Id
stringlengths 3
44
| Code
stringlengths 7
10
⌀ | Title
stringlengths 1
220
⌀ | Author
stringlengths 4
59
⌀ | Data
stringlengths 3
10
⌀ | Genres
stringlengths 20
352
⌀ | Summary
stringlengths 11
32.8k
⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4706673 | /m/0cjbqg | From a Native Son: Selected Essays on Indigenism, 1985x13x31x39x39x35 | null | null | null | The book brings together a decade of Churchill's writings on American Indian history, culture, and political activism. The essays explore the themes "of genocide in the Americas, historical/legal (re)interpretation of the processes of conquest and colonization, literary/cinematic criticism, and the positing of indigenist alternatives to the status quo." The author gives his assessments of how Indians are represented on film, in literature, and in academic institutions in order to support his case for believing in an ongoing "systematic cultural extermination". He analyses "Indian resistance--as it occurs in art, cultural practice, and activist struggle..." The book is dedicated "for Aunt Bonnie, who inspired me more than she knew..." |
4706846 | /m/0cjby4 | The Lunatic Cafe | Laurell K. Hamilton | 1996 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Lunatic Cafe occurs shortly after the events of Circus of the Damned. (That novel ended on Halloween, and the events of The Lunatic Cafe take place before Christmas of that same year.) Similar to the previous novels, The Lunatic Cafe opens with Anita interviewing a potential client. George Smitz tells Anita that his wife, Peggy, has disappeared. Anita explains that she is not trained as an investigator, and suggests that George contact the police, but he will not. Peggy is a werewolf, and George is afraid to contact the police because she owns and operates a butcher shop, and if her condition were made public, she would lose her customers. Anita ultimately refers George to Ronnie, who agrees to look into it. That night, Anita meets Richard Zeeman for a date at a performance of Guys and Dolls. Anita is charmed that Richard likes musicals, but offput when she notices him watching theater patrons as if they were prey. Anita's discomfort with Richard's werewolf status increases when Jean-Claude arrives and reveals, during the course of a confrontation with Richard, that Richard is an alpha werewolf involved in a lengthy and possibly deadly battle for control of the local werewolf pack. Anita is upset that Richard has been concealing information from her, but ultimately leaves to answer a page from Dolph. As usual, Dolph wants Anita to inspect a crime scene, and Anita leaves. As Anita travels to her car, she is confronted by Gretchen, an older, but not yet master, vampire in love with Jean-Claude. Gretchen demands that Anita surrender her claim to Jean-Claude and refuses to believe that Anita wishes to be rid of his interest. Jean-Claude then arrives and confronts Gretchen in a rage. After the two vampires fly off, Anita drives to the crime scene, located in a rural nature center. At the nature center, Anita is confronted by Deputy Aikensen, who tries to prevent her from investigating. She learns that there is a vigorous dispute between Aikensen's sheriff, Sheriff Titus, and Dolph over whether the person found was a victim of a bear attack or a possible crime. Titus and Aikensen argue that they have already identified the incident as a bear attack, and that no supernatural investigation is therefore necessary, while Dolph, Clive Perry and local police chief Chief Garroway want access to the crime scene. With the help of local caretaker and naturalist Sam Williams, Anita is able to convince Titus to grant her access to the scene. She determines that the attack was not a bear, and, after excluding the possibility of a flying attacker such as a gargoyle or dragon, deduces that the murder victim was killed by a shapeshifter who laid in wait on an overhead branch, then dropped onto his victim. She asks to have the claw prints and other clues sent to Washington University for inspection, knowing that Louie Fane will be likely to identify the species of shapeshifter. When she arrives home, Anita finds Irving Griswold waiting for her. Irving explains that Richard has been in a succession conflict with local pack leader Marcus. Richard has actually beaten Marcus in a fight, but was unwilling to kill him and therefore failed to gain control of the pack. Marcus ordered Irving to contact Anita and ask her to meet with him, but Richard ordered Irving not to. Trapped between conflicting demands from two dominant werewolves, Irving asks for Anita's protection, and Anita agrees to go with him to meet Marcus. Irving leads Anita to "The Lunatic Cafe," a restaurant with a largely lycanthrope clientele. Anita meets Raina and Alfred, two werewolves allied with Marcus, and is led into a back room, where she meets several more shapeshifters, including Gabriel, Elizabeth, Rafael, Kaspar, and Christine. Although Marcus leads the largest group of shapeshifters in St. Louis, the non-wolf shifters dispute his authority. Before Marcus can explain the problem, he and Anita argue over whether he is dominant to her that ends with Anita drawing a gun. Egged on by Gabriel and Raina, Marcus orders Alfred to take the gun away from her, forcing Anita to shoot and kill Alfred. The blood excites the lycanthopes, who begin to have trouble maintaining human appearances or behavior. Anita attempts to leave, but is grabbed by Jason, a new werewolf who appears to be losing control of his humanity. Rafael saves Anita from the choice of whether to shoot Jason, distracting Jason with his own blood. Anita escapes, aided by Kaspar, who does not shift into a predator and is therefore not under any danger of losing control when exposed to blood. While the back room devolves into a lycanthrope feeding frenzy, Kaspar gives Anita a folder of information Marcus would otherwise have given her himself. On her way out of the cafe, Anita sees Edward seated in the front room. At home, Anita reviews the folder and learns that in addition to Peggy Smitz, seven other lycanthropes have disappeared recently. Anita contacts Edward to learn if he has had anything to do with the disappearances, and agrees to meet with him later. Unable to reveal the missing lycanthropes to the police, Anita discusses the disappearances with Ronnie, and they consider whether Peggy's disappearance might be part of a larger pattern. Later, at work, Anita receives two potential clients. The first, Elvira Drew, explains that she is an author writing a book on shapeshifters and asks Anita to put her in touch with a wererat for a potential interview. Anita explains that most lycanthropes hide their identity to prevent discrimination, but promises to ask around. The second client is Kaspar, who has told Bert that he is interested in raising an ancestor in an effort to lift a family curse. Once alone with Anita, Kaspar reveals that he has been sent by Marcus, who has asked Kaspar to apologize for the previous night and ask for Anita's help in solving the shapeshifter disappearance. Kaspar reveals that although he is in fact cursed to transform into a swan, he was personally cursed by a witch, centuries ago, and has walked the Earth ever since. Anita arrives home and meets up with Richard for dinner. Richard has trouble accepting the ease with which Anita killed Alfred, his friend, and believes that Anita may be unwilling to have a relationship with him because he is a werewolf. Anita and Richard reconcile and Richard proposes marriage. Anita impulsively accepts. Later, Anita meets Edward at his hotel room. Edward shows Anita a snuff film in which Alfred and a masked wereleopard have sex with a human woman in both human and animal forms. Near the end of the film, Alfred, then in a wolfman form, kills the woman. Edward explains that the woman's father has hired him to kill everyone involved with the movie, and Anita agrees to help him. Anita explains that she has already killed Alfred, and calls Richard to see if he can identify the wereleopard. Richard arrives and watches the movie. Although he is very upset by it, his inner "beast" is excited by both the sex and violence, and Anita's second thoughts about their engagement increase. Richard tells Anita that Raina does make pornographic films, but that he does not believe that she has made any snuff films. Richard agrees to speak to Marcus to see if he knows anything about the films. The next evening, Anita meets with Louis Fane, who is able to identify the murder victim's wounds as having been caused by a lycanthrope. Anita asks Louis whether he knows any wererats who would be willing to participate in an interview with Elvira, and Louis offers to ask around. Louis and Anita discuss whether Anita is emotionally capable of having a relationship with a werewolf, and Anita leaves. On her way out, Anita is confronted by Gretchen, who threatens to kill her. Louis, in his ratman form, attacks Gretchen, but is outclassed and quickly beaten. Gretchen bites Louis and uses his body as a shield against Anita's gun, creating a stalemate. Ultimately, Anita resolves the conflict by telling Gretchen that she has become engaged to Richard. Gretchen agrees to leave, on the condition that Anita tell Jean-Claude about the engagement that night. Suffering from an apparent concussion, Anita is able to drag the unconscious and injured Louis to her car and drive a few blocks, in order to prevent police from identifying him as a wererat. She calls Richard for help. He and Stephen arrive and take Louis and Anita to see Lillian, a wererat doctor. After being checked out, Anita goes to see Jean-Claude. After a confrontation with Robert, Anita and Gretchen go to see Jean-Claude. Jean-Claude is outraged that Anita has become engaged to Richard, but is able to sense both that Anita is having doubts about the engagement and that Anita also has feelings for him. He offers not to kill Richard if Anita agrees to date both Richard and Jean-Claude for at least a few months, and Anita reluctantly agrees. Jean-Claude then punishes Gretchen for attacking Anita, reducing her to a feeble skeleton and locking her in a coffin for an indefinite period. Jean-Claude and Anita are then interrupted by Raina, Gabriel, and Kaspar, who have forced their way past Robert to confront Jean-Claude. Gabriel attacks Anita, forcing her to stab him with a silver knife, but he forces the knife deeper, apparently out of a severe form of masochism. Anita also learns that Jean-Claude is still having difficulty maintaining control over the city, and is dependent on an alliance with Marcus, Raina, and the local werewolf pack. In order to maintain this alliance, Raina demands that Jean-Claude supply a vampire for her pornography operation, and Jean-Claude orders Robert to do so, both to mollify Raina and as punishment for allowing her to force her way in. As Anita leaves, Raina and Gabriel begin forcing Kaspar to demonstrate his shapeshift to Jean-Claude. That night, a phone call from Dolph wakes Anita. Because she is still unable to drive, Zerbrowski picks her up. Zerbrowski teases Anita about Richard and offers her relationship advice while he drives her to the scene, a giant snakeskin hooked on a river rock near the scene of the earlier murder. Anita and Deputy Aikensen enter the river to inspect the skin, and are surprised to find a skinned human body, still alive, in the river. Anita concludes that the victim was a naga, an immortal creature able to assume human or snake forms, and the naga is taken to the hospital for treatment. Anita arrives home to find both Richard and Jean-Claude waiting for her. The men are close to blows over Richard's presence in her apartment and Jean-Claude's insistence that Anita date him as well as Richard. When Anita tries to separate them, she feels their magical energy combine in her, creating a great deal of magical power. She is threatened by the reaction, but Jean-Claude and Richard, each of whom are involved in power struggles, are intrigued by the possibilities. Ultimately, Anita asks Richard to leave and revokes her invitation to Jean-Claude, forcing him from her apartment. The next day, Anita gets a call from Ronnie, who tells Anita that she has found evidence that George Smitz is having an affair. Anita and Ronnie consider whether George may have killed his wife and the other missing shapeshifters. Shortly later, Richard calls, and tells Anita that Jason is missing. Anita asks Richard to get her backup for a confrontation with George. Richard is unable to accompany her personally and sends Raina and Gabriel, and Ronnie, Anita, and the weres drive out to speak to George. On the drive, Anita recognizes Gabriel's eyes as those of the masked participant in the snuff video. When they arrive, Anita and Ronnie confront George but are unsuccessful in making him confess. Raina intervenes and intimidates him into admitting that he killed Peggy in order to inherit her butcher's shop. (Presumably, he hired Anita in order to provide some alibi if the police realized that Peggy was missing). However, George insists that he does not know anything about the remaining shapeshifter disappearances. George agrees to confess to the police in order to avoid being eaten by Raina and the pack. Anita then goes to the hospital and questions the naga with Dolph. The naga is not fully coherent, but is able to tell them that he was attacked by witches, and that one of them had eyes the color of an ocean. Anita realizes that Elvira Drew must be hunting shapeshifters. She contacts her office and learns that Bert had put Elvira in contact with Louie Fane, who is now also missing. Anita, Dolph, Zerbrowski, and several officers go to Elvira's house, but Elvira will not let them in. Anita breaks into the back porch and basement and is confronted by Elvira, but screams for help, allowing the police to enter. At that point, the police are attacked by two other witches, each of whom has used the skin of one of the missing lycanthropes to shapeshift. During the fight, Zerbrowski is gutted and is taken to the hospital. All of the witches but Elvira are killed. The police find Louie in the house and agree to attempt to preserve his secret, but do not find Jason. Anita realizes that the witches were responsible for some of the shapeshifter disappearances, but that there are still some unaccounted for disappearances, including Jason. Later, Anita gets a call from Sam Williams, the caretaker of the nature preserve where the murder victim was found. Williams has been listening to his tapes of nighttime wildlife and heard the call of a hyena. He and Anita deduce that there must have been a werehyena in the park, but before they can finish the call, Williams explains that police officers are at the door. Anita tries to tell him not to open the door, but he does and is attacked. Anita races to the nature preserve, accompanied by Richard and Edward for backup. They find Williams shot dead, together with two of the local police who were present at the original crime scene. Anita gets a page from Kaspar, who asks her to come to his house. When Anita, Richard and Edward arrive at Kaspar's house, they are captured by Titus, Aikensen, and three hunters. Anita learns that Kaspar was once a European prince and hunter who was cursed to transform into a swan in order to learn kindness. However, Kaspar just became more and more resentful at being cursed to transform into prey, and formed a scheme with Titus to capture shapeshifters and offer them for expensive and illegal hunts. The initial murder victim had been a hunter whose hunt had gone wrong, and Titus and Aikensen had tried to cover up the crime. However, Titus realizes that the other police now know too much, and he and Aikensen plan to flee after one last hunt. They lock Edward and Richard in one cage, and Anita in a second cage, together with Jason, reasoning that with the approaching full moon, Jason will not be able to resist transforming into a wolf and eating Anita, at which point they will be able to hunt him. Initially, Richard is able to restrain Jason as a dominant alpha werewolf. At that point, the hunters cut open one of Anita's wounds, anticipating that the blood will force Jason to lose control. As they do so, Anita is able to get hold of one of the hunters' guns and shoots him. In the confusion, Edward and Richard are able to grab and kill a second hunter, and Edward uses the hunter's rifle to kill Titus and the third hunter. Anita stabs Aikensen, and she and Edward leave, allowing Richard to take the now transformed Jason out to hunt, just as the police begin to arrive. The police accept Anita and Edward's story, as well as Edward's identification and claimed identity. In the epilogue, Anita explains that she is continuing to date Richard and Jean-Claude and has exchanged Christmas presents with each of them. Raina and Gabriel have claimed that they had no idea Alfred was planning to kill the woman in the snuff film, and Anita has accepted their explanation for now. A few months after the events of the main novel, Edward sent Anita a swan skin with a note, explaining that Marcus had hired him to kill Kaspar, and that Edward had eventually tracked down the fugitive and hired a witch to lift his curse, allowing Edward to kill him. Anita has the skin framed and mounted on her wall, to Richard's displeasure. |
4713613 | /m/0cjp_6 | A Gathering of Old Men | Ernest Gaines | 1983 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | One afternoon, a white woman, Candy, discovers that a Cajun farmer, Beau Boutan, has been shot in Mathu's, a black man, yard. She enlists the help of seventeen other old black men by having them come to Mathu's yard, each with a shotgun and one empty number 5 shell. She and the men all claim to be responsible for the murder, in an effort to protect the guilty party. Meanwhile, the Sheriff Mapes arrives to the scene to arrest the real murderer(most likely Mathu, as he was the only black man who stood up against racism and the Boutans.) The Sherriff also wishes to keep Beau's father, Fix Boutan, from coming to lynch the blacks. |
4715124 | /m/0cjrxt | Die Vecna Die! | Steve Miller | null | {"/m/06c9r": "Role-playing game"} | This adventure, and Vecna's multiverse-shattering plan contained within it, have been used by some D&D fans as an in-game explanation of the differences between the 2nd and 3rd editions of Dungeons & Dragons. The closing paragraph of the module reads as follows: :"Even with Vecna's removal, his time in the crux effected change in superspace. Though the Lady of Pain attempts to heal the damage, the turmoil spawned by Vecna's time in Sigil cannot be entirely erased. Some Outer Planes drift off and are forever lost, others collide and merge, while at least one Inner Plane runs "aground" on a distant world of the Prime. Moreover, the very nature of the Prime Material Plane itself is altered. Half-worlds like those attached to Tovag Baragu multiply a millionfold, taking on parallel realism in what was before a unified Prime Material Plane. The concept of alternate dimensions rears its metaphorical head, but doesn't yet solidify, and perhaps it never will. New realms, both near and far, are revealed and realms never previously imagined make themselves known. Entities long thought lost emerge once more, while other creatures, both great and small, are inexplicably eradicated. Some common spells begin to work differently. The changes do not occur immediately, but instead are revealed during the subsequent months. However, one thing remains clear: Nothing will ever be the same again." |
4722747 | /m/0ck2fv | The Fire Engine That Disappeared | Per Wahlöö | 1969 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction"} | A house fire, which kills three people, was about to be written off as the result of a tenant's gas suicide when a forensics officer discovers a firebomb in the rubble that would have certainly killed the tenant had he not killed himself. Beck and his team launch a manhunt for the tenant's partner-in-crime, but are perplexed when the partner-in-crime is found dead at the bottom of the sea. |
4723744 | /m/0ck48g | Devil on My Back | null | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | In an ambiguous future, the Earth has gone through an unnamed "Disaster" and subsequent "Age of Confusion." During this, a group of scientists build a great self-controlled city called Arc One to house the survivors and save all human knowledge. Knowledge has been regulated to devices called "info paks" which enable the wearer to tap into Arc One's computer to access the information, but with a caveat: info paks may be rejected by the wearer. Those who reject the info paks become slaves, soldiers, or workers. Those who accept the info paks become Lords of the City, and the effective ruling class. Many generations later, the son of one of the leading Lords of the City, Tomi, is on his Access Day, the day when he first gets to receive his final info pak, and gain total access to Arc One's computer. Two of his close friends reject the info paks, and become a slave and a worker respectively. Sensing Tomi's discomfort with how his friends violently reacted against the info paks, Tomi's teacher prescribes recreation at Dreamland, a fantasy computer program. The next day, during a ceremony to honour the New Lords, the slaves rebel. Tomi is taken prisoner but manages to escape and hide in a garbage shute. However, when the soldiers arrive to gas his captors, Tomi loses consciousness and slides down the chute, emerging outside the City in a rapidly flowing river. In the outside world, Tomi encounters a primitive community living in freedom, and is confronted with shocking truths about the world he left behind. |
4724214 | /m/0ck53p | Five Quarters of the Orange | Joanne Harris | 2001 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The story is written from the point of view of Françoise Simon, an elderly widow, who moves into the village of Les Laveuses on the Loire to open a small restaurant. Her business is moderately successful locally, until a notable food critic brings it to prominence in a national magazine. This brings undue attention to Françoise and her business, and brings a visit from her nephew Yannick and his grasping wife, Laure, both eager to profit from Françoise's sudden popularity. But Françoise Simon is not quite who she claims to be. Her real name is Framboise Dartigen, and she is the only surviving child of Mirabelle Dartigen, a woman still remembered and hated for an incident that happened when Framboise was nine, during the Second World War. Framboise has been profoundly marked by this incident and the events leading up to it, and still feels the need to hide who she is. The arrival of Luc and Laure threatens the new life she has built for herself, and forces her to confront the past. Framboise, her brother Cassis and her sister Reine-Claude lost their father early. Their mother, Mirabelle Dartigen, was a difficult woman, prone to crippling migraines and mre tender with her fruit trees than with her own children. Faced with having to bring up three children and run a farm alone, Mirabelle had to be very tough; sadly, this toughness translated into a lack of outward affection towards her children. When the war came and the Germans occupied Les Laveuses, Mirabelle had to be tougher than ever; the children, with no-one to supervise them, ran wild, eventually falling under the spell of a young German soldier, Tomas, who first bribed them with black-market goods like oranges or chocolate, then manipulated them into secretly giving him information about their friends and neighbours. Framboise, the youngest child, who was nine at the time, and whose relationship with her mother was especially tortuous, became closest to Tomas, and now blames herself for the series of events that resulted in Tomas' death, the retribution killing of a dozen villagers by the Gestapo and Mirabelle's flight from the family home. Now, sixty years later, Framboise relives these traumatic events and tries to understand how they have shaped her life and relationships. Eventually, as the truth emerges, she learns how to face down the bullies who threaten her, as well as to forgive herself and her mother, to give herself permission to love, to reconnect with her two estranged daughters and to finally put the past to rest. |
4725863 | /m/0ck7xm | Round the Bend | Nevil Shute | null | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The novel is in the first person, seen through the eyes of Tom Cutter, an aircraft pilot, engineer, and entrepreneur. The novel starts with Cutter's boyhood—he gets a job with the Alan Cobham "National Aviation Day" flying circus, of barnstorming aircraft which take customers up for short joyrides, with other entertainment provided. Cutter meets Shaklin, a boy a little older than himself, half Chinese and half Russian but a British subject, and who even then has a deep interest in religion, taking days off to visit houses of worship. When the air circus folds, the two drift apart. Cutter apprentices in aviation engineering, and also learns to fly. He marries a co-worker named Beryl, and soon afterwards is posted overseas as a civilian to do military-related aviation work during World War II. While overseas, he learns his wife has been unfaithful. He is stern, but forgiving, in letters to her, but when she learns that he is soon to return, she commits suicide. Cutter blames himself. He cannot stand to return to his old job or remain in England, so he buys and rebuilds a small freight aircraft and flies it to Bahrain, then a British protectorate, to start a freight business. His services fills a need in the Persian Gulf, and he gradually expands, acquiring more aircraft but never incorporating his business. He keeps his business costs down by hiring no European staff, only what he calls Asiatics. Hired to take a load to Indonesia, he is surprised to find Shaklin there, working for a gunrunner who has been arrested by the Dutch, then in control of much of the country. Shaklin has maintained his interest in spirituality, but is also a very experienced engineer. Cutter is able to hire him and purchase the gunrunner's plane. Both prove major assets to his business. As Cutter retrieves the plane from a small village in Cambodia, he notes that Shaklin has become a religious leader of sorts there. Shaklin proves a major influence both on Cutter's staff, impressing on them the need for good and honest work, and on the local Arab community in Bahrain. Putting his teachings in terms of Islam and the Koran, he soon gains influence over the local sheikh, who offers Cutter a substantial interest-free loan for a large aircraft he needs. He accepts, and when he returns from Britain with the aircraft, finds that the authorities are very much upset about the transaction, decrying Shaklin's influence over the sheikh. Cutter does his best to soothe matters, but the British order Shaklin out of the area. In the interim, Connie's sister, Nadezna, has arrived to become Cutter's secretary. She and Cutter rapidly find themselves attracted to each other. Since one of Cutter's customers needs repeated trips to Australia, and since his Asian staff are not welcome in White Australia, Cutter sets up a forward base in the idyllic island of Bali, and assigns Shaklin to head the operations there, more as a sinecure than anything. One of the local girls is soon in unrequited love with him, while Shaklin busies himself learning about the local religion. Back in the Persian Gulf, Shaklin's expulsion has indirectly caused a more reasonable attitude by the British. Shaklin is now held in almost divine regard by the Arabs. The Sheikh's health has been failing, and he expresses a desire to see Shaklin before he dies. He and his entourage travel to Bali to visit Shaklin. This pilgrimage both inspires others to similarly travel—and stirs up the Dutch colonial administrators, who expel Shaklin from Indonesia. The Sheikh's doctor has expressed concerns about Shaklin's health, and he is soon diagnosed with leukemia--at that time a death sentence. Shaklin expresses the desire to travel about meeting with the aircraft technicians he has influenced, for by this time his fame has spread throughout Asia. He does so until he is too weak to continue, and then he is taken back to the Cambodian village where his teaching started, and where he dies. Given his following, and the fact that so many believe Shaklin divine, Nadezna feels it would be letting them down to marry and live an ordinary life. She goes back to the convent where she went to school, and works with the children, although she is not a Catholic. Cutter resolves to run his air service as a credit to Connie. Cutter is set the task of being one of six people who will write a set of Gospels about Shaklin's life—Cutter's volume of these new Scriptures is the book that has just been read. He still believes Shaklin merely human, but is willing to consider the possibility of him being divine. Shute believed Round the Bend to be his finest novel.http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Nevil_Shute |
4726747 | /m/0ck8zr | The Mummy Case | Barbara Mertz | 1985 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Amelia and her husband, Professor Radcliffe Emerson, return to Egypt for the 1894-95 season to excavate the ruined pyramids of Mazghunah, which pale in comparison to the nearby dig at Dahshoor – but that is all Emerson could get after annoying the Department of Antiquities. On this trip, the Emersons bring along their young son Walter (aka Ramses) and his cat Bastet, along with a sturdy footman to keep Ramses out of trouble. This is Ramses' first trip to Egypt, after studying and hearing about it for all his young life. :Ramses got off his donkey. Squatting, he began to sift through the debris...[He] held up an object that looked like a broken branch. "It is a femuw," he said in a trembling voice. "Excuse me, Mama - a femur, I meant to say." [...] :Ramses rose obediently. The warm breeze of the desert ruffled his hair. His eyes glowed with the fervor of a pilgrim who has finally reached the Holy City. (TMC, chapter 5) While in Cairo, Amelia hears rumors of a scrap of papyrus which no one will confess to owning, but which has the local antiquities dealers living in fear of the man who is after it. No sooner does the family settle in near their dig than they are paid a visit by a group of American missionaries who have set up shop nearby, then the rival archaeologist who did get permission to dig at Dahshoor, then a German noblewoman with more money than taste...and then a thief who steals one of the objects the Emersons find at Mazghunah, a mummy case. |
4727280 | /m/0ck9n_ | The Last of the Jedi: A Tangled Web | Judy Blundell | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | Since Palpatine's takeover, he believes his power is absolute. He controls everything, including the senate. He is the leader of the evil Sith. And now he wishes to control Ferus. But Ferus does not want to help him, until Palpatine threatens those people closest to his heart. This leaves Ferus with no option but to help Palpatine. Palpatine wishes to use Ferus as an undercover agent - a double-agent. But can Ferus do this and keep his allegiance to the Jedi Order? This book was released in August 2006. |
4733421 | /m/0ckj1h | What Katy Did | Sarah Chauncey Woolsey | 1872 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01j1n2": "Coming of age"} | Twelve-year-old Katy Carr lives with her widowed father and her five brothers and sisters in a small midwestern town called Burnet. Her father, a doctor, is very busy and works long hours. The children are mostly cared for by their paternal Aunt Izzie, who is very particular, and something of a scold. Under these circumstances Katy, a bright, headstrong, hasty girl, can hardly avoid getting into mischief almost daily; however, she is unfailingly remorseful afterward. She dreams of someday doing something "grand" with her life - painting famous pictures, saving the lives of drowning people or leading a crusade on a white horse. At the same time, she wants to be "beautiful, of course, and good if I can". When her mother died four years earlier, Katy promised to be a little mother to her siblings; however, she leads them into all sorts of exciting adventures and is sometimes impatient and cross with them. When her Cousin Helen, an invalid, comes to visit, Katy is so enchanted by her beauty and kindness that on the day of Helen's departure she resolves to model herself on Helen ever afterward. The very next day, however, Katy wakes in an ill humour, quarrels with her aunt and pushes her little sister so hard that she falls down half a dozen steps. Afterwards, sulky and miserable, Katy decides to try out the new swing in the woodshed although Aunt Izzie has, for some reason, forbidden it. The swing is unsafe because one of the staples supporting it is cracked. Had Aunt Izzie explained this, "all would have been right," but she believes that children should obey their elders without question. Katy swings as high as she can and, as she tries to graze the roof with her toes, the staple gives way. She falls hard, bruising her spine. The lively Katy is now bedridden, suffering terrible pain and bitterness. Her room is dark, dreary and cluttered with medicine bottles; when her brothers and sisters try to comfort her, she usually drives them away. However, a visit from Cousin Helen shows her that she must either learn to make the best of her situation or risk losing the love of her family. Helen tells Katy that she is now a student in the "School of Pain" where she will learn lessons in patience, cheerfulness, hopefulness, neatness and making the best of things. With Cousin Helen's help she makes her room tidy and nice to visit and gradually all the children gravitate to it, always coming in to see Katy whenever they can. She becomes the heart of the home, beloved by her family for her unfailing kindness and good cheer. After two years Aunt Izzie dies and Katy takes over the running of the household. At the end of four years, in a chapter called "At Last", she learns to walk again. The book includes several poems. |
