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6201357 | /m/0fwh6d | Spy Sinker | Len Deighton | null | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Spy Sinker starts in 1977 and ends in 1987. It tells the entire story in the previous five novels from the third person perspective (Bernard Samson's bosses, his colleagues, his girlfriend Gloria, and most of all his wife Fiona). Thus it fills in the gaps in the story, as the previous five books only reveals what Bernard can see and think he understands. It also tells the back story leading up to the story in the five novels, which has only been hinted at previously. |
6201653 | /m/0fwhmn | Winter | Len Deighton | null | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | It is a time of turmoil. A time when the horrors of war engulf and extinguish the Germany that is. Harald Winter had two sons at this time: Peter and Pauli Winter, two very different brothers, whose lives—whose destinies—are forever bound to the madness that lies ahead. From their sheltered childhood through their violent coming of age in the Great War... from the chaos of 1920's Berlin to the spreading power of Hitler... they are wrenched apart by conflicting ideals and ambitions. Blood brothers, now mortal enemies, they are trapped in a holocaust that threatens to tear them - and the world - to pieces. Since the entire story unfolds as a flashback from the time of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials after the Nazis' defeat, the readers know that both would make a career as lawyers, but in widely divergent directions: one would enter the Nazi Party and think up various "legal" ways to legitimise their crimes, while the other brother would be a staunch anti-Nazi, go into exile and come back to Germany after the war as a member of the American war crimes prosecution. But the reader cannot be sure, until deep in the book's plot, which is which. |
6206244 | /m/0fwrr9 | Olivia Joules and The Overactive Imagination | Helen Fielding | null | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The book delves into the world of espionage as it follows the adventures of freelance journalist-turned spy, Olivia Joules. While covering a face cream launch in Miami, Olivia meets the alluring international playboy, Pierre Feramo. Suspicious that he is an international terrorist, she follows him to Los Angeles, Honduras, and the Sudan, while he is under the impression that she is falling in love with him. |
6209257 | /m/0fwx55 | There Should Have Been Castles | null | null | {"/m/01z4y": "Comedy"} | It is the 1950s. Ben Webber is a cocky but disillusioned young man who has spent the last few years of his life waiting for a neighborhood girl—in his eyes, the epitome of lost virtue and beauty—to reach the age of consent so that he can marry her. Ben comes frustrated with his life, though, and leaves his family home in New England to travel to New York in hopes of finding himself. Despite possessing a near-genius IQ, Ben feels no need to strive in academics, instead choosing to toil away in a number of dead-end, low-paying jobs, which he invariably quits or gets fired from after either telling off his boss or getting caught stealing. Down to his last few cigars and without a place to stay, Ben has a chance run-in with Don at a coffee shop; impeccably dressed and exquisitely mannered, Don is nonetheless just as destitute as Ben and facing eviction from his own apartment unless he can find someone to help with the rent. Ben and Don quickly become friends, and Ben moves into Don's apartment, which Ben discovers is actually owned by a trio of airline hostesses who rent the apartment out to Don at a low rate in exchange for providing them anonymous, strings-free sexual favors on their occasional stopovers in town. Ben, a virgin, is initiated into sex by one of the stewardess, and falls in love with her, only to discover shortly thereafter that she is engaged; after one last night, the stewardess relinquishes her third of the apartment and leaves New York, leaving Ben heartbroken and morose. Meanwhile, nineteen year old Ginnie Maitland, the daughter of a wealthy painter and an unfaithful socialite, runs away from home after her father commits suicide in the wake of her mother's running off with another man. Cutting herself off from her inheritance, Ginnie travels to New York in hopes of finding herself and becoming a dancer on Broadway. Alone in the big city, Ginnie falls in with a pair of middle aged men, one Jewish, one Japanese, who are attempting to open a restaurant which serves food based on traditional Kosher and Oriental dishes. Ginnie becomes a hostess for them, and manages to get a job with a dance troupe. At the same time, Ben has managed to become a mailroom clerk for a movie studio, and begins an arduous climb up the corporate ladder; shortly after getting a promotion into writing taglines, however, he's drafted into the U.S. Army. Shortly after Ben is drafted, Ginnie's apartment burns down; one of the members of the dance troupe informs her that one of his friends is currently seeking help to pay the rent, since his old roommate has been drafted. The "friend" turns out to be Don, and Ginnie takes up residence with him. Ben goes through boot camp and is assigned to a base run by Major Holdoffer, a young, boorish soldier who delights in exerting his authority over the men in his command. Ben documents his hellish experiences in letters home to Don, lamenting the lost loves in his life and yearning for purpose; after Don leaves the letters out one day, Ginnie begins reading them and starts writing Ben back. Her letters prove to be a shining ray of hope to Ben, and the two begin falling in love through their correspondence. While Ginnie remains chaste, though, in hopes of losing her virginity to Ben, Ben releases his sexual frustrations with an emotionally dead but sexually predatory middle aged woman named Maggie. In a bit of dramatic irony, the reader becomes aware that the woman is in fact Ginnie's runaway mother, having dumped her lover and moved on to one-night stands with soldiers. One day, Ben's unit is taken on a dangerous trek by Holdoffer through harsh terrain without proper equipment; in the middle of the night, Holdoffer intentionally gives negligent orders to an elderly soldier after learning that the man is gay, resulting in the soldier's death; the next morning, Holdoffer denies culpability demands that the hike go on. Later in the day, Holdoffer ignores Ben's warning that a machine gun is malfunctioning, and another soldier is fatally shot in the face. As Ben and another soldier prepare to attack Holdoffer, the gay lover of the elderly soldier who died of exposure fatally stabs Holdoffer in the kidney. In exchange for keeping his mouth shut about having warned Holdoffer of the faulty machine gun, the Army agrees to an honorable discharge Ben on a technicality. Ben sleeps with Maggie one last time and then heads back to New York, where he and Ginnie begin a passionate affair. With one another's support, Ginnie becomes a locally renowned dancer, and Ben manages to get one of his scripts read by a television executive, who buys it and turns it into a movie of the week. However, Ginnie's increasingly busy schedule, coupled with Ben's self-destructive nature, leads to the pair splitting after a disastrous night. While Ben makes a financially successful but debauched trip to Hollywood, Ginnie reaches national fame as a variety show fixture and through her engagement to a prominent socialite—neither being far from the other's mind. |
6209312 | /m/0fwx88 | Other Tales of the Flying Fox | Louis Cha | 1960 | {"/m/08322": "Wuxia"} | The story begins several years after the death of Hu Yidao. His son Hu Fei, raised by Ping A'si, inherits the Hu family's skills and becomes a powerful martial artist. While travelling around the land in search of adventure, Hu Fei encounters Feng Tiannan, a ruthless villain, and he wants to kill Feng to deliver justice for Feng's victims. He also meets a young maiden named Yuan Ziyi, who shows signs of affection towards him. She stops Hu Fei from killing Feng Tiannan each time when he is close to killing the villain. Based on Ping A'si's words, Hu Fei believes that the famous martial artist Miao Renfeng is responsible for his father's death. He refrains from killing Miao Renfeng after finding the latter, because Miao has been tricked by an enemy and is temporarily blinded by a deadly poison. He is so impressed with Miao's sense of chivalry that he starts wondering if Ping A'si was mistaken about Miao. He decides to help Miao Renfeng and journeys to find a cure for his eyes. He meets Cheng Lingsu, a young disciple of the deceased "King of Venoms". Hu Fei witnesses Cheng Lingsu defeating her three wicked seniors with her calm and wits. She agrees to help him cure Miao Renfeng's eyes. When Miao Renfeng regains his sight he confesses that he had indeed killed Hu Yidao unintentionally several years ago. Hu Fei is filled with sorrow upon hearing the truth and leaves with Cheng Lingsu. Cheng Lingsu and Hu Fei become sworn siblings. Travelling together, the two then stumble upon an election for a new leader of the wulin (martial artists' community), hosted by the general Fukang'an. The election is part of Fukang'an's plot to instigate turmoil in the wulin, which is part of the government's plan to control the martial artists' community. Hu Fei and Cheng Lingsu disguise themselves and participate in the election. With help from Yuan Ziyi, the trio combined to expose Fukang'an's scheme and disrupt the meeting. They are attacked by enemies and Hu Fei is poisoned while trying to shield Cheng Lingsu with his body. Cheng loses her life trying to save Hu, and reveals before her death that she is in love with him. Hu Fei is filled with anguish by the tragic loss of Cheng Lingsu. After Cheng's funeral, he meets Yuan Ziyi again, who tells him that she had already taken an oath to be a nun in her childhood, and cannot be together with him even though she loves him. She places her palms together and recites a silent prayer for Hu Fei before leaving. |
6209875 | /m/0fwy88 | The Second Angel | Philip Kerr | 2008 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | In The Second Angel, passages of narrative by an omniscient narrator alternate with lengthy, discursive commentaries on the characters, and complex observations on human nature and blood by a first-person, intrusive narrator, who claims to be the omniscient narrator telling the story, but deliberately refrains from disclosing his or her identity until the last chapter. It is the late 21st century, when 80% of mankind have been infected with a virus called HPV2 (human parvovirus 2), or P2, whose spread was accelerated with the discovery and use of synthetic blood. P2 disrupts the blood's ability to carry hemoglobin around the body, greatly shortening the host's life. The only known cure for P2 is a complete blood transfusion with healthy blood, coupled with a dose of the drug ProTryptol 14. With only 20 percent of the world's population free of P2, the price of a litre of healthy blood has reached almost two million dollars. In the novel, blood has replaced gold and diamonds as a valuable commodity (gold was extracted in great quantity from the sea and is now valued at about $200 a kilogram). Uninfected people reside in "Clean Bill of Health" (CBH) zones within cities to avoid contact with the sick, for vamping (murder for the purpose of blood theft) is a major risk for healthy individuals. Standard procedure for those who are uninfected is to perform autologous donations to enable them to completely replace it in the event of becoming infected. The healthy blood reserves are kept in state-of-the-art blood banks around the world, the largest being the First National Blood Bank on the Moon. Due to the high incidence of theft in these banks, they are guarded by the most sophisticated security systems. The greatest designer of blood banks is Dana Dallas, who works for one of the largest security firms in the world, and has designed several state-of-the-art blood banks, including the First National Blood Bank. His ingenious security systems have never before been bypassed or robbed. His boss, Simon King, grows concerned when he hears that Dallas's daughter Caro has been diagnosed with thalassemia, an illness that can only be cured by a lifetime of regular healthy blood transfusions, as despite his high position in the company Dallas would never be able to afford to pay for this treatment. Rather than risk Dallas leaking industrial secrets to the highest bidder, he orders Rimmer, the company's security officer, to kill Dallas, his wife and his daughter. His wife and daughter are indeed killed, but by chance Dallas survives and realises that the company had meant to kill him too. Dallas escapes to relative safety outside the city's Clean Bill of Health zone, hiding in a hyperbaric hotel. Dallas is now set on revenge and recruits a team funded by himself and a mafia boss to rob the First National Blood Bank on the moon. The robbery goes according to plan with only a few complications. On the way back to Earth, Dallas is told by his personal computer that a quantum computer has actually evolved in the bloodbank; the intrusive, omniscient narrator turns out to be this computer (a super-computer that opportunistically used the millions of litres of blood stocked in one place to re-create itself, using the unique storage and duplicating capacity of DNA); it has gained access to the memories of the characters by "merging" with them when they had a blood transfusion. The blood contains extremely advanced nanomachines which activate an ability to live longer, and be far more resistant to human limitations such as the need for food, water and oxygen; it enables them to survive in a state of suspended animation for years at a time. The supercomputer wanted to combine humans and computers with nanomachines in order to explore the galaxy. While Dallas and his crew are asleep on their way back to Earth, the supercomputer (unbeknownst to the humans) activates their new hibernation state and sets their course to deep space. |
6210298 | /m/0fwyx2 | El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra | Tirso de Molina | 1630 | null | The play begins in Naples with Don Juan and the Duchess Isabela, who alone in her palace room, have just enjoyed a night of love together. However, when Isabella wants to light a lamp Don Juan threatens to kill it. She suddenly realizes that he is not her lover, the Duke Octavio, and screams for help. Don Juan's uncle, Don Pedro, comes to arrest the offender. But Don Juan cleverly reveals his identity as his nephew and Don Pedro assists him in making his escape just in time. Pedro then claims to the King that the unknown man was Duke Octavio. The King orders Octavio and Isabela to be married at once, with both of them to be held in prison until the wedding. At home, after Octavio speaks of his love for Isabela, Don Pedro comes to arrest him, claiming that Octavio had violated Isabela the previous night. Octavio, of course, had done no such thing, and starts to believe that Isabela has been unfaithful to him. He flees from Don Pedro, planning to leave the country. By the seashore of Tarragona, a peasant girl named Tisbea happens to find Don Juan and his servant, Catalinón, apparently washed up from a shipwreck. She tries to revive Don Juan, who wakes and immediately declares his love for her. Tisbea takes Juan back to her house, intending to nurse him back to health and mend his clothes. Back in Seville, the King speaks to Don Gonzalo, a nobleman and military commander, about arranging a marriage between Don Juan and Gonzalo's daughter, Doña Ana. Gonzalo likes the idea and goes to discuss it with his daughter. Back at the seashore, Don Juan and Catalinón flee, apparently after Don Juan has already seduced Tisbea. Catalinón scolds him, but Don Juan reminds him that this is not his first seduction, and jokes that he has a medical condition in which he must seduce. Catalinón says that he is a plague for women. Tisbea catches up with the two men, and Don Juan assures her that he intends to marry her. Tisbea is so overcome with grief and anger over what happened that she exclaims "fuego, fuego" meaning that she is burning up with hate and a desire for revenge. She is also overcome with shame at the undoing of her honor and flings herself into the ocean. In Seville, Don Diego, Don Juan's father, tells the king that the man who seduced the Duchess Isabela was not Octavio, but Don Juan, and shows a letter from Don Pedro as proof. The King declares Don Juan banished from Seville and retracts his plans to have him marry Doña Ana. Just then, Octavio arrives, begging the king's forgiveness for having fled earlier. The King grants it, and allows him to stay as a guest in the palace. Next, Don Juan and Catalinón arrive and talk to the Marquis de la Mota, who is a womanizer nearly as bad as Don Juan. The Marquis confesses, however, that he is actually in love with his cousin Doña Ana, but laments that she is arranged to marry someone else. Mota says he is going to visit Ana, and Don Juan sends Catalinón to follow him in secret. His plans are also helped along when a servant of Ana's, having just seen Don Juan talking to Mota, asks that he give to him a letter from Ana. In the letter she asks Mota to visit her during the night, at 11 o'clock sharp, since it will be their one and only chance to ever be together. Mota comes back again, apparently not having found Ana at home, and Don Juan says he received instructions from Ana that Mota should come to the house at midnight. Mota lends Don Juan his cape at the end of the scene. That night at Don Gonzalo's home, Ana is heard screaming that someone has dishonored her, and her father, Don Gonzalo, rushes to her aid with his sword drawn. Don Juan draws his own sword and kills Don Gonzalo. With his final breath, Don Gonzalo swears to haunt Don Juan. Don Juan leaves the house just in time to find Mota and give him his cape back and flees. Mota is immediately seen wearing the same cloak as the man who murdered Don Gonzalo and is arrested. The next day, near Dos Hermanas, Don Juan happens upon a peasant wedding and takes a particular interest in the bride, Aminta. The groom, Batricio, is perturbed by the presence of a nobleman at his wedding but is powerless to do anything. Don Juan pretends to have known Aminta long ago and deflowered her already, and by law she must now marry him. He goes to enjoy Aminta for the first time and convinces her that he means to marry her at once. The two of them go off together to consummate the union, with Juan having convinced Aminta that it is the surest way to nullify her last marriage. Elsewhere Isabela and her servant, Fabio, are travelling, looking for Don Juan, whom she has now been instructed to marry. She complains of this arrangement and declares that she still loves Octavio. While travelling, they happen upon Tisbea, whose suicide attempt was unsuccessful. When Isabela asks Tisbea why she is so sad, Tisbea tells the story of how Don Juan seduced her. Isabela then asks Tisbea to accompany her. Don Juan and Catalinón are back in Seville, passing by a churchyard. They see the tomb of Don Gonzalo, and Don Juan jokingly invites the statue on the tomb to have dinner with him and laughs about how the hauntings and promised vengeance have not yet come. That same night, as Don Juan sits down for dinner at his home, his servants become frightened and run away. Don Juan sends Catalinón to investigate, and he returns, horrified, followed by the ghost of Gonzalo in the form of the statue on his tomb. Don Juan is initially frightened but quickly regains control of himself and calmly sits to dine while his servants cower around him. Gonzalo invites Juan to dine again in the churchyard with him, and he promises to come. At the Alcazar, the King and Don Diego, Don Juan's father, discuss the impending marriage to Isabela, as well as the newly arranged marriage between Mota and Doña Ana. Octavio then arrives and asks the King for permission to duel with Don Juan, and tells the truth of what has happened to Isabela to Diego, who was until now unaware of this particular misdeed of his son. The King and Diego leave, and Aminta appears, looking for Don Juan since she thinks he is now her husband. Octavio takes her to the king so that she can tell him her story. In the churchyard, Don Juan tells Catalinón about how lovely Isabela looks and how they are to be married in a few hours. The ghost of Gonzalo appears again, and he sets out a table on the cover of a tomb. He serves a meal of vipers and scorpions, which Juan bravely eats. At the end of the meal, Gonzalo grabs Don Juan by the wrist, striking him dead. In a clap of thunder, the ghost, the tomb, and Don Juan disappear, leaving only Catalinón, who runs away in terror. At the Alcazar, every single character who has been wronged by Don Juan is complaining to the King, when Catalinón enters and announces the strange story of Don Juan's death. All the women who have claim to Don Juan as their husband are declared widows, and Catalinón admits that Ana escaped from Juan before he could dishonor her. Mota plans to marry Ana, Octavio to marry Isabela, Tisbea is free to marry again if she chooses, and Batricio and Aminta go back home. |
6211600 | /m/0fx086 | The Story of the Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks | Lee Falk | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The book tells the story about Kit Walker, son of the 20th Phantom, who will one day grow up to take over the mantle from his father and become the 21st Phantom. The book starts with Kit's birth in the Skull Cave. Several chapters are dedicated to him growing up in the Bangalla jungle, where the readers get to see events and lessons that shape him to the man he will once become. When Kit reaches the age of 12, he travels to Clarksdale, Mississippi, USA, to receive a proper education (it is a tradition in the Phantom family that the children are sent away to their mother's homeland for education). Kit lives with his mother's sister and her husband in Clarksville. Kit is a brilliant student, and receives excellent grades in every subject. Kit proves to be a talented sportsman, and is predicted to become the world champion of a number of different genres (he even knocks out the boxing champion of the world in a match when the champion visits Clarksville. Kit also meets his future wife-to-be, Diana Palmer, on a Christmas party on his school. Despite being able to choose practically any career he wants, Kit faithfully returns to Bengalla to take over the role of the Phantom when he receives word from his childhood friend Guran that his father, the 20th Phantom, is dying from wounds he received in a battle with pirates trying to rob a jungle hospital. |
6211772 | /m/0fx0l4 | Cel mai iubit dintre pământeni | Marin Preda | null | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | A long epic, written in first-person, Cel mai iubit... is the life-story confession of a prisoner waiting for his trial. Victor Petrini, a promising intellectual in the 1950s and a lecturer in Philosophy, seduces his best friend's wife, Matilda, who eventually becomes his wife. Nonetheless, and despite the birth of their daughter, the sexual attraction between them is exhausted shortly after their wedding. Victor is arrested by the repressive secret police (the Securitate), wrongly accused of espionage, and sentenced to prison and forced labor - the verdict constitutes a brutal end to all his projects and ideals. During his several-year-long confinement, at first in the Romanian version of the Gulag, then on a lead mine in the Northern Carpathians, he is divorced and forsaken by his wife, and hardens his character in order to survive. Eventually, he even manages to attack and kill one of the torturers engaged in his re-education (a crime which is successfully hidden from the authorities). Once released, Petrini has to start back from zero. He gets a job as pest controller (killing rats) and accommodates to a new, proletarian and suburban existence. A few years later, he manages to obtain employment as a bookkeeper in a state-owned company, where he meets Suzy, with whom he falls in love. Shortly after, in self-defence, he kills Suzy's ex-husband by throwing him out from a cable railway, and has to return to jail. |
