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5661139 | /m/0dysyy | Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator Part 1 | Kouhei Kadono | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | A year before the "pillar of light", Minahoshi Suiko seemed to have killed herself, but Boogiepop claims that he killed her, because she was an enemy of the world. He calls her Imaginator. Asukai Jin can see people's hearts as parts of plants such as flowers, leaves, buds and roots growing from their chests, but everyone's plant is missing something important: this represents the flaw in their heart. Asukai saw the apparition of a girl, who claimed to be Imaginator. She offered Asukai a vision of a possible future, but he was initially opposed. He tried sketching the apparition's face, but was unable to capture it. The students who sought his counsel often uttered the phrase "sometimes it snows in April"; a phrase used by Imaginator. After meeting a former student, addicted to drugs, and dying, Asukai gave in and reached for her plant; she died happy. After rescuing a boy and a girl from a group of thugs, Asukai identified himself as Imaginator. Taniguchi Masaki had just moved back to Japan from Phnom Pehn, and found himself incredibly popular with the girls at his school, and equally hated by the boys. One day, he failed to notice a group of thugs moving in to attack him. A girl, Orihata Aya, stepped in to help Taniguchi, though her words and actions were far from normal. Before things got out of hand, a man stepped in to save them. The two ended up going out. While waiting for Taniguchi one day, a large man missing his right ear came up to Orihata, calling her "Camille" – he was Spooky E, and they were both from the Towa Organisation. Taniguchi thought to rescue Orihata from the man, but was rendered unconscious. Miyashita Touka and Suema Kazuko were studying at the cram school were they had met and become friends. Kinukawa Kotoe approached Suema seeking advice about her relative, Asukai Jin. Unable to let things pass her by, Suema promised to look into things. In Asukai's office, she found failed sketches that looked like Minahoshi Suiko. Whilst hiding, she also saw Asukai do "something" near the chests of two girls on behalf of Imaginator – a name she recognized from a book by Kirima Seiichiro. After Asukai had finished, the two girls looked remarkably similar in their relaxed expression. After the incident with Spooky E, Orihata had explained to Taniguchi about the shinigami, Boogiepop. She asks him to play the part of Boogiepop, and save people. He dressed up as the rumours described Boogiepop, and uses his Karate experience to defeat criminals that she would lure out. However, this fails to draw out the real Boogiepop, so Spooky E instructs Orihata to try a new plan. When Taniguchi Masaki transferred into his school, Anou Shinjirou fell in love immediately. Confused by his feelings, he directs anger at Taniguchi instead. One day, he convinced a group of younger students to threaten Taniguchi, and watches on from the shadows. At no point did things go according to his plan, especially not when some man suddenly appears and quickly defeats the other students. Anou watches with disgust as the relationship between Taniguchi and Orihata develops. Hearing rumours about Orihata's frivolous attitude towards men, Anou tries to prove them, so as to break up her relationship with Taniguchi. Unfortunately, all he learns is that she lives like clockwork, and makes no effort to enjoy life. Anou is found by Spooky E, who turns him into his puppet, and orders him to enter Shinyo Academy – following this, Anou would occasionally cry for no apparent reason. Due to the change in his behaviour, Anou receives a love letter, and is instructed by Spooky E to follow it up, but a chance encounter with Asukai Jin frees Anou from Spooky E's control. When Anou goes to meet the girl who sent the letter to him, he arrives at the roof of a department store. When he saw a girl there, he begins to speak to her, but his words reveal that he had been freed from Spooky E's control – the synthetic human leaps out to erase him at this, but a microfilament wire saves him at the last second. The 'girl' had been none other than Boogiepop himself, who had decided to kill Spooky E for his actions. Despite being significantly overpowered by Boogiepop, Spooky E escapes, at the cost of his right ear. Boogiepop gives Anou the real love letter, which he had exchanged earlier, before leaving. Before the start of the new school year, Suema returns to Shinyo Academy, as the new students are being orientated, meeting up eventually and shortly with Niitoki Kei (and hearing that she is no longer head of the Displinary Committee from Niitoki). Anou and his girlfriend arrive at Shinyo Academy, but he questions why he is there in the first place. Whilst looking down at the place where Minahoshi Suiko had killed herself, Suema meets Orihata Aya. Orihata asks Suema about Boogiepop, but she brushes it off as a fantasy to "protect an unstable heart." Suema quotes Kirima Seiichi's VS Imaginator hoping to reassure Orihata about her way in life. |
5663858 | /m/0dyxtk | The Flying Classroom | Erich Kästner | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | The story covers the last few days of term before Christmas for the students of Johann-Sigismund Gymnasium The main characters are Martin, the first student of the class, Jonathan, an orphan who was adopted by a captain, Matz, Uli and Sebastian, students from the Tertia (Year 8). There is a bitter struggle between the students at the Gymnasium and another school, the Realschule. The so-called "Realists" steal their schoolbooks containing their dictations, which the teacher's son (another classmate) was to carry home to his father. This results in a brawl between two champions of each side - Matz and one Wawerka - and a hard-fought snow-ball fight, both of which the six friends win, although they end reported by a student form the Prima (Year 13) for being late back to school. As a "punishment" they are stripped one afternoon off, to be spent with their amiable house teacher Justus at his office (coffee and cake included) where he tells them a story about his own youth and his struggle with inaccessible wardens from Prima. Other parts of the plot include: the friends playing a drama called the Flying Classroom written by Johnny and the friendship to the "Nonsmoker" (a former doctor who lives in an scrapped non-smoker railway compartment and smokes very much, and works as a pub piano player) and the Nonsmoker's own friendship to Justus (who are reunited by the boys). When Uli, the smallest boy who is often called a coward, decides at this time to attempt something which will remove his reputation as a coward. His best friend, Matz, has in the past encouraged him, until he sees Uli about to run off a gym ladder using an umbrella as a parachute. Uli crashes and falls unconscious. Justus and the Nonsmoker (who upon this reenters his medical profession as school doctor) allay their fears that he is dead, but that he has a broken leg. |
5664324 | /m/0dyyl9 | The Fantastic Flying Journey | null | null | null | One day, a hot air balloon attached to a huge straw house, lands in the garden of the Dollybutts. The fat old man who owns it is Great-Uncle Lancelot. He tells Mrs Dollybutt and her three children that he is going to find his brother, Perceval, who is lost in the jungles of Africa, looking for gorillas. Perceval, a scientist, invented a magic dust which enables people to communicate with animals. Lancelot takes the three children, Emma, Ivan and Conrad with him in the hot air balloon, which he has called Belladonna, to track Uncle Perceval. On their way, they meet several animals which they can talk to (because of the dust), such as a swallow, a camel and a fennec fox, who tell them many interesting facts about their lives. In the jungle, the gorillas tell them that Perceval left for South Africa, to meet some elephants. Lancelot and the three children follow Perceval to South Africa, and then to Australia,the North Pole, Canada, North America, Brazil and Patagonia. On their way, they meet a crocodile, a rhinoceros, some koalas, a platypus, a blue whale, some killer whales, polar bears, musk oxen, beavers, buffalos, monarch butterflies, a boa constrictor, some howler monkeys, penguins and elephant seals. Everywhere, they learn something about the animals, their habitat, behaviour and dangers threatening them. In the end, the elephant seal tells them that Uncle Perceval has returned to Britain. So they follow him there, and find Perceval in the Dollybutts' house. The chase lasted a whole year, but the children all agree it was not a waste of time after all. |
5667292 | /m/0dz2r4 | The Black Company | Glen Cook | 1984-05 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/04n87l": "Dark fantasy", "/m/03qfd": "High fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Black Company's current employer, the Syndic of Beryl, is losing control of his decadent city to rival factions, so when the Taken named Soulcatcher offers the Company new employment in the service of the Lady, its Captain readily accepts, though he is forced to kill the Syndic to break the contract. On the march north to the Lady's empire, the Company acquires two new members. Raven is an uncommonly deadly and (usually) remorseless recruit, even by Company standards. Uncharacteristically, he rescues Darling, a nine-year-old mute girl being abused by soldiers affiliated with the Limper, another of the Taken. The Limper and Soulcatcher are deadly rivals; since the Company was recruited by Soulcatcher, that makes the Limper an enemy to beware. After weeks of trying to link up with the Limper's forces, the Company (at Soulcatcher's suggestion) takes an important rebel fortress, embarrassing both the Limper and Raker, a leading member of the Circle of Eighteen. The Limper sends his top aide, Colonel Zouad, to stir up trouble for the Company, but Elmo, the Company's Sergeant, leaks his whereabouts to the rebels, allowing them to abduct him for information. Zouad manages to contact the Limper, but Soulcatcher has other plans. When the Limper cracks open the underground room where his minion is being held, Soulcatcher's Taken ally, Shapeshifter, is waiting disguised as a rebel and unexpectedly stuns him with magic. Shifter then rolls the incapacitated Limper into the cellar and causes it to collapse in on itself. Another victory for the Company, another humiliation for the Limper. While the Limper is not killed, this slows him down for a time. While the Limper is absent from his post, Raker's troops attack and part of the front collapses. The Company is caught up in the general retreat but shows itself to be the Lady's most effective unit in the ensuing battles. The Captain is given authority normally reserved for the Taken. Raker is targeted next. The Company's wizards, with Soulcatcher's backing, display a fortune in gold, silver and jewels (protected by magic) in a nearby, neutral city - a bounty for his head. Raker has no choice but to try to steal it before half the world tries to collect. Isolated when he ignores the Circle's order to withdraw, he is eventually killed by Raven and Croaker, but not before his disobedience saps the morale of the rebels in the region. Retreating once more, the Company stumbles upon and captures a rebel training camp. Papers are found that belong to Whisper, the strongest member of the Circle and a military genius as well. One details a future meeting with the Limper, who is ready to defect as a result of his string of disasters. Soulcatcher, Raven and Croaker ambush them. All the while Croaker has a nagging suspicion that someone is watching them who he later learns was Silent which was who he thought it was the whole time. They are captured alive and presented to the Lady, the Limper to face her wrath and Whisper to take her place among the Taken. Limper is sentenced to centuries of torture by the Lady. After the Lady uses magic she learned from the Dominator to gain Whisper's unswerving loyalty, the new Taken is sent to the eastern front. The war becomes a race: the rebel armies in the north, under the overall command of Circle wizard Harden, drive the Imperial forces back towards the Tower at Charm, the headquarters of the Lady, while Whisper runs amok in the east, laying waste to the heartland of the rebellion. Harden is killed, but takes the Taken The Hanged Man with him. The Circle suffers more casualties, but massive rebel forces besiege the Tower. A daring sortie by the Company captures the wizards Feather and Journey, weakening the Circle further; they are transported to the Tower to share Whisper's fate. The battle for the Tower begins. The Circle's forces number a quarter of a million while the Lady can muster a mere twenty-one thousand. Yet so dangerous are the Lady and the Taken that the Circle delays, hoping to find the prophesied reincarnation of the White Rose to lead them. A great comet hangs in the sky for most of the battle. This is a symbol of the prophecy which says: the Lady and the Dominator will be defeated under a comet's fiery tail. Finally, it is forced to attack without her before the empire's victorious eastern armies can arrive. All of the Taken gather to bolster the defenses, killing the remaining members of the Circle, when they're not busy assassinating each other. Except for Soulcatcher, all of the original Taken are slain, some by the rebels, but more from internal backstabbing. During the fighting, Croaker observes that Darling seems to be immune to magic. Finally, the rebels are utterly devastated. Then, with her plot to take over the empire discovered, Soulcatcher flees, but the Lady, with Croaker along as a witness, tracks her down. The physician shoots her with magical arrows supplied by the Lady and then beheads her. Croaker then learns that Soulcatcher is the Lady's own sister. Afterwards, he speculates that this was what the Lady had intended all along: not only to crush the revolt, but also to rid herself of all the treacherous Taken. During the confusion, Raven deserts because he knows something he does not want the Lady to learn, taking Darling with him. Raven, Croaker and Silent all seem to believe that Darling is the reincarnated White Rose, who will oppose the Lady and defeat the Empire. |
5667338 | /m/0dz2th | Shadows Linger | Glen Cook | 1984-10 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/04n87l": "Dark fantasy", "/m/03qfd": "High fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Black Company is ordered to march thousands of miles across the Lady's vast empire to the Barrowland. A small detachment, including the Company's doctor and historian, Croaker, is flown to Juniper, a run-down port outside the empire, at the request of the local prince, to investigate its magical connection to the Barrowland. By coincidence, Raven, a deserter from the Company, and his ward Darling are living at Marron Shed's dilapidated hotel in Juniper. Raven has been accumulating money any way he can, including selling dead (and almost dead) bodies to the non-human residents of a mysterious black castle that is steadily growing, fueling the unease of the city's residents. Shed also desperately needs money, to pay his loanshark Krage. Raven does him a favor by letting him participate in his body-selling venture. When Raven and Shed find out that Shed's acquaintance, Asa, has been robbing the dead in the underground Catacombs, they follow suit. A minor incident escalates into a life-and-death struggle between Krage and Raven, which the former loses; Krage and many of his henchmen are sold for a hefty sum to the castle. Two of the Lady's most powerful wizards, Whisper and Feather, arrive in Juniper to investigate the castle and determine that it is an attempt by the Dominator to escape. Ironically, Raven, while trying to protect Darling, had been unwittingly aiding her worst enemy. If the castle gets sufficient bodies to grow large enough, the Dominator will be freed. Once he learns of Raven's presence, Croaker becomes worried, for he knows why Raven deserted: Darling is the reincarnation of the White Rose, the nemesis of both the Lady and the Dominator. If the Lady ever found out, Croaker and the rest of the Company would be done for. Fortunately, Raven and Darling sail away as soon as the winter ice melts, taking Asa with them, in the ship Raven had built with his ill-gotten loot. Shed continues to have money troubles, forcing him to sell his embezzling cousin and a treacherous lover to the castle, but is finally caught by the Company. Croaker realizes that he cannot risk handing him over to Whisper for questioning, as the Company's connection to Darling would be revealed, so he fakes Shed's death. Asa returns to the town shortly afterwards, bringing news that Raven has been killed. Meanwhile, fierce fighting breaks out between the castle's inhabitants and the Lady's forces, now including the Lady herself, the rehabilitated Limper, Feather and Journey, as well as the remainder of the Black Company. Feather is slain. In the confusion of the climactic battle, Croaker, Shed, Asa, the Lieutenant and many of the old-time Company members sail away, rightfully fearing that the Lady will learn the truth about Darling. The Company's Captain dies when he tries in a heroic attempt to save the company by making sure the Lady's carpet cannot be used to chase them down he does this by flying it on a suicide run into a cliff. The Lieutenant takes command of the Company. At the next port, the fleeing band find Raven's ship. Croaker determines that their friend had only staged his death and the men begin searching for him and Darling. In the process, they discover that some of the Dominator's minions had slipped away from Juniper and planted the seed for another castle in a new, more secluded spot. Croaker informs the Lady when she contacts him magically. Back in Juniper, the Lady emerges victorious over her husband. Whisper and the Limper then take an unauthorized side trip to track down the remnants of the Company. The Lieutenant barely gets away in the ship with most of the men, but Croaker, Shed, Silent, Goblin, One-Eye and a few others are left behind. With no other choice, they ambush the Taken and succeed in hurting them badly enough to get away, though Shed is killed. When they link up with the Lieutenant in another port town, they learn that he had found Darling, and Raven had died in an accident immediately prior to his arrival. They become Rebels. The very thing they were fighting, to protect Darling who is The White Rose. They then prepare to spend the next twenty-nine years on the run, waiting for the return of the Great Comet, which prophecies say will signal the downfall of the Lady. |
5667392 | /m/0dz2xt | The White Rose | Glen Cook | 1985-04 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/04n87l": "Dark fantasy", "/m/03qfd": "High fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Black Company has taken refuge from the Lady in the Plain of Fear. Its magical non-human denizens are powerful enough to daunt even her. Among them is Old Father Tree, a god manifesting itself as a tree planted in the exact center of the plain. From this sanctuary, the White Rose rebuilds and directs the rebellion. No wizard in the world can rival the Lady's magical skill and power, but the White Rose is immune to magic and as she matures, the magic-free zone around her expands. (This explains how her former incarnation was able to defeat the Lady and the Dominator.) After several years of relative peace, the pace picks up. The Taken and their armies gather on the borders of the plain, threatening to swamp the vastly outnumbered rebels. Also, couriers begin arriving from the far eastern reaches of the empire, among them Tracker and Toadkiller Dog, a man and his mutt. Each messenger bears a letter for Croaker, describing what some unnamed rebel spy has found out about Bomanz. The last letter claims that the wizard knew the Lady's true name. With the situation becoming increasingly desperate, the White Rose sends Croaker and wizards Goblin and One-Eye to retrieve that vital bit of information. Tracker volunteers to go with them as a guide. When they reach the end of their journey, they soon discover that the letter-writer was Raven, a former Company stalwart (who had staged his death at the end of Shadows Linger). He had made his way to the Barrowland and started doing odd jobs for the soldiers garrisoned there. Once he gained their trust, he received permission to live in Bomanz's old house, where he covertly searched for the old wizard's papers. What he found made him attempt something beyond his abilities; he used a spell to send his spirit to check on the Dominator. His worst fears were confirmed; the bloodthirsty tyrant was awake and actively working to free himself. Fleeing in panic, Raven made a mistake, allowing two of the lesser imprisoned creatures to free themselves and leaving him trapped. Croaker's men search Raven's house, but they arouse the Barrowland guardians' suspicions and are brought in for questioning. With their cover blown, they flee into the surrounding forest, taking Raven's vacant body and the papers he found. When they have trouble shaking their pursuers, Croaker deliberately allows himself to be captured as a distraction. He is taken to the Lady, who has unexpectedly grown fond of him. With the imminent threat of the Dominator looming, she goes with Croaker to see the White Rose, to form an alliance against their common foe. Goblin, One-Eye, Tracker and Toadkiller Dog return shortly afterwards. They all gather in front of Old Father Tree, who recognizes them, especially the latter two. Unmasked as the escaped servants of the Dominator, they try to kill the White Rose and the Lady, but Toadkiller Dog is driven off and Tracker converted into Old Father Tree's slave. Scorn and Blister, two of the new Taken, try to assassinate their mistress but fail and pay the ultimate price for their treachery. Soon, both the Black Company and the Lady and her minions travel back to the Barrowland to confront the Dominator, taking along a sapling, the offspring of Old Father Tree. There, both Bomanz and Raven are revived. Meanwhile, Toadkiller Dog lurks uncaptured, awaiting his chance to help his master. While preparations are being made, the Lady, emotionally vulnerable due to her growing fear of the outcome, and Croaker grow closer. The final battle begins. The White Rose carefully approaches the burial mounds of each of the lesser minions, one by one, nullifying the spells that bind them. When they emerge, they are powerless within her zone of influence and relatively easy to kill. Finally, it is the turn of the Dominator. Even without his magic, he is practically immortal and immensely powerful, but eventually he is overcome, though at the cost of the Lieutenant and Elmo. His body is burned, his malevolent spirit infused into a silver spike which is driven into the trunk of the scion of Old Father Tree. In the aftermath, the Limper tries to utter the Lady's true name, but guesses the wrong one. His head is chopped off by Croaker while he is helpless in the White Rose's vicinity. Then the Lady doublecrosses the White Rose, speaking her true name and depriving her of her unique ability. Finally, Silent, of all people, speaking for the first time in Croaker's memory, truly names the Lady, rendering her powerless. Because the Lady had tied the Taken to her fate, they are destroyed. The remnants of the Company, now led by Croaker as the highest ranked surviving officer, sneak away, taking the not-unwilling Lady with them. |
5667438 | /m/0dz2__ | The Silver Spike | Glen Cook | 1989-09 | {"/m/03qfd": "High fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/04n87l": "Dark fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Dominator was a wizard of immense power who could not be killed by his enemies. He was however defeated and his evil essence imprisoned in a silver spike. The power inherent in the spike is so greatly feared and desired that some try to steal it while others try to keep it from falling into anyone's hands. |
5667535 | /m/0dz37f | Shadow Games | Glen Cook | 1989-06 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/04n87l": "Dark fantasy", "/m/03qfd": "High fantasy"} | Following the defeat of the Dominator at the Barrowlands, the Black Company is down to just six men; Croaker, physician, annalist, and the newly elected captain, Goblin and One-Eye, company wizards, Otto and Hagop, company veterans, and Murgen, the company standard bearer. The Lady, formerly a powerful sorceress and ruler of the Empire of the North, follows along with the company, despondent as she deals with her newfound mortality. Having decided to journey to Khatovar, the long lost birthplace of the Black Company, the remaining members first travel with the Lady to the Tower at Charm, where the Lady returns the lost annals to Croaker. After relaxing at the Tower for several weeks while the Lady attends to business, Croaker eventually decides to leave without the Lady, arriving at Opal after a couple weeks. Before the Company sets sail across the Sea of Torments, however, the Lady surprises everyone by appearing to join Croaker for a romantic evening, joining them on their journey south. As the Company continues to travel south, they eventually reach the Temple of Traveler's Repose, where they are able to recover several volumes of annals that were lost long ago. Although the annals give insight into much of the Company's history, the annals containing the origin of the Company and the location of Khatovar are still missing. The Company's journey south continues through swamps and jungles, where they arrive at the city of Gea-Xle. Here, the company meets the offspring of previous Company members. The Nar, as they are called, are led by Mogaba, a powerful, athletic soldier who is as capable a leader as he is a soldier. The Nar join with the Company, who is recruited to help disperse pirates who have become a nuisance on the trade routes to the south. After outfitting a barge as a military vessel, the Company with their new recruits travels south along the river, where they encounter the pirates after a few days. The Company easily routes the pirates' first attack, but the pirates return a few days later with a vengeance, as well as with a powerful sorcerer on their side. Although the Company is able to defend the barge from the attacking pirates, the pirate sorcerer is too powerful for One-Eye and Goblin to deal with. When it looks like the battle will turn in favor of the pirates, Croaker confronts Lady about a friend she took on in Gea-Xle, who it turns out is the former Taken Shapeshifter. With Shifter's help, the enemy sorcerer is forced to flee, upon which the Company realizes they were dealing with another former Taken in The Howler. Continuing south, the Company meets two northerners by the names of Willow Swan and Cordy Mather, as well as their friend Blade, who are escorting the Radisha Drah, a noble from the city of Taglios. When the Company reaches Taglios, they are greeted as returning champions by the populace. Croaker, naturally suspicious, meets with the crown prince, the Prahbrindrah Drah, who is in cahoots with Swan and Mather. The Prahbrindrah Drah tries to convince the Company to help them defend Taglios from the invading Shadowmasters, a group of sorcerers from the south that threaten the city. After scouting the area for themselves, Croaker is convinced that the only way to Khatovar is through the Shadowlands, and the Black Company is forced to join forces with the Taglians to try to fight their way through the Shadowlands. After a monumental effort trying to train the Taglians into soldiers, the Black Company wins a couple of dramatic victories over the invading armies of the Shadowmasters, and so the Company presses the attack into the Shadowlands. After arriving at the city of Stormguard (previously Dejagore), the Company encounters another enemy army and the first of the Shadowmasters. While the Company prepares to attack, Croaker and Lady, who have been developing a tenuous relationship throughout the journey south, finally consummate their relationship the night before the attack. The following morning, the Company wins another battle against the enemy armies, and Croaker prepares a trick to enter the city that night. With the ruse working to perfection, the Company storms the castle at Stormguard, where they find Shifter and one of the enemy Shadowmasters tangled in battle. It turns out the Shadowmaster is in fact the Taken called Stormbringer, who was previously thought to have been dead. She and Shapeshifter fight to near-death, and when they are both weakened One-Eye knocks them both unconscious, and then disposes of them both. The following day, another Shadowmaster army approaches from the south, and the Black Company prepares for a final battle to break the last of the Shadowmaster forces. In the ensuing battle, it appears that the Company will eventually win, but the fighting becomes chaotic. During the melee, the Lady is swarmed by opponents, and Croaker, who is shot in the chest by an arrow, is abducted by the former Taken Soulcatcher. |
5667675 | /m/0dz3k7 | Bleak Seasons | Glen Cook | 1996-04 | {"/m/03qfd": "High fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/04n87l": "Dark fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Taking place in part during the events of Dreams of Steel, which was told from the point of view of Lady, this story examines the events surrounding Murgen, who is trapped within the siege of Dejagore where atrocities are being committed by both sides. Also examines events later in Taglios under rule of the Liberator and the increasing tensions between the Black Company and the Radisha, as well as the ever-present threats from the Stranglers and of some new deception by Soulcatcher and the Howler. Bleak Seasons is unique among the Black Company series for the unusual narrative device of Murgen being totally unfixed in time and uncertain of when he will experience another seizure and move between distant past, recent past and a vaguely comprehended present. This narrative device is followed through three-quarters of the novel until we come to understand the traumas that have led Murgen to this point, while the enchantment that has made it possible remains unclear. The tone is introspective, haunted and mysterious. This novel introduces several key elements and characters to the series, including visions of the frozen caverns, Sahra, Uncle Doj, Mother Gota, One-Eye's black spear, and the manipulation of the comatose wizard Smoke. |
5667777 | /m/0dz3v3 | Water Sleeps | Glen Cook | 1999-03 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/04n87l": "Dark fantasy", "/m/03qfd": "High fantasy"} | Cook brings the latest cycle of the Black Company saga to a major climax, as disaster survivors regroup in Taglios and set out to free their fellow warriors held in stasis beneath the glittering plain. They arrive just in time for a magical conflagration that will reveal the bones of the world and the history of the Company. Water Sleeps is set with most of the leadership of the Company in Stasis, while the remaining company fights a guerilla war. The company is both pitted against the last remaining Shadowmaster, Soulcatcher, a Sorceress of epic power, and the subtle machinations of the sleeping Goddess of Death and her Deceivers. |
5667805 | /m/0dz3wv | Soldiers Live | Glen Cook | 2000-07 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/04n87l": "Dark fantasy", "/m/03qfd": "High fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | In this climactic conclusion to the "Glittering Stone" cycle in the Black Company series, Croaker is former military dictator of all the Taglios, and no Black Company member has died in battle for four years. But with the Company's old adversaries around, who hope to bring about the apocalyptic Year of the Skulls, the Company is brought to the edge of the apocalypse. |
5670379 | /m/0dz916 | Till Death Do Us Part | Lurlene McDaniel | 1997-07 | null | 18-year-old April Lancaster, the child of Janice and Hugh Lancaster, enters the hospital for testing as she has been suffering from headaches, blackouts, and eventually passed out in English class. During this time, April becomes acquainted with Mark Gianni, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, and has been in and out of the hospital since he was born. Mark is very interested in April, and even tells her that he intends to marry her, but she declines his offer to go out, as she already has a boyfriend, Chris. April is told by her doctor that she has an inoperable brain tumor, a recurrence of the case she had as a five-year-old, and needs to start radiation treatments. Soon after breaking the news to Chris, he ends their relationship, and April begins to date Mark. Over time, the two fall in love, and Mark proposes to April. She accepts, although her parents aren't thrilled about the match. Eventually, they do reconcile to the idea. Shortly afterward, the car that Mark is driving in during a race (he is an avid racing fan) flips over and ignites. Mark survives the crash, but he develops pneumonia and dies. The book ends with April and her parents in St. Croix for a vacation. April releases a red balloon for Mark, as he had once done for her. The sequel, For Better, For Worse, Forever begins with April in St. Croix. |