4734910 | /m/0cklfs | A Piece of Blue Sky | Jon Atack | 8/19/1990 | {"/m/05h83": "Non-fiction"} | The book's 37 chapters are arranged into nine parts, plus introductory material, a preface by Russell Miller, author of Bare-faced Messiah, a bibliography, reference summary and index. Part 1 describes Atack's personal experience in the church. Parts 2–8 are a chronological history of L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology, researched from paper sources and interviews. Part 9 draws conclusions about the belief system of Scientology and its founder. |
4736438 | /m/0cknhz | The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues | Ellen Raskin | 1975 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Seventeen-year-old Dickory Dock, an art-school student in Greenwich Village, answers an ad for a job as a painter's assistant at Number 12 Cobble Lane. The painter, Garson, evaluates and hires her; in her duties of cleaning paintbrushes and answering the door, she becomes involved in Garson's mysterious affairs, as well of those of his downstairs neighbors, Manny Mallomar and Shrimps Marinara. She befriends Garson's companion, a deaf, mentally handicapped man with the pseudonym of Isaac Bickerstaffe; her fellow student, George Washington III; and the Chief of Detectives of the NYPD, Joseph P. Quinn. When the latter begins asking for Garson's assistance as a sketch artist, Garson assumes the character of Inspector Noserag (whose name is an imperfect reversal of "Garson"), and dubs Dickory his assistant, Sergeant Kod (likewise). The two work together to solve several cases, which divide the book into six sections of four chapters each: "The Mystery in Number 12 Cobble Lane," "The Case of the Horrible Hairdresser," "The Case of the Face on the Five-Dollar Bill," "The Case of the Full-Sized Midget," "The Case of the Disguised Disguise," and "The Case of the Confusing Corpus." Meanwhile, Dickory learns more about the histories, motives and identities of all the people in and around Number 12 Cobble Lane. |
4736468 | /m/0cknkq | The Poe Shadow | Matthew Pearl | 2006 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Baltimore lawyer Quentin Hobson Clark witnesses a somber, simple funeral on October 8, 1849. He learns it was for author Edgar Allan Poe, with whom he had previously exchanged letters about providing legal support for a new publication, The Stylus. Clark feels obliged to look into the mysterious circumstances surrounding Poe's death, despite protests from his fiancée Hattie Blum and his friend Peter Stuart. Clark's journey takes him to Paris to seek out the real-life inspiration for Poe's character C. Auguste Dupin, a man of intellect who could help unravel the mystery. After investigating many possibilities of the inspiration of Poe's detective, he meets Baron C.A. Dupin, a famed lawyer in Paris, and a lone detective with a similar name: Auguste Duponte. After a confrontational encounter with the Baron Dupin and his female aide, Bonjour, Clark realizes that the Baron is not quite the character as described in the detective stories of Poe and that Auguste Duponte, with his approach to problem-solving through ratiocination, was the real inspired character in the stories. They journey back to Baltimore to investigate the final days of Poe before his death, only to find that the Baron and Bonjour have been on the same track, if not ahead, of solving the same investigation. Evidence is uncovered from interviews of the funeral attendants, witnesses, and secret rummaging of Henry Reynolds, a funeral attendant, who obtained a written letter from Poe the day he was found in the streets of Baltimore. What other mysteries that unfold through the odyssey of Clark to clear Poe's name from infamy continue on to a surprising conclusion of the death of Poe, possibly the most important Gothic fiction writer of American Literature. |
4737547 | /m/0ckq08 | The Broken Vase | Rex Stout | null | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/028v3": "Detective fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | The novel begins with backstage performance jitters just before a musical performance at Carnegie Hall in New York to be given by a striking young violinist, Jan Tusar and his on-again-off-again girlfriend and piano accompanist, whose father has died a few months earlier in a fall from his office window. Private investigator Tecumseh Fox is by no means a follower of classical music, but has been convinced by his friend Diego Zorilla, a former violinist whose fingers were mangled in an accident, to charitably contribute to buying a valuable violin for the young performer. Fox and his friend take their seats in the audience, but the concert does not go well, and it seems not to be the fault of either the violinist or the pianist but the magnificent violin itself. The concert limps to intermission, and the audience is so disgusted that many go home. Fox and his friend rush backstage, only to find that the young violinist has just shot himself to death in front of witnesses and the violin has vanished in the furore. Fox is then invited to the home of Mrs. Irene Dunham Pomfret, wealthy socialite, who also contributed to the purchase of the violin. Her husband Henry is unenthiastic on the topic of music, but collects rare coins and Chinese porcelain (a rare piece of which, he mentions, has been stolen). Fox and other contributors to the violin's purchase (including gorgeous movie star Hebe Heath) have been assembled for two reasons: one is to hear Jan Tusar's suicide note and the other is to arrange the sale of the violin and the return of the money to the contributors, since the violin arrived at Mrs. Pomfret's home by parcel post that morning. Hebe Heath's publicist confesses privately to Fox that he has returned the violin and, when asked to explain why, tells him that the movie star is not only spectacularly stupid but subject to bizarre impulses -- she stole the violin in an uncalculated moment for no reason at all. Tecumseh Fox takes the violin away and examines it, then convenes another meeting at Mrs. Pomfret's penthouse apartment. He announces that the reason that the violin's tone had flattened was because someone had poured liquid varnish into it, and suggests that the person who did this is responsible for the violinist's death. The party separates into smaller groups as people discuss these developments, and Mrs. Pomfret talks it over with her son. Fox is summoned hurriedly from another room because the son has gulped down his bourbon and died of poison. Hebe Heath promptly grabs the bottle of bourbon and throws it off the balcony, narrowly avoiding killing any passers-by in the street below. When the police ask her for the reason she produces one -- "Oh," she cried softly, "it was an ungovernment impulse!" But when it's suggested that she disposed of the bottle because she had put poison in it, her self-protective instinct outweighs her impulses -- "Put something in the bottle? Don't be a damn fool!". Fox decides to investigate. Although it's not certain quite why the theft of Mr. Pomfret's piece of porcelain is important, he finds that someone from the same group of people must have been responsible. The case may also explain the mysterious death of the accompanist's father. He tracks the missing vase to Diego Zorilla's home, and barely dodges a poisonous trap that someone has set for the former violinist. Next he investigates the possibility that Tusar's sister Garda is somehow connected with an anonymous note implicating Nazi sympathizers in the murder, since she has no visible means of support. Finally his attention focuses on the comings and goings of a mysterious person who visits Gerda's apartment as a Mr. Fish and leaves it in the person of her veiled neighbour Mrs. Piscus. Fox works out the identity of Mrs. Piscus, calls together the suspects and reveals the solution to all the crimes. |
4738435 | /m/0ckr95 | Waylander | David Gemmell | 8/28/1986 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Drenai King is dead - murdered by a ruthless assassin. Enemy troops swarm into Drenai lands. Their orders are simple - kill every man, woman and child. But there is hope. Stalked by men who act like beasts and beasts that walk like men, the warrior Waylander must journey into the shadow-haunted lands of the Nadir to find the legendary Armour of Bronze. With this he can turn the tide. But can he be trusted? For he is Waylander the Slayer. He is the traitor who killed the King. For the last twenty years the farmer, Dakeyras, who tragically lost his wife and children has been travelling the world as the assassin Waylander the Slayer. Consumed by anger and guilt, on his journey for revenge against his families murderers, he has become a soulless killer who will kill anyone for money. However, his assassination of the Drenai king and the events that follow help Waylander to reclaim his humanity and makes him the perfect anti-hero. The book starts with the main character Waylander (Dakeyras) saving the Source priest Dardalion from torture and certain death inflicted by a band of 5 thieves. After rescuing the young priest he travels with him, though Waylander is used to traveling alone - as he has done for the past 20 years. Waylander ruthlessness wash off on the priest, and vice versa with Dardalion's goodness. Soon Waylander becomes a man of conscience, though he loses none of his deadly skill. Soon Waylander is being accompanied by a good-looking young woman Danyal, as well as three small children. He subsequently embarks on a journey to bring back the Armor of Bronze, a symbol, and a rallying point for the Drenai. Along the way he encounters fellow assassin, the giant Durmast. At first Durmast attempts to kill Waylander but they soon become allies. And allies are what Waylander needs, because amongst the people trying to kill him are the renowned assassin, Cadoras the Chaos Blade, a group of werewolves, and a band of supernaturally enhanced knights. de:Waylander fr:Waylander pl:Waylander |
4738437 | /m/0ckr9j | Exit | null | null | null | Amandine is a journalist, working for a videogame magazine. One day, she gets fired, finds her boyfriend with another woman, and contemplates suicide. She finds a mysterious website, advocating an underground group named Exit, which advocates a kind of murder game: By killing someone who wishes to die, another member will try to kill you. |
4738901 | /m/0ckrxc | Rogue Moon | Algis Budrys | 1960 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | Dr. Edward Hawks runs a top-secret project for the U.S. Navy, using the facilities of Continental Electronics to investigate a large, deadly alien artifact found on the Moon. Volunteers enter and explore it, but are inevitably killed for violating the unknown alien rules in force within the structure. Vincent "Connie" Connington, Continental's head of personnel, tells Hawks that he has found the perfect candidate for the next mission. Connington is amoral and manipulative, openly testing Hawks and anyone else he meets for weaknesses. He takes Hawks to see Al Barker, an adventurer and thrill-seeker. Hawks also meets Claire Pack, a sociopath of a different kind. Where Connington covets power, and Barker seems to love death, Claire enjoys using sex, or the prospect of sex, to manipulate men. Connington wants her, but she stays with Barker because he has no weaknesses in her eyes. Hawks has to appeal to Barker's dark side to persuade him to join the project. Claire tries to get under Hawks' skin while simultaneously playing Connington off against Barker. Hawks has created a matter transmitter, one which scans a person or object to make a copy at the receivers on the moon. The earthbound copy is placed in a state of sensory deprivation which allows him to share the experiences of the doppelgänger. However, none of the participants have been able to stay sane after experiencing death second hand. Barker is the first to retain his sanity, but even he is deeply affected the first time, exclaiming, "...it didn't care! I was nothing to it!" He returns again and again to the challenge, advancing a little further each time. Meanwhile, his relationship to Claire deteriorates, even as Connington continues his disastrous attempts to win her, at one point receiving a severe beating from Barker. Eventually, Connington announces he is quitting, and Claire leaves with him. Meanwhile, Hawks starts a relationship with a young artist, Elizabeth Cummings, but he seems to want only to pour out his torment over the project to her. Finally, Barker announces that he is almost finished finding a way through the artifact. Hawks takes Elizabeth to a romantic location and declares his love for her, then returns to the project. He transmits himself as well as Barker to the Moon, where his duplicate joins Barker's on the final run. Together, the two weave their way through a series of bizarre landscapes containing death traps. Emerging from the other side, Hawks tells Barker that they cannot return to Earth. The equipment on the Moon is too crude to transmit a man back safely, and even if it were possible, there are already people living their lives. All the men working on the Moon are duplicates, mostly Navy men, all volunteers. Hawks elects to remain outside the base until his air runs out. Barker returns to try to be transmitted back anyway. Back on Earth, Hawks removes his isolation suit and finds a note in his hand, which he knew would be there. It reads simply, "Remember me to her." |
4744127 | /m/0cl0h0 | Brokeback Mountain | E. Annie Proulx | 10/13/1997 | null | Two young men who meet in Wyoming in 1963 forge a sudden emotional and sexual attachment, but soon part ways. As their separate lives play out with marriages, children and jobs, they reunite for brief liaisons on camping trips in remote settings over the course of the next 20 years. |
4744286 | /m/0cl0rp | Human Nature | Paul Cornell | null | null | Bernice Summerfield is grieving since the death of Guy de Carnac (as seen in the previous novel, Sanctuary). The Doctor takes her to a market on a planet called Crex in the Augon system. He quickly sets off, telling her he'll be back in an hour, and Benny finds a pub where she orders a beer and finds a group of female human drinking partners. After Benny's had several drinks with them, the Doctor arrives and places a patch on her cheek — a pad that disperses the alcohol in her system. He tells her that they need to leave immediately, and leads her back to the TARDIS. He hands her a scroll, tells her he'll see her in three months, and collapses. Meanwhile, the genesmith Laylock meets with his associates. They plan to follow the Doctor. In a long, dark room, a teenager named Tim awakens from a dream, having had a premonition that everyone will die. Unable to understand Benny's grief on a human level, the Doctor has purchased a device which alters his biodata, transforming him into a human named Dr John Smith. Smith lives as a history teacher at a public school in 1914 England, and falls in love with a fellow teacher named Joan. However, when alien Aubertides, hoping to acquire Time Lord abilities, attack the school, Smith sacrifices himself and becomes the Doctor once more; as the Time Lord, he is unable to love Joan in the way the human John Smith did. |
4744329 | /m/0cl0tr | The World Jones Made | Philip K. Dick | 1956 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The World Jones Made is set in 2002 AD. On a then-future post-apocalyptic Earth, there was a devastating conflict that involved the use of nuclear weapons. Many American cities were targeted, and the People's Republic of China (and Soviet Union) also collapsed, leading to the imposition of a Federal World Government (Fedgov). In this dystopia, Relativism emerged as the governing political orthodoxy. Relativism is said to be a moral and ethical philosophy that states everyone is free to believe what they wish, as long as they don't make anyone else try to follow that principle, which has become established law after the destructiveness of the war unleashed by clashing ideologies. (However, dissidents from that orthodoxy do end up in forced labor camps). This sacrosanct principle is challenged by a man named Floyd Jones, whose assertions about the future prove correct. Relativism enables legal consumption of drugs like heroin and marijuana, as well as watching live sex shows with hermaphrodite human mutants. Due to the mutagenic effects of radiation from wartime nuclear exchanges, mutants earn their living within the entertainment industry, although one group has been subjected to deliberate genetic engineering, which later enables them to settle (an inhabitable) Venus. Doug Cussick is an agent of Fedgov, and his involvement with Jones encompasses this book. Jones has precognitive abilities that let him see a year into the future, which allows Dick to explore questions of predestination, free will and determinism. Fedgov (and Jones) encounter apparently unintelligent alien lifeforms named Drifters, which turn out to be one gamete of a spore-based migratory alien life form. Their apparently pointless destruction leads to a retaliatory alien quarantine of the human race to a few nearby star systems. The presence of the Drifters in the story is to give Jones an initial rallying-point for all of his xenophobic followers as well as to demonstrate, in the context of ensuing events, that Jones is far more susceptible to error than he was previously willing to admit. His whole approach has been one of an all-or-nothing gamble on the infallibility of his precognitive powers. Jones foresees his own assassination one year before it actually happens. Not only does he not attempt to avoid his execution, but he actually facilitates it by leaping into the path of a bullet meant for a bodyguard. This does not occur, however, before he and his followers create a cult that overthrows Fedgov, leading to the resettlement of Doug, his wife Nina and their three-year-old son in an artificial habitat on Venus. The novel addresses questions of Jones's agenda and trustworthiness as well as the decidedly ambiguous benefits of individual precognition. |
4744421 | /m/0cl0yx | The Infinity Doctors | Lance Parkin | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | During the Dark Time, the Gallifreyian scientist Omega leaves his wife to travel to the star, which when he causes it to go supernova, will give his people the power to become Lords of Time. But things do not go as planned and Omega is lost inside a black hole. Millions of years later, an unknown version of the Doctor, his friend the Magistrate and star pupil Larna, together with the rest of the Time Lords are preparing to host a peace conference between the Sontarans and the Rutans to end their thousand year war. But behind the scenes a masked figure arranges a kidnapping and robbery in the Doctor's rooms and a strange anomaly appears across the universe, which seemingly has the power to alter the past and future. The epicentre of the effect is a black hole at the end of the universe to which the Doctor and his friends must travel to prevent disaster. |
4744829 | /m/0cl1ph | Waylander II: In the Realm of the Wolf | David Gemmell | 1992 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | High in the wooded, peaked mountains of Skeln, the woodsman Dakeyras, and his beautiful daughter Miriel live a life of harmonious solitude, while her twin sister, Krylla, has married and moved away. A group of grim-eyed members of the assassins guild stalk Waylander, for a bounty of ten thousand in gold put on his head by Karnak after Karnak's son Bodalen and his friends caused the death of his daughter Krylla and murdered her husband. Warriors like Belash of the Nadir, from the Wolfshead tribe, Morak the deadly swordsman with a taste for torture and Senta the young, good looking Gladiator who has never been beaten. Battle-hardened warriors all, they have no fear of this task - yet they should have. For Miriel is a woman of fire and iron, skilled with bow and blade and taught her skills by one of the deadliest killers of all time: Her father, Dakeyras, better known as Waylander the Slayer. de:Im Reich des Wolfes pl:W królestwie wilka |
4745424 | /m/0cl2lt | Ayesha | H. Rider Haggard | 1905 | {"/m/039vk": "Gothic fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel"} | In the book's prologue, the book's anonymous "Editor" receives a parcel. Opening it, he finds a letter from Horace Holly, with an enclosed manuscript containing a second memoir about She. There is also a second letter, from Holly's doctor, to whom Holly has entrusted his letter and manuscript, along with a wooden box, which contains an ancient sistrum. The doctor recounts how, when attending Holly in his last hours, he arrived at the house to find that Holly had risen from his deathbed and made his way to a local ring of ancient standing stones. Following him, the doctor glimpsed a manifestation that appears to Holly, but as the vision vanished, Holly had let out a happy cry and died. When the narrative of Holly's manuscript begins, nearly twenty years have passed since their first adventure in Africa, but he and his ward Leo Vincey are convinced that Ayesha did not die. Following their dreams, they wander for years through Asia, eventually coming to 'Thibet' (as it is spelled in the book). Taking refuge over winter in a remote lamasery, they meet the old Abbot Kou-En, who claims to recall a past-life encounter tales with a witch queen from the time of Alexander the Great. The Abbott tries to dissuade them from going on and warns them that, however beautiful, nothing is immortal, even if the Queen was born centuries ago in Ancient Egypt or remembers it from a past life. He believes the Queen is holding on to the distractions of life, which will lead them away from Enlightenment and peace, whether she is a demon, a fallen angel, or only a dream. Despite the Abbot's warning, Leo is compelled to press on and Holly will not abandon his adopted son. When Spring breaks, they travel out into the uncharted region beyond the monastery; after a perilous journey and many narrow escapes, they arrive in the city of Kaloon, which is ruled by the evil Khan Rassen and his imperious wife, the Khania Atene, who claim to be descendants of Alexander the Great's ancient Hellenist generals. The people of Kaloon live under an uneasy truce with the people who serve the Hesea, the Priestess of Hes, who dwells on the Mountain, a huge volcano that dominates the region, at the summit of which is a massive natural rock formation in the shape of an ankh. Atene declares her love for Leo, but the jealous and dissolute Rassen (who has been driven mad by the sorcery of Atene and her uncle, the wizard Simbri) wants to kill them. Atene's rival, the mysterious Hesea, orders Atene to send Leo and Holly to her, or risk breaking their peace treaty. Atene vows to kill Leo, rather than let him go, but with the help of Rassen, they escape the city. However they soon realise that Rassen has betrayed them and is hunting them with his monstrous Death-Hounds. They make a dash to the foot of the mountain, where they are caught by Rassen, but after a desperate struggle they manage to kill the Khan and his hounds. As Leo and Holly ascend the Mountain they are intercepted by the people of Hes, who are then joined by a ghost-like Messenger, who leads them up the mountain. After they arrive at the vast temple-palace complex near the summit, they are taken into the presence of the veiled Hesea, who admits that she is the Messenger who guided them up the Mountain. In accordance with ancient custom, Atene comes to the mountain temple for the funeral of Rassen. The Hesea now declares that she is indeed the reincarnation of Ayesha, and that Atene is the reincarnation of her ancient rival, Amenartas. To the horror of Leo and Holly, Ayesha reveals she has been reborn into the body of a wizened old crone, her beauty gone. Atene challenges Ayesha, but Leo declares his love for Ayesha, regardless of the form in which she appears. With his choice, the mysterious life-force within the volcano reaches out and engulfs her - when it clears, her former beauty and majesty has been restored. Ayesha vows that if Leo still loves her, they will return to her ancient home in Africa. There they will both bathe in the Flame of Life, become immortal, and rule the world together. However she refuses Leo's entreaties to marry him right away, saying that they must wait for the change of seasons and the weather to clear, before they can travel. While waiting out the winter, Ayesha writes her memories (which are the basis for the fourth book in the series, Wisdom's Daughter). Ayesha shows Holly and Leo how she commands mortals, spirits, and demons. She questions Holly at length about the modern world and expounds to him her plan that, once united with Leo, they will rule the world, conquering the existing Empires by flooding the world’s gold supply with her alchemy. Appalled, Holly fears that Ayesha may succeed. Leo presses Ayesha to marry him without delay, but she is unwilling, insisting they must wait. Bored with his confinement, Leo goes hunting in the mountains but Ayesha, fearful for his safety, uses her psychic powers to watch him and sees that he and his men have been attacked by a leopard, and that Leo has been injured. When the party returns, the furious Ayesha sentences Leo's retainers to death, but Leo is horrified by her cruelty and prevails on her to spare them. Soon after, Atene sends Ayesha an ultimatum, challenging her to battle. Ayesha marshalls her forces and marches out, but while they are camped at the foot of the mountain, Atene uses her magic to appear in the guise of Ayesha, luring Holly and Leo away from Ayesha's protection, and Leo is captured. Enraged, Ayesha declares that she will destroy Atene and rescue Leo. Although greatly outnumbered, she leads her men into battle, and when the two armies meet Ayesha reveals her power over the elements, summoning up a terrible lightning storm. In the ensuing holocaust, Ayesha obliterates Atene's army and lays waste to Kaloon, while her own army reaches the city without the loss of a single man. When Ayesha and Holly burst into the room where Leo is confined, they discover that Atene has realised her utter defeat and taken poison. They see the wizard Simbri standing poised to kill Leo, but Ayesha paralyses him with her power, and Leo is released unharmed. Leo demands that Ayesha must give herself to him immediately, and she yields to his wish. They kiss, but Ayesha's power proves too great for his mortal body, and he dies in her arms. Ayesha then charges the wizard Simbri to go ahead into the realm of Death and carry a message to the departed spirits, and with these words Simbri falls dead where he stands. The distraught Ayesha takes Leo's body to the temple on the peak, where the flames rise up from the crater and consume their bodies. Holly is led down from the mountain and finds his way back to the lamasery. |
4746735 | /m/0cl4x7 | We Can Build You | Philip K. Dick | 1972 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | We Can Build You is set in the then-future year of 1982. It centers on Louis Rosen, a small businessman whose company produces spinets and electronic organs. Rosen's partner wants to begin production of simulacra, or androids, based on famous Civil War figures. The firm completes two prototypes, one of Edwin M. Stanton and one of Abraham Lincoln. Rosen then attempts to sell the robot patents to Sam K. Barrows, an influential businessman who is opening up lunar real estate for purchase and colonization. Unfortunately, while the Stanton simulacrum proves able to adapt to contemporary U.S. society, the Lincoln simulacrum proves unable to do so, possibly due to the fact that the original experienced schizophrenia. At the same time, Louis begins a relationship with Pris Frauenzimmer, the schizophrenic daughter of his business partner, who has designed both simulacra. This becomes an obsession and Louis himself begins to hallucinate about Pris. At the same time, Pris defects to Barrows but then loses faith in the benevolence of their partnership when his objectives are disclosed as more prosaic than hers, with his plans to use simulacra colonists to entice human settlement on the Moon and other human interplanetary colonies within the solar system. After Pris's destruction of a John Wilkes Booth prototype simulacrum, the Stanton/Lincoln simulacra strand of the plot abruptly terminates. The remainder of the book deals with Louis Rosen's admission of schizophrenia and his Jungian therapeutic treatment at the Kasanin Centre in Kansas from where Pris was originally released. Under the influence of his therapist Rosen creates a virtual hallucinatory reality of his own where he resumes his relationship with Pris, marries her, has children and grows old together with her, finally culminating with him hitting her hallucinatory doppelgänger in a fit of pique. This concludes his final therapy session and he is released from the Kasanin clinic after his doctor accuses him of malingering. The end of the novel posits the query of whether he was actually batty to begin with. The real-world Pris, however, has become unwell again, and she is returned to Kasanin following her short-lived career as a simulacra designer. |
4746737 | /m/0cl4xl | The Tree of Hands | Ruth Rendell | 10/15/1984 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Tree of Hands tells the story of an affluent young woman, Benet, who has a two-year-old son named James. She is estranged from James' father. They live in North London. Benet's mother comes to visit them. She and Benet's father now live in Spain. Benet's mother has a history of mental illness, possibly schizophrenia, and Benet is rather fearful of her mother and what she may be capable of doing. Unfortunately James becomes extremely ill and dies, Benet is distraught and spends a lot of time in a state of prostrated grief. Her mother tries to look after her. A sub-plot involves a young man on a council estate who is deeply in love with a woman, Carol, who has several children from previous partners. It becomes apparent to the reader that she is unfaithful to this young man, and she is abusing her children, in particular her little boy, Jason. A turn in events leads to Benet's mother kidnapping little Jason and "replacing" the dead James. Benet, at first horrified at what her mother has done, begins to realise that little Jason has been abused (she finds cigarette burns on his body)and grows to love him. As he refers to himself as Jay, this is what she calls him. However, she realises that she cannot continue to see the Doctor from the hospital because he knows that James has died, and he has been very kind to her. He may start to question Jason's appearance. Also Benet's ex begins to realise what may have happened and puts pressure on her. She realises that she and Jay must leave the country in order to start their new life. The sub plot (Carol and her friends and family) evolves into murder and betrayal, and a very clever twist involving the sale of a house in Hampstead. The title "Tree of Hands" refers to a piece of artwork displayed on the wall in the ward that James was admitted to when first taken ill. |
4746890 | /m/0cl56s | Our Friends from Frolix 8 | Philip K. Dick | 1970 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | In the 22nd Century, the Earth is ruled by the "New Men", humans with superhuman mental abilities, who share power with "Unusuals" that possess psionic abilities, such as telepathy, telekinesis and precognition. (In its use of psionic abilities as a major plot element, this work is similar to Ubik.) To fight them, Thors Provoni has gone deep into space to find help. He is returning with a sentient protoplasmic alien being, a "Friend from Frolix 8", (known as Morgo Rahn Wilc) to fight for the "Old Men" (non-telepathic humanity, also incapable of enhanced cognitive abilities). Against this background, Nick Appleton (an Old Man) and Willis Gram (an Unusual) are political rivals. Initially compliant to the "New Men"/"Unusual" regime, Appleton's son Bobby fails a Civil Service examination which is deliberately geared toward failing "Old Man" applicants. At the same time, Terran authorities are holding "Under Man" activist Cordon imprisoned, preparing for his execution. Appleton becomes politicised, and falls for Charlotte ("Charley") Boyer, a sixteen year old subversive. She is involved with alcoholic Denny (in this future, alcohol prohibition has apparently returned as a social policy). After the authorities discover that Appleton has become 'subversive,' they attempt to apprehend him and Charley, whom Willis Gram is also obsessed with. Meanwhile, Thors Provoni's craft has eluded Terran fleet defences and is rapidly nearing Earth, leading to paranoid fears from the erstwhile governing elite about the possibility of violent alien invasion. In the event, Provoni does land, but Morgo Rahn Wilc protects him from an assassination attempt. Provoni is actually a "New Man" and an "Unusual" at the same time himself, and with the assistance of his alien companion, he strips all Unusuals of their psionic abilities, and all New Men of their advanced cognitive abilities, rendering the New Men intellectually disabled and only capable of childlike cognition. |