6211896 | /m/0fx0tj | After Dark | Haruki Murakami | 2007-05 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Alienation, a recurring motif in the works of Murakami, is the central theme in this novel set in metropolitan Tokyo over the course of one night. Main characters include Mari, a 19-year-old student, who is spending the night reading in a Denny's. There she meets Takahashi, a trombone-playing student who loves Curtis Fuller's "Five Spot After Dark" song on Blues-ette; Takahashi knows Mari's sister Eri and insists that the group of them have hung out before. Meanwhile, Eri is in a deep sleep. Mari crosses ways with a retired female wrestler, now working as a manager in a love hotel (whom Takahashi knows and referred to Mari), a Chinese prostitute who has been beaten and stripped of everything in this same love hotel, and a sadistic computer expert. Parts of the story take place in a world between reality and dream. |
6216269 | /m/0fx886 | Mistborn: The Final Empire | Brandon Sanderson | 7/17/2006 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | In Luthadel, the capital city of the Final Empire, Vin, a scrawny street urchin, is recruited by a thieving group led by Kelsier, the Survivor of the pits of Hathsin, a place where atium, the most valuable metal in the world, is mined. He has a plan to steal the rumored atium stash from the Lord Ruler’s treasury and to free the oppressed Skaa in the process. When Vin learns that she is a Mistborn – a powerful Allomancer who can burn metals to gain special abilities (just like Kelsier) she becomes part of this scheme. Kelsier's thieving crew has other members: there are Misting – Ham, a Thug who can burn pewter, Breeze, a Soother who can burn brass, Clubs, a Smoker who burns Copper and Spook, a Tineye burning tin – and Dockson who has no special abilities but is a great administrator. Together they start working on a plan to overthrow the regime established by the evil Lord Ruler a thousand years ago. Marsh, Kelsier’s brother, infiltrates the Steel Ministry and Vin acts as Valette, cousin of Lord Renoux, to spy out what the nobility is doing. Vin falls in love with Elend Venture, the son of Lord Venture, an heir to House Venture. Kelsier manages to start a House War by assassinating powerful nobles, and Dockson, Ham and Breeze manage to recruit some seven thousand soldiers with which to attack the Luthadel garrison. However, Yeden, the man who originally hired the crew for the job, makes a foolish move leaving the army exposed and majority of it gets slaughtered. The rest covertly moves to Luthadel. House Renoux, the front for getting weapons, is compromised and Lord Renoux with his servants is to be executed. Kelsier and some of the remaining soldiers fight to save them, managing to free most of them. Kelsier is killed in the process, taking a Steel Inquisitor with him. Lord Renoux, who turns out to be a Kandra, a creature capable of changing its body-shape, consumes Kelsier’s body and is able to appear as an apparition to the Skaa. The whole population of Luthadel rises and defeats the garrison and the remaining noble houses. Meanwhile, Vin, armed with the eleventh metal, malatium, goes to the imperial palace, Kredik Shaw, to kill the Lord Ruler. She is captured by Kar, a brutal Steel Inquisitor and left in a cell to be tortured. Sazed, her faithful Terrisman servant, comes to her rescue. Being a Feruchemist, he manages to break his chains by strength stored in a piece of metal in his stomach, and then helps Vin to recover her possessions and a vial of metals. Vin attacks the Lord Ruler and Marsh, thought to be dead by the crew, rushes to aid her as a Steel Inquisitor. In a fierce fight Vin manages to separate the Lord Ruler from his bracelets that keep him from aging, thus making him age rapidly. Vin then rams a spear through the Lord Ruler’s heart. The Final Empire collapses. |
6216956 | /m/0fx9dv | The Ruins | Scott Smith | 7/18/2006 | {"/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Four American tourists—Eric, his girlfriend Stacy, her best friend Amy, and Amy's boyfriend Jeff, a medical student—are vacationing in Mexico. They befriend a German tourist named Mathias and a trio of hard-drinking Greeks who go by the Spanish nicknames Pablo, Juan, and Don Quixote. Mathias convinces Pablo and the Americans to accompany him as he joins up with his brother Heinrich who had followed a girl he'd met to an archeological dig. The six of them head down to the rural Yucatan in search of Heinrich. Near a Mayan village, they discover a disguised trail which leads to a large hill covered in vines and surrounded by bare earth. The group approach the hill, ignoring the warnings of a young boy who had followed them to the village. The boy soon returns with armed adults who force the group to stay on the vine-covered hill. Among the underbrush, they discover the body of Heinrich, already overgrown with vines. They realize that the vines contain an acidic sap that burns their hands after they pulled the vines away from Heinrich's body. At the top of the hill is a camp with tents, a campfire and windlass and rope which leads down a mine shaft. Much of the camp is overgrown with the same acidic vines. Hearing the ring of a cell phone from the bottom of the shaft, they use the rope to lower Pablo down in an attempt to retrieve it. However, the acid from the vines has weakened the rope which snaps, sending Pablo falling down the shaft. His back is broken and the group raises him on a makeshift backboard. Jeff, who quickly emerges as the most level-headed and action-oriented of the group, explores the hill and discovers that the Mayans have formed a perimeter around the entire hill, not approaching, but always watching him and ready to shoot them dead with bow and arrow. He also discovers a warning sign made by someone else, which has been pulled into the underbrush of vines. That night, Eric, who had received a wound on his leg while rescuing Pablo, awakes to find one of the vines curled around his leg and inserting itself in his wound. Jeff surmises that the Mayans are afraid of the vines. They salted the earth around the hill to prevent their spread and are now intent on killing anyone who strays onto the hill. Already, spores from the vines have embedded themselves in the group's clothes. He also realizes that they will die soon without any food or water. Jeff and Amy return to the mine shaft to find the cell phone. After almost falling into a pit, Jeff realizes that the cell phone noise is being made by the vines. The plants can imitate sounds made on the hill. As they climb back up, they hear the plants laughing at them. Eric becomes convinced that the vines have infested his body and attempts to cut himself to get them out. That night, he, Amy, and Stacey get drunk and nastily criticize everyone. Later, the vines repeat their criticisms, especially those of Jeff. Amy and Jeff fight and Amy leaves the tent drunkenly. Jeff ignores the sound of her vomiting, and calling his name. The next morning they discover that Amy is dead; the sounds they heard were of the vine suffocating her. They seal Amy's body in a sleeping bag, intending to bury her, but that night they hear her calling Jeff's name. Seeing the bag moving, they open it to discover it full of writhing vines which have eaten Amy's body. Jeff, taking advantage of a torrential rainstorm, heads down the hill and attempts to escape but is shot by the Mayans. The vines pull his body back into the underbrush. The next morning, Stacey and Matthias go to check on Jeff. Increasingly disturbed, Eric begins cutting himself in an effort to remove the vines which he believes have infested his body. Hearing the vines telling them that Eric is dead, Matthias and Stacey run back up the hill to find him bloody, but alive. Eric angrily confronts Matthias, and accidentally stabs the other man with his knife. He then asks Stacey to kill him which, after much pleading, she does. Alone, Stacey heads to the bottom of the hill and seats herself on the path leading to the top. She then calmly slits her wrists and waits to die so that her body will be a warning to anyone else who comes. As she loses consciousness, the vines reach out and pull her off the path into the underbrush. A few days later, the other two Greeks, with some Brazilian tourists in tow, find the trail. A little girl—who's acting as a sentinel, as the little boy on the bike was—runs back to the village, but the new tourists are already halfway up the hill, calling for Pablo, before the men on horseback arrive. |
6217080 | /m/0fx9lb | The Honorable Barbarian | L. Sprague de Camp | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | When Kerin, youngest son of Evor the Clockmaker and brother of Jorian, ex-king of Xylar, commits an indescretion with Adeliza, a neighbor's daughter, he is packed off on a hasty quest to uncover the secret of an advanced clock escapement for the family firm. A pragmatic, cautious sort, he preps for his journey with a crash course in useful skills — swordsmanship and foreign tongues, of course, but also lying and burglary. He is hampered and sometimes aided by the sprite Belinka, commissioned by the calculating Adeliza to ensure Kerin's faithfulness. Kerin's goal takes him east across the Inner Sea, the Sea of Sikhon and the Eastern Ocean to the empire of Kuromon, where he is promised the secret in return for a magical fan lost centuries before. It has the property of making whatever it is waved at disappear without a trace. Along the way he must contend with a treacherous sea captain and his suspicious navigator, the duplicitous sorcerer Pwana, and the pirate crew of Malgo, who has a grudge against Kerin's family. A more pleasant complication is Nogiri, a princess of the island empire of Salimor, whom Kerin has liberated (much to the displeasure of Belinka) from the pirates. Kerin returns her to Salimor only to lose her to the nefarious designs of Pwana, and a dire fate from which she can only be preserved by a daring rescue — on roller skates! Finally Kuromon is reached and negotiations are concluded satisfactorily, but only at the cost of an unexpected regime change by fan... |
6217454 | /m/0fxb0d | The Goblin Tower | L. Sprague de Camp | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Kingdom of Xylar, one of the twelve city-states of Novaria, has a peculiar custom for choosing its kings, each of whom serves for a five-year term. At the end of that period he is beheaded in the public square before an assembly of foreigners, and his head cast into the crowd. The man who catches the head is drafted as the next king. The latest beneficiary/victim of this arrangement is Jorian of Kortoli, a powerful and intelligent man who has trained extensively for a life of adventure, but who is hampered by garrulousness and a weakness for drink and women. Having served out his term as king in a reign characterized by both great accomplishments and increasing despair, he ultimately appears resigned to his fate, though in fact he is determined to cheat it. He successfully escapes his beheading with the aid of a Mulvanian magician, the saintly Dr. Karadur, who provides a spell granting physical access to the plane of the Novarian afterlife. This turns out to be our own world, in which the souls of Novarians are reincarnated. Jorian's brief excursion there is a satirical romp in which he is frightened by a passing giant truck, has a mutually uncomprehending encounter with a police officer in a patrol car, and is very glad to get back to the familiar dangers of his own world. These include an encounter with a homicidal wizard and his giant squirrel familiar, along with the succor of a distressed damsel who proves more trouble than she is worth. Linking back up with Karadur, Jorian is confronted with the price of the sorcerer's aid; securing for him the Kist of Avlen, a legendary repository of ancient magical manuscripts. The novel follows his adventures as he attempts to both fulfill his service and avoid the agents of Xylar, duty-bound to abduct him back to Xylar for the beheading ceremony. Jorian's quest takes him through much of the known world, including the exotic lands of Mulvan, Komilakh and Shven, before ultimately returning to Novaria. Included in his adventures' bill of fare are the rescue a consignment of maidens destined for the block from a fortress full of homicidal retired executioners, romancing the 500-year-old serpent princess serving as guardian of the Kist in order to steal it, matching wits with an unreliable and ineffectual god who appears to his worshipers in creams, escaping sacrifice by a horde of angry beast men to their tiger god, enslavement and sale by treacherous nomads, and abetting a revolution in the priest-ruled city-state of Tarxia, during which a huge frog statue is brought to life. The ultimate challenge comes at a great symposium of Karadur's guild of magicians hosted by the city-state of Metouro - the depiction of which provides de Camp with the opportunity to poke some fun at academic conferences and symposiums before getting on with the plot. The meeting is held in the fabled Goblin Tower, constructed from actual goblins transformed to stone. There Jorian becomes enmeshed in sorcerous politics as his patron Karadur naively presents the Kist of Avlen to the heads of his own faction, hoping thereby to advance its cause. Unfortunately, its use by these unscrupulous leaders cancels the spell binding the building's fabric together, freeing the goblins and bringing the tower crashing down. The protagonists escape but are left without resource. The outcome is particularly frustrating to Jorian; he had counted on Karadur's assistance in achieving his ultimate objective, the rescue from Xylar of Estrildis, his favorite among the wives he had as king, with whom he had hoped to settle down in peaceful obscurity in his home state of Kortoli. The end of the novel finds him starting from scratch to recoup his fortunes by telling stories on a street corner. |
6218362 | /m/0fxcjr | Star of the Sea | Joseph O'Connor | 1/1/2004 | null | The Star of the Sea of the title is a famine ship, making the journey from Ireland to New York. Aboard are hundreds of refugees, most of them with humble and desperate backgrounds. Key protagonists are David Merridith Lord Kingscourt, his wife Laura, their servant Mary, the ship's captain Josias Lockwood, a friendless Irishman named Pius Mulvey, and American journalist Grantley Dixon. The narrative of the novel follows multiple threads interwoven by the journalist character Dixon from documents such as diaries and letters, or from conversations/interviews with some of the principal characters or their relatives/descendants. The narrative partly follows the chronological course of the voyage, and for the intermediate or interposed parts consists of the meshed-in background lives of some of the emigrants & their relatives before they left Ireland (or England, or even after they arrived in the US). The novel departs from the usual formula of a murder mystery in that readers are vaguely informed of the identity of the murderer and the victim early in the novel, but the murder does not take place until the closing pages of the novel, and murder does not carry the full idea or sense of the killing. As the writer was clearly aware in choosing the name, the term "Star of the Sea" has deep roots in Catholic tradition. Our Lady, Star of the Sea - a translation of the Latin Stella Maris - is the Blessed Virgin Mary in her aspect as a guide and protector to those who work or travel on the sea and under which title she is venerated in many Catholic seaside communities. Indeed, in Dutch and other translations the book was given the title "Stella Maris". In 2008, London band Silvery released the song "Star of the Sea" on their debut album Thunderer & Excelsior on Blow Up Records, loosely following the narrative of the book. |
6218709 | /m/0fxc_j | The Pine Barrens | null | null | null | The Pine Barrens is composed of nine chapters, or installments. In "The Woods From Hog Wallow," McPhee introduces the Pine Barrens as the six hundred and fifty thousand acre, virgin forest reserve that dominates the southern half of New Jersey. The Pine Barrens region is sparsely populated at about 15 people/square mile, in contrast to New Jersey's average population density elsewhere of 1,000 people/square mile (the greatest in the US). Local residents, who inhabit mostly small forest towns amid vast stretches of wilderness, refer to the area as "pine belt," "the pinelands," or "the pines." In speaking to these locals - or "Pineys," a term which has contested connotations - McPhee claims that his interest in the untouched region stems from its proximity to major urban centers (i.e. Philadelphia and New York.) Burlington and Ocean County developed plans to construct a supersonic jet port, but these plans have never been executed - and most people (including "Pineys") believe that they never will be. The Pines Barrens host an underground reservoir of pure, untapped water. Loose, high-absorption soil makes the woods an ideal aquifer, while self-contained rivers prevent pollution from foreign water sources. Nevertheless, the aquifer's water table is notably shallow and therefore extremely easy to contaminate. McPhee meets Frederick Chambers Brown, a resident of Hag Wallow in the Pines and a widower with 7 children. Brown has no telephone and shows McPhee around the area throughout the series. Along with Brown, McPhee encounters Bill Wasovwich, a young man who grew up in the Pines. Wasovwich's familiarity with the complex trail system of the woodlands allows him to embark on long journeys that non-locals could never experience. In "Vanished Towns," McPhee explores the history of the Pines. The woods functioned as refuge for various dissociated social groups, such as the Tories during the American revolution and Quakers. Iron was a productive industry in the Pines for years during the nineteenth century, yet all that presently remains of the ironwork (which relocated, along with other heavy metal industries, to Pittsburgh) are small iron towns in the Pines, such as Batsto. In "The Separate World," McPhee describes the development of the Pines' reputation as a region of alleged savagery. Through the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, numerous magazine articles and reports (notably Elizabeth Kate's "The Piney," which depicted residents as drunk, illiterate, and incestuous half-animals) stigmatized the region's population as backward, nearly primitive, recluses. Although absurd images of hostile back-landers eventually disappeared from media representations, the term "piney" still possesses multiple connotations. Whereas some tourists still come to the region seeking strange, eccentric foresters that they refer to as "Pineys," locals also utilize the term to endearingly refer to their neighbors. Hence, most residents of the Pine Barrens, while recognizing the term's contested meanings, claim the term "Piney" as a respectful recognition of a long-term, like-minded local. McPhee describes the yearly cycle of natural yields in the Pines: in the spring, shpagnum moss; in the summer, blueberries, then cranberries; in the fall, berries off of vines; and in the winter, cordwood and charcoal. "Pineys" gather and sell these and other natural materials, allowing for self-sustainability without a longstanding nine-to-five job. This naturalistic sentiment is indicative of the cultural character of the Pines. In "The Air Tune," McPhee describes the popular storytelling practices in the Pines. Herbert N. Halpert collected Pine Barrens story in the 1930's and 40's, describing the legends as mostly European but featuring an overlapping of various regional traditions. Most famously, the Jersey Devil, or Leed's Devil, describes a half-bat, half-kangaroo that killed its human mother at age 4 and has been wandering around the Pine Barrens ever since; as with most Pine Barrens folk tales, there are numerous versions of the story. In "The Capital of the Pines," McPhee describes Chatworth, the principal community of the Pines, where roughly two-thirds of the residents 'live off the land' or work various odd jobs, such as highway workers or fire wardens. There is very little crime in the Pine Barrens, and police hardly bother with the region's residents, who are mostly loners and largely keep to themselves. Typically, crime is the work of outsiders, and the back roads of the region are notoriously difficult to navigate. In "The Turn of Events," McPhee details three noteworthy happenings in the Pines. First, the Chatsworth Fire of 1954 burned five hundred acres of land. Second, Emilio Carranza, a famous Mexican aviator, crashed in the Pines in 1928 while flying from New York to Mexico City; a yearly memorial is held in his memory at the site of the crash. Third, Italian prince Constantino di Ruspoli built a mansion in the Pines in 1927, when he married an American whose family owned property there. In "Fire in the Pines," McPhee explains the role of fires in the Pines. Nearly four hundred forest fires occur in the Pines every year; the pine trees require this fire in order to flourish. A sort of "natural selection" enables only two types of Pines, which put forth sprouts in response to fire, to grow in the area. The fires prevent the march of natural progression, so to speak, which would replace the pines with other trees, such as oaks or maples. The woods therefore remain perpetually "young" due to this "biological inertia." The region also attracts pyromaniacs: it seems that many people (including, on one occasion, a police officer of the Pines) cannot resist the urge to set the severely dry area ablaze. The Upper Plains of the Pines, which possess dwarf trees, whose incongruously small height remains a mystery to scientists, some of whom posit that the fires kill the trees' taproots but not their lateral ones, thus giving them a dwarf size. In "The Fox Handles the Day," McPhee discusses the environmental aspects and hunting practices of the area. Quaking bogs are virtually unique to the Pine Barrens, and the area's plant species resemble (though are not identical to) those of North Carolina's pinelands. Fox hunting is popular in the pines; hunters have their dogs chase down foxes, where after they release the foxes back into the forest. Deer hunting is also prevalent, as NJ hosts a high deer population. In "Vision," McPhee examines plans to develop the Pines. During the mid-nineteenth century, real estate speculators worked to develop the area, selling Pines land in major cities throughout the east coast. The most elaborate plan for the area was a supersonic jetport (the largest on Earth) and a new city, researched by the federal government and criticized by conservationists. Due to the spectrum of varied opinions about the project, McPhee predicts the Pines will not be dramatically changed any time soon. |
