mama Elena offers for Pedro to marry Rosaura instead. Pedro reluctantly accepts and marries Tita's older sister, Rosaura. Tita can hardly keep from grieving, despite Pedro’s assurance that it is Tita he loves and not Rosaura, and that he only married Rosaura to be closer to Tita. Tita has a love of the kitchen and a deep connection with food, a skill enhanced by the fact that the family cook was her primary caretaker as Tita grew up. Her love for cooking also comes from the fact that she was born in the kitchen. In contrast, Rosaura's cooking skills are poor, making her less attractive to her husband Pedro. Despite this, he and Rosaura have a son, Roberto. Rosaura is unable to nurse Roberto, so Tita brings Roberto to her breast to stop the baby from crying. Miraculously, Tita begins to produce breast milk and is able to nurse the baby. This draws her and Pedro closer than ever. They begin meeting secretly, snatching their few times together by sneaking around the ranch and behind the backs of Mama Elena and Rosaura. Tita’s strong emotions become infused into her cooking and she unintentionally begins to affect the people around her through the food she prepares. After one particularly rich meal of quail in rose petal sauce flavored with Tita’s erotic thoughts of Pedro, Tita's older sister Gertrudis becomes inflamed with lust and leaves the ranch making ravenous love with a revolutionary soldier on the back of a horse before being dumped in a brothel and subsequently disowned by her mother. Rosaura and Pedro are forced to leave for San Antonio, Texas, at the urging of Mama Elena, who suspects a relationship between Tita and Pedro. Rosaura loses her son Roberto and is later made sterile from complications with the birth of her daughter Esperanza. Upon learning the news of her nephew's death, whom she cared for herself, Tita blames her mother. Mama Elena responds by smacking Tita across the face with a wooden spoon. Tita, unwilling to cope with her mother's controlling ways, secludes herself in the dovecote until the sympathetic Dr. John Brown reasons with her and convinces her to calm down. Mama Elena clearly states that there is no place for "lunatics" like Tita on the farm, and wants her to be institutionalized. However, the doctor decides to take care of Tita at his home instead. Tita develops a close relationship with Dr. Brown, even planning to marry him at one point, but her underlying feelings for Pedro do not waver. While John is away, Tita loses her virginity to Pedro. A month later, Tita is worried about whether or not she is pregnant with Pedro’s child. Gertrudis, Tita’s other older sister, visits the ranch for a special holiday and makes Pedro overhear about Tita’s pregnancy, causing Tita and Pedro to argue about running away together. This causes Pedro to get drunk and sing below Tita’s window while she is arguing with Mama Elena’s ghost and finds out from her she isn’t pregnant. Mama Elena gets revenge on Tita by setting Pedro on fire, leaving him bedridden and behaving like “a child throwing a tantrum”. Meanwhile, Tita is preparing for the return of her fiance, John, and is hesitant to tell him that she cannot marry him because she is no longer a virgin. Rosaura comes to the kitchen while Tita is cooking and argues with her about over Tita's involvement with Rosaura’s daughter Esperenza’s life and the tradition of the youngest daughter remaining at home to care for the mother until she dies, a tradition which Tita despises. John and his deaf great-aunt comes over and Tita tells him that she cannot marry him. John seems to accept it, “reaching for Tita’s hand...with a smile on his face”. Many years later, Tita is preparing for Esperenza’s and Alex’s wedding to one another, now that Rosaura has died from digestive problems. During the wedding, Pedro proposes to Tita saying that he does not want to “die without making [Tita] [his] wife”. Tita accepts and Pedro dies having sex with her in the kitchen storage room right after the wedding. Tita is overcome with sorrow and tries to kill herself by eating maches. The candles are sparked by the heat of his memory, creating a consuming fire that engulfs them both, leading to their deaths in union and the total destruction of the ranch and the fertility of the land under the ranch. The narrator of the story is the daughter of Esperanza, Pedro's daughter. The narrator then says that all that survived under the smoldering rubble of the ranch was Tita's cookbook, which contained all the recipes described in the preceding chapters. |