4749558 | /m/0cl9yr | The Hollowing | Robert Holdstock | 1993 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The day Tallis Keeton disappears into Ryhope wood in Lavondyss, her father, James Keeton, disappears into the wood to locate her. While he spends only four days in Ryhope wood, over one year of time passes in the outside world. When he turns up, he is clutching Moondream, one of Tallis’ masks, and is placed in a mental hospital. He is kept close company by Alex Bradley, a young playmate of Tallis’, who alone can calm James. James Keeton has a number of episodes in which he appears to communicate with Tallis through the mask. In a dramatic scene, Richard Bradley sees James Keeton collapse and die. At the same time, his son Alex is physically traumatized by a mythic force. This compromises Alex’s mental faculties and he is confined to the same mental hospital. Alex escapes the mental hospital and his highly decayed remains are subsequently found, so he is presumed dead. After six years Alex’s father, Richard Bradley, receives evidence that Alex may yet be alive in Ryhope wood. Richard joins a scientific expedition to locate his son in the wood, rendered all the more dangerous by the mythagos feeding off Alex’s imagination. During his quest in the wood, Richard Bradley develops a romantic relationship with Helen Silverlock, a Native American. In addition to introducing Native American culture into Ryhope wood, mythagos about Jack (as in Jack and the Beanstalk), the Tower of Babel and Jason and the Argonauts appear, the last two of which involve variations on myths that are uncharacteristically non-English in origin. |
4749814 | /m/0clb9n | Islam and the West | null | null | null | This chapter contains an exploration of the meaning of orientalism. It is argued that the word orientalism was until relatively recently used mainly in two senses, to denote either a branch of scholarship or a school of painting. However Lewis contends that it has now been given a new meaning, "that of unsympathetic or hostile treatment of oriental peoples." (p100). The historical beginnings of oriental scholarship in Western Europe are dated to the time of the Renaissance. Its history is then traced from relatively narrow roots where one discipline, philology, recovered, studied, published and interpreted texts relating to one region, that which is now called the Middle East, to its gradual expansion to include other disciplines such as philosophy, theology, literature and history and a diversity of areas from the Ottoman Empire to India and China. Having reached a point where the multi-disciplinary approaches and the sheer number of regions under study rendered the term orientalist obsolete Lewis argues it was in effect formally abandoned by those he terms accredited orientalists at the 29th International Congress of Orientalists in 1973. Lewis laments that although the term has now been revived its usage has changed to that of a term of polemic abuse. An exploration of the rise of anti-orientalism follows where critics from a diversity of sources ranging from Islamicists to Arab Nationalists to Marxist theorists are briefly considered before Lewis concludes by identifying its main exponent in the United States of America, Edward Said. A significant proportion of the remainder of the chapter is devoted to a critique of Said's book Orientalism published in 1978. Lewis attributes the success of Said's book to its anti-Western stance, its use of, "the ideas, and still more the language of currently fashionable literary, philosophical and political theories." (p114) and its apparent simplification of complex problems. Finally the chapter concludes with a brief review of the counter-critique from Arab writers such as the Egyptian philosopher Fu'ad Zakana. |
4750223 | /m/0clc3m | Bloody Bones | Laurell K. Hamilton | null | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Bloody Bones begins on Saint Patrick's Day, shortly after the events of the previous Anita Blake novel, The Lunatic Cafe. Like the previous novels, the novel opens with Anita considering a possible job. This time, her manager, Bert, is calculating a possible bid for a mass zombie raising in Branson, Missouri. Bert explains that a law firm is soliciting bids to raise an entire graveyard in order to determine who owns a piece of land needed for a resort complex. The graves are unmarked and may contain corpses at least 100 years old, Anita finds out later there are some that are much older than that, which will make the raising very difficult. In Anita's opinion, she is the only person in the world who might be able to raise that many ancient unmarked graves without a human sacrifice. She agrees to take the job, and takes Larry along to boost her powers, and as a training experience. (She and Bert agree that although John Burke also has the power to make a good second, his pride is such that it's best that he not even learn that Anita took a job that he was not strong enough to take on his own). Arriving in Branson, Anita meets Raymond Stirling, the lawyer in charge of the development project and his assistants, Lionel Bayard, Ms Harrison and Beau, and learns that Stirling is in a dispute with Magnus and Dorcas Bouvier, two siblings who claim to own the land at issue and refuse to sell. If the corpses on the land confirm that it belongs to the Bouviers, Stirling's project will be unable to continue. After reviewing the site and making plans to explore the site further that evening, Anita receives a call from Dolph. Dolph asks Anita for advice on a crime scene back in St. Louis and also asks her to assist the local police with a nearby crime scene. Anita and Larry drive to the scene and meet Sergeant Freemont, who appears to want to crack the case herself and resents their intrusion. Anita inspects the murder victims—three teen-aged or younger boys cut apart with a blade. Each of the boys' faces have been disfigured or removed, and Freemont reveals that a teenaged boy and girl were murdered earlier, with similar wounds. Anita warns Freemont that in her opinion, the boys were cut apart by a sword wielded by something as fast and strong as a vampire, with enough mental power to hold two of the boys motionless while killing the third. Larry is seriously shaken by viewing his first murder scene. Anita and Larry then go to the Bouviers' restaurant, named "Bloody Bones," to investigate the land dispute and to get dinner. There, they meet Magnus and Dorrie, each of whom is part-fey. Magnus is using glamour to host a date night. By touching the restaurant patrons, he makes them irresistibly attractive for one night, in return for drawing some power for himself. After trying unsuccessfully to seduce Anita, Magnus is coy about why the Bouviers refuse to sell their land. Magnus also admits to destroying several trees outside the restaurant while in a drunken rage, causing Anita to consider him as a suspect for the recent killings. During dinner, Dolph pages Anita again, and asks her to assist on another possible local vampire crime. Anita tells Dolph that Magnus is part-fey and a potential suspect, then Anita and Larry drive to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Quinlan. There, they meet Sheriff David St. John, his wife Beth, Deputy Zack Coltraine, Mr. and Mrs. Quinlan, and their son Jeff. Jeff's older sister, Ellie is lying in her bed, dead of a vampire bite. Anita and Larry eventually deduce that her death was probably voluntary, and learn that Ellie's boyfriend Andy recently disappeared. They guess that Ellie's boyfriend has recently been raised as a vampire and turned her as well, but Mr. Quinlan refuses to believe them and demands that Anita stake Ellie to prevent her from rising. Anita asks him to wait twenty-four hours to "cool off" and promises to stake Ellie if her father demands it after that time. After instructing the Quinlans to place the Host at each doorway to prevent any vampires from reentering the home, Anita explains that the vampire that turned Ellie probably has a resting place nearby, and that they may catch it if they attempt a nighttime hunt. She heads out into the woods after it, together with Larry, Sheriff St. John, Deputy Coltraine, and two other police officers, Wallace and Granger. During the hunt, Anita learns that Wallace was a survivor of a vampire attack and shows him her own scars in an effort to put him at ease. During the hunt, Anita and the others are ambushed by a pack of vampires. In the fight, Anita kills two vampires, but Granger is bitten, Wallace's arm is broken, and Xavier kills Coltrain with a sword. While the hunters regroup, Granger, now under vampire control, attempts to shoot Larry, and Anita is forced to kill him. The group then hears screams from the Quinlan home, and St. John and Anita run for the house, leaving Larry and Wallace to bring up the rear. When Anita gets to the house, Beth St. John is dead and Jeff has been taken. (Apparently, Xavier was able to shapeshift and fit through a pet door). Sheriff St. John kills a brown haired, female vampire. Anita shoots at Xavier, but he's too fast to hit. Later, Sergeant Freemont arrives at the scene. She explains that after Dolph told her that Magnus was part fey, she went to arrest him. Mangus used glamour to escape, and is now wanted for using magic on police officers during the course of his escape. FBI agents Elwood and Bradford arrive and speak to Anita, who agrees to attempt to identify and contact the Master of the City. Anita calls Jean-Claude for information. Jean-Claude explains that he thinks he knows the vampire Anita saw, and that it is an "exotic" vampire of a sort concealed from humans. Among other things, it is a pedophile. Jean-Claude offers to come to Branson to set up a meeting with the Master of the City. With Jeff Quinlan in the hands of a monster, Anita is forced to accept Jean-Claude's help. With no way to pursue the Quinlan case, Anita and Larry return to the graveyard to "walk the graveyard" and attempt to sense the location and identities of the corpses in preparation for a later attempt to raise the dead. Anita and Larry experiment with combining powers, and are surprised at the degree to which they are able to magnify each other's abilities. However, their powers attract Magnus, who appears and insists that they not raise the dead in that graveyard. Stirling orders Beau to shoot Magnus for trespassing, but Anita, realizing that Stirling intended the evening as a trap for Magnus, draws her own gun and buys Magnus time to escape. Anita and Larry return to their hotel suite to find Jean-Claude and Jason. Jean-Claude has flown in on his private jet, but it is now too late in the night to track down the Master before dawn. Jean-Claude informs Anita of Xavier's name, then retires for the morning in her bed. Jason visits with Anita and Larry, and challenges Anita for dominance. Anita wins, of course, and figures out that Jean-Claude has ordered Jason to show his lycanthrope side in an effort to dissuade Anita from marrying Richard. Jason acknowledges Anita as dominant and goes to bed. Later that morning, Dorcas Bouvier bursts into Anita's hotel suite and demands to see Magnus. After Dorcas bursts into the bedroom and sees Jean-Claude and Jason, she accepts that Anita has not fallen victim to Magnus's charms and explains why the Bouviers refuse to sell their land. Centuries ago their ancestor, a member of the fey, emigrated to colonial North America with a more powerful fey, Rawhead and Bloody Bones trapped in a magic box. While Rawhead was trapped, Bouvier was able to create a potion from its blood and increase his own powers, but eventually, Rawhead escaped and went on a murderous rampage. After a pitched battle, Rawhead was sealed beneath the ground, and the Bouvier family has remained in Branson in order to prevent Rawhead from escaping. Anita convinces Dorcas to take her to see the mound where Rawhead is trapped, and they agree to go to the mound the following day. That evening, Jean-Claude prepares the group to meet Seraphina, the master of Branson. He explains that his visit raises issues of vampire politics. Although vampires' interactions with one another are somewhat constrained by the laws of the Vampire Council, conflicts are still possible, and he has negotiated a delicate truce with Seraphina. Although the group must be prepared to fight, they may not strike the first blow. Jean-Claude and Anita, accompanied by Larry and Jason, visit an apparently ruined and abandoned home, cloaked in magical shadow, and meet Ivy, Bruce, Kissa, Janos, Pallas and Bettina. The Branson vampires engage in a calculated plan to force Jean-Claude's party to break the truce. Without offering violence to his group, they threaten to torture two young women, then sexually harass Jason. Jean-Claude is forced to challenge Janos to a contest of power, which he begins to lose. Ultimately, Anita escapes the trap by baiting Ivy into attacking her, allowing the group to use violence in their own defense. In the ensuing battle, Larry kills Bruce, and Pallas and Bettina are first shot, then torn apart. (However, because they are rotting vampires, they are almost impossible to kill.) Anita is forced to give blood to save Jean-Claude's life. Once Jean-Claude is stabilized, Magnus appears and offers to convey the group to see Seraphina under a flag of truce. Seraphina toys with the group, but ultimately agrees that a murderous pedophile master vampire in her territory is a threat, and agrees to track down Xavier. Jean-Claude is astounded that Seraphina has somehow become powerful enough to assert mastery over vampires as formidable as Janos. The group returns to the hotel to clean up. Anita learns more about Jean-Claude's history and momentarily surrenders to her lust and kisses Jean-Claude, but stops when he draws blood (though he claims it was by accident). She stays with Jean-Claude as dawn comes and he "dies" for the day and is surprised at her growing sympathy towards him. Anita then falls asleep herself and is visited in her dream by Seraphina, who promises to reunite Anita with her deceased mother if Anita agrees to serve Seraphina. Anita wakes, and begins planning to kill Seraphina. Anita and Larry meet up with Dorcas Bouvier, who takes them to the mound where Bloody Bones is imprisoned. When they arrive, they surprise Magnus in the act of drinking Bloody Bones's blood, and Dorcas realizes that Magnus has been using Bloody Bones to boost his power for years. Anita proposes that instead of raising the entire Bouvier graveyard, she raise just enough zombies to confirm the Bouviers' claim to the land and prevent Stirling from digging up the graveyard and freeing Bloody Bones. That evening, accompanied by Stirling, Bayard, and Harrison, Anita and Larry combine their powers to animate a few of the ancient corpses in the Bouvier graveyard. Just before Anita completes the circle of blood needed to activate their power, she feels Bloody Bones stir and realizes that raising even a few zombies will free the monster. She stops, but Ivy flies from the darkness and attacks. Anita kills Ivy in self-defense, but Ivy's blood falls on the remaining span of the circle, closing the loop and activating her power. Similar to Anita's inadvertent human sacrifices in The Laughing Corpse, Ivy's death supercharges Anita's power, forcing her to animate every corpse in the graveyard. At that point, Stirling and Harrison draw guns, and Stirling shoots Bayard. Apparently, Seraphina and Bloody Bones promised Stirling the land in return for Bloody Bones's freedom, and Stirling had planned on killing Anita once she raised the Bouviers and freed the fey. Anita orders the zombies to attack Stirling and Harrison and incapacitates them both. While she considers whether to kill them, Janos arrives with a newly risen Ellie, accompanied by Bettina, Pallas, Kissa, Xavier and their hostage, Jeff Quinlan. The vampires feed on and kill Stirling and Harrison, and inform Anita that Xavier has been serving Seraphina since her arrival in Branson. Seraphina's vampires fly away, and Anita goes to confront them and attempt rescue Jeff, with the help of Jean-Claude, Larry, and Jason. Bloody Bones arrives and demands its freedom, but Seraphina breaks her word to the fey and announces her intent to continue drinking its power forever. With her oath broken, Larry and Anita are able to break her spell over Bloody Bones, and it draws a sword and impales Seraphina. Bloody Bones admits to Anita that it has been able to manifest its form as a result of Magnus's interference, and that it killed the teenagers for being bad children. Realizing that Bloody Bones is mortal as long as it continues to share power with Magnus, Anita shoots the boggle, slowing it down long enough for Xavier to kill it with a greatsword forged of cold iron. Anita infers that Xavier is a fey raised as a vampire, although Xavier denies it. Seraphina regains control, and decides that Anita's blood might make an acceptable second choice for Bloody Bones's. In return for Anita surrendering herself, Seraphina agrees to let the others go. The next morning, Anita wakes up next to Seraphina in her coffin. She forces her way out and learns that the coffins of Seraphina's vampires have been moved to the Bloody Bones bar and grill. (Ellie does not have a coffin and is sleeping on the floor.) Anita tries to escape, but Magnus stops her. In the course of the fight, Anita drips some of her blood on Ellie and realizes that she can raise Ellie as if she were a zombie. She does so and orders Ellie to hold Magnus while she makes her escape. With Ellie clinging to his waist, Magnus chases Anita outside and is burned to death when Ellie burns in the sunlight. Anita contacts Agent Bradford and tells him where the vampires are resting. With Anita, Larry and the local authorities, Bradford douses the Bloody Bones restaurant with gasoline and prepares to set it on fire. Anita feels Seraphina in her mind and forces the agents to handcuff her and lock her in a car so that Seraphina cannot use her control over Anita to interfere. As the fire consumes all of the vampires inside, including the now-dead Jeff Quinlan, Seraphina forces Anita to relive the death of her own mother, renewing her earlier trauma. In the epilogue, Anita explains that Dorcas, now free of the family curse, sold the Bouvier land and left Branson with her children, that the Quinlans are suing Animators, Inc. because of Anita's refusal to stake Ellie when asked, and that Anita herself is continuing her life in St. Louis, notwithstanding the fresh emotional wounds. |
4754875 | /m/0cllgz | Jedi Twilight | Michael Reaves | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | With the dark ascension of the Empire, and the Jedi Knights virtually wiped out, one Jedi who escaped the massacre is slated for a date with destiny–and a confrontation with Darth Vader. Jax Pavan is one of the few Jedi Knights who miraculously survived the slaughter that followed Palpatine's ruthless Order 66. Now, deep in Coruscant's Blackpit Slums, Jax ekes out a living as a private investigator, trying to help people in need while concealing his Jedi identity and staying one step ahead of the killers out for Jedi blood. And they’re not the only ones in search of the elusive Jax. Hard-boiled reporter Den Dhur and his buddy, the highly unorthodox droid I-5YQ, have shocking news to bring Jax–about the father he never knew. But when Jax learns that his old Jedi Master has been killed, leaving behind the request that Jax finish a mission critical to the resistance, Jax has no choice but to emerge from hiding–and risk detection by Darth Vader–to fulfill his Master's dying wish. |
4756247 | /m/0clnmj | The Haunted Mesa | Louis L'Amour | 1987-05 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0hfjk": "Western", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Mike Raglan, a roughly middle-aged man who specializes in paranormal investigations (and normally debunking the phenomena) has received urgent phone calls and mail from an old friend of his, Erik Hokart. Hokart was an independently wealthy scientist, inventor, and businessman who made his fortune in electronics. He was investigating an odd patch of mountainous country in the Southwest, intending to build a secluded home on top of one particular mesa around which rumors had long swirled. His messages to Mike intimated that he was in deep trouble and desperately needed someone of his talents. Hokart doesn't show up at the designated meeting spot, but the next day Mike receives a package from him, delivered by an exotic female beauty. A man breaks into his room to try to steal the package, and is only finally sent off with a book Raglan wrote by a lie and a .357 Magnum. The package contains Erik Hokart's journal of his quasi-archaeological expedition. The first night on the chosen mesa, glowing lines appear on the blueprint, of a kiva attached to the ruins of the house Hokart was using as a makeshift shelter. Hokart is a little perturbed when the glowing lines turn out to be correct, and he begins to excavate the underground kiva even though it looks to have been deliberately buried. It creeps out both him and his large guard dog, "Chief". Fully excavated, the kiva reveals itself as anomalous in having no sipapu but rather a blind window made out of a curious gray substance. After he finishes, Hokart discovers that a pencil of his had been stolen and replaced with a jar. Afraid, Hokart begins to leave; Chief mistakes his abrupt movements for an intention to attack the kiva and plunges through the window and into a far invisible distance through to somewhere else. Erik begins to consider the legends and beliefs of the Hopi: they say their people originally came from the Third World, which was evil, and so they climbed up into a kiva in this, the Fourth World, to escape it; the obvious speculation is that a malign power of the Third World was sealed by the burial of the kiva and that it wants the window to this world opened back up. Erik rests. His pencil is returned the next day, worn down to a nub. He resharpens it and sets out more. They too vanish, as well as one of his cardigan sweaters. The sweater returns with a newly made twin. Two days later, Chief returns, apparently none the worse for wear. Having read thus far in Hokart's journal, Mike prepares to travel to the mesa, to personally investigate. He pauses to read further. As Hokart resolved to leave now that his dog had been returned, he is confronted by a striking raven-haired ivory-skinned woman who imperiously orders him to accompany her back through the portal in the kiva. He refuses, struck by a sense of menace and evil radiating from her, and leaves immediately. On the way down, he meets a young girl named Kawasi, who explains that she is a renegade from the Third World and that the woman was a "Poison Woman" who intended to imprison or kill him. They escape, and stop at a restaurant for dinner. He instructs Kawasi to get his journal to Mike, when the restaurant is surrounded by hired thugs. The journal ends with Erik making a break for the jeep and ordering Kawasi out the back. Mike discovers that the restaurant concerned had been destroyed that night in an abrupt and inexplicable fire. He finds Kawasi waiting for him in another nearby restaurant. She tells him, that night ended in Hokart's kidnapping. They are approached by the local constable, Gallagher. They forthrightly answer his questions and tell him the tale up to that point. Gallagher doesn't quite believe them, but he maintains an open mind. Raglan determines to go into the Third World (named Shibalba by its inhabitants, who suffer under the decaying and decadent totalitarian regime of "The Hand" and his Lords of Shibalba) to rescue Hokart; the kiva entrance is surely guarded now, so he intends to use a map to Shibalba he was given by an old cowboy who had stolen gold from, and barely escaped alive, the Third World. On his way, he meets "Tazzoc", a historian/archivist of Shibalba's forgotten archives, who tells Raglan much about Shibalba and its rulers; he wants to dissuade Raglan from his quest because it is hopeless and could only lead to trouble. At the designated place, Raglan is frightened off by the presence of a squad of investigating Shibalban soldiers, "the Varanel, the Night Guards of Shibalba". Raglan confers with Gallagher and Tazzoc again, who promises to leave some native clothes at the kiva entrance so Raglan can better blend in; Raglan promises to do what he could to save Tazzoc's archives and get them into wider circulation. A confrontation with a local agent of the Hand, Eden Foster, only ends up as a brawl which Raglan wins. He enters the Third World, enlisting the aid of Johnny (an old cowboy who had been trapped in the Third World for decades) as backup. Raglan rendezvouses with Tazzoc in his archives, located within the mazy trap-filled citadel the Hand lives in and where Hokart is presumably being held, the Forbidden. The archives hold an ancient map from when the Forbidden was first built, and with its aid he finds Hokart's cell - although he is hunted through the Forbidden by the ambitious and arrogant agent Zipacna and his Varanel goons. Raglan's pistols win through the Varanel and rescue the starving Hokart. They break out, and Johnny discourages pursuit with his big rifle laying down covering fire on the pursuing Varanel. A day later, as the portal back to the Fourth World quavers and begins to collapse, they kill Zipacna and attempt to escape the Third World. They are opposed by an old friend Raglan had left to guard the kiva, Volkmeer, who has entered the employ of the Hand. Raglan, Hokart, and the others escape, but Volkmeer is caught in the portal as it becomes quiescent, and is frozen in time. |
4760716 | /m/0clxxp | The Game-Players of Titan | Philip K. Dick | 1963 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Pete Garden, the protagonist, is one of several residents who own large swathes of property in a depopulated, post-apocalyptic future world. These residents are organized in groups of regular competitors who play a board game called "Bluff". These contestants (or "Bindmen") stake their property, marriages and future status as eligible game players on its outcomes. Pete also experiences bipolar disorder, which may adversely affect his competence as a Game participant. The Game is administered by amorphous, silicon-based aliens from Titan, Saturn's largest satellite. These creatures, known as the vugs, are obsessed with gambling. In addition, the Game's exogamy helps to promote human fertility after the devastation of global warfare, after satellite-borne "Henkel Radiation" weaponry from Red China sterilized much of the Earth's population. The vug exert hegemony over Earth but do not occupy it as such. Instead, it is visualised as a paternalistic relationship. Moreover, while the vugs are telepaths, they do not allow the use of human telepathy or precognition within the context of the Game. It is also the case that the vugs are involved within human society, using induced hallucination to maintain the semblance of human form. They also perpetuate the charade through the use of physical human shells or simulacra. At the beginning, Pete has lost his favorite property, Berkeley, and his wife, Freya. Moreover, Berkeley's new owner has sold it to a notoriously corrupt Bindman from the East Coast, Jerome Luckman. Pete misses Freya, and worries about the compatibility of his new wife. He is also attracted to Pat McClain, a mysteriously fertile woman living within his remaining property, as well as Mary Anne, her eighteen year-old daughter. Pat is a telepath, while her husband Allen is precognitive, and their daughter manifests telekinesis. These telepaths resent the fact that they are not allowed to participate in the Game, due to possible abuse of their abilities during the contest. Pete breaks off his tentative relationship with Pat when he discovers that his new wife, Carol, is pregnant - a rare occurrence in this largely infertile, depopulated world. Luckman, the new owner of Berkeley, is murdered, and Pete is implicated, along with six other members of his group, Pretty Blue Fox. However, Pete and the other group members are suffering from induced amnesia, and this only makes them look even more suspicious in the eyes of both vug and human law enforcement officials. Pete discovers that vugs are abusing their own psionic abilities to appear human. However, the vugs also have their own political factions, which further complicates matters. "Extremists" favour subversion and conquest of Earth, while "moderates" favour the status quo of paternalistic collaboration. Fertile humans begin an underground resistance against the vugs, but in the ultimate ironic twist, they are replaced by vugs posing as humans. Pretty Blue Fox syndicate members are teleported to Titan where they play a decisive end-Game with Titanian vug counterparts for the geopolitical future of the United States. * Rossi, Umberto, “The Game of the Rat: A.E. Van Vogt’s 800-Words Rule and P.K. Dick’s The Game-Players of Titan”, Science-Fiction Studies #93, 31:2, July 2004, pp. 207–26. |