5670979 | /m/0dz9_c | Twilight Watch | Sergey Lukyanenko | null | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/03npn": "Horror"} | Among us live the Others. They are humans who can enter the Twilight, a shadowy world that exists alongside our real world, and gain unnatural powers from it. As long as they are in the Twilight, Others are drained of their life essence and may be consumed if they remain in it for too long. Others are made up of two distinct groups- the Light Others and Dark Others. A long time ago, the Light and Dark others fought a fierce battle in which neither side could win. In the end, both sides signed a Great Treaty- a set of laws which would govern them and the use of powers. Light Others created Night Watch, to ensure that the Dark Others wouldn't break the Treaty while Dark Others created Day Watch, to watch the Light Others as well. Both sides answer to the Inquisition—an organisation which ensures that neither of the two sides become too powerful. The book is separated into three novellas: Anton Gorodetsky is assigned by Gesser to investigate mysterious warning letters sent to both the Watches and the Inquisition. In the letters, a powerful Great Light Other promises a human that they will turn him into an 'Other', which the human deeply desires. However, as far as the Others are concerned this is impossible and as such, the Light Other is in danger because refusal to fulfill this human's request means that he or she will dematerialise in the Twilight. Anton is assigned the case and goes to the Assol, a rich district in Moscow where the letters came from. Vampire Kostya Saushkin from the Day Watch has also been assigned to the case, along with Edgar and Vitezislav from the Inquisition. Anton discovers that the human is a 60-year old businessman, the son of Gesser. The four confront Gesser about making the promise to turn his son into an Other but Gesser denies even knowing his son was alive. It is then revealed that his son is a potential Other for whom Gesser claims the right to initiate. It is revealed later in the book that the witch, Arina, used the book of Fuaran to transform Gesser's son into an Other. Anton joins his wife Svetlana (who left the Night Watch), her mother, and their daughter (Nadya) on a vacation in a remote area. Whilst there, he learns an incident where werewolves tried attacked two human children but who were saved by a mysterious woman living in the forest. Anton magically reads the older girl's memory, and notices that she saw a book titled "Fuaran" on the shelf. Anton can hardly believe it, as Fuaran is a legendary and extremely powerful artifact, believed to be lost ages ago or maybe never to have existed at all. According to stories, the book, written by an ancient witch (named Fuaran) contains a spell able to turn an ordinary human into an Other. Anton finds the witch's cottage and the witch, Arina, who turns out to be level 1 or higher, but not Fuaran. Instead, all Anton finds is a book about the legend of Fuaran which is co-authored by Arina. The book explains how Fauran discovered how to raise the power of an Other, and grant a human the powers of an Other. According to the book, the average magical temperature of the world was 97 degrees, while humans had a magical temperature of 97 or higher. Their warmth is fed into their surroundings, while the Others have a magical temperature under 97, and thus soak up the 'warmth' that surrounded them. The lower an Others magical temperature, the more they soaked up. Seventh level Others had a magical temperature of about 90, while Others without Classification where in the 40s. The rarest type of other is one who had no magical temperature at all, a Zero Other, who's power was near limitless due to the fact they only absorbed magic. After a talk with Svetlana, Anton discovers Nadya is an absolute Zero Other. Later, as Anton is relaxing in a hammock, he opens his eyes to find Edgar (an Inquisitor) standing over him. Edgar explains to Anton that Arina was wanted for questioning. In turns out the witch played a major role in a joint Watch experiment to create the perfect socialist state in the 20s. Arina was meant to put a potion in the bread that, over time, would cause whoever ate it to fully believe in newly arising government. Instead, all the subjects were turned quickly to the cause, which lead to the downfall of the government and the death of nearly all the subjects, supposedly due to the Arina's intentional sabotage. Confronted by Anton and Edgar, Arina dives into the fourth level of the twilight, where it takes time before the pair manage to follow her, only to find that she had escaped. Edgar and Anton return to the real world and decide that it would not be smart to search a Higher Others house, as Arina had proven herself to be. Having lost their target, the duo split ways, Edgar to get backup in order to find the witch and Anton to return to his family. Once back home Sveta and Anton learn that while Sveta's mother was out in the forest with their daughter, her 'old friend' took their daughter for a walk. Sveta and Anton knew instantly it was Arina, and through magical means contacted her. The Inquisition had erected a dome to stop the witch from escaping, and she was holding Nadya hostage with demands that they find her a means to escape. After Sveta sends out magical means to search for Nadya, which nearly blew Anton away, and discovers nothing, the werewolves, who had felt Sveta's power and were afraid she would come after them, showed up. It turned out to be a man in his twenties with three children. They admitted having seen where Arina took Nadya and agreed that as long as they were pardoned for hunting those children, they would help track down and fight Arina. In the end, after a battle between Arina and a very angry Sveta, Nadya is saved, and with no deaths. Sveta, who traveled to Arina via the fifth level of the twilight, seemed changed, as though she had a new understanding on life. After forcing Arina to agree not to hurt any human or other unless in self-defense, Sveta agreed to help her find a means to leave. Anton later traveled to Moscow in order to talk to Gesar, at which point Gesar received a phone call, asking him to go to the witches hut, where Anton had only just been. After traveling there with Anton through magical means, they meet Kostya, Edgar, Zabulon and Svetlana. Vitezoslav's ashes have been found in a hidden room with no indication of who could have killed him, except that it would have to be someone powerful, as Vitezoslav was a Higher Vampire. At first, they suspect Arina. However, it soon turns out that the Other who killed Vitezoslav and took the book is Kostya, who himself became a Higher Vampire after drinking a blood cocktail made from donors in order to raise a vampire to this max potential (a mix of blood from 12 donors). Originally, Vitezoslav found the book and phoned Edgar, who didn't believe the vampire had found the actual book of Fuaran. But Kostya wasn't convinced the book was a fake and join Vitezoslav at the hut. The Inquisitor wanted to see if the book actually worked and tried it on Kostya, using his cocktail of a blood mixture made from 12 donors, increasing his powers exponentially, after which Kostya challenged Vitezoslav to a vampire duel. The loser of such a duel is ashed. His ultimate goal is to travel to the International Space Station and read the book while looking at the Earth from orbit (the spell of Fuaran works on everyone in the caster's range of sight), turning all humans into Others, so at last he will not be different from the rest. All but Kostya realize that this will be a disaster - "you step on someone's foot in a tram, he curses at you; now he can incinerate you." Also, what most Others do not realize is that it is, in fact, humans who emit magical energy. The Others absorb it more than they emit, allowing them to use it. The magic level of an Other depends on the absorb/emit ratio. There were several "zero" Others in history: Jesus (Yehoshua), Merlin, and Anton and Svetlana's daughter. Their power is nearly unlimited as all they do is absorb magic. If Kostya manages to turn all humans into Others, the amount of magic energy available will drastically decrease. To demonstrate the effectiveness of "Fuaran" to Anton, he uses it on a human, turning him into a low-level Other. What neither Kostya nor Anton realized at the moment was that Anton was affected too - as he was standing right in front of Kostya - turning him into a mage without classification (Gesser/Zabulon/Sveta's level).Kostya makes it to the Baikonur Cosmodrome and mind-controls the humans there to suit him up for the rocket launch. Anton catches up and confronts him, with Gesar, Zabulon, and Edgar all linked to his mind, and feeding him energy from everyone they have the right to leach it from. Each is telling him to use a different destructive spell on the vampire. They realize that Kostya is not planning to steal a rocket, as not even the Higher Vampire is capable of launching a rocket into orbit by himself. He is instead planning to open a portal to the space station. As a precaution, he is still putting on a spacesuit. However, when Kostya was about to open the portal, Anton took all the energy channeled into him by Gesar, Zabulon, and Edgar and spent it to create a shield around himself in order to shield his thoughts from Kostya. What Anton did not want the vampire to realize was that because Kostya was an Other, an Other without classification to boot, he would not be able to perform any magic in the vast emptiness of space. There would be no energy there from which he could draw on, in space he was separated from the source of all Others energy. Kostya, assuming the shield was put up because Anton was afraid and wanted to protect himself from harm, expressed his surprise at such an act of cowardice and opened the portal. Only when the vampire stepped through it did Anton relax - the threat was over. It takes thousands of calculations to put a rocket into orbit. He knew that Kostya could not possibly calculate the exact position of the station. The portal deposited Kostya into orbit, leaving him to float in his spacesuit, unable to perform any magic. He could not make a corrective teleport into the space station, he could not open a portal back to the planet. He could only remain in orbit as that orbit decayed and he ended up burning up in the atmosphere upon re-entry, along with the book. With the death of Kostya and others in the recent past, The Day Watch in Moscow is down to one Higher Level Magician (Zavulon) while The Night watch in Moscow has four (Gesar/Olga/Sveta/Anton). |
5676556 | /m/0dzl18 | Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors | Piers Paul Read | 1974 | null | :See main article: The crash and rescue Alive tells the story of the Uruguayan Rugby team (who were alumni of Stella Maris College) and their friends and family who were involved in the airplane crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 which crashed into the Andes mountains on Friday, October 13, 1972. Of the 45 people on the flight, only 16 survived, resorting to cannibalism to live. The book was published two years after survivors of the crash were rescued. Read interviewed the survivors and their families for an extensive period of time before writing the book. He comments on this process in the Acknowledgments section: I was given a free hand in writing this book by both the publisher and the sixteen survivors. At times I was tempted to fictionalize certain parts of the story because this might have added to their dramatic impact but in the end I decided that the bare facts were sufficient to sustain the narrative...when I returned in October 1973 to show them the manuscript of this book, some of them were disappointed by my presentation of their story. They felt that the faith and friendship which inspired them in the cordillera do not emerge from these pages. It was never my intention to underestimate these qualities, but perhaps it would be beyond the skill of any writer to express their own appreciation of what they lived through. |
5677127 | /m/0dzm1x | Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home | Nando Parrado | 2006 | null | :See main article: The crash and rescue Parrado co-wrote the 2006 book Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home, with Vince Rause. In Miracle in the Andes, Parrado returns to the events described in Piers Paul Read's 1974 book, Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors (which tells the story of the people, most of whom were part of a Uruguayan rugby team consisting of alumni of Stella Maris College (Montevideo), who were on Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which crashed into the Andes mountains on October 13, 1972). Piers Paul Read's version was published two years after the rescue and was based upon interviews with the survivors. Miracle of the Andes, however, is told from Parrado's point of view 34 years later. |
5677867 | /m/0dzn9s | The New Centurions | Joseph Wambaugh | 1/30/1971 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/028v3": "Detective fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | The novel is basically without plot, instead episodically depicting the psychological changes in three LAPD officers caused by the stresses of police work, and particularly police work in minority communities of Los Angeles. The three officers—Serge Duran, Gus Plebesly, and Roy Fehler—are classmates at the police academy in the summer of 1960, and the novel examines their lives each August of succeeding years, culminating in their on-the-job reunion during the Watts Riot of August 1965. The New Centurions is likely the most autobiographical of Wambaugh's novels and is a straightforward narration of events with little use of flashback. Each chapter is written third-person from the point of view of one of the three protagonists, who realistically have no contact with each other once they graduate from the academy but whose paths are at once both parallel and converging. Like Wambaugh, his protagonists move from a few years of uniformed patrol in minority districts to plain clothes assignments in juvenile and vice work, experiences which so impacted Wambaugh that they appear repeatedly in all his fiction. The significance of this structure is that while Wambaugh began his career writing entirely about police officers, he experimented with method until in his fourth book, The Choirboys, he "found his voice," using satirical black humor in a style he openly attributed to the influence of Joseph Heller but which is entirely absent in The New Centurions, The Blue Knight (first-person fiction), and The Onion Field (non-fiction in a novelistic style). Many of the characters of The New Centurions are the first appearances of police officer character types repeatedly found in Wambaugh's LAPD novels. The atavistic beat officers Andy Kilvinsky and Whitey Duncan can be seen again in Bumper Morgan (The Blue Knight), Spermwhale Whalen (The Choirboys), and Rumpled Ronald (The Delta Star). Serge Duran is Detective Sergeant Mario Villalobos (The Delta Star) as a rookie, and Gus Plebesley working Wilshire Vice is indistinguishable from Harold Bloomguard (The Choirboys) working Wilshire Vice. Roy Fehler has much in common with Baxter Slate (The Choirboys), Sgt. A.M. Valnikov (The Black Marble), and Sgt. Al Mackey (The Glitter Dome). A character type not portrayed in The New Centurions is the brutal street cop. Known in the LAPD vernacular as a "black-glove cop" and epitomized by Roscoe Rules in The Choirboys and The Bad Czech of The Delta Star, Wambaugh only hints at the type in several vignettes. Wambaugh's apparent reluctance to portray police brutality in his first work is balanced however by his frankness in depicting adultery, alcoholism, racism and suicide as rampant in the ranks of the LAPD. Police officer suicide in particular is a theme Wambaugh explores in nearly all of his books. A major theme explored throughout the book is what traits characterize a veteran officer, and how a rookie acquires them. Wambaugh consistently compares the attitudes of the new officers (one is not considered a veteran in the LAPD until one's fifth anniversary on the job) to those of the older entrenched men. |
5682433 | /m/0dzy1p | Consent to Kill | Vince Flynn | 10/11/2005 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | In Flynn's previous novel, Memorial Day, CIA counter-terror operative and assassin Mitch Rapp uncovered an Al-Qaeda plot to use a nuclear weapon obtained from abandoned Russian nuclear storage bunkers. The ultimate goal was the destruction of Washington, D.C., and Rapp was forced to torture the only man who knew the details of the plan: Waheed Abdullah. Rapp then faked Waheed's death to prevent the Saudi Government from learning of it and rescuing him, while preserving a useful source for himself. To keep Waheed from being discovered, Rapp puts him in an Afghan prison. However, this plan backfired: Waheed's father, Saeed Ahmed Abdullah, a billionaire Saudi businessman and a jihadist himself, has learned that Rapp has "killed" his son. He places a $20 million dollar bounty on Rapp's head, and a former East German Stasi officer, Erich Abel, begins to hunt Rapp. Abel learns about Saeed and his son through Prince Muhammed bin Rashid, who convinced Saeed to kill Rapp. Abel, through his contacts, encounters two assassins, a husband and wife team, Louie Gould and Claudia Morrell. For $10 million, they agree to kill Rapp. Claudia, who is pregnant, specifically asks Louis not to kill Rapp's wife, as she is also pregnant. He agrees, and leaves for America. In Washington, Rapp is angered by the new Director of National Intelligence, Mark Ross, who authorized surveillance of Rapp's co-worker and friend, former Navy SEAL Scott Coleman. Ross sends the IRS to investigate Coleman and requests Coleman's personnel file from the Navy. Ross has ambitions to the presidency and views his current position as a stepping stone to the White House. He has no respect for Rapp because of Rapp's reckless antics and, despite Rapp's contributions, wants to fire him. Rapp decides to visit Ross to stop his investigation of Coleman, but he loses his famous temper when he finds a satellite photo of Coleman and discovers his friend was a topic of interest. He physically holds the National Security adviser by the collar and slapped him with a folder holding Coleman's files, to the shock of his aid. Rapp warns him not to interfere with the War on Terror. His words fall on deaf ears, though, and Ross decides that he must fire Rapp; since the latter has the president's full support, he decides he has to do it carefully. Later Rapp injuries his left knee during a morning jog, and encounters the assassins Gould and Claudia, both dressed as bicyclists, examining his house. Rapp doesn't suspect anything and continues limping back towards his house. The next day, Rapp undergoes arthroscopic knee surgery. He and his wife Anna come home and as they settle down in their house, Louie detonates a bomb that kills Anna and throws a severely wounded Rapp into Cheasepeake Bay where he was saved by a nearby boater. The CIA fakes Rapp's death and brought him to a safehouse to recuperate. In a secret meeting with Irene Kennedy, Director of CIA, President Hayes tells Kennedy that Rapp has his consent to kill any and all people involved in the murder of his wife. Rashid, who is visiting U.S., finds out through Ross that Rapp is not yet dead and orders his assistant Saudi intelligence agent Nawaf Tayyib to kill Rapp and Abel. Tayib hires Latino gang leader Anibal Castillo to kill Rapp at the safehouse. He then goes hunting for Abel himself with two of his men. Castillo and thirteen of his men attack the safehouse. Rapp kills all of Castillo's men, then wounds Castillo and brings him in to be questioned. Through different leads Rapp discovers Saeed as the one who put a bounty on his head. Rapp goes to Afghanistan and gets Waheed out of prison with Waheed being under the impression that it is a hostage exchange. Rapp has Waheed wear a vest full of explosives. As Waheed embraces his father in the street, Rapp pulls out a detonator and blows Saeed and Waheed and twelve of Saeed's bodyguards to pieces. The CIA in the meantime has found out about Erich Abel's role in hiring the assassins and sends Rapp to Abel's office. There Rapp finds Tayyib torturing Abel's secretary for information on Abel's whereabouts. Rapp kills Tayyib's men, then he and Coleman capture Tayyib. A guilty Claudia is revealed to be the one who gave the CIA information on Abel. Abel's secretary reveals to Rapp and Coleman that Abel is in Austria. Rapp flies there and captures Abel at his mountain retreat and tortures him for information. Abel reveals that Rashid was the mastermind behind the plot. He also gives information on the assassins. After hearing this, Rapp, who has become much more violent after the killing of his wife, burns Abel alive inside the house. He then travels to Spain where Rashid is staying. There Coleman bribes Rashid's guards, who are British SAS sympathetic to Rapp, to let them in. Rapp completely covers Tayyib with explosives and drops him off in front of the mosque where Rashid is staying. Once Rashid's personal guards have him in custody, Rapp detonates Tayyib's body, killing him and all the guards. Rapp finds Rashid and beats him severely before he puts a thermal grenade in his mouth and pulls the pin, melting Rashid's head. In the epilogue, set nine months later, Rapp trails Louie and Claudia to Tahiti. Claudia has had her baby and Louie has retired. Rapp aims a gun at Louie Gould's head, but once he hears that the baby was named after his wife, he realizes she would not want her death avenged like this. He turns and leaves Louie, Claudia, and Anna unharmed. He then throws the gun into the ocean and continues walking down the boardwalk outside. |
5685680 | /m/0d_28v | Faery in Shadow | C. J. Cherryh | 1993 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Caith mac Sliabhin, condemned by the Sidhe in The Brothers for committing patricide, wanders along the river Guagach, accompanied and tormented by Dubhain, a mischievous pooka. Their journey takes them to Gleann Fiain where a beast from the river chases Caith up a hill to an isolated cottage. The occupants, twins Ceannann and Firinne, let Caith and Dubhain in and allow them to spend the night. Unbeknown to Caith, the birth of the twins 21 years ago set in motion a sequence of events that damned Gleann Fiain and cast a shadow over Faery. The twins were born to Fianna, queen of Gleann Fiain in Dun Glas. But unbeknown to her husband, Ceannann mac Ceannann, Fianna was unable to conceive and had sought help from a wise-women, Moragacht. Moragacht struck a bargain with her, promising her twins if she lay down with a selkie, in exchange for one of the twins when they were born. But when the twins arrived (a human and a selkie) and Moragacht came to claim one of them, Fianna denied any knowledge of her, and mac Ceannann turned Moragacht away. From that day onwards, grief and misery struck the family, and mac Ceannann and Fianna were forced to vacate Dun Glas and flee with the twins to an abandoned hilltop fortress. But the loch beast, under Moragacht's control, found them there and killed them all, except the twins, now aged 14, who escaped to the cottage. The witch then seized control of Dun Glas from where she damned all of Gleann Fiain. But the wards that had protected the cottage from Moragacht fall when Caith and Dubhain arrive. Riders from Dun Glas come and capture the twins. Caith and Dubhain (as a horse) give chase, but as they approach the riders, Dubhain is overcome by the witch's magic and falls into the loch, abandoning Caith. Caith and the twins are taken to Dun Glas where they are locked in cells bordering the loch. Caith lapses into a dream where he enters the loch to find Dubhain duelling with the loch beast. He draws Dubhain back to his cell, who in turn calls Nuallan from Faery, the bright Sidhe controlling their destinies. Nuallan gives Caith a silver key to unlock the iron cells and so lifts a spell enabling Nuallan to cast Caith, Dubhain and the twins out of Dun Glas. Moragacht allows her prisoners to escape because with her magic she now holds Nuallan, a bigger catch and her means to controlling Faery. The twins lead Caith and Dubhain to the ruins of the hilltop fortress, their former home. There they make a fire with the remains of a staircase, but a ghost appears out of the smoke that transports Caith back to the night of the fall of the fortress and into the body of Padraic, head of mac Ceannann's household. There he relives the last few hours of the family until he is killed by the beast. Firinne retrieves one of the burning timbers from the fire as a keepsake, and the twins set off for the sea to search for their selkie father, with Caith and Dubhain in pursuit. Caith finds the selkie first, a whale floundering on the beach. But when the selkie shapeshifts to a man, he is killed by one of Moragacht's pursuing riders. In the ensuing confusion, Caith accidentally kills Ceannann. Firinne is devastated by the loss of her twin brother and gives Caith her keepsake from the fortress. Then, revealing her selkie birth, she changes into a whale and heads out to sea. Caith rides Dubhain back to Dun Glas to free Nuallan. Once again Dubhain is weakened by the witch's spells and Caith has to enter the keep on his own. He sees Nuallan helpless in his cell, but Nuallan asks him to unlock it with the silver key Caith unknowingly still had all this time, the key that would have given Moragacht access to Faery. Nuallan takes the key and flees the keep, leaving Caith to fend for himself. Moragacht, furious at the loss of the Sidhe, prepares to deal with Caith, but he throws the charred piece of wood Firinne gave him into the fireplace which releases Padraic, the ghost from the hilltop fortress. In an act of revenge, it begins destroying Dun Glas and all in it. With the witch's spell now diminishing, Dubhain rescues Caith from the keep, while in the loch a whale from the sea turns on the beast. The shadow over Faery lifts and Caith and Dubhain resume their travels. |
5688754 | /m/0d_6bv | Trail of the Black Wyrm | Chris Pierson | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Shedara, Forlo, and Hult, prepare to leave Coldhope Keep, but are attacked by shadow-fiends. The shadow-fiends outnumber them, and are losing as well as badly injured. Luckily, Eldako shows up and manages to kill the rest of the shadow-fiends. They decide to stay in Coldhope Keep until they recover. Later, the Fourth Legion of the Imperial League arrives, intent on arresting Forlo for desertion. Forlo claims he didn't desert, but they are still determined to arrest. Eldako and Shedara manage to escape via a magic levitation spell, by jumping down a cliff. However, Hult is afraid of magic, so he didn't manage to escape. Forlo didn't want the Fourth Legion to capture just Hult, as they would torture him since they wouldn't get himself, so he stayed with Hult and was arrested too. Hult and Forlo are taken back to the capital, Kristophan, and since Eldako and Shedara can't overpower so many minotaurs, they travel back to Armach-nesti to see if they can get help. At the same time, Essana is in the jungles of Neron, and held captive by the Brethren who are trying to resurrect Maladar. The faces of the Brethren are scarred, and hidden behind hoods, just like Maladar. They want to resurrect Maladar because they believe that Taladas is declining due to war, famine, etc., and that Maladar will reestablish the empire of Aurim, bringing peace and prosperity. There are six of the Faceless Brethren; the Keeper, the Master, the Teacher, the Slayer, the Watcher, and the Speaker. She later learns that the Keeper is secretly a spy for the kings of the Rainward Isles. She is forced to watch them sacrifice elves of the jungle to Maladar. Meanwhile, the scenario in Armach-nesti is even worse. Thousands of shadow-fiends have invaded the woods, and the elves are hard-pressed to keep them back. The city has been overrun, and it's basically a melee. She discovers that her brother only has sixty elves total in his force, but he still manages to spare some to help rescue Forlo and Hult. Since Forlo "deserted", he's brought to Rekhaz, who is now the Emperor of the Imperial League. Rekhaz has no pity for Forlo, and declares his life forfeit. Forlo manages to call on his Imperial right of dueling in the arena, and so he and Hult are sent to fight a horax, and begin to lose soon after. Shedara, Eldako, and the elves of Armach-nesti manage to sneak into Kristophan, rescue Forlo and Hult, and escape. Forlo kills Rekhaz in cold blood on the streets of Armach-nesti. The elves of Armach-nesti gives Hult a magical pendant of language, so that he can understand what other people are saying. Now reunited, they head north to the snowy fields of Panak, where they search for the Wyrm-Namer, a dragon that can name other dragons. They arrive in Panak on a magical elven boat, and quickly meet the Wolf-clan, a friendly clan that Eldako has lived with before. On their way to the clan village, they are beset by a snow storm, and pursued by the Eyes, which are almost invulnerable evil creatures that kill any that venture into the snow storms. However, they can be held at bay by statues of the Patient Folk. They arrive at the Wolf-clan's village, and meet the seer, Tulukaruk. Tulukaruk lets a spirit-wolf take control of his body to communicate with them. They learn that the spirit-wolf will only tell them where and how to find the Wyrm-Namer only if they will agree to kill it when they're done. Forced with no choice, they agree. Angusuk, the lead hunter of the tribe leads them to the mountain of the Wyrm-Namer, where Hult uses his magical pendant to communicate with the snow-ogres that guard his lair. They entire the Namer's lair, and discover that he's dying. Before he dies, he manages to tell them the name of the dragon, Gloomwing, who lives in the valleys of Marak, home of the kender. They head back to the village and discover that the shadow-fiends had massacred everyone there, and toppled the statues of the Patient Folk. They notice that some hunters may have escaped, so Angusuk decides to stay and look for the rest of his tribe. Shedara, Hult, Eldako, and Forlo head for Marak. Essana and the Keeper attempt to escape through a tunnel, and Essana begins to miscarriage in the tunnel. They manage to exit the tunnel and get to the rendezvous point with the elves, although they are ambushed. Essana faints, and when she wakes up she discovers that she is chained. The Master shows her what happened to the Keeper, he's mutilated, and is being kept alive by a magic spell. Meanwhile, the four arrive in Marak, and discover that Gloomwing left, though the kender are nearing extinction because the shadow-fiends capture kender, and take them to the Teacher, who arrives when the black moon is full to turn them into more shadow-fiends. Luckily (or unluckily), the black moon was full that night, so they attempt to ambush the Teacher. They capture him, and question him. After that, they desire revenge, so they kill him. After that, they sail to Neron, and as soon as they arrive, Gloomwing decides to "meet" them. The four notice that the elves were gathering in the woods preparing to ambush Gloomwing, so Eldako decides to be a "dummy" for Gloomwing. Gloomwing dives at Eldako and breathes acid at him, and at the last second Eldako falls into the water. The elves meanwhile kill Gloomwing. They search for Eldako until it is dark, and are forced to leave and head for the elven village because mind flayers patrol the woods after dark. They meet the oldest elf in the village, the Grandmother. Grandmother tells them that a prophecy foretold that two humans and two elves would destroy the Brethren. She notices that they are missing Eldako, so she scries for him. They find out that the mind flayers captured Eldako, and that he was badly hurt by the dragon's acid. Eldako's right eye was gone, and his vision in his left eye is cloudy. His skin was melted by the acid, and his right leg was the only part of him untouched by the acid. They rescue him, and they assault the temple of Maladar. They manage to kill the Brethren, and Eldako manages to kill the Master by jumping to his death with the Master. They rescue Essana and Azar, Essana's son, who is already eighteen due to age altering magic. However, instead of Maladar taking over Azar, he accidentally manages to take control of Forlo, and he escapes to the Burning Sea where he will try to resurrect Aurim. |
5689764 | /m/0d_826 | Brothers of Earth | C. J. Cherryh | 10/1/1976 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The protagonist of the book is Kurt Morgan, a crewman on the Alliance ship Endymion, which was destroyed in a space battle with Hanan forces. Morgan evacuates the ship and lands on an alien planet, home of the Nemet race. Morgan is rescued by one faction of the Nemet and becomes embroiled in their political and military struggles. Morgan is not the first human stranded on the planet, however. His encounters with a previous female human castaway endanger the entire Nemet race when she reacts badly and threatens to unleash weapons of mass destruction on the planet. |
5689837 | /m/0d_8b4 | Hunter of Worlds | C. J. Cherryh | 1977 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | In the story, a ship belonging to a terrifyingly dominant space-faring race, the iduve, arrives at a space station. They demand that a particular station resident, a blue-skinned Kallian, be sent to their ship and all record of him be erased. No defiance is possible or the space station will be destroyed. The human-like Kallian is handed over to the iduve who mind-link him to two other human prisoners, forcing him to service his captors on three levels. |
5691705 | /m/0d_cs8 | Sara Payne: A Mother's Story | null | 2004 | {"/m/0xdf": "Autobiography", "/m/01pwbn": "True crime"} | The autobiography covers the abduction and murder of her daughter Sarah on 1 July 2000, and the effects that it had on herself, her family and the community. The first chapter of the book tells the story of Payne's life from 1985 and the age of 16, when shortly after leaving school she met her future husband Michael, and up to the stage when she had given birth to four of her five children. The following two chapters tell of Sarah's disappearance and then of the news that her body had been found. Further into the story, Sara tells of her campaigning for the introduction of Sarah's Law - and of how Mike confessed to her that he had paid for a gun and was preparing to shoot suspect Roy Whiting if he managed to avoid conviction for Sarah's murder. Whiting was eventually brought to trial, found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2001. Later on, just over a year after Whiting's trial, Payne discovered that she was pregnant. At first she was apprehensive about having another baby, but eventually decided to go ahead with her pregnancy. But this happy news did little to relieve the dark clouds that had been hanging over the Payne family since Sarah's death, and she and Michael agreed to separate four months before their baby's birth, although they remained good friends and were hoping that they might one day be able to live together again. The final chapter of the book tells of Sara giving birth to her fifth child, Ellie. She tells the reader that Ellie's birth gave the family new hope and some much-awaited happiness after more than three years of misery. |
5693089 | /m/0d_g7s | Two Weeks with the Queen | Morris Gleitzman | 1990 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | An Australian family, struggling with the recent recession are finding it hard with money. While spending one evening watching television, their youngest oand speaks to a doctor who refuses to help, which discourages Colin. He walks out to the lobby where he meets a Welsh man named Ted crying, claiming that his friend also has cancer. Colin attempts to cheer him up, so in appreciation, Ted requests Colin that they meet up again so Ted can introduce Colin to one of the world's leading cancer experts. Colin meets Ted and Doctor Graham the next day, where Doctor Graham tells Colin that she called up Luke's doctors in Sydney. She then informs Colin that Luke's cancer is terminal and incurable. Colin storms back to his Aunt's house distraught, where Alistair gives Colin the idea that South America may provide an unknown cure for Luke's cancer. Colin convinces Alistair to join him to stowaway on a cargo ship to South America the next day, until Colin tells Alistair that he used his pocket-knife to slash a group of doctors cars and that Ted caught him. Alistair tells Colin that Ted will be blamed for this, so Colin decides to delay their trip to South America, so he can go see Ted the next day. Colin goes to visit Ted at his home and finds that he has been moderately injured. Ted tells him that he was beaten by people in the street who disliked him because he is a homosexual. He then tells Colin that his friend dying of cancer is instead his lover, Griff, who is dying of AIDS. Ted is unable to walk, so Colin promises to visit Griff for him. Colin goes to the hospital and meets Griff, bringing him a letter from Ted and Griff's favourite food, tangarines. After enjoying a conversation with Colin, Griff requests Colin that he come to visit him again. After Griff is taken back to his ward by a nurse, Colin finds a spare wheelchair in the hospital which he takes back to Ted's house. Colin then takes Ted to the hospital to see Griff using the wheelchair and the couple thank Colin greatly for reuniting them. A while later, when Ted can walk again, Colin goes to visit the couple in the hospital, but upon arrival, finds that Griff has died. When Colin arrives home, Aunt Iris tells Colin that she found out everything from Alistair. They are both sentenced to having only cold baked beans for dinner, and the house is made much harder to sneak out of. Colin gives up on his South America plan and decides to accept Luke's fate. He requests to Aunt Iris that he go back to his family, but she forbids it, telling him that breaking out will not help either, because they will not allow him on the plane with his return ticket unless he is seen off by an adult guardian. The next morning, with much difficulty, Colin sneaks out of the house and meets Ted at the airport. Ted signs Colin's forms and they say their goodbyes. After Ted leaves, Colin is about to board the plane until Aunt Iris, Uncle Bob and Alistair show up. Iris and Bob try to take him back home, but Alistair shouts up, convincing them to let Colin go back to Australia. They see him off, and Colin travels back to Sydney to see Luke. The story ends with Luke waking up, happily seeing Colin. |