6219719 | /m/0fxfgj | Glory | Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov | 1932 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Martin Edelweiss grows up in pre-Revolutionary St. Petersburg. His grandfather Edelweiss had come to Russia from Switzerland, and was employed as a tutor, eventually marrying his youngest tutee. The watercolor image of a dense forest with a winding path hangs over Martin's crib and becomes a leading motif in his life. During Martin's upbringing, his parents get divorced. His father, whom he did not love not very, much soon dies. With the revolution, his mother Sofia takes Martin first to the Crimea, and then they leave Russia. On the ship to Athens, Martin is enchanted by and has his first romance with the beautiful, older poetess Alla, who is married. After Athens, Martin and his mother find refuge in Switzerland with his uncle Henry Edelweiss, who would eventually become Martin's stepfather. Martin goes to study at Cambridge and, on the way, stays with the Zilanov family in London; he is attracted to their 16-year-old daughter, Sonia. At Cambridge, he enjoys the wide academic offerings of the university and it takes him some time to choose a field. He is fascinated by Archibald Moon, who teaches Russian literature. He meets Darwin, a fellow student from England, who has a literary talent and history as a war hero. Darwin also becomes interested in Sonia, but she rejects his marriage proposal. Martin has a very brief affair with a waitress named Rose, who extorts Martin by faking a pregnancy, until Darwin unveiled her ruse and pays her off. Just before the end of their Cambridge days, Darwin and Martin engage in a boxing match. Martin does not settle down after Cambridge, to the dismay of his step-father/uncle Henry. He follows the Zilanovs to Berlin and meets the writer Bubnov. During this period, Martin and Sonia imagine the fantasy land of Zoorland, a northern country championing absolute equality. Sonia pushes Martin away, making him feel alienated among the group of friends he had in Berlin. He takes a train trip to the South of France. At some distance he sees some lights in the distance at night, mimicking an episode in his childhood. Martin gets off the train, and finds the village of Molignac. He stays there and works a while, identifying himself alternately as Swiss, German, and English, but never Russian. Getting another negative letter from Sonia, he returns to Switzerland. Picking up an emigre publication, Martin realizes that Bubnov has published something called Zoorland, - a betrayal by Sonia, who has become Bubnov's lover. In the Swiss mountains, he challenges himself to conquer a cliff, ostensibly as a form of training for his future exploits. It becomes clear that Martin has been planning on slipping over the border into Soviet Russia. He meets Gruzinov, a renowned espionage specialist, who knows how to secretly enter the Soviet Union. Gruzinov gives him information, but Martin questions how seriously he is being taken, making Gruzinov's information suspect. Preparing for this expedition, Martin says his farewells, first in Switzerland, then back to Berlin, where he meets first Sonia, then Bubnov, and then Darwin, who now works as a journalist. He tells Darwin the basics of his plan and enlists his assistance, giving him a series of four postcards to send his mother in Switzerland so she does not get suspicious. Darwin does not believe he is serious. Martin takes the train to Riga, planning to cross from there into the Soviet Union. After two weeks, Darwin gets nervous and follows his friend to Riga. However, Martin is nowhere to be found: he seems to have disappeared. Darwin takes his concerns to the Zilanovs, and then travels to Switzerland to inform Martin's mother of her son's disappearance. The novel ends with Martin's whereabouts unknown, and Darwin approaching the Edelweiss's house in Switzerland, to deliver the troubling news. |
6219743 | /m/0fxfjd | Troy: Shield of Thunder | null | null | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Helikaon, King of Dardania, and his unfulfilled love for Andromache, now wife of Hektor, continues to be the central theme of this novel. However, the story is dominated by two surviving Mykene warriors turned outlaws - Kalliades and Banokles—who flee the wrath of Agamemnon, rescue a mysterious woman Piria (who turns out to be a runaway priestess, whose real name is Kalliope, and a royal princess). The three are themselves rescued by Odysseus, whose past is gradually revealed. Odysseus, like other kings, is headed for Troy to participate in the wedding celebrations of Hektor and Andromache. In the meantime, Helikaon has been seriously wounded by the assassin Karpophorus and only gradually returns to health. Andromache approaches Hektor, seeking an end to their engagement, only to learn a closely guarded secret concerning his manhood. Her earlier visit to king Priam revealed a harsh truth, upon which she acts much later. By the last third of the book, Troy is at war with Agamemnon and his allies. The Greek battleplan is rather different from that in the Iliad but makes sense historically. (Perhaps Gemmell was inspired by Mithridates or the Greek-Persian wars.) What happens next is a stunning set of reverses engineered by long-term planning and long-concealed treachery. In the last book, Troy: Fall of Kings (published in August 2007; U.S. edition due in December), the war between the Trojans and the Greeks will come to its climax. it:L'ombra di Troia pl:Troja: Tarcza Gromu |
6220213 | /m/0fxg8r | Swordswoman Riding West on White Horse | Louis Cha | null | null | A young Han Chinese girl called Li Wenxiu loses her parents in the Gobi Desert while escaping from a group of bandits, who are after a map of the Gaochang labyrinth. Placed on a white steed, Li Wenxiu flees to Kazakh territory and is taken into the care of an elderly Han Chinese man called Old Man Ji. While growing up, Li Wenxiu meets a Kazakh boy named Su Pu and they gradually develop a romance. However Su Pu's father disapproves of the relationship between his son and a Han Chinese girl so they are forced to separate. Several years later, Li Wenxiu meets a hermit named Hua Hui in an oasis in the Gobi Desert and helps him cure his wounds. Hua Hui is grateful to her and accepts her as his student and teaches her martial arts. She returns home amidst heavy snow and sees that Su Pu, his father and his new lover are taking shelter inside her house. Unfortunately, Chen Dahai, the leader of the group of bandits who killed Li Wenxiu's parents, arrives at Li's home and suspects that the map they have been hunting for is inside the house. He proceeds to ransack the house for the map and eventually finds it. The secret of the map is revealed when blood is spilled onto the cloth. Chen Dahai wants to silence Su Pu and the others but is stopped by Li Wenxiu, who is in disguise as a Han Chinese man. Li Wenxiu defeats and wounds Chen Dahai. Chen Dahai flees with the map and finds his way to the labyrinth, while Li Wenxiu and Su Pu gather five others to join them in pursuit of Chen Dahai and the bandits. The seven of them make their way to the labyrinth but discover ordinary items associated with Han Chinese culture in place of treasure and riches. To their horror, they encounter a "ghost" who haunts them by killing their companions without leaving any traces. Just as they are about to flee, Su Pu learns that his lover has been kidnapped by the "ghost" and he tracks the "ghost" to its lair in the labyrinth, where he discovers that the "ghost" is actually a martial arts expert in disguise. The "ghost" tells his story and reveals that he was forced into exile and later betrayed by his former disciple, who is actually Old Man Ji. The "ghost" is the hermit Hua Hui, whom Li Wenxiu had saved earlier. More shockingly, Old Man Ji is revealed to be actually a man in his 30s disguised as a elderly man. Old Man Ji and Hua Hui start fighting each other. Li Wenxiu is shocked to realise that the two, who are close to her, are actually enemies. Hua Hui eventually dies in his futile attempt to kill everyone present at the scene. Upon leaving the labyrinth, Li Wenxiu hears the true story behind the items hidden in the labyrinth and its origins. She decides to leave the land for central China, feeling miserable after the loss of two of her loved ones and the marriage of her lover to another woman. |
6220222 | /m/0fxg92 | Blade-dance of the Two Lovers | Louis Cha | null | null | The story is set in the Qing Dynasty. A pair of precious blades known as the Mandarin Ducks Blades (鸳鸯刀) are being transported to the Forbidden City by an escort agency commissioned by provincial officials. The blades are said to hold the secret to invincibility, and thus become a highly sought-after artifact by jianghu pugilists. To ensure that the escort agency chief does not keep the blades for himself, the officials detain his family under the pretext of offering protection. Amidst attempts by various parties to seize the weapons, the blades fall eventually, through serendipity, into the hands of two couples: Yuan Guannan and Xiao Zhonghui; and Lin Yulong and Ren Feiyan, a pugilist couple with an infant who are forever bickering. They are defeated by a highly skilled imperial guard called Zhuo Tianxiong, who disguises himself as a blind man and hides in the convoy to protect the blades. Hunted by Zhuo Tianxiong, the couples are forced to seek refuge in a dilapidated temple. Out of desperation Lin Yulong and Ren Feiyan teach the younger couple Yuan Guannan and Xiao Zhonghui a type of swordplay known as the "Couple's Saber" (夫妻刀法). The saber movement covers the two partners' weaknesses while multiplying their combat lethality, making them virtually invincible. The couple defeat Zhuo Tianxiong with this new technique. Later, Yuan Guannan visits Xiao Zhonghui's manor during her father's 50th birthday party and receives a warm welcome. He meets Xiao Zhonghui's father Xiao Banhe, a respected martial artist, and Xiao's wives Madam Yang and Madam Yuan. At the dinner, Zhuo Tianxiong and his men show up to seize the blades. Concurrently another group of soldiers appear, but they were there for a different purpose. They denounce Xiao Banhe as a traitor to the emperor and proclaim that he is one of the government's most wanted renegades. Fighting their way out, the young couple's combined prowess is seriously compromised when it is revealed that Yuan Guannan is actually Madam Yuan's long-lost son, so that makes him a half brother of Xiao Zhonghui. The group takes refuge at a nearby cave while Xiao Banhe tells his story. Xiao Banhe reveals his true identity as a former anti-government resistance fighter who infiltrated the palace and became a eunuch. He met Yuan and Yang, two other resistance fighters who were imprisoned in the palace prison along with their families. Xiao Banhe rescued the widows and their children after their husbands were executed. While fleeing, Yuan's son was separated from Madam Yuan. Xiao Banhe took care of the widows and Yang's daughter and treated them as though they were his own family, pretending to be the widows' husband. Yuan Guannan and Xiao Zhonghui are therefore not related at all. Zhuo Tianxiong is coincidentally captured by the "Four Heroes of Taiyue" (four lucky and not-so-highly-skilled comical figures) and the soldiers retreat. Xiao Banhe reveals the blades' secret, which is an inscription - "the merciful are invincible" (仁者無敵). |
6220238 | /m/0fxgbg | Requiem of Ling Sing | Louis Cha | 1963 | {"/m/08322": "Wuxia"} | The plot centers on the experiences of the protagonist Di Yun, a simple and ordinary peasant from Xiangxi. He lives in the countryside for several years together with his martial arts teacher Qi Zhangfa and the latter's daughter Qi Fang, who is his sweetheart. One day, the three of them travel to the city to attend the birthday party of Wan Zhenshan, Qi Zhangfa's senior from the same martial arts sect. Di Yun runs into trouble as he is framed for larceny and attempted rape, and is arrested and imprisoned. Qi Zhangfa disappears mysteriously when Di Yun needs him the most. Wan Zhenshan's son Wan Gui bribes the magistrate to hand a heavy sentence to Di Yun to exaggerate the seriousness of Di's "crimes", while hypocritically playing the role of a good man by pretending to help Di in order to win Qi Fang's heart. Qi Fang becomes disappointed with Di Yun after believing that he is indeed guilty and gives up on him. With no one else to turn to, she eventually marries Wan Gui. Di Yun suffers in prison and is continuously harassed by Ding Dian, a fellow raving inmate who accuses him of being a spy and subjects him to constant physical beatings. However, after Di Yun attempts suicide, Ding Dian is finally convinced that Di is not a spy and they become close friends. Ding Dian tells Di Yun that he has obtained from an old man named Mei Niansheng the manual for the skill called Liancheng Swordplay, and has since become the target of many jianghu pugilists who are after the book. Ding Dian also teaches Di Yun a powerful inner energy skill that later proves to be a blessing for Di. Di Yu overhears the dirty secrets of his respected teacher Qi Zhangfa and his fellows, of how they murdered their teacher Mei Niansheng to seize possession of the Liancheng Swordplay manual. Di Yun and Ding Dian manage to break out from jail but Ding is fatally poisoned by Ling Tuisi, a heartless magistrate who is the father of Ding's late lover. Di Yun returns to Qi Fang's house and sees that Qi has conceived with Wan Gui a daughter nicknamed Kongxincai. He is depressed and emotionally hurt and escapes as a runaway convict. Di Yun soon arrives at a temple, where he encounters an evil cannibalistic monk called Baoxiang, whom he outwits and kills. He dons Baoxiang's robes and is mistaken by the Tibetan Blood Saber Sect's lascivious leader Grandmaster Xuedao as a grand disciple. Xuedao protects Di Yun from attackers from orthodox sects, and captures a girl named Shui Sheng, holding her as a hostage as they flee. They encounter an avalanche that causes them to be trapped a snowy valley in the Daxue Mountains during deep winter. Xuedao manages to kill three of their pursuers, one of whom is Shui Sheng's father. Meanwhile Xuedao becomes suspicious of Di Yun's identity and he attempts to kill the latter when Di's cover is blown. Unexpectedly, Xuedao's strike helps Di Yun channel his inner energy cycle and he dies at Di's hands instead. The last surviving pursuer Hua Tiegan reveals his true colours after Xuedao's death and resorts to cannibalism on his three dead companions in order to survive. While Di Yun, Shui Sheng and Hua Tiegan remain in the valley to wait for spring, Shui sees Di's kindness beneath his seeming misanthropy. When the three of them are finally able to leave the valley and meet up with other pugilists, Hua Tiegan accuses Di Yun and Shui Sheng of sexual immorality in front of Shui's fiance. Di Yun separates himself from Shui Sheng and continues on his lonely journey to vengeance. Di Yun tracks down the perpetrators responsible for his wrongful incarceration and learns that his teacher Qi Zhangfa is actually a scheming and ruthless villain, just as Ding Dian had told him. His first love Qi Fang is mercilessly killed by her husband Wan Gui when he suspects her of infidelity. As the story progresses, all the antagonists in the novel eventually locate the whereabouts of the Liancheng Swordplay manual in a temple. They start slaying each other over the treasure and all become insane after coming into contact with the deadly venom smeared on the jewels. After witnessing these beastly acts, especially Qi Fang's death, Di Yun becomes totally disillusioned with the dark nature and greed of humanity. He brings Qi Fang's daughter Kongxincai with him to the snowy valley and intends to lead a reclusive life there. To his surprise, he meets Shui Sheng, who has been faithfully waiting alone for his return. |
6221158 | /m/0fxht2 | Three Hearts and Three Lions | Poul Anderson | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Holger Carlsen is an Allied covert operative who assists the Danish Resistance to the Nazis. After an explosion, he finds himself carried to a parallel universe, which proves to have the Matter of France as its historical past. There he finds that the evil of Faerie is encroaching on humanity. His quest finally leads him to discover that he is Ogier the Dane, sent to this universe by Morgan le Fay, and to fight the battle that drives back the evil. This also thrusts him back into our world, in which he is able to ensure that Nazis can not stop a crucial escape from occupied Europe. At the end of the novel, he is seeking his way back in the other world, where he had fallen in love with a swan may. |
6224163 | /m/0fxn0s | The Clocks of Iraz | L. Sprague de Camp | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | In this sequel to The Goblin Tower, ex-king Jorian of Xylar and Dr. Karadur renew their alliance, with the latter offering to help the former recover his favorite wife Estrildis in return for a new service. Jorian is commissioned to repair the clocks in the Tower of Kumashar, the great lighthouse of Iraz, capital city of the empire of Penembei to the south of Novaria. The timepieces had originally been installed by Jorian's father Evor the Clockmaker, a renowned practitioner of that trade. Complications consist of a pair of competing prophecies regarding the fate of the city, Iraz's cut-throat politics and xenophobic racing factions (clearly based on those of the Byzantine Empire), and a perfect storm of enemies approaching the city, including the pirates of Algarth, a mercenary company from Novaria, the desert hordes of Fedirun, and a revolutionary peasant army. Topping these is the Emperor Ishbahar himself, who seems to think Jorian might make a good heir to dump the whole mess on... Jorian hardly needs to hear a new prophecy relating to himself—"beware the second crown"—to tread cautiously. It will take luck as well as cunning just to get out alive, let alone save the city and seize the forlorn hope of regaining Estrildis with the aid of Karadur's flying bathtub. The riots which dominate the last chapters of the book are evidently modeled on the Nika riots, a major event in the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. |
6225422 | /m/0fxpt1 | The Bladerunner | Alan E. Nourse | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/026ny": "Dystopia"} | The novel's protagonist is Billy Gimp, a man with a club foot who runs "blades" for Doc (Doctor John Long) as part of an illegal black market for medical services. The setting is a society where free, comprehensive medical treatment is available for anyone so long as they qualify for treatment under the Eugenics Laws. Preconditions for medical care include sterilization, and no legitimate medical care is available for anyone who does not qualify or does not wish to undergo the sterilization procedure (including children over the age of five). These conditions have created illegal medical services in which bladerunners supply black market medical supplies for underground practitioners, who generally go out at night to see patients and perform surgery. As an epidemic breaks out among the underclass, Billy must save the city from the plague hitting the rest of the city as well. |
6226217 | /m/0fxr03 | Bloodtide | null | null | {"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"} | This story takes place in the future, where London is a wasteland where two clans war. The two main characters of this story are twins Siggy and Signy. They are the children of Val Volson, leader of the largest territory that was once London. Val wishes for peace and believes the only way to do so is to unite London under one ruler. He offers his daughter Singy as Conor's wife, in order to show his complete commitment to the Treaty. Conor agrees and shows his trust, by visiting the Volson's territory. The visit goes as planned until a banquet is interrupted by an unusual guest. A believed spy, who was strung up by his ankle returns to life and shows it was not a one time trick, as he crashes down head first from thirty or so feet up. After returning to life for the second time he walks up and down the hall. He acknowledges only Siggy and Signy, before plunging a knife deep into a believed to be unbreakable substance. All others try, but no matter how hard they pull, the knife remains within the wall. But one person knows he is the chosen one. Siggy (who wishes for anything but the responsibility of leadership) removes the knife with ease, as his father acknowledges that it was a gift from Odin himself, blessing the treaty in his own way. Conor wishes to have the knife himself and asks Siggy, claiming that as the guest of honour he is entitled. But Siggy refuses, even going so far as to plunge it into wood. But Conor cannot remove it and laughs it off, before leaving with Signy. Signy is disappointed with Siggy for not giving the knife to Conor and heads to Conor's territory annoyed at her brother. Conor and Signy are very happy together and everything seems to be perfect. Although she is disappointed at being kept in a tower (which Conor assures her is for her own protection), she is still happy because she loves Conor. During a half-man hunt, Signy makes a shocking discovery. The half-men are not what they are reputed to be. After being cornered by a hyena-man, she is informed that Conor wishes to kill her family and claim London for his own. The hyena-man surprises her further by giving her a kitten named Cherry (who is said to have more than one shape), before leaping to the ground and meeting his end by Conor's convoy. After over a year within Conor's territory, her family come to visit. They come (as expected) heavily armed but are caught off guard by Conor's surprise attack. He has betrayed them. Val is killed and the three brothers are forced to surrender. The Volsons are taken to Conor's lair, being disrespected by the guards and townspeople as they go. After a few days of torture, Conor has them left out to die in the half-men lands. Their fate is to be dinner of a berserk pig who roams nearby. First Hadrian is eaten, then Ben. Before long only Siggy remains. Siggy wishes for death, but knows somehow that it is not to be. Meanwhile Signy (following being hamstrung under Conor's orders) discovers that her kitten Cherry is a shapeshifter. She informs her master that Siggy is still alive and in the hopes of pleasing Signy, rushes to his aide. Cherry helps him escape from the pig, before ensuring he is found by Melanie (another pig-woman). Melanie originally intends to sell him as a slave or at worst eat him. But she quickly begins to like Siggy and decides to help him recuperate. She helps his wounds heal and assists in his convalescence. Before long Siggy is back to normal and has struck up a deep friendship with Melanie. Meanwhile Signy has become bitter and twisted and begins to think of nothing but her revenge against Conor. Signy realizes that Conor desperately wants her to have a baby, but she does not want it to be his. Instead, Signy changes shapes with Cherry. She changes into a bird and goes to meet Siggy. She seduces him and has him bear her a child unknowingly. When Signy has the baby, she pretends to have it kidnapped and lets rebel troops clone it. The original baby is named Victor, and the cloned one is named Styr. The cloned one is given special features, making it stronger, faster, and designed for war. |