4762191 | /m/0cl_b8 | The Werewolf of Fever Swamp | R. L. Stine | 1993-12 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Grady Tucker and his sixteen year-old sister Emily have both moved to a new house with their scientist parents. Their father, Dr. Tucker, studied deer in Vermont until he came into possession of six Swamp Deer from South America. Because of this, Dad had to move with his scientist wife and the two kids to Florida so he could test his hypothesis: Deer can live in Florida. Though he keeps them in a pen in the backyard for now, Dr. Tucker intends to release the deer with tracking collars into the wild. Grady and Emily go exploring in search of a bird. Emily learned all about forests and swamps in school so she fills Grady in on all the scientific details. Emily and Grady suddenly find themselves lost in the swamp. They wander around, eventually finding a small shack. A crazed white-haired man exits the shack and chases the two children, who run around until finally they find the door to their house. Once inside, they tell their parents about the wild man. Dad coolly tells the kids that he's just a swamp hermit. Then he says that the guys at the hardware store said the swamp hermit was completely harmless. Later that night, Grady is just kicking it in the backyard when another twelve year-old boy, one of his new neighbors, introduces himself as Will. Will is a big kid and tells Grady that the only other kid their age on the block is a weird girl. Will walks over to the deer pen, picks something up and utters "Yuck. Deer Slime." Will tells a story about how Fever Swamp got named. A hundred years ago, everyone in town caught something from the swamp that started with a fever and most died and those who didn't die went crazy. Late that night Grady comes down with a fever. Woken from a fever dream, Grady hears howls coming from outside. He goes down to the kitchen to investigate and hears scratching on the exterior door. Emily wakes up too and the two siblings sit in the kitchen, listening to the howls and scratching at the door. Grady bravely opens the door but sees no one outside, and since it's midnight, doesn't go outside to investigate further. The two siblings listen to the sounds some more and then their Dad wakes up and insists on taking both of their temperatures. The next morning, no sooner does Grady leave the house than he is attacked by a lovable but huge, 100 lb dog. The dog starts licking Grady's face and Emily comes out and pets the dog, figuring this is the source of the scratching from the previous night. After some discussion the parents decide that a dog would be fine to let into their house. Will shows up to go investigate the swamp with Grady, and suggests to the family that the dog might be part-wolf. So they name the dog Wolf. The two boys leave the dog at the house and are not in the swamp for more than a few minutes before Wolf shows up and accompanies them into the thicket of foliage. They fool around the swamp for a while and then Wolf starts growling as he spots the Swamp Hermit. Will thinks the Swamp Hermit, whose shirt is covered in blood, might be dangerous. They remain still as the Swamp Hermit quietly leaves their line of sight. As soon as the coast is clear, the boys continue exploring and come across a bloody mauled heron. The bird has been ripped apart and there are paw prints around the body. Grady guesses a dog did it but then Will tells Grady that dogs don't rip apart birds. Will goes back home and Grady enters his house. Dr. Tucker tells Grady that the swamp is filled with scary stuff and that another bird probably killed the heron. The entire family is awoken in the middle of the night by crashing from downstairs. They all huddle together and make their way down to investigate. The noise was caused by Wolf, who has run around the living room, smashing into the furniture in a desperate attempt to get out of the house. Dad gets especially dismayed when he discovers the dog had broken the lamp.The dog starts ramming its body into the plate glass sliding door until finally Dad opens the door and Wolf leaps out of the house into the swamp. The family goes back to their rooms, but before long, Grady hears howling coming from the swamp again. In the light of the full moon, Grady can make out a four-legged creature in the shadows below his window. The creature leaves something resembling a rag at the foot of the deer pen and leaves. Grady goes down to get a closer look and sees a chewed up rabbit. The next morning, after breakfast, Grady takes his father to see the dead rabbit. Wolf shows up and gently licks the kid's face. Emily is convinced that Wolf killed the rabbit and begs their father to get rid of the dog. Grady tells her she has no proof that the dog killed the bunny. Emily says there's no proof he didn't either. Will shows up and tells Grady that a neighbor, Mr. Warner, has gone missing. Apparently Mr. Warner left early the day before to go turkey hunting in the swamp and never returned. A voice from behind them suggests that a werewolf did it. That voice belongs to a redhead named Cassie, the weird girl Will mentioned. Will tells her to shut up, that what she's saying is stupid. Cassie presses the issue and tries to convince Grady that the howls can only be made by a werewolf that has made a fresh kill. Cassie freaks out when she sees the Swamp Hermit in the distance, yells and points at him. The Swamp Hermit has a wild turkey slung over his shoulder, leading the kids to wonder if he swiped it from the missing Mr. Warner. The Swamp Hermit is close enough to hear these accusations and runs out of the swamp towards the kids, yelling "I'm the werewolf! I'm the werewolf!" over and over, cackling all the way. The other kids flee as the hermit grabs Grady's ankle, keeping him in place. The old man just cackles and waves at him with his free hand and tells Grady he was only playing. Wolf trots up and barely acknowledges the hermit, who lets Grady loose from his grip. The Swamp Hermit tells Grady to be careful about his dog and heads back to his shack. Then Grady gets bitten by a snake. Wolf leads Grady back to safety and he tells Will and Cassie, who've regrouped on his lawn, to get his parents. Cassie tells Grady's mom that he was bitten by a werewolf. Grady's mom puts an ice pack on Grady's ankle and jokingly tells him that his father is a werewolf and that she shaves his back every day so he'll look normal. Grady persists that a werewolf could be responsible for the events in the swamp, like the howls. The mother replies that a lot of things howl in the swamp, even Grady when he got bitten. Dr. Tucker tells Grady that since the moon will only be full for two more days, they'll know after that whether or not the howls came from a werewolf. Then he too starts laughing, as he said it to mock his son. The mom picks up a newspaper and shows her black newsprint hands to Grady and tells him it's hair that's grown on her palms. Emily suggests that the dog is the werewolf. Cassie and Will come over that night to eat and after dinner Grady sits with the two as they trade barbs about just who in this book is the werewolf. This quickly turns into the two just calling each other names while Grady watches. Then each accuses the other of being the werewolf. Lying in bed, trying to sleep, Grady hears the howls from outside again. Then he hears a commotion below his window again. This time when he goes to investigate, he finds that something has broken into the deer pen and killed one of the six "swamp deer", the other five deer huddled together in their pen, away from the gaping hole in the metal. Grady calls his dad down from the lawn to see the corpse. Dr. Tucker patches the pen with a piece of cardboard. After dragging the dead deer to his workshop, Dr. Tucker tells his son that clearly his dog is a killer. Grady's father tells him that tomorrow morning, he's taking the dog to the pound to be killed. The next morning, Grady's dad tries to take Wolf to the pound but Grady tells his dog to run away and it does. Grady's dad tells him that was dumb, because the dog is bound to come back, and when it does, he's going to take it to be killed. Wolf manages to stay out of sight all day and it isn't until late that night that Grady spots him from his bedroom window, lingering at the swamp clearing. Grady goes down to greet his dog and runs into Will. Will claims to have heard the howls and was trying to investigate when he ran into Grady. The two boys spot Wolf, who has edged back into the swamp. Grady runs after him, losing Will in the process. Following his dog, Grady ends up at the Swamp Hermit's hut. He hears the horrible howling coming from near the shack and he realizes the hermit was the werewolf. But soon discovers Will is the Werewolf, not the hermit, after seeing Will slowly transform into a wolf under the full moon. Will attacks Grady, Luckily, Wolf comes and fights off Will driving him away and saving Grady's life. But, Grady eventually passes out. When he comes to, he finds himself safely inside his own home. Grady's dad tells him that the Swamp Hermit found him and carried him home, and that he also saw Wolf fight off a large creature to save Grady's life. Grady's dad submits that they can keep the dog. After listening to Grady's werewolf story, Dr. Tucker figures he might as well try to see if his son could be telling the truth, so he goes to visit Will's house. He finds the house is empty, abandoned, as though no one had lived there for months. Grady is so happy that he got to keep Wolf around because the dog makes for an excellent companion on nights when the full moon is out as Grady becomes a werewolf as he roams around the Fever Swamp area with Wolf. It also suggests that the cap of forest service that Will wears is the cap of the officers that may have come to the swamp and were killed by Will. |
4762459 | /m/0cl_pz | The Unteleported Man | Philip K. Dick | 1966 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | A new teleportation technology makes travel by spaceship obsolete. A new colony, Whale's Mouth, has been the destination for forty million emigrants, but it is a one way trip - teleportation back to Earth is supposedly impossible. The only way to return is by spaceship, an eighteen-year journey for passengers who are subjected to a limited form of suspended animation. Rachmael ben Applebaum, whose spaceship business has been ruined by teleportation, decides to make the journey to Whale's Mouth in his own craft, the Omphalos. Driven by a powerful hunch that the utopian vision may be false, he chooses to make the trip the old-fashioned way in case some of the colonists wish to return. Powerful figures oppose his journey. Lies, Inc., the expanded version of The Unteleported Man, includes a new first chapter and about one hundred pages of additional exposition. This previously unpublished material begins in Chapter 8 with the phrase, "Acrid smoke billowed about him, stinging his nostrils." What then ensues is a truly horrific drug trip, described in excruciating detail, that Rachmael endures after arriving at his destination and being hit by an LSD-tipped dart. The expansion material finally terminates in Chapter 16 just before the repeated phrase, "Acrid smoke billowed about him, stinging his nostrils." Confusion may arise in the reader, however, over Dick's attributing at least part of the perceptual chaos to a deliberately incorporated effect of the teleportation process. Circumstances had forced Rachmael to abandon his original plans and to journey to Newcolonizedland via energy transfer instead. Sinister modifications to the "Telpor" technology apparently cause its victims to experience a variety of so-called "paraworlds" which are thought to actually exist, somehow, as viable alternate realities. Participants are fearful that consensus or agreement amongst themselves as to the paraworlds' descriptions could somehow cause one or the other paraworld to manifest itself ever more aggressively until eventually displacing the current reality-paradigm altogether. And Rachmael's own paraworld experience is said to be the worst one of all. The novel in its current form is itself a tangled, chaotic jumble of interactions, perceptions and jump-cuts that leave the reader nearly as bewildered as Rachmael ben Applebaum himself. And the supremely anti-climactic resolution makes one wonder, whether Dick intended it or not, if there weren't possibly a more satisfying ending lurking about somewhere earlier in the story. |
4764557 | /m/0cm327 | The Steep Approach to Garbadale | Iain Banks | 2007 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Alban McGill, a member of the Wopuld family, has sold most of his shares in the family firm, and resigned from his job in the company to become a forester, but has had to retire on medical grounds because of white finger. He is distracted from affairs of business by his relations with his family and with his teenage love, his first cousin Sophie. McGill is approached by another cousin, Fielding, to help prevent the sale of the family company to the American Spraint Corporation. He also seeks a resolution of certain questions about his family background, and closure of his relationship with Sophie. Much of the book is a build-up to the Extraordinary General Meeting which will decide on the sale, which takes place at the family estate at Garbadale in Sutherland. His current girlfriend, mathematician Verushka Graef, is a hillwalker, and near the end of the book Alban goes for a walk in the hills to think. On his return he takes the steep approach back to Garbadale. Significant portions of the action are set in California, Singapore and Hong Kong, as McGill reminisces about his world travels during his gap year. His mother's suicide is described in detail, as is his relationship with the family matriarch, Grandma Win. Banks takes the opportunity, as in Dead Air and Raw Spirit, to make points about the morality and wisdom of the War on Terror, when McGill meets representatives of the American capitalists who wish to acquire the family game symbolising the British Empire. The book has intermittent contributions from McGill's friend and ex-colleague Tango, who lives in a council estate in Perth. |
4765245 | /m/0cm43p | Among the Impostors | Margaret Haddix | 5/1/2001 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The general plot revolves around an allegedly overpopulated world and the Government’s Procrustean attempts to arrest the symptoms of population growth and scarcity amongst the Earth's resources. In this turmoil, the democratic government has been overthrown and a totalitarian Government has been put in its place. Laws established by the regime prohibit a family from having more than two children (any more will be killed). Luke Garner, an illegal third child living with a fake ID, is going by the alias Lee Grant at the Hendricks School for Boys. Lee Grant was killed while skiing down a mountain so no one knows that he was gone except for his family. He is at first confused and paranoid, as well as treated brutally by his roommates, mainly the boy he comes to call "Jackal Boy". Eventually, Luke begins sneaking out of the school to do things, and tries to plant his own garden in the woods. This brings him great happiness and a sense that he belongs. When his garden is trampled, he realizes that other people are going outside, including Jackal Boy. He reveals himself to them, finding out that they are other illegals as well. The leader, Scott Renault (whose real name is Jason Barstow) otherwise known as Jackal Boy, is outwardly a huge admirer of Jen Talbot, Luke's only friend who died at a rally for third children's rights. However, the later part of the book reveals that he is a Population Police operative and is trying to get the group's real names only to betray them. Luke is accepted into Jason's group, but is still too frightened to give his real name. He learns more and more about Hendricks School, but never learns what his schedule is until he is asked about "finals" by Jason. He then is told that he has to take his semester final tests, and that his results will be sent to his fake parents, the Grants, who happen to be Barons, and one of the richest and most powerful people in the country. When awoken one night, he realizes Jason is gone, and Luke while looking for him happens to overhear a phone conversation of Jason's, where he is talking to a Population Police officer. Luke finally realizes who Jason really is and attacks him with a history book, causing the phone to get disconnected, and knocks Jason out when Jason's head hits the stairs. He comes up with a cover story for the Population Police officer at the other end and gets Jason down to the nurse's office. He calls Mr. Talbot, a double agent working with Population Police, and convinces him to come to Hendricks. When another officer comes, Mr. Talbot convinces them that Jason is lying about the third children and has Jason arrested along with Nina, his "accomplice" at the nearby Harlow's School for Girls, even though she has done nothing. Luke is later given the choice to leave the school, but he decides to stay at Hendricks and help the other third children. |
4765358 | /m/0cm49l | Pedro Páramo | Juan Rulfo | 1955 | null | The novel is set in the town of Comala, considered to be Comala in the Mexican state of Colima. The story begins with the first person account of Juan Preciado, who promises his mother at her deathbed that he will return to Comala to meet his father, Pedro Páramo. Juan suggests that he did not intend to keep this promise until he was overtaken by subjective visions of his mother. His narration is fragmented and interspersed with fragments of dialogue from the life of his father, who lived in a time when Comala was a robust, living town, instead of the ghost town it has become. Juan encounters one person after another in Comala, each of whom he perceives to be dead. Midway through the novel, Preciado dies. From this point on most of the stories happen in the time of Pedro Páramo. Most of the characters in Juan's narration (Dolores Preciado, Eduviges Dyada, Abundio Martínez, Susana San Juan, and Damiana Cisneros) are presented in the omniscient narration, but much less subjectively. The two major competing narrative voices present alternative visions of Comala, one living and one full of the spirits of the dead. The omniscient narration provides details of the life of Pedro Páramo, from his early youthful idealization of Susana San Juan, his rise to power upon his coming of age, his tyrannical abuses and womanizing, and, finally, his death. Pedro is cruel, and though he raises one of his illegitimate sons, Miguel Páramo (whose mother dies giving birth), he does not love him. He does not love his father (who dies when Pedro is a child), or either of his two wives. His only love, established from a very young age, is that of Susana San Juan, a childhood friend who leaves Comala with her father at a young age. Pedro Páramo bases all of his decisions on, and puts all of his attention into trying to get Susana San Juan to come back to Comala. When she finally returns, Pedro makes her his, but she constantly mourns her dead husband Florencio, and spends her time sleeping and dreaming about him. Pedro realizes that Susana San Juan belongs to a different world that he will never understand. When she dies the church bells toll incessantly, provoking a fiesta in Comala. Pedro buries his only true love, and angry at the indifference of the town, swears vengeance. As the most politically and economically influential person in the town, Pedro crosses his arms and refuses to continue working, and the town dies of hunger. This is why in Juan's narration, we see a dead, dry Comala, instead of the luscious place it was when Pedro Páramo was a boy. |
4768212 | /m/0cm8q0 | Not Quite Dead Enough | Rex Stout | null | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/028v3": "Detective fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Archie has recently joined the Army and is now Major Goodwin. His high rank, as a rookie GI, reflects the fact that the Army recognizes and is making use of his civilian expertise by assigning him to domestic (counter) intelligence, specifically a unit based back in New York City, where Archie lived with his erstwhile boss Nero Wolfe before enlisting. Since most of his civilian investigations had been done with Nero Wolfe, the Army also wishes to have Wolfe do intelligence investigations, but Wolfe thinks he didn't kill enough Germans in the previous war and so is more intent on joining the army as a soldier, not intelligence officer. To this end, pleas from the Pentagon to this effect have been ignored, and indeed the whole household routine Wolfe is (in)famous for has already been abandoned during Archie's short absence favor of strict adherence to wartime rations (inconsistent with gourmet dining) and losing weight, which Wolfe and Fritz Brenner (the live-in cook/chef) attempt by morning exercises on the west river banks, while letters not to mention mountains of other correspondence pile up in the previously tidy office/study in the brownstone. As ludricous as the whole setup might seem, even Goodwin, when he arrives back in New York from Washington to discover it, is unable to budge Wolfe, at least at first. Meanwhile, on the (scarce) flight back to New York from Washington, Archie has annoyed wealthy and beautiful Lily Rowan, whom he met earlier in Some Buried Caesar and with whom he has the beginnings of a romance, because he has no time for her, even though she has gone to great lengths to get the seat next to his. Lily, by way of counterattack as much as anything, asks him to look into a problem a girl-friend of hers is having. Archie, having assessed the grim situation at Wolfe's brownstone, seizes an opportunity to be doing something useful, even if he isn't directly carrying out his assignment from the Pentagon. Archie (who tells this story as he does all Wolfe stories), likes Lily but wants to be in control, and in an impish assertion of independence he takes Lily's friend to the Flamingo nightclub as part of his "investigation", causing Lily to storm home in a mild fit of jealousy. But soon she asks Archie's help in a bigger problem: her friend is dead. After rushing to the scene, Archie decides to implicate himself in the crime and get his picture in the paper, reasoning that getting him out of jail is no more foolish a war effort for Wolfe than pathetic dockside exercises. In the end, Archie carries out his assignment from the Pentagon (despite having his picture in the paper as a murder suspect), Lily gets herself a boyfriend, and Wolfe solves the underlying crime, but not without teaching both Lily and Archie a thing or two about the consequences of mixing business with romance. |
4768693 | /m/0cm9fd | Preserver | Judith Reeves-Stevens | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Kirk's Mirror Universe double, has risen to power as the evil Emperor Tiberius. This alternate universe version has failed in his quest to learn the secrets of the advanced 'First Federation'. Tiberius tries to intervene in Kirk's universe to learn the secrets of its version of the First. To complicate matters, Kirk's wife Teilani is deathly ill, a situation Tiberius gleefully takes advantage of in order to secure Kirk's assistance. |
4768772 | /m/0cm9j5 | Second Thoughts | Michel Butor | null | null | The plot is quite straightforward: a middle-aged man takes the train in Paris to visit his lover, Cécile - whom he has not informed of his arrival - in Rome. They have met in secret once a month for the past two years i.e. each time that his business trips have taken him to the Italian capital. He now intends to tell her that he has finally decided to leave his wife, found a job for her (Cécile) in Paris and is ready to take her back there and live with her. The novel describes his gradual change of mind. His initial enthusiasm and hopes of a rejuvenating new start slowly give way to doubt, fear and cowardice. He eventually decides to spend the week-end in Rome alone, go back to Paris the following Monday without telling anything to Cécile and leave the situation as it was until their relationship eventually ends. He will write about this failure in a book which happens to be "La Modification" itself. |
4769036 | /m/0cm9yc | The Pink Swastika | Scott Lively | 1995 | null | According to the authors, homosexuality found in the Nazi Party contributed to the extreme militarism of Nazi Germany. The title of the book, as well as the book itself, is a reference to a book by Richard Plant called The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals, a book detailing homophobia in the Nazi Party and the homosexual victims of Nazism. Lively and Abrams also take up the subject of Nazism in America and discuss the Boy Scouts. The book states that many leaders in the German Nazi regime, including Adolf Hitler himself, were homosexual and says that eight of the top ten serial killers in the US were homosexuals. One significant research source for the writing of The Pink Swastika was the book, Germany's National Vice, written by Samuel Igra, and Scott Lively refers to it as "the 1945 version of The Pink Swastika." |
4769455 | /m/0cmbs8 | Portal Through Time | Alice Henderson | 10/24/2006 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | An artifact has been forged which enables time-travelling spells while it remains in Sunnydale. A group of vampire-assassins are travelling into the past in an attempt to kill previous Slayers, and disrupt the Slayer lineage. They are led by the spellcaster Lucien, whose aim is to ensure that Buffy does not interfere with the ascension of the Master. When they discover that killing Buffy in the past merely changes the way in which the Master is killed. Frustrated, they decide to go further back. When Buffy becomes aware of their plans, the vampires have already left and she is forced to follow them into the past. With Giles, Willow and Xander, she travels to first-century Anglesey in Wales where a Druidic stronghold is being invaded by Romans. Next they travel to Uruk in ancient Sumer where they encounter Gilgamesh. Xander inadvertently arouses a plague god, and Willow accidentally summons a snake-demon while trying to banish the god. Then they return to the American Civil War period, where they find themselves in the middle of the Battle of Shiloh. They destroy many vampires feeding on the soldiers. Finally they head for Paris during the French Revolution where they witness executions on the guillotine and meet Angelus and Darla. |
4769845 | /m/0cmclj | Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon | Daniel Dennett | 2006 | {"/m/0dh53": "Literary criticism"} | The book is divided into three parts. Part I discusses the motivation and justification for the entire project: Can science study religion? Should science study religion? After answering in the affirmative, Part II proceeds to use the tools of evolutionary biology and memetics to suggest possible theories regarding the origin of religion and subsequent evolution of modern religions from ancient folk beliefs. Part III analyzes religion and its effects in today's world: Does religion make us moral? Is religion what gives meaning to life? What should we teach the children? Dennett bases much of his analysis on empirical evidence, though he often points out that much more research in this field is needed. Dennett's working definition of religions is: "social systems whose participants avow belief in a supernatural agent or agents whose approval is to be sought." He notes that this definition is "a place to start, not something carved in stone." |
4771728 | /m/0cmg_w | Night Frost | R. D. Wingfield | 1992 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery"} | A serial killer is terrorizing the senior citizens of Denton, and the local police are succumbing to a flu epidemic. Tired and demoralized, the force has to contend with a seemingly perfect young couple suffering arson attacks and death threats, a suspicious suicide, burglaries, pornographic videos, poison-pen letters... In uncertain charge of the investigations is Detective Inspector Jack Frost, crumpled, slapdash and foul-mouthed as ever. He tries to cope despite inadequate back-up, but there is never enough time; the unsolved crimes pile up and the vicious killings go on. So Frost has to cut corners and take risks, knowing that his Divisional Commander will throw him to the wolves if anything goes wrong. And for Frost, things always go wrong... |
4773349 | /m/0cmljb | Lessons from a Sheep Dog | W. Phillip Keller | 1983 | null | Keller a beginning sheep rancher in British Columbia when he came upon Lass, an unwanted, abused border collie. He took her home and worked with her. Through his loving care she began to soften and eventually became a wonderful, helpful, and obedient sheep dog. |
4773747 | /m/0cmm8r | Clans of the Alphane Moon | Philip K. Dick | 1964 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | War between Earth and insectoid-dominated Alpha III ended over a decade ago. (According to the novel, "Alphane" refers to the nearest star to our own system, Alpha Centauri). Some years after the end of hostilities, Earth intends to secure its now independent colony in the Alphane system, Alpha III M2. As a former satellite-based global psychiatric institution for colonists on other Alphane system worlds unable to cope with the stresses of colonisation, the inhabitants of Alpha III M2 have lived peacefully for years. But, under the pretence of a medical mission, Earth intends to take their colony back. Against this background, Chuck Rittersdorf and his wife Mary are separating. Although they think they are going their separate ways, they soon find themselves together again on Alpha III M2. Mary travels there through government work, Chuck sees it as a chance to kill Mary using his remote control simulacrum. Along the way he is guided by his Ganymedean slime mold neighbour Lord Running Clam and Mary finds herself manipulated by the Alphane sympathiser, comedian Bunny Hentman. |
4774263 | /m/0cmm_0 | The Houses of Iszm | Jack Vance | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The inhabitants of a planet called Iszm, a species known as the Iszic, have evolved the native giant trees into living homes, with all needs and various luxuries supplied by the trees' own natural growth. The Iszic maintain a jealously-guarded monopoly, exporting only enough trees to keep prices high and make a great profit. The protagonist, Ailie Farr, is a human botanist who goes to Iszm (like many others before him, of many species) to steal a female tree, which might allow the propagation of the species off world and break the monopoly. |
4777482 | /m/0cmt6c | Small Steps | Louis Sachar | 1/10/2006 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Two years after his release from Camp Green Lake, Theodore "Armpit" Johnson is living in Austin, Texas trying to build a stable lifestyle by digging trenches and caring for his neighbor Ginny McDonald, a ten-year-old girl with cerebral palsy. While working at the mayor's home, he is approached by Rex "X-Ray" Washburn, one of his friends from Camp Green Lake, who wants Armpit to loan him money for a ticket scalping scheme for an upcoming concert by teen pop star Kaira DeLeon. Armpit agrees, and at first the scheme seems to go as planned. Meanwhile, Armpit develops a crush on a girl at his summer school, Tatiana. He asks X-Ray to give him the last two tickets to the concert, so he can take Tatiana on a date. At first X-Ray is unwilling because he already has a buyer for the tickets, but eventually he agrees to give them to Armpit. Later, Tatiana says she unable to come to the concert, and Armpit decides to take Ginny instead. When the remaining tickets are discovered to be counterfeit, Armpit is beaten and handcuffed by the police while Ginny has a seizure. Here, the mayor - who remembers Armpit from the landscaping work Armpit did for her - intervenes; and singer Kaira DeLeon, upon discovering the situation, invites Armpit and Ginny to watch her from backstage. After the concert, they join her to share ice cream. The next day, X-Ray visits Armpit, and reveals that he had made the counterfeit tickets, selling the genuine ones to the buyer. He gives Armpit the money gained by selling the missing genuine tickets. After a few days, Armpit receives a love letter from Kaira. Some time afterward, Detective Debbie Newberg of the Austin Police Department questions Armpit about the counterfeit tickets; where upon Armpit invents a culprit to avert suspicion from himself and X-Ray. Later still, Armpit is invited to San Francisco by Kaira; but is accosted by ticket sellers Felix and Moses, who beat X-Ray and threaten to expose both boys to the police unless Armpit gives them the letter that Kaira sent earlier. Having agreed to do so, Armpit meets Kaira in San Francisco. He tries to explain the counterfeit tickets and how he has to sell her love letter. He asks her if she will write another love letter, so he can sell it. Kaira believes Armpit is after her money and does not care about her as a person. This results in an argument which ends by Kaira throwing coffee all over Armpit[this was set in China Town], then storming away. Meanwhile, her business manager Jerome "El Genius" Paisley, Kaira's step-father and manager, plots to kill Kaira and frame Armpit for the murder; but is prevented by Armpit. Jerome is jealous and angry because Kaira plans to fire him when she turns eighteen, in two months. Jerome attacks Kaira and although she ends up seriously hurt, she survives. Armpit suffered a broken arm in the fight and Fred, Kaira's bodyguard is severely hurt as well, and having tried to save Kaira from getting hurt, he got stabbed. Paisley goes to jail. Kaira later recovers, though is told she cannot sing again. Armpit arrives home and is visited one last time by Detective Newberg. She informs him that this case of counterfeit tickets is closing. She also informs him she knows the truth, because she put 2 and 2 together and got 4.'Later on, Armpit hears Kaira is still able to sing, albeit weakly. She sings a song accompanied only by a piano about her and Armpit's relationship. Armpit is touched by this. He accepts his life can't revolve around Kaira DeLeon and decides to continue with his plan of taking small steps towards making a better life for himself.. |
4777848 | /m/02wvc45 | The Other | K. A. Applegate | 2000-03 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The Animorphs meet survivors of Elfangor's Dome Ship, the GalaxyTree. One Andalite called Gafinilan-Estrif-Valad suffers from a genetic disease called Soola's Disease while the other, Mertil-Iscar-Elmand, is crippled, or a vecol, as Ax puts it, missing half of his tail. Gafinilan attacks Marco when he gets too close to the human home he owns, while Ax comes to his defense. Both enter his home and Gafinilan asks to meet Ax's prince, not realizing his "prince" is human, as Visser Three had captured Mertil and had offered his release only if Gafinilan brought him a healthy adult Andalite (as Mertil was a vecol, and Visser Three discovered through Mertil that Gafinilan had a fatal disease, rendering them both as useless, in the Visser's perspective). The Animorphs assume that since Soola's Disease is genetic, and the only 'cure' is for Gafinilan to acquire and morph another Andalite, this is the reason why Gafinilan wanted to meet Ax's "prince", not wanting to acquire Ax himself because he would prefer to morph the adult Andalite he believes Jake is, as Ax's body would take too long to reach physical maturity. Jake agrees to meet with him, with the intention of laying a trap for Gafinilan, and they overpower him by force of numbers. When they tell Gafinilan what they assumed his plan was, he is shocked at the mere thought, as Andalites consider using morphing to escape an illness as an act of cowardice. He confesses his real intentions, justifying his attempt at betraying one of his own kind by saying he cares deeply about his friend Mertil, and he did what he was told to do by the Visser in order to ensure Mertil's safety. Although still skeptical of Gafinilan's motives, they join forces with him and help rescue Mertil from Visser Three. Ax, who is so far in the series seen as an honourable character, shows his open disapproval of Mertil and the thought that he should be treated with as much respect as other Andalites, on the grounds that he is disabled, which may have been a trait he picked up from his Andalite upbringing, as Andalites as a whole are shown in this book to not take their handicapped kind seriously. However, when Marco accuses his kind of being unfeeling, Ax points out that humans are similarly flawed, as people with handicaps are often pushed away from the limelight and kept hidden away in hospitals and institutions, instead of being allowed to live the kind of life they would have had, were they not disabled. The softer side of Marco's personality is also shown in this book, as he shows concern about how Mertil, a morph-incapable Andalite, would survive in a human world once his friend Gafinilan succumbs to his illness and passes away. He visits Mertil at the end of the book and offers his support and company, should Mertil ever feel he needed it. Although he fears that Mertil might regard his offer as impertinent, as Andalites are a proud race that do not like to be seen as vulnerable, Mertil thanks him, and appears to consider his offer. |