5695657 | /m/0d_ljq | Tactics of Mistake | Gordon R. Dickson | 1971 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Lieutenant Colonel Cletus Grahame has been an instructor at the Western Alliance military academy since a battle injury crippled one of his knees, and forced his retirement from active duty. He has completed three volumes of a planned twenty-volume series of books on military strategy and tactics, and believes his analysis can revolutionize military science, although many do not take his work seriously. Feeling he needs to get out in the field and try putting his theories into practice, he leaves the academy and arranges to be sent to the world of Kultis, where the Alliance is supporting the Exotic colony of Bakhalla in a war against the neighboring colony of Neuland, backed by the Coalition. The heart of his military strategy, based in part on fencing, is what he labels the "tactics of mistake," enticing one's opponent into overreaching, and being ready to take advantage of the mistake. This description is an adaptation of a similar concept in the novel Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini when the character Moreau studies at the salon of the Master of Arms. On the first night out on the ship to Kultis, he deliberately antagonizes Dow deCastries, Secretary of Outworld Affairs for the Eastern Coalition, forcing deCastries to take notice of him. He also meets Colonel Eachan Khan, an officer of the Dorsai troops who have been hired by the Exotics, and Khan's daughter Melissa. Mondar, an Exotic official, is also present, and takes notice of Grahame. Putting his theories to work, Grahame repeatedly entices deCastries and the Neulanders into attempting incursions, where he is ready to pounce on them. Finally, after conveniently getting his own uncooperative commander out of the way, he entices them to launch a major invasion. Using the Dorsai troops, who had been underestimated and little-used by the Alliance command, he actually wins the war, handing deCastries a humiliating defeat. His victory has actually made him rather unpopular with his own command. Mondar, using the Exotic science of ontogenetics, recognizes him as a key mover of history, and tries to recruit him to join the Exotics, but he chooses instead to emigrate to the Dorsai, in order to begin building them into the kind of military force he envisions. It seems he possesses some of the advanced mental abilities of the Exotics, and with their help, he is able to heal his crippled knee. Melissa wants her father to return to Earth, and the General's rank he had enjoyed in the Western Alliance, and to do so, she needs the influence of deCastries. Grahame forces Melissa to marry him to prevent Eachan's departure, as he feels Eachan is necessary to his plans. Over the course of years, Grahame builds the Dorsai into the unique fighting force that becomes so famous in later years. With their advanced training and superior tactics, they can defeat larger forces and suffer far fewer casualties than any others, making them far more economical for other worlds to hire. Gradually, they reach a status where other worlds no longer need to depend on Earth for fighting forces to protect them, threatening Earth's control of the younger worlds through its system of client states. To prevent this loss of position, the two Earth factions, the Western Alliance and Eastern Coalition, unite their forces under deCastries, and attempt to stretch the Dorsai forces so thin that they will be conquered. When Earth invades the Dorsai, there are no soldiers to defend it, but deCastries underestimates the power of the Dorsai people themselves. The final result leads to a totally new balance of power among the settled worlds. (The actual battle for the Dorsai itself is given little coverage in this book. The ultimate battle for Foralie district, Grahame's home, ends up being between deCastries and Amanda Morgan, a woman in her late nineties who leads the home defense. In the novella, "Amanda Morgan", she is used as the ultimate example of the spirit of Dorsai.) |
5697849 | /m/0d_qf1 | His Master's Voice | Stanisław Lem | 1968 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/06nbt": "Satire", "/m/06m9m8": "Social science fiction"} | The novel is written as a first-person narrative, the memoir of a mathematician named Peter Hogarth, who becomes involved in a Pentagon-directed project (code-named "His Master's Voice", or HMV for short) in the Nevada desert, where scientists are working to decode what seems to be a message from outer space (specifically, a neutrino signal from the Canis Minor constellation). Throughout the book Hogarth — or rather, Lem himself — exposes the reader to many debates merging cosmology and philosophy: from discussions of epistemology, systems theory, information theory and probability, through the idea of evolutionary biology and the possible form and motives of extraterrestrial intelligence, with digressions about ethics in military-sponsored research, to the limitations of human science constrained by the human nature subconsciously projecting itself into the analysis of any unknown subject. At some point the involved scientists, desperate for new ideas, even begin to read and discuss popular science-fiction stories, and Lem uses this opportunity to criticize the science fiction genre, as Hogarth soon becomes bored and disillusioned by monotonous plots and the unimaginative stories of pulp magazines. Acting on Hogarth's suggestion that the signal may be a mathematical description of an object (possibly a molecule), the scientists are able to use part of the data to synthesize a substance with unusual properties. Two variations are created: a glutinous liquid nicknamed "Frog Eggs" and a more solid version that looks like a slab of red meat called "Lord of the Flies" (named for its strange agitating effect on insects brought into proximity with it, rather than for the allegorical meaning of the name). There is some speculation that the signal may actually be a genome and that "Frog Eggs" and "Lord of the Flies" may be a form of protoplasm; possibly that of the alien creatures that presumably sent the signal. This theory, like all the project's theories about the signal, turns out to be unverifiable. For a short time, Hogarth suspects that the message may have a military use, and is faced with an ethical dilemma about whether and how to pursue this angle. "Frog eggs" seems to enable an effortless and instantaneous transportation of an atomic blast to a remote location, which would make deterrence impossible. Hogarth and the discoverer of the effect decide to conduct further research in secret before notifying the military. Eventually, they conclude that there is no military use after all (which Hogarth sees as a proof of the Senders' far-sightedness), since the uncertainty of the blast location increases with distance. The two scientists face ostracism from their colleagues, some of whom consider their conduct unpatriotic. Some of the scientists pursue a theory that the neutrino signal might have had the effect of increasing the likelihood that life would develop on the planet eons ago. They are forced to consider whether alien beings sent the signal for this very reason. In the end, there are no certain answers. There is much speculation about the nature of whatever alien beings might have sent the signal. They must have been technologically superior, but no one can be sure whether they were virtuous or evil. Indeed, as the signal must have been sent long ago, no one can be sure whether they still exist. The theories the scientists come up with all seem to make some progress toward deciphering the signal; however, as we are informed in the very few first pages of Hogarth's memoirs, for all their effort, the scientists are left with few new, real discoveries. By the time the project is ended, they are no more sure than they were in the beginning about whether the signal was a message from intelligent beings that humanity failed to decipher, or a random, cosmic background noise that resembled, for a while, the "thousand monkeys on a thousand typewriters creating a meaningful message" puzzle. In the end, the many theories about the signal and the beings who might have sent it say more about the scientists (and humanity) than about the signal (and the beings who might have sent it). The comparison between the signal and a Rorschach test is made more than once. |
5698295 | /m/025tl2s | Gil's All Fright Diner | A. Lee Martinez | 4/28/2005 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | In the backwoods southern town of Rockwood, a vampire and a werewolf in a run-down old truck come across Gil's All Night Diner, a 24-hour restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Nearly run out of gas, they stop in at the diner only to discover it is the target of zombie attacks, hauntings, and occult activity. The manager of the diner, Loretta, offers them a job helping her out around the diner, and maybe help solve her zombie problem. In exchange, she'll give them money to help them on their way. They accept. |
5699509 | /m/0d_ty_ | The Armageddon Inheritance | David Weber | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01smf2": "Military science fiction"} | After the events of Mutineers' Moon, the evil mutineer Anu has been defeated by the warship Dahak, aided by its new captain, Colin MacIntyre. As the highest-ranking officer of the Imperium present, MacIntyre had elevated himself to the rank of "Governor of Earth" in order to absolve the loyalist mutineers of their crimes; he then unified the worlds' governments under his authority (backed up by his advanced Imperial armaments and Dahak) and set Horus the task of preparing defenses against the Achuultani scouts, which have been methodically advancing on the Sol system, to the heralds of self-destructing Imperial sensor arrays- giving the frantic defenders under Lieutenant Governor Horus and his assistant, Gerald Hatcher, barely two years to pacify the holdouts to the new world order (such as the Asian Alliance), to modernize the world economy, construct and power a planetary defense shield, as well as construct and train a space fleet and the fortresses on the ground which will support the fleet; and then of course to defeat both the scouts and the main Achuultani incursion. The primary holdout to the military government is the Asian Alliance, a close knit group of all Asian nations except Japan and the Philippines. It is effectively controlled by a Marshal Tsien Tao-ling. who is convinced to join by the obvious military imbalance (the moon having disappeared, and several Middle Eastern nations forcibly disarmed by Imperium technology-equipped troops) and by the promise of considerable local autonomy and control of four seats on the nine-person council advising Horus. Regardless, the military programs soon get underway. To withstand the Siege (as the coming attack on Earth is named) the Earth's defenses consists of front line spaceships, constructed by "orbital industrial units" left behind by Dahak (clanking replicators, in other words); a planetary shield powered by a core tap; and all backed up by numerous hypermissile launchers built into "Planetary Defense Centers" (topped-off and excavated mountains). In the meantime, Colin and his new wife, Jiltanith (daughter of Horus), take Dahak and depart for the nearest known Imperial system to seek military aid from the Imperium; little is expected to come of this quest, as Dahak had been attempting to contact the Imperium via his FTL "hypercom", but failing completely. The first system they arrive at, the Sheskar system, is devoid of life, its inhabited planet shattered to pieces in what apparently was a civil war using gravity warping implosive "gravitonic warheads". Even worse, the system had not been reclaimed by the Imperium as it should have (due to its strategically vital location). Reluctantly, they proceed to Defram, where they find merely two barren orbs. Their next target the planet Keerah in the Kano system; they reason that Defram was simply a Fleet base, and so perhaps a civilian system would have more answers or life. In Keerah, they are attacked by an automated quarantine orbital system; after disabling it, Colin and his crew discover that the dead planet had fallen victim to a horrific biological warfare agent designed to be effective against all forms of life (by rapidly mutating until a successfully lethal form is obtained), which spread throughout the entire Empire (the form of government having changed in the ensuing thousands of years) too quickly to be contained, thanks to widespread use of a teleportation (or "mat-trans" as it was known) device. Colin makes the fateful decision to go straight to the Bia system and the planet Birhat- the military and political centers of the Empire. This decision means that it would be impossible for them to return to Earth in time to help defeat the scouts. At Birhat, they discover an enormous number of installations in the system, such as a shield which protects not merely the planet of Birhat, but the entire inner system. After successfully picking his way through the perilous labyrinth of "Mother"'s (the master computer overseeing the Fleet and the Bia system) emergency programming, Colin resorts to ordering Mother to implement "Case Omega"- an order which unbeknownst to him, appoints the senior surviving Fleet official and civil servant as Emperor. This unexpected elevation has the happy side effect of granting Colin control of the Imperial Guard Flotilla, 78 planetoids, each vastly more powerful than Dahak (but also vastly stupider). The crew of Dahak immediately set to work reactivating and repairing the planetoids so they can return to Earth. Book 2 begins with a different point of view; the subject is now a minor Achuultani tactical officer named Brashieel, attached to the scout forces about to drop out of hyperspace and destroy Earth. However, the Achuultani warships are extremely slow in hyperspace, and the Earth defenders use their several hours of advance notice to prepare an ambush in the outer system. The ambush, while successful (because of the element of surprise and the generally superior Imperial technology), nevertheless sets the tone for the rest of the Siege by being extremely bloody on both sides. During the months that Colin's crew in Birhat labor to get the Imperial Guard up and running, the scouts duel the Earth forces, hurling asteroid after asteroid at the shield while whittling down the fortresses and ships, all in preparation for their final blow: hurling the entire moon of Iapetus down the gravity well of Sol at high speed, and aimed directly at Earth. Seven months after the first battle, the "Hoof" (as the Achuultani term their immense kinetic weapon) is about to impact Earth, piercing through the weakened defenders "like a bullet through "butter". At the last moment, the Imperial Guard arrives and as they drop out of hyperspace, blasts the Achuultani escort and the moon into dust using gargantuan gravitonic warheads. Unfortunately, all is not well. Dahak recovers from some wreckage computer records about the main Achuultani force: some 3 million vessels more powerful than the scouting vessels, intended to back up the various scout forces. Somewhat fortunately, this invincible force has divided up into at least two fleets, and so Colin develops a plan to exploit the Enchanach Drive's moderate side effect of accidentally causing stars to go nova (due to the gravitonic sheer stress of drive activation). With the Imperial Guard, they lay an ambush for the first fleet, having intercepted its courier, and lure it into an otherwise unremarkable star system. There they briefly engage the Achuultani (to ensure they are sucked far enough into the system, past the hyperlimit that they cannot escape, and to gather some more military information); the opposing fleet's having stepped into Colin's "mousetrap", the Enchanach Drives of 8 planetoids simultaneously activate, inducing a supernova which obliterates Sorkar's forces. The second trap does not go as well. Like in the first, the Guard ambushes the second force (this time laying a dense field of hypermines, which account for a quarter of the million Achuultani vessels), but some of Sorkar's couriers had escaped and warned Hothan's fleet of the nova trap, so that stratagem was unusable. Instead, Colin traps Hothan's forces in normal space (again, using the Enchanach Drive's side effect to exploit the hyperdrive's limitation of being unable to work in a sufficiently deep gravity well). With a good deal of luck and a well-timed planetoid assault on the flank, the Achuultani command structure disintegrates and they are routed. Once again, Colin's forces are elated by their success and what they believe to be a crushing victory ending the Achuultani "Great Visit", and once again Dahak discovers ominous news in the wreckage of the Achuultani command ship: the final segment of 200,000 vessels much, more capable than the previous ones, had been held in reserve, and would shortly attack Earth (they having deduced its location from the timing of Colin's attacks) if the Guard did not stop them. The odds are against their depleted, battered ships lacking fresh supplies of hypermines, but they have little choice. The battle goes poorly, and they win thanks only to a suicide plunge by Dahak, in which Dahak hacks into and kills the computer truly in charge of the Great Visit. This is so effective because it had been previously discovered that the explanation for the various Achuultani anomalies (their lack of females, the oddly inconsistent state and stasis of their technology, their constant war making and hyper-xenophobia etc.) was that their civilization had been decimated millions of years ago, and they had entrusted the survival of their species to a computer roughly the equal of Dahak. That computer turned out to have the personality flaw of ambition, and deliberately perpetuated the state of war it needed to justify to its programming its continued tyrannical control. With the death of Dahak and BattleComp, the Achuultani fleet panicks, flees, and is destroyed or captured. As it turns out, Dahak had successfully copied himself to another planetoid, and that is not all: from Earth, a message arrives that Isis Tudor had decoded enough of the Achuultani genetic structure for an eventual prospect of cloning a female Achuultani- the first free female for millions of years. Against this hopeful note and the prospect of a war of liberation to free the rest of the Achuultani from the control of the master computer, the novel ends. |
5699799 | /m/0d_vf4 | After Dachau | Daniel Quinn | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/0mz2": "Alternate history", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | The story is narrated by a young rich man, heir to a huge sum of money. He devotes his life to an organization called "We Live Again" which investigates the reality of reincarnation. People have souls that pass on to other individuals and give them their memories, usually alongside, but sometimes in place of their own memories. The story focuses on Mallory Gabus, a recently reincarnated woman and her fascinating integration into the new world. She recalls and narrates her experiences and memories of Hitler's victory, which allowed Hitler to bring his desire for an "Aryan" world to fruition. She realizes all that went wrong. The Nazis had won World War II and purged their empire of all non-whites, then rewrote history so as to say that Dachau, a concentration camp, was instead a battle with Adolf Hitler as its hero. After Hitler's victory, the Third Reich is solely Aryan, the Aryans have killed all non-Aryans in their new empire. They now use A.D. to refer to After Dachau, the turning point in their civilization, and A.D.-A.D. to refer to our A.D. Mallory was (re-)born in 1922 A.D.-A.D. as an Afro-American female in New York. We find out that the Nazi purges in the Third Reich have started to have a cultural effect on America, and soon Jews are being executed. Blacks are being "repatriated", which turns out to mean: put into concentration camps. Mallory, hides out with her lover in the N.Y. underground and makes a life until their hiding place is discovered by police. At that point, they commit suicide rather than being taken alive or executed. The narrator, in an attempt to publicize the story and the atrocities the Aryans committed, contacts a newspaper and other news media. His investigation gets him sequestered in an unknown location until he can write three words upon a chalkboard. The words turn out to be "No One Cares", and, as it turns out, no one does. The narrator explains that he cares, and he doesn't care if others don't care, he is still going to pursue this for his own personal interest. He opens an exhibit displaying relics from the old world, including works by Jewish authors such as Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. The narrator receives a gift from his "uncle" (the man who imprisoned him), and expresses his intent to publish the gift. He opens a shop where he displays pictures of Africans that had been saved in Mallory's hideout. Finally, one night, someone throws a brick through the gallery's windows, prompting the narrator to conclude that somebody "does care". The last line reveals that the gift is the diary of a young girl written during World War II, the Diary of Anne Frank. |
5701145 | /m/0d_xck | Hestia | C. J. Cherryh | 9/1/1979 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | Engineer Sam Merrit has been sent to the planet Hestia to build a dam. The colonists believe that a dam will enable them to expand beyond their single river valley and escape the squalid conditions that have persisted there since the founding of the colony over a hundred years ago. Upon arrival Merrit finds that, in his professional judgment, a dam will not solve the colony's problems, and the construction of the dam will force the relocation of many of the cat-like alien natives as the reservoir fills. However, having made the years-long sublight journey to Hestia at great personal inconvenience, he is reluctant to return home without accomplishing anything. From the start, he has little patience for the colonists' blame-shifting attitude, and as he becomes familiar with one of the alien women, Merrit becomes increasingly convinced that destroying the alien culture by building the dam is not an acceptable option. |
5703221 | /m/0f0017 | I, Lucifer | Glen Duncan | 1/6/2003 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | In I, Lucifer, God presents the devil with a chance of redemption by living a somewhat sinless life in a human body. Lucifer, not wanting redemption, takes God’s offer for a trial but instead takes it as a month's holiday. This story takes place in London and Lucifer lives in the body of Declan Gunn (an anagram of "Glen Duncan", the author's name), formerly a struggling writer who is suicidal. While in Declan’s body, Lucifer takes his body for granted and abuses drugs, alcohol, and sex. Not only does Lucifer still live a devilish life, but also he starts to realize what being a human is really like. He realizes there is so much going on in their lives and so much temptation, and people can’t simply do whatever they please. As Lucifer’s trial is coming to an end, he receives a visit from the angel, Raphael, in an attempt to help Lucifer head in the right direction. Raphael tells him the world is going to end so there’s no choice but to gain redemption from rebelling against God and be accepted back into heaven. Lucifer makes his decision. The whole story is permeated by the main character's versions of biblical episodes and his disparaging opinions about God and "Jimmeny" (Jesus). |
5704755 | /m/0f02sh | The Falcon at the Portal | Barbara Mertz | 1999 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The 1911 season finds the Emersons planning to excavate at Zawyet el'Aryan, south of the great pyramids of Giza. David Todros has just been married to Lia, the daughter of Walter and Evelyn Emerson, and the happy couple will be joining the expedition after their honeymoon. The family's happiness is dimmed, however, by allegations that David has been making and selling fake antiquities under the guise of his late grandfather Abdullah's legacy. Ramses and Nefret take on the task of ferreting out the source of the rumors - and the fakes - with fears that the Master Criminal is behind it. Meanwhile, Percy Peabody, Amelia's evil nephew, turns up as a member of the Egyptian Army and an intermittent pest. He has written a lurid (and completely false) memoir about his time in Egypt, keeps proposing to Nefret, and seems up to something, though he doesn't have the brains to be part of the plot the Emersons are investigating. Two young Americans join the Emersons' dig, Geoffrey Godwin and Jack Reynolds, whose sister sets her sights on Ramses. With this cast of characters, and Ramses' involvement in investigating the illegal drug trade, nothing but the usual peril could ensue. |
5704889 | /m/0f02_p | He Shall Thunder in the Sky | Barbara Mertz | 2000 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The novel takes place in 1914, as Ramses Emerson works undercover to gather intelligence for the British military, Nefret returns from studying medicine in Switzerland, and Percy Peabody returns to wreak revenge on the Emerson family for past events. The Emerson have acquired the firman for part of the Giza concession, but of course are distracted by the criminal element, and eventually by a startling revelation from the Master Criminal, Sethos himself. |
5705316 | /m/0f03p7 | Strange happenings | null | 1972 | null | The stories and brief synopses in the book are as follows: # Haunted Flight by George Frangoulis - A boy, Nick, wakes up to find he is alone in the world; after searching in vain, it is revealed that he is in fact dead. # Some Pencils are Smarter than People by Erwin A. Steinkamp - A young man purchases a pencil from a street vendor, and discovers, to his delight, that when he takes tests with the pencil, it always writes down the correct answers. # The New Friend by D.J. Gregoirio - A young man discovers his classmate is an Extraterrestrial. # The Mysterious Rescue at Sea - Author Unknown - A ship becomes stuck to an iceberg, and is only found by another ship due to a case of Astral Projection. # Space Mission 21 by E.M. Deloff - Astronauts land on a strange planet with an odd, glowing, golden orb in the sky, and inhabited by beings with only two arms which ride in vehicles with the words D-U-N-E B-U-G-G-Y on the side. # The Case of the Strange TV Channel by Jaqueline W. Mcmann - A young man, watching a television broadcast with his family of the first unmanned probe to land on Pluto, ends up having his consciousness transmitted to the landing site, leaving his body behind in his living room, dead. # Be Tough! by Tom Gunning - A young High School Football player, stuck in his burning home after rescuing his family, is inspired to "Be Tough" and keep crawling to safety despite the burning pain by his Football Coach continually shouting it from outside the burning home; it is later revealed that the Coach had died earlier that evening, prior to the fire. # The Perfect Place to Live by Tom Gunning - A man, driven to his last nerve by the stress, hustle and bustle of the big city, opts to live on a colonized planet known as Utopia; he later discovers that peace, quiet, and perfect order can be quite boring, and returns to Earth and the big city, far less bothered by and in fact even enjoying the noise and activity. # The Joker by Tony Gaignat - A young man assists another boy who jokes about being a Werewolf in training for the track team, only to find that it was no joke, and finds himself face to face with a Werewolf. |
5707887 | /m/0f09_2 | The Paladin | C. J. Cherryh | 1988 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The Lord Saukendar, Imperial sword master and stalwart supporter of the Emperor is betrayed, falsely accused of an affair with his childhood sweetheart Lady Meiya, now the Emperor's wife. Meiya is dead, and hostile forces have command of the Emperor's regency. Wounded, desperate and cut off from his supporters, Saukendar runs for the border. In a homemade cabin high in the hills Saukendar survives crippled and alone, his warhorse Jiro and his regrets his only company, while the empire is bled by the rapacious warlords that are regent to the Emperor. Only occasional assassins dispatched by the Regent disturb his morose existence. Taizu, a country girl from Hua locates him, demands he teach her sufficient swordsmanship to extract her revenge for her people's suffering. Despite his better judgment and strenuous efforts to discourage her, she forces him to take her on as apprentice swordswoman. Shoka, as he prefers to be known to his friends, becomes fond of the girl. In the process of teaching her and supporting her cause, they become embroiled in the affairs of empire, becoming the spearhead of a revolt that rescues the Emperor from his Regent and his people from the clutches of the warlords. |
5708643 | /m/0f0d31 | The Seeing Stone | Kevin Crossley-Holland | 2000-08 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel", "/m/035qb4": "Historical fantasy"} | The story begins in the year 1199, just before the beginning of the Fourth Crusade. Young Arthur de Caldicot, thirteen years of age at the time, is the second son of a knight living in Caldicot manor in the "Middle Marches" of the March of Wales. Most of the first book deals with the stresses associated with medieval life. Most important to Arthur is the fact that he is Sir John's second son, and thus ineligible to inherit land. In order to have a life of his own, he must become a squire and then a knight, and create his own manor and farmland. One challenge to overcome is his inadequate "yard-skills", especially jousting and sword-play. He is left-handed, considered a dangerous oddity in those days, but he must joust and fence with his off-hand. Another challenge is that his father would make him a scribe for his skill reading and writing. The obstacles disappear when he learns on his fourteenth birthday that his "uncle" Sir William de Gortanore is really his father; he becomes heir to a large manor. Unfortunately, it seems that his mother's husband was murdered by Sir William, who was jealous of him. And the revelation terminates the betrothal of Arthur and Grace, Sir William's daughter; as Grace is Arthur's half-sister they cannot marry. The novel ends with Arthur accepted as squire to the Lord of the Middle Marches, Stephen de Holt, . The wizard Merlin gives Arthur de Caldicot the "Seeing Stone" early in the story, along with the warning it will cease to work if anyone else shares in its knowledge. Through the stone Arthur observes the life of legendary King Arthur until his rise to power as King of Britain. It begins with the marriage of King Uther and Ygerna. They conceive a child, who is named Arthur and is taken by Merlin to a foster family. Years later, when King Uther dies, Arthur comes to be king. Many specific people look similar to or exactly like people in Arthur's life. The most notable resemblance is between Arthur and young King Arthur himself, which leads de Caldicot to suppose that Arthur in the stone is himself in the near future. This belief is only accentuated when he learns on his birthday that his parents are only foster parents, as for young King Arthur. Eventually it becomes clear that King Arthur inhabits a parallel universe, with events in both worlds reflecting each other. |
5708916 | /m/0f0dt4 | Isle of Dread | null | null | {"/m/06c9r": "Role-playing game"} | The Isle of Dread is meant to introduce players and Dungeon Masters familiar with only dungeon crawl-style adventures to wilderness exploration. As such, the adventure has only a very simple plot, even by the standards of its time. The module has been described as a medium to high level scenario, which takes place on a mysterious tropical island divided by an ancient stone wall. The characters somehow find a fragment from a ship's log, describing a mysterious island on which many treasures can be found, and set out to explore it. Typically, the characters will first make landfall near the more or less friendly village of Tanaroa, which is reminiscent of the village depicted in King Kong, and after possibly dealing with some troublesome factions in the village, set out to explore the interior of the island. In the course of their explorations, they may find a number of other villages of unfamiliar intelligent creatures, numerous hostile monsters and the treasures they guard, and a band of pirates. Many prehistoric creatures, including dinosaurs, are prominently featured, especially in the original printing of the adventure. Near the center of the island is a hidden temple inhabited by monstrous, mind-bending creatures known as kopru; the characters may stumble across it or learn that it is a source of problems for the other inhabitants of the isle, and the climax of the adventure typically consists of the characters exploring this temple, battling its inhabitants, and uncovering its secrets. |
5710423 | /m/0f0j9d | The Curse of the Gloamglozer | Chris Riddell | 9/3/2001 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Quint, the fourteen-year-old only remaining son of famous sky pirate Wind Jackal, arrives with his father in the floating city of Sanctaphrax. Wind Jackal, a good friend of Sanctaphrax's ruler, Most High Academe Linius Pallitax, agrees to allow Quint to stay in Sanctaphrax as the High Academe's personal assistant. Quint is not pleased with this turn of events, and neither is Linius' daughter Maris, who believes that Linius is favoring Quint over her. At first, Maris hates Quint for this. However, when Quint tries to overcome his phobia of fire (his mother and brothers were all killed in a fire) in order to help her, Maris begins to respect him. Quint is asked by Linius to help him use a low sky-cage (a contraption built for exploring the sky between Sanctaphrax and Undertown). Quint steers the cage to an entrance into Sanctaphrax's floating rock, which, inside, consists of an ever-changing series of tunnels known as the stonecomb. Linius returns in a bad state, scratched up and exhausted. Curious about what Linius could be doing within the stonecomb, Quint follows the Academe the next time they travel into the stonecomb. Linius is revealed to be entering the Ancient Laboratory, an unused research center built by Sanctaphrax's first scholars, and Quint is chased by an unseen monster on the way back. When Linius arrives, he is in an even worse state than before, his ear nearly cut off and seemingly delirious. Maris, concerned for her father's safety, confronts Quint in school. Quint promises to take Maris into the stonecomb to find out what her father was doing. On the way down in the sky-cage, however, the chain connecting the cage to Sanctaphrax is cut. Maris and Quint barely escape with their lives, and they enter the stonecomb. Trying to follow a chain of arrows Quint had drawn the first time he had followed Linius, Quint and Maris are attacked by the same monster, which turns out to be a massive, blood-red creature known as a "rogue glister". They are saved from the creature by Bungus Septrill, who is the High Librarian of the Great Library, an earth-scholar. Meanwhile, the Sub-Dean of Mistsifting, Seftus Leprix, allies himself with a disowned flat-head goblin guard, Bagswill. They resolve to try to kill Linius Pallitax in a move to seize power. Their attempt to kill Linius by cutting the chain of the low-sky cage is futile, as Quint and Maris were the ones in the cage at the time. Their second attempt, this time using poison, backfires badly when they accidentally drink the poisoned beverage, and are killed. Bungus, Quint and Maris set off out of the stonecomb, intending to demand an explanation from Linius. However, Quint gives them the slip and sets off on his own to see what is in the Ancient Laboratory. Linius, slightly recovered from his ordeal, begins to tell how he discovered that the Ancient Laboratory was used to create life, harnessing energy from storms and the ghostlike glisters. Linius tries to follow in their footsteps, and does manage to create life, but is dismayed to find out that what he created is in fact a gloamglozer, a terrible demon. After futilely trying to kill it using a substance known as chine, which is deadly to it, Linius resolves to leave it locked in the Ancient Laboratory. Meanwhile, Quint enters the laboratory and is knocked unconscious by the gloamglozer, who, being a shape-shifter, assumes Quint's form. Bungus and Maris, returning to the stonecomb in an attempt to stop Quint releasing the gloamglozer, but are again ambushed by the rogue glister. Bungus stays behind to stave off the creature, while Maris travels on to the laboratory. She revives Quint and they return, only to find Bungus killed by the glister but its lair caved in: trapping it forever. The two of them return to Sanctaphrax. Linius is visited by the gloamglozer-Quint, who traps the Academe in his Palace of Shadows and sets a fire. Then he adopts Linius' form and goes out on the roof. Quint and Maris spot him, and Quint again overcomes his fear of fire in order to rescue Linius. While Quint attempts to climb the building, the spindlebug Tweezel, one of Linius' servants, rescues the real High Academe. Quint is confronted on top of the burning building by the gloamglozer, now in its true form. He manages to repel the creature using chine, but not before the gloamglozer curses Quint and all of Sanctaphrax (hence the book's title). It then flees. The book ends with Maris telling Quint that Linius Pallitax and the Professor of Light have promised him a position in the Knights' Academy for his valiant attempt to rescue Linius (or what he thought was Linius). |