6227921 | /m/0fxt_c | O Guarany | José de Alencar | null | null | O Guarany is set back in 1604, a period when Portugal and its colonies submitted to Spanish dominion due to a lack of heirs to ascend to the throne. Alencar takes advantage of this dynastic complication to resurrect the historical figure of D. Antônio de Mariz, a nobleman connected to the foundation of the city of Rio de Janeiro and a pioneer settler. This historical (factual) background, which orients the novel throughout, is set in the first two chapters; then fantasy, both violent and erotic, starts to prevail. D. Antônio establishes himself in a deserted inland region, a few days’ travel from the seaside city of Rio. The land was granted to him through his services to the Portuguese crown, whose legitimacy the nobleman now distrusts. To be politically independent (if not economically) and keep to the Portuguese codes of honour, he builds a castle-like house to shelter his family in Brazilian soil where he lives like a feudal lord with his family and retainers. His family consists of his severe wife D. Lauriana, his angelic fair, blue-eyed daughter Cecília, his dandyish son D. Diogo and the ‘niece’ Isabel, a cabocla who is in fact his illegitimate daughter by an Indian woman. Other people are also attached to his household, a few loyal servants, forty adventurers/mercenaries kept for protection, the young nobleman Álvaro de Sá, an appropriate suitor for his lawful daughter Cecília, and Peri, an Indian of the Guaraní people, who once saved Cecy’s life (as the romantic/romanticised Indian endearingly calls Cecília) and who has since deserted his tribe and family. Peri is the hero who gives title to the book, he is treated as a friend by D. Antônio and Ceci and as a nuisance by Mrs. Mariz and Isabel. The life of the characters is altered by the arrival of the adventurer Loredano (former friar Angelo di Lucca) who insinuates himself into the house and soon starts subverting the other vassals, planning to kidnap Cecília and scheming against the house of Mariz; along with the accidental murder of an Aimoré Indian woman by D. Diogo. |
6228372 | /m/0fxvsp | The Third Eye | Mahtab Narsimhan | 1984-04 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The protagonist of The Third Eye is eighteen-year-old Karen Connors. While in high school, she began dating Tim, a popular classmate. For the first time, Karen begins to feel as though she is finally fitting in. Her mother is pleased that she is dating Tim, as she has always pushed Karen to fit in and be popular. Karen gets a job as a babysitter for the Zenner family, watching Stephanie and her older brother, Bobby. Bobby leaves to go and play with his friends, but doesn’t show up at lunchtime. Karen asks nearby families if they had seen him, and when they all reply they haven’t, she contacts the police. Officer Ronald Wilson arrived to question Karen, and the first thing she notices about him is that he has vivid blue eyes and seems much too young to be a police officer. Wilson does not seem too concerned about the disappearance, saying that Bobby was probably at a friend's house. Karen starts having visions of where Bobby is, seeing he is unconscious and stuck in a box. When Bobby's parents arrive home, Bobby is still missing. The policeman returns to the Zenner home. Karen realizes that the box she saw in her vision is the trunk of a car, and that the car is headed her way. She also realizes that the car she envisions belongs to her boyfriend, Tim. When he arrives to take her home, she confronts Tim, and they find Bobby in the trunk, unconscious, but alive. Afterward, Karen is asked by Officer Wilson if she would be willing to help locate a missing girl named Carla Sanchez. Going against her parents' wishes, Karen agrees to help. Officer Wilson drives Karen to Ms. Sanchez’s house that afternoon. Alone in Carla's bedroom, Karen picks up various items of clothing and toys in an attempt to receive a vision of Carla. After this approach fails, Karen and Officer Wilson leave the Sanchez residence. While in the car with Officer Wilson, Karen receives psychic messages, leading them to a riverbank. They find a pair of sandals and a bicycle that belong to Carla. Karen feels weak and nauseated. Karen then has a vision of the events that led up to Carla's death. Police later find her body in the river. Among the following events, Tim breaks up with Karen and graduates high school. That summer, Karen is hired at a daycare center. On her way to work one day, a lady pulls over and asks for directions to the daycare center. The woman offers Karen a ride, and Karen agrees. The lady driving the car says she is named Betty Smith. When Betty calls Karen by name, Karen becomes suspicious as she had not introduced herself Believing Betty has other intentions, Karen tries to escape from the car. The doors are locked. Betty drives her to an apartment where a guy named Jed ties her down and hits her head on a stove, knocking her out. After Jed and Betty leave, Karen is visited by a vision of a little girl that she feels compelled to protect. She cannot save her while she is unconscious, so she forces herself out of her slumber to find that she is bound and gagged in the apartment with nobody to save her. She has almost lost all hope when she sees the little girl again, who points to the smoke alarm. (The little girl still has yet to speak or show her face. She keeps her back turned to Karen, so she can only see her blonde hair.) Karen then uses her feet to start a fire, which triggers the fire alarm, getting the attention of the apartment manager. She then learns that Betty and Jed stole most of the babies at the daycare center. One of these babies was Officer Ron Wilson's nephew. Karen's mother wants her to leave on a vacation to San Francisco, but Karen decides to help Ron locate the missing babies instead. Karen and Ron visit psychic Anne Summers, who had been shot because she was closing in on the kidnappings. Luckily, she held up a bag of meat to slow down the shot, which would have hit her in the heart. Karen knows she is the only one who can help locate the children now. Karen then decides to help Ron, and envisions the children on the way to Colorado. Karen and Ron camp out at the state park, where she discovers she is falling in love with Ron. The next morning, they arrive at the house in which the babies are being held. They find out that Betty and Jed stole the babies to illegally sell them. Ron goes up to the house to try to get a look at the babies when Karen has a vision of a dog guarding the house. Ron was terrified of dogs, so Karen had to go warn him. As she gets to him, the dog attacks, Ron shoots him, and Karen screams. Jed then comes out and shoots Ron in the shoulder. They were taken inside, and Karen tries to keep Ron from losing much blood. Soon, the police come and rescue them both, returning all of the missing babies. Karen’s mother was the one who alerted the police, after receiving a vision. Karen's mother then tells her how she has always been psychic too, but does not want to be thought of as a freak, so she tried to hide it. She also reveals that she had never been popular and that her first date was with Karen’s father. She wants Karen to hide it as well and try to find someone to fall in love with her. She also explains that she had seen Karen in visions before she was born, and these visions saved her life twice. Karen then tells her mother that she will find someone who loves and accepts her just as she is, and that she intends to use this gift for the good. That night, Karen dreams of the little girl again, realizing that this is her future daughter. When she asked the girl who her daddy would be, the girl finally looked up, revealing vivid, beautiful blue eyes implying that Officer Ron Wilson would be her father and Karen's husband or partner. accept oneself. |
6230850 | /m/0fxzs7 | The Gigli Concert | Tom Murphy | null | null | The Gigli Concert deals with seven days in the relationship between Dynamatologist JPW King, a quack self-help therapist living in Dublin but born and brought up in England, and the mysterious Irishman, a construction millionaire who asks King to teach him how to sing like the Italian opera singer Beniamino Gigli. As King finds himself reluctantly drawn into to the Irishman's request it becomes clear that his subject is mentally unbalanced but, against all expectations, King finds himself able to heal the Irishman and, in the process, himself. Although he rises to the challenge and, indeed, becomes obsessed with it, the Irishman ends up ending the process, finding himself cured of his mental and emotional malady through King's kindness. Left alone, and discovering that his lover, Mona, is suffering from cancer, King tries to kill himself but, in a stunning coup de theatre, instead finds himself miraculously able to sing an aria of Gigli himself. The play ends with King waking up after his suicide attempt and realising that the world is somewhere he is willing to fight on in. |
6231400 | /m/0fx_q3 | La chamade | Françoise Sagan | 1965 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Like many of Sagan's novels, this is a story of lost love. A couple meet and move in together, but the woman cannot get used to his life, his working-class existence. She leaves her lover to return to her affair with a man of means. Ostensibly, she is rejecting her lover because she feels stifled by his position in society. But the class differences are metaphor for the quality of the love, with a woman deciding to be with a man who loves her for who she is rather than as an object of affection, merely the focus of a selfish love. She wants to be with the one who doesn't ask her to change. |
6234080 | /m/0fy439 | The Friendship | Mildred Taylor | 9/30/1987 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Mr. Tom Bee, an elderly black man, twice saved the life of a white storekeeper when he was a boy. The boy, John Wallace, was grateful and even allowed Mr. Bee to always call him by his first name. However, years later, Mr. Wallace does not allow Mr. Bee to call him John, while he and even his son call him Tom, which he can do nothing about. Their friendship is ultimately put to the test, which four black children witness. Later Mr. Tom Bee is shot by John Wallace. Mr. Tom Bee crawls away, cursing John Wallace and refusing to give up calling him John. |
6234866 | /m/0fy53x | Griffin and Sabine | null | null | {"/m/02ql9": "Epistolary novel"} | Griffin Moss is an artist living in London who makes postcards for a living. He is unhappy and lonely, though he is unaware of these feelings. His life is changed forever when he receives a cryptic postcard from Sabine Strohem, a woman he has never met. Like Griffin, she is an artist (she illustrates postage stamps) and comes from a fictional group of small islands in the South Pacific known as the Sicmon Islands (Arbah, Katie, Katin, Ta Fin, Quepol and Typ). The two begin to correspond regularly. Griffin comes to realize that he is in love with Sabine, who reciprocates his feelings, and that they are soulmates. However, his growing uncertainty as to Sabine's true nature and the changes her presence in his life has brought to him develops into fear and he ends up rejecting her offer for him to come see her in person. He comes to the conclusion that Sabine is a figment of his imagination, created from his own loneliness. It appears to be true until another postcard arrives from Sabine with an ominous promise that if he will not come to her, she will go to him. |
6238896 | /m/0fybzj | The Education of Little Tree | Forrest Carter | 1976 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The fictional memoirs of Forrest "The Education of Little Tree" Carter begin in the late 1920s when, as the protagonist, his parents die and he is given over into the care of his Cherokee grandparents at the age of five years. The book was originally to be called "Me and Grandpa," according to the book's introduction. The story centers on a clever child's relationship with his Scottish-Cherokee grandfather, a man named Wales (an overlap with Carter's other fiction). The boy's Cherokee Granpa and Cherokee "Granma" call him "Little Tree" and teach him about nature, farming, whiskey making, mountain life, society, love, and spirit by a combination of gentle guidance and encouragement of independent experience. The story takes place during the fifth to tenth years of the boy's life, as he comes to know his new home in a remote mountain hollow. Granpa runs a small moonshine operation during Prohibition. The grandparents and visitors to the hollow expose Little Tree to supposed Cherokee ways and "mountain people" values. Encounters with outsiders, including "the law," "politicians," "guv'mint," city "slickers," and "Christians" of various types add to Little Tree's lessons, each phrased and repeated in catchy ways. (One of the syntactic devices the book uses frequently is to end paragraphs with short statements of opinion starting with the word 'which,' such as "Which is reasonable.") The state eventually forces Little Tree into a Residential School, where he stays for a few months. At the school, Little Tree suffers from the prejudice and ignorance of the school's caretakers toward Indians and the natural world. Little Tree is rescued when his grandparents' Native American friend Willow John notices his unhappiness and demands Little Tree be withdrawn from the school. At the end, the book's pace speeds up dramatically and its detail decreases; Willow John and Granpa die natural deaths and Granma dies a peaceful death at home. Little Tree heads west and works briefly on various farms in exchange for food and shelter. The book ends after Little Tree's last companion, one of Granpa's hounds, dies. |
6245649 | /m/0fypwg | Kaleidoscope | Harry Turtledove | 1987 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"} | The story revolves around three sisters born to a French mother and an American GI father. The father kills the mother and then commits suicide. The story features the events of each girl's life. Separated after the death of their parents, each one is raised quite differently. They are later reunited by an estranged, family friend: the lawyer who placed them in the homes where they spent their childhoods. They later find out that he is part of the reason why their father killed their mother. fr:Kaléidoscope (roman) |
6245696 | /m/0fypyj | Letting Go | Philip Roth | 1962 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Gabe Wallach is a graduate student in literature at the University of Iowa and an ardent admirer of Henry James. Fearing that the intellectual demands of a life in literature might leave him cloistered, Gabe seeks solace in what he thinks of as "the world of feeling". Following the death of his mother at the opening of the novel, Gabe befriends his fellow graduate student Paul Herz. The Novel is divided into seven sections: 1. "Debts and Sorrows" Having served in the Korean War after college, Gabe Wallach is finishing his military service in Oklahoma when he receives a letter his mother wrote to him from her death bed. After reading the letter Wallach places it in The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. The narrative then skips forward to a year later when Wallach is working on a graduate degree in literature at the University of Iowa. Wallach loans his copy of The Portrait to a fellow graduate student, Paul Herz. Later Wallach realizes that he left the letter from his mother in the pages of the book and in his attempt to retrieve the book he meets Paul's wife, Libby. Gabe learns from Libby that Paul is teaching classes at another school and realizes how poor the Herz's are. He drives Libby to where Paul's car has broken down on a trip from this second school and witnesses the first of many arguments between Paul and Libby. Libby also reveals to Gabe that she read the letter from his mother and this is the beginning of the several instances where they begin to imagine the life of the other and believe that they understand it completely based on very little actual evidence. During this opening section, Gabe also communicates with his father. Gabe, as narrator, paints his father as a week and needy man although he is a successful dentist in New York. During phone conversations Gabe's father nearly begs him to return home and questions his son about why he would go so far from New York to graduate school. Alone with a very sick Libby, Gabe kisses her once. Gabe also has a relationship with Marge Howells, an undergraduate from a well to do WASP family who is openly rebelling from her parents. While Gabe is in New York visiting his father, he asks Paul to help move Marge out of his apartment. 2. "Paul Loves Libby" In section two, Roth tells the story of Paul and Libby's courtship and the early years of their marriage. They meet while both of them are students at Cornell. Paul is the only child of Jewish parents in Brooklyn. Paul's father has failed at a number of businesses but Paul is recognized as a smart and gifted child. Libby is the child of Catholic parents. Neither Paul nor Libby is very serious about their religious backgrounds and have no problem courting each other because of it; however, both sets of parents are upset by this. Over Christmas break Paul tells his parents about the engagement. They react poorly and end up convincing Paul to speak with his two uncles. One of them, his Uncle Asher is a lifelong bachelor whom most of the family pities because they don't think he can find someone to marry. Paul, however, learns that Asher just does not want to be married. Asher has had a long series of sexual encounters while single and has no desire to be married. The blunt language of Asher is the first, and perhaps the most dominant, example in this novel of the frank sexual dialogue and discussion that Roth would later become renowned and notorious for. Faced with many conflicting opinions, none of which he really wants to listen to, Paul decides to go ahead and elope with Libby on Christmas Eve. Soon after their marriage, the couple learns that Libby's father will no longer support her. Eventually they end up in Michigan, both taking a break from school while they work to save up money. They live in a small room in a boarding house mostly occupied by seniors. Libby becomes pregnant and at work one day, Paul hurts himself in the factory. He tells the factory doctor that his mind was distracted by his pregnant wife. The doctor responds by giving him the name and number of a doctor who will perform abortions. After much discussion and a few arguments, Libby gets an abortion. 3. "The Power of Thanksgiving" 4. "Three Women" 5. "Children and Men" 6. "The Mad Crusader" 7. "Letting Go." |
6250918 | /m/0fyygn | Dogsbody | Diana Wynne Jones | 1975 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The main action of this novel is framed as follows. Sirius, the Dog Star, has been falsely convicted of murdering a fellow "luminary" and of losing the Zoi, an extremely dangerous weapon that he has allowed to fall to a minor planet. He is sentenced to spend one lifetime in the form of dog, an animal native to this planet: if he can recover the Zoi within that dog's lifetime, he will be allowed to return to his former status as Sirius. If he does not, he will simply die at the end of his dog's life. Sirius accepts the sentence and is born into a litter of supposedly Labrador puppies. Revealed as mongrels, the puppies are thrown into the river in a sack. This is just the beginning of Sirius's problems. Although adopted by the loving Kathleen, he learns that she is "low dog" everywhere because she is Irish. Struggling with his limitations as a dog and his perceptions as a star, coping with the bigotry in the household, trying simply to get out on the street so he can begin his search for the Zoi, Sirius is battered by one setback after another. How he -- with help from Kathleen, another star, and his own quick wits -- uses his canine and stellar wisdom to track the lost weapon, is an intricate and intriguing tale. Many references are made to mythology, particularly Welsh mythology in the appearance and actions of the dogs (see Cŵn Annwn) and several later characters such as Arawn. |
6253435 | /m/0fz15c | Dance Hall of the Dead | Tony Hillerman | null | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | When a young Zuni boy and his Navajo friend go missing, Lieutenant Leaphorn is called in by the Zuni Tribal Police to search for George Bowlegs, the missing Navajo boy. When Ernesto Cata, Bowlegs' Zuni friend, is found murdered, the search for Bowlegs takes on even greater significance. |