4778951 | /m/0cmwl0 | The Stone Carvers | Jane Urquhart | null | {"/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | In the mid-19th century, Father Gstir is sent from Bavaria to Canada to minister to German-Catholic communities. He is drawn to Shoneval, a farming town situated in a valley in Ontario, and is determined to build a stone church with a bell. Joseph Becker, a master woodcarver, helps him. Later, Becker tries to pass on his carving skills to his grandson, Tilman, but the boy is unenthusiastic. Tilman suffers from constant restlessness and is unable to stay in one place, often running away from the settlement for weeks at a time. Aged 12 he leaves for good. Becker's granddaughter, Klara, by contrast, is eager to learn the carving trade and Becker reluctantly teaches her. Klara falls in love with Eamon, the silent son of an Irish family, but she is hurt when he leaves her to fight in World War I. After he is reported as 'missing' Klara is devastated, and attempts to shut out her memory of him and her emotions, and lives the life of a spinster. After leaving home, Tilman spends several years as a hobo on the roads and rails. He eventually meets up with a tramp named Refuto, who had left home because he felt guilty for indirectly killing his brother. Later, Refuto decides to try returning home, fearful that his family will not forgive his wrongs. Refuto brings Tilman with him to the Italian district of Hamilton; Tilman befriends Refuto's son Giorgio and lives with the family for a time. But when war comes Tilman serves in the trenches of France, where he is 'injured out' after losing his leg in battle at Vimy Ridge. Aged in his 40s, Tilman returns to Shoneval, and Klara is reunited with the brother who had been assumed dead years ago. She becomes determined to travel to France with Tilman to help carve the massive Vimy Memorial being built by Walter Allward. After overcoming her brother's reluctance they travel to France and start work on the monument, Klara disguised as a man. After some weeks, and without permission, Klara sculpts Eamon's face on a key statue on the top of the memorial. Despite his initial anger, Allward sees how the change personalises and enhances the monument. He retains the alteration. Klara falls in love with Giorgio, who is also working on the monument, and for the first time since Eamon's death she opens up her emotions. Tilman also opens himself up to physical intimacy for the first time, with a war-wounded French chef. The novel ends with the imposing memorial completed, Allward all but forgotten, and Klara and Tilman now leading emotionally fulfilling lives with their partners in Canada, having memorialised the people they knew who had been taken by the war. |
4779699 | /m/0cmy36 | 44 Scotland Street | Alexander McCall Smith | 2004 | {"/m/02x35fs": "Serial", "/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction"} | The novel tells the story of Pat, a student during her second gap year and a source of some worry to her parents, who is accepted as a new tenant at 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh's New Town, and her various roommates and neighbours. She falls in love with her narcissistic flatmate Bruce, meets the intriguing and opinionated anthropologist Domenica MacDonald and her friend Angus, and works at an art gallery for Matthew, who was given the gallery as a sinecure position by his wealthy father. While working at the gallery Pat points out to Matthew (who knows almost nothing about art) that one of their paintings looks as if it could be a work of Samuel Peploe. After the gallery is broken into Matthew asks Pat to store the painting at their flat until they can check whether it's a genuine Peploe, however Bruce gives the painting to a raffle run by the South Edinburgh Conservative Association. Matthew and Pat eventually track it down to the novelist Ian Rankin who gives it back to them. The other major storyline is that of five-year-old Bertie, who is controlled by his pretentious and intellectual mother Irene - he has Grade Six on the saxophone, speaks fluent Italian, and is extremely knowledgeable about various subjects. After he is expelled from his nursery school Irene sends him to psychotherapy with Dr Fairbairn, who constantly misinterprets Bertie's simple wish to be a normal five-year-old boy on Oedipal and Freudian lines. Smith followed the original serial novel with another series set in Edinburgh, The Sunday Philosophy Club Series. The story of the characters in 44 Scotland Street is continued in his serialized novel Espresso Tales. |
4783792 | /m/0cn491 | The Bishop's Mantle | Agnes Sligh Turnbull | 1948-12 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Hilary struggles to be a worthy replacement of his High Church predecessor, yet bring new meaning to his ministry, and cope with a persistent attempt of various persons to involve him in scandal, owing to the prominence of Lex's family. At one point he delivers a striking mid-week sermon to young men (who could not ordinarily attend services on Sunday since they have not rented pews!), and begins to read the following passage from Proverbs Chapter 7 (selective, some verses left out): :My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. That they may keep the from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, and beheld among the youths, a young man devoid of understanding, pasing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night; and behold there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot and subtil of heart. So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning. Let us solace ourselves with loves. For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey. This passage, which seems to say there is a place, after all, for romance in the life of a pious man, was revolutionary to read aloud, even though it is straight from the King James Bible. While Hilary deals with his pastoral issues at home, events on the world stage are darkening by the hour. His brother Dick, in particular, even though the American involvement has not started, volunteers for ambulance service in Europe, and late in the novel four fateful things come together * Dick's death in the war zone * Reconciliation of Hilary with Lex after a period of conflict * Lex's pregnancy * Pearl Harbor, bringing in turn ** gradual disappearance of the young men inspired by the sermon from Proverbs into the Army ** Hilary's final prayer where he admits out loud, at least to God, what has been troubling him ever since Pearl Harbor and his brother's death: "The young men of the church are going. The young men of the Parish House (orphanage) are going. I too am a young man .... I will be leaving ... my wife, ... it may be my unborn child. I will be leaving my work ...." but this is not a gloomy thought: :The sadness, the strain and the fear went out of it. It was though he had arrived at peace. But few readers today will be able to sustain that attitude: it a moment of consummate sadness, not only for Hilary but for a whole generation of men. |
4784440 | /m/0cn5p4 | Hornblower and the Crisis | C. S. Forester | 1967 | {"/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Hornblower has just finished his tour blockading Brest in command of the Royal Navy sloop Hotspur. As he travels back to England for his next assignment, he is asked to participate in the court martial of Hotspur's new captain and officers. Hotspur ran aground and was lost the day after Hornblower turned over command. Following the court martial, the officers travel back to England with Hornblower. On their way, they are pursued by a French brig, which they engage and disable. During the battle, Hornblower boards the brig and finds important papers in the French captain's quarters. Back in England, he travels to the Admiralty with the documents. He arrives at the same time as the disappointing news that the French fleet under Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve has escaped into Ferrol, Spain after an indecisive engagement. Hornblower presents a daring plan to the Secretary of the Navy, to send false orders to Villeneuve, made possible because the papers brought by Hornblower include an example of Napoleon Bonaparte's new signature. The orders are to draw Villeneuve out of a safe harbour and into a decisive engagement with Admiral Nelson. The unfinished book stops at the point where Hornblower is persuaded to attempt the mission himself. Notes left by CS Forster indicate that Hornblower would carry out the mission accompanied by South American revolutionary Francisco de Miranda, with Hornblower posing as his servant. They deliver the false orders to Villeneuve without arousing suspicion, prompting him to take his fleet to sea; this ultimately leads the destruction of the Franco–Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. This book also includes two short-stories, "Hornblower and the Widow McCool"(a.k.a. "Hornblower’s Temptation"), set early in Hornblower's career, and "The Last Encounter", set at the very end. sv:Hornblower och hans samvete |
4784658 | /m/0cn63b | A Daughter of Heth | William Black | 1871 | null | Catherine Cassilis, known as Coquette, born in France and orphaned by the recent death of her father, comes to Airlie near Saltcoats in Southern Scotland, to live with her uncle, the Minister. Her Catholic upbringing brings her into immediate conflict with the sternly Presbyterian household, and she quickly seeks sympathy and friendship with the more free-spirited nobleman, Lord Earlshope. During a yachting trip around western Scotland Earlshope makes a half-hearted confession of his love to Coquette (which she reciprocates), although he is already married, but estranged from his wife. But when this wife is seen in Glasgow, and his secret is exposed, Earlshope abandons Coquette and disappears. In due course Coquette accepts the marriage proposal of her devoted cousin Tom "the Whaup", although she does not truly love him. Their wedding is to be delayed until Tom has completed his medical studies. The crisis comes suddenly. Earlshope returns unexpectedly and meets Coquette: he begs her to run off to America with him and she agrees. But on the night of the planned elopement Earlshope's boat is run down in a storm and he is drowned. Coquette believes he has left for America without her. It is only after her marriage to Tom that Coquette finally learns the truth. She persuades her husband to drive her to Saltcoats to look at her lover's grave—the sea. Shortly after she collapses and within a few short weeks, she too is dead. |
4784676 | /m/0cn65r | Spindle's End | Robin McKinley | 2000-05 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | In McKinley's version of the classic fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty, a wicked fairy named Pernicia appears on the princess' name-day and places a curse on the baby, claiming that the child will, on her 21st birthday, prick her finger on a spindle and fall into deathly sleep. The cursed princess is rescued on her name-day and secretly taken away by a young fairy, Katriona, to her village, a town called Foggy Bottom, located in the damp and swampy section of the country known as The Gig. There Katriona and her aunt (affectionately known as Aunt) raise the princess as an ordinary village maiden, naming her Rosie after the last of the princess' twenty-one names. Throughout the book, Rosie grows from a headstrong, stubborn child into an intelligent and courageous young woman. With the help of a rare talent--beast-speech, a small bit of magic unknowingly passed on from Katriona--and the silent encouragement of the town's taciturn blacksmith, Narl, Rosie becomes a talented and well-known horse leech, more inclined to wear breeches and whittle spindle ends than wear dresses and practice embroidery, as her more lady-like friend Peony does. However, when Rosie is 20 years old, Ikor, a mysterious powerful fairy, appears and reveals to Rosie that she is actually the country's hidden princess, and announces a plan to defeat Pernicia: a spell will be cast over Peony and Rosie which switches their identities, but only until Rosie turns 21 and Pernicia's spell is broken. In addition to the magic that infuses almost every aspect of the book, Spindle's End deals with the importance of family love, especially that between Rosie, Katriona, and Aunt, (and, later, the love between these people and Katriona's husband and children, as the family grows) but also of Rosie's mother, the Queen, who longs for her lost daughter. Peony, Rosie's best friend, has a deep need to be loved and accepted by a family, because her adoptive parents don't care for her in the same way Rosie's adoptive family cares for her. Animals also play a central role in the book. Animals of various kinds help Katriona get Rosie to The Gig, a journey of about three months, and animals assist in the final defeat of Pernicia. Despite not being a sequel, it is implied that this book is set in the same world as McKinley's Damar books; at one point Damar and the character of Harimad-sol are mentioned as historical events, though from a different country. |
4786812 | /m/0cn97v | March | Geraldine Brooks | 2005 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Mr. March, an abolitionist and chaplain, is driven by his conscience to leave his home and family in Concord, Massachusetts, in order to participate in the war. During this time, March writes letters to his family, but withholds the true extent of the brutality and injustices he witnesses on and off the battlefields. He suffers from a prolonged illness stemming from poor conditions on a cotton farm in Virginia. While in hospital he has an unexpected meeting with Grace, an intelligent and literate black nurse whom he first met as a young man staying in a large house where she was a slave. The recovering March, despite his guilt and grief over his survival when others have perished, returns home to his wife and Little Women, but has been scarred by the events he has gone through. The novel accurately reflects Bronson Alcott's principles, notably his belief that boys and girls of all races had a right to education, and his wish to follow a vegetarian diet. It presents the young Mrs March as a fiery character with strong verbal and physical expressions of anger. |
4791414 | /m/0cnhlb | We All Fall Down | Eric Walters | 2006-03 | {"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"} | Will Fuller, a grade nine student, is in history class with his best friend James Bennett. As the class comes to an end, James tells the class how he will be going with his dad, a firefighter, to work tomorrow while Will is dreading tomorrow as he must go with his distant dad, John Fuller, who he describes to be never home due to work, to his office on the 85th floor at the South World Trade Centre Tower. Early next morning, Will finds himself commuting to his dad's office via car and subway. They meet some of John's friends there. Will later learns that everyone had their own "seat" that they sit in the same place every single day. When they finally arrive, Will is overwhelmed by the sight of the World Trade Center, but is still unsure of the day ahead of him. To his surprise, him and his dad first visit the Observation Deck before returning to their office a few stories down. Upon arriving at the office, Will is left with John's secretary, Suzie, where he is introduced to a colleague of his dad, Phil. Afterwards, he returns to his dad's room, where a sudden, loud noise rocks them. To their surprise, the North Tower has been hit by an airplane, and John, the fire Warden of the floor, orders the floor to evacuate despite their tower being intact. Reluctant at first, the employees eventually begin their way down the tower. As their office leaves, John goes around to other offices on the floor to evacuate the floor, but, one of the managers of one of the offices refuses to leave. As the argument between them become heated, an announcement states that it is not necessary for the tower to evacuate, and that workers may return to their offices. John and Will leave the office, and, despite the announcement, John decides to evacuate anyways. As they head towards the stair case, another sudden, loud noise rocks the building. Running back to the office, they realize that a plane has hit the South Tower. Realizing the danger of fire, John returns to his office and soaks a tie for both of them to use when they reach the stories with fire in the stair case. John also gives Will a whistle to use in case they'll become separated and instructs Will to blow the whistle should it ever happen. As they begin their journey down once again, they are suddenly stopped by a group of people heading up, instead of down, as they tell them that the stair case has been blocked, since the plane hit the levels beneath them, and that they will be heading up to await rescue. Not wanting to risk it, John decides to use another staircase, which is farther away from the crash site, to descent the building. As they descend down, the reach the stories where the crash happened, and finds it extremely difficult at it is extremely hot. Eventually making it through, they come across a level where they find an injured and trapped woman who speaks very little English. Although Will is reluctant at first to carry her down, and instead wants to leave her in the stair case after freeing her, John believes otherwise and carries her down the stairs. As Will realizes his father is becoming red a tired of carrying the woman, named Ting, he offers to alternate the job of carry her down. As they continue down, they eventually come across groups of firefighters, in which one of them they see James' dad. James' dad ask them to take his son home, as he does not want him to go home alone from the station, and they agree to do so. Afterwards, John admits that he did not spend enough time with Will and that he should have put his business aside to spend more time with Will and his mother. Eventually Will, John and Ting make it down the lobby, where paramedics attempt to take a look at Ting. Ting, however, scared, backs away from the paramedics and holds onto John. John says that he'll stay with Ting while she is looked at and will rendezvous with Will outside the tower near at the ambulances after the paramedics make an assessment of Ting's injuries. As Will leaves the building with an officer, he is suddenly blown to his feet on the streets outside the tower by a sudden force. Struggling to regain balance after failing and injuring his arm, he is suddenly taken back by the police officer, explaining that the South Tower has collapsed and they must leave for safety. Realizing that his dad is still in the building when the building collapsed, he turns and runs towards the building, only to be stopped by the police officer again. Suddenly remembering the whistle his father gave him, he frantically blows on it. In the distance, he sees figure resembling his dad and runs toward the figure. As he becomes closer, he confirms that it is in fact his father with Ting still on his back. Upon reuniting, John explains that they just stepped out of the building when the building collapsed. The story ends with Will stating "This is my father, now we can go." |
4792251 | /m/0cnk36 | A Gift From Earth | Larry Niven | 1968 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | Plateau, a colony in the Tau Ceti system, was settled by humans some 300 years before the plot begins. The colony world itself is a Venusian type planet with a dense, hot, poisonous atmosphere. It would be otherwise uninhabitable, except for a tall monolithic mesa that rises 40 miles up into a breathable layer in the upper atmosphere. This gives the planet a habitable area about half the size of California. The Captain of the first colony vessel named the feature Mount Lookitthat (from his interjection at first sight of it), and the colony became known as Plateau. After landing the slower-than-light ships, the Crew sign an agreement, called the Covenant of Planetfall, with their former passengers (who had just emerged from suspended animation and were in a weak bargaining position). This agreement gives the Crew (and their descendants in perpetuity) all control over the new colony. A system of medical care evolves, in which organ transplantation is the only method of treatment, even for cosmetic defects (such as baldness); a justice system evolves, with all crimes punishable by death, followed by involuntary donation of the decedent's transplantable organs (including skin, scalp, and teeth). Not surprisingly, only Colonists are ever arrested for crimes; and only Crew are eligible to receive transplants. Some Colonists become dissatisfied with the system and form a dissident group called the "Sons of Earth." The prologue of the story begins with a dissident Colonist escaping Implementation, the local police force, by jumping to his death over the "void edge", the 40 mile high cliff that forms the sides of the mesa. On Mount Lookitthat, all crimes are punished by being dissected for spare parts. Thus, this is considered to be the greatest of all possible crimes, as it leaves nothing to harvest. An automated Bussard ramjet arrives from Earth, carrying an unknown cargo of great importance, which the government immediately finds and conceals, but not before the cargo has been observed and photographed by Polly, an agent of the Sons of Earth. Meanwhile, Matthew Keller, an ordinary miner, gets casually invited to a party and is drawn into a conversation about psi powers. Matt strikes up a flirtatious conversation with Polly, but she suddenly loses interest. Angered, Matt hooks up with a woman named Laney and is in the middle of having sex with her (his first time) when Implementation agents raid the house, which turns out to be full of Sons of Earth members. Matt manages to escape in a stolen car. The Implementation chase him to the edge of the Plateau where he dives into the poisonous gas. The Implementation leave him for dead, but he manages to survive and resurface. Feeling guilty, he makes an attempt to enter the Hospital where the captured Sons of Earth have been taken and rescue Laney. He has several strange encounters with the Implementation where they suddenly fail to be able to see him. He makes his way to the vivarium, where those of the Sons of Earth who are still living are being kept, and sets them free. He, along with two of the leaders and Laney, steal another car and flee to the home of Millard Parlette, a prominent political figure and direct descendant of the captain of the original colony vessel. Matt explains to them how he rescued them and they conclude that he has a psionic power: the ability to influence the optic nerves of anyone whose attention is focused on him. When he is excited or frightened, people focused on him are compelled to contract the pupils of their eyes, and thereby lose that focus to the point of short-term memory loss – even if he has just threatened them with a weapon. When Millard Parlette returns home, he allows himself to be captured by Matt with little difficulty. However, the others overreact upon seeing him enter the house and knock him out with a stun gun. Matt and Laney leave to go back to the hospital. Matt intends to rescue Polly, having realized that her rejection of him was an outcome of his nervousness and psionic power. Laney intends to rescue the rest of the Sons of Earth who were recaptured. In the house, Millard Parlette reveals what the cargoes of the ramship were. They consist of four medical breakthroughs: a symbiote that regenerates skin, technology to culture a human liver, another to culture a human heart, and a second symbiote that lives in the bloodstream and grants many benefits: it fights disease, dissolves blood clots, repairs and cleans fatty deposits from the circulatory system, and maintains hormone levels at those of an adult. These advancements are amazingly beneficial, but that is the precise problem. Colonists, once they learn of them, would assume that the organ banks had become obsolete, and expect Implementation to disband. However, these advancements only reduce the need for transplants, they do not remove it. But when Implementation continues to take colonists to the banks, they would assume that necessity had given way to malevolence. Every colonist on Plateau would revolt. At least half the population would perish in the conflict, and technological civilization might come to an end. Thus, the political figure wants to negotiate a replacement for the Covenant of Planetfall with the rebels in advance, and thereby prevent such a conflict. Though the rebels are perfectly willing to deal, there is still one significant problem: Implementation. Any settlement with the Colonists would involve reducing the power of the Crew's police force. As such, Implementation would be on the side of the conservative Crew faction, those who would die before accepting a compromise with those they currently hold the power of life and death over. And Implementation controls the best weapons on Plateau. It is led by a man named Jesus Pietro Castro and is headquartered in the Hospital, which is constructed around the two immense "slowboat" spacecraft which had brought them there. Meanwhile, Matt and Laney are able to enter the facility with no real problem. Matt tricks Castro into leading him to where they are keeping Polly and Matt sets her free. However, this turns out to be a mistake: Implementation was interrogating her via sensory deprivation, and she is now insane. He makes love to her and in so doing restores her ability to function. But when she learns of their location, she is gripped with a fanatical devotion to the cause of the Sons of Earth. She flees Matt, intending to detonate the nuclear reactor on one of the slowboats, to destroy the Hospital and kill as many Crew as she possibly can. She is unable to reach the reactor and instead settles for the ship's long-defunct control room. She then ignites the ship's landing motors; this severely damages the Hospital, kills many of the crew, and thrusts the ship off the "void edge" to its destruction. Matt manages to jump from the ship before she does so. Thus war is averted. The new government, led by Millard Parlette, has assumed control of the Crew. And on the Colonists' side, the rebels have claimed control of the most powerful weapon on Plateau: Matt Keller. The Sons of Earth threaten to use Keller to assassinate Millard Parlette if he becomes too power-hungry. Keller accepts this, but demands a position of power among the rebels. And he's just discovered a new wrinkle in his power. Not only can he compel someone to lose focus on him, he can compel someone to intensify that focus, putting them in a hypnotic trance, which is implied to make him the true master of Plateau. As the story began with a robot ramship in flight, it ends with another ramship headed from Earth to the human colony known as 'We Made It' (in the Procyon system) with the same discovery. This ship is observed by alien Outsiders, who follow it in hopes of selling faster than light technology to the locals. This sale will lead to the advanced multi-species society portrayed in Neutron Star and Ringworld. |
4793507 | /m/0cnlv8 | The Fireclown | Michael Moorcock | 1965 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The novel is based in a future where the majority of the human population live underground. Alan Powys works at the transport department. His grandfather, Simon Powys, is the minister for space transport and is the presumptive nominee for his party to succeed the current president. Alan's cousin Helen Curtis is leader of the Radical Liberal Movement, the government's opposition. The arrival of the Fireclown in the lower levels of the underground city and his performances featuring fire captivate those who see it. He is thought by Simon Powys to be a dangerous rebel, his niece thinks conversely that the Fireclown is there to reignite people's passion for democracy. A fire breaks out in the lower levels forcing the Government to shut them off, people revolt and the Fireclown flees. Unconvinced by his grandfather's, and the Government's, assertion that the Fireclown is a terrorist, Alan sets off to find the Fireclown for an explanation. Helen accompanies him providing a ship and desperate to believe the Fireclown is a great healer. After arriving at an orbiting monastery they do, eventually, find the Fireclown. He takes them out in his specially designed starship The Pi-Meson and shows them at incredibly close quarters, the sun's Corona. It transpires that the Fireclown is neither a terrorist nor a saviour. After a private conversation with Alan the Fireclown allows both him and Helen to return to Earth. Upon returning they decide to try and find evidence that the Fireclown really was innocent in the matter of the fire in the lower levels. After travelling to London and attending a shadowy basement meeting, Alan discovers a plot to manipulate the public, acquire weapons of mass destruction and a very personal vendetta against the Fireclown stretching back many decades. |
4797577 | /m/0cnrnw | Catherine, Called Birdy | Karen Cushman | 1994 | {"/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/06bvp": "Religion"} | Catherine, Called Birdy provides an insider's look at the life of Catherine Rollo, 14, the daughter of a minor English nobleman. She is called "Birdy" in reference to the number of birds she keeps in her room. It could also be interpreted metaphorically, as she has been described as "a bird fighting against the bars of her cage" many times throughout the story. The year is 1290 and the vehicle for storytelling is Catherine's diary. She looks with a clear and critical eye upon the world around her, telling of the people she knows and of the daily events in her small manor house. Much of Birdy's energy is consumed by avoiding the various suitors her father chooses for her to marry. She sends them all packing with assorted ruses until she is almost wed to an older, unattractive man she refers to as Shaggy Beard. In the process of telling the routines of her young life, Birdy lays before readers a feast of details about medieval England. The book contains information about the food, dress, religious beliefs, manners, health, medical practices, and sanitary habits (or lack thereof) of the people of her day. From the number of fleas she kills in an evening to her herbal medicines laced with urine, Birdy tells facts about her time period. She is depicted as a feminist far ahead of her time. An afterword discusses the mind set of medieval people and concludes with a list of books to consult for further information about the period. |
4798446 | /m/0cnss7 | The Captain | null | null | null | The frame story has Martinus Harinxma, a senior tugboat captain home after a long voyage, catching up on correspondence. He opens a letter from a young man who is the son of the Canadian Officer killed aboard Harinxma's ship during escort duty during Second World War. In the letter, the son ask's the Captain "How was my father killed, and what was he really like?" As he begins to write the boy, Harinxma is forced to remember, and re-live the events surrounding the Canadian Officers time aboard his ship, and his eventual death. In 1940 Harinxma, then a young tugboat officer, escapes to Britain. The Kwel company has managed to get away much of its fleet and personnel, one jump ahead of the advancing Germans, and sets up to continue operations from London. Harinxma gets his first command, at an earlier age and under much more difficult conditions than he would otherwise have had. A central element of the book are the complex relationships between the crew members, in whose depiction de Hartog's personal nautical experience is manifest. Among other things the young and inexperienced captain must face the dilemma of whether to cover up for a severe mishap by the ship's engineer, who is his personal friend, or report him for the sake of the ship's safety and risk his getting fired. While still being merchant seamen not formally inducted into any navy, Harinxma and his fellow Dutch exile sailors are inexorably sucked into the fighting, their ships given (often inadequate) armaments and sent into some of the hottest arenas of the World War II naval war. Again clearly based on De Hartog's own experience, the book vividly conveys the feeling of suspicion and cordial dislike between the exiled Dutch and their British hosts and allies. The Dutch sailors feel (and not entirely without reason) that they are being set up as cannon fodder (or rather, U-Boat fodder). Many of Harinxma's fellow Dutch end up on the "South-Western Approaches" to the British Isles, acting as "stretcher-bearers of the sea" in submarine-infested waters - which turns out to be a task involving an extremely high casualty rate. (That experience had formed the background to a previous (1951) de Hartog novel, published variously under the names Stella and The Key and made into a film starring Sophia Loren). Harinxma himself eventually ends up in an even more horrendous environment: the convoys to Murmansk, carrying the military matériel which the Soviet Union desperately needed to repulse the Nazi invasion of its territory. Wending their long way in frigid Arctic waters, the convoys were for most of their course extremely vulnerable to constant German submarine, warship and aerial attacks emanating from occupied Norway, making them among the war's most dangerous postings. The same background, with the combination of extreme belligerent action and inhospitable nature pushing protagonists to the edge of endurance and beyond, was already the scene of HMS Ulysses, the first novel (1946) by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. While the two books have very different writing styles, characterization and undelying philosophy, they do share some plot elements. Harinxma and his crew go again and again into that hell, with only short rest periods before they have to go there yet again. While under this constant danger, Harinxma gets into a personality conflict with a diminutive and touchy Royal Navy captain hailing from the Isle of Man, who first appears arrogant and ridiculous but ultimately sacrifices himself and goes to the bottom in a touching and heroic - yet believable - way. In what would turn out to have a profound influence on his later life, Harinxma befriends a sensitive young Canadian liaison officer posted to his ship, who quixotically dies in a futile attempt to save one of the ships from an attacking German plane. Later, Harinxma has a brief and guilt-ridden affair with the Canadian's widow. Things come to a head in a particularly disastrous convoy of which few of the participating ships survive to reach their destination. (Both De Hartog's book and MacLean's seem to be inspired by - though not be following in every detail - the case of the historical ill-fated Convoy PQ-17 of July 1942). Harinxma loses his ship, and very nearly his life, but purely by chance a depth charge falling from the ship sinks a German U-Boat as well. He pulls from the oily water and into the lifeboat a German boy who was a cook's mate on the submarine and is its only survivor (and who would become a prosperous businessman in post-war Germany and send each year a big box of cakes to his Dutch saviour). Sick and tired of war, Harinxma returns to London and confronts the formidable aging patriarch of the Kwel Company. He declares his firm decision to become a conscientious objector and quit the sea - and gets told "God has sown you on the bridge of a tugboat, and there you will grow". Eventually, a deep-seated feeling of loyalty to all the Dutch and British who sailed with him and went to the bottom impels Harinxma to indeed take up again command of a ship - but a completely unarmed one, where he would be exposed to the full risk of German attacks but not be in a position to kill anybody even inadvertently. This message reflects the position of de Hartog himself, who became more and more of a Pacifist towards the end of the war years and eventually joined the outspokenly Pacifist Quakers. What saves the book from becoming an ideological tract is the wry sense of humour evident even in manifestly non-humorous situations, and the first-person narrator's ability to laugh at himself. Harinxma returned in several later de Hartog books, such as The Commodore and The Centurion. |