3601696 | /m/09p6g1 | Rainbows End | Vernor Vinge | 5/16/2006 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The novel introduces us to Robert Gu, a man slowly recovering from Alzheimer's disease thanks to advances in medical technology. As his faculties return, Robert (who always has been slightly technophobic) must adapt to a very different world, where almost every object is networked and mediated-reality technology is commonplace. Robert, formerly a world-renowned poet but with a notoriously mean-spirited personality, must also learn how to change and how to rebuild relationships with his estranged family. At the same time, Robert and his granddaughter Miri are drawn into a complex plot involving a traitorous intelligence officer, an intellect of frightening (and possibly superhuman) competence hiding behind an avatar of an anthropomorphic rabbit, and ominous new mind control technology with profound implications. In the novel, augmented reality is dominant, with humans interacting with virtual overlays of reality almost all of the time. This is accomplished by wearing smart clothing and contact lenses that can overlay and replace what the eye would normally see with computer graphics, using advanced virtual retinal display (VRD) technology. In addition, haptic feedback is possible by overlaying graphics onto a physical machine such as a robot. This augmentation of reality is used for a variety of purposes: * Commercial (large gaming areas sell gaming environments mixed with haptics). The Cheapnet, a free entry-level service offered by commercial vendors of gaming solutions, can in principle also be used to coordinate networked augmented reality representations across the globe. However, jitter and latency are considerable problems with this basic network when long distances are involved. In the novel, Robert Gu develops an algorithm that partially compensates for these technical deficiencies, and might ultimately allow the inclusion of haptics. * Functional (maintenance workers, for example, have access to a blueprint or schematic of practically any location or object in their responsibility area) * Communication (characters in the novel use live video chat and can send and receive "silent messages", an action known as "sming", through their VRDs). Individuals can be reached through a globally implemented unique personal identifier, the ENUM. * Medical (doctors have access to a patient's vital signs) There are characters who choose not to "wear" these virtual overlays, instead using laptops, considered relics in the novel. A user's skill in managing and producing augmented reality manifests itself in the details of the augmentation. For example, a character might project himself into a different room, but the shadows cast by this apparition, or the collision between the character and the furniture in the room might give away the apparition. There are many realities to choose from in the novel; however, the largest and more robust of them are built by large user bases in the manner of a wiki or Second Life. The confederation of users that contribute to the virtual world is called a belief circle. Several belief circles are presented in the novel, including worlds based on authors such as H. P. Lovecraft, Terry Pratchett, and the fictional Jerzy Hacek. Also mentioned are worlds based on the artwork of M. C. Escher, and fictional entertainment companies such as SpielbergRowling (presumably a manager of the merged fictional universes of Steven Spielberg and J. K. Rowling). The Egan Soccer set piece can also be seen as a type of subscribed Belief Circle. |
3601959 | /m/09p6wc | The Adventures of Tintin: Breaking Free | null | null | null | The comic opens with Tintin arriving at the Captain's flat in a fictional estate, somewhere in England, Tintin has recently been sacked for losing his temper and punching his boss and expresses frustration about being "pushed around" and "kicked around like a lump of dogshit." The Captain offers to get Tintin a job on a local building site where he works. As the story progresses, Tintin meets the local residents and his workmates and issues faced by the area, such as racism, gentrification and general apathy from local government, are introduced. The anger felt by the working-class people of this town boils over when a construction worker, Joe Hill (apparently named after the anarcho-syndicalist organiser of the same name) falls to his death due to poor safety standards at the local building site. Faced with insensitivity from their manager ("Had he been drinking?"), as well as apathy and condescension from their trade union official, the construction workers stage an unofficial, wildcat strike. The builders demand better safety standards, improved wages, a change of management for the site and a large sum of money for the family of their dead workmate. The strike escalates, with management refusing to concede any of the demands, doing under the table deals with union officials to bring in scab labour (see strike action). Meanwhile, the strike begins to spread to other local workplaces, becoming a symbol of class struggle, as well as a struggle for better short-term conditions. The workers become increasingly militant, turning to violent tactics and eventually firebombing the original building site. The strike begins to spread to other areas of the country without any official union involvement. Panicked, the UK government deals with strikers with increasing violence and repression, demonstrations turn into riots, and the Captain is arrested on false charges of conspiracy. As the story closes, there is a demonstration of half a million people in the town in which the events of the book unfold, several people have brought rifles and references are made to "strike committees" taking power in other areas of the country, the army being sent into Liverpool to "restore order," and similar unrest taking place around the world. The last page features the Captain, Tintin and the Captain's Wife Mary in silhouette. Tintin holds an assault rifle above his head, while the others raise their fists. Below is written: "This Is Not The End / Only the beginning…" |