6253935 | /m/0fz1zj | Chosen of the Gods | Chris Pierson | 2001-11 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Cathan is called back to his house to discover that his brother has died of the Longosai, a plague, and that he and Wentha are the only remaining members of their clan. Having prayed to Paladine every day to heal his brother, he rips down the symbol of Paladine from the wall of their house, since Paladine didn't answer his requests. Having no family left except for his sister, Wentha, he joins some bandits led by Baron Tavarre. Baron Tavarre gained an intense hate of clerists after a loved member of his family died, because the clerists in Istar wouldn't help him. However, he is not the only one that feels that way, as many other bandits joined only after their family died of the Longosai because the clerists ignored them. This hate influences the actions of Cathan, when on a rainy day they ambush a fat clergyman heading for Govinna with a tarp against the rain held by his guards. Cathan slings a piece of the symbol of Paladine at the clerist, knocking him out. The bandits quickly disarm the guards, and Cathan, seeing the fat and richly robed clergymen feels disgust, and so kicks him, earning himself a reprimand from Lord Tavarre, as he is now called. Meanwhile in Istar, the Kingpriest of Istar, Symeon IV, calls a meeting of his most trusted advisers, and to break the news that Kurnos the Ursurper is going to become his heir once he dies, as he has seen portents of his death. He and his advisers also debate whether do send the Imperial Army against bandits who attacked the clergymen, but Ilista, First Daughter of Paladine, and Loralon, emissary of the elves, counsel against it. The Kingpriest then adjourns the meeting to meditate. That night, Ilista has dreams of a Lightbringer, so she asks for the approval of the Kingpriest, and then with his approval sets out. Later in the day, during a game of khas with Kurnos, Symeon falls over unconscious. Kurnos then hears a dark voice in his head; "Let him die." Unknown to him at the time, the voice came from Fistandantilus. Kurnos refuses to listen to it and calls for help. After returning to their bandit camp, Cathan is called back to his village, where he finds out that Wentha has caught the Longosai. He leaves her in the care of Widow Fendrilla almost as soon as he arrives, desiring even more revenge against the clergymen. After returning, he learns that they have united with other bandits and plan to attack Govinna, the only walled city in the highlands. The bandits split up into groups, and enter Govinna undetected. Cathan is told to guard an alley, but he really wants to be part of the fighting. However, he remains at his post. Meanwhile, the rest of the bandits quickly capture the city, but Durinen, the Little Emperor of the highlands escapes. Durinen emerges through a secret tunnel close to where Cathan is posted, and so is captured and placed under house arrest. Back in Istar, Kurnos learns that Symeon will most likely live until the fall, which he feels is too long a wait. Fistandantilus offers his aid, and so Kurnos reluctantly accepts it, in the form of a demon, Sathira, bound within a ring. Kurnos tells Sathira to kill Symeon in a "natural way", and so Kurnos is crowned Kingpriest soon after. Ilista searches far and wide, however does not find any sign of the Lightbringer. Soon, she begins to doubt herself, and begins to consider turning back until she receives a message telling her to go to an abandoned monastery, where she will find the Lightbringer. On the way to the monastery, she is attacked by evil monsters, but is rescued by a humble monk, Brother Beldyn, who will become known to the world as "the Lightbringer." With the Lightbringer, she sets back out for Istar, taking an overland route through the highlands. However, unbeknownst to her and her party, the highlands have been taken over by the bandits. Just after setting out, she, her guards, and the Lightbringer are capture by the bandits. A guard was mortally injured in the battle, and Beldyn pleads with the bandits to allow him to heal the guard. The bandits reluctantly agree, and Beldyn manages to heal the guard. With a healing miracle in their midst, the bandits quickly support the Lightbringer, and pleading with him to heal their friends, family, and villages. Cathan is among the others that beg for healing, and luckily manages to have him heal his sister. After arriving in their village, Beldyn not only heals his sister, but everyone in the village too. Cathan then swears allegiance to Beldinas. In Istar, Kurnos learns of the capture of Govinna, and that Ilista found the Lightbringer. However, instead of accepting Beldinas, he feels threatened, deciding to send Sathira to kill him. He also sends the Imperial Army, or the Scatas, to kill the bandits. Durinen attempts to commit suicide, ending up with a mortal wound; however, Beldyn manages to heal him, convincing the Little Emperor that Beldyn is the true Kingpriest. The Little Emperor then reveals the location of the Crown of Power, an artifact that allows the wielder to claim the mantle of Kingpriest, and that has been lost since the time of Pradian. Unluckily, before Durinen finishes, Sathira arrives and slays the Little Empire; however he is banished back to the gem by Ilista's sacrifice and death. Everyone in the city mourns for Ilista, as she was unlike the other high clergy — she actually helped the people during her stay. Also, during this time, the Imperial Army reaches Govinna and camps right outside the city. This sets plans into motion as Beldyn and Cathan go into underground catacombs in an attempt to retrieve Crown of Power. Cathan emerges later with the crown, but Beldyn is in a coma and cannot be woken. Meanwhile, the situation becomes more dire, as the defenders of Govinna are deserting in the face of the Imperial scatas. Soon, the scatas make their move, and the fight for the city begins. However Beldyn still has not awoken. Cathan prays to Paladine, and the ghost of Pradian, the would-be emperor who hid the crown, appears. Cathan forces Pradian to wake Beldyn, as Pradian does not want to see the crown in the hands of Kurnos, and so Cathan and Beldyn join the fight. In a surprising move, Beldyn breaks the gates of Govinna to let the scatas in. Then, to convince the scatas of his power, Beldyn has Cathan crown him with the Miceram, the Crown of Power, but Sathira appears and lunges for Brother Beldyn. Cathan pushes Beldyn away, and manages to wound Sathira with the pieces of his symbol of Paladine, giving Beldyn time to banish Sathira. Beldyn then puts on the Crown of Power, resulting in a cleansing wave of power spreading through the city. The Scatas realize the power, and swear allegiance to Beldyn. Later, Beldyn and his newfound army march to Istar, to oust Kurnos. Back in Istar, the heads of the temples receive word of the approaching army, and Beldyn's holy powers, and begin to send votes of "no support" to Kurnos. That night, Fistandantilus replaces Sathira with a killing spell, instructing Kurnos to use it to kill Beldinas. The next day, Kurnos surrenders without a fight, and when he pretends to beg for forgiveness, he uses the ring on Beldinas. Cathan realizes Kurnos's intent, and jumps in front of Beldinas, saving his life, but dies. However, Beldinas calls on Paladine to resurrect Cathan, and Paladine answers. Cathan is resurrected and Kurnos is thrown into a dungeon, while Beldinas debates what to do with him. However, that night Fistandantilus arrives in Kurnos's cell and unleashes Sathira on Kurnos, letting her kill and mutilate him. When Sathira is done, Fistandantilus uses magic so that Kurnos looks like he died naturally. |
6253992 | /m/0fz218 | Bard: The Odyssey Of the Irish | Morgan Llywelyn | 1984 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Official tagline: "The sweeping historical tale of the coming of the Irish to Ireland, and of the men and women who made the Emerald Isle their own." In the 4th century BC a group of Celts living in the north-west of Iberia, the Galicians, are waning in prosperity. A group of Phoenician traders unexpectedly arrives, and gives hope to the tribe. The story follows Amergin, druid and chief bard of the Galicians, and his brothers; Éremón, Colptha, Éber Finn, Donn, and Ír - all sons of Milesios. After years of declining prosperity, the Gaelicians hope that the Phoenician traders, led by Age-Nor, will help bring them back. Unfortunately, neither side has anything of much worth to trade. At a reception in the Heroes' Hall, Age-Nor is attacked by Ír, while Milesios is asleep and unaware. Amergin uses his bardic talent to entrance Ír, thus saving Age-Nor. Later in the novel, Age-Nor rewards Amergin, despite the bard's vehement protests, by giving him a servant, a shipwright named Sakkar, and regaling him with a tale of a fabled land to the north, Ierne. After a series of mishaps and bad decisions, it is eventually decided that a group of the Gaelicians, led by the Sons of the Mil, will settle this land. The tribe builds a series of ships with the help of Sakkar, and set sail. When they arrive on Ierne, they are confronted by the mysterious Tuatha Dé Danann, People of the Goddess Danu. After a battle, the Dananns vanish with no trace, leaving Ierne for the Milesians. it:L'epopea di Amergin, il bardo gaelico che conquistò l'Irlanda |
6254794 | /m/0fz33h | The Hoboken Chicken Emergency | Daniel Pinkwater | 1977 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | The main character, Arthur, is asked to pick up a bird for Thanksgiving dinner, so he brings home a 266-pound chicken named Henrietta. The family welcome her with open arms, but the neighbors are not so sure and then Henrietta escapes. Everyone in town is horrified and screams at Henrietta. |
6255302 | /m/0fz3zx | Pedagogy of the Oppressed | Paulo Freire | 1968 | null | Translated into several languages, most editions of Pedagogy of the Oppressed contain at least one introduction/foreword, a preface, and four chapters. The first chapter explores how oppression has been justified and how it is overcome through a mutual process between the "oppressor" and the "oppressed" (oppressors-oppressed distinction). Examining how the balance of power between the colonizer and the colonized remains relatively stable, Freire admits that the powerless in society can be frightened of freedom. He writes, "Freedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift. It must be pursued constantly and responsibly. Freedom is not an ideal located outside of man; nor is it an idea which becomes myth. It is rather the indispensable condition for the quest for human completion". (47) According to Freire, freedom will be the result of praxis — informed action — when a balance between theory and practice is achieved. The second chapter examines the "banking" approach to education — a metaphor used by Freire that suggests students are considered empty bank accounts that should remain open to deposits made by the teacher. Freire rejects the "banking" approach, claiming it results in the dehumanization of both the students and the teachers. In addition, he argues the banking approach stimulates oppressive attitudes and practices in society. Instead, Freire advocates for a more world-mediated, mutual approach to education that considers people incomplete. According to Freire, this "authentic" approach to education must allow people to be aware of their incompleteness and strive to be more fully human. This attempt to use education as a means of consciously shaping the person and the society is called conscientization, a term first coined by Freire in this book. The third chapter developed the use of the term limit-situation with regards to dimensions of human praxis. This is in line with the Alvaro Viera Pinto's use of the word/idea in his "Consciencia Realidad Nacional" which Freire contends is "using the concept without the pessimistic character originally found in Jaspers" (Note 15, Chapter 3) in reference to Karl Jaspers's notion of 'Grenzsituationen'. The last chapter proposes dialogics as an instrument to free the colonized, through the use of cooperation, unity, organization and cultural synthesis (overcoming problems in society to liberate human beings). This is in contrast to antidialogics which use conquest, manipulation, cultural invasion, and the concept of divide and rule. Freire suggests that populist dialogue is a necessity to revolution; that impeding dialogue dehumanizes and supports the status quo. This is but one example of the dichotomies Freire identifies in the book. Others include the student-teacher dichotomy and the colonizer-colonized dichotomy. |
6257377 | /m/0fz75c | Bones of the Earth | Michael Swanwick | 2002 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | Paleontologist Richard Leyster has reached the pinnacle of his profession: a position with the Smithsonian Museum plus a groundbreaking dinosaur fossil site he can research, publish on, and learn from for years to come. There is nothing that could lure him away - until a disturbingly secretive stranger named Harry Griffin enters Leyster's office with an ice cooler and a job offer. In the cooler is the head of a freshly killed stegosaurus. Griffin has been entrusted with an extraordinary gift; an impossible technology on loan to humanity for an undisclosed purpose from beings known to a select few as the Unchanging. The only stipulation being is not to alter recorded history. If the taboo is broken, the contract becomes null and void. Time travel has become a reality millions of years before it rationally could be. With it, Richard Leyster and his colleagues make their most cherished fantasies come true. They study dinosaurs up close, in their own time and environment. Also, individual lives have the freedom to turn back on themselves. People meet, shake hands, and converse with their younger or older versions at various crossroads in time. One wrong word, a single misguided act, could be disastrous to the project and to the world. Griffin's job is to make sure everything that is supposed to happen does happen, no matter who is destined to be hurt... or die. And then there's Dr. Gertrude Salley - passionate, fearless, and brutally ambitious - a genius rebel in the tight community of "bone men" and women. Alternately, both Leyster's and Griffin's chief rival, trusted colleague, despised nemesis, and inscrutable lover at various junctures throughout time, Salley is relentlessly driven to tamper with the working mechanisms of natural law, audaciously trespassing in forbidden areas, pushing paradox to the edge no matter what the consequences may be. And, when they concern the largest, most savage creatures that ever lived, the consequences become terrifying indeed, resulting in a team of "bone men" becoming stranded for two years in the Mesozoic Era. Apart from failed attempts to rescue the team from the past, slowly, something begins to happen. The temporal mechanics are altered in such a way that two time streams emerge. The first focuses on the struggling team in the Mesozoic's Maastrichtian Age, some 65 millions years ago. In the far future, in what will be known as the Telezoic Era, a younger version of Gertrude Salley meets an older version of herself - the one who was responsible for the split in the timeline - now happily living in the center of the new supercontinent of Ultima Pangea. There, they also finally meet the mysterious benefactors known as the Unchanging, who are actually an evolved avian species that inherited the Earth upon the extinction of the human race. Preparing to beg the Unchanging not to shut down the whole enterprise of time travel and the sciences based upon it, Gertrude also discovers their apparent fascination with humanity and that their gift of time travel was simply a means to study the human race in their own right. She also realizes the difficulty in the ability of the incomprehensible far-future species to forgive, for incomprehensible reasons, the creation of a deeply dangerous timeline anomaly back in the 21st century. However, interestingly, the team trapped in the Maastrichtian Age makes a remarkable discovery. One of the team members arrives at a genuinely unique explanation for the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. They had already determined that predator dinosaurs farm and ranch their prey, singing infrasound commands that lead their ultimate prey to green pastures. One of the team speculated that dinosaur migration might be similarly controlled by the song of the Earth, the song of tectonic plates shifting in the crust of the planet. And the possibility of the Chicxulub meteor having been so great as to detune the song of the Earth for a decade or a century, deafening the dinosaurs so they could not migrate, causing them to starve. In the end, the Unchanging decide to retroactively remove the time travel science from human hands, thereby rendering all of the events up to that point irrelevant. But, out of the ashes of this paradox, its tangles and attenuations mercifully forgotten, a love of the world is retained - a deep unselfish love of learning the world and all its creatures. |
6257787 | /m/0fz86q | The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole | Sue Townsend | 8/2/1984 | {"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Adrian Mole is an outsider who feels the reason he can't quite fit in with "regular" society is that he is an intellectual. Evidence from his diary entries include a precocious interest in literature, in left-wing politics, a desire to have his own poetry show on the BBC, his dislike of Margaret Thatcher and his frequent critiques of his less-refined schoolmates and family. Adrian's dysfunctional family, as in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, is one of the focal points of the book. While Adrian's entries are full of humour, sarcasm and irony, they still speak to a great deal of confusion and disillusionment with the dysfunctional relationships of his parents. Sometimes Adrian's diary entries show him to be naive; other times they are very candid; and other times they are full of self-pity. As an only child (at least as the book begins), Adrian has a tendency to look at all problems from a selfish point of view, yet he seems to have a real compassion for the members of his family. While most people might not have the same loquacity as young Adrian, and others might not have the same level of dysfunction in their families, these entries are recorded in such a way that it becomes easy to empathise with the young writer. This book also builds on its predecessor by continuing the storyline of Adrian's growing frustration with his body. He constantly writes about the "spots" that mar his complexion, and he also has self-esteem issues about his height and muscular maturity. While Adrian seems a bit self-centred in some aspects of life (and it is hard not to seem this way when writing a diary), he also is more compassionate than the average young man. He is the only friend and frequent caretaker of the OAP Bert Baxter, and also shows a great deal of concern and compassion for the misfortunes of his parents and respect for the authority of his grandmother. it:Fuori di zucca pt:The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole |
6258044 | /m/0fz8t0 | Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years | Sue Townsend | 10/14/1999 | {"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"} | Adrian is the Head Chef in a top Soho restaurant, and currently lives in the upstairs room of the restaurant; the rest of his family live in Leicester. He is estranged from his wife Jo Jo, a Nigerian woman who has returned to her home country following their separation, and they are in the middle of a divorce. The real love of Adrian's life is, as ever, Pandora, who is now standing for Labour MP of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Pandora's full name is revealed as Pandora Louise Elizabeth Braithwaite in the novel. Adrian's father has no job, his mother is suspected of being involved with Pandora's father physically, his sister, Rosie, is a victim of culture - piercings, unprotected sex etc. and as a result gets pregnant and decides to have an abortion. Adrian also has a son with Jo Jo, William, who is three and idolises Jeremy Clarkson. Pandora becomes a Labour MP, Adrian gets offered a job as a TV chef, and accepts when he hears the pay. Adrian does the TV shows, but gets upstaged by his co-host, Dev Singh. Adrian gets sacked from the restaurant, as it is being turned into an oxygen bar and then moves home to live with his family. Pandora's father moves in with Adrian's mother, with whom he is having an affair, and Adrian's father moves in with Pandora's mother. Adrian's father and Pandora's mother then start an affair. Adrian is commissioned to write a book to go with the TV show, but fails, and is facing lifetime debt, but luckily, his mother writes it for him. Adrian discovers he is father to another son, the disruptive Glenn Bott. Archie Tait, a geriatric with whom Adrian is acquainted, dies and leaves Adrian his house. Adrian, William and Glenn move in together. Adrian then employs a (mentally unstable) special needs teacher for Glenn, Eleanor Flood, who becomes infatuated with Adrian but did not attract Adrian at all and ultimately sets fire to Archie's old house, after Pandora spends a night there. The uninsured house is completely destroyed, leaving him and his sons homeless. One of the few things recovered from the wreckage of the house is Glenn's diary, containing pages idolising Adrian. |
6263825 | /m/0fzkb7 | Land of Unreason | Fletcher Pratt | 1942 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Fred Barber, an American staying as a guest in an English country home during World War II, consumes a bowl of milk left as an offering for the fairies, substituting liquor in its place. The rightful recipient of the offering, drunk and offended at the substitution, takes vengeance by kidnapping Barber off to the Land of Faerie as a changeling, a fate normally reserved for infants. He finds Faerie beset by a menace echoing the war in his own world. Trapped in a magical realm where rationality as he knows it is turned upside-down and failure to follow the rules can have dire consequences, Barber undertakes a quest in the service of Oberon, the fairy king, in order to be returned to his own world. The outcome, befitting a realm in which nothing is as expected, is one that neither he nor the reader anticipates, for Fred Barber is not quite the man he thinks he is... |
6266783 | /m/0fzqbb | The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" | William Hope Hodgson | 1907 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The novel The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" starts in the middle of an adventure. The subtitle reads: Being an account of their Adventures in the Strange places of the Earth, after the foundering of the good ship Glen Carrig through striking upon a hidden rock in the unknown seas to the Southward. As told by John Winterstraw, Gent., to his Son James Winterstraw, in the year 1757, and by him committed very properly and legibly to manuscript. We learn nothing else from the text about what happened to the "Glen Carrig," its captain, or any of the other people aboard the ship. The text begins: Now we had been five days in the boats, and in all this time made no discovering of land. Then upon the morning of the sixth day came there a cry from the bo'sun, who had the command of the lifeboat, that there was something which might be land afar upon our larboard bow; but it was very low lying, and none could tell whether it was land or but a morning cloud. Yet, because there was the beginning of hope within our hearts, we pulled wearily towards it, and thus, in about an hour, discovered it to be indeed the coast of some flat country. The narrator calls this dismal, muddy place the "land of lonesomeness." The men paddle the two lifeboats up a creek. The air is filled with strange cries and growls. They come across an abandoned ship, and climbing aboard, discover food. The ship appears to have been evacuated in haste, with coins and clothing left behind. While spending the night aboard the ship, the survivors are attacked by a strange tentacled creature. They find troubling notes left by a female passenger aboard the ship, one of which makes reference to a nearby spring. The men locate the spring, but after filling their water containers, they discover horrifying plants that have taken on human shapes, and which produce blood-curdling cries. The survivors quickly flee and head back out to sea. Floating on the open sea, the survivors confront a tremendous storm. The second boat becomes separated from the first, although the narrator reveals that those aboard will eventually make it back to London. The story now concentrates entirely on the survivors in the first boat. The men set up a canvas covering to shield the boat from breaking waves and a "sea anchor" which keeps the boat perpendicular to the waves. The storm is a long ordeal, but the boat and the men come through unscathed. After surviving the storm, the men encounter giant, floating masses of seaweed, and enormous crabs. They pass a number of lost, ancient vessels in this Sargasso Sea, which the narrator calls the "cemetery of the oceans." After encountering giant crabs and a weird humanoid creature they locate a habitable island. While the men explore, young seaman Job remains in the boat, and is attacked by a giant "devil-fish" (an enormous octopus). Job is struck with an oar and gravely injured. The bo'sun bravely risks his life to bring Job ashore, but Job remains unconscious. The narrator discovers that the boat is badly damaged, and it must be repaired before it can be used again. Things become difficult for the men on the island. The narrator is attacked in his sleep by some kind of tentacled creature, which leaves marks on his throat. The unconscious Job is discovered missing, and a frantic search is carried out. His dead body is discovered in the valley, drained of blood. The men, filled with rage, burn down the island's forest of giant toadstools, the flames lasting through the night. In the morning, they bury Job on the beach. The bo'sun grimly starts making his repairs to the boat, using wood recovered from another wrecked ship. Ascending to the highest point of the island, the men find that they are quite near to a ship embedded in the weed, and while keeping watch they see a light aboard the ship. Those aboard the ship have built a protective superstructure, which can be closed to resist attacks by the creatures that inhabit the "weed-continent." The men manage to establish contact with the crew using words written on large pieces of canvas, and begin planning strategies to rescue