4799261 | /m/0cnty1 | Allan Stein | Matthew Stadler | 1999 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | In the novel's first section, the protagonist loses his teaching job due to a false accusation of seducing a 10th-grade student. He then seduces the student, and having done so, departs on a trip to France. In France he assumes the name of a friend, 'Herbert', and pretends to be a curator looking for lost drawings of Allan Stein. The protagonist uses his new identity to become close to the son of his hosts, a moody 15-year-old named Stéphane. The narrator projects onto Stéphane an idealized memory of his own childhood, when he visited France with his mother at age 16. Enchanted by Stéphane's mother as well as her son. After two weeks, the narrator succeeds in making Stéphane his lover, and the two run off together to the South of France. But Stéphane returns to his parents when he discovers that the narrator has lied about his name. It is only at this point that the reader discovers the real name of the narrator: Matthew. |
4805720 | /m/0cp1mz | Dawn of the Dragons | Joe Dever | 1992 | {"/m/03ff00": "Gamebook", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Lone Wolf, Kai Grand Master of Sommerlund, has just completed a successful quest when he learns that the Dark God Naar is about to send a large group of fire-breathing dragons against the Kai Monastery. Lone Wolf has to deal with assassins sent to intercept him before he can reach the monastery and lead the new Kai Lords into battle. |
4805809 | /m/0cp1q1 | The Buccaneers of Shadaki | Joe Dever | 1994 | {"/m/03ff00": "Gamebook"} | This is the second half of Lone Wolf's apprentice’s voyage to the Isle of Lorn to return the Moonstone to its proper place among the Shianti. The book is notable for retracing, in a sense, the steps of the protagonist Grey Star in The World of Lone Wolf series. Major characters and events from that series, such as Grey Star, Agarash the Damned, Shasarak the Wytch-King and Mother Magri, are referenced in passing, and a number of important locations such as the city of Shadaki and the Inn of the Laughing Moon in Suhn make cameo appearances. |
4806331 | /m/0cp25_ | The Syro-Aramaic Reading Of The Qur'an | Christoph Luxenberg | 5/1/2007 | null | Richard Kroes summarises the argument of the book as follows: According to Luxenberg, the Qur'an was not written in classical Arabic but in a mixed Arabic-Syriac language, the traders' language of Mecca and it was based on Christian liturgical texts. When the final text of the Qur'an was codified, those working on it did not understand the original sense and meaning of this hybrid trading language any more, and they forcefully and randomly turned it into classical Arabic. This gave rise to a lot of misinterpretations. Something like this can only have happened if there was a gap in the oral transmission of the Qur'anic text. That idea is in serious disagreement with the views of both traditional Muslims and western scholars of Islam. |
4806475 | /m/0cp2dy | We Need to Talk About Kevin | Lionel Shriver | 4/14/2003 | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Eva's narration takes the form of letters written after the massacre to her presumably estranged husband, Franklin Plaskett. In these letters, she details her relationship with her husband well before and leading up to their son's conception, followed by the events of Kevin's life up to the school massacre, and her thoughts concerning their relationship. She also admits to a number of events that she tried to keep secret, such as when she lashed out and broke Kevin's arm in a sudden fit of rage. The novel also shows Eva visiting Kevin in prison. These scenes portray their cold, adversarial relationship. Kevin's behavior throughout the book closely resembles that of a sociopath, although reference to this condition is sparse and left mostly up to the reader's imagination. He displays little to no affection or moral responsibility towards his family or community; indeed, Kevin seems to regard everyone with contempt and hatred, and reserves special loathing for his mother, whom he has antagonized for as long as he can remember. He engages in many acts of petty sabotage from an early age, from seemingly innocent actions like spraying ink with a squirt gun on a room his mother has painstakingly wallpapered in rare maps, to possibly encouraging a girl to gouge her eczema-affected skin. The one activity he takes any pleasure in is archery, which his father introduces him to. As Kevin's behavior worsens, Franklin becomes evermore defensive of him, convinced that his son is a healthy, normal boy and that there is a reasonable explanation for everything he does. Kevin plays the part of a loving, respectful son whenever Franklin is around, an act that Eva sees through. This creates a rift between Eva and Franklin that never really heals; shortly before the massacre, Franklin asks for a divorce. Kevin's sister Celia is conceived largely because of Eva's need to bond with another member of her family. When Celia is six years old, she is involved in a household "accident" in which drain cleaner causes her to lose an eye. This is closely linked to an earlier incident involving Celia's pet elephant shrew, during which Eva uses Liquid Plumr, a caustic drain cleaner, to clear a blockage in the children's sink. Two explanations are possible: that Eva left the cleaner sitting within Celia's reach, or that Kevin somehow attacked Celia with it, destroying her eye and scarring her face. Though never proven, Eva strongly believes that Kevin, who was babysitting at the time, poured the Liquid Plumr onto his sister's face, telling her he was cleaning her eye after she got something in it. When relating the story of the massacre, Eva finally reveals that Franklin and Celia are in fact dead—Kevin killed them both with his bow and arrow set before using these weapons to attack his school. Eva speculates that he did this because he overheard her and Franklin discussing a divorce; he believed Franklin would get custody of him, thus denying him final victory over his mother. The novel ends on the second "anniversary" of the massacre, three days before Kevin will turn 18 and be transferred to Sing Sing. Subdued and frightened, he makes a peace offering of sorts to Eva by giving her Celia's prosthetic eye to bury, and telling her that he's sorry. Eva asks Kevin for the first time why he committed the murders, and Kevin replies that he is no longer sure. They embrace, and Eva resolves that she still loves her son. |
4808150 | /m/0cp460 | Everyman | Philip Roth | 2006-05 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The book begins at the funeral of its protagonist. The remainder of the book, which ends with his death, looks mournfully back on episodes from his life, including his childhood in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he and his older brother, Howie, worked in his father's shop, Everyman's Jewelry Store. He has been married three times, with two sons from his first marriage who resent him for leaving their mother, and one daughter from his second marriage who treats him with kindness and compassion, though he divorced her mother after beginning an affair with a 24-year-old Danish model, who subsequently became his third wife. Having divorced her as well, he has moved in his old age to a retirement community at the New Jersey shore, where he lives alone and attempts to paint, having passed up a career as an artist early in his life to work in advertising in order to support himself and his family. The book traces the protagonist's feelings as he gets increasingly old and sick, and his reflections of his own past, which has included his share of misdeeds and mistakes, as he ponders his impending death. The unnamed everyman, while an ordinary man and not a famous novelist, has much in common with Philip Roth; he is born, like Roth, in 1933; he grows up in Elizabeth, six miles away from Roth's native Newark; and he recounts a series of medical problems and a history of frequent hospitalization similar to that of the author. |
4808495 | /m/0cp4pm | Gobbolino, the Witch's Cat | null | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Gobbolino is a little black kitten born in a witch's cave high up on Hurricane mountain with one white paw after it was bathed in moonlight, and sparkling blue eyes who was born to be a witch's cat with his pure black twin sister, Sootica. While his sister is quite happy to learn spells and turn mice into toads, Gobbolino longs to be a humble kitchen cat; and he embarks on a great adventure to seek out his heart's desire. First, he tries to be a normal kitchen cat, first at a farm, then an orphanage, then the mayor's house, but his magic always gets him into trouble. He becomes a show cat, but the other cats are jealous and reveal him as a witch's cat. He becomes a ship's cat for a brief period, but returns to shore after using his magic to save the ship from a witch, making the sailors suspicious. He is adopted by a sick princess, but when she is well again she leaves for boarding school without him, and he joins a Punch and Judy show as 'Toby the Dog', but a witch in the audience reveals him as a witch's cat. A knight finds him and gives him to a lady as a gift, but when Gobbolino tries to help the knight win over the Lady, he only causes more trouble. He leaves, and is adopted by a woodcutter, but the woodcutter's great-granddaughter sells him to a pedlar-woman for a dress. Finally accepting his magic, Gobbolino becomes the pedlar-woman's assistant, but his good heart and unwillingness to cause pain mean he fails at every task he is set. The pedlar-woman leaves him in the care of his sister, Sootica, and her mistress, but once again he is unable to complete his tasks. The witch puts a spell on him, removing his magical powers, and he finds his way back to the farm where he began his journey, his coat having faded to an unrecognisable tabby. Here, he finds his old friends welcome him back happily, and he becomes the farm's kitchen cat. The name 'Gobbolino' is from the Italian word for "little hunchback". |
4808879 | /m/0cp522 | The Whipping Boy | Sid Fleischman | 1986-04 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Prince Horace can be spoiled and, craving attention from his father, he frequently misbehaves; as a prince, no one may raise a hand against him. Therefore, his family provides him with a whipping boy, Jemmy, an orphaned boy who will be punished in the prince's stead. Though he has learned to read, write and mathematics while living in the castle, Jemmy is beaten several times a day and longs for the freedom he had on the streets. When the prince decides to run away on a whim he demands that Jemmy act as his servant during his journey. While on the run, the boys are picked up by two notorious highwaymen, Hold-Your-Nose Billy and Cutwater, who hatch a scheme to ransom the prince. Jemmy talks them into believing that he is the prince, and sets into motion a plan of escape. The prince misunderstands Jemmy's intentions and betrays him. Even so, the boys escape. They come across a girl searching for her lost dancing bear and she directs them to the river where they find a kind man with a wagon full of potatoes. The boys help the man get his wagon from the mud, and in return the potato man gives the boys, the girl, and the bear a lift to the fair, but they are soon intercepted by the highwaymen. Still believing Jemmy is the prince, and believing it to be a crime worse than murder to beat the prince, they beat Horace instead. The dancing bear scares the highwaymen away, and everyone arrives at the fair. The girl earns a few coins with her bear, the potato man boils the potatoes and sells them and the boys head down to the sewer to catch some rats. On their way, they hear some people talking about the missing prince. One woman makes a remark about how much worse things will be when the prince becomes king. The prince's feelings are hurt very deeply, but he does not show his emotions. When the boys learn that the king has posted a reward for the whipping boy, they go into the sewers where they see the highwaymen. They trick the highwaymen into the most dangerous sewer, where rats attack them, the prince decides that he wants to finally to go home. When they return to the potato man, Horace reveals himself as a prince and suggests that the potato man collect the reward for the whipping boy. When the prince explains the entire escapade to the king, Jemmy is pardoned, and the two boys live in the palace as the best of friends. |
4811627 | /m/0cp8hx | The Legacy of Vashna | Joe Dever | 1991 | {"/m/03ff00": "Gamebook", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Long ago, Vashna, the greatest of all Darklords, was defeated in battle by King Ulnar of Sommerlund. But the victory was not complete, for while his body was destroyed, his spirit, as well as the spirits of his troops, remain trapped deep within the Maakengorge. Now, Lone Wolf learns of strange sightings in the area near the Maakengorge, suggesting that there may be a plot afoot to resurrect Vashna. Lone Wolf and the reader set out to uncover the nature of the threat, and to see if, indeed, Vashna will return. |
4814591 | /m/0cpddf | The Last of the Jedi: Dark Warning | Judy Blundell | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | Obi-Wan Kenobi is on a mission. Along with the former Jedi apprentice Ferus Olin and a headstrong kid named Trever, he is trying to keep the Jedi's most important secret safe from the inquisitive Empire. With Boba Fett on their trail and time running out, Obi-Wan, Ferus and Trever must make some daring and desperate escapes...into even more Danger. Along the way, they discover some incredible news: Obi-Wan and Yoda are not the only Jedi to have survived the Emperor's annihilation of the Jedi. There is at least one other...and he is hiding in the Caves of Ilum, a place where nightmares become reality and dark warnings tell of conflicts yet to come. |
4816784 | /m/0cph0v | The Last of the Jedi: Underworld | Judy Blundell | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | As a Jedi apprentice, Ferus Olin had to leave the Jedi Temple in disgrace. Now he must return to redeem himself—and save the future of the Jedi Order. The Empire now controls the temple and everything inside...including, it is rumored, an imprisoned Jedi. Ferus and his street kid partner, Trever, must plunge into the depths of Coruscant in order to free this Jedi, exposing themselves to a dark underworld where both thieves and refugees hide from the Emperor's wrath. Breaking into the Temple isn't going to be easy... and surviving the underworld is going to be even harder. |
4816853 | /m/0cph49 | The Last of the Jedi: Death on Naboo | Judy Blundell | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | Ex-Jedi Ferus Olin has been imprisoned by the Empire. His crime? Trying to save the Jedi Order. The sinister Empire won't be able to hold Ferus for long — not when he has a friend on the inside. But escaping is only part of the problem. Ferus's quest is going to take him to the planet of Naboo, where a secret vital to the survival of the Jedi and the entire galaxy is being kept... and is in danger of being revealed. In order to keep this secret, Ferus will have to face the ruthless Inquisitor Malorum. A battle will be fought — and lives will be lost. Who will die on Naboo? |
4817522 | /m/0cphp1 | Star Surgeon | James White | 1963 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | Dr. Conway must deal with an unconscious patient, classification ELPH, who may be a cannibal or a demigod, or both. It came from the "other galaxy", and the species is well known, almost infamous, to the Ians, who are also from another galaxy. It is extremely long-lived, and regularly takes complete rejuvenation treatments, including the brain and memory, to keep itself young. By doing this, it is practically immortal. It, although unconscious, appeared to have the ability to negate the most powerful drugs and resist surgery to cure its skin condition. This later turned out to be the work of the entity's "doctor", who is an intelligent, organized collection of microscopic, virus-type cells. Once Doctor Conway realizes this, he uses a wooden stake to make the ELPH's doctor focus itself in one small location, at which time it is removed from the ELPH, informed regarding the physiology-problems of its patient, and put back in. The patient, whose name is Lonvellin, quickly makes a full recovery, and it leaves to do what it does best: bona fide missions that involve taking backwards planetary cultures and pulling them up "by their bootstraps". His particular mission, this time, is to cure a diseased planet called Etla, and he recruits Dr. Conway and the "Monitor Corps" to help him. When The Empire that controls the Planet of Etla misinterprets Lonvellin's efforts as an Act of War, the Empire declares war on the Sector General space hospital. Conway helps organise the evacuation of most of the station's staff and patients, and following the death or injury of more senior staff, becomes the most senior surviving physician. After a brutal series of attacks, and with the hospital on the brink of defeat, a group of Federation and Empire soldiers convince Conway to help in a mutiny against the Federation commander Dermod. The Empire soldiers had been told that the Federation had attacked Etla, rather than trying to help it, but seeing the way all casualties were treated equally on the station, and in particular witnessing Conway breaking down after failing to save the life of an alien Empire soldier, convinced them that they had been lied to. |
4817614 | /m/0cphqs | Star Healer | James White | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Conway is replaced on the ambulance ship Rhabwar by Diagnostician Prilicla. Conway visits healer Khone on the planet Goglesk, and witnesses first-hand their destructive racial mass-hysteria response to physical proximity. He inadvertently links minds with Khone and learns a great deal more. Back at Hospital Station, Conway decides to treat some Hudlar accident victims with a rear-to-front limb transplant, because stranger transplants require permanent exile. Conway also proposes staving off geriatric Hudlar problems by elective amputation. At the end, he successfully delivers a sentient telepathic Unborn (see Ambulance Ship) from its violent non-sentient Protector. |
4817631 | /m/0cphrg | Code Blue - Emergency | James White | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The protagonist of the story is Sommaradvan healer Cha Thrat. She bravely saved a human pilot who crashlanded on her planet, despite a complete lack of knowledge about his physiology. Contact with her species was established by the accident, so knowledge of their social customs is still virtually non-existent. However, she is invited to join the Sector General staff. Cha Thrat innocently wreaks havoc by following her instincts and social customs. First she befriends a hypochondriac Chalder. Next, she is invited to assist at a therapeutic surgery operation to amputate the limb of a Hudlar, which will prolong its life (see Star Healer.) When given the honor of cutting the limb, she obliges - and then deliberately cuts her own arm off as well, in accordance with the custom of her people. Next she saves the untouchable patient Khone (see Star Healer), and then finds a weird parasite species on a derelict spaceship. Due to the chaos she causes, every department in the hospital now refuses to allow her near their patients. O'Mara values her unusual approaches, and decides to add her to his staff. |
4817668 | /m/0cphs4 | The Genocidal Healer | James White | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The dejected Surgeon-Captain Lioren is disappointed that his Court-martial has rejected the death penalty for him, and instead has assigned him to O'Mara at Sector General. He is plagued with guilt, because he is responsible for the genocide of an entire race. At moments during his new tasks, he ponders the individual events that led up to the alien deaths. First contact with the Cromsag planet was quickly followed by the discovery that their entire population was wasting away from some unidentified disease. They were starving, and their birth rate was absymal. Additionally, they were continually in hand-to-hand combat with each other, presumably competing for food. The Sector General ships hurriedly provided food to malnourished people everywhere, along with medical aid for combat injuries, and tried to determine the cause of the mysterious disease. Despite their best efforts, deaths from the plague continued to increase. Lioren grew frustrated with the slow process of sending samples back to Sector General and awaiting diagnostics and full tests to ensure the effectiveness of potential cures. In his arrogance, he administered a treatment to the entire population ... and they rose up and slaughtered each other, wiping out their own race. Interspersed with recalling these events, he shares some of his story with people at Sector General. Lioren speaks to the terminally ill Dr. Mannen, eventually reviving Mannen's interest in life. Lioren also offers encouragement to the isolated alien Khone (see Star Healer.) Next he is asked to speak to a gigantic Groalterri, whose race is so advanced they have until now refused all contact with the federated planets. The humans are desperate to make any sort of progress with this race, but the Groalterri patient won't communicate with anyone. Bit by bit, Lioren shares his own guilty history and talks the suicidal alien into lowering its emotional barriers. From its story he manages to figure out the Groalterri's hitherto unknown injury and arrange surgery that will change its life. Finally, at the end, Lioren meets with the handful of Cromsag survivors. |
4817681 | /m/0cphtj | The Galactic Gourmet | James White | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | A famous chef wangles an appointment to Sector General for the challenge of creating food for so many different species. Like the Sommaradvan healer Cha Thrat (Code Blue - Emergency), he creates chaos everywhere he goes. He first meets the swimming "crocodile-like" Chaldars, who complain that their food is unsatisfying. Realising that they are accustomed to capturing their food live, he develops motile food for them. They are delighted, but they completely destroy their hospital ward charging around chasing it. Next, he learns that the spray-on food used to nourish the Hudlar is uninteresting. His investigations show that it needs small toxins to "flavor" it, which would be found naturally on their home planet. He visits a Hudlar ship, but causes a huge cargo bay accident expelling him into space. He rescues himself by riding some sprayers back to the station, but is in everyone's bad books. Sympathetic staffers hide him on the ambulance ship Rhabwar for an upcoming assignment. In the meantime, an epidemic at the hospital turns out to be a major nutmeg overdose caused by a sous-chef foolishly using ten times the required amount in a recipe. The Rhabwar is sent to a starving planet, whose people think their dwindling meat supply is the only desirable food and are shamed by its lack. He is able to commune with their first Cook better than the diplomats are doing. He finds ways to improve their sad vegetarian diet, and helps to set more positive attitudes toward it. The Cook's son is wounded on a game-hunting expedition, and the medical ship takes him on board for healing. The populace grows very angry, mystifying the team. They finally recall the aliens' cannibal tradition and produce him alive. |
4817686 | /m/0cphtw | Final Diagnosis | James White | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | A man suffering from multiple mysterious illnesses and allergic reactions is labelled a hypochondriac. Finally he is sent to Sector General as a last resort. He befriends his fellow alien patients, telling them his life history. Rather than dismissing his complaints, the attentive hospital doctors develop a theory, and bring him back to his home planet. At the scene of a childhood accident that seems to have started it all, explanations are found. |
4817696 | /m/0cphv6 | Mind Changer | James White | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Sector General's director O'Mara is headed for retirement. His memories of life at the hospital are shown through flashbacks, while in the book's 'present' time he goes through the process of selecting his own replacement. |
4817790 | /m/0cphx_ | Fire on the Water | Joe Dever | 1984 | {"/m/03ff00": "Gamebook", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Having informed the King of Sommerlund about the fate of the Kai Order, Lone Wolf is instructed to make a journey to their ally, the neighbouring country of Durenor, to retrieve the legendary Sommerswerd, which is Sommerlund’s only hope at repelling Darklord Zagarna’s massive invasion. Lone Wolf is given the Seal of Hammerdal and sets off on a ship bound for Durenor, but when a traitor on board sabotages the ship, he is forced to make his way on foot to Durenor despite the enemies that await him around every corner. |
4817875 | /m/0cph_1 | The Caverns of Kalte | Joe Dever | 1984 | {"/m/03ff00": "Gamebook", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | ==Receptio |
4818333 | /m/0cpjg5 | Time to Depart | Lindsey Davis | 1995 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction"} | Falco's closest friend, Petronius Longus, has finally caught one of the leading criminals in Rome, Balbinus Pius. But a quirk in Roman law allows a convicted felon, even a murderer, time to depart before the sentence is carried out. Balbinus' departure has left a vacuum in the underworld of Rome, and there is a crowd of criminals trying desperately to fill the void. Their first step is to engineer a robbery that reverberates throughout the city. Falco is again called upon by the Emperor Vespasian to supply answers, as quietly and quickly as possible. A couple of murders, a kidnapping or two, and more suspects than Falco cares to count takes him, and his patrician girlfriend Helena Justina, to places a family shouldn't have to go. |
4823815 | /m/0cpr8g | Counter-Clock World | Philip K. Dick | 1967 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The story takes place in a (then-future) fictional 1998, and centers around Anarch Peak, a black religious leader who had died in 1971 and is expected to rise soon. Sebastian Hermes, an owner of a small Vitarium (a business that digs up the dead and gives them the treatment they need before returning them to society), discovers Peak's resurrection is imminent. After accidentally discovering the burial place of Peak, he decides, against the law, to dig up the body before the Anarch awakes. (As with contemporary controversies about brain death, it seems not to be judged morally significant if a heartbeat can be heard, but it is illegal to dig anyone up before they start talking, which suggests resumed brain function is a marker of "old-birth.") Various groups are interested in controlling the affairs of the 'old-born', such as the Vitaria (technically, a person resurrected is in the legal custody of their Vitarium until claimed by family members) and the Library, an organization dedicated to erasing books which have passed beyond the initial date at which they were written. Religious institutions are also interested in 'old-birth', particularly in the resurrection of Anarch Peak in the case of the Udites (an African-American religion) and The Rome Syndicate (the highest authority in Caucasian matters, as well as the owner of numerous religious artifacts and other items, like a syringe that can stop the Hobart Phase for short periods of time). These factions then argue over the ownership of Anarch Peak after his resurrection. When the Library kidnaps Anarch Peak, both factions send Sebastian Hermes to recover him. In the end Peak is killed and there may be an interracial war as a consequence of Peak's permanent death. The Hobart Phase is the new order of life where people rise from the dead and are rejuvenated. Time reversal apparently began in 1986. Other than aging, Hobart Phase resurrection has changed nutritional and excretion processes and associated social taboos. People do not eat, but instead consume "Sogum" (hinted to be reverse Defecation) and later "plop" out food, which is done in private, due to its 'shameful' nature. As for smoking, cigarettes are no longer smoked, but the smoke instead blown back into them, making them grow back to normal size (this also clears and freshens the air). "Goodbye" and "hello" have reversed their order within standard greetings. It is stated that Mars colonists do not have the Hobart Phase on their world, and it is limited to Earth, and presumably its lunar colonies as well. As hinted in the book, the United States of America has been partitioned into eastern and western segments. Hawaii and Alaska have also seceded from the WUS and FNM, but this is only mentioned in passing. In the WUS (Western United States), California is predominantly white, while the eastern "Free Negro Municipality" (FNM) is inhabited by African Americans. The fictitious religion of Uditi is the national religion of the East. Uditi is an offshoot of Christianity with apparent influences from Roman Catholicism and the Rastafari movement, and is centered around "the udi", an experience of a group mind. Inhabitants of the WUS view the religion with suspicion, and it is hinted that their media demonizes its adherents. Library-sanctioned murders and civil unrest are claimed to be the works of religious fanatics. FNM currency is claimed to be worthless, as is WUS currency (stated earlier in the book), but its citizens ignore this due to patriotism. |
4823830 | /m/0cpr8t | Betsy-Tacy | Maud Hart Lovelace | 1940 | null | The adventures between the two friends range from the real life (such as going to school for the first time, making a playhouse out of a piano box, and dressing up to go calling) to the extraordinarily fanciful (such as being taken for a ride in the milkman's magic wagon by his talking horse, and flying away on a cloud while enjoying a picnic). The fanciful adventures are provided by Betsy's active imagination and her love of telling stories. The book deals with the themes of shyness, with the birth of new siblings, with the joys of an active imaginations, and even touches on death within the family. |