5713121 | /m/0f0q5n | The Cat and the Canary | John Willard | null | null | The story concerns the death and inheritance of old Cyrus West, a rich eccentric who felt that his relatives "have watched my wealth as if they were cats, and I -- a canary". He decrees that his will be read twenty years after his death, at which point his relatives converge at his old family home, now a spooky old haunted mansion. The will reads that his most distant relative still bearing the name of West be sole heir provided they are legally sane. The rest of the night spent in the house calls into question the sanity of Annabelle West, a fragile young woman who is legally Cyrus West's heir. |
5713763 | /m/0f0qxw | Alanna: The First Adventure | Tamora Pierce | 1983-09 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Alanna of Trebond and her twin brother Thom may be twins, but are very different; Alanna is a tomboy who dreams of being a knight, and Thom wishes to become a sorcerer. Unfortunately, Alanna is shortly to be dispatched by her inattentive father to a temple in the City of the Gods, to learn to become a young lady - to her, a fate worse than death - whilst Thom is similarly destined for the royal palace, where he will train as a knight; his worst nightmare. To avoid their respective fates, Alanna and Thom hatch a plan; Alanna will disguise herself as a boy, call herself Alan, and take Thom's place as a knight. Thom will go to the City of the Gods, where he will hopefully be able to train as a sorcerer. After convincing their two caregivers, the healing woman Maude and the soldier Coram, that their plan will succeed, they set off. At the palace, "Alan" trains as a page, meeting many friends, such as Raoul of Goldenlake, Gareth of Naxen the Younger, Francis of Nond, Alexander of Tirragen, and Prince Jonathan of Conté. She also makes an enemy during her first day in the palace: Ralon of Malven, who continuously bullies her. Rather than have her companions beat him, Alanna secretly trains with George Cooper, the King of the Court of the Rogue - i.e. the Thief King - until she can beat him herself. When she does, he leaves Court, vowing revenge. During Alanna's page years, a fever, the Sweating Sickness, spreads within the capital city, Corus, and nowhere else. This disease is different than all other known diseases in that it drains healers of their powers to heal, and even kills them. There is talk that it was sent by a great sorcerer. Alanna has a powerful healing Gift, but is frightened to use it, so she doesn't tell anyone that she can heal. Due to this refusal of her abilities, Francis of Nond, one of her friends, dies. When Prince Jonathan falls ill, Alanna, recognizing herself as the only undrained healer in the city, tries to heal him. She succeeds, but only through evoking the Great Mother Goddess and fetching Jonathan from the place in between Life and Death. In so doing, she unknowingly reveals herself as a female to Sir Myles of Olau, one of her mentors. Shortly after, Jonathan's powerful sorcerer cousin, Duke Roger of Conté, comes to live at the palace and teach the Gifted pages and squires magic. Alanna goes to George Cooper's mother, the healer mistress Cooper, after she has her first monthly period. She tells George the truth about her gender. Jonathan also discovers the truth during Alanna's last year as a page, when she comes on a trip for the squires on the behest of Prince Jonathan to Persopolis, the only city of the Bazhir, a race of nomadic desert people. All the squires were warned to stay away from the Black City, a city just within view of Persopolis, by Duke Roger. However, Jonathan decides to ride for the city to defeat whatever evil lies there, and Alanna goes with him to help him in his quest. The two arrive at the city to find it completely deserted; that is, until they enter the large, central temple. There they find the Ysandir, beings who will not age or starve as mortals will, but that can be killed. Jonathan and Alanna begin to fight, but things began to go awry when one of the Ysandir magically removes Alanna's clothes to reveal her true sex. Jonathan saves his shock for later, as Alanna and Jonathan must combine their powers to defeat the Ysandir. With the help of her magical sword, given to her earlier by Sir Myles, Alanna defeats the last of the Ysandir, and Jonathan and Alanna head back to Persopolis. The book ends at an oasis near Persopolis, where Alanna suggested that perhaps Roger had wanted Jonathan to go to the city. Jonathan said that yes, he had, but only so that Jonathan could rid Tortall of a great evil. When Alanna pointed out that perhaps Roger had not expected him to come back alive, Jonathan refused to listen. After this, Jonathan chooses Alanna to be his squire when he is knighted that year. He says he does not care that she is a girl, because she is the best page regardless. |
5713804 | /m/0f0q_2 | In the Hand of the Goddess | Tamora Pierce | 1984 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | While camping in the woods on her way back to Corus from an errand, Alanna's campsite, set up under a willow tree, is discovered by a small black cat whom she names Faithful. It does not escape Alanna's notice that his eyes are as purple as her own; she also finds out that Faithful can talk to her, although to others it sounds as if he is meowing. Soon after, the Great Mother Goddess, Alanna's patron, shows up at her campfire. She gives Alanna an amulet that allows the young woman to see magic being worked around her. As she progresses into knighthood, Alanna's feminine side is nurtured as well. After a few visits with Eleni, George Cooper's mother, Alanna realizes that part of her wants to act like the ladies she sees in the Court. Eleni takes Alanna under her wing and secretly teaches her how to dress and behave like a woman. The change does not go unnoticed by George or Prince Jonathan, the only two friends with whom she has shared her secret about her sex. They share their first kiss after Jon rescues Alanna when she is kidnapped by nobles from Tusaine, and they become lovers soon after, although George made it clear to Alanna that he loved her before they went to war. Later on, during a party, Jonathan finds Alanna in the gardens and expresses his feelings, kissing her and attempting to take her corset off. But before he can, Alanna protests and the contact is broken off. Alanna withstands the Ordeal of Knighthood and becomes a knight. Her twin brother, Thom, presents her with a shield featuring the crest of their home estate, Trebond. When he and Alanna are alone after the ceremony, he shows her that when she is ready to reveal to everyone that she is a woman, the Trebond crest will disappear, and in its place will be the picture of a golden Lioness rearing on a field of red. In a final showdown against her long-time nemesis, Alanna kills Duke Roger of Conte, her prince's cousin, who is to inherit the throne should anything happen to Jonathan. She does this after finding out about Roger's plans to kill the king, the queen, Jonathan, and even Alanna herself. During her duel with Roger, he slices through the special corset she wears to keep her breasts flat. It is revealed to everyone that she is very much a woman. Nevertheless, she is determined to go on and beat Roger so that he cannot kill the people she loves. When Roger uses an illusion to confuse Alanna regarding which of his swords is real and which is the illusion, she uses the amulet given to her by the Goddess in the beginning of the novel. She is able to beat him. Her friends, including Jonathan and Myles, step up and tell the king that they knew beforehand that she was a female. After her battle with Roger, Alanna decides not to stick around to deal with the initial uproar over her sex. With Faithful, her longtime manservant Coram, and her horse Moonlight, she sets off for the desert in the South, in search of more adventure. |
5713840 | /m/0f0r16 | The Woman Who Rides Like a Man | Tamora Pierce | 1986 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The third book sees Alanna through her journey through the Bazhir desert, where she and her manservant Coram are adopted by the Bloody Hawk tribe. During their stay, Alanna duels with the Bloody Hawk shaman, a crazed wizard who is convinced Alanna is evil, and kills him. According to Bazhir law she must be the tribe's shaman until she trains a new one to replace her or someone kills her and takes her place. Alanna selects three Gifted children of the tribe, Ishak, Kara, and Kourrem, and begins to train them in magic. She also inherits the former shaman's sword, with a crystal on the hilt, symbols that remind her of the dead sorcerer Duke Roger, and a terrifying amount of dark power. She keeps it because her old sword, Lightning, broke during a battle. She also teaches the traditional Bazhir to slowly lose some of their prejudice against women. During their training, Alanna sees glimpses of the shamans the girls will become, but the boy, Ishak, constantly attempts stronger, darker sorcery. In a sudden encounter, Ishak steals the crystal sword from Alanna and tries to master its power, but it consumes him and kills him. Alanna continues to train Kara and Kourrem. Prince Jonathan and Sir Myles of Olau make a visit to the Bloody Hawk tribe, where Jonathan and Alanna renew their love affair and spend a passionate night together. When Jonathan asks her to marry him, Alanna is shocked and asks for time to think it over. During their stay, Jonathan is adopted by the tribe and takes up training under the Voice of the Tribes, an old friend of Alanna's and Jonathan's. When the Voice dies, Jonathan is made the new Voice, thus acting as a sacred link between all the Bazhir tribes. This status will help unite northerners and southerners when he eventually becomes King of Tortall. Also, Myles adopts Alanna as his daughter and heir to his lands. Jonathan, tired from the Rite of the Voice, wants to go home soon and assumes that Alanna will marry him though she has asked for time to think about it, and when he begins to make arrangements for her to return to Corus with him, they argue. She refuses to marry him, and he wounds her deeply by saying he'd rather marry a woman who knows how to act like a woman. Jonathan and Myles leave, and Alanna continues her training of Kourrem and Kara, who eventually pass the required tests and are made shamans for the tribe, Kourrem being the head shaman. Alanna and Coram travel to Port Caynn to visit George Cooper, who is putting down a Rogue rebellion there. While Coram woos George's cousin Rispah, Alanna begins a love affair with George, who has loved her for years, but when he wants her to return to Corus with him, she refuses to go with him. The two split, and Coram accompanies Alanna back to the desert, where the Bloody Hawk chief asks her to check on a sorceress, a friend of his, whom he has been having bad dreams about. When Alanna and Coram arrive at the sorceress' drought-stricken village, they see the starved, crazed villagers burning the sorceress, thinking the sacrifice will please the gods and provide them food. Alanna and Coram rescue her, but not in time, and the sorceress dies after leaving Alanna with a scroll to give to the Bloody Hawk chief. The chief tells them it is a map to the Dominion Jewel, a legendary stone that provides untold powers in the hands of Gifted or unGifted rulers. Alanna and Coram decide to go after it. |
5713852 | /m/0f0r28 | Lioness Rampant | Tamora Pierce | 1988 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The first chapter of this quartet finds Alanna and her manservant, Coram, far from Tortall, on a quest seeking a legendary stone that can provide untold powers and abilities in the hands of country rulers. Stopping in Berat, Alanna meets Liam Ironarm, the Dragon of Shang and the strongest and most powerful of the Shang fighters, who befriends her and agrees to accompany her on her quest for the Dominion Jewel. En route to the Roof of the World, where the Jewel is hidden, Liam and Alanna begin a love affair, despite their clashing tempers and his fear of all things magical. The travelers pass through war-torn Sarain, ripped apart by a vicious civil war between the native K'miri tribes and the ruler, Warlord jin Wilima, whose armies persecute the K'mir. The war has been fueled by the death of the Warlord's K'miri wife, Kalasin, the most beautiful woman in the world, who killed herself as a rebellion against the persecution of her people. Caught in the midst of the battles, Alanna and her friends stumble upon Princess Thayet, the Warlord's only child, who is in hiding from her father's enemies who wish to either kill her or marry her to claim the Saren throne. Thayet and her friend and protector Buriram Tourokom, a gruff K'mir, join Alanna, Coram and Liam on their quest for the Jewel, knowing that it is best for Thayet to leave her country and never return. The group travels to the Roof of the World, where Chitral's Pass is blocked off due to severe blizzards. Alanna knows Chitral, the mountain elemental who holds the Jewel, will never make it easy for her to obtain the Jewel, so she bespells her friends to keep them asleep and ventures into the blizzard up the mountain. She battles Chitral, who takes the form of a mountain ape, and though she is defeated, he gives her the Jewel anyway. Alanna, wounded, frozen and half-dead, passes out; when she wakes up, she is back in the hotel with her friends. Liam is furious that she witched him, and the two break off their romance but remain friends. Meanwhile, Alanna has been having strange dreams from home, of her brother Thom, George, Jonathan, and Lord Roger's dead body. When the group encounters Raoul of Goldenlake, he confesses to Alanna that Tortall is in turmoil. Queen Lianne is dead, and the King committed suicide soon after. A grief-stricken Jonathan has been made King but not been crowned, and worst of all, Alanna's arrogant brother Thom, in an effort to prove to the haughty Lady Delia of Eldorne that he is the strongest and most powerful sorcerer in the realm, has raised Lord Roger from the dead. Alanna's friends accompany her back to Tortall, where she finds the people whispering of famine, black magic and a cursed reign for King Jonathan. She takes her place at Jonathan's side, giving him the Dominion Jewel, and Jonathan names her as his King's Champion, the first female Champion in history. Meanwhile, Alanna finds amusement when he falls in love with Thayet and begins to court her. Jon and Alanna agree that they were not right together, but when she looks to George to renew his romance, he treats her as nothing more than a friend. Her brother Thom is rapidly growing ill, poisoned by his own magical mystic Gift, and Alanna is helpless to stop it. Meanwhile, Alanna and Roger have a vicious encounter where they renew their old hatred, and Alanna suspects that Lady Delia and others, including her old rival Alex of Tirragen, are plotting to overthrow Jonathan and put Roger in his place. On the eve of the Coronation, Alanna meets the Great Mother Goddess, who warns her that the Coronation will be a "crossroad in time." Sure enough, during the ceremony, insurgents wearing Tirragen and Eldorne colors storm the palace and Alanna and her friends fight to protect Jonathan. Thom dies, drained of his life-force energy by Roger's dark spell, and Alanna's magical cat Faithful is also killed. In a sheer rage, Alanna kills Alex when he tries to detain her from reaching Roger, and she confronts her archenemy, who uses her magical mystical sword - part Lightning, part the Bazhir shaman's sword - to bring her to him. The spell backfires when she stops resisting and lets go, killing Roger with his own sword and destroying his evil forever. When the fighting dies down, Alanna sees that Liam is also dead, killed while protecting Jonathan. After the insurgents are captured, Alanna returns to the Bazhir to rest and clear her head, also to grieve for her brother, Liam and Faithful. Thayet and Buri visit her there, where Alanna gives her blessing on Thayet's upcoming marriage to Jonathan. The Shang Wildcat, who was once Liam's teacher, visits briefly to give Alanna a letter Liam had written before he died. In it, he says he knew that his time was near, and he tells Alanna to live a happy life with a man who loves all of her, and she realizes by the end that George has always been the one for her. Later, George visits her among the tribe, bearing the news of Thayet and Jonathan's engagement, and Alanna confesses that she still loves George and wants to be his wife. The series ends with George and Alanna cementing their own engagement with a kiss, and an announcement to the Bazhir. |
5713970 | /m/0f0r9x | Someone Like You | Sarah Dessen | 5/1/1998 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"} | The book is split into three parts. Halley and Scarlett Thomas live in directly opposite houses and both had jobs at Milton's Market. At the beginning of the summer, Scarlett started dating Michael Sherwood but they decide to keep it quiet, with only Halley really knowing, because Michael recently broke up with cheerleader Elizabeth Gunderson and he claims he didn't want her to get upset . For the last 2 weeks of summer vacation, Halley has been sent away to Sisterhood Camp against her will by her mother who is having difficulties coming to terms with Halley growing up and changing. Then disaster strikes and Halley gets a phone call from Scarlett telling her about Michael's death and Scarlett asks Halley to come home and be with her. Her mom, even though she is unhappy about this, brings her home. On the day of the funeral, it is clear that no one knew about Scarlett and Michael and Elizabeth Gunderson seems to be taking it very hard. On the ride home, it is raining heavily and as they are driving along they see Macon Faulkner, Michael's best friend, walking and they offer him a lift which he declines as he is clearly upset. Going back to school on the first day, Scarlett states she feels ill. Halley goes to class and finds her new schedule is wrong so she goes to the guidance counselors office to sort it out. There she gets talking to Macon who jokes around with her and teaches her the "Jedi Mind Trick". She is a bit surprised by his sudden friendliness. Later that day, she finds out they have P.E together and from then on, she develops a crush on him as he fascinates her with his unpredictable and wild lifestyle. Macon eventually mentions a party, casually asking her out and she accepts. She and Scarlett later go to the party, where Macon fails to show up. When the party host, Ginny Tabor, throws everyone out, they go back to sit on Scarlett's porch and Halley talks about how she doesn't deserve him. He later turns up at her window and tells her he did go to the party but he was in the attic so it was all a misunderstanding. He then kisses her and Halley's nerdy ex-boyfriend, Noah Vaughn, is watching from the kitchen window. The next day, while she is doing her chore of mowing the lawn, Macon turns up with a giant mower to help which pleases her father but makes her mother angry as it is supposed to be her job to mow the lawn. Her mother becomes very nosy and keeps bugging Halley about who the boy was mowing the lawn. Halley and Scarlett are working when Scarlett pulls Halley into the bathroom and tells her of her pregnancy. They proceed to tell Scarlett's mother and her mother books an abortion appointment. On the day of the abortion, Scarlett decides against it and calls Halley to pick her up from the clinic. Halley asks Macon to drive her there and he does. When they have picked up Scarlett, Halley's mother sees them and assumes they are just cutting class. She tells Scarlett's mother, who then enlists Halley's mother's help to sort a compromise. Halley is then grounded. Halley has a birthday dinner the next day with her family, the Vaughn family, and Scarlett. Later, she sneaks out with Macon. He takes her to the quarry where they passionately make out, leaving Halley feeling as though the girl she used to be has left her and she was replaced by someone new. The next chapters are focused on the changes that happen throughout Scarlett's pregnancy and the pressures of Halley's relationship with Macon, who is constantly asking her to have sex with him. Although she thinks about it a lot she isn't ready to and they start to become distant, which isn't helped by his secretive lifestyle. Elizabeth Gunderson drops hints about him cheating on her. Also her mother is forever asking her about Macon and she dislikes him despite never having met him. Halley is forbidden from seeing Macon. And everyone at school finds out about the pregnancy because Ginny, who can't keep secrets, overhears them talking in the bathroom. When Halley decides to have sex with Macon at a New Year's Eve party, Scarlett tries to convince her not do it and they get into a major argument that leaves them not speaking. Halley gets drunk before she can do it. When she throws up and leaves, Macon is furious because he thought she was just leading him on. While he is driving her home, he is too busy shouting at her to watch the road and they get into a major car accident. Before going into the emergency room, Macon holds Halley's hand tightly and says, "I love you." Halley is seriously injured and taken to hospital. Macon didn't visit. Her mother is disappointed in her because she does not know the truth about what really happened. After Halley gets out of the hospital, Macon comes to see her at her window. Halley having had enough breaks up with him which breaks his heart because he then realizes he's in love with her. Her mother comes down and starts to shout at her for seeing Macon and then Halley explains what has just happened. She also tells her mother how she feels about all the restrictions she has put on her and they come to an understanding: both of them will try harder to get on. Next is prom and with Elizabeth now dating Macon, and Halley goes to prom with the family-friend, and former boyfriend Noah. Noah gets drunk and rips Halley's prom dress, and she gets angry and is then forced into the bathroom where she bumps into Elizabeth. Elizabeth tells her that Macon still loves her but they are interrupted by the announcement that Scarlett's in labor. Halley and Scarlett and Scarlett's other friend, Cameron, try to leave but the only transport to the hospital is Macon's car. Macon and his now girlfriend Elizabeth (who appear to be in a fight) take them to the hospital. Halley calls her mother who comes down and helps her through it. After the birth, Scarlett names the baby Grace Halley Thomas and everyone turns up in the waiting room; the school prom-goers and all Scarlett's mother's friends and they all come together in happiness of the birth. After everything has calmed down and everyone has gone home, Halley starts to walk home alone, but happy, thinking about Grace Halley's life ahead and what she could offer her. |
5715263 | /m/0f0sr5 | Fletch | Gregory Mcdonald | 1974 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/028v3": "Detective fiction", "/m/02yq81": "Comic novel", "/m/01z4y": "Comedy"} | The first Fletch novel (1974) introduces I. M. Fletcher, a journalist and ex-marine staying on a beach watching the drug culture for a story, waiting to find the dealer's source before publishing an exposé. A millionaire businessman named Alan Stanwyk approaches Fletch to hire Fletch to murder him; the man tells Fletch that he is dying of bone cancer and wants to avoid a slow, painful death. Fletch accepts $1000 in cash to listen to the man's proposition; the man offers him $20,000 for the murder, and Fletch talks him up to $50,000 in an effort to see if the man is serious. He appears to be serious, and Fletch begins investigating the man's story in between investigating the drug story on the beach and avoiding the two attorneys after him for alimony for each of his ex-wives. |
5715433 | /m/0f0sxp | Sherlock Holmes ~ The Way of All Flesh | null | null | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery"} | Sherlock Holmes is called in to investigate when the body of an Italian diplomat is discovered in the River Thames, his torso horrifically mutilated. Fearing the political repercussions - the diplomat being in London to initiate talks regarding a secret naval treaty between the two nations - the Government entrust Holmes with the delicate task of uncovering the truth behind the brutal murder. Events take a shocking turn, however, when a young solicitor is found slain in the East End, his body similarly mutilated. |
5715499 | /m/0f0s_2 | Bump in the Night | Isabelle Holland | 1988-10 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Divorcee Martha Tierney awakes to a phone call from her son Jonathan's headmistress telling her Jonathan is not at school. Martha, an alcoholic, cannot even remember what day it is. Jonathan had a call the night before from his father, Patrick, Martha's ex-husband, and the two have arranged a secret meeting at a doughnut shop at 8AM. Jonathan leaves the house early and stops by a neighbor who tells him that the chosen doughnut shop is closed and he will have to meet his father in the street. Jonathan has been stalked for several days by Lawrence Miller, a former professor who has lost his job after being accused of child molestation. When Patrick fails to show at the doughnut shop, Lawrence pretends to be a friend of Jonathan's father and lures him off to the zoo, then on to an apartment that doubles as a film studio for child pornography movies. Patrick, Martha, the neighbors, and investigating detective Sergeant Mooney all work together to hunt for the little boy. Jonathan uses all his courage and resourcefulness to escape the sexual abuse that he knows is coming. |
5715693 | /m/0f0tc8 | The Cosmic Puppets | Philip K. Dick | 1957 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Ted Barton, having left Millgate, Virginia several years ago, returns with his wife Peg to find his hometown strangely transformed. Street names and landmarks do not exist as he remembers them, and the inhabitants of the town are similarly oblivious to their contradictory past. Peg proves intolerant of her husband's interest and abandons him while he explores the town. While in Millgate, Barton meets three sympathetic locals: Doctor Meade, a family physician; his daughter, Mary; and William Christopher, a town drunk. However, Mary has a menacing counterpart-- Peter Trilling, the deceptively young offspring of the town's hotel owner. After Barton's departure from Millgate is blocked by a permanently jacknifed logging truck obstructing the only route out of town, he discovers that Christopher remembers the town's erased past. Christopher recalls an event entitled "the Change," which occurred eighteen years beforehand, after Barton had left Millgate. In his previous life he was an electrician but is now working to revert Millgate to its previous state of existence. Dr Meade and Mary have the same agenda, as Meade's "Shady House" patients turn out to be "Wanderers," incorporeal former inhabitants of the erased Millgate who can communicate with Mary and certain others. Barton is able to revert objects, as well as an erased park, at which point Mary discloses that she is also aware of the Change and the prior Millgate. Mary and Peter are in fact engaged in a low-intensity supernatural proxy war against one another. She can only use bees, moths, cats and flies against his control over golems, spiders, snakes and rats, and initially seems to kill Mary through his servitors. However, even this traumatic event is not enough to cause Dr Meade to abandon the comforting illusion of his false human identity. Two vast, supernatural entities loom over Millgate, however, and Barton realises that Meade is one of them, as Peter Trilling reverts to his own, malignant divine self. He uses his servitors to attack Barton, Christopher and the Wanderers, but is stopped as Meade remembers his past, and reassumes his own divine identity. At the denouement, Millgate finds itself in the crossfire of a battle between the twin but diametrically opposed demigods of Zurvanism (a Zoroastrian sect), Ahriman and Ormazd. Ormazd eventually triumphs, and Mary reveals her own true identity as Ormazd's messianic daughter, Armaiti, who arranged for Barton's exile and return to the town when it was time to overthrow Ahriman's false illusion. The former Millgate returns to solidity, Christopher resumes his career as an electrician forgetting the Change ever occurred, and Barton leaves the town, having restored the 'true' nature of the community to what it was. |
5718346 | /m/0f0yvs | Wolf-Speaker | Tamora Pierce | 5/2/1994 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Daine receives a summons from some old friends - the wolf pack from her old village, led by Brokefang and his mate Frostfur, who are unhappy with the nobles ruining the Long Lake, their territory. They send messengers to ask Daine for help and then disappear back into the night to hunt while Daine discusses this over with her teacher, Numair Salmalin. Numair agrees to help the wolves, but he decides that he first must visit the nobles in Fief Dunlath at a party to further investigate after they find the burnt remains of the Ninth Rider Group. Numair recognizes a battle mage at Fief Dunlath, who appears to be wooing Lady Yolane. After Daine boldly approaches them about the threat to the wolves and to the area with a warning that if they don't change, things will happen, the nobles all laugh at her. She retires with Numair back to their quarters and stealthily leave in the night from Fief Dunlath. Tristan Staghorn, the mage in Dunlath is a war mage from the Carthaki university where Numair studied to become one of the 7 most powerful mages in the world. Upon discovering Tristan was there, Numair realized that the situation in Dunlath was worse than they had thought. He creates a magical simulacra (clone) of himself and plays on Tristan's knowledge of him back in Carthak, where he was a "book-bound idiot." He explains to Daine that people who are Black robe mages study books and learn nothing practical. Daine seems to think he relies too much on the enemy mage's stupidity. Shortly after this, Numair decides to go back to the city where King Jonathan is and warns him of something afoot in Dunlath. Daine stays to sort out the mess with her friend Brokefang and Numair tells her not to do anything extreme or he will lock her in the deepest dankest dungeon he can find when he gets his hands on her again. Throughout the book, Daine reaches the next level in the development of her wild magic as she starts to share minds with animals, a useful ability as she uses the eyes of squirrels and other creatures to spy. This ability soon translates to gaining certain characteristics of animals once she returns to her natural body. Daine discovers she has the power to morph into animals after Maura, Lady Yolane's somewhat plain and much younger sister, runs away from Fief Dunlath. Shortly afterwards, Rikash Moonsword the Stormwing appears to be fond of Maura and he makes Daine rethink her theory about all Stormwings being naturally evil. Maura tells Daine about Yolane's plans to become Queen - a deal with Emperor Ozorne of Carthak, who is also hinted at causing the siege at Pirate's Swoop in the first book. In the meantime, Daine meets a basilisk named Tkaa, who comes to be an important ally and a partial tutor to Kitten, her dragonet; Tristan creates a magical barrier to isolate fief Dunlath from help. In the Tortallan universe, basilisks resemble elegantly featured lizards that have the ability to stand on their hindlegs. They eat rocks and have a curious screech that turns anything in their direct path into stone. Daine learns that Tristan and his mage friends Alamid and Gissa are going to dump a poison called bloodrain into the river at the north of Dunlath to kill everything living within ten miles of the river. Tristan tries to hurt Daine with his magic, and Numair turns him(Tristan)into an apple tree with a word of power, also causing a tree somewhere in the world to turn into a human. With the help of Maura, Tkaa, Kitten (Skysong the Dragonet), the Stormwing Lord Rikash,Huntsman Tait, Alanna the Lioness, Raoul of Goldenlake, and the animals of the Long lake of Dunlath Numair and Daine manage to rip the entire plot to pieces in the biggest siege Daine has foiled yet. |
5718430 | /m/0f0y_c | Emperor Mage | Tamora Pierce | 11/17/1994 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Daine is sent with a delegation that includes both Sir Gareths of Naxen, Alanna the Lioness, and Numair Salmalin, to the Emperor Mage of Carthak, in hopes that she can smooth the international relations by helping with his prized birds. All seems well in the elaborate court of the charming emperor, who continues to proclaim his innocence in stirring up troubles in Tortall and seems to truly care for his prized aviary. This soothes the nervous delegation, though the situation is complicated by Numair, who had to flee Carthak and Ozorne's ire several years before. Daine makes several friends in Carthak, including Numair's former teacher and close friend Lindhall Reed, Ozorne's heir and nephew Kaddar, and a marmoset named Zekoi. She also is reunited with the Stormwing Rikash Moonsword, who seems to bear her no significant ill will and in fact warns her several times about the trouble brewing in the empire. Despite her best efforts, she gets caught up in not only the political situation, but a religious one as well. Emperor Ozorne Muhassin Tasikhe has been neglecting the worship of the gods, primarily the chief Goddess of Carthak, the Graveyard Hag. To Daine's surprise and later chagrin, she realizes that the Graveyard Hag has given her the ability to revive dead bodies, which leads to a series of mixed episodes which includes the revival of an only partly assembled Archaeopteryx skeleton and culminates in the revival of a whole nest of dinosaur eggs and nestlings. The reanimation of the nest results in Daine killing herself and having to get forcibly revived by the Badger god. During the time she is "dead," she gets a brief image of her mother with a mysterious horned stranger. Daine fights her newly given "gift," which cannot be taken away except by the Graveyard Hag, who has supreme power in Carthak as the primary goddess. It is noted that the only one more powerful in Carthak is the Black God, god of death, but she is his daughter and he listens to her in matters involving Carthak. The Graveyard Hag urges Daine, as her vessel, to act by causing chaos with the revival of the human dead to get Emperor Ozorne to remember the gods once more. Daine is understandably disinclined to do so. During her time healing the birds, Daine realizes that the birds illness is caused by metal paint that they are eating saying that it tastes good (it contains salt as well iron) When she tells this to Ozorne, he congratulates her and gives her a drug to make her sleep in her food. Meanwhile, the Tortallan party is planning to leave Carthak, but Numair will not leave his "magelet" behind. Daine is resccued from the dungeon by Zek, who is very fascinated by keys. She then meets up with Prince Kaddar. He tells her that Ozorne had Numair killed. Daine is overcome with fury. Using her power to revive dead beings to create an army out of the hall of bones. While looking for Ozorne, she meets with Numair's ex-lover. Daine tells her that Numair is dead. Daine finds the Hyenas and transforms into one. Using their excellent sense of smell, they hunt down Ozorne. They are about to attack him when he stabs himself with the Stormwing feather given to him by Rikash. Ozorne turns into a stormwing and flies away with the rest of them. Daine turns around to see Kaddar, Lindhall, and Numair. Losing her grip on her Hyena self, Daine transforms into her human, naked self. Nuamir gives her his robe and tells her that a Simulacrum of himself was caught and "killed" by Ozorne, not the real Numair. Then, the graveyard hag comes and takes the power of reviving the dead from Daine. Four days later, Daine wakes up to find Alanna at her side. She then goes to talk to His Imperial Highness, Kaddar. He tells Daine that she can have whatever she wants for saving his life (his uncle was planning to have him accused of treason of plotting against him). Daine asks that the people who have wild magic and the emperors mutes must be released from slavery. <!-- |