the people aboard. The evenings on the island get progressively worse. The men are attacked repeatedly by hideous, foul-smelling, tentacled humanoid creatures that swarm over the island in the dark; these can only be kept at bay with huge bonfires. The narrator and several other men are injured in an attack. A seaman named Tomkins goes missing, and Job's body disappears from his grave, evidently removed by the ghoulish "weed-men." Although in dire straits themselves, the men on the island retain a strong desire to aid those aboard the ship trapped in the seaweed. Coastal life-saving operations historically could use a small mortar (later known as a "Lyle gun") to fire a projectile carrying a light rope, which was carefully pre-coiled in a basket to avoid fouling. This would be used to haul a stronger rope, which could be pulled taut and used to accommodate a breeches buoy that could be slid along a rope hawser. This possibility is discussed. The men on the island ask the people aboard the trapped ship if they have a mortar aboard. They reply by holding up a large piece of canvas upon which is written "NO." The narrator advocates the construction of a giant crossbow to fire a line over to the trapped ship. The bo'sun assents, and the men build the elaborate crossbow, composed of a number of smaller bows that can be fired together to propel a single arrow. The bow can easily launch an arrow past the vessel, but unfortunately when even a light line is attached, the arrows fall far short. All is not lost, though, because another crew member manages to build a large box kite which succeeds in carrying a line to the ship on the first attempt. The men manage to use the light line to pull across successively stronger lines, until they have a heavy rope stretched between the island and the ship. The bo'sun attaches this to a conveniently located boulder, while, the crew of the ship attaches the line to the stump of a mast and uses a capstan to gradually winch the ship closer to the island. Two groups exchange letters by pulling an oilskin bag along the connecting rope. We learn that the ship, which was attacked by a devil-fish, has been stuck in the weed for seven years, and the captain and more than half of the crew are dead. Fortunately the ship carried a great deal of food, and so those aboard have not gone hungry. Indeed, the ship is even able to supply the men on the island with fresh bread, wine, ham, cheese, and tobacco. When the ship is close enough, and the rope high enough above the weed to ensure a safe passage, the narrator rides a breeches buoy to the ship, where he receives a hero's welcome. He discovers that there are several women aboard: the captain's wife, who is mad; the "buxom woman" who is now the cook, and the young and eligible Mistress Madison. The narrator and Mistress Madison develop a romance and Mistress Madison, who was only twelve years old when the ship was trapped in the weed, looks forward to re-joining the wider world as a young woman of nineteen. But they are not out of the weeds yet: the bo'sun sends a note indicating that he has doubts about the state of the rope, which has frayed slightly, and insists that it is too dangerous for the narrator to return the way he came. The weed is still a dangerous place, and the ship is attacked again by the devil-fish and by the weed-men. But the crew of the ship works through the night to winch the ship closer to the island, and it is finally freed from the weed altogether. The rest of the men from the island tow the ship around to the far side of the island using the now-repaired lifeboat. At this point in the narrative, the story begins to significantly compress time: Now, the time that it took us to rig the ship, and fit her out, was seven weeks, saving one day. During this time the combined crew disassembles the superstructure, repairs the masts, and installs sails. They try to avoid the floating masses of weed, but brush against one accidentally and are again boarded and attacked by weed-men. Victory against the weed-men is overshadowed by sorrow when it is discovered that the captain's wife has disappeared during the attack. The bulk of the return journey is condensed into a single sentence: And so, after a voyage which lasted for nine and seventy days since getting under weigh, we came to the Port of London, having refused all offers of assistance on the way. In the concluding sentences of the book we learn that the narrator is a man of some wealth. He marries Mistress Madison, gives gifts to the crew members, and provides a place for the bo'sun, who is now his close friend, to live upon his estate. In the closing of the story the narrator describes how he and the bo'sun often talk about their adventures, although they change the subject when the narrator's children are around, because "the little ones love not terror." |
6267581 | /m/0fzrh_ | Kingdom Come | Jerry B. Jenkins | 4/3/2007 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | In the aftermath of the Glorious Appearing during the 75 Day Interval before the Millennium World, Cameron (formerly known as Buck) and Chloe Williams see their son, Kenneth Bruce Williams playing with other children who were orphaned during the Tribulation. Buck and Chloe form a ministry known as Children of the Tribulation (COT), in the knowledge that these must be brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ before their one-hundredth year, or they shall die and go to Hell. The COT accomplish this mission by saying "Hey, you know Jesus is, like, right over there, right?" to which the unbelievers respond "Oh yeah," and are saved. At the End of the 75 Day Interval, Christ destroys the abomination of desolation in Jerusalem (the rebuilt Temple itself) with lightning from Heaven. He then constructs a new Temple for the people of the Earth and sets up Levites as his priests and his earthly apostles as civil governors, with a resurrected King David as their chief. Meanwhile, Natural and Glorified Believers (Naturals being Believers who lived to see the Glorious Appearing, and will still Age slowly until the end of the Millennium, but not die. And Glorified being Believers who were Raptured or Died During the Tribulation who ascended to Heaven and received Glorified Bodies meaning they cannot age or die.) Begin building their Houses and Estates for the 1,000 Years. A young woman named Cendrillon dies at age 100, surprising the Williams' and their close friends, who employed her at COT and assumed that she was saved. Rumors surface that she may have had contact with a group called The Other Light (TOL), which defies Christ even after his appearing and is growing in the world outside the Kingdom. This seems confirmed when Kenny Williams speaks to her cousins at the funeral, and sees that they wear garments announcing their dedication to TOL. The former members of the Tribulation Force decide to redouble their efforts in their new ministries, and Kenny Williams joins Raymie Steele and Abdullah's two children to form the Millennium Force, dedicated to share the Gospel to unsaved children before they turn a century old. Meanwhile, Kenny G is introduced to a Natural Believer from Greece around his age named Ekaterina Risto, who is employed at COT. The Two strike up a friendship, before beginning a Romantic Relationship. Kenny G tries to go undercover and infiltrate TOL, but his plans go awry when his older believing friend Abdullah Ababneh mistakenly thinks he is really a member of TOL. This causes Kenny G's life to virtually fall apart, as his girlfriend Ekaterina deserts him, all his friends abandon him, and even his own parents can hardly seem to believe him. Ekaterina soon feels guilty and talks to Kenny G, and they discover the real infiltrator from TOL, another teenager named Qasim Marid. Qasim is fired and Kenny G is reunited with his girlfriend and his family. Kenny G eventually marries Ekaterina, and they produced 8 Sons and 6 Daughters and over 80 Grandchildren, before expanding the work of COT to Greece, until they were too old to carry on and went back to Jerusalem towards 3/4 of the way through the Millennium. Meanwhile, Rayford Steele and his first wife Irene, now in a glorified body, lead a missionary trip to Egypt. Tsion Ben-Judah stands before the Parliament and rebukes the people of that land for continuing to glorify the name of the Egyptian god Ptah in the very name of their country. They preach the Gospel and lead many to salvation, but Rayford is captured by a pocket of resistance with goals similar to the TOL. He experiences firsthand the power of God when an angel descends into the base and rescues him and his fellow prisoners. Rayford also leads a TOL operative named Rehema to salvation. Near the end of the Millennium, the ministry is taken over mainly by Believers in Glorified Bodies (like Cameron, Chloe, Irene, Raymie, Tsion Ben-Judah and Bruce) as the Naturals from the Beginning of the Tribulation begin to feel the ravages of time. Friends and family gather at COT to celebrate the thousandth birthday of Mac McCullum, and every member of what was once the Tribulation Force makes an appearance. Rayford, who is now more than 1,000 years old, requests a picture of the original Tribulation Force, and is shocked to find how old he looks in contrast to his daughter Chloe, son-in-law Cameron and friend Bruce Barnes (who are all in glorified bodies). In the final years of the Millennium, the Other Light amasses its armies, a force a thousand times larger than the Global Community Unity Army that were Present at the Battle of Armageddon 1,000 years before. All the billions of members of TOL gather all the weapons they can to battle against God, surrounding the city of Jerusalem during the final year of the Millennium where Christ reigns, with Lucifer himself leading their charge during the final day when he is released. However, Jesus comes out to meet them and says, "I Am Who I Am," and the entire opposing army is devoured by fire. Jesus then speaks personally to Lucifer, shaming him for his iniquities and evils. At his final words he opens a hole in spacetime itself in which the Beast (Nicolae Carpathia) and the False Prophet (Leon Fortunato), are seen both writhing in agony and screaming "Jesus is Lord!" Lucifer joins them in their screaming and is thrown into torment with them. All the Believers at the End of the Millennium are then taken to Heaven, with the Naturals finally becoming Glorified. The Great White Throne Judgment takes place and all unbelievers are cast into the lake of fire. The earth is destroyed and reduced to particles by fire from Heaven and from inside the Earth itself. After the Great White Throne Judgement, Jesus instantly creates a new earth, and Heaven (or New Jerusalem) descends down upon it, ushering in a new heaven and a new earth. All the believers are then welcomed into New Jerusalem and New Earth, destined to reign with Christ for all eternity. |
6267981 | /m/0fzs4g | A Chaste Maid in Cheapside | Thomas Middleton | 1630 | null | The play presents three plots centered around the marriage of Moll Yellowhammer, the titular maid, who is daughter to a wealthy Cheapside goldsmith. Moll loves Touchwood Junior, a poor gallant; her father, however, has betrothed her to Sir Walter Whorehound, a philandering knight eager for Moll's dowry. As a kind of side-bargain, Sir Walter has promised Moll's brother Tim a "landed niece" from Wales. Tim, a fatuous scholar, returns to London from Cambridge University with his Latin tutor. This "landed niece" is in reality one of Sir Walter's mistresses, who has no land in actuality. Sir Walter is also having an affair with the wife of Allwit, a knowing cuckold, or wittol, who lives on the money Sir Walter gives his wife. Meanwhile, Touchwood Senior (the elder brother of Moll's true love) prepares to depart from his wife; prodigiously fertile, he impregnates any woman he sleeps with. He and his wife must separate to avoid another pregnancy. His salvation comes from the Kixes, an aging couple who have not been able to conceive. This is important because if they have a child before Sir Walter (a relation of theirs) begets a legitimate heir, they will inherit Sir Walter's fortune. A maid tells the Kixes that Touchwood makes a special fertility potion; Touchwood deceives his way into the bed of Lady Kix. After an abortive attempt to elope with Touchwood Junior, Moll is guarded at home. The day before the wedding, Moll flees her parents' home. Caught while attempting to cross the Thames, she is drenched and seems to fall sick upon being brought home. Touchwood Junior and Sir Walter fight in the street, and both are wounded. Sir Walter believes that he is near death. At Allwit's house, he repents all of his sins, condemning the Allwits for indulging him. When news is brought that Lady Kix is pregnant (thus ruining Sir Walter's prospects), the Allwits kick him out and plan to sell all Sir Walter's gifts and purchase a home in The Strand. Moll continues very sick; when Touchwood Senior brings word that his brother has died, she faints and appears to die. Saddened, the Yellowhammers agree to Touchwood Senior's request that the young lovers receive a joint burial. At the funeral, Moll and Touchwood Junior rise from their coffins and the mourning turns to celebration. The two are wed, as Tim and the Welsh "niece" had been earlier that day; Kix promises to support the family of Touchwood Senior, who announces that Sir Walter has been imprisoned for debt. All exit, headed for a celebratory dinner. |
6272268 | /m/0fzz2c | Naked in Death | null | null | null | Lieutenant Eve Dallas is just barely thirty years old in the NYPSD (New York Police and Security Department) Homicide division in January, 2058. Eve is suffering from bad dreams over the death of a young girl that she couldn't prevent. Eve killed the girl's father, who was the one who killed the girl, and is now awaiting Testing, a psychological and physical evaluation all police officers must undergo after utilizing maximum force (killing). Eve dreads Testing; however, it is delayed when she is called to a case: the murder of a senator's granddaughter, who was working as a licensed companion - the 2058 version of a prostitute. The murder weapon is an antique gun, a Smith and Wesson model 10, and the other detective is her former partner, Captain Ryan Feeney, of the Electronics Detection Division (EDD). This being 2058, prostitution is legal, but guns are not and only available to licensed collectors. The victim, Sharon DeBlass, had an evening appointment with Roarke, of Roarke Industries and one of the richest men on earth. He is also known for being an antique gun collector and a very proficient shot. Her first image of Roarke is his ID photo, but their first meeting is at Sharon DeBlass's funeral in the capital. Eve is observing Roarke from five pews back when he abruptly looks back and makes eye contact, which they hold until the ceremony ends. When they're outside, he's surprised to find she's a cop, internally observing that he normally avoids cops (due to his criminal background). They fly back to New York together. During the limo ride to the airport, a gray fabric button falls off Eve's suit without her knowing; Roarke picks up the button. It later becomes evident that Roarke apparently keeps it in his pocket at all times. Later that night, Eve's best friend, Mavis Freestone comes over to her apartment. It's revealed here that Eve has very few friends, but she treasures Mavis very much. They met when Eve was an unranked police officer and arrested Mavis - several times - for grifting and other small cons. Mavis is currently working as a singer in a club. Throughout this case, there is pressure on the investigation from the victim's grandfather, Senator DeBlass of the Conservative Party. He is spearheading a "Morality Bill" that will again outlaw prostitution and legalize firearms. Eve goes to Roarke's house for the first time, where she meets Summerset as well. She is at the house to take Roarke's S&W into evidence, and hopes to trap him into incriminating himself. He surprises her with dinner, turning it into their first date. After she collects the gun, they end up kissing. She leaves when summoned to the second in what is now a series of murders. After going to the crime scene, Eve goes directly to Roarke's office (the next day) and demands to know his whereabouts at the time of the murder; he does not have an alibi. They argue, Eve is conflicted by the fact that she feels that the murderer is not him but unable to prove definitively one way or another, and he's furious that she even suspects him. He breaks into her apartment that night and is waiting for her when she comes home. She and Roarke argue briefly before she admits to him that she's been suffering severe guilt over the death of the little girl that she couldn't prevent, and he comforts her. All the leads that Eve follows point to Roarke, in murder weapon, lack of alibi, and an appointment with the first victim, but she doesn't believe it's him. She is then abruptly thrown into Testing after all, where Dr. Charlotte Mira is introduced. After the examination and interview with the doctor, Eve goes to Mavis's club to get drunk. Roarke appears, drags Eve out of the club, and takes her back to his home, where he takes her to his target range where she shoots the weapons used in the murders. They then consummate their relationship; when she tries to leave directly after, as she has in all her previous relationships, he prevents her, and instead they spend the entire night together. Eve is very confused as to what they're doing together, and much more unsure than Roarke, who is a little disturbed but accepting of their relationship. He then leaves for on a secret trip to the Olympus Resort, an off-planet space resort that he's building. Eve returns to headquarters only to find that the Chief of Police, Simpson, her commander, Jack Whitney, and Feeney all know that she's compromised the case and slept with Roarke. She's then ordered to lie in the press conference and say that DeBlass has not been linked with the other murders. She returns to her apartment and receives a transmission from Roarke, but chooses not to inform him of her wavering credibility due to their relationship. Eve is informed of a third victim, and Eve takes the woman's cat, since the victim's daughter was too grief-stricken to take care of it. The murder weapon is registered to and was apparently purchased by Roarke at an auction the previous year; Eve alone knows that Roarke was off-planet at the time of the murder. Nevertheless, she is forced to inform him to return to NYC for an interview; his curt response leads her to believe (not incorrectly) that their relationship is over. They have a very bitter interview until proof comes in that the weapon isn't actually his, confirming Eve's suspicions that this is a set-up. Roarke, not knowing Eve's suspicions, is furious at her, but Feeney intervenes and informs Roarke that Eve was in danger of losing her job because of him. Roarke, apologetic but still angry, breaks again into her apartment that night and the two make-up. In the morning, she's pleased and horrified to find that he stayed the whole night, whereupon he informs her that he thinks he's in love with her, horrifying her further. Eve shows her first willingness to occasionally break rules by using Roarke's resources to illegally hack into the finances of the police chief, whereupon she finds that he's received enormous donations from DeBlass and also has millions of unreported dollars in overseas accounts. She feeds the information to Nadine Furst, effectively ridding herself of the interfering and criminal Simpson. Information finally comes in via Charles Monroe that there was one last appointment in Sharon DeBlass's book: her grandfather. Eve uncovers an incestual affair, which corresponds to the senator's childhood molestation of both Sharon and her aunt. She flies with Roarke to Washington D.C. and arrests the senator on the Senate floor for all three murders. Roarke informs her that he's now positive that he's in love with her. On the plane flight back, she throws up, and admits to him that her father raped her repeatedly as a child and that she doesn't remember anything beyond being found at age eight in Dallas. Despite the evidence, however, Eve feels that the second and third murders were committed by someone else; she comes home to find Senator DeBlass's assistant, Rockman, in her apartment, with her to be the fourth victim. The cat distracts him and Eve, though shot by Rockman's Colt revolver, punches him into unconsciousness. Roarke leaves the apartment with her in his arms as she is in a minor state of shock, and she tells him that she's named the cat after Galahad (as the cat saved her) and that she'd like it if Roarke stayed around. |