4823957 | /m/0cprh2 | Betsy's Wedding | Maud Hart Lovelace | 1955 | null | Betsy returns to New York from her European trip, where Joe Willard is waiting for her. He wants to take her to Tiffany's and buy an engagement ring, but the more practical Betsy suggests he buys a wedding band instead. Betsy takes a train to Minneapolis, where her parents and younger sister are now living. She breaks the news of her engagement to her family, who are appalled that Joe wants to marry Betsy without first asking her father and without having a job in Minnesota. Her father is very upset. He thinks that Joe should have a job. When Joe arrives, Betsy tells him that her father is uncomfortable about him not having a job when they get married. He immediately drives from newspaper office to newspaper office before finding a job on a publicity campaign to help the victims of World War I. Betsy's father respects Joe's go-getter attitude and allows the wedding to proceed. Joe and Betsy purchase an apartment and Betsy struggles with her domestic duties at first, but eventually succeeds. As time passes, Betsy and Joe are able to purchase a home. Joe's widowed aunt comes to live with them, which Betsy resents at first (she had been hoping for a baby) but eventually enjoys the company and stories, especially when Joe begins working the night shift helping a newspaper go to print. Meanwhile, Betsy and Tacy unite to try to find a husband for Tib. They find Mr.Bagshaw at first, who appears to be a very good dancer. It seems to work. Then when Mr.Bagshaw preposes Tib turns it down. Betsy and Tacy are glad because otherwise Tib would have gone away. Then they find Rocky, who they meet at a club. But Betsy and Tacy get scared, for Rocky is terrible to Tib. Finally Rocky leaves. Tib finds a soldier and they fall in love. As the book ends, America enters World War I and Joe goes to an officer's training camp. Betsy returns to her parents' home to live with them for the duration of the war. Before Joe leaves, they are able to attend Tib's wedding and enjoy their final days together. |
4824743 | /m/0cps4b | The Killing Dance | Laurell K. Hamilton | null | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Killing Dance takes place in May, about a month and a half after Bloody Bones and like the previous novels, The Killing Dance begins with a potential job for Anita in her role as an Animators, Inc. employee. In this case, Anita and Jean-Claude are in Anita's office meeting with Sabin, a master vampire, and with Dominic Dumare, Sabin's human servant. Sabin and Dumare explain that Sabin, in order to please a mortal lover, promised to abstain from feeding on the blood of live humans. As a result, he has developed a condition in which his body is irreversibly rotting away, and is beginning to lose control of his powers. Dumare, a necromancer, believes that if he and Anita join their abilities and his experience, they may be able to cure Sabin, and Anita agrees to help if possible. Jean-Claude and Anita ponder the parallels between Sabin's relationship with his unnamed mortal love and their own romantic relationship, and Anita leaves for a date with her other boyfriend, Richard. (Although Jean-Claude, a vampire, is in the process of consolidating his leadership of the city, Richard is locked in an ongoing struggle for leadership of the werewolves of the city with their current Ulfric, Marcus, primarily because Richard, unlike Jean-Claude, is not willing to kill in order to assume or maintain power.) Anita and Richard go to a dinner party at Anita's friend Catherine's house. There, they meet one of Jean-Claude's vampires, Robert, and his wife, Monica. Monica announces that she is pregnant, which Anita had previously thought impossible for a vampire of Robert's age. Monica is also very friendly with Anita, notwithstanding her assistance in the plot to hyponize Catherine and blackmail Anita in Guilty Pleasures. Anita wonders if Jean-Claude deliberately planned for Robert to attend the party to spy on her and Richard. She and Richard are forced to leave the party early after she receives a call from Edward. Edward, one of the world's premier assassins and a sort of friend of Anita's, tells Anita that he has received a proposed contract to kill Anita. He has refused, but wants her to get home and begin making plans to protect herself while he investigates the identity of the person putting out the contract on her life. Anita and Richard arrive at her house and meet Mrs. Pringle. Anita suspects that someone is in her apartment, and, while Richard helps Mrs. Pringle move a television, she engages in a gun battle through her closed front door, ultimately killing Jimmy Dugan, a local thug known as "Jimmy the Shotgun". Anita is taken to police headquarters and questioned for quite some time by Detective Branswell, who eventually lets her go. Anita and Richard argue about her decision to confront Jimmy the Shotgun without asking Richard to back her up, and Anita agrees to move into Richard's house for the time being in order to protect her neighbors from any potential collateral damage. Edward contacts Anita at Richard's house and tells her that the contract on her life has been increased to $500,000 if the murder is performed within 24 hours. Edward suggests that Anita try to deduce the identity of the person offering the contract by figuring out who would need her dead that quickly, but she doesn't have any ideas. Richard then receives a call from Stephen. Stephen is being forced to participate in one of Raina's pornographic movies, and is desperate for Richard's protection. Richard and Anita leave to rescue him. At the farmhouse where Raina shoots her movies, Richard and Anita confront several werewolves and various crew members. Richard reassures Heidi, a non-dominant werewolf trapped in the middle of the conflict between Marcus and himself. One of the werewolves, Sebastian challenges Richard, but Richard easily subdues him with the raw power of his beast. Approximately 30 werewolves gang up on Richard, including Sebastian and Jamil, and Anita realizes that the situation was a trap to kill him. She goes to rescue Stephen while Richard holds off the wolves. Anita follows the sounds of Stephen's screams and finds a room where Stephen is being tortured on film by his brother Gregory while being restrained by Raina and Gabriel. Anita removes Stephen and finds Richard fighting off the twenty werewolves outside the filming room. She and Richard confront the wolves, and Anita realizes that because the wolves do not believe Richard is willing to kill, they are not afraid of him. She threatens to kill Raina if anyone uses Stephen in a film again, setting herself up as a challenger for Raina's position as the pack's lupa. After returning to Richard's home, Richard stays awake as guard while Stephen sleeps in Anita's bed for protection. Later morning, Anita wakes to find Jason, Sylvie and Lillian at Richard's house. Lillian tends wounds while Jason and Sylvie attempt to convince Richard that he must be willing to kill to lead the pack. Anita and Richard go to a separate room to argue and come close to having sex, only to be interrupted by the weres on the other side of the door. Anita worries that her relationship with Richard makes her vulnerable, because unlike Jean-Claude, Anita can't count on Richard to make the hard decisions necessary to survive. Anita leaves the bedroom to find that several more shapeshifters have arrived—Rafael, Christine, and about fifteen others. She learns that Jean-Claude and many of the city's shapeshifters support Richard's attempt to dethrone Marcus as Ulfric, but that as long as Richard is not willing to kill, his claim is weakened. Richard ultimately declares Anita as his lupa and declares himself willing to kill Marcus if necessary to assume control of the pack. In order to assume a dominant role within the pack, Anita is forced to fight Neal, one of the werewolves present until first blood is drawn. She maneuvers him into a position where she can judo throw him through a window, drawing blood. As Neal cleans himself off, Edward arrives. Edward thinks that whichever assassin accepted the contract will try to kill Anita during her date with Jean-Claude at the opening of Dance Macabre, Jean-Claude's new club. Over Richard's objections, he and Anita make plans to use Anita as bait to draw out the assassin. Jean-Claude and Anita arrive at the club and are mobbed by reporters, "outing" Anita as the vampire's girlfriend. Under pressure from Jean-Claude, Anita admits that she wanted to keep their relationship secret and that her desire to do so was unfair to Jean-Claude. Anita meets Liv and Damian, two new and powerful vampires in Jean-Claude's retinue, as well as Cassandra, a new addition to the Thronos Rokke clan of werewolves. During the floorshow, Anita is forced to intervene to stop Damian from permanently hypnotizing one of the guests. Anita helps the guest into the women's bathroom with the help of another patron, Anabelle Smith. Smith draws a gun on Anita, but is distracted when some women enter, allowing Anita enough time to draw a knife and kill her. The police arrive and arrest Anita for the second time in two days. Detective Greeley does his best to get Anita to talk, but Dolph ultimately convinces Greeley to turn Anita over to Dolph by telling Greeley that Anita is a suspect in other crime. Dolph takes Anita to a suburban home in Creve Coeur, and shows Anita the crime scene—one of Jean-Claude's vampire's, Robert has been staked out inside a magic circle and ritually killed. Anita, as a necromancer, is unable to cross the circle, which was designed to block the magic of the dead. She hypothesizes that the circle was used to prevent Jean-Claude from learning of Roberts' death, and meets Tammy Reynolds, a new member of RPIT. Anita guesses that the crime must have been performed by at least two supernatural beings with enough strength to restrain Robert, in addition to someone with sufficiently detailed knowledge of necromancy to perform the ritual. Because even John Burke and Anita herself lack the expertise to perform the ritual, Anita tells Dolph that Dominic Dumare is the only suspect she can identify. Anita and Dolph clash over what she can tell Jean-Claude about Robert's death and about whether her loyalties now lie with Jean-Claude or with RPIT. After some more investigation, Anita accompanies Robert's widow, Monica to the hospital. While at the hospital, Anita speaks to Edward, who tells her that the contract on her life has been extended another twenty-four hours and convinces her to take cover in the Circus of the Damned while he attempts to identify who is behind the hit. At the Circus, Anita tells Jean-Claude about Robert's death and learns for the first time about Jean-Claude's past with Asher and Julianna. Jean-Claude tells Anita that Asher has petitioned the Vampire Council for permission to kill Anita as revenge for Julianna's death. Later, Jean-Claude and Anita discuss their relationship, both with each other and with Richard. Jean-Claude tells Anita that he loves her, and promises not to stand in her way if she chooses Richard, but demands that she see Richard change into a wolf before committing. They kiss, and Richard enters. With Richard's control weakened by the approaching full moon, Jean-Claude baits Richard and Richard knocks Anita down in the course of attacking Jean-Claude. Jean-Claude leaves to prepare for the approaching dawn, and Richard and Anita discuss their relationship. Jason arrives, severely beaten as a result of his attempt to prevent Richard from entering earlier, and acknowledges Richard as his master. Richard feeds from Jason's blood and feeds Jason some of his own blood and power. Shaken by Richard's display of inhuman behavior, Anita worries that perhaps Richard is right that killing Marcus will mean surrendering too much of his human identity. After some hesitation, Anita proposes that Richard sleep with her that morning, and that they marry as soon as possible. Richard refuses, promising to sleep with Anita and to marry her, but only after she sees him as a werewolf. Anita is awakened by Cassandra leaning over her bed in darkness. Cassandra apologizes for the fright and explains that Richard and Jean-Claude have a plan. The men explain that they wish to experiment calling the power that the three of them summoned accidentally in The Lunatic Cafe. Richard sees the power as a way to force Marcus to back down without a death, and Jean-Claude sees it as a means to secure his control of the city and his safety. Anita reluctantly agrees to the experiment after forcing Jean-Claude to promise that he will not mark either of the others as his servant. As the three engage in the initial stages of a ménage à trois, Anita is first uncomfortable, but soon overcome by a combination of lust and magical power. Acting on instinct, Anita demands blood to complete the ritual, and Jean-Claude bites Richard even as the two men continue seducing Anita. Anita is flooded with power, and instinctively raises the dead, much as she did when flooded with power by inadvertent human sacrifices in The Laughing Corpse and Bloody Bones. As Anita makes plans to investigate what she has raised from the dead and where, Richard and Jean-Claude sense an emergency and race her to the location of an old cemetery within the Circus. Anita learns that she has raised scores of zombies, as well as the resting forms of three vampires: Damian, Liv, and Willie. The three discuss their relationship some more—Jean-Claude and Richard are threatened by Anita's power and need for dominance, while Anita and Richard are threatened by Jean-Claude's ongoing seduction of them both. (On the other hand, Cassandra, a post graduate student of magical theory as well as a werewolf, is more clinically interested in the magic than in their relationship). Unsure whether, after raising them as zombies, Anita will be able to return the vampires to death in a way that allows them to rise as vampires with the setting sun, the group decides to call Dominic Dumare for assistance. (Anita reveals that a woman alibied Dumare, eliminating him as a suspect in Robert's killing.) Dominic and Cassandra are both intellectually fascinated by Anita's power to raise vampires, and, at Dominic's request, Anita experiments with the power, learning that she can heal vampires that she raises during daylight. Dominic helps her develop a ritual to combine her powers with Jean-Claude's and Richards and lay the vampires and zombies to rest, and they agree to try to use the technique to heal Sabin the next day. Jean-Claude, Richard, and Anita discuss their mutual relationship some more. Richard has agreed to accept Jean-Claude's marks as his animal servant, but will not accept a subordinate position to either Jean-Claude or Anita, and threatens to kill Jean-Claude if he attempts to assume control. Anita, for her part, will not even accept the marks. Jean-Claude claims to be threatened by Anita's new power and by the prospect of a three way battle for dominance "for all eternity," but he is intrigued by the amount of power the three of them can raise. Edward arrives, with an assistant, the psycopathic mercenary Harley. Edward explains that he has learned that Marcus was behind the contract on Anita's life, and Jean-Claude hypothesizes that Marcus wanted to distract Richard from concentrating on that night's battle of succession. Anita and Richard dress for the battle and leave, with Edward and Harley as backup. Using Jean-Claude's mark, Anita and Richard unite their three powers once more, this time magnifying Richard's power. Holding Anita's hand, Richard helps her "ride" his power, allowing the two of them to run through the forest like wolves. At the wolves' sacred clearing, Richard and Marcus face off. Sebastian stabs Richard in the back in order to help Marcus, but is killed by Edward, who has taken up a sniper's position nearby. Without further intereference, Richard tears out Marcus's heart, killing him. In order to prevent her from killing Raina, Richard grabs Anita. He holds her down bodily as he changes to his wolf-man state. He invites Anita to share his power again, but she flees in horror, just as the pack begins eating Marcus. Anita runs back to the Circus and Jean-Claude. Distraught, Anita finally gives in to Jean-Claude's ongoing seduction, in the first of the many detailed scenes of erotica that Hamilton has since introduced into the series. The next morning, Richard arrives, and is devastated by the combination Anita's rejection of him the previous night and discovering that she has had sex with Jean-Claude. After an emotional fight, Richard declares that he will always love Anita and leaves. Cassandra arrives to help Anita clean up but then, to Anita's surprise, knocks Anita unconscious and delivers her to Raina and Gabriel. With Anita safely bound on the set of Raina's porn films, Cassandra explains that she, Dominic and Sabin are a triumvirate. Cassandra was the lover who convinced Sabin to give up feeding on humans, causing him to develop his degenerative condition. Dominic believed that by sacrificing Jean-Claude's triumvirate, they could heal Sabin, and the three of them came to St. Louis to do so. Discovering that Anita was not marked by Jean-Claude, they are going to try the sacrifice with just Jean-Claude and Richard. Anita attempts to reason with Cassandra, and promises to heal Sabin by raising him during daylight the next day. Cassandra refuses, stating that they do not have even one more day before Sabin loses his mind permanently, and leaves Anita to be raped and killed in Raina's snuff film. Gabriel, a psychotic sadomasochist, has been fantasizing about arming Anita with silver knives and raping her while she tries to kill him. Anita talks Gabriel into trying out his fantasy and gives her the knives. Unknown to Gabriel, Anita accepts the first and second vampire marks from Richard and Jean-Claude while waiting for the scene to begin; with her weapons and the extra power from the marks, she is able to kill both Gabriel and Raina. Together with Edward and Harley, Anita races to the sacrifice site to save Jean-Claude and Richard. At the site, Dominic has prepared another circle of power against the dead, which Anita, a necromancer, is unable to enter. Edward crosses the circle and kills Dominic to stop his spell but is knocked unconscious by Sabin. Harley shoots Cassandra. Anita kills Sabin and is then forced to kill Harley, who has lost control without Edward to anchor him to reality. She rushes to Richard and Jean-Claude and finds Richard dying, his heart pierced by Dominic's blade. Jean-Claude explains that he is shielding Anita from Richard's pain, and that he and Richard will probably die. Anita is unable to cope with losing both men and agrees to accept the third mark, giving blood to Jean-Claude and saving Richard and Jean-Claude's lives. In the epilogue, Anita explains that Monica's baby is doing well, and that she and Jean-Claude remain lovers, but that Richard has frozen them both out of his life, rendering the triumvirate useless. Even more ominously, Edward has declared that because Anita killed Harley, she now owes him one favor, which he will collect when he sees fit. |
4827858 | /m/0cpx6d | The Ghost at Skeleton Rock | Franklin W. Dixon | 1/1/1958 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/028v3": "Detective fiction"} | Frank, Joe, Chet and Tony travel to Puerto Rico to investigate the mystery behind a coded letter they received from the Hardy father. But with danger following their move and man who has an uncanny resemblance to Joe, the boys are running out of time! Can they save their father before it's too late? |
4830226 | /m/0cp_ng | The Flying Sorcerers | David Gerrold | 1971 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The plot concerns the efforts of an astronaut and geologist/anthropologist, known to the natives as "Purple", to escape from a primitive world on which he is stranded and return to his people. The events are seen from the perspective of Lant, one of the natives, who becomes, in the course of the novel, Speaker (chieftain) of his people. The natives, a fur covered people, believe in magic and the book shows how sufficiently advanced technology would be perceived by a primitive society. Purple lands in an egg-shaped vehicle. He casually disrupts the lives of Lant's people, and thoughtlessly demeans Shoogar, the village magician. Shoogar gets revenge by destroying Purple's vehicle, which results in an atomic explosion. Many of the villagers are dead or injured, the rest, including Lant and Shoogar, are forced to flee. Purple is presumed dead. The villagers eventually wind up on a fertile peninsula, which, as the summer approaches, is rapidly becoming an island (thanks to the influence of the two suns, the shorelines on this world are somewhat variable). To the annoyance of the existing inhabitants of the area, the villagers contrive to be trapped in the verdant area by the rising seas. The villagers are less happy when they learn that Purple is here, serving ineffectively as local magician, having succeeded the incumbent, Dorthi, by killing him by landing on him in a fall from the sky in an impact suit. Lant's people wish to flee, but have nowhere to go. Lant, who becomes Speaker of the villagers more or less by default, and the local Speaker persuade the two magicians to swear to a peace treaty. Purple can call his mother ship to get him, but must return to the distant area of the old village to do so. Everyone is stranded on the island for a considerable length of time. Purple conceives the idea of fabricating a flying machine to return him to the area. He persuades his villagers (who are actually anxious to get rid of him) and Lant's, to join in the scheme. The ship will have balloons, sails, and pedal-driven steering. A good part of the book deals with the tribulations of Purple in trying to create this work, beyond the technology of the local people. He creates 'aircloth' (a thin, airtight cloth), a rubber-equivalent, and splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. He is successful in building the ship. But in so doing, he has changed the lives of the villagers forever. Not only do they have these new technologies, but he has created problems with crime, intoxication, the ecology, and has altered the relationship between the sexes. In addition, he has introduced money into the culture. Purple, Shoogar, Lant, and Lant's adult two sons take off for the old village. They get there, and Purple is able to summon the mother ship and depart. There is a brief epilogue---after the return home, Lant notes that a new flying machine, much larger than the first, is to be built, thus continuing the industrial revolution started by Purple. |
4831837 | /m/0cq23z | Oath of Fealty | Jerry Pournelle | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | In the near future, a race riot results in the destruction of an area just outside Los Angeles. In order to prevent the area from devolving into a tent slum, the city sells the construction rights to a private company, which then constructs an arcology, named Todos Santos. The higher standard of living enjoyed by Todos Santos residents causes resentment among Angelenos. The arcology dwellers have evolved a different culture, sacrificing privacy - there are cameras (not routinely monitored) even in the private apartments - in exchange for security. The residents are fiercely loyal to the arcology and its management, and the loyalty runs both ways. During the course of the novel, Todos Santos is compared to a feudal society, with loyalty and obligations running both ways, hence the title. The systems at the arcology are run by MILLIE, an advanced computer system, and some high-level executives have direct links to MILLIE via implants in their brains. Other workers in the arcology work by telepresence, including one woman who remotely operates construction equipment on a lunar base. Todos Santos causes resentment among Angelenos, but has improved their lives as well. The company that owns the arcology tows icebergs in, solving the water shortage for all Southern Californians. Todos Santos has dug a Los Angeles subway using a digging machine, which uses an oxyhydrogen torch. Todos Santos is at the hub of the subway system, and contains a huge mall, which Angelenos may visit. This easy access causes Los Angeles' city officials to complain about the shopping dollars and tax revenues going outside the city limits. As the story opens, three young Angelenos sneak into the maintenance areas of Todos Santos. When they are detected by Todos Santos' security systems and personnel, they give every appearance of being terrorists, including spoofing the correct electronic access codes. When non-lethal means of stopping the three fail, Deputy Manager Preston Sanders orders lethal gas released rather than risk a bomb going off. Two of the intruders are killed. They turn out to be youths, with high tech equipment and boxes with such labels as "bomb", but without the actual means of harming the arcology. It soon turns out that they were duped by the "Friends of Man and the Earth" (FROMATE), anti-technology zealots who want to see Todos Santos destroyed or abandoned, as a means of forcing the arcology to turn off its lethal defenses for a later real attack. The deaths of the two youths cause political problems. Sanders is charged with murder. While arcology manager Art Bonner is quite prepared to defy the city authorities, Sanders turns himself in. The arcology is forced to turn off its lethal defenses as the FROMATEs planned. When that happens, they soon face a full-fledged attack by the FROMATEs, which they deter by non-lethal means, until the intruders prove they have deadly weapons, at which point Todos Santos security responds in kind, shooting and killing most of the intruders. While city authorities are still reacting to this, the arcology launches a jailbreak, the idea of chief engineer (and resident genius) Tony Rand. They tunnel under the jail, release sleep gas into the jail, and free Sanders. Los Angeles soon retaliates with arrest and search warrants, but they are soon defeated by the sheer size of the arcology and the ability of the Todos Santos executives, aided in part by their direct links to MILLIE, to hide Rand and Sanders. After Todos Santos shows that it can cause Los Angeles trouble, such as by contaminating the Los Angeles water supply with salt water, and by work stoppages among the telepresence operators, a truce is arrived at: Rand and Sanders will leave the country permanently, and relations between Los Angeles and Todos Santos will be restored. In effect, Todos Santos has won, if only by restoring the status quo ante. Notable Quote: "Think of it as Evolution in Action" (Tony Rand) |
4832311 | /m/0cq2vx | Ai no Kusabi | null | null | null | Ai no Kusabi takes place on the world of Amoi, which is ruled by a computer named Jupiter. Jupiter has introduced a number of strict social rules to society. Among them, social status is determined by hair color, blonde being the highest, down to black or dark brown as the lowest. The Blondies, genetically engineered by Jupiter, are the highest social class and occupy the capital city of Tanagura. They travel to the satellite pleasure city of Midas, which has an independent slum area called Ceres. Under Jupiter's restrictions, the Blondies are sterile and forbidden from indulging in sexual activities. They keep "pets" (adolescents in their late teens) for about a year, for purely voyeuristic purposes, before discarding them. Further emasculation is seen in the "Furniture", adolescent boys who serve the Blondies. Contrary to popular belief, the hair-color caste system only applies to those working in Tanagura and not in Ceres. The true separation is between those genetically created in a lab (those in Tanagura) and the "mongrels" formed the natural way (those in Ceres). However it was written in the novel that Tanagura manipulated even the natural births of Ceres, ensuring that its population did not grow by restricting the number of female births to 1 in 10. Riki the Dark, a slum mongrel without an ID number, leader of the gang Bison and therefore considered the lowest of the low, one day meets Iason Mink, a Tanagura elite Blondie, the most powerful man in the city and Jupiter's favorite. Iason saves him from being killed by a gang and Riki tries to pay his debt by offering his body to Iason. Instead, Iason makes him his pet and takes him from the slums to live with him. Riki leaves his gang behind without an explanation. Iason keeps Riki, who is bound to Iason with a penis ring, as his pet for three years. This causes a lot of rumors and commotion amongst the other Blondies. Not only is Riki considered too old to be a pet but he is a human mongrel, which is frowned upon. The other Blondies question Iason and his motives, yet Iason refuses to give up Riki whom he has grown very attached to. Iason's friend, Raoul, warns him that Jupiter does not approve of this relationship but Iason refuses to listen. Riki hates his new position, having formerly been a proud leader, and begs Iason for his freedom. Iason grants him a year of freedom and allows him to go back to Ceres, the slums. Riki is welcomed back into Bison and returns to a normal life. He has changed, however, and is unable to forget the time he spent as Iason's pet. When the year passes, Iason decides he wants Riki back. Through his former furniture Katze, who is now a black marketeer, Iason arranges for Kirie, a young member of Bison, to set a trap and catch the gang. This ends with Bison being arrested. Riki is freed and told to return to his master. After Riki returns to Iason, he learns of the taboos Iason has broken to keep him and of how Iason has protected him from the fate of former pets which end up being sold to brothels. Iason even decides to grant Riki a bit of further freedom by allowing him to work with Katze in the black market. Guy, Riki's best friend and former pairing partner from Bison, finds out about Riki's position as Iason's pet and becomes enraged. As a result, Guy decides to get Riki back from Iason. He kidnaps Riki to Dana Bahn. Riki tells Guy that he will never be free of Iason as long as he wears Iason's pet ring. Guy therefore removes Riki's pet ring by giving him a penectomy. Guy contacts Iason and arranges to meet him in Dana Bahn. Iason, thinking Riki is in Dana Bahn because of the tracer in the pet ring, meets Guy there. Iason tries to get Riki back but finds out what Guy has done. After attacking him, Guy sets off bombs that he had planted in Dana Bahn with the intention of killing Iason to set Riki free. Riki appears to stop Iason from killing Guy and get them all out of Dana Bahn. Reluctantly Iason helps Guy and they head towards the exit. As they approach the front gate, an explosion wrecks Dana Bahn. The gates collapse and slice Iason's legs off just above the knee. Riki is forced to leave him there while he takes Guy out of Dana Bahn. Riki sees Katze, who has been waiting outside after Riki contacted him, and tells him to help Guy while he returns to Iason. Iason is surprised to see Riki come back, despite what he had done to him as a pet. Riki sits down next to Iason and offers him a poisonous Black Moon cigarette that Katze had given to him, and they both perish in Dana Bahn together, much to everyone's grief. |
4832818 | /m/0cq3hm | The Chrysanthemums | John Steinbeck | null | null | The story opens with a panoramic view of the Salinas Valley in winter, shrouded in fog. The focus narrows and finally settles on Elisa Allen, cutting down the spent stalks of Chrysanthemums in the garden on her husband’s ranch. Elisa is thirty-five, lean and strong, and she approaches her gardening with great energy. Her husband Henry comes from across the yard, where he has been arranging the sale of thirty steer, and offers to take Elisa to town for dinner and movie to celebrate the sale. He praises her skill with flowers, and she congratulates him on doing well in the negotiations for the steer. They seem a well-matched couple, though their way of talking together is formal and serious. Henry heads off to finish some chores, and Elisa decides to finish her transplanting before they get ready to leave for town. Soon Elisa hears “a squeak of wheels and a plod of hoofs,” and a man drives up in an old wagon. (He is never named; the narrator calls him simply “the man.”) The man is large and dirty, and clearly used to being alone. He earns a meager living fixing pots and sharpening scissors and knives, traveling from San Diego, California, to Seattle, Washington, and back every year. The man chats and jokes with Elisa, who answers his bantering tone but has no work for him to do. When he presses for a small job, she becomes annoyed and tries to send him away. Suddenly the man’s attention turns to the flowers that Elisa is tending. When he asks about them, Elisa’s annoyance vanishes, and she becomes friendly again. The man remembers seeing chrysanthemums before, and describes them: “Kind of a long-stemmed flower? Looks like a quick puff of colored smoke?” Elisa is delighted with his description. The man tells her about one of his regular customers who also gardens, and who always has work for him when he comes by. She has asked him to keep his eyes open in his travels, and to bring her some chrysanthemum seeds if he ever finds some. Now Elisa is captivated. She invites the man into the yard, prepares a pot of chrysanthemum cuttings for the woman’s garden, and gives him full instructions for tending them. Clearly, Elisa envies the man’s life on the road and is attracted to him because he understands her love of flowers. In a moment of extreme emotion she nearly reaches for him, but snatches her hand back before she touches him. Instead, she finds him two pots to mend, and he drives away with fifty cents and the cuttings, promising to take care of the plants until he can deliver them to the other woman. Elisa goes into the house to get dressed for dinner. She scrubs herself vigorously and examines her naked body in the mirror before putting on her dress and makeup. When Henry finds her, he compliments her, telling her she looks “different, strong and happy.” “I’m strong,” she boasts. “I never knew before how strong.” As Henry and Elisa drive into town, she sees a dark speck ahead on the road. It turns out to be the cuttings the man has tossed out of his wagon. She does not mention them to Henry, who has not seen them, and she turns her head so he cannot see her crying. |