5718462 | /m/0f0z1t | The Realms of the Gods | Tamora Pierce | 1996 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | In this final book of Daine's story, she and Numair are transported to the Divine Realms,or the realms of the gods themselves through a very unusual agency- Daine's mother Sarra, now the Green Lady, a minor goddess of healing and childbirth in the northern provinces. Although it has been hinted at before, Daine's father is revealed in this book as none other than the minor Northern God of the Hunt, Weiryn. Despite her happiness at being reunited with her long dead mother, Daine must return to the mortal realms in time to help fight the Immortals attacking Tortall, including the former Carthaki Emperor Ozorne, who is now a harpy-analogous Stormwing in league with the queen of Chaos, Uusoae. However, getting into the realm of the gods is much easier than getting out and so, aided by the badger god and the god of platypi, Daine and Numair must travel a perilous road to the realm of the dragons, to petition them for help in getting back to the mortal realms. Throughout their journey, they encounter an alarming number of Chaos vents, "windows" that look into the Chaos realms. As a demigod, Daine is particularly vulnerable to them. It is revealed that Numair Salmalin harbored very strong feelings for Daine, though she had not believed it to be anything serious. After saving her life from spidrens (giant spiders with human heads), Numair forgets himself and kisses Daine, admitting he loves her. Daine also loves him, but the two have doubts about a lasting relationship because of their age difference; Daine is sixteen, and Numair is thirty. Despite this, in the epilogue of the book, Numair asks Daine to marry him. Daine does not agree yet, but it revealed that they do live together in another one of Tamora Pierce's books, First Test. In Trickster's Queen, another one of Tamora Pierce's books, they are married and have children. They go through many perils to finally reach the Dragonlands. After some arguing, two dragons agree to bring them back. In the mortal realms there is a major attack on Port Legann, a city in Tortall. In this fight Daine defeats former Emperor Ozorne. Uusoae ends up trying to kill Daine but she is saved by Uusoae's and the gods's mother and father; Father Universe and Mother Flame. Daine then has to decide whether to stay in the mortal realms as a mortal or live in the Divine Realms as a minor goddess with her mother and father. With some discussion with her mother and Weiryn, her father, she decides her true home is the mortal realm. Her mother promises to visit when she can. <!-- |
5721677 | /m/0f148s | Shadows on the Stars | T. A. Barron | 10/6/2005 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | In the previous book, "Child of the Dark Prophecy", the evil sorcerer Kulwych made a pure crystal of élano out of the water from the White Geyser of Crystillia. Élano is the most powerful substance in Avalon, and is known for its power to create life. At the beginning of "Shadows on the Stars", the wicked spirit Rhita Gawr corrupted this pure crystal of élano and thereby transformed into an anti-matter-like version of itself, called vengélano, which destroys whatever it touches. Facing this danger, the three young heroes of this story, Tamwyn, Elli, and Scree, must push their abilities to its utmost limit in order to save Avalon. Tamwyn must somehow find his way to and relight the darkened stars of the constellation Wizard's Staff. Elli must seek the crystal of vengélano and destroy it. Scree must confront his greatest mistake, that nearly cost him his life and the staff of Merlin, to help defeat Rhita Gawr's army. Tamwyn, accompanied by Henni the hoolah and the small, winged creature called Batty Lad, leaves Avalon's root-realms – the seven familiar sections of Avalon, home to the greatest diversity of life-forms – and enters the trunk. There, he is separated from his friends. He discovers, among other things, growth rings of the Tree that tell of its entire history; places where giant termites dwell; and the people called Ayanowyn, whose once glorious society has become a dystopia. When living with the Ayanowyn, Tamwyn learns that if a Golden Wreath – a wreath of mistletoe, sacred to the Ayanowyn – were to appear among them, the one to whom it appeared would become their leader. While leaving the Ayanowyn to continue his travels, Tamwyn finds such a Wreath and leaves it with the one who has been his host, so that this one, who desires a return of his people's glory, becomes leader. Because, as a rule, humans think of trees as being wooden, the description of Avalon's trunk as being essentially made of stone and consisting of such topography as exists in our real world creates some ambiguity. In Avalon's tree-world, a knothole becomes a valley, and the outside of the trunk becomes similar to a cliff, or to Amara, though Avalon's surface is less steep than Amara's. In or near Merlin's Knothole, Tamwyn meets the sole survivor of his father Krystallus' expedition to the stars; Ethaun, a blacksmith who has made the Knothole/valley his home since the death of his leader. This man shelters Tamwyn; reforges Tamwyn's broken dagger; brings him to visit Krystallus' grave; and gives Tamwyn a globular compass by which to navigate the trunk and branches. Tamwyn eventually discovers that the stars that illuminate Avalon, occupying the niche held by the Sun in our world as well as the niche held by the stars of our night sky, are in fact "doors of fire" that lead, when opened, to other worlds including ours and the spirits' Otherworld. To rekindle the constellation Wizard's Staff, therefore, Tamwyn must shut the doors of which it is made. Elli, accompanied by Nuic, Shim, Brionna, and a priest of the order to which Elli belongs, called Lleu, attempt to seek the aid of the water dragons. This aid is slow in coming; therefore the questors leave the dragons' home. They travel via the portals that link the seven root-realms; mistakenly to the realm Malóch, where they learn that Elli's former tormentor Llynia is part of a eugenic, genocidal effort to impose human rule on all nonhuman life-forms. Escaping from Llyina's clutches with the help of a gnome whose life Elli had saved in the previous book, they continue with greater urgency to fulfill their purposes. In a dream created by Tamwyn's magic, he and Elli meet on a cloud. There he gives her a half-finished harp in replacement of the one he broke. In exchange they share a kiss. Scree has returned to Rahnawyn, the realm of his birth. There, he learns that the clan of eaglefolk called Bram Kaie is destroying other eaglefolk. Having experienced their cruelty firsthand, Scree attempts to attack the renegade clan alone. He has met their leader before; this leader, Quenakhya by name, had seduced Scree in order to seize the magic staff Ohnyalei. When he understood this, Scree had fled. On returning, he watches as Quenakhya's own son challenges and kills her in order to gain the leadership. Scree, immediately after, challenges this new leader and kills him. On her last breaths, the dying Quenakhya (Who supposedly tricked and seduced Scree in his younger years and having sex with him. The product of their sex is a eagleman of two tribes named Maulkee.Then near Qenakhya's death she asks Scree if he really loved her.)reveals that Scree is the father of the warrior whom he has slain. Ashamed of himself, but cognisant of necessity, Scree takes the leadership of Bram Kaie. |
5723419 | /m/0f17cy | The Removers | Donald Hamilton | 1961 | {"/m/06wkf": "Spy fiction"} | A year after having been reactivated, Helm receives a message from his ex-wife, asking for his aid, and soon finds himself fighting to protect his family from an enemy agent. |
5731456 | /m/0f1qs_ | Amongst Women | John McGahern | null | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The novel opens with an elderly, weak, and depressed Michael Moran being taken care of by his daughters. Although they have busy lives and families of their own in Dublin and London, they have never really left the family home because they feel more important there. They have decided to recreate "Monaghan Day," an event Moran always seemed to enjoy, hoping that this will somehow reverse his failing health. Monaghan Day was a market day when Moran's friend McQuaid used to visit and they would reminisce about the war. The family's story is told through the use of flashbacks as the women in Moran's life remember the past. Moran was a once prominent Republican who fought for Irish independence in the 1920s. He is now a widower with three daughters and two sons. They live in a house called "Great Meadow" on a small farm in the west of Ireland. He thinks that his time in the IRA was the best of his life, and misses the security provided by the military's structure, rules, and clear demarcation of power. In his old age, however, he is bitter about the "small-minded gangsters" that are now in charge of the Republic of Ireland. For example, he refuses his soldier's pension because he feels that the government has betrayed the ideals that he fought for in his youth. He transfers the violent nature that served him well in battle to his dealings with his family. Moran’s controlling nature is shown from the very first flashback narrative. On a past Monaghan Day, Moran petulantly refuses to yield to McQuaid’s authority, “an authority that had outgrown” his own. McQuaid leaves abruptly and ends their long friendship. This is a defining moment for Moran, after which he withdraws into “that larger version of himself,” his family, over which he exercises absolute authority. Through his influence, the outside world is kept at an “iron distance”, and the family unite against it. Moran marries a local woman called Rose Brady when his children are teenagers. Rose is in middle-age when she marries Moran. Despite her mother's warning that he is "one sort of person when he's out in the open among people — he can be very sweet — but that he's a different sort of person altogether behind the walls of his own house," she is determined to marry him. She becomes a mother to the children and is their mainstay. For example, she helps Maggie to leave for London to become a nurse. She often alleviates the disputes between Moran and the children. She is quietly tolerant of Moran's mood swings, even when he verbally abuses her. Moran's personality becomes apparent in his dealings with his family, who all love and respect him despite his violent outbursts and his lack of apologies. His family are actually "inordinately grateful for the slightest good will." Although he can be tender towards his family, he is often obstinate and cruel and demands constant attention. For example on his wedding day he is content because "he needed this quality of attention to be fixed upon him in order to be completely silent." He enforces his own view of the world on all those around him. He is a devout Catholic and makes sure that his family upholds all the values he fought for. He recites the Rosary daily, looking for religious help for his inner turmoil and the complications of his daily life. His violent nature stems from traumas he received as a guerrilla fighter in his youth. However, he thinks that the war was the best part of his life, because "things were never so simple and clear again." He feels that he is losing his position as the centre of attention as he ages and the children start to escape from Great Meadow. He demands help and attention at inappropriate times as a way of focusing the others on his needs. Although he is mostly calm with his daughters, he is threatened by his sons as they grow up. Luke, the older son, leaves for London because of his father's overbearing authority and only returns once. Thoughts of Luke are painful to Moran, and the others refrain from mentioning him. Michael, the youngest child, hides behind Rose until he gains the courage to leave also. The only way that the children can assert any autonomy is through exile, thus tacitly rebuking Moran's ethos of family solidarity. Moran dominates his daughter's lives and they regularly return to the family home despite their own busy lives. They yearn for his approval, yet fear his temper. He tells them that it is important that the family stick together: "Alone we might be nothing. Together we can do anything." They find individuality painful compared to the protection of the familial identity. Moran's friendship with McQuaid is also recounted using flashbacks, and there is an account of an attack carried out on the British Army by the Flying Column to which they belonged. There is also a description of the argument between them that ended their friendship and left Moran with no male friends. Moran dies at the end of the novel. He is buried under a yew tree, but his influence does not leave his family "...as they left him under the yew, it was as if each of them in their different ways had become Daddy." |
5732050 | /m/02p9pw7 | Matter | Iain Banks | 2008-02 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The book follows the experiences of three members of the royal household of the Sarl, a humanoid race living on the 8th level of the Shellworld of Sursamen, an ancient artificial planet consisting of fourteen nested concentric spheres internally lit by tiny thermonuclear "stars", whose layers are inhabited by various races. Constructed for an unknown purpose by a long-dead race called The Veil, Shellworlds are guarded and mentored by progressively more advanced species, up to the level of what the Sarl call "Optimae". Approximately 4000 Shellworlds are known, but almost 200 have been deliberately destroyed by another later, vanished race, The Iln; most, if not all, are also evidently equipped with mechanisms that activate randomly, either exterminating the inhabitants or collapsing the entire Shellworld. Like many Shellwords, the hollow core of Sursamen is known to be inhabited by a mysterious creature called a Xinthian Tensile Aeranothaurs, whom the Sarl worship as their World God. The Culture is considered one of the Optimae, though Sursamen is not in their direct sphere of influence. Ferbin, the heir to the Sarl throne, has to flee his home level on the Shellworld after witnessing the murder of his father, King Hausk, by tyl Loesp, the King's second-in-command. Oramen, Ferbin's studious younger brother, is unaware of the treachery and trusts tyl Loesp fully. After Ferbin's disappearance, tyl Loesp takes on the role of regent, supposedly until Prince Oramen comes of age and can be crowned King. The Oct, the mentoring species of the Sarl, meanwhile have been organizing the takeover of the 9th level of Sursamen, using the Sarl as their pawns. It becomes increasingly clear that they are searching for something hidden in the Nameless City, a metropolis buried under several hundred million years of sediment which is currently being stripped away by the giant Hyeng-zhar waterfalls. The 9th level was only recently re-colonized in a move by the Oct which was retrospectively validated, with reluctance, by the mentoring races. Elsewhere, Djan Seriy Anaplian, another child of King Hausk, had left Sursamen fifteen years previously to become a member of the Culture, and of an organization called Special Circumstances (SC). Anaplian (the author uses this as her primary name, rather than Djan) decides to return to her home planet, originally simply to pay her respects to her dead father. On her way back, she joins up with the fleeing Ferbin and his faithful (but increasingly independently-minded) servant Choubris Holse, from whom she learns that her father's death was in fact a murder. Other channels of intelligence indicate that the Oct are planning something mysterious on Sursamen. Special Circumstances asks her to investigate, and she meets Klatsli Quike en route, who turns out to be an avatoid (indistinguishable from human) of the Liveware Problem, probably an undercover SC ship. Her rather irritable combat drone (Turminder Xuss) stows away in her belongings, disguised initially as a dildo. Anaplian has had most SC enhancements disabled (the Morthanveld - in whose sphere of influence Sursamen resides - well know the fearsome reputation of such an SC combat team), but she begins to restore them, and Xuss will prove critically useful. Returning to Sursamen, they realize that they have come too late – though Oramen, warned by several botched assassinations, had begun an open struggle with tyl Loesp, neither of them could (or wanted to) stop the excavations in the Nameless City before a fateful discovery – a member (or possibly a machine) of a long dead civilization known as the Iln is uncovered deep beneath the city and wakes. The Iln were responsible for the destruction of thousands of shellworlds before ultimately disappearing. The revived Iln's intention is the destruction of shellworld Sursamen. Its nature comes as a horrible surprise to humans and Oct both – with the Oct having thought that they were excavating one of the Involucra (the 'Veil') who had originally built the shellworlds and from whom they claim to be descended as a matter of faith. The Iln entity kills all present with a thermonuclear explosion including tyl Loesp and several hundreds of thousands of workers excavating the Nameless City (but not Oramen, who has been carried away – he dies of other wounds and radiation sickness shortly afterwards), before heading towards the core of the world, aiming to destroy Sursamen completely using antimatter. Anaplian, Ferbin, and Holse head towards the core level, equipped with highly sophisticated SC-technology level combat suits. They are accompanied by Xuss and Hippinse, another of several avatoids of the Liveware Problem. The latter takes substantial damage from Nariscene weapons during its descent to the core, the constrained tunnel and the nature of the 4 dimensional shellworld limiting its defenses. The team is thus outgunned by the Iln, who has taken over the programming of a Morthanveld guard ship and twelve other drones secretly emplaced in the core. Xuss is MIA. Hippinse's parent ship, the Liveware Problem, disposes of all but two of the Morthanveld drones then sacrifices itself in a suicide attack on the Morthanveld guard ship. Hippinse himself is killed eliminating one of the remaining drones; Anaplian accounts for the last one, but the Iln remains too strong for the remaining compatriots, whose resources are seriously depleted. In the end, the sacrifice of two (Ferbin and Anaplian) saves one and defeats the Iln. Ferbin is killed outright, but satisfies the Iln that the group are not harmful when disarmed and permits Anaplian a close approach. Despite her advanced armor, she is shredded beyond the point where a non-SC enhanced human would be dead, but she remains conscious enough to detonate the tiny grain of antimatter in her skull that provides power to her SC enhanced body. In the epilogue, Holse, the lone survivor of the Iln encounter, rejoins his family after a long absence, accompanied by Quike. He declares his intention to become a political leader of the Sarl, with the secret backing of the Culture. From Holse's survival, the Culture could be presumed to have a reasonably complete picture of events; from the continued existence of the shellworld, one may infer that Anaplian's sacrifice successfully foiled the Iln. The final body count is not immediately clear. Anaplian was backed up before leaving her Special Circumstances post, but, if restored, such a backup would not remember more recent events. However, part of her "insurance" taken out before the final confrontation may have been a more up-to-date backup. Similarly, the drone Turminder Xuss proper survived, but the destruction of his knife-missile mind-copy would mean memories of earlier events were most likely lost. |
5737304 | /m/0f212k | Devlin's Luck | Patricia Bray | 4/1/2002 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Devlin Stonehand is an ex-metalsmith and ex-farmer from the conquered land of Duncaer. After losing his family to banecats, he decides to take the oath of the Chosen One, hoping for a quick death. Instead, Devlin solves the mystery of elusive bandits, and defeats a lake monster, to the growing annoyance and concern of his enemies. Attacks made against him, both mundane and magical, fail to stop him. Meanwhile, as the Chosen One continues to live, the common people of Jorsk begin to respect and worship him. Nobles from around the kingdom seek Devlin out for help with local troubles and troubles to the kingdom overall. Helping those he deems sincere, Devlin seeks out the barony that is having no trouble, and investigates in his role as Chosen One. There he finds an oppressed populace, and confronts the baron with charges of treason. The arrested baron is sent back to the capital, Kingsholm, to be judged by the king. When he finally understands the depths of the baron’s treachery, he returns to Kingsholm to uncover the rest of the conspiracy. When he arrives, he finds that the Marshal of the Royal Army, Duke Gerhard, is a main conspirator, and the accused baron has been released. Devlin challenges Gerhard to a duel, in which Gerhard is slain and Devlin almost dies. He recovers over time, and is named the new General of the Royal Army and given a voting seat on the king’s council. |
5737542 | /m/0f216r | The Secret Pilgrim | John le Carré | 1990-01 | {"/m/06wkf": "Spy fiction"} | George Smiley unexpectedly accepts an invitation from Ned to speak at the agent training school at Sarratt. Ned revels silently in his memories as Smiley imparts his wisdom to a class of newly-recruited MI6 students, pausing only to polish his spectacles on the fat end of his tie to the secret delight of all present; a mannerism frequently mentioned in the Smiley canon. Smiley's sections of the book are quite brief; the bulk of the book consists of Ned's reminiscences, prompted by his interpretation of tangential comments made by Smiley and illuminated from his own experiences. At the end of the penultimate chapter, Smiley instructs them not to invite him again. The final chapter is unconnected with Smiley; Ned recollects Leonard Burr, who appears in the novel The Night Manager. The themes of the book are Smiley's sense of the moral ambiguity of spying, and Ned's growing self-awareness. |
5737713 | /m/0f21db | Danse Macabre | Laurell K. Hamilton | null | {"/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Danse Macabre appears to take place a few weeks after the events of Incubus Dreams and almost immediately after the events of Micah, assuming that the series of serial killings that Anita's friend Ronnie refers to as occurring two weeks earlier are the killings Anita investigates in Incubus Dreams. Unlike the previous thirteen novels, neither Anita's role as a Federal Marshal nor her job as a zombie animator plays any part in this novel. Instead, Anita must juggle a series of problems arising from her own increasing power, Jean-Claude's vampire politics, and her own personal life, complicated in this case by Anita's apparent pregnancy. * First, Anita believes that she may be pregnant. This forces her to confront the difficult choice of whether to bring the child to term, as well as whether to inform the various potential fathers. (Richard, Nathaniel, Jean-Claude, Asher, and Damian). ** Richard and Nathaniel are the most likely candidates for fatherhood; Micah had a lycanthrope vasectomy (silver clamps on the vas deferens); vampires in this world are capable of fathering a child, either via sperm created prior to their death for the newly dead, or if their body temperature is kept elevated for a long enough period of time to create new sperm, but the likelihood goes down with age. A vampire over the age of 100 is not a likely candidate. ** Micah and Nathaniel are willing to rearrange their lives to take on the primary parenting responsibilities. By contrast, Richard proposes monogamous marriage and expects that Anita will stop being a vampire executioner and federal marshal. ** A child of Anita's would have a significant risk of birth defects. Previous books have mentioned "Vlad Syndrome", occurring in children of vampires, which in severe cases results in death of both the child and the mother. Anita is also at risk of "Mowgli Syndrome", which can occur when a shapeshifter has intercourse in animal (or part-animal) form. Not all details are discussed, but it is noted that the fetus can develop at the rate of the beast instead of human — which could put Anita past the legal abortion threshold in only a few weeks or months, depending on the animal. * Second, Anita's increasing powers continue to lead to new problems. In particular, Anita is attempting to select a pomme de sang from a variety of candidates, leading to a series of conflicts between various persons who wish to join her harem of lovers. In addition, she discovers that her ardeur has been shaping both her own and her lovers' feelings and personalities, making Anita question whether her love for Micah and Nathaniel is real. Finally, Anita discovers that she may be a pan-were, and that in addition to being the dominant female of the local wolf and leopard pack, she may also become Regina, or Queen, of the local werelion pack, leading to a conflict between the lions eager to become her Rex, or lion king. * Third, Anita is involved in a variety of conflicts relating to vampire politics, largely relating to Jean-Claude's decision to invite a vampire ballet and several master vampires to St. Louis. ** Augustine, the master of Chicago, Illinois, attempts to force Anita to love him, and hopes to control the local were-lion pack by introducing a dominant were-lion of his choosing. ** Thea—who is not only the wife of the master of Cape Cod but a siren—wishes Anita to sleep with one or all of her three sons, in the hope that Anita can bring them into their power. ** Merlin, head of the vampire ballet, attempts to mentally dominate all of the master vampires and lycanthropes present at the performance, for reasons he will not reveal. ** Meng Die is becoming increasingly jealous of Anita's irresistibility to the men in their circle, to the point where she attempts to kill Requiem ** Both Belle Morte and The Mother of Darkness continue their attempts to dominate Anita. Ultimately, Anita resolves most of these conflicts: * After reluctantly deciding to have the baby, Anita ultimately learns that she is not pregnant, and that her positive test result was caused by her unique body chemistry. * Anita learns to accept that her love may be manufactured in part by the ardeur, particularly in the cases of Nathaniel and Micah, both of whom have had their personalities shaped by the ardeur to meet Anita's needs (and vice versa). She accepts that she possesses several metaphysical "beasts," and rejects Haven, a dominant were-lion that Augustine hoped to use to dominate the St. Louis pack. * Anita is also able to navigate most of the challenges raised by vampire politics. ** Using the ardeur, Anita and Jean-Claude bind Augustine, increasing their own power. They also turn the tables on him by feeding not only on him, but on his entourage. (Although Anita now loves Augustine, she is sufficiently stubborn that this love does not gain him an advantage). ** Anita promises to sleep with Thea's oldest son to see if she can raise his powers through the ardeur. ** Anita defeats Merlin's attempt to dominate the assembled vampires and shape-shifters, and questions him for information about the Mother of Darkness. ** The combined threat of Anita, Jean-Claude, and all of their vampires is enough to make Meng Die agree not to kill anyone for the night. ** Anita is able to evade Belle Morte and the Mother of Darkness's attempts to control her, although she continues to fear them. |
5738184 | /m/0f2223 | The Cutting Edge | Dave Duncan | 9/1/1992 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The year 3000 is approaching, and life continues as normal for most people. A few, however, are aware that the Protocol (the rules that determine how magic may be used) of the past thousand years is breaking down. Shandie is battling the Caliph in Zark, and gains himself a new Signifier when Ylo saves the banner from falling. While they follow Imperial decrees and take the war to the elves, King Rap in Krasnegar receives a warning from the gods that he will lose one of his children. Knowing that this has to do with the upcoming millennium, he sets out for Hub, the capital of the Impire, to speak with his friend the Imperor. Thaïle, a Gifted pixie in mysterious Thume, stands Death Watch over a neighbor, and receives her first Word of power. This earns her interest from the College, and Jain arrives at her parents’ house to talk to Thaïle. He informs her she will be going to the College next year, and there is nothing she can do about it. After suffering defeat from summoned dragons at Nefer Moor, the Legion retreats back to Qoble. Shandie and his inner circle decide to head to Hub to speak with the Imperor. Instead of traveling conventionally, they race to Hub to beat the message of their coming. On the way, a cloaked Pixie visits them and tells them of a preflecting pool at Wold Hall (putting your left foot in the pool shows you what you need, your right foot shows you what to avoid). They detour to visit it, and each person's vision guides their actions afterwards. Thaïle, despondent over not being allowed to meet a man and have her own Place, meets Leéb. They fall in love and find a Place far from home. Thaïle hopes that the College won’t find her or care about her, but the College catches up with her just as her child is born. They spirit Thaïle away to the College and the Keeper. Shandie and company arrive in Hub, and find the Imperor a deranged, drooling husk of his former self. Shandie immediately seizes administrative control, and plans on how to meet with the faun he saw in the pool (who turns out to be Rap). Ylo’s vision was a lovely women naked amid daffodils, and the woman turns out to be Princess Eshiala. When the Imperor finally falls into a coma and dies, preparations are made for the upcoming coronation of Shandie. During practice, the Warlock Raspnex appears and tells the procession to crown Shandie immediately. Ylo takes charge and completes the ceremony just as the four warlocks’ thrones are destroyed by magic. The group meets for a council of war, and go to Dr. Sagorn’s house (the vision seen by Sir Acopulo). Rap has just arrived and meets the group at the doctor’s house. As they try to puzzle out what is going on, Raspnex shows up and tells them that the evil sorcerer Zinixo is taking over all of the sorcerers in the world, and plans to take over all of Pandemia. After a short discussion, the house is attacked, and Raspnex uses magic to whisk the group away to safety. |
5738471 | /m/0f22g1 | Ten Little Wizards | Randall Garrett | 1988 | {"/m/0mz2": "Alternate history", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Someone is killing wizards, and doing so apparently without the use of magic. Lord Darcy is sent to investigate. He must uncover the murderer and ascertain whether the whole business is a ploy to kill the king himself. To complicate matters Darcy must investigate during the preparations for the investiture of Gwiliam, Duke of Lancaster (King John IV’s younger son), as Prince of Gaul. To add international tension, the Crown Prince of Poland, His Majesty the King of Courland (Latvia), will attend the ceremony. (In this timeline, Poland is a great empire ruling most of Eastern Europe, and there is an ongoing cold war between it and Darcy's Anglo-French Empire). |
5738560 | /m/0f22lj | A Study in Sorcery | Michael Kurland | 1989 | {"/m/0mz2": "Alternate history", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | In New England an Azteque Prince is found dead on a stone altar. Lord Darcy and Sean O Lochlainn are sent across the Atlantic to investigate. Darcy must identify the killer and determine whether the Azteques are returning to human sacrifice. Perhaps an attempt is being made by the rival Polish Empire to upset the balance of power between the Angevin Empire and the Azteques? |
5738625 | /m/02p9q0s | Aethiopica | null | null | null | Chariclea, the daughter of King Hydaspes and Queen Persinna of Ethiopia, was born white because her mother gazed upon a painting of the naked Andromeda just after her rescue by Perseus while Chariclea was being conceived (an instance of the theory of Maternal impression). Fearing accusations of adultery, Persinna gives her baby daughter to the care of Sisimithras, a gymnosophist, who takes the baby to Egypt and places her in the care of Charicles, a Pythian priest. Chariclea is then taken to Delphi, and made a priestess of Artemis. Theagenes, a noble Thessalian, comes to Delphi and the two fall in love. He runs off with Chariclea with the help of Calasiris, an Egyptian who has been employed by Persinna to find Chariclea. They encounter many perils: pirates, bandits, and others. The main characters ultimately meet at Meroe at the very moment when Chariclea is about to be sacrificed to the gods by her own father. Her birth is made known, and the lovers are happily married. |
5739327 | /m/0f23j_ | Learning the World | Ken MacLeod | 2005 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The novel is a first contact story, following the generation ship But the Sky, My Lady! The Sky! as it approaches the Destiny Star. Humans have been colonizing the 500 light-years around Earth for a few thousand years, and have never run into an alien species — until now. The discovery of an Industrial Age alien race upsets the established protocols of the ship, leading to uncertainty and delays in habitation, which in turn leads to societal unrest and conflict aboard the ship. |
5739845 | /m/0f246v | Operation Luna | Poul Anderson | 1999-08 | {"/m/0mz2": "Alternate history", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The world of Operation Luna has an alternative history, which mostly resembled our own until a great "Awakening" brought awareness of supernatural forces to the world at large. This Awakening led to drastic changes in society; industrial machinery was largely replaced by technology driven by magic, spells, and "goetic forces" instead of fossil fuels and electricity. For example, the main mode of transportation is broomsticks and magic carpets fitted with cabins for people to sit in; radios are called "runers," apparently activated by runes; and the propulsion behind space flight is achieved by a combination of mechanical technology, spelled crystals, and arcane materials such as mummy dust. Steve helped in the construction of a spacecraft for Operation Selene, the United States' first attempt to send a manned craft to the Moon. However, a disaster caused by beings adverse to the mission destroy the vehicle and nearly kill the celestonaut, Curtice Newton, although Steve, in wolf form, saves her. Afterward, Steve, Ginny, and a handful of people begin to investigate the disaster and make plans to put Operation Luna into effect, a smaller version of Operation Selene independent from NASA. Since the identities of the entities behind the Operation Selene disaster remain somewhat veiled and mysterious, Steve and Ginny enlist the help of a number of people, including Balawahdiwa, a Zuni high priest; Fotherwick-Botts, an enchanted sword that can talk; and Fjalar, a Norwegian dwarf who forged Fotherwick-Botts. Though the characters live in Gallup, New Mexico, the characters travel to various other locations in their investigations, including London, England, various parts of Norway, and even Yggdrasil, the legendary Norse site of the World Tree. The time period is roughly in the late 1990s. Although vague, their initial investigations reveal that the malevolent spirits who collaborated with Coyote are Asian in origin, leading them to suspect a connection to Dr. Fu Ch'ing, a Chinese scientist, government agent, and thaumaturge. (The U.S.' largest competitor for space exploration in the novel is China rather than Russia.) Meanwhile, the F.B.I. suspects Ginny's brother, Will, an astronomer who helped in the planning of Operation Selene and who has an interest in Chinese culture and connections with people in the country. Steve and Ginny themselves worry that he may be possessed by an evil spirit, though tests reveal no trace of a foreign entity. |