6273548 | /m/0f_0bh | All She Was Worth | Miyuki Miyabe | null | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | 1992. Tokyo Metropolitan Police Detective Shunsuke Honma, on leave due to an incident on the job, is hired by his nephew, banker Jun Kurisaka, to track down his fiancée, whom he knows by the name of Shoko Sekine and who disappeared from his life after he discovered her credit history was tainted by bankruptcy. As Honma investigates her circumstances, he finds that the name "Shoko Sekine" actually belongs to someone else other than Jun's fiancée - and that the latter may have murdered the former to achieve this... As Honma navigates the country for clues, he finds that the credit-based economy in Japan, coupled with the country's own system for family identification, have undesirable side effects on ordinary people's lives. (Some of the names were changed in translation and will be noted in italics.) *Shunsuke Honma, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Inspector, on leave due to an incident on the job (a thug he was arresting shot him in the knee, disabling him temporarily). He has a 10-year-old adopted son named Makoto, whom he has raised alone since his wife Chizuko died in a car accident in 1989, when her small car was crushed by a truck driven by a sleepy worker. In his new assignment - finding Shoko - Honma has to work unofficially given the strong limitations placed on police officers on leave due to bureaucracy. Being a frugal widower, he looks askance at young couples' illusory dreams often built on credit card and real estate purchases. *Jun Kurisaka (original Japanese given name Kazuya), young banker, son of Chizuko's cousin. Was looking forward to marry the woman he knew as Shoko, only to be astonished at her disappearance and later at the revelation that she wasn't really named Shoko. He had met her in October 1990 and proposed to her on Christmas Eve, 1991. Conceited and worried with his parents' approval, but hires Honma behind their backs. *Tsuneo Isaka is Honma's friend and housekeeper. He was originally an architect but became a house-husband when the Japanese asset price bubble put him out of work, so he worked part-time as a housekeeper for Honma and two other families in the apartment complex where they lived. His wife, Hisae Isaka, runs her own interior designing firm so income is steady. *Mr. Imai (original Japanese given name Shirō, unmentioned in translation) and his employee Mitchie (Mit-chan) were boss and co-worker respectively of the fake Shoko at Imai's company, a small-time cash register dealer. *Gorō Mizoguchi was the real Shoko's bankruptcy lawyer. He is the first one to realize that the "Shoko" Honma was looking for was not the one Jun had known. He later explains to Honma the way the credit industry works and why people like the real Shoko had to declare bankruptcy. His secretary, Ms. Sawagi, receives Honma and later provides additional information on Shoko. *Nobuko Konno was the real Shoko's landlady at Kawaguchi, Saitama, and ran her buildings with help from her husband and daughter Akemi. She tells Honma that Shoko, though being a good and friendly tenant, had moved out mysteriously, thereby alerting him at the possibility that the identity switch had been violent, possibly due to murder or coercion. *Sadao Funaki (original Japanese surname Ikari), is Honma's co-worker and introduced him to Chizuko, allowing him to marry her despite his own crush on her. He supports Honma's informal investigation and in the process nails his own official investigation, a woman who murdered her businessman husband because he would not allow her to work outside the home, having a female friend as the accomplice. *Kanae Miyata is a hairdresser in Shoko's old neighborhood. *Tamotsu Honda was the real Shoko's best friend from all levels of school. He stayed in Utsunomiya as a mechanic and married Ikumi, the one who first saw Shoko's mother fallen down the stairs. They are about to become parents for the second time, but Tamotsu still insists on helping out Honma with the investigation, as Shoko was his original childhood crush. *Tomie Miyagi, was the real Shoko's roommate and bar hostess colleague at a building in Kinshicho, Tokyo. *Hideki Wada (original Japanese surname Katase), was the fake Shoko's boss at Roseline, the Osaka-based mail-order underwear company she worked at to target her victims. He apparently had an affair with her as well. He reveals "Shoko" 's real identity to Honma. *Kaoru Sudō was Kyoko's roommate in Nagoya, Aichi, when she was getting away from the yakuza who had taken control of the Shinjo family's mortgage payments. *Orie Chino (original Japanese name Kaori Ichiki), was Kyoko's roommate in Osaka, she worked in the company data section (separate from Kyoko's). Not on friendly terms with her as Kaoru was. *Shōko Sekine, the real deal, was a woman from Utsunomiya, Tochigi, who went bankrupt as a result of excessive credit card debt upon which she had to quit her original office job and turn to hostessing in bars. She was not particularly beautiful, unlike her impostor. Her mother, Yoshiko, died in 1989 - one year before the impostor took over her identity - when she fell down steps in a building, and the circumstances were always suspect. *The impostor Shoko was actually a very beautiful woman named Kyōko Shinjō, who was from Fukushima Prefecture. Unlike the real Shoko, who could free herself from the debts by declaring bankruptcy, the debts in her life actually belonged to her father, who had taken a large mortgage for the family to have their own home. She had attempted to get away from it all by marrying a young man, Yasuji Kurata in Ise, Mie, but the Yakuza in charge of her father's debt came to bother them too and ended up breaking their marriage. She hatched her plan to have another identity as a result of this. Miyabe's novel touches on many topics, including the Japanese asset price bubble mentioned earlier, plus social issues of family registry, the credit industry, the underground credit economy, and the rights and responsibilities of individuals in contrast to that of families. At one point Isaka, Honma's friend and housekeeper, talks about a flaming wagon that takes sinners to hell, citing Japanese Buddhist mythology. This is the kasha (火車, fire chariot) of the original Japanese title. The significance is that the real Shoko had gone through hell with her credit card bankruptcy, but then the fake Shoko (Kyoko) had taken her place in the chariot and was going to hell in it. |
6275721 | /m/0f_52g | The Zenith Angle | Bruce Sterling | 2004-05 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | Derek "Van" Vandeveer is a young, well respected, computer scientist who we find enjoying breakfast in his new home with his wife and young son. He is rich with stock options and heady with his own success when his whole world is suddenly and forever changed as the planes begin crashing into the World Trade Center. Within months his fortune is gone to an Enron-like scandal, and his wife and son have moved west to work on a new telescope being developed by a billionaire entrepreneur. Van is recruited into a nascent wing of the government working on the outside of the main bureaucracy to vastly improve the security of government systems. His ingenious design gains him even more respect from his peers, but as the project continues Van goes through personality changes, becoming more paranoid and simultaneously more patriotic. Without the psychological aid of the money and nice house of his former company, he even begins to question whether he really is a computer scientist or just an over-glorified technician. The novel comes to head as Van is asked to look into the reason a multi-billion dollar pork project spy satellite is failing in space. The bureaucracy, thinking that he will fail in this endeavor, hopes to use it to discredit his boss and him and put an end to their power climb in Washington. Van discovers the problem and through a covert military-like attack on the source, puts an end to it. |
6279077 | /m/0f_8yp | Hairstyles of the Damned | Joe Meno | null | null | Hairstyles of the Damned is told by a typical protagonist, Brian Oswald. Brian Oswald is an average high school outcast. He has trouble coping with his identity and fights to find it throughout the novel. Even though Brian is an outcast at his Catholic school, he still manages to find friends in a mix of misfits. Gretchen is a tough, punk girls who makes Brian mixed tapes. Brian envies Gretchen because she does whatever she wants. "She did the things I wish I could do but didn't have the guts to" (Meno 15). He is infatuated with her, but she is interested in losers. Brian’s other friends include Rod, an African American nerd who had the largest record collection of anyone Brian knew. Mike is a burn out whose long hair was more popular than he was at school. Brian's family was a bit dysfunctional. His father begins sleeping in the basement and when Brian questions his father, he plays it off like it is no big deal. Joe Meno captures the meaning of adolescence and all that goes along with it such as awkwardness, finding your identity, first crushes, puberty, and the constant power struggle between parents and teens. There is a common theme throughout the novel that ties Brian's identity all together and that is music. Brian switches his choice of music throughout the story. He starts off liking Gretchen’s punk music, then to Rod's Chet Baker Albums, to Mike's Pink Floyd tapes. Brian changes who he is, depending of the music he is listening to. He is so worried about fitting in instead of having his own voice and accepting who he is. Brian does grow and develop over the course of the novel; his identity develops as well does his outlook on life. By the end of the novel Brian realizes it is okay to just be yourself. |
6280057 | /m/0f_b8n | See Jane Run | null | null | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller"} | The book centers on Jane Whittaker, who finds herself at a grocery store in downtown Boston with no recollection of her name, her physical features, her personality, or any of the details of her life, albeit having recollection of facts such as the formula for a hypotenuse. She is further terrified to see that she is wearing a blood-stained blue dress, which contains in one of its pockets $10,000. Frightened out of her mind, she heads to a local police station, where she is later reunited with a handsome doctor claiming to be her husband. Mr. Whittaker takes Jane back to their suburban home to recover. Instead of finding rest, however, Jane begins to uncover the horrific past that her mind had forgotten. Along with Dr. Whittaker, a caretaker named Paula Marinelli is also taking care of her. |
6281739 | /m/0f_d2z | The Carnelian Cube | Fletcher Pratt | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The carnelian cube of the title is a small red "dream stone" confiscated by archaeologist Arthur Cleveland Finch from Tiridat Ariminian, one of the workers on the dig he is supervising in Cappadocia. It bears an inscription in Etruscan that appears to identify its original possessor as Apollonius of Tyana, and supposedly allows the bearer to attain the world of his dreams. Finch, frustrated with the irrationality of his existence as an archaeologist, yearns for a more rational world in which he could realize his true dream of being a poet. Sleeping with the stone beneath his pillow he finds himself cast into a parallel world. It and later worlds visited by Finch tend to place him in or near his native Louisville, Kentucky rather than the Middle Eastern locale he starts out from, but Kentuckys that, while appearing to share much of the "real" world's history, have developed in radically alternate directions due to differences in their worlds' psychological or physical properties. Finch's new home sets the pattern; it is entirely too rational, with its denizens acting solely from self-interest in a society organized on a strict patron-client basis. The regimentation extends to naming conventions: people's names are ordered surname first, given name second, and occupation last. Finch initially finds himself classed as "Finch Arthur Poet" — and is, indeed, a poet. Poets are, however, a low-classified occupation, with few perks, certainly as compared to the local patron, Sullivan Michael Politician. Finch's attempts at social climbing, while initially successful, also bring him enemies, eventually making his new world too hot for him. Unfortunately, the stone had not made the trip with him, and Finch's only means of escaping this new and not entirely congenial existence is to purloin its counterpart from the local version of Tiridat. With the rational world's counterpart stone, Finch dreams himself into a second parallel world, this one exemplifying the individualism he has missed in the rational world. But he finds the individualist world one of rampant vanity and violence, in which megalomaniacal bully-boys like Colonel Richard Fitzhugh Lee uneasily dominate a population of extreme egocentrics defensive of their "originality" and touchy about being told what to do. It is also a more fantastic place, in which claims of ESP or the ability to raise spirits tend to be real. Hiring a medium-provided spirit to do the dirty work, Finch again obtains his current world's counterpart of the carnelian cube and makes his escape, this time hoping to regain his original existence as an archaeologist reconstructing the past. Finch awakens in yet another parallel world, only to find the stone has once again over-literalised his dream; his third world is one in which astrology-guided archaeologists really do reconstruct the past, drafting and magically conditioning vast numbers of people to reenact past events. He finds himself project head of a recreation of the Assyrian siege of Samaria, and quickly discovers the reenactment no mere fantasy; the brainwashed participants actually fight, kill and die in the furtherance of scientific knowledge. Caught up in the chaos, Finch faces execution at the order of the reenactor portraying usurping Assyrian king Sargon. "Sargon" turns out to be yet another version of Tiridat, who, like the others, is the possessor of this world's carnelian cube. Begging the cube from the "king" as a last request, Finch determines to escape once again by dreaming himself into a truly ideal world. On this note the novel ends, with neither the protagonist's possible execution or projected escape recounted, leaving the plot open-ended and providing an obvious opportunity for a sequel. However, no such sequel ever appeared. |
6286677 | /m/0f_jfh | This Lullaby | Sarah Dessen | 5/27/2002 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"} | Remy is an eighteen year old girl who is about to leave for college. Her father, a musician, had died before she was born. Before he died, he left a short song called "This Lullaby," which is now extremely popular. Remy's mother is getting married for the fifth time, with a car salesman. Consequently, love is something that Remy doesn't believe exists. In the past, she's been in many relationships with people she doesn't really care about, and they never last long. One day, she randomly meets Dexter. He claims to feel a connection with her the second he saw her. He is messy and a musician, two of her least favorite traits. But he is persistent. She slowly finds herself falling for him. She doesn't want to care about him, but somehow she just can't bring herself to get rid of him. Eventually they start dating and she is surprised by how open and honest and caring he is. When Dexter overhears Remy saying that she only wants him to be a summer fling, they break up. Remy begins to date another guy, but she finds herself always thinking about Dexter. Meanwhile, her brother is getting engaged, her mother's new husband is cheating, and her friends are all having problems of their own. But in the end, Remy realizes that she truly does love Dexter, and they get back together. |
6298253 | /m/0f_wg5 | Under the Yoke | null | null | null | The tranquility in a Bulgarian village under Ottoman rule is only apparent: the people are quietly preparing for an uprising. The plot follows the story of Boycho Ognyanov, who, having escaped from a prison in Diarbekir, returns to the Bulgarian town Byala Cherkva (White Church, today Sopot) to take part in the rebellion. There he meets old friends, enemies, and the love of his life. The plot portrays the personal drama of the characters, their emotions, motives for taking part in or standing against the rebellion, betrayal and conflict. Historically, the uprising fails due to bad organization, limited resources, and betrayal. The way in which the Ottomans break the uprising down then becomes the pretext for the Russian-Turkish war, that brought about Bulgarian independence. |
6301386 | /m/0g01bq | Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key | Jack Gantos | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | The story, told from Joey's perspective, deals with his inability to control his impulses, due to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). These impulses lead Joey to do numerous things, both at home and at school, which get him in trouble. Joey has been thinking about changing the world, after sneaking into an assembly. When his teacher comes back, at recess, he decides to make 1,000,000 bumper stickers. The scissors he uses are too small, and it hurts his hand, so he sneaks into his teacher's desk and takes the sharper, bigger scissors. He trips over his bunny slippers and cuts the tip off a girl's nose. Blood drips everywhere and she is put in an ambulance and rushed to the hospital. He gets put into the Special Ed Center downtown where he gets a transdermal patch and his behavior improves. He gets a dog later in the story who is just as hyper as he is, and is what he calls a "Joey Pigza dog", or a Chihuahua. |
6302514 | /m/0g03jj | Brothers Majere | Kevin T. Stein | 1/14/1990 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Brothers Majere takes place shortly before the War of the Lance when the companions leave their village of Solace to pursue rumors of war and embark on their own personal quests for five years. Caramon Majere and Raistlin Majere have recently returned from the Tower of High Sorcery at Wayreth and find themselves to be near penniless. By luck or by design, the twins find a posted announcement in which the city of Mereklar (just northeast of Qualinesti) is looking for trained and experienced people to help with an investigation in the town. The twins, with their kender companion Earwig Lockpicker (Tasslehoff Burrfoot's cousin), decide to visit Mereklar, as according to the post, the fee was negotiatble. Upon arrival to Mereklar, the twins learn that the city's cats have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Legend had it that powerful wizards had built the city of Mereklar shortly after the Cataclysm and so long as the cats were there to protect the city, evil could not harm its citizens. Ten noble families govern Mereklar, and they begin to die one by one under mysterious (and grisly) circumstances. One of the nobles, Shavas, explains the legend to the twins, who are both captivated by her beauty. During their stay in the city, the twins are almost constantly followed by a black cat, which is strange because according to the townspeople, no black cats were ever seen in Mereklar. The twins eventually learn that this black cat is the demi-god, Lord of Cats who also appears to them later as a tall, powerful, dark skinned man of considerable intelligence and strength named Bast. With the Cat Lord's help, the twins discover that the town nobles were actually murdered a long time ago, and that the nobles' bodies are now possessed by demons from the Abyss. Raistlin discovers Shavas is actually a lich- an undead evil wizard taking the form of a beautiful woman. They learn that the demons are murdering the cats in order to open a portal for The Queen of Darkness. While Caramon and Earwig do what they can to keep the portal closed, the Lord of Cats continues his battle against the demons, and Raistlin battles Shavas and eventually defeats her, refusing to give into her temptations. |
6304379 | /m/0g06j7 | Just a Couple of Days | null | null | null | Dr. Flake Fountain is approached by the military to develop an antidote to a virus they have created, which is known as the "Pied Piper" virus, due to its relation to a mirth- and dance-inducing virus which supposedly caused the phenomenon the Pied Piper story was based on (see also St. John's Dance), which leaves its victims alive and unharmed, but destroys the brain's capacity for symbolic reasoning. This leaves victims unable to use language, including speech and writing to communicate. However, before Dr. Fountain can complete his antidote, the virus is released and everyone else on Earth, as far as he knows, is infected with it. He holes up in the house of his friends Blip (a fellow college professor) and Sophia, two organic hippie types. Since the house is a self-sufficient geodesic dome, he is protected from the virus and has electricity, and it is revealed that the book is his journal, where he is recording everything that has happened and is happening. Each chapter also begins with a selection from the "Book o' Billets-Doux" ("love letters" in French), which he found in the dome and is apparently an extended conversation between Blip and Sophia which they wrote, eventually while succumbing to the virus. In time Flake discovers that the people "afflicted" with the virus can apparently communicate, and he surmises that they connect on a deeper level without the hindrance of a language and its capacity to obscure the truth. They work together and seem happy, even Edenic. Because of this, once he has finished the book, he exposes himself to the virus, becoming unable to continue it and leaving the reader to wonder exactly what happened to him. |
6306237 | /m/0g09dn | The Piano Tuner | Daniel Mason | 2002 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The novel is set in 1886, in the jungles of Burma. The protagonist, a middle-aged man by the name of Edgar Drake is commissioned by the British War Office to repair a rare Erard grand piano belonging to a Doctor Anthony Caroll. Caroll, who is the root of many myths, had the piano shipped to him as a means to bring peace and union amongst the princes in Burma in order to further the expansion of the British Empire. The extreme humidity of the tropical climate soon rendered it useless and horribly out of tune. Drake's "mission" thus becomes vital to the Crown's strategic interests. In a series of sub-plots and intrigue the surgeon-major is charged with treason. When the piano tuner goes to meet the surgeon-major against the wishes of the military staff, he finds himself suddenly surrounded. |
6309756 | /m/0g0g99 | Blood Beast | Darren Shan | 6/4/2007 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror"} | Written by Darren Shan Blood Beast is the fifth book in a series called the Demonta. Blood Beast is set about a year after Slawter. It begins back at Dervish's house where Grubbs begins to feel alarming symptoms in connection with the full moon. He is having dreadful nightmares full of Demons and his sister, Gret, who keeps coming close to killing him. Also, in these dreams he has changed to a werewolf, but Grubbs attempts to convince himself that these nightmares are only normal. On top of this, his magician's prowess is growing all the time. He makes water change direction as it goes down the plughole (defying gravity) and claims to have woken from his nightmares levitating. Grubbs has got back to life as usual, and has got a crowd of friends, including a new best friend, Loch Gossel, who constantly bullies Grubbs' half brother, Bill-E. Grubbs also shows his usual like for Reni Gossel, Loch's sister. After Dervish has to go away for the weekend to say goodbye to Meera Flame, Grubbs throws a big house party. Reni, Loch, Bill-E and a few more stay for the night. They play spin the bottle and Grubbs kisses with Reni for the first time. He gets so into the kiss, that he doesn't realize when his powers have gotten the better of him and starts levitating the bottle. Soon after, the bottle explodes. He freezes the bottle in time and turns the shards into butterflies and flower petals. Half way through the night, Grubbs wakes up to a howling noise. He finds himself in the bathroom. He then realizes the howling noise is coming from himself. He looks in the mirror to find that he has become a werewolf, but somehow changes himself back to normal. The next morning, Bill-E and Loch decide to go and look for Lord Sheftree's treasure, but Grubbs isn't feeling well and protests greatly, but eventually gives in. The three set about digging and just as Loch is about to go home, they find a spot that Grubbs remembers Dervish being before. They start digging, but there are big rocks in the way which are hard to move. The boys go home but make a pact to come back after school every day until they find the treasure. Dervish returns home, but was drunk the previous night and fell into a deep sleep, so Grubbs couldn't tell him about the nightmares and fear of lycanthropy. Grubbs goes to sleep, but later wakes up and finds himself at the hole moving the heavy rocks, by himself. He runs back to the house and goes back to sleep. When Bill-E and Loch see the hole the next day, they are amazed and believe that Lord Sheftree planted bombs to kill those that tried to get his treasure, but they simply were old and detonated late. As they are digging, they begin to get very angry at each other and bicker, even try to kill each other. Grubbs feels magic in the air, and feels that it may be affecting the three, but tells the other two that it must be chemicals in the soil. Loch and Grubbs climb out of the hole and start to talk to each other when they hear a scream. The floor has given way and Bill-E is hanging on for his life. They hoist him up, and look down. The rocks gave way to a deep tunnel, but one that might be able to climb down. After a debate, the three decide to go down. At the bottom, they find a cave full of stalactites and stalagmites with a large waterfall. They start looking for the treasure but find none. Bill-E and Loch decide to climb a wall of the cave. At this point, Grubbs begins to feel very ill (possibly because of the full moon) and looks to the floor of the cavern. He sees a girls face in the rock similar