4833048 | /m/0cq3tl | Out from Boneville | Jeff Smith | 5/29/1995 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/01z4y": "Comedy", "/m/09kqc": "Humour"} | The three Bone cousins are lost in the desert. After finding a mysterious seemingly hand-drawn map they are attacked by a swarm of locusts. Fone Bone barely escapes with his life, but falls off a cliff. Climbing up the other side, he finds a trail of Smiley's cigars. Following it, he meets two rat creatures who attempt to eat him. However, he is rescued by the Great Red Dragon. Soon after, he meets Ted, a wise bug who suggests that Fone seek counsel from Thorn, but warns he should do so before winter arrives. Following a spontaneous blanket of falling snow, marking the beginning of winter, Fone decides to stay in the Valley until Spring when he can continue his search for Phoney and Smiley. Fone Bone (now donning boots, a blanket cape, and a paper bag hat) is in the process of working on his house when Miz Possum comes by with her three sons to give Fone Bone some more supplies. Miz Possum leaves her sons in the care of Fone Bone for a short while. The kids get away from him while playing, and he chases after them to find they have been caught by the two rat creatures from earlier. Fone saves the kids and tells them to run away while he leads that rat creatures off of their trail. The rat creatures chase Fone Bone for a while, and the chase ends with the Great Red Dragon scaring them away. Fone, angry with the dragon, asks why he didn't use his fiery breath, at which point the Great Red Dragon sets Bone's hat on fire. Afterwards, Fone Bone tries to tell Miz Possum about the dragon, but she, despite seeing his burnt hat, refuses to believe an ounce of it. Making his way to the hot spring to clean up, Fone runs into a beautiful woman removing her trousers to collect some water from the spring. Fone is immediately smitten. She reveals her name to be Thorn, the person whom Ted told him to seek, and Fone goes off with her to her home. Fone Bone is staying at Thorn's house, and helping with chores prior to the arrival of Thorn's grandmother, Gran'ma Ben, who is coming from the annual Great Cow Race. Fone Bone shows Thorn the map they found in the desert, which Thorn finds strangely familiar. Meanwhile Phoney Bone meets Gran'ma Ben, and instantly gets on her wrong side. He and Fone Bone are reunited when Gran'ma Ben arrives at the farm house. The day before the Spring Fair at the nearby town, Fone and Phoney are helping out at Thorn and Ben's farmstead. Seeing the opportunity to make some money, the greedy Phoney sneaks out to go to town early, but en route he encounters the two Rat Creatures and their ruler, Kingdok. He overhears the Rat Creatures are on the lookout for a "small bald creature with a star on its chest", a clear description of Phoney Bone himself. The Rat Creatures are called to high council with The Hooded One, a mysterious figure who wears a brown cloak with the hood pulled down over his face, and wields a scythe. The meeting adjourns with The Hooded One sending every Rat Creature in the valley to attack the farm house. With the farm house under attack, Gran'ma Ben fights off the Rat Creatures, giving Thorn and Fone the chance to escape. When Thorn and Fone get surrounded, the Great Red Dragon appears, announcing its arrival with the smell of brimstone, and chases the Rat Creature army away. They return to the farm house to find it wrecked and smoldering. Meanwhile, Phoney Bone arrives at the Barrelhaven tavern and discovers, to his astonishment, Smiley Bone working there as a barman. He then meets Lucius Down, owner of the bar, and instantly gets on his wrong side. It is then that Phoney discovers that the residents of the valley use products and services as pay—Phoney's drinks cost "two eggs"; Phoney gives Lucius two dollars, which are ripped apart, much to Phoney's shock; Smiley tells him the truth. Thorn, Fone and the Dragon arrive back at the farm to find Gran'ma Ben alive. Clearly she and the Dragon know each other (the Dragon addresses her by her first name, Rose). However, Gran'ma Rose Ben remains distrustful of the Dragon, despite his driving off the Rat Creatures. Meanwhile, Phoney Bone is forced to work under Lucius Down, proprietor of the Barrelhaven tavern, to pay off his bar tab (his coveted Boneville money being worthless in the valley). As he plans ways to get rich off the villagers' goods instead, he is visited by The Hooded One, who claims to want his soul. When Thorn, Ben and Fone Bone arrive in town for the Spring Fair, the three Bone cousins are reunited at last. |
4838590 | /m/0cqbj6 | The Teutonic Knights | Henryk Sienkiewicz | null | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Krzyżacy tells the story of a young nobleman, Zbyszko of Bogdaniec, who together with his uncle Maćko of Bogdaniec returns from the war against the Order (Knights of the Cross) in nearby Lithuania. In a tavern inn Zbyszko falls in love with the lovely Danusia, who is traveling with the court of the Duchess Anna. He swears to her his knight's oath and promises to bring her "three trophies" from the Teutonic Knights. On his way to the royal city of Kraków (Cracow), Zbyszko attacks Kuno von Liechtenstein, who is an official diplomatic delegate of the Teutonic Knights. The penalty is death. Yet, on the gallows, Danusia saves him from execution when she jumps onto the platform in full view of the crowd, and promises to marry him, covering his head with her handkerchief (an old Polish tradition that carries with it a stay of execution if the couple wed). Zbyszko and Maćko return home to their estate, where they rebuild their mansion. After some time Zbyszek returns to Danuśka and marries her. However, she is soon treacherously kidnapped by four Teutonic Knights who want revenge – her father Jurand fought against the Germans. Jurand himself is soon captured by them, imprisoned and cruelly tortured and maimed. Zbyszko's quest to find and save his kidnapped Danusia continues until, at long last, he rescues her. However, it is too late already. Danuta has been driven insane because of her treatment at the hands of her captors, and eventually dies. The long awaited war begins. The combined forces of Poland and Lithuania under the command of Polish King Ladislaus Jagiello destroy the Teutonic Order in the monumental 1410 Battle of Grunwald. This battle signals the true terminal decline of the Teutonic Order. |
4838673 | /m/0cqbl_ | The Harsh Cry of the Heron | Gillian Rubinstein | 2006 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Takeo and Kaede are now the prosperous rulers of the Three Countries. They have three daughters, Shigeko, and twins Miki and Maya. Shigeko, the eldest daughter and heir, has been trained as a boy as she will inherit the domain of Maruyama when she comes of age, and the Three Countries upon Takeo's death. Maya and Miki, on the other hand, are seen as cursed not only because of the superstitious beliefs concerning twins, but also because of their Tribe talents, indicated by the Kikuta lines on their palms. They are feared and ignored by many, including their mother, but are well loved by Takeo and Shigeko. Takeo's only fear is that the prophecy concerning his death will be realized - he can only be killed by his son. Kaede soon gives birth to Takeo’s second son. A new threat to Takeo has appeared. Arai Zenko and his wife Hana have allied with the Saga Hideki, a warlord who has conquered the rest of the Eight Islands in the name of the powerless Emperor, Kikuta Akio, the Master of the exiled Kikuta family, and the Western foreigners (Portuguese), to destroy Takeo. Muto Kenji, at the end of his years, attempts in vain to negotiate with the Akio and see his grandson, Hisao. Hisao, really Takeo’s son and future killer, has no Tribe talents leading Akio to abuse him, but as Kenji attempts to flee with him he sees that Hisao is a ghostmaster, capable of communicating and controlling the souls of the dead. The soul of his mother, Yuki, is haunting him. Kenji soon commits suicide to avoid capture, eager to see the next world. Maya, whose Tribe talents go beyond the Tribe's ability to control her, takes the spirit of a cat within her and struggles to assert her control over it, becoming increasingly erratic and dangerous. She and Miki are separated, and Maya must train under Taku. Taku is soon killed on his brother Zenko’s orders and Maya is captured. Hisao is finally able to communicate with the spirit of his mother when Maya is captured, but rejects his mother's pleas to spare Takeo's life. Rather than battle the Emperor's forces, Takeo and his retinue travel to the capital to engage in a bowmanship contest: the victor will rule the Three Countries. The Otori win, and Takeo departs in glory, leaving behind an exotic animal, a Kirin (likely a giraffe or an okapi), as a gift. However the Kirin frets, breaks free, and follows Takeo's army, which is seen as an omen and a slight on the Emperor. Saga takes the opportunity and pursues them. In the resulting battle, both sides enduring great losses until Shigeko shoots Saga in the eye, and he retreats. Maya, dominated by the cat spirit within her, slips into her parents' house, and kills her infant brother with the Kikuta gaze. Overcome with grief, Kaede slips into temporary insanity when Hana reveals the existence of Takeo's teenage son by Yuki. She orders their house burned to the ground, and goes with Hana and her sons. Takeo finds her and tries to reason with her, but she calls the guards. Knowing he cannot fight his wife, he abdicates in favour of his daughter Shigeko, and retires to Terayama. There, Akio and Hisao come to kill him, but at the vital moment Hisao, armed with a pistol, freezes. Akio grabs the pistol, but it explodes in his hands, killing both him and Maya (who possessed the cat spirit at the time). Takeo, now believing it is his time, puts a knife in Hisao's hands, and falls upon it, bringing the prophecy of his death to fulfilment. In his abdication, he made an alliance with General Saga, betrothing Shigeko to him in return for an alliance, and for Shigeko to be co-ruler with him in the Three Countries. The combined armies defeat Arai's. Zenko and Hana take their lives, along with their youngest son, but at Kaede's request, Saga spares their other two sons. She brings them to Terayama to live, and, guilt-ridden before Takeo's grave, she prepares to commit suicide. Only Miki's appearance makes her decide to live on for her sake. |
4838726 | /m/0cqbp2 | Heaven's Net Is Wide | Gillian Rubinstein | 2007 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The following divisions are not so marked in the novel, but are included below to separate the logical sections of the plot. Kikuta Isamu has embraced the religion of The Hidden, and made a new life in a secret village. He is tracked down by his cousin Kotaro, who tells him he is sentenced to death for leaving The Tribe. Isamu leads him on a chase, but when finally cornered, refuses to defend himself. Kotaro kills him, but is later haunted by Isamu's words of forgiveness, and wonders if the man had left a child. 12 year old Shigeru visits his mother's house in Hagi when Endo Akira runs up, saying that Shigeru's brother Takeshi and Mori Yuta had fallen in the river and not resurfaced. Shigeru dives in with an unknown girl (later revealed as Akane), and they manage to save Takeshi, but Yuta is dead. After the funeral, Yuta's father offers to kill himself in exchange. Shigeru's step-uncles believe the whole family should be put to death, and their property confiscated. Shigemori, who is Lord Otori and Shigeru's father, agrees with Shigeru that the proposed punishment is excessive, and the sons enter their service instead. From this day, Shigeru mistrusts his uncles. When aged 15, he and his best friend are caught sleeping with a maid, and he is warned by his father of the dangers of illegitimate children vying for inheritance. Indeed, over 30 years ago, Shigemori fell into the same trap with a woman from the Tribe, and ever since he has feared his child's reappearance. He sends Shigeru to Matsuda Shingen, former warrior and now priest at Terayama, for instruction. On the way, events lead Shigeru to suspect Lord Noguchi, an Otori ally, of treachery. War with the Tohan seems inevitable. He arrives at Terayama, and there is treated the same as any other novice. He is on the point of leaving in frustration when Matsuda takes him into the wilderness for training of the mind, and later, of the body. A houou bird visits and leaves a feather, an omen of peace, though the stain of blood suggests that Shigeru's death will be in the cause of justice. Later, in a training fight, Shigeru knocks Matsuda unconscious, and runs for help. He encounters a member of the Tribe, known as The Fox, who can make himself invisible, and who gives him some herbs that speed Matsuda's recovery. When Matsuda wakes he warns Shigeru that, from the Tribe, the herbs could just as easily been poison. One evening, they are approached by two men on horseback. They are looking for Matsuda, and one challenges him to a fight, to prove he is the better swordsman and for insulting the Tohan Lord by not coming to Inuyama to tutor his son. Matsuda replies that Shigeru is his better, and so the man should fight Shigeru. Shigeru kills the man easily—his first kill—and sends the other man back to report on what happened. They return to Terayama to discover the old Abbot in dead: Matsuda is installed as his successor. Autumn passes, before Winter closes in. The stone bridge at Hagi is completed, and to appease the spirits, the stonemason is sealed inside. His daughter, Akane, is a courtesan at Haruna's establishment, and is consoled by her favourite client, Hayato. He wishes to marry her, but Shigeru provides money for her and her family, and overtures are made for her to be his concubine. She turns Hayato away, but Shigeru travels with his men to the border with the Tohan. There he finds people belonging to a sect known as The Hidden. Tohan warriors have been entering Otori land, and submitting the members of the sect to torture. Shigeru learns from a survivor and his family the beliefs of the Hidden. They come across some Tohan with their Lord, Iida Sadamu, trapped in an underground cave. They rescue him, in return for a promise to honour the borders. They believe, however, it will be a promise not honoured. On his return he received reprobation from his father and uncles. Akane becomes his concubine, and he builds a special house for her to live in. His mother soon moves into the palace and organises a wedding for him to Yanagi Moe. In jealousy, Akane obtains a charm which makes Moe shrink in terror when Shigeru attempts to consummate the marriage. Hayato pleads with Akane to come away with him, but she refuses. By the next day, he had cursed the Otori in Shigeru's uncle's hearing, and was killed. With his entire family under a death sentence, Akane pleads for mercy on their behalf: in return, she agrees to report on Shigeru's actions, though she hopes not to betray her lover. Shigeru grants the Hidden man, Nesutoro, permission to join fellow believers in the west, while Takeshi tells him that people fear their father's indecisiveness. Shigeru entrusts patrolling of the eastern border to the Noguchi and Kitano, while he prepares to meet secretly with Seishuu Lords to discuss alliances. Masahiro comes to Akane again for more news, and she tells him that Shigeru plans to meet someone from the Arai or Maruyama. Shigeru sets off, dropping his wife at her father's house on the way. In Yamagata he is met by Muto Shizuka of the Tribe. Under the pretense of a day's hawking, she leads them out to meet Arai Daiichi, her lover. Despite a friendly meeting, he was unable to garner open support from the Arai. Later, in her role as member of the Tribe, Shizuka delivers a letter from Iida to the Noguchi which will almost ensure the Otori defeat. Shigeru journeys to Terayama, where Takeshi is to be trained, and also to be out of harms way if war breaks out. There he meets Maruyama Naomi, leader of a clan inherited through the female line, and they between them agree to an alliance. She also reveals that The Hidden in her domain are under her protection. Shigeru returns to Hagi and convinces Shigemori, with his mother's help, to send his untrustworthy uncles away, however the uncles procrastinate until winter prevents the journey. By the time Spring comes, however, his uncles are only too happy to depart to their estates, having told Akane it won't be for long. Shigemori impresses on Shigeru the imperative to live on if, in the impending battle, the ancestral sword Jato comes to him. The Otori army of 5000 men left Hagi, Shigeru receiving an emotional farewell from Akane, and a cold one from his wife. They met the Tohan army, who had already razed Chigawa, at the plain of Yaegahara. They are betrayed by their own forces: the Kitano who failed to attack the Tohan as they passed, and the Noguchi who openly attack the Otori, killing Shigeru's friend Kiyoshige and taking his head. Hemmed in on two sides, the Otori suffer heavy losses, including his father Shigemori. Defeated, Shigeru retreats to a stream where he prepares to take his own life. However The Fox (Kenji), the member of the Tribe he met some years ago, finds him and brings him Jato, retrieved from near his father's body. Thus determined to escape, he follows Kenji through the wilderness to a secret village of the tribe, where he recuperates. Shigeru gradually trusts him, despite Kenji's associations, and realises that to survive, he would need to be devious, and patient. Shigeru's uncles return to Hagi and were installed as interim regents, and requested Lord Kitano, who was the most neutral of the Lords, to act as an intermediary between them and Iida Sadamu. Masahiro comes to Akane, tells her that Shigeru was dead or captured, and rapes her. In despair for her loss and her part in it, she kills the priest who gave her the charm, and casts herself into the mouth of a volcano. Shigeru rides to the castle with a great procession behind him. His wife, bitter at the death of her family in battle, tells him of Akane's fate. With most of his friends and advisors dead, he battled to keep a calm demeanour as he met with his uncles and other senior advisors. Kitano arrives the next day to negotiate terms: Shigeru's abdication and retirement, the ceding of territory, and later, the taking of hostages from the Seishuu to ensure their loyalty. Shigeru and his wife begin a distorted sexual relationship, she deliberately inciting his anger, and then submitting to it. She conceives, after which they rarely speak. He seeks permission to retrieve Takeshi from Terayama, and after receiving evasive replies, he travels anonymously through the mountains. The brothers honour their father's death there during the festival, and Shigeru plans to take on the persona of a harmless Farmer, giving him time to patiently wait for his revenge. After they return, Moe, Shigeru's wife, dies with her baby during childbirth, which sends him into depression. Shizuka, now a mother, hears that Kikuta Kotaro killed Lady Maruyama's child, which marks the turning point in her loyalty. Shigeru starts compiling records on the tribe, and later Shizuka comes to him as an informer, secretly assisting him. Across the 3 countries, Shigeru's Farmer persona has been accepted, though some look to him for salvation, or at least to act like a Lord. After Takeshi becomes rebellious, he is taken into Miyoshi Satoru's household for training. Shigeru receives a mysterious note from Lady Maruyama. After an assassination attempt on his life is foiled, he meets her at a remote shrine, and they begin a secretive relationship. They meet only occasionally, and when a lone Yanagi warrior attempts to kill Iida Sadamu, it becomes too dangerous to even write. They spend six years apart, during which time Lady Maruyama's daughter Mariko is taken hostage in Iida's castle, and Shirakawa Kaede likewise resides at Noguchi. At Noguchi castle, Arai Daiichi is becoming impatient, and Naomi fears that anything rash may endanger her and Mariko. She travels with Shizuka to Yamagata, and the two women confide their fears and plans to each other. Naomi continues on alone to Terayama, where she has an unexpected meeting with Shigeru. Afterwards she goes to Inuyama to visit her daughter, but cannot stay, as she has conceived a child to Shigeru. Knowing that bearing his son would be disaster for them all, she sends word to Shizuka, and she rushes back to Maruyama. Shizuka comes and gives Naomi a herbal concoction which terminates the pregnancy. She is comforted by Sachie and her sister Eriko, who are both members of The Hidden, and she becomes one of them. Word comes from a travelling peddler, a member of The Hidden, who met a boy in Mino, who looks like an Otori. Shizuka sets off at once for Hagi and brings Shigeru the news, who resolves to rescue him from likely persecution from Iida's men, with the knowledge that if the boy inherited his family's skills, he may be the assassin he has been waiting for. Before he can go, his mother dies of a fever; Shigeru also suffers from it, but slowly recovers. In the meantime, Takeshi is killed in a fight in Yamagata and is later buried at Terayama. Iida rewards his killers. Shigeru makes the long journey cross-country to Mino, where he is just in time to rescue the boy, Tomasu, from Iida's men who had already destroyed Tomasu's village. He renames him Takeo, and plans to adopt him, and together they would destroy Iida Sadamu. |
4840183 | /m/0cqd9c | Youngblood Hawke | Herman Wouk | null | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Youngblood Hawke is the story of Arthur Youngblood Hawke, an ex-Navy man who comes to New York to publish his first great novel, Alms for Oblivion. Originally a poor young man from Hovey, Kentucky, Arthur is the son of a dead literary minded man and a mother who sniffs out her own fortune via the scalping of family relations in the coal mining business. Hawke's mastery of the written word and his hunt for wealth come from this mating. While publishing his first novel, he falls in with a married woman, Frieda Winter, with whom he maintains an emotionally tumultuous affair for far too long. Meanwhile, in the course of his writing career and his affair, he carries a torch for Jeanne Green, his editor. Over continents and over a surprisingly short number of years, Arthur Hawke feverishly pens five novels. His fame carries with it great wealth but Arthur has a weakness for building wealth fast. He gets involved with Scott Hoag, a builder from his own town, who gives him the opportunity to become a venture capitalist. In a few short years, Arthur overextends himself and becomes seriously in debt. In the end, he works himself to death between the money he owes (if only a break could have come to him sooner); jealousy over Jeanne, the love of his life, who married once to spite him; and the tragedy of Frieda Winter's son's suicide for which Hawke feels responsible. A head trauma from his days of coal trucking in Hovey also comes into play. Surrounding and soon after his death, Youngblood Hawke achieves the success and status that he had sought while alive. Serialized in McCalls magazine from March to July 1962. |
4841266 | /m/0cqfvw | Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House | Eric Hodgins | 1946 | {"/m/02yq81": "Comic novel", "/m/01z4y": "Comedy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The book begins in fictional Landsdale County, Connecticut, where Jim and Muriel Blandings are being shown an old farmhouse by a real estate agent. Blandings, a successful New York advertising executive, and his wife want to leave their tiny Midtown apartment, where they live with their two daughters. They fantasize that the farmhouse will meet their needs. After some negotiation, they buy the house. They soon learn that the house is structurally unsound and must be torn down. They design the perfect home in the country, imagining an idyll, but they are quickly beset by construction troubles, temperamental workmen, skyrocketing bills, threatening lawyers, and difficult neighbors. The Blandings' dream house soon threatens to be the nightmare that undoes them. Hodgins wrote a sequel, Blandings Way, published in 1950. The short story and novel were based on the author Eric Hodgins's experience with buying property and building a house in the Merryall area of the Litchfield County, Connecticut, town of New Milford. His former house, which still stands, sold in August 2004 for $1.2 million. |
4842045 | /m/0cqh4k | Scientology: A History of Man | L. Ron Hubbard | 1952 | null | As the original title suggests, What to Audit / A History of Man was written as a guide for Scientologist auditors, pointing out various Space opera "incidents" that are said to have occurred in all of our "past lives". The book sets out a description of the areas to be audited. It proposes that the human body actually houses two separate entities. The most important is a thetan, the spiritual being said by Hubbard to be the "true self" of a person. According to Hubbard, this is accompanied by a 'genetic entity', or GE, which is "a sort of low-grade soul" located more or less in the centre of the body, and which passes to another body when the current body dies. The book describes numerous "incidents" that, according to Hubbard, occurred to the thetan or the genetic entity in past lives. Although commonly misinterpreted as an alternative theory of evolution, the purpose of the incidents list is not to suggest that clams begat sloths who begat cavemen. What Hubbard claims is that we have buried memories of past lives as clams, sloths, and cavemen, and that those memories - or engrams - affect us today. Hubbard also presented the vague concept of the "genetic entity" which he claims progressed through each of these prehuman forms before finally ending up in a homo sapiens body. These stages of biological history, some typified by an animal and others typified by other items, were marked by traumatic incidents which have to be "run out" using an E-meter. Hubbard stressed that these incidents are not limited to the list below: for example, he notes "there are many steps and incidents between the Birds and the Sloth". The list simply arbitrarily names some incidents that Hubbard found particularly worth commenting on: * The Atom, "complete with electronic rings". According to Hubbard, "There seems to be a 'hole in space' immediately ahead of the Atom", which generates a particular state of mind in a person. * The Cosmic Impact, based on the premise that "As physicists tell us, cosmic rays enter the body in large numbers and occasionally explode in the body. Very early on the track the impact of a cosmic ray and its explosion is very destructive to the existing organism." * The Photon Converter, essentially an early photosynthetic organism such as an alga or plankton. Hubbard deemed the Photon Converter to be responsible for fears of "light and dark, the storms of the sea, the fight to keep from rolling into the surf." * The Helper, an incident of mitosis (cell division) in some unnamed organism which was "a confusing area for the [genetic entity] which therein has much cause for misidentification." * The Clam, one of a number of incidents between The Helper and The Weeper. The others include seaweed and "jellyfish incidents [which] are quite remarkable for their occasional aberrative force". Encounters between jellyfish and cave walls are held to be responsible for the emergence of "a shell as in the clam." The Clam itself is "a deadly incident" involving a "scalloped-lip, white- shelled creature" which suffered from a severe split personality or "double-hinge problem. One hinge wishes to stay open, the other tries to close, thus conflict occurs." According to Hubbard, the hinges of the Clam "later become the hinges of the human jaw" and the Clam's method of reproducing using spores is said to be responsible for toothache. In one of the most famous passages of the book, Hubbard advised that :Should you desire to confirm this, describe to some uninitiated person the death of a clam without saying what you are describing. "Can you imagine a clam sitting on the beach, opening and closing its shell very rapidly?" (Make a motion with your thumb and forefinger of a rapid opening and closing). The victim may grip his jaws with his hand and feel quite upset. He may even have to have a few teeth pulled: At the very least he will argue as to whether or not the shell stays open at the end or closed. And he will, with no hint of the death aspect of it, talk about the "poor clam" and he will feel quite sad emotionally. :He goes on to warn the reader that "your discussion of these incidents with the uninitiated in Scientology can cause havoc. Should you describe the "clam" to someone, you may restimulate it in him to the extent of causing severe jaw pain. One such victim, after hearing about a clam death, could not use his jaws for three days." * The Weeper/Boohoo incident deals with a mollusk that rolled in the surf for half a million years, pumping sea water out of its shell as it breathed, hence its name. Weepers had 'trillions of misadventures', prominent among them the anxiety caused by trying to gulp air before being swamped by the next wave. 'The inability of a pre-clear to cry,' Hubbard explained, 'is partly a hang-up in the Weeper. He is about to be hit by a wave, has his eyes full of sand or is frightened about opening his shell because he may be hit.' * The Volcanoes occurred at several points - violent volcanic eruptions which choked the genetic entity's host organism with choking sulphurous smoke. Hubbard suggests that these eruptions hastened the progress of evolution, "for there is a lack of real reason why this evolution should not be continuing on even today." Volcanoes, believed by Scientologists to be used by Xenu to murder billions of thetans, are a prominent symbol frequently used in Scientology. * Being Eaten is the next class of incident on the list. "In that so many fish and animals were equipped with so many teeth, it is inevitable that somebody somewhere on the track would have been eaten." And so it is. for there are a great many "being eaten" engrams. Technique 80 is recommended by Hubbard for dealing with these problems. "Few auditors, in the absence of Technique 80, have been able to run these incidents". * The Birds were a traumatic incident caused when "birds of a very crude construction developed a taste for clams". As a result of bird attacks on ancestral clams, modern man suffers from "falling sensations, indecision and other troubles." * "The Sloth", says Hubbard, "is a chain of incidents and misadventures" covered under this general name. According to Hubbard, the Sloth was "slow and easily attacked and he had bad times falling out of trees when hit by snakes, falling off cliffs when attacked by baboons." * The Ape is the name of the next incident, by which time the genetic entity was inhabiting an "agile and intelligent" host. "The Ape is usually an area of overt acts against animals and incidents of protecting young". (pg.54) * The Piltdown Man was "a creature not an ape, yet not entirely a Man." It was not "the real Piltdown Man" but had some similarities. It resulted in a variety of psychological conditions in modern humans, including "obsessions about biting efforts to hide the mouth and early familial troubles." The Piltdown Man was characterized by "freakish acts of strange 'logic,' of demonstrating dangerous on one's fellows, of eating one's wife and other somewhat illogical activities. The PILTDOWN teeth were ENORMOUS and he was quite careless as to whom and what he bit and often very much surprised at the resulting damage." * The Caveman was the final stage of evolution prior to modern man. The genetic entity's host still had marital trouble, though not quite on the level of "eating one's wife". Instead, "one crippled one's woman to keep her [at home] or poisoned one's man for having kept her there." Memories of this era were responsible, in Hubbard's view, for "any condition of interpersonal relationships" such as "jealousy and overt acts around it, strangling, smashing in heads with rocks, quarrels about homes, tribal rebukes, pack instincts." Hubbard also described numerous incidents of "implanting" by hostile alien races which caused traumatic memories in the thetan. This formed part of what soon became an elaborate cosmology of alien civilizations, interstellar dictators and brainwashing implants - collectively, matters that Hubbard described as "Space opera". |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.