5740351 | /m/0f24vb | Bernard the Brave | Margery Sharp | 1977 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | The story begins when Miss Bianca's owner, referred to as "The Boy," becomes sick and is taken to a mountain resort far from the city, where the fresh air will help him get over his illness. Miss Bianca must travel with him and leaves her house, known as the "Porcelain Pagoda," in charge of Bernard, whom she trusts with her life. Shortly after Miss Bianca leaves, Bernard is visited in his bachelor flat by an obnoxious old mouse named Nicodemus, who tells him that he is in a great predicament and hoped to find the legendary Miss Bianca to help him. The problem centers around his owner, an orphaned young lady named Miss Tomasina, who has been kidnapped by mountain bandits under the order of her legal guardian, and with only three days before she comes of age to claim her parents' properties as hers. Bernard decides to take the case, in the process gathering valuable clues and going through several mishaps, like being kept as a pet for a few minutes by a bunch of school girls and almost getting roasted alive by two housemaids. He also meets one of the most curious characters of the whole series, a stuffed bear named Algernon, who proves to be an invaluable ally for the future. Bernard and Algernon eventually travel to a desolate and perilous wasteland known as the "Wolf Range," where their clues had pointed that Miss Tomasina is being kept. All this time, Miss Bianca daydreams about Bernard and wonders what he is up to. When she arrives home from the mountains, she realises that Bernard is nowhere to be found and worriedly runs to his flat to see if he is not terribly ill, ready to nurse him all night if necessary. Upon questioning Nicodemus and Bernard's neighbors, she hears all about Bernard's quest to rescue Miss Tomasina and really begins to worry about him. It is in this point of the series that readers realise just how important Bernard is to Miss Bianca, and is where she lets go of her formal self and gives in to her love for him, realizing that she just cannot live without Bernard. She refuses to eat or sleep, and becomes very taciturn, thinking of nothing except her dear Bernard, lost in some desolate corner of the Wolf Range, with only a stuffed toy to accompany him. Meanwhile, Bernard and Algernon eventually find the bandits' hideout and rescue Miss Tomasina right on time. The most hilarious events occur at this point, as well as a very bleak one: the legal guardian of Miss Tomasina dies from a heart attack in the middle of the court. After all the adventure, Algernon finds a place with another stuffed bear named Nigel and form a stuffed toy club. Bernard returns to Miss Bianca and they sit beside the fountain in her courtyard, leading to one of the few but very touching moments in which Bernard and Miss Bianca's whiskers touch and they feel each other's love aglow. Miss Bianca asks Bernard to please come and live with her, for she feels that they have had enough adventure in their lifetime and wishes to settle down and retire. Bernard, however, has a different feeling. Something inside him tells him that there is still something he must do, one more adventure to live, which leads to the final part of the Rescuers series, Bernard into Battle. And with this scene, the story ends. |
5740554 | /m/0f251n | Worldwar: In the Balance | Harry Turtledove | 1/3/1994 | {"/m/0mz2": "Alternate history", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | After arriving in the Earth's solar system, the Conquest Fleet's essential personnel are awakened from cold sleep after a twenty year journey originating from Tau Ceti II. Fleetlord Atvar is busy making final preparations for the invasion of Earth, expecting a rapid victory over the primitive beings that populate the planet. He is interrupted by a communications officer who reports that radio emissions are emanating from Earth. Atvar refuses to believe the report since the most recent intelligence, gathered from a probe that visited Earth in the 12th century, indicates that the inhabitants are a pre-industrial species. The Conquest Fleet reaches Earth orbit in December 1941 and begins surveying the planet. They are shocked to find that in the course of only 800 years the inhabitants have moved from a primitive agricultural society to an industrial civilization. The Race's technology has hardly changed in more than 50,000 years and other known intelligent species are similarly slow to evolve. After six months of reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, in May 1942 Atvar consults with the Shiplords of the Conquest Fleet. The troops have been awakened from cold sleep and are prepared to commence with military operations. However, it is within Atvar's power to cancel the invasion. Unwilling to call off the attack and face the Emperor back on Home, Atvar orders the assault to begin. Shortly thereafter the Race detonates several atom bombs above the Earth's atmosphere in an attempt to disrupt human communications. The attack begins. On the night of May 30, only hours after detonating the atomics, the Race's forces attack human aircraft and ground vehicles in and around designated landing zones. Once the sites are secured, troop ships begin landing and disgorging ground forces. The Race simultaneously establishes bases on every continent except Antarctica. South America and Africa are overrun almost immediately, with Mexico the only one resisting the invaders. Landing bases in Florida, Illinois, Idaho, and New York cause widespread panic and chaos in the United States. The Race's forces establish bases in Poland, cutting Germany off from the bulk of its forces in the Soviet Union and resulting in a massive German retreat westward. The UK's air forces are battered from alien bases in Spain and France. The Soviet Union must deal with enemy strongholds in Ukraine, Outer Mongolia, and Siberia. Everywhere, humankind falls back in the face of a seemingly unstoppable nemesis. While hostilities between the Axis and Allied powers end almost immediately, this is the result of military expediency rather than a sign of genuine cooperation. With the Race's forces battering the human armies into submission, no resources can be expended on human rivalries. The unsettling reality of the new balance of power is emphasized by the fact that, in the early days of the fighting, only Germany is able to battle the aliens with any measure of success. Since Germany has been at war longer than the other major powers and because its economy has been specifically geared toward war, this is only natural. But Americans are nauseated by the idea of fighting on the same side as Hitler while the Soviets are not quite so sure that the Germans can be trusted even in the face of an alien invasion. After the initial assault, the Race's troops come to a virtual standstill. It is not so much human resistance that keeps them from advancing as much as their tendency to deliberate their options before acting. Mankind takes advantage of the respite provided to wage localized counterattacks, nearly all of which fail. In the process they find that the Race lacks tactical combat initiative and can be easily lured into traps. However, their advanced technology makes it difficult to exploit this weakness. The Race also discovers that their orbital atomic detonations had little if any effect on the human militaries. They had thought that the resulting electro-magnetic pulse would short out any advanced technology the humans had, but soon realize that humans do not yet possess silicon computer chips. Most human electronics, such as radios, use vacuum tubes, which although less efficient are also more resistant to electro-magnetic interference. Hitler takes advantage of the brief lull in the fighting to order an artillery unit in Ukraine to attack an alien base using railroad guns. The German battery manages to destroy two of the Race's ships (the 67th Emperor Sohrheb and the 56th Emperor Jossano), including the one which carries the bulk of the Conquest Fleet's atomic stockpile. The resulting explosion sends chunks of plutonium flying across several acres. Soviet partisans take notice of the care with which the Race goes about collecting the strange metal. Elsewhere in Ukraine, Major Heinrich Jäger manages to destroy one of the Race's landcruisers and a troop carrier, and another panzer and infantry destroy a second landcruiser, but at the cost of his entire panzer company. Narrowly escaping from the battle he is found by Lieutenant Gorbunova who flies him back to the airfield where she is stationed. From there, Jäger is sent to Moscow where he spends several weeks as a guest of the Soviet government---not an official prisoner of war nor an ally. Finally, he is asked to take part in a joint German-Soviet operation in Ukraine aimed at recovering some of the plutonium. The ad hoc band of Soviet partisans and displaced German soldiers charged with the assignment manages to hijack a shipment of plutonium. In accordance with negotiated arrangements, they divide the load in half and go their separate ways. Jäger is given a horse and is forced to ride across the Ukrainian steppe and through enemy-occupied Poland to reach Germany with the precious metal. Somewhere between the towns of Chernobyl and Hrubieszów, Jäger is ambushed by Jewish partisans. Though they are nominally allies of the Race, they recognize the threat the aliens pose to mankind. They take half the plutonium in Jäger's possession and let him return to Germany with the other half. The Jewish partisans send their commandeered plutonium to England where it is subsequently shipped to the United States. Upon his arrival in Germany, Jäger is promoted to the rank of colonel and awarded the German Cross in Gold at a ceremony held in Berchtesgaden, Hitler's Bavarian resort. While Jäger enjoys a well-deserved furlough there, Molotov arrives to consult with Hitler on the conduct of the war. The Soviet ambassador is flown to Bavaria by Lieutenant Gorbunova, to Jäger's surprise. Heinrich and Ludmila grow close during their short time together. In an attempt to reduce human resistance, Atvar orders the use of atomic weapons on Washington, D.C. and Berlin, hoping that this will persuade the Americans and the Germans to surrender. Berlin is hit first, primarily in retaliation for the destruction of the Race's ships in Ukraine. While Atvar regrets the need to atomize human territory, mostly because Earth has so little land relative to sea, he sees the display of power as necessary since Germany fields the strongest human army. The Race is less dismayed by the attack on Washington DC since it is an administrative and communications center with few industrial and commercial resources. Furthermore, Atvar rationalizes that most of the radioactive fallout will drift harmlessly out into the Atlantic. Instead of breaking the human will to resist, the attacks inspire both nations to fight harder and to hasten production of their own atomic weapons. Meanwhile, in the United States, Jens Larssen is forced to travel to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia where the U.S. government has set up a temporary capital after losing Washington DC. Larssen warns the Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, that the U.S. Army must defend Chicago at all costs since the metallurgical laboratory stationed at the University is working feverishly to develop atomic power, which might be the only chance humanity has to defeat the Race. Marshall assures Larssen that holding Chicago is a key component of the Army's strategy. Satisfied, Larssen makes his way back to the University of Chicago. On his way back, Larssen finds that the Race has captured most of Ohio and Indiana. He carefully makes his way through and around enemy lines (in the process spending several weeks in one of the Race's prison camps, until he manages to convince them that he is no threat to them) until he is found by U.S. troops. Larssen explains that he is a physicist on important government business. After several interrogations, Larssen is granted an audience with General George S. Patton who explains that a major military operation is currently being planned to keep the Race out of Chicago. Since he is so valuable to the war effort and because of the dangers involved, Patton refuses to allow Larssen to proceed to Chicago until the Americans have secured the city. As the winter of 1942 begins, the Race's attacks begin to lose momentum. They are completely unprepared for the kind of winter weather they find on Earth. On their home planet, snow is extraordinarily rare outside the laboratory and much of their land is sandy desert. As soon as the first blizzard hits Illinois, a handful of American fighters and bombers, hoarded for this last desperate strike, move against the Race's positions in western Indiana and southern Wisconsin. Massive artillery barrages follow. Finally, American infantry and tank units under Patton in the east and General Omar Bradley in the north move toward their objective: Bloomington, Illinois. Although human M4 Shermans and P-51 Mustangs are no match for the Race's landcruisers and killercraft, the alien forces are so badly outnumbered and the weather so inhospitable that they are compelled to retreat. The U.S. troops move rapidly and manage to encircle some of the Race's slower formations in a ring of armor and destroy them in detail. Mankind scores its first major success against the nemesis from the stars. As the human counteroffensive succeeds in liberating most of northern Illinois, Fleetlord Atvar and the Conquest Fleet's Shiplords begin to grow worried about the war's progress. When the invasion began they were confident that their technological superiority would guarantee a rapid victory even in the face of expansive human industrial power. While they have managed to subdue South America, Africa, and Australia, the Race still faces stiff resistance in North America, Europe, and Asia six months after their attack started. As the fighting continues, the Race's more advanced weaponry, such as guided missiles, anti-armor rockets, landcruisers, killercraft, and helicopters, are being destroyed in ever greater numbers. While simple weapons, such as rifles, bullets, artillery shells, and mortars, can be produced in captured human factories, the longer the war continues the more the technological gap between the Race and mankind will shrink. Atvar is informed by his intelligence officers that human vehicles are dependent upon petroleum for fuel and that striking at refineries processing oil might reduce the combat effectiveness of humanity's armies. Atvar orders an airborne attack upon the Romanian oilfields at Ploiești, but the bombing raid meets with limited success and costs the Race valuable killercraft. As 1942 nears its end and Patton and Bradley march their forces into Bloomington, Jens Larssen arrives in Chicago to find the city in ruins. He makes his way through the rubble, encountering a civilian populace in severe disarray, and toward the University of Chicago. There, Larssen is informed by a custodian that the metallurgical laboratory has evacuated the campus and is relocating to Denver. Like the war, Larssen's journey has a long way to go. |
5740888 | /m/0f25db | Bel Canto | Ann Patchett | 2001 | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"} | Set in an unnamed country, the story begins at a birthday party thrown at the country's vice presidential home. The party is thrown for Katsumi Hosokawa, the visiting chairman of a large Japanese electronics company called Nansei. Performing is a famous American soprano, Roxane Coss. Near the end of the party, members of a terrorist organization break into the house looking for the President. When it is discovered that the President did not attend the party, the terrorist group decides to take the entire party hostage. After determining they have too many hostages, the terrorists decide to release all of the hostages except those they deem most important and most likely to receive a large ransom. This includes Hosokawa, Roxane, and the translator Gen. Two major romantic relationships develop as the standoff drags on and serve as the backdrop to the rest of the story. The first is between Roxane Coss and Katsumi Hosokawa. Hosokawa is one of Roxane's biggest fans and he attended the party because Roxane was going to be singing. When they are placed in the house together, they develop a deep bond, even though they do not speak each other's language and thus cannot communicate verbally. The second relationship is between Gen Watanabe and the young terrorist Carmen. They must keep their love a secret because Carmen is forbidden to have relationships with a hostage. The two lovers meet in the china closet every night to practice Carmen's reading and eventually to make love. At the end of the novel, the government breaks into the house and kills all the terrorists. All of the hostages are freed except for Mr. Hosokawa, who dies in the struggle. The novel ends some time after the crisis; we learn that Gen and Roxane were married in Italy. |
5745884 | /m/0f2fkd | Sarah | Laura Albert | 2001 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Cherry Vanilla passes himself off as a virginal girl and enters the service of Glad, a pimp who runs a truck stop brothel in West Virginia with a number of young boys dressed as women, though he is the youngest. He calls himself Sarah and learns how to turn tricks with the truckers. Twelve-year-old 'Sarah' aspires to be the most famous lot lizard (prostitute) and runs away to work for a rival pimp, a cruel and murderous man called Le Loup. Cherry Vanilla passes himself off as a girl called Sarah and makes friends with a prostitute there called Pooh. He doesn't tell anyone he's a boy. Le Loup becomes entranced by Sarah's beauty and sets 'her' up as Saint Sarah and charges the truckers to visit with her, though no one can touch her. Eventually Sarah is found out, Le Loup viciously cuts her hair off, scarring her scalp, and Sarah – now 'Sam' – is forced to be a male child prostitute for more than a year, being continually abused. Sarah finally escapes and returns to the relative safety of Glad's operation only to find that his mother has left. The story itself has many of the elements of The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, but has a lighter, more humorous feel in its account of Cherry's quest (such as renaming himself Sarah after his mother) to become the greatest lot lizard in the brothel. Much as in LeRoy's earlier writing, the protagonist falls upon bad times and faces exploitation and abuse at the hands of a pimp. Less dark than the short story collection, the novel has a distinct mythical, Dickensian feel and relates the story of a child's love for his mother as expressed through his imitation of her. |
5746632 | /m/0f2gy0 | The Singer of All Songs | Kate Constable | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Calwyn is a young priestess who chants the ice chants of Antaris. She lives inside Antaris, a community located among mountains, which is enclosed by an ice wall. The priestesses must maintain the wall with their chantments; that is, by singing certain songs, the knowledge of which is passed down to them through the temple. Nine powers can be achieved by such songs, though never by the same chanter. Legend has it that a Singer of All Songs will someday be born, who will know and use the songs of all the effects. During one of the nine days of Strengthening, in which the priestesses sing to maintain the Wall, it is breached by a strange traveler, called Darrow. Calwyn attempts to approach him; but when he sings in a low tone, Calwyn feels as though a hand is clutching her tunic and keeping her away. He is unable to maintain this and collapses because of an injury he had suffered, whereupon Calwyn brings Darrow back to the priestess' dwellings. The psychokinetic effect is revealed by the High Priestess to be of a chantment, the Power of Iron, which controls inanimate matter. Calwyn befriends Darrow, who now has a scar on his eyebrow and a permanent limp. Samis, a greedy sorcerer who wants to become the Singer of All Songs and rule the world of Tremaris, follows Darrow to Antaris. Darrow and Calwyn manage to flee by jumping into the river that flows under the Wall. They cross many miles to reach Kalysons, where Darrow meets his friends Tonno and Xanni to ask them for help. All four sail on the boat Fledgewing to Mithates, where they seek the help of a chanter who can help them defeat Samis. In Mithates, the men leave to try finding remnants of the fire chantments, leaving Calwyn on the boat as women are not allowed in the war-machine-making colleges. Calwyn sees Samis' chantment-powered galley dock nearby and searches for her friends to warn them. She, on the way, meets Trout, a bespectacled, inventive college student, who has unknowingly acquired an ancient and powerful object; the Clarion of Flame. This Clarion, a trumpet-like device, is the last remnant of the Chantments of Fire. Samis, using the chantments of Seeming (illusion) to give himself the appearance of Darrow, attempts to seduce Calwyn into giving him the Clarion; Calwyn, because of her soft spot for Darrow, is at first swayed, but eventually realizes the truth. Calwyn and Trout flee from Samis and the Mithate guards; Calwyn uses her chantments to aid their escape. They reach the boat, where they see the real Darrow, Tonno, and Xanni running towards them and away from Samis. Samis uses iron chantment to wield a dagger, threatening to kill Darrow; Xanni takes the blow and dies instead. Everyone, including Trout, escapes from Mithates. The crew gives Xanni's dead body a burial at sea. Later, they all become embittered by his death. Their quest abandoned, the survivors are caught in a storm and are swept into the Great Sea. There they are captured by pirates. Calwyn is taken aboard the pirates' ship because they believe that she is a windworker; a chanter able to control the wind. While aboard, Calwyn befriends the pirates' other windworker, Mica. Mica soon teaches Calwyn how to sing a breeze, thus preventing the pirates from killing her out of hand. Calwyn's ability to sing chantments of both ice and wind convinces Mica that Calwyn's father, who remains unidentified, is an islander, on the grounds that only islanders can sing chantments of wind. The pirates dock at Doryus Town, which is notorious for its slave trade and drug traffic. There, the pirate captain hopes to sell Calwyn to a man who desires a windworker, this man being an incognito Samis. When the pirates have been rendered into a stupor by the effects of a drug called slava, Calwyn, Mica, and the Fledgewings crew escape. At the same time, Samis tests the Clarion's power on the dormant volcano of the island of Doryus. The volcano erupts, revealing the Clarion's power to summon all forms of fire or heat. The crew of the Fledgewing travel to the arboreal Wildlands with new hope for their quest. While approaching the Wildlands, the protagonists are confronted by the draconic Arakin, who are guardians of that region. Calwyn uses her powers of chantment to make peace with them, revealing that she has a third power of chantment in her composition; the Power of Beasts. This gives Darrow cause for contemplation and worry, in that it implies that Calwyn is the true Singer of All Songs. In the forests of the Wildlands, the sailors are befriended by Halasaa, one of the mute, telepathic Tree People, who is the last guardian of the powers of Becoming; therefore, the power to heal, which is the only one of the Nine Chantments not dependent on audial speech. The Tree People send Halasaa away from their community of Spiridrell as punishment for befriending the outsiders, who have perpetrated genocide against them in the past. He escorts the outsiders, at their request, to the ancient, abandoned city of Spareth, where they meet Samis once more. In the ancient, apparently high-tech city, they enter a tower, where Samis finds them again. In a final confrontation, Samis tricks and then terrorizes the crew of Fledgewing into singing the different chantments, claiming that he who commands the Nine Powers to be sung will become the Singer of all Songs. When Darrow's life is threatened, a despairing Calwyn sings the last chantment, a song of ice-call. Instead of transforming Samis into a god, the Great Power he has summoned absorbs and overwhelms him. The crew are left to ponder how to realize Samis’ vision for a peaceful and united Tremaris without tyranny: not as one lone voice, as he wanted, but as many voices singing together. |
5747302 | /m/0f2j3r | Iracema | José de Alencar | 1865 | {"/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"} | The story revolves around the relationship between the Tabajara indigenous woman, Iracema; and the Portuguese colonist, Martim, who was allied with the Tabajara nation's enemies, the Pitiguaras. Through the novel Alencar tries to remake the history of the Brazilian colonial state of Ceará's origins, with Moacir, the son of Iracema and Martim, as the first true Brazilian in Ceará. This pure Brazilian is born from the love of the natural, innocence (Iracema) and culture and knowledge (Martim), and also represents the mixture (miscegenation) of the native race with the European race to produce a new (Brazilian) race. Its name is Guarani language for honey-lips, from ira - honey, and tembe - lips. Tembe changed to ceme, as in the word ceme iba, according to the author. Iracema is also an anagram to America, appointed by critics as fitting to the allegorization of colonization of America by Europeans, the novel's main theme. |
5748107 | /m/0f2kg5 | The Waterless Sea | Kate Constable | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | By the time this book opens, characters Calwyn, Trout, Tonno, Halassa and Mica are making and enacting plans to rescue chanters from their various underprivileged situations and form a school of chantment; thus integrating the Nine Songs by which nature is commanded, as well as their singers, into society. While Calwyn and her friends are freeing windworkers from pirates' ships, they meet Heben, a former (exiled) princeling from the continent of Merithuros, who was a prisoner of the pirates'. On the island where the rescued windworkers live, Heben tells them that the ironcraft chanter children of Merithuros are being kidnapped, among them his (legal) brother and sister. Calwyn and her friends embark for the desert of Merithuros to rescue the captured children. Trout, the inventor, decides to remain behind. Darrow is alone on his boat Heron, where he reminiscences about his childhood. It is revealed that he was the son of a sea-captain and was nicknamed "Mouse" by the family-like crew. During his pre-adolescent years, Mouse discovered that a crew member named Arram was an ironcrafter, and that he himself could use the same gift. At his request, Arram secretly taught Mouse to use ironcraft, enabling him to manipulate matter by his songs. While docking at a Merithuran town, Mouse sang ironcraft to save his father from falling cargo. A Merithuran sorcerer saw this and took the terrified child away. Calwyn, Tonno, Mica, Halasaa, and Heben travel to Merithuros on the boat Fledgewing. There the outsiders of the group learn of the discontent lives of the common folk, who try to protest the cruelty of the Merithuran Empire. Tonno stays on the ship whilst the others ride on the goatlike "hegesi" to the Palace of Cobwebs where the royalty live. There, the group hope to learn where the kidnapped children are. Along the way, Calwyn and Mica earn the chauvinistic Heben's respect through their use of chantment. After many days of riding, they finally reach the Palace of Cobwebs. Darrow returns to the island of Ravamey, his current refuge, and learns that Calwyn and others have left. He is given cause to think that they have gone to the Black Palace, where the chanter children are actually held. Darrow is revealed to have lived in the Black Palace during his childhood. It is there that he acquired his name, which was derived from the title of his father's ship, Gold Arrow; there that he was given extensive training in the use of ironcraft by the harsh, partisan, cruel Merithuran sorcerers; and there that he first met the power-mad Samis. Calwyn and friends are inside the Palace of Cobwebs. Calwyn, disguised as a noblewoman and the others as her servants, have no success in learning anything useful, though they note the presence of chantment, implying the children to be nearby. Also present is a sorcerer of the Black Palace, Amagis by name, who recognizes their powers but does not confront them. Instead, he persuades Third Princess Keela to ingratiate herself with Calwyn, in hope of learning more about the latter. This is only a partially successful venture. After a parade and during a feast, the aged Emperor suddenly falls ill and dies. In the resulting clamor, the seekers sneak away and split up to search for the children. Darrow is sailing to Merithuros, while recalling to attention that Samis had singled him out as an ally, naming him "Heron". When the old lord of the Black Palace was dying, Samis seized his office and the Ring that signified it. He later attempted to persuade Darrow to join him in the quest to become Singer of All Songs and conquer the world; Darrow refused, cast away the name "Heron", and fled, later to meet Calwyn. Calwyn finds Shada, Heben's legal sister, trapped on a tower. To keep her there, Shada's kidnapper has broken the bones of her feet. Shada explains that five of the kidnapped children, including herself, are hidden in the Palace of Cobwebs, where they sing chantments to keep the palace intact. Halasaa heals Shada and they escape from the pursuing Amagis. The group reunites and search for the four other children. Calwyn and one of the children, Ched, try to warn the inhabitants of the steadily collapsing Palace while the others steal supplies and escape. No one pays attention to Calwyn, except Keela, who tries to take Ched from her. Calwyn and Ched escape, leaving the palace just as the palace collapses. Calwyn uses Ironcraft for the first time to assist in their escape. Falling debris kills Ched. Calwyn overhears some soldiers conspiring to crown the Fifth Prince so that they can control the dimwitted man and rule the Empire through him. Darrow meets Tonno at a Merithuran harbor. At a bar, Darrow meets the leader of the commoners who want to rebel against the empire. Darrow earns a partnership by promising to take the leader, Fenn, to the fabled Black Palace. Calwyn and friends travel towards the Black Palace. Halasaa becomes ill along the way, because of the barrenness of the land. In his telepathic conversations with Calwyn and other characters, Halasaa reveals that Merithuros was once a fertile, generous land, but was reduced to wasteland by humans. When confronted by wasunti (wild dogs), Calwyn uses the Power of Beasts to turn them away. Oron, one of the children, is bitten by one of the wasunti. Halasaa teaches Calwyn the Power of Becoming, with which Calwyn heals Oron. Possibly as a result, Calwyn almost faints from exhaustion. When she awakes, they have been saved by Darrow, Tonno, and the rebels. They head to the Lip of Hathara, which is a stone wall surrounding the Black Palace. Darrow and the children rescued from the Palace of Cobwebs (except for Ched who died) use ironcraft to open a doorway, but do not close it. This leaves an entryway for the army and nobles led by Keela, who are all heading to the Palace. When the protagonists enter, they are attacked by the sorcerers. Oron goes missing, later to be discovered, threatened and suborned by Keela. Darrow reveals the Ring of Lyonssar, making himself the Lord of the Black Palace. This confuses Calwyn, who associates such a manouvere with the desire for control. Later, Darrow explains his methods, whereas Calwyn disclaims any division that he has suspected her of having in her affections. Darrow also reveals that the Black Palace can, if its mechanisms are released, become a wind-powered war machine, similar to a terrestrial warship. Calwyn compares the sorcerers' tradition of living in the Black Palace to the tradition in which she was raised, wherein priestesses hide behind walls of ice, and wishes that the chanters would "come out of hiding". On the roof of the palace, Calwyn and Darrow share a passionate kiss (during which Darrow's ring becomes caught in Calwyn's hair), finally acting on their feelings for each other. In the next morning, the remaining imperial soldiers are advancing toward the Black Palace. Darrow rallies sorcerers, rebels, and his friends, invoking them to build a Republic on the ruins of the Empire, wherein a more generous way of life is followed. When the various factions begin to quarrel, Darrow reveals the soldiers to them as a common enemy, whereupon all unite in their opposition to this. Heben, impromptu, questions the wisdom of war and suggests that all factions co-operate rather than compete. Darrow supports this idea. Tonno discuses with Calwyn their means of getting back to Ravamey. He assumes that Darrow will stay here and assume the role of Lord of the Black Palace. This saddens Calwyn, because despite the fact that Darrow has finally acted on his love for her, she must leave him in Merithurous to fulfill his duty. In addition, Halassa is sick and needs her aid more at the moment than does Darrow. The imperial army attacks; moments later, Oron unwillingly obeys Keela's order to activate the mechanisms of the Black Palace, which are a series of metal pipes. When air is run over the pipes correctly, the pipes create a chant of Ironcraft powerful enough to move the Black Palace itself. As it advances menacingly, Calwyn responds to the needs of the injured land and uses all of her chantment to heal it. In the process, she sacrifices all of her own power to sing. Using chantment, Darrow halts the Black Palace in its path saving Calwyn. As a result of Calwyn's chantment, the region called Hathara becomes the site of a lake, into which all the fighters throw their weapons. Because his sickness and weakness corresponded with that of the land, Halasaa is restored to health even as the land is revived. Keela is captured; although she attempts to talk her way out of trouble, she is imprisoned at Darrow's command. It is revealed that Keela believes Samis to be alive; because Darrow doubts the clarity of his own perception of Samis as dead, he is frightened by this information. Calwyn, upon regaining her strength, is distraught to find that she has lost all of her chantment. She watches aimlessly as Heben, Darrow, Tonno, and the leaders of the various Merithuran factions build the foundations of their new Republic. Eventually, she is approached by Darrow. He attempts to console her without much success. He then reveals that he intends to seek Samis, to discover whether he is in fact alive, and if he is so to kill him. Darrow discusses the future with Calwyn, suggesting that she might go back to Antaris to heal, and eventually asks her to promise him that if she returns to Antaris in search of healing, she will not go alone, but in the company of friends, and to promise him that she will return upon success or failure. When she does not promise to return, arguing that she cannot ensure it, he leaves her, disappointed. |
5750096 | /m/0f2ntf | The Ruins of Gorlan | John Flanagan | 11/1/2004 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Morgarath, the angry, evil ,exiled lord of the bleak, barren Mountains of Rain and Night, has been waiting for fifteen years in his dark realm, carefully planning his revenge against the Kingdom of Araluen. His former fief, known as Gorlan, was long ago brought to ruin as a result of his unsuccessful rebellion against King Duncan. Now he silently plots to rebel again, rallying creatures known as Wargals to his side. Wargals have little will of their own, and are easy to control, therefore being suitable as soldiers in Morgarath’s army. Now, after the fifteen years, Morgarath prepares to unleash his power and attempt to take the Kingdom once more. In Araluen, in the fief Redmont, a special day has come for Will, called Choosing Day, where he becomes an apprentice to a craftmaster. Although Will's first choice was Battleschool, he becomes apprenticed to Halt of the Rangers. Rangers are the intelligence group of the country and specialize in long range weapons and the art of staying unseen. Will is trained in these skills as he prepares for the annual Ranger meeting called the Gathering which is where his skills will be tested. At the Gathering the Rangers receive a report that the Kalkara, vicious creatures under the control of Morgarath, have killed important Araluen figures. Halt leaves to track down the Kalkara while Will rides for help. The Baron, Sir Rodney, and several others head out to slay the Kalkara and to save Halt. Finding where Halt is battling the Kalkara, Sir Rodney and the Baron manage to slay one, but are badly injured by the other. Suddenly, the last Kalkara is killed by Will with a flaming arrow that burns it because of its highly flammable fur. Back at his fief, Will is considered a hero and receives his bronze oakleaf medal which identifies him as a Rangers Apprentice. On the other hand, Araluen is preparing for a battle with Lord Morgarath. |