3602048 | /m/09p6_v | Jack's Return Home | Ted Lewis | 2/9/1970 | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction"} | Jack's Return Home tells the story of an amoral, pitiless London mob enforcer named Jack Carter who returns to his home town Scunthorpe to investigate the mysterious death of his brother, with whom he had not spoken in many years. Jack's presence in the town causes unease among the local crime families, who fear that his snooping will interfere with their underworld operations. Everything from simple suggestion to brute force is employed to try to get Jack to leave, but he doggedly refuses, bullying his way through numerous attempts on his life to arrive at the truth, leading to a violent and ambiguous conclusion. |
3603597 | /m/09p9v2 | Unseen | Jeff Mariotte | null | {"/m/03npn": "Horror"} | Salma de la Navidad, a friend of Willow's, is having problems: her brother Nicky has disappeared and is believed to be joining a local Sunnydale gang called the Latin Cobras. Salma's also got a black shadowy nothingness that Buffy can sense but can barely fight. Meanwhile in LA, Angel is tied down by a case where his client is wrongfully accused of murder by crooked cops while Cordelia discovers a pack of pre-teens who revere vampires and have been promised eternal life by a vampire. Buffy's work takes her to LA along with Willow to the de la Navidad household where the same black shadow continues to attack Salma. When Salma suddenly disappears as does Kayley (one of the vampire lovers) everyone knows that something is up. After an explosion of oil fields, caused by Nicky, in Sunnydale, Riley rushes to LA where himself, Buffy and Angel have to work together to solve the disappearances and to calm down the gang warfare going on in LA. |
3603605 | /m/09p9vv | Monster Island | Thomas E. Sniegoski | 2003-03 | {"/m/03npn": "Horror"} | Doyle's pureblood Brachen demon father Axtius is the General for the Coalition of Purity which believes that all half-blood demons should be banished, leaving only the purebloods on Earth. Both Angel and Buffy are dealing with this threat in their respective cities when Buffy's team learns that General Axtius plans to attack a half-blood demon safe haven island near Los Angeles. Uprooting the Scooby Gang, Buffy and the rest of them travel quickly to Los Angeles to help Angel deal with the increasing problem. Unfortunately, the demons on the island who are in need of saving seem to be sceptical about having vampires as well as the Slayer on their island and they must be convinced that it's for their benefit before General Axtius and his troops launch a full-fledged attack on the island. In their final confrontation on the island, Angel defeats Axtius when unarmed despite Axtius wielding a powerful mystical weapon, taunting the Brachen by saying that he would have been ashamed of Doyle's very human act of sacrifice and redemption. Having been defeated by Angel, Axtius is subsequently incinerated by his former second-in-command for his failure to destroy the island. |
3603617 | /m/09p9ww | Heat | Nancy Holder | 2004-07 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror"} | Buffy and Angel both battle the same ancient evil, a Possessor who was once Qin, First Emperor of China. As a Possessor, Qin's body loses its temperature fast and he is forced to jump from body to body through the ages, rendering him immortal. In present day Sunnydale and Los Angeles, Qin is attempting to usher in the Year of the Hot Devil and drive humans out of his dimension by resurrecting an ancient dragon frozen in ice from centuries before. |
3603632 | /m/09p9xx | Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row | Christopher Golden | 6/1/2001 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror"} | It is 1940 and for Drusilla's vampiric birthday, Spike decides he will acquire Freyja's Strand for her. The strand, a necklace, has the ability to allow Drusilla to view her reflection. After a dangerous trek, Spike and Drusilla strike a deal with the ice demon Skrymir: should Spike and Drusilla destroy all the current Slayers-in-waiting as well as the current Slayer, he will fork over the necklace. Up to the challenge, Spike and Drusilla acquire a list of the Slayers-in-waiting from the Watcher's Council in London and ravage the Earth, killing girls hideously as they go. Meanwhile the current Slayer, Sophie, is alerted to the situation and sent off with her watcher, Yanna, to rescue the remaining Slayers-in-waiting. Unfortunately Yanna has developed an unhealthy obsession with Spike and cannot fight against him when there is a run-in between the two groups. But Sophie rescues a decent numbers of the girls and has them brought to the council headquarters. Sophie leaves to retrieve the last girl and runs into Spike and Drusilla in Denmark who capture her Watcher. While Sophie hunts down the duo, Skrymir has grown impatient and manifests himself inside the Council headquarters where he wreaks havoc on the inhabitants. The Council must find a way to stop Skrymir from killing all the Slayers-in-waiting (which was thought to end the line of Slayers) while the Slayer herself tries to track down her Watcher who may already be dead. |