5750420 | /m/0f2p1k | The Burning Bridge | John Flanagan | 5/5/2005 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | On a special mission for the Ranger Corps, Will, his friend Horace, and the Ranger Gilan travel to Celtica, a neighbouring country to Araluen . They discover that all the people are gone. Will and Horace wonder if all the villagers have been slain or captured, but Gilan believes that the evil Lord Morgarath devised a plan to cross the mountain pass. If that were true, and the King wasn't warned, the country would be destroyed. Gilan rides to warn King Duncan, and Will and Horace begin to follow a straggling Wargal force. On their way, they come across a girl named Evanlyn, who claims to be a maid to a lady of the Araluan court, but is actually the Princess herself. When the three of them follow the Wargals they discover that a gargantuan bridge is in the process of being built across The Fissure for their war party to cross. They also discover that the King's army will be trapped on the Plains of Uthal, because the plans that Halt captured were merely a ruse. Will burns the bridge with Evanlyn's help. Will and Evanlyn are taken captive by a group of Skandians ruled by Jarl Erak. Horace was able to escape. After, he tells the King and his aides about what is going to happen, the army starts to get prepared for the army that is supposed to attack them from behind, Halt is sent to take care of them with a force of cavalry and archer units (an archer and pikeman). In the middle of the battle, Morgarath calls a truce and challenges Halt to a duel, but Duncan forbids it. Then, unexpectedly, Horace challenges Morgarath to single combat. About to be defeated by Morgarath, Horace then, in a last-ditch attempt to win the battle, throws himself into the path of the battlehorse, in order to throw it off-balance. He is successful, but only manages to wind Morgarath. Morgarath is confident that he is going to win by a last powerful stroke of his broadsword, but Horace blocks it with the double-knife defence that Gilan taught Will and stabs Morgarath to win the battle. The Wargals become harmless as soon as Morgarath dies and the mind domination is broken. The Skandians escape with Will and Evanlyn. Halt tries to rescue them by launching a one-man assault, but it was too late. Halt promises to rescue Will. |
5750501 | /m/0f2p5p | Freddy Goes to Florida | Walter R. Brooks | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Freddy was an intelligent pig that lived on the Bean Farm. To avoid the cold winter at their farm in Upstate New York, the animals decided to vacation in Florida. At first Charles the rooster is prevented from joining them by his acerbic wife, Henrietta. The animals encounter a man and a boy who wished to capture them. The animals scared them off. Later, Charles and Henrietta joined the group again. They also met the man and the boy, with the same results as last time. The animals were also joined by the man's black dog, Jack. They next passed through Washington, D.C where three senators took them on a tour of the city. At the end of the tour, one of the senators made a speech how pleased he was by the animals' visit. A few days later, while walking towards Florida, a thunderstorm forced the animals to take refuge in an empty log house. A flock of swallows mention a pile of gold in the area. The animals found the gold but were unable to take it with them, because they couldn't carry it. After meeting two men who tried to capture Hank, the old horse, and Mrs. Wiggins, a cow, the animals arrived at Florida only to get trapped on an island in a swamp by some alligators. After they escaped the alligators, the farm animals started the long trek northward. Their further adventures included disguising themselves to get past the two kidnappers, returning stolen property to some townspeople, taking the pile of gold with them on an old carriage, and taking the gold back from the man and the boy who tried to steal it before they got back to the Bean farm. Once they got to the farm, they showed Mr. and Mrs. Bean the gold and they all danced merrily. |
5750856 | /m/0f2ps1 | The Last of the Wine | Mary Renault | 1956 | {"/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The novel is narrated by Alexias, a noble Athenian youth, who becomes a noted beauty in the city and a champion runner. The novel suggests that young male Athenians were treated almost like modern debutantes and wooed by older men seeking to be their lovers; in fact, in a memorable passage, Alexias' father, Myron, himself a former beauty and champion athlete, writes to his son before leaving Athens for the Sicilian Expedition. The father imparts to the son the traits he should seek in a lover – qualities like honor, loyalty and courage. However, the father also warns the son not to become involved with women as he is much too young. (See Athenian pederasty.) The book implies that Myron had been Alcibiades' lover when the latter was a teenager, and felt that the way that Alcibiades turned out was at partly Myron's fault at least, as it was his responsibility as a lover to teach his eromenos virtue. As an Ephebe (adolescent male), Alexias falls in love with Lysis, a man in his 20s – a champion pankratiast and a student of Socrates. The novel follows their the relationship through the Peloponnesian War, the surrender of Athens, the establishment of the Thirty Tyrants rule over Athens, the democratic rebellion of Thrasybulus and shortly after. The story ends with first hints of the eventual trial of Socrates for teaching blasphemy and sowing social disorder. From the beginning of the novel, Socrates figures prominently; both Alexis and Lysis become his students in their youth. Also characterized in the novel are Plato and several figures from his Dialogues who were Socrates' students, including Xenophon. Another historical figure who figures in the story, albeit mostly off-stage, is Alcibiades, the Athenian general who flees Athens on a charge of sacrilege and functions as a military adviser to Sparta until he is recalled by a resurgent democracy in Athens. Alexis and Lysis serve under Alcibiades' command until his carelessness leads the fleet to disaster and he once again goes into exile. In the course of the novel, Lysis falls in love with and marries a woman who sees Alexias favorably and encourages the continuation of her husband's relationship with him. Not long after this, Athens is defeated by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. Alexias' father is murdered under the Spartan-installed tyranny, and he and Lysis go into exile in Thebes joining Thrasybulus when he leads the next democratic revolt. Lysis is killed in the battle between the Long Walls running from the port of Piraeus to Athens (the Battle of Munychia). Shortly after the victory, Alexias takes Lysis' widow under his protection, marries her and continues his family line. The book ends with the postscript that this story (incomplete and long-forgotten) has been found by Alexias' grandson (also named Alexias), a commander of Athenian cavalry in the service of Alexander the Great. |
5751209 | /m/0f2q7q | The Tenth Power | Kate Constable | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | On a winter night in Antaris, Tamen, the Guardian of the Wall, and other priestesses approach the ice Wall that surrounds Antaris. A priestess drugs herself, whereupon the other priestesses sing a hole into the wall. The drugged priestess is sealed inside. Characters Calwyn, Mica, and Trout are traveling to Antaris, Calwyn's home, hoping that the priestesses may restore Calwyn's lost powers of chantment, by which she was able to manipulate wind, ice, animals, and living systems. Upon reaching the Wall, Mica uses the Clarion of the Flame, a magical object used to invoke fire, to burn a hole into the Wall. The drugged priestess is revealed, whereupon Calwyn tries to heal her, but does not succeed. The three notice other corpses encased in the Wall, which Calwyn attributes to a failure to entomb them according to custom. The three proceed to the priestesses' Dwellings. When reaching the Dwellings, Calwyn enters the kitchen where she sees a now crippled Lia, a revered priestess and milk healer. Lia warns Calwyn that Tamen will hunt Calwyn down and seal her into the Wall with the other priestesses; having contracted an ailment called snow-sickness, they were put into the Wall in hopes of appeasing their goddess Taris, who would presumably restore spring. Marna, the High Priestess, has died and Tamen has been promoted to High Priestess in her place. Tamen then appears and accuses Calwyn of bringing the cruel intruder Samis, the endless winter, and the snow-sickness to their homeland. Calwyn argues that she has the right to return home. Tamen sings ice onto Trouts face, whereupon Mica uses the Clarion to melt the ice and attack Tamen. This sets the kitchen on fire. The three flee and are rescued by Ursca, the infirmarian, who takes them to an abandoned, lightning-struck barn where in the rafters is a snow-sick Marna, apparently alive. It is revealed that when Marna contracted snow-sickness, Ursca proclaimed that Marna had already died and hid her in the barn to prevent Marna from being sealed into the wall. Ursca leaves the three, whereafter Calwyn reprimands Mica for using the Clarion as a weapon. This quarrel upsets both girls. Calwyn sleeps; later, she awakens to find Marna speaking with great difficulty. Calwyn tries to calm her; Marna tells Calwyn that the world is broken but can be mended. She speaks of the Wheel, which is an object of power, and of the mysterious Tenth Power (of chantment, which is used through specific songs) before she falls asleep. Gilly, a priestess who was formerly frivolous but has become wiser, comes in the morning to help Marna and there befriends Mica. At night, Calwyn sneaks out to visit Lia, who reveals that she believes that Calwyn will put an end to the snow-sickness. It is also revealed that Marna holds the same opinion. While Calwyn, Mica, and Trout travel to Antaris, Darrow, Tonno, and Halaasa travel to Gellan, where they encounter the ex-princess Keela. Darrow, while investigating an enclosure of sick chanters, contracts the snow-sickness himself. Later he and the others, including Keela, rendezvous with Calwyn, who has left Antaris and is in search of a missing piece of the Wheel. During the further travels of the combined party, Keela secretly relays information to her half-brother Samis, who is a sorcerer bent on achieving power over others. Subsequently, the travelers enter the Veiled Lands, which are a region unknown to Calwyn's people but legendary among Halasaa's. Their journey continues underground, culminating at the mysterious Knot of Waters, where Calwyn embraces her own death to save Keela from drowning. This sacrifice revives Calwyn, restores her powers of chantment, and creates a sibling-like bond between the two women. The Clarion of the Flame is lost in the Knot and never again used. The travelers are met by some of Halaasa's people, who teach them the true history of their world, wherein it is revealed that the snow-sickness is part of a larger pattern of entropy taking place all over Tremaris. Whereas originally all the songs of chantment overlapped, each one strengthening the others, a war between the Tree People and the Voiced Ones (see below) caused the peoples who used them, and therefore the chantments themselves, to separate. It is suggested that the abuse of chantments, practiced during the war, caused chantment to fall into disfavor everywhere. The connections between songs, people, lands, etc. became weaker and more lost. After this meeting, Calwyn is captured by Samis, who desires to heal Tremaris so that it will not be destroyed before he can conquer it. He keeps her a prisoner in the long-abandoned city-spacecraft called Spareth, which is the means by which the Voiced Ones (colonists from another planet, presumably Earth) arrived on Tremaris millennia before the story begins, trains her in advanced uses of chantment surpassing her previous abilities, and additionally reveals to her the Tenth Power mentioned by Marna. This is the Power of Signs, a code by which the songs of chantment may be written and learned. A minor romance occurs between the two of them during this time, culminating and terminating when Samis and Calwyn use their chantments to empower Spareth, sending it into interplanetary space. Calwyn, now revealed as the legendary Singer of All Songs, remains on Tremaris, while Samis flies inside Spareth, intent on reaching its port of origin. Ultimately, Calwyn must unite Tree People and Voiced Ones in a common need. In this she succeeds. All the people who had contracted snow-sickness, including Darrow, are healed. The peoples are united in harmony, and a new, better world begins. |
5752813 | /m/0f2tdr | The Ancient Economy | null | 1973 | null | Finley represented the side of the "primitivists" where he argued that the economies of Ancient Greece and Rome differed wildly than how the economies of the western world function today. The modernists, on the contrary, believed that the ancient economy resembles in many ways the way it functions in western democracies, where economic laws such as supply and demand functioned in the same ways then as it does now. To show how the economies of Ancient Greece and Rome differed from our times, he first examines how the Ancients lacked even the concept of an "economy" in the way we refer to it in our own times. Economy derives from a Greek word,οἰκονόμος, "one who manages a household". The household was the most important economic unit. Of course, they mined, taxed, and traded, but what the Ancients did not do was to combine all their commercial activities into an overarching sub-system of society, a giant marketplace where the means of production and distribution responded to market forces such as the cost of labor, supply and demand, trade routes, etc. Moreover, Finley takes the fact that the Ancient Greeks and Romans did not have a sophisticated accounting system as well as how imprecise or carefree they are about numerical data to imply the lack of an economy resembling Western modern ones that place exorbitant demands on numerical computations and precise accounting records. He also deals with the roles of orders and status. He argues that because the ancients placed so much emphasis on status, which heavily regulated what commercial activities was acceptable for those in the upper orders and well as the lower ones, their economy differed from any modern economy where everyone was free and able to participate in whatever legal commercial enterprise. Finley also discusses the institution of slavery which was very prominent in the Ancient world. The relationship between master and slave was complex and even within slaves, there was a diversity of societal rankings. Yet despite this complexity, Finley shows how slavery provided free labour that at times had to be curtailed in order to provide work for the native artisans. Slavery heavily influenced the value placed on labour and certain jobs. Thus, the distribution of labour as well as the means of production that one sees in the ancient economy was different to how modern economies function where human capital plays a role in determinant of price as well as on supply. Another relationship Finley discusses is the way the Ancients viewed the land. Land for the Ancient Greeks and Romans was not seen as a capital investment where profits could be obtained from the growing and selling of crops, but used as showpieces to enhance one's status as well as something that was inherently desirable from a traditional stand-point where economics played no part. To illustrate this, Finley turns to one of Pliny's letters where he writes that he will have to borrow money to buy more land. In the letter, Pliny does not discuss if this new purchase is an economically wise one in terms of the profits that can be derived from it. The last part of the book, Finley discusses the discrepancies between life in the city and country as well as how the State did not play a role in managing the national economy and treasury in the same ways modern governments are expected to do in most Western economies. The book has had such an impact on classical scholarship that the views brought forward in The Ancient Economy has been labeled "the Finley/Polanyi orthodox" Finley covers both ancient economic thought, wealth, the role of the state, slavery as well as the tax system. "Indeed, no individual writer (...) has attempted a comprehensive economic overview of the entire classical world since Finley, though period specific, regional or thematic work has abounded." |
5754273 | /m/0f2wrs | Worldwar: Tilting the Balance | Harry Turtledove | 2/21/1995 | {"/m/0mz2": "Alternate history", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | As the year 1943 begins, the Race attempts to consolidate its hold over Latin America, Africa, and Australia while engaged in a fierce struggle with the advanced nations of the world: the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Japan, and the Greater German Reich. While capable of resisting the invaders, mankind has been dealt a heavy blow by the nemesis from the stars. The Race maintains unquestioned air supremacy over the entire world as humans are reduced to moving their ground forces by night and using their own aircraft only in the most dire emergencies. With supplies of petroleum severely limited, people have taken to using horse driven carriages rather than automobiles and kerosene lamps instead of electric lights. But even as the human race huddles in the darkness, physicists and engineers work desperately to develop the first human atom bombs as they represent what might be the only hope of driving the Race off Earth. After a rapid conquest of Spain and the capitulation of Italy, the Race focuses on driving its forces in France eastward, toward the heart of the German Reich. Among the officers of the Wehrmacht struggling desperately to hold back the tide of the alien forces is Colonel Heinrich Jäger. Fresh from his stay in Hitler's Berchtesgaden retreat, Jäger is puzzled by the relationship he has formed with Senior Lieutenant Ludmila Gorbunova, the Ukrainian pilot who flew Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov to Bavaria for a conference with the Führer. He is much enamored with her but wonders if love can develop between two former enemies. Jäger is given command of a panzer regiment near Belfort and is charged with keeping the Race from reaching the Rhine. Although the latest panzer models, the Panther and the Tiger I, give the Germans a fighting chance, they are still woefully inferior to the Race's landcruisers. For their part, the aliens are stunned that humans are capable of designing and deploying new tank models within such a short space of time, as the Race's rate of technological development is centuries slower. Jäger is abruptly pulled out of frontline service and ordered to assist the German atomic bomb program in Wittelsbach. In the United States, Jens Larssen, a physicist, leaves Chicago in search of the metallurgical laboratory which has relocated to Denver. After crossing the Great Lakes, he moves swiftly across Minnesota and the Dakotas. Larssen is not so much driven by the need to hasten atomic bomb development as he is by a desire to be reunited with his wife Barbara. Unfortunately for Jens, under the impression that he is dead, Barbara has started a relationship with Corporal Sam Yeager, a soldier responsible for guarding captured alien POWs. Yeager serves as a translator for the metallurgical lab since he has learned the rudiments of the Race's language. Jens arrives in Denver before the lab and sends a courier out to find Barbara with a message that he remains alive. Barbara learns that her husband is still alive just after revealing to Yeager that she is pregnant. In Illinois, after the successful drive by General Patton that liberated much of the state, the Race begins to advance upon Chicago once more. U.S. soldiers fight valiantly but the flat open country gives the alien landcruisers a decisive advantage. Slowly but surely the Race draws closer and closer toward Lake Michigan. Heinreich Jäger manages to return to the front lines in Belfort after an unproductive stay with German physicists working on atomic research in Wittelsbach. Not long afterward, Wittelsbach is destroyed by an out-of-control nuclear reaction produced by Nazi scientists. The resulting nuclear meltdown alerts the Race to the virtual certainty that Germany is engaged in nuclear research. They are not the only ones. On Stalin's behalf, Foreign Minister Molotov visits a secret research laboratory several miles north of Moscow where Soviet researchers are struggling to turn the sample of plutonium captured by German-Russian forces in Ukraine the year before into an atomic device. They are meeting with minimal success and Molotov attempts to encourage them with threats of torture and death if they fail. His pep talk produces no marked improvement in the advances made by Soviet engineers. In Japan, a captured killercraft pilot of the Race named Teerts is interrogated by Japanese researchers attempting to understand the dynamics of nuclear fission. As a pilot, Teerts has a limited knowledge of atomic weapons, as his job is merely to drop them not build them. The Japanese refuse to believe him and use torture to make Teerts more cooperative. In the United States, the metallurgical laboratory finally reaches Denver and begins working on atomic research. Their work is helped by a small shipment of plutonium that Colonel Leslie Groves brings from Boston, where a British submarine had been entrusted with delivering it to the U.S. government. The plutonium is one-fourth of the material stolen from the Race during the Nazi-Soviet operation in Ukraine. It had come into the possession of the British by way of Jewish partisans who had commandeered a portion of the plutonium consigned to Germany when they briefly held Colonel Jäger in captivity in Poland the previous winter. Unfortunately, the plutonium in question is not enough with which to build an atomic bomb. The metallurgical lab must produce a substantial amount of the precious plutonium before Americans can hope to wield a nuclear device in the war against the Race. Jens Larssen meets with his wife upon her arrival in Denver and learns that she has married and become impregnated by Corporal Sam Yeager. In a difficult decision that leaves everyone emotionally upset, she decides to keep the baby and remain with Yeager. Jens takes the news hard and his work on the atomic bomb project suffers. In order to keep him out of trouble, Colonel Groves orders Larssen to travel to Hanford and consider the possibility of transferring the metallurgical lab there to facilitate the production of plutonium. With an M1903 Springfield rifle slung over his shoulder, Jens heads off to Washington State on a bicycle. Jäger, supervising the efforts to recover plutonium from the melted-down reactor in Wittelsbach, is recruited by SS Standartenführer Otto Skorzeny to help take back the city of Split from the Race, who have been offering the Independent State of Croatia incentives to turn away from the Germans and toward them (and also in an effort to lure Skorzeny into Split to be killed). However, Skorzeny and Jäger, with superior maps, dig a tunnel into the middle of the Race's garrison, and, with numerous Croat soldiers and FG 42 battle rifles (which are superior to the Race's infantry weapons), completely reduce the garrison, and every member of the Race in Split is either killed or taken prisoner. Among the dead is Fleetlord Atvar's chief intelligence officer, Drefsab. As the summer of 1943 begins, the Race creeps closer to Germany, Moscow appears to be on the brink of capture, and in the USA the Lizards reach the outskirts of Chicago. The Race advances on Moscow only to be abruptly stopped by the detonation of a human-made atomic bomb planted as a landmine between Kaluga and Moscow. The story ends with the balance of power in the scope of the conflict dramatically redefined. |
5754747 | /m/0f2xf2 | Lord of the Silent | Barbara Mertz | 2001 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | In this installment, which takes place during the 1915-1916 season, newlyweds Ramses and Nefret Emerson spend their time living on their family's dahabeeyah on the Nile, while the rest of the group remains at the house near Giza, where their excavations continue. Between the antics of Ramses' former associates in the smuggling trade, the reappearance of the Master Criminal, and yet another unknown adversary with a rich find, little time is permitted for romance...but of course, the younger Emersons make the most of it. |
5754818 | /m/0f2xk9 | The Golden One | Barbara Mertz | 2002 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The Golden One is a combination of two stories. The first story deals with the search for an unknown tomb, one where some artifacts have started to appear on the black market. The second story follows Ramses Emerson as he is sent on another mission behind Turkish lines. After arriving in Egypt in January, 1917, Amelia acquires a magnificent cosmetic jar with the cartouche removed. Rumors of a new, previously untouched tomb are rife, and this is significant evidence. After a brief stay in Cairo, the family moves on to their home in Luxor. When the Emersons arrive in Luxor, they encounter Joe Albion and his family, a wealthy American collector of antiquities, who make no secret of his desire to deal on the black market. Cyrus Vandergelt is acquainted with Joe Albion, and tells Emerson he would do anything to get what he wanted. This riles Emerson, and relations with the Albions are frosty at best. Jamil, a former employee and Jumana’s brother, is at the center of the rumors about the tomb. Early in their excavations, the Emersons discover one looted tomb with links to Jamil. They learn that he is manipulating a number of people and even attempts to kill Emerson and Peabody. When his family confronts him, his ancient musket explodes, mortally wounding him. But before he dies, he leaves a clue to the location of the tomb – “in the hand of the God”. The Emerson and Vandergelt expeditions now try to figure out which “hand of the God” Jamil meant. Just then Ramses is called back into service as an agent. An English spy, claiming to have converted to Islam, has become a tool of the Turks and is now known as Ismail, the Holy Infidel. Ramses is sent to discover if the turncoat is Sethos. It so happens that Ismail is in Gaza, just inside the Turkish lines. Ramses is forced to take a novice agent with him, but manages to get into Gaza without much trouble. While trying to get a look at Ismail, Ramses companion fires at Ismail and misses. In the confusion, Ramses is caught but the other agent makes his escape. The head of the Turkish secret service, Sahin Pasha, takes possession of Ramses, but makes a surprising offer: convert to Islam and marry his daughter, Esin, and he will set Ramses free. While Ramses is left to consider the offer in a dungeon, Esin engineers Ramses’ escape. Meanwhile, the Emersons, who had secretly arrive in a town just behind the British lines, are ready to come to Ramses aid if needed. They get word of his capture and are working out a rescue plan when Ramses shows up. They prepare to make their getaway when Sethos also appears, with Esin in a rug. They are forced to escape to a temporary hiding place, where they again encounter Sethos. He was indeed Ismail, sent to destroy Sahin Pasha, which he has done by humiliating him. But his work is not done and he returns to Gaza. As the Emersons are about to leave for Cairo, Sahin appears, hoping to regain his status by returning with both his daughter and Ramses. Though he wounds Ramses, Emerson captures him, and they all return to Cairo. Sahin Pasha is turned over to the authorities, and Esin is sent to a secure home. When the Emersons return to Luxor, they concoct a story that for most people would be implausible, but does bear some resemblance to previous adventures, so no one asks much about it. However, the tomb is still undiscovered. The Albions are making it clear that nothing will stop them from getting what they want, and they seek to abuse Jumana’s trust as one means of doing so. Both Bertie Vandergelt and Ramses have encounters with the Albion son. When Jumana is caught by Peabody sneaking into the compound one night, Peabody assumes the worst and decides to harshly punish her. Peabody is terribly disappointed, and feels that Jumana has abused her position of trust in the family. But that morning, Cyrus and Bertie appear, unable to contain their excitement. Bertie, with help from Jumana, has found the tomb in the hills above Deir el Medina. The two of them had been climbing for the last few nights around a rock formation that looked like a fist, the “Hand of the God”. It is a royal cache, containing the mummies and funerary times of four of the Wives of the God. Peabody realizes her mistake and for once is contrite about jumping to conclusions. Sethos reappears, and is amazed at the discovery. He also warns Emerson of the Albions. Sethos considers them unscrupulous, a serious charge coming from Sethos. But the Albions appear again, making it clear that they expect to get some of the items from the tomb. When they are sent away by Emerson and Cyrus, they decide to try force. Sethos warns Emerson, and the Emersons and Vandergelts ambush the Albions and their hired thugs. Caught by Emerson and Vandergelt, the Albions are forced to give up the few items they had bought from Jamil, and then disappear. The only thing left is the announcement that Ramses and Nefret are going to have a baby. |
5754938 | /m/0f2xrj | Children of the Storm | Barbara Mertz | 2003 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The 1919 season opens with the Vandergelts and Emersons packing the God's Wives treasures found (in the previous book) for Cyrus Vandergelt by his adopted son Bertie. Just before the Service d'Antiquités representative comes to inspect their work, several items disappear together with the conservator Cyrus had hired on Sethos's recommendation. The conservator's skeleton is found later in the desert, without the objects. These events coincide with a visit from Emerson's brother Walter, his wife Evelyn, their daughter Lia and her husband David (the Emersons' adoptive son), plus their small children. Meanwhile, the Emersons meet up with a Justin FitzRoyce, a young person with a strange mental malady, and his companion, François, who quickly develops a dislike of the family after Emerson mistakes his attentions to the boy for physical abuse. Justin is travelling with his grandmother, the elderly, sometimes confused, Mrs FitzRoyce; also with them is her companion, who turns out to be Maryam, the teenage daughter of Sethos, fallen on hard times. Amelia tries to befriend Maryam and helps her to rebuild her relationship with her father when he arrives to visit. She also reassures Maryam that the Emersons were not responsible for the death of the girl's mother, Bertha. Along the way, the Emerson family is dogged by a series of mysterious events ranging from strange pranks to near-fatal accidents. Most of these seem to be directed at the Arab servants, including Selim, who is badly injured when a motor-car imported by Emerson crashes as a result of the wheel-nuts having been removed. The exception is a mystery attacker who targets Maryam. In addition, Ramses is temporarily taken prisoner and drugged by a mysterious woman disguised as the goddess Hathor. The same woman later reappears at the temple ruins during the night but the Emersons fail to apprehend her. As the head of the Service arrives to take possession of the treasure for transport to Cairo, Nefret is captured by the criminal gang intent on stealing the treasure, and held prisoner on the dahabeeyah belonging to the FitzRoyces, as is Emerson when he impetuously comes to rescue her. "Justin" is revealed as Maryam's elder half-sister and "Mrs FitzRoyce" as an old associate of Bertha's. Through Emerson's efforts, Nefret escapes through a window of the boat, to be picked up by passing fishermen; meanwhile Maryam, who is implicated in the plot, shows her true loyalties by rescuing Emerson. The final chase scene has Amelia, Rameses, Sethos, Selim, Daoud, Cyrus, Walter, and Bertie racing down-river armed to the teeth to rescue Nefret and Emerson, and is unlike any other scene in the Amelia series. |
5755031 | /m/0f2xvz | Guardian of the Horizon | Barbara Mertz | 2004 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The story begins in summer, 1907, ten years after the Emersons' expedition into the Nubian desert in The Last Camel Died at Noon, when the Emersons were lured to a Lost Oasis where the remains of a Meroitic - Ancient Egyptian civilization that had avoided the outside world for centuries still survived. It was during that journey that the Emersons brought back Nefret Forth to live with them in England. A messenger from the Lost Oasis now appears at their home in Kent, pleading for help for their friend, King Tarek, and they have no choice but to go to his aid, though they mistrust the young man who claims to be Tarek's younger half-brother. This time it is Ramses who experiences the feeling of foreboding that normally assails Amelia, as they head off to the Sudan and into the desert to help their friend. Unlike their first trip, they bring a far larger force, in full awareness that the Lost Oasis will no longer be a secret no matter what the outcome of this expedition. It soon becomes apparent that the Emersons are not the only ones interested in the Lost Oasis. They run into too many people who are interested in their travel plans, and ultimately bring some unexpected guests with them. These include a British adventurer who has in his company a mysterious young woman. The girl unsuccessfully attempts to seduce Ramses, but he remains strangely attracted to her, although he is really in love with Nefret. Upon their arrival, the family finds things have indeed become desperate for King Tarek, who has been deposed by the father of the duplicitous messenger who brought them to the oasis. The usurper's plan is to obtain the endorsement of the Emerson family in order to neutralise any popular resistance this regime. Nefret, who up until now has seemed to miss her old life, is taken from the group and made to resume her position as high priestess. When Amelia catches an intruder in their quarters, she is relieved to find that it is her old enemy and admirer Sethos, and he promises to help rescue Nefret. Amelia is up to her usual plotting and lists, Emerson is as bombastic as ever, Ramses plays the part of the action hero, and the assistance of Selim and Daoud becomes essential to the Father of Curses and the Sitt Hakim. Chronologically, this book covers the time period immediately after The Ape Who Guards the Balance, although it was published some years later than the books that follow it chronologically. |
5755166 | /m/0f2y0v | The Serpent on the Crown | Barbara Mertz | 2005 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | In 1922, the Emersons are excavating at Deir el Medina when a melodramatic visitor delivers a challenge—and a solid gold ancient statuette—to them: find out where it came from and why it brings bad luck to its owners. Emerson, of course, doesn't believe in curses, but he does believe someone has robbed a find of historic proportions. When their visitor turns up dead and her stepchildren disappear, everyone except the Emersons believe the murder is a family affair. Ramses, meanwhile, finds a papyrus which he suspects to be of historic importance, and an assistant who is not all he seems. |
5755196 | /m/0f2y2l | Tomb of the Golden Bird | Barbara Mertz | 2006 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Howard Carter returns as a featured character, as the Emersons are privy to his discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamon. |
5756202 | /m/0f2z7p | Mitch and Amy | Beverly Cleary | 1967 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The book centers around twin siblings, Mitch and Amy, who bicker constantly over insignificant or little things. It chronicles their average daily experiences or their opposing personalities and interests, as well as their sibling rivalry. However, it also deals with their problems with a tormentor named Alan Hibbler, who harasses them constantly for seemingly no apparent reason until a schoolyard fight leads Amy to realize that his antagonistic behaviors may be linked with his father Judson Hibbler's great notoriety and Alan's poor skills in spelling. |
5756414 | /m/0f2zkt | Ramona the Brave | Beverly Cleary | 1975 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Summer is coming to an end. Ramona has spent most of it with her friend Howie Kemp, pounding old bricks into dust in a game called Brick Factory. Brick Factory makes Ramona feel powerful, something that doesn't happen very often since she is the youngest in her family. Ramona longs to be brave and grown-up, so when some boys tease her older sister about her name Ramona sticks up for her and gives them a lecture. She's crushed to realize that instead of considering her a hero, Beezus is embarrassed and angrier at Ramona than the boys. Why can't everyone see that she is trying so hard to grow up? Summer gets more interesting when Mother gets a part-time job and some workmen cut a hole in their house to add an extra bedroom. Beezus and Ramona are going to take turns using the room, and for once Ramona gets to be first. She can't wait for school to start so she can tell everyone in first grade about the big, slightly scary, hole in her house. But she isn't prepared for how frightening it is to go to sleep in the new room - alone. The good part about first grade is that Ramona is learning to read. The bad part is that Ramona is sure her teacher, Mrs. Griggs, doesn't like her. And as hard as she works on her self-control she just can't seem to stay out of trouble. One day when her class is making paper-bag owls for Parents' Night, Ramona sees Susan, her kindergarten nemesis, copying her owl. Mrs. Griggs sees Susan's owl first and shows it off to the class. Ramona is so angry that Susan copied so now her owl isn't special, that she destroys both of them. Later she is forced to apologize to Susan in front of the whole class. The final chapter describes how Ramona became "The Brave." One day on her way to school a big dog comes after her, so she takes off her shoe and throws it at him. The dog picks up her shoe and carries it away and Ramona limps off to school. That turns out to be the morning Mrs. Griggs finally chooses her to lead the morning flag salute, and she discovers that Ramona is only wearing one shoe. Ramona uses her ingenuity to deal with the situation, and when her shoe is returned the school secretary compliments her bravery. |
5759887 | /m/0f34q_ | The Caine Mutiny | Herman Wouk | 1951 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The story is told through the eyes of Willis Seward "Willie" Keith, an affluent, callow young man who signs up for midshipman school with the United States Navy to avoid being drafted into the Army during World War II. The first part of the novel introduces Willie and describes the tribulations he endures because of inner conflicts over his relationship with his domineering mother and with May Wynn, a beautiful red-haired nightclub singer who is the daughter of Italian immigrants. After barely surviving a series of misadventures that earn him the highest number of demerits in the history of the school, he is commissioned and assigned to the destroyer minesweeper USS Caine, an obsolete warship converted from a World War I-era Clemson class destroyer. Willie, with a low opinion of the ways of the Navy, misses his ship when it leaves on a combat assignment, and rather than catch up with it, ducks his duties to play piano for an admiral who has taken a shine to him. He has second thoughts after reading a last letter from his father, who has died of melanoma, but soon forgets his guilt in the round of parties at the admiral's house. Eventually, he reports aboard the Caine. Though the ship has successfully carried out its combat missions in Keith's absence, the ensign immediately disapproves of its decaying condition and slovenly crew, which he attributes to a slackness of discipline by the ship's longtime captain, Lieutenant Commander William De Vriess. Willie's lackadaisical attitude toward what he considers menial and repetitive duties brings about a humiliating clash with De Vriess when Willie forgets to decode a communications message which serves notice that De Vriess will soon be relieved. While Willie is still pouting over his punishment, De Vriess is relieved by Lieutenant Commander Philip Francis Queeg, a strong, by-the-book figure whom Willie at first believes to be just what the rusty Caine and its rough-necked crew needs. But Queeg has never handled a ship like this before, and he soon makes a series of errors, which he is unwilling to admit to. The Caine is sent to San Francisco for an overhaul, not for any merit by Queeg, but in an admiral's hope that the captain will make further mistakes someplace else. Before departing, Queeg browbeats his officers into selling their liquor rations to him. In a breach of regulations, Queeg smuggles the liquor off the ship and when it is lost by a series of careless mistakes blackmails Willie into paying for it by threatening to withhold his shore leave. Willie sees May on leave, and after sleeping with her, decides he has no future with a woman of a lower social class. He resolves to dump her by not replying to her letters. As the Caine begins its missions under his command, Queeg loses the respect of his crew through a series of incidents: *He grounds the ship on his first sailing, then attempts to cover it up while blaming his helmsman, Gunner's Mate 2nd Class John Stillwell. *He causes the loss of a gunnery target sled by steaming over, and cutting, the target's towline while distracted by a petty disciplinary action--a sailor's loose shirt-tail--and again blames Stillwell. *He confines Stillwell to the Caine for six months for flipping through a comic book while standing watch while the ship is in port. *He court-martials Stillwell for being absent without leave, rigging the court-martial in an effort to convict Stillwell, whose sentence of forfeiture of six liberties amounts to an acquittal. *Twice, when under fire, he leaves a battle area, once abandoning troops under his protection to fend for themselves. *After a combat mission near the Equator, noticing that the ships water usage went up 10% during the action, he cuts off water for the entire crew for three days. *He claims to suffer severe migraine headaches and rarely leaves his cabin. *And he becomes obsessed over the theft of a quart of frozen strawberries missing from a gallon the Caine had received from the U.S.S. Bridge, reliving an episode from early in his career in which he had solved a shipboard theft and received a letter of commendation. He is regarded as tyrannical, cowardly, and incompetent. Tensions aboard the ship lead Queeg to ask his officers for support, but they snub him as unworthy, believing him an oppressive coward. The crew refers to Queeg as "Old Yellowstain" following the invasion of Kwajalein. The Caine, ordered to escort low-lying Marine landing craft to their line of departure, instead drops a yellow dye marker to mark the spot when Queeg fears the ship has come too close to shore under fire, then leaves the area. The sobriquet, a double entendre, refers to both the dye marker and his apparent cowardice. Communications officer Lieutenant Thomas Keefer, an intellectual former magazine writer and budding novelist who has chafed under Queeg's authority, and initially portrayed as a sympathetic, if not heroic character, plants the suggestion that Queeg might be mentally ill in the mind of the Caine's executive officer, Lieutenant Stephen Maryk, "diagnosing" Queeg as a paranoid. He also steers Maryk to "section 184" of the Navy Regulations, according to which a subordinate can relieve a commanding officer for mental illness in extraordinary circumstances. Maryk keeps a secret log of Queeg's eccentric behavior and decides to bring it to the attention of Admiral William F. Halsey, commanding the Third Fleet. Keefer reluctantly supports Maryk, then gets cold feet and backs out, warning Maryk his actions will be seen as mutiny. In this scene Keefer is shown to be cowardly. Soon after, the Caine is with the fleet when it is caught in the path of Typhoon Cobra, a terrible ordeal that ultimately sinks three destroyers and causes great damage and loss of life. At the height of the storm, Queeg's apparent paralysis of action convinces Maryk that he must relieve Queeg of command on the grounds of mental illness in order to prevent the loss of the Caine. Willie Keith, on duty as the Officer of the Deck, supports the decision, although his decision (as he later realizes) is based on the hatred he has developed for Captain Queeg. The Caine is ultimately saved, apparently by Maryk's timely decision and expert seamanship. Maryk and Willie are charged at court-martial with conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline, a catch-all charge, instead of making a mutiny. When Maryk is tried first, Keefer distances himself, even though he has no Navy career in mind, and shows himself to be a moral coward. Lieutenant Barney Greenwald, a Jewish naval aviator who was a crack attorney in civilian life and who has been grounded for medical reasons after being injured in a plane crash, is appointed to represent Maryk. His opinion, after the captain was found to be sane by three Navy psychiatrists, is that Maryk was legally unjustified in relieving Queeg. Despite his own disgust with Maryk's and Willie's actions, Greenwald decides to take the case. During the trial, Greenwald unrelentingly cross-examines Queeg until he is overcome by the stress and displays a confused inability to handle the situation. Greenwald's tactic of attacking Queeg results in Maryk's acquittal and the dropping of charges against Willie. Maryk, who had aspired to a career in the regular navy, is sent to command a Landing craft infantry, a humiliation which ends his naval career ambitions, while Queeg is transferred to an obscure naval supply depot in Iowa. At a party celebrating both the acquittal and Keefer's success at selling his novel to a publisher, Greenwald shows up intoxicated, and accuses Keefer of being a coward. He tells the gathering that he feels ashamed of having destroyed Queeg on the stand, because Queeg did the necessary duty of guarding America in the peacetime Navy, which people like Keefer (and by implication, Willie), saw as beneath them. Greenwald further points out that without the protection of people like Queeg, Greenwald's mother could have been "melted down into a bar of soap," which is what he says is happening to the Jews under Hitler's reign in Europe. Greenwald tells the gathering that he had to "torpedo Queeg" because "the wrong man was on trial"--that it was Keefer, not Maryk, who was "the true author of 'The Caine Mutiny.'" Greenwald throws a glass of "yellow wine in Keefer's face", thereby bringing the term "Old Yellowstain" full circle back to the novelist. Willie returns to the Caine in the last days of the Okinawa campaign as its executive officer. Most of the officers have been transferred to other ships. Keefer is now the captain, succeeding a trouble-shooter from the Regular Navy who had restored order to the crew. Ironically, Keefer's behavior as captain is similar to Queeg's. The Caine is struck by a kamikaze, an event in which Willie discovers that he has matured into a naval officer. Keefer panics and orders the ship abandoned, but Willie remains aboard and rescues the situation. Keefer is sent home after the war ends, ashamed of his cowardly behavior during the kamikaze attack. Ironically, Keefer's brother, Roland Keefer, had saved his ship from a kamikaze fire. Willie becomes the last captain of the Caine. He soon receives a medal for his actions following the kamikaze--and a letter of reprimand for his part in unlawfully relieving Queeg. The findings of the court-martial have been overturned after a review by higher authority. Willie discovers that he agrees that the relief was unjustified and probably unnecessary. Willie keeps the Caine afloat during another typhoon and brings it back to Bayonne, New Jersey, for decommissioning after the end of the war. After reflecting at length, he decides to ask May (now a blonde and using her real name of Marie Minotti) to marry him. However, this will not be as easy as he once thought it would be, as she is now the girlfriend of a popular bandleader. Willie faces a challenge just as great as the one he has overcome. |
5763542 | /m/0f3cmk | The Wizard of Oz | Glen MacDonough | null | {"/m/05qp9": "Play"} | A little girl named Dorothy Gale lives in the midst of the great Kansas prairies with her Aunt Em, her Uncle Henry and her little dog, Toto. One day, while she is playing with her pet cow Imogene, things are broken up by a fierce whirlwind. Dorothy and Toto take shelter in the farmhouse, which is carried far away into the clouds. Meanwhile in the hamlet of Center Munch, the little Munchkins dance around their maypole not noticing that Dorothy's house has fallen to earth and killed the Wicked Witch of the East. Dorothy opens the front door and marvels at the strange Land of Oz. The Good Witch of the North awards Dorothy with a magic ring, good for three wishes and can summon the Good Witch of the South at any time. The Good Witch then waves her wand and a pair of beautiful shoes appear on Dorothy's feet, she tells Dorothy that if she wants to get home, she must ask the Wizard of Oz to help her. After a while, everyone exits and Dorothy is left alone with a Scarecrow, hung on a pole. She wishes she had someone to talk to, and the Scarecrow comes to life. He gets down off his pole and complains that he has no brain. Dorothy suggests that she join him on the road to the Emerald City and he sings "Alas for the Man Without Brains". Dorothy and the Scarecrow come upon the Tin Woodsman, who has rusted playing his piccolo. As it turns out, the Woodman's real name is Niccolo Chopper. He explains that the Wicked Witch of the West took his heart, so he cannot love Cynthia, who is his girlfriend. He joins the others in the hope of receiving one from the Wizard, and return to Cynthia. The Keeper of the Gates patrols outside the Emerald City. Sir Wiley Gyle enters. He is a mad old inventor who scorns all magic ever since his mother died. After being sent to prison for murdering his wife, the travelers enter the Emerald City. The Wizard gives the Scarecrow a brain and the Tin Woodman a heart. He declares this the greatest of all his achievements and calls for a celebration. The Ball of All Nations is thrown, in which anywhere up to twelve songs are sung by various characters. The Wizard performs a basket trick in which Pastoria is the mark. In the middle of the trick he claims his right to the throne and overthrows the Wizard. A great commotion breaks out, with the Wizard escaping in a hot air balloon. Dorothy, still longing for home, sets off with her companions to the castle of Glinda the Good Witch of the South. End of Act Two. Dorothy and her friends arrive at the palace and are welcomed. There are great celebrations, with Glinda promising to send Dorothy home. The whole cast rushes out from the wings and sings the finale. Romayne Whiteford portrayed Glinda early in the run as well as Doris Mitchell and Ella Gilroy, but the character appears to have been written out in subsequent productions. |
5765896 | /m/0f3hpk | The Assassin King | Elizabeth Haydon | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Dhracian hunter Rath arrives by sea, searching for the F'dor demons and also for Ysk, now known as Achmed the Snake, the Assassin King of Ylorc. At the same time dragons gather in a primeval forest glade to mourn the death of the dragon Llauron, who died protecting his daughter-in-law Rhapsody and her newborn son, Meridion, which happened at the end of the previous book of the series, Elegy for a Lost Star. His death also means the loss of the lore and control over the Earth itself that it represents. The dragons are terrified for what will come as a result of this loss. In Navarne, Lord and Lady Cymrian hold a secret meeting attended by King Achmed, his sergeant Grunthor, Lord Marshal Anborn, young Duke Gwydion Navarne and Constantin, the Patriarch of Sepulvarta. It becomes clear that Talquist, the new ruler of Sorbold, is making preparations for a war against his neighbours. Ashe sends his wife and baby Meridion to safety to Ylorc with Achmed and Grunthor and calls a meeting of Cymrian nobles. Meanwhile Anborn and Constantin travel with an army to the Holy City of Sepulvarta, which has been attacked by sorboldian troops. Achmed meets Rath, who tells him of his destiny to hunt the F'dor demons, yet declines Rath's request to join him - as a Firbolg King and protector of the Earth Child he has other priorities. |
5767564 | /m/0f3lfy | Olympos | Dan Simmons | 6/28/2005 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The novel centers on three main character groups; that of the scholic Hockenberry, Helen and Greek and Trojan warriors from the Iliad; Daeman, Harman, Ada and the other humans of Earth; and the moravecs, specifically Mahnmut the Europan and Orphu of Io. The novel is written in present-tense when centered on Hockenberry's character, but features third-person, past-tense narrative in all other instances. Much like Simmons' Hyperion where the actual events serve as a frame, the three groups of characters' stories are told over the course of the novel and their stories do not begin to converge until the end. |
5768015 | /m/0f3m3w | The Thirteen Problems | Agatha Christie | null | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/028v3": "Detective fiction", "/m/0707q": "Short story", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | As in some of her other short story collections (e.g. Partners in Crime), Christie employs an overarching narrative, making the book more like an episodic novel. There are three sets of narrative, though they themselves interrelate. The first set of six are stories told by the Tuesday Night Club, a random gathering of people at the house of Miss Marple. Each week the group tell thrilling tales of mystery, which are always solved by Miss Marple, from the comfort of her armchair.The others in her company are dumbstuck as to how Miss Marple manages to solve each and every mystery by relating them some or the other incident from her own small village. One of the guests is Sir Henry Clithering, an ex-commissioner of Scotland Yard, and this allows Christie to resolve the story, with him usually pointing out that the criminals were caught. The next set of six occur as part of a dinner party Miss Marple is invited to at the request of Sir Henry Clithering, as a result of her skill in the Tuesday Night Club. This employs a similar guessing game, and once more Miss Marple triumphs. The thirteenth story, Death by Drowning takes place some time after the dinner party when Miss Marple finds out that Clithering is staying in St. Mary Mead and asks him to help in the investigation surrounding the death of a girl in the village. |
5768774 | /m/0f3n3s | Ramona and Her Father | Beverly Cleary | 1977 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Ramona is well into her second grade year at Glenwood School, and all is going well until one day her father comes home and announces he has lost his job. The Quimbys must now cope with the breadwinner searching for another job, filling out job applications and collecting unemployment insurance. Mrs. Quimby goes to work full time, but things are still very tight for the family. Mr. Quimby gets depressed and Mrs. Quimby tells the children that they must not do anything that would further upset their dad. Ramona wants to help, so she crosses almost everything off her wish list for Christmas. Then she adds one more item - a happy family. But will her wish come true? The Quimbys are also dealing with the family's temperamental car, Beezus' problems with creative writing, and Ramona's efforts to get her father to stop smoking. One day when Ramona worries about the family, Mr. Quimby reassures her the Quimbys will always be together and strong, no matter what happens. That Christmas Beezus and Ramona participate in their church's Christmas pageant. Beezus is to be the Virgin Mary and Ramona decides that she and her friends Howie and Davy should be sheep. Unfortunately, her Mother doesn't have time to sew a costume so Ramona has to wear a pair of old pajamas, which she hates. In the end, the sheep steal the show and Ramona and her family share a wonderful night together. |
5768908 | /m/0f3n8m | Ramona and Her Mother | Beverly Cleary | 1979 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | "People should not think being seven and a half years old was easy, because it wasn't." At least Ramona's father has a job again, so the Quimbys host a party to celebrate. Burdened with the task of keeping spoiled little Willa Jean out of everybody's way, Ramona gives Willa Jean a box of tissues and shows her how to pull them out one by one. Ramona does not want Willa Jean to touch any of Ramona's toys. When Willa Jean strews tissues through the house, the guests decide that it is time to go home. When someone remarks that Ramona was just like Willa Jean at that age, Ramona feels hurt and upset. She does not believe that she was ever such a pest. When Mrs. Quimby states that she could not get along without Beezus, Ramona feels isolated and unappreciated by her family. Now that both their parents are working full time, everyone has to do their share around the house. One day the Crockpot does not get plugged in, and it leads to an argument between Mr. and Mrs. Quimby that frightens the sisters who are afraid that the argument will result in Mr. and Mrs Quimby getting a divorce. That night they comfort each other, and Beezus tells Ramona that she will always be there to look after her. The next morning, Beezus and Ramona are surprised to discover their parents sitting at breakfast together and sharing the newspaper. The girls learn that marital "spats" are part of life, and do not always end in divorce. Mr. and Mrs. Quimby explain that arguing is normal and that Beezus and Ramona fight. Ramona feels that the comparison is not the same thing and orders her parents to never fight again. Tempers flare again when Beezus refuses to let her mother cut her hair. Mrs. Quimby normally cuts Ramona and Beezus' hair, but Beezus rebels and saves her allowance to get her hair cut at the student hairdressing academy. This makes Ramona happy, as she is still feeling jealous of Beezus's relationship with their mother. When the appointment goes wrong and Ramona ends up with a cute haircut, while Beezus' looks awful, Ramona decides it is nicer when everyone in the family is happy. Matters become complicated once more when Mrs Quimby purchases a new pair of pajamas for Ramona. Ramona is happy because for once, she receives clothing which is not inherited from Beezus. She loves her new pajamas so much that she wears them to school underneath her clothes. Her teacher, Mrs. Rudge, finds out and promises she that she will not reveal Ramona's secret to anybody. Later Ramona overhears a phone conversation that causes her to feel betrayed. She becomes angry, argues with her parents, and decides to run away. No one tries to stop her. In fact, her mother helps pack a suitcase, which shocks Ramona. Than she realizes Mother made it too heavy for her to carry on purpose. "I couldn't get along without my Ramona", her Mother says. |
5769275 | /m/0f3nw6 | Ellen Tebbits | Beverly Cleary | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Third-grader Ellen Tebbits lives with her parents on Klickitat Street in Portland, Oregon. The book opens when Ellen heads to her dance class at the studio run by the mother of a classmate, Otis Spofford, who is always teasing her. When she arrives, she heads to change in a broom closet so the other girls cannot see her terrible secret: Ellen is wearing woolen underwear. After class, she accidentally walks in on a new girl in class, Austine Allen, who's also wearing the dreaded underwear. Soon, the two become best friends. Other chapters in the book deal with Ellen's first-ever time going horseback riding, her efforts to bring a giant beet to school for show-and-tell, and Ellen and Austine's efforts to put up with Otis' antics. During summer vacation, Ellen and Austine decide to dress as twins on their first day back to school. The plan is for their mothers to make identical dresses for them. Austine's mother, however, cannot sew, so her dress doesn't turn out well. As the day goes on Austine begins to amuse herself by tugging on the sash of Ellen's dress. Ellen gets irritated and finally slaps Austine in the lunch line when her sash comes undone. Unfortunately, Austine was innocent; Otis had pulled on her dress. Austine begins spending time with other girls and ignores Ellen, who thinks everyone looks down on her for slapping her best friend. In the final chapter, the teacher chooses Ellen and Austine to go outside and clean the chalkboard erasers. Austine continues to ignore Ellen, who becomes so angered by this that she yanks on the sash on Austine's dress and rips it. Both girls end up in tears and, after learning that Otis was the culprit in the lunch line and that both of their mothers made them wear their dreaded woolen underwear that day, they mend their friendship. |
5769952 | /m/0f3ptt | The First Casualty | David L. Seidman | 2005 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | In June 1917, whilst recovering from shell shock inside a military hospital, beloved war poet and dedicated soldier Viscount Abercrombie is inexplicably shot dead. Meanwhile, Douglas Kingsley, a liberal Inspector for Scotland Yard, has refused national service because he considers the war to be an affront to his highly prized sense of logic. As a result, he's hauled before a judge, branded a coward by those who love him - including his wife Agnes - and thrown into prison, where his fellow inmates routinely assault him, taking revenge for him putting them behind bars in the first place. However, the Home Office give the disgraced copper a chance for redemption when they abduct him from his cell, fake his death and order him to investigate the Viscount's death behind the lines at Flanders. As he begins his reluctant inquiries, encumbered by the presence of his psychopathic minder Captain Shannon, Kingsley discovers that not only was Abercrombie a homosexual, but that he had also become disillusioned with the war and was composing poetry to this effect before his untimely death. |
5772074 | /m/0f3sz_ | Kermit the Hermit | Bill Peet | 1965 | {"/m/016475": "Picture book", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | One day, when Kermit attempts to gain another unnecessary thing, he is almost buried by a dog, but is saved by a poor boy. Kermit is grateful and wants to thank the boy, but cannot think of a way to do so until he finds a chest of gold. As he stores the gold pieces in his cave, he slowly gives up one thing at a time, until he has all the gold and no more possessions in his cave. With the help of the pelican, Kermit drops coins down the boy's chimney. The boy's family becomes rich and Kermit learns the value of sharing. |
5772621 | /m/0f3v3r | The Watsons | Jane Austen | null | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Mr. Watson is a widowed clergyman with two sons and four daughters. The youngest daughter, Emma, has been brought up by a wealthy aunt and is consequently better educated and more refined than her sisters. But when her aunt contracts a foolish second marriage, Emma is obliged to return to her father's house. There she is chagrined by the crude and reckless husband-hunting of two of her twenty-something sisters. She finds the kindness of her eldest and most responsible sister, Elizabeth, more attractive. Living near the Watsons are the Osbornes, a great titled family. Emma attracts some notice from the boorish and awkward young Lord Osborne, while one of her sisters plaintively pursues Lord Osborne's arrogant, social-climbing friend, Tom Musgrave. Various minor characters provide potential matches for Emma's brothers and sisters. Mr. Watson is seriously ill in the opening chapters, and Austen confided in her sister Cassandra that he was to die in the course of the work. Emma was to decline a marriage proposal from Lord Osborne, and was eventually to marry Osborne's virtuous former tutor, Mr. Howard. |
5774312 | /m/0f3xck | The Akhenaten Adventure | Philip Kerr | 2004 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | John and Philippa Gaunt lead an upper class life in New York City, New York. Their life changes when their Wisdom Teeth(also called Dragon Teeth by Djinns) appear after their Uncle Nimrod appears to them in a dream. He tells them that they are Djinns, and that their mother is trying to take away their powers. Suddenly John's acne disappears, and they both have a sudden desire for the heat, as well as hitting a growth spurt,and granting their housekeeper a wish. After some debate, the children are sent to spend the summer with their Uncle Nimrod. On the plane, they accidentally make two people disappear Their uncle begins to train them on how to use their powers. They meet a French named Coeur de Lapin, a woman who is the wife of the ambassador. Nimrod, John and Philippa are trying to discover where the 'Seventy Lost Djinn of (Akhenaten)' are hidden, which leads to the capture and binding of Nimrod, a murder of a man called Hussein Hussaout and a confrontation of Iblis, the leader of the most wicked tribe of djinn, the Ifrit. This could tip the balance in the ongoing fight between djinn who attempt to promote good luck, of which Nimrod is the nominal leader, and those who promote bad luck. After several adventures in Cairo, Egypt the book concludes with a battle in the British Museum between them and a ghost king, cobra, crocodile, and baboon. However, while ensuring that the Djinn will not be controlled by bad Djinn to tip the balance of luck in the universe towards more bad luck, Nimrod gets confined in the same jar as Akhenaten himself, who turns out to be a bad Djinn. In order to release Nimrod from the bottle without releasing Akhenaten, they go to the North Pole, because the cold causes the Djinn to become very weak and tired. The cold temperature slows down Nimrod and Akhenaten, so John and Philippa go inside the lamp. They make themselves spacesuits to wear in the cold so that they would stay warm and not get weakened themselves. They have to bring Nimrod out quickly so that Akhenaten, who is warming up (due to a polar bear sniffing through the lamp), does not escape. But eventually they save Nimrod and go back to London. When they later go back home to New York City, it turns out their mom really knows more about what the twins were doing than they thought. |
5774480 | /m/0f3xj0 | In the Night Kitchen | Maurice Sendak | 1970 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | A young boy named Mickey sleeps in his bed when he is disturbed by noise on a lower floor. Suddenly, he begins to float, and all of his clothes disappear as he drifts into a surreal world called the "Night Kitchen". He falls into a giant mixing pot that contains the batter for the "morning cake". While Mickey is buried in the mass, three identical bakers (who closely resemble Oliver Hardy) mix the batter and prepare it for baking, unaware (or unconcerned) that there is a little boy inside. Just before the baking pan is placed into the oven, the boy emerges from the pan, protesting that he is not the batter's milk. To make up for the baking ingredient deficiency, Mickey (now covered in batter from the neck down) constructs an airplane out of bread dough so he can fly to the mouth of a gigantic milk bottle. Upon reaching the bottle's opening, he dives in and briefly revels in the liquid. After his covering of batter disintegrates, he pours the needed milk in a cascade down to the bakers who joyfully finish making the morning cake. With dawn breaking, the naked Mickey crows like a rooster and slides down the bottle to magically return to his bed. Everything is back to normal, beyond the happy memory of his experience. |
5775329 | /m/0f3yzb | The Strange World of Planet X | René Ray | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | A monomaniacal scientist has invented ultra-sensitive magnetic fields, which begin to attract objects from space. Strange things begin happening, including a freak storm, and insects and spiders begin to mutate into giant monsters. An alien spaceship has appeared over London and begins to warn mankind against the dangers of this scientific experiment. |
5776519 | /m/0f4023 | The Sum of All Men | Dave Wolverton | 1998-12 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/03qfd": "High fantasy"} | The novel begins with a young Runelord, Prince Gaborn Val Orden of Mystarria, traveling to the kingdom of Heredon to try to win the hand of Princess Iome Sylvarresta, daughter to King Jas Laren Sylvarresta, longtime friend of House Val Orden. Gaborn's plans are put on hold, however, when he receives word that Raj Ahten, the most powerful Runelord since Daylan Hammer, is leading his army north into Heredon and has nearly reached Castle Sylvarresta. Although Gaborn travels as fast as possible to the castle, he still arrives just moments before Raj Ahten and his forces. He brings word of the invasion to Iome and King Sylvarresta, then quickly sneaks out the back of the castle with help from the herbalist and Earth Warden, Binnesman. Raj Ahten, meanwhile, takes the entire walled city with only a single arrow being fired; King Sylvarresta's men eagerly swing open the gates for him, his numerous endowments of glamour and voice making laymen powerless to confront him. Both King Sylvarresta and Iome are forced to give Raj Ahten endowments to show fealty to their new King. Gaborn risks capture by returning to the castle to rescue Iome and her father, and then he and the princess flee south, intending to warn Gaborn's father, King Orden, who is a few days ride from the city. Raj Ahten, meanwhile, moves his forces out, with a similar intent as Gaborn: track down and kill King Orden. With Raj Ahten gone, Prince Orden's personal bodyguard, Sir Borenson, acting on orders of the King breaks into the dedicate's keep at Castle Sylvarresta and begins slaying all the dedicates. Borenson escapes on his own, and Binnesman learns from the Earth that Raj Ahten may be the least of all their problems - an ancient race of subterranean creatures known as Reavers are preparing to strike. Still having received no word from his son, King Orden and his men fortify Castle Longmot in anticipation of the arrival of Raj Ahten. Gaborn and his company arrive with Raj Ahten's army still a measure off, so King Orden sends Gaborn and his companions to nearby Castle Groverman to ask for aid. Gaborn realizes only too late that his father sends him away only to keep him from being slain in the battle at Castle Longmot. In a desperate attempt to kill the Raj, King Orden and 20 other men form a Serpent Ring, where each man endows metabolism (In this case each having already 2 or 3) to the next in the ring, making it so that the last man in line moves at a speed twenty times that of a normal man. However, Raj Ahten himself takes endowments of metabolism from a number of men, and in a fierce battle, Raj Ahten kills King Orden and the rest of the Serpent Ring. When Gaborn, Iome, and Borenson return to the castle, they find it destroyed and every man dead but one, with his lone life spared to give word of the events to Gaborn. Raj Ahten, with his army, has fled, after many of his dedicate vectors were killed in a freak accident. At the end of the novel, Borenson slays King Sylvarresta on orders from the late King, Gaborn puts his father's body to rest, and the Earth crowns Gaborn the new Earth King, deeming that the Earth is in need of a protector and savior. |
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