3603644 | /m/09p9yy | Halloween Rain | Nancy Holder | 11/1/1997 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Xander and Willow warn Buffy not to go out on Halloween if it's raining. According to the premise of the book, the rain in Sunnydale is magical on Halloween, and if it lands on a scarecrow it will animate and hunt down the Slayer. While at a Halloween party at the Bronze, Buffy is forced to go to the cemetery to fight vampires. She eventually encounters the reanimated scarecrow. |
3603668 | /m/09pb03 | Night of the Living Rerun | Arthur Byron Cover | 3/1/1998 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | In 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts, the Despised One was raised from the Otherworld and Samantha Kane, that generation's Slayer, died while defeating it. Now in 1997, the Master is trying to have history repeat itself with a different ending. The spirits of the people responsible for the rise of the Despised One in 1692 are now inhabiting the bodies of Buffy and her friends. Buffy must stop the ritual from happening or the Master will rise from his prison below Sunnydale. |
3603678 | /m/09pb14 | How I Survived My Summer Vacation | null | 8/1/2000 | {"/m/03npn": "Horror"} | :Written by Michelle Sagara West Buffy continually sees the death of everyone she touches while she heads out to LA to spend summer vacation with her dad. She must come to terms with her own death before the deaths of others will disappear from her mind. :Written by Nancy Holder Absalom tries to obtain the Master's bones from Giles, who has them kept in his house. :Written by Cameron Dokey A shapeshifter comes to town. Giles, Angel and Jenny must deal with it before it gets to the Slayer. :Written by Cameron Dokey While shopping in LA, Buffy runs into a fortune-teller who tells her that she's the warrior sent to free the spirit of her dead child. Buffy must solve the mystery of the daughter's death and why her spirit isn't free. :Written by Yvonne Navarro A newly risen vampire raises the war veteran General Sam from the grave. General Sam, crazy and still sure that World War II rages on, decides to seize Sunnydale since he believes it has been infiltrated by the enemy. Giles, Jenny and Angel must stop the General and his legion of zombie followers. :Written by Paul Ruditis Willow and Xander are running a play at the local theater. Little do they know that the stage crew are all vampires who have a love for Shakespeare. After several deaths in a Shakespearian fashion, Giles, Jenny and Angel decide to remove the vampire threat on the night of the play. |
3603693 | /m/09pb26 | Blooded | Nancy Holder | 1998-08 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Chirayoju, an ancient Chinese vampire, and Sanno, a Japanese Mountain King, have been fighting for years. Their spirits were imprisoned in a sword by a curse. The sword arrives in Sunnydale and while viewing the Japanese exhibit at the museum Willow becomes possessed by the spirit of Chirayoju and Xander, later on, becomes possessed by the spirit of Sanno. Buffy must figure out a way to stop the two spirits without killing her own friends. During the final battle, when the fight takes an ugly turn, Buffy must also keep her own spirit alive. |
3603699 | /m/09pb37 | Sins of the Father | Christopher Golden | 1999-11 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Buffy's old boyfriend from Hemery High in LA, Pike, makes a surprise appearance in Sunnydale, much to the everyone's shock, particularly Buffy's. Only Pike hasn't come to catch up with Buffy; he's being pursued by a rock demon known as Grayhewn. Pike had originally killed the demon's mate after it had killed his friend and now the demon wants Pike dead in the most painful way possible. As soon as Pike makes his appearance though, Buffy struggles to deal with her old feelings for Pike as well as her love for Angel, creating nothing but confusion within herself. Meanwhile, Giles appears to be dating a new teacher named Miss Blaisdell. But since Giles has been seeing her, he seems to waver in and out of consciousness and doesn't appear to care at all about Buffy or her struggles. Miss Blaisdell, as it turns out, is working for a man from Giles' past, a man from his very personal past, who wants nothing more than to painfully torture the Watcher and make him suffer. |
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