to his sister's, yet it's the face of Bec, trapped in the rock; whispering in a strange language, but then she suddenly goes silent. Grubbs hears a scream from behind him and a thud. He turns around to find Loch's lifeless body lying on the floor, blood seeping out of his head. Grubbs attempts to heal the wounds while Bill-E leaves to get help. While Bill-E is gone, Grubbs needs to resuscitate Loch several times. The first two times it works, but then on the third, Loch stops breathing, his heart stops beating, and he dies. The whispering starts again and Grubbs starts to freak out. When he calms down he looks at Loch, and lifts up his head and notices something odd - all the blood is gone. Eventually Dervish and Bill-E turn up at the cave, however there is nothing that can be done to save Loch's life and Grubbs soon realises that there is no ambulance. Dervish says that they cannot let an ambulance come to the cave. The boys protest, but he says that he will explain to them later. The three of them move the body of Loch to a nearby quarry and throw it over a cliff edge. Dervish explains later to Grubbs why this is necessary - the cave is one where demons can create a strong doorway into the human world (presumably the same cave from Bec). Dervish has been given the duty to protect the cave and make sure nobody else can unleash the Demonata. Although hard to accept at first, Grubbs and Bill-E play along after being investigated by the police. One week later Grubbs returns to school. The psychologist has left the school, and a new one has come as a replacement. Grubbs is sent to meet her and finds out it is Juni Swan, a psychologist that Grubbs and Dervish met on the set of Slawter were she helped them get through their troubles and fight with the demons. Juni helps Grubbs, Bill-E, and their friends to cope with Loch's death, and soon everyone seems to be dealing fine. However tensions increase as Juni meets up with Dervish and both become romantically involved, eventually moving in with Dervish. Juni tells Grubbs and Dervish that since Slawter, her magic has advanced tremendously. This encourages Dervish, and he teaches her more spells and continues to see her more and more. In the following days Grubbs becomes more aware of the impending doom of his curse. Not only that, but he begins to notice a tramp coincidentally appearing around Carcery Vale. The tramp has an appearance nearly identical to Beranabus from Demon Thief, and is in fact, him. This is supported by the fact that Dervish attempts to contact Beranabus slightly before the tramp appears. On one of his late night jogs, Grubbs notices the tramp near the cave, the tramp tells him, "It won't be long." This immediately leads to Grubbs suspecting that Dervish called the Lambs. Grubbs gets Juni to ask Dervish about this for him, and she claims that Dervish did call them, but also goes on to tell him that she'll do whatever it takes to stop Grubbs from being killed, and that she sees him as her own son. For several nights around the time of the full moon, Grubbs has what he describes as a battle between his human and werewolf sides. During these times, he is in extreme pain while Juni and Dervish need to hold him down. Grubbs suggests that they put him in a cage that Dervish owns for the next night. During that evening, while in the cage, Juni suggests that Dervish leaves while she performs a dangerous spell to help Grubbs. Once Dervish is gone, she frees Grubbs from the cage, then passionately makes out with Grubbs when he shows his desire to die at the hands of the Lambs, claiming that she will not let him be killed while there may be hope. She says that they should go to meet up at the cave. he then breaks out of the cage, and battles 3 of what he believes are Lambs, dispatching them easily. It is not known whether Dervish did actually call the Lambs or if the people Grubbs attacks while escaping the cellar are actually Lambs, as Juni may very likely have lied to Grubbs about Dervish's call. Grubbs runs to the cave, where he loses control again and turns into a werewolf. When he returns to his normal state, Grubbs finds that he has killed Ma & Pa Spleen, Bill-E's grandparents and legal guardians. Not wanting to kill again, Juni says that the two of them need to run away from Dervish and the Lambs to protect Grubbs, both from his own death and the deaths of others. The two of them go to an airport, and board a plane, all of which is very distant to Grubbs. He falls asleep while on the plane. When he awakes, the plane is shaking, apparently due to turbulence. However, soon the cockpit opens and demons appear on the plane, Artery first and then the scorpion like creature from the front of the book. They both begin killing the passengers on the plane along with another rabbit-like demon. Finally, Lord Loss appears in the plane, stunning the passengers. Juni appears next to him and reveals that she summoned him and is actually a familiar of Lord Loss. The book ends with her declaring, "He's all yours now- master." The book then ends on a to be continued, with the words "Hell is revealed" underneath the title Book Six... |
6309812 | /m/0g0gg4 | Demon Apocalypse | Darren Shan | 10/1/2007 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/03npn": "Horror"} | Picking up where Blood Beast left off, Grubbs on a plane in a dire situation face-to-face with Lord Loss and Juni Swan who has just been revealed to be one of his higher ranked familiars. Just when it seems like Grubbs will be killed, Beranabus (the homeless man from the previous book that had been following him around Carcery Vale, and a powerful magician who the Disciples follow) appears, and the two jump from the plane, and fly to his cave. Once there, Beranabus and Kernel take Grubbs with them to fight a demon in one of the Demonata worlds. Grubbs chickens out and is stuck in Beranabus' home for seven weeks. Once Beranabus and Kernel return from demon hunting, they all discover that the tunnel that Bec had sealed 1600 years ago has been opened, and hell has been brought to Earth. Enlisting the help of the Disciples, Grubbs, Kernel, and Beranabus set out to reseal the tunnel and remove the Demonata from Earth at the same time. After arriving at the tunnel, Kernel gets his eyes gouged out by Spine (one of Lord Loss's familiars) and Grubbs sees all his friend's and Dervish's heads carried by demons (Not Bill-E's). The spirit of Bec appears again and tells Beranabus that sealing the tunnel will not remove the demons like it did last time. In the chaos, the Kah-Gash (the weapon powerful enough to destroy universes) awakes in Grubbs, Kernel and Bec and turns back time to a point just before the tunnel was opened, providing Grubbs, Kernel, and Beranabus a way to prevent mankind's extinction. During the cave battle between Beranabus' group and Lord Loss', it is revealed that Bill-E must be killed to prevent the opening of the tunnel, since he unwittingly sacrificed Loch to open the tunnel. Because Dervish is unable to kill his nephew, Grubbs is forced to painlessly kill Bill-E. This seals the tunnel, and also forces the retreat of a shadowy creature unlike any demon Grubbs has seen before. Bec, her essence trapped within Grubbs, fills Bill-E's body and changes the body to resemble hers. It is revealed that Bec's spirit has been trapped inside the cave for the past 1600 years, believed by Beranabus to be because she is part of the Kah-Gash, along with Grubbs and Kernel. Now knowing what is at stake, Grubbs leaves Dervish in the care of Bec and joins Beranabus and Kernel on their never ending quest to prevent more tunnels from opening and to learn more about the creature known as the Shadow. |
6316703 | /m/0g0r9c | Father of Frankenstein | Christopher Bram | 1995 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | James Whale has just had a stroke. He is convinced that his time has come to die. Increasingly confused and disoriented, his mind is overwhelmed by images of the past - from his working-class childhood in Britain, the trenches of World War I, and the lavish glamour of Hollywood premieres in the 1930s. Whale asks his new gardener, an ex-Marine named Clayton Boone, to come to his studio for some portrait sittings. Boone is uncomfortable with Whale's homosexuality but also fascinated by the chance to know a famous Hollywood director and so, despite his apprehensions, the relationship continues. Boone begins to think of Whale as a friend. But one night after they return from a Hollywood garden party, Whale makes an advance at Boone, trying to make him so angry that he will kill Whale. The old man wants to die; he wants his death to have a human face, Boone's face. Boone refuses. He is very upset. Whale apologizes—he knows he is going insane. The next morning Whale understands that he is ready to cross over, alone. He drowns himself in his backyard swimming pool. |
6318149 | /m/0g0sh6 | Nerilka's Story | Anne McCaffrey | 1985-05 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | Taking a different approach from all previous books in the series, Nerilka's Story has a non-dragonrider non-harper as its major viewpoint character. It is set during the events detailed in Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern. Nerilka is the daughter of a Lord Holder who turns her back on her life of luxury and sets out to fight the disease that threatens to kill all humans on Pern. According to a critic for the Chicago Tribune, Nerilka makes for an "intelligent, resourceful, selfless and, alas, homely" heroine. |
6321375 | /m/025ttwt | The Ruby in the Smoke | Philip Pullman | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | This book takes place in 1872. A young woman called Sally Lockhart goes to visit where her father used to work, a shipping company named Lockhart & Selby. Sally’s father, Matthew Lockhart, died when his ship, the schooner Lavinia, sank when he was coming back from talking to the Dutch shipping agent Hendrik VanEeden. Matthew Lockhart was a former army man, and Sally's late mother was fighter in the Indian Mutiny. On the morning the book begins, Sally received a note in the mail and went to ask her father’s partner, Samuel Selby, what the note meant. Instead she saw Mr. Higgs, Mr. Selby’s secretary, and asked him two things: if he knew of a man named Marchbanks and if he had heard of something called the “Seven Blessings”. After she asked about the letter, Mr. Higgs had a heart attack and died. She tells the porter and finds out that she has to go to the inquest because she was a witness. Sally meets a thirteen year old office boy named Jim Taylor to whom she shows the letter. Jim informs Sally that the letter said that the man named Marchbanks lived in Chatham in Kent. He also volunteers his help, but she doesn’t need it at the moment. Sally goes back to her aunt’s house, where she lives now, and is mocked by her aunt at having no ladylike accomplishments (she CAN shoot a pistol and do financial work). Sally visits a man called Mr Marchbanks, while she is there he gives her book containing information about things which happened when Sally was little. Marchbanks tells her she must leave because there is a woman in his house who is their enemy. The woman follows Sally away from the house but Sally hides from her in the tent of a photographer named Frederick Garland. Before she leaves, he hands her his business card to keep if she ever finds herself in trouble again. She gets on a train and starts to read the book Mr Marchbanks gave her. She falls asleep and when she wakes up the book is gone and the only thing left behind are a few loose pages. The only thing that she remembers is that the offender wore a bright tweed suit, and a brown bowler hat with a pin in it. She frantically searches, but, the book is really gone. Across town, around the same time, young Adelaide is tending to one of Mrs. Hollands' guests. Along with the soup and bread she bring him, she lights him a pipe containing opium. This is a regular affair, since the man will give useful information to do with a large sum of money when under the influence of opium (an addictive drug). He begins to rave, as usual, and mentions that he must find Sally Lockheart, because he has a message from her father. He makes Adelaide promise to not tell Mrs. Holland, for she is an evil woman, and he begins to rave nonsense once again. Adelaide later meets with Jim, whom she tells about the man's raves. Jim promises to pass the message onto Sally, and he writes her a letter, suggesting they meet as soon as possible, to discuss the matter at hand. Later in the story, Sally finds out that Major Marchbanks was her father, who sold her to Matthew Lockheart for a ruby and that her "father" made up the story of her romantic mother. She leaves her Aunt and finds out she is just taking care of her because she gets money from Sally's father Mrs. Holland claims the ruby is hers, because the former owner of the ruby was in love with her (and claims she was prettier than Sally). Mrs. Holland killed Sally's father. Sally throws the ruby that Fredrick found into the water and Mrs. Holland goes after it and drowns. THE END This book is the first of the Sally Lockhart Quartet: # The Ruby in the Smoke # The Shadow in the North # The Tiger in the Well # The Tin Princess |
6322892 | /m/0g0_bt | Reading in the Dark | Seamus Deane | 10/3/1996 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The story is told from the point of view of an anonymous young Irish Catholic boy. This novel-in-stories is about both the boy's coming of age and the "Troubles" of Northern Ireland from the partition of the island in the early 1920s through the post "Bloody Sunday" violence of the early-mid 1970s. Reading in the Dark was shortlisted for the 1996 Booker Prize. The setting mirrors mid-twentieth century Derry leading into the Troubles. Although the setting surrounds the narrator with violence, chaos, and sectarian division, Derry serves as a place for the narrator to grow, both physically and mentally. Despite the external surroundings, the narrator's tone never slips into complete despair, but maintains a sense of hope and humour throughout. The main focus of the novel is the narrator’s discovery of his family’s "secret" past and the effect that this discovery has on himself and his family. The book is constructed of dated short stories that are assembled into larger chapters, these chapters are then further divided into smaller "episodes" with titles such as: "Feet"; “Father”; “Mother”; and “Crazy Joe”. This structure provides the reader with brief glimpses of different aspects of the narrator’s life. These short stories share a common theme by involving the narrator's family’s past guilt and shame.A strong emphasis is put on how the division of Catholics and Protestants affected family life in Derry. Family secrets, community, the environment, faery stories, and economic despair are all central themes of the novel and are all contributing factors to how the narrator views the world around. Seamus Deane has often been asked why "Reading in the Dark" was not called a "memoir" instead of a "novel" because of Deane's almost identical upbringing to the main protagonist. He usually does not give a straight answer which raises questions about how much of the book might be Deane's life and how much is fiction. |
6324034 | /m/0g10vp | Uglies | Scott Westerfeld | 2/8/2005 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/026ny": "Dystopia"} | Uglies is set in an unnamed futuristic city in Northern California “three hundred years in the future, ” in which the government provides for everything, including an operation. On their sixteenth birthday all citizens of the fictional society receive this “pretty” operation which, as its name implies, turns people into the biological standard of beautiful. After the operation, the new pretties cross the river that divides the city’s inhabitants and begin the section of their lives in which they have no responsibilities or obligations. In total, there are three operations; the first transforms people from “uglies” (unchanged teenagers), to “pretties” (young adults over the age of sixteen free to do what ever they want). Another one transforms “pretties” to “middle-pretties” (adults who hold a job), and a third transforms “middle-pretties" to "crumblies. " The term "Rusties" refers to the people of old who used to live before the supposed apocalypse that had ended the old society that existed before the one in which the story takes place, since their cities had rusted away after a bacteria that infected the very oil society had been so dependent on, making it unstable, had swept the world. Everyone's cars exploded, as did the oil fields they'd all been fighting over. Food and goods could no longer be transported, and society in general fell apart. The Rusties were basically us. Tally, the protagonist, is about three months from her sixteenth birthday at the opening of the story. Much like every other ugly in the city, she awaits the operation with great anticipation. “Tally’s best friend, Peris, has already made the transition and motivated by her desire to see him, ” she sneaks across the river to New Pretty Town, the home of all new pretties. There she meets the character Shay, another ugly who was also sneaking around in New Pretty Town. They quickly become friends and Shay teaches Tally how to ride a hoverboard. Shay also mentions thoughts of rebellion against the operation. At first, Tally ignores all these ideas, but is forced to deal with the concept as Shay runs away from the city a few days before their shared sixteenth birthday, leaving her friend with cryptic directions to her destination, a “renegade settlement” called the Smoke, where all the city runaways go to escape the operation. On the day of Tally’s operation, she is taken to Special Circumstances, a branch of her city’s government that is described to be “like gremlins, ” and “[blamed] when anything weird happens. ” However, the public actually knows little about them, and some even question its existence. The character Dr. Cable is a woman described as “a cruel pretty” with a “razor voice, ” “sharp” teeth, She is the head of Special Circumstances and gives Tally an ultimatum to either help them locate Shay, and more importantly the Smoke, or to never become pretty. After some thought, Tally sides with Special Circumstances. Dr. Cable gives her a hoverboard and all the necessary supplies to survive in the wild, along with a heart shaped locket that is actually a tracking device. Once activated, it will inform Dr. Cable of her location, and thus the location of the Smoke. She then sets off to find her friend. After a little less than a week of travel, Tally arrives at the Smoke, where she finds Shay, her friend David, and an entire community of runaway uglies. She finds herself reluctant to activate the pendant, and in her time spent stalling it becomes clear that David has a crush on her. One night, David takes her to meet his parents, Maddy and Az, who are the original runaways from the city, and they explain how the operation does more than “cosmetic nipping and tucking. ” It actually places lesions in people's brain to make them placid, or “pretty-minded. ” Expressing great horror at what her own city has done, Tally cancels any thoughts of giving away the Smoke, and, in a display of loyalty, throws the locket into a fire without telling anyone that it was a tracker. It is damaged in the flames, which causes it to activate, giving away the Smoke’s location. The following morning, Special Circumstances arrives and Tally narrowly escapes the camp. She flees to an old cave where they cannot track her heat signature. In the cave she finds David, who is also hiding there. Together, they begin to plan a rescue. Since all of their friends have been taken by Special Circumstances, and are currently being prepped to become pretties, Tally and David decide to go and free them. During the week-long journey Tally and David fall in love. Once they arrive at the Special Circumstances complex in Tally’s city, they discover that the Shay has been “turned, ” and is now a pretty. After a brief introduction, David knocks out Dr. Cable and takes her work tablet, which has all the information Maddy needs to make a cure for the pretty brain lesions. Then Tally and David free all the Smokies located in the complex. As they are escaping the Special Circumstances headquarters, Maddy tells David that his father is dead. Once everyone reaches safety, Maddy starts to work on the cure using Dr. Cable’s tablet and materials “brought by city uglies”. Once Maddy finishes the cure, she offers it to Shay who refuses, not wanting to risk becoming a “vegetable. ” Since Tally feels responsible for her initial betrayal, she decides to become a pretty and take the cure as a “willing subject”. In order to convince David to let her go she tells him about her interaction with Special Circumstances and turning in the Smoke. While David was busy taking in what Tally had just said to him, Maddy tells her to go back to the city with Shay before she changes her mind. Once there, Tally allows a middle pretty to find her. “I’m Tally Youngblood. Make me pretty, ” is the final phrase of the novel. |
6325483 | /m/0g12s0 | Are You My Mother? | Philip D. Eastman | 6/12/1960 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | "Are You My Mother?" is the story about a hatchling bird. His mother, thinking her egg will stay in her nest where she left it, leaves her egg alone and flies off to find food. The baby chick hatches. He does not understand where his mother is so he goes to look for her. In his search, he asks a kitten, a hen, a dog, and a cow if they are his mother. They each say, "No." Then he sees an old car, which cannot be his mother for sure. In desperation, the hatchling calls out to a boat and a plane, and at last, convinced he has found his mother, he climbs onto the teeth of an enormous power shovel. A loud "SNORT" belches from its exhaust stack, prompting the bird to utter the immortal line, "You are not my mother! You are a SNORT!" But as it shudders and grinds into motion he cannot escape. "I want my mother!" he shouts. But at this climactic moment, his fate is suddenly reversed. The shovel drops him back in his nest just as his mother is returning home. The two are united, much to their delight, and the baby bird tells his mother about the adventure he had looking for her. |
6325932 | /m/0g133t | The Jewel In The Skull | Michael Moorcock | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The novel is set at some indeterminate time in a post-nuclear holocaust future, where science and sorcery co-exist and the Dark Empire of Granbretan (Great Britain) is expanding across Europe. Count Brass, Lord Guardian of the Kamarg (a territory that had once been a part of a nation called France), inspects his territories. On his return journey to his castle at Aigues-Mortes he is attacked by a 'baragoon' - a swamp monster created from transformed slaves by the previous Lord Guardian - and kills it. Count Brass arrives at Castle Brass in Aigues-Mortes and is welcomed by his daughter Yisselda and philosopher-poet friend Bowgentle. Bowgentle argues that the evil of Granbretan should be fought, but Count Brass believes that a united Europe will ultimately know peace. Brass, Yisselda, Bowgentle and the Count's chief lieutenant von Villach attend the opening of the Great Festival, where Count Brass enters the bullring to save the life of the injured bullfighter Mahtan Just. Back at the castle Count Brass receives an emissary from Granbretan - Baron Meliadus - who attempts in vain to persuade him to give up his knowledge of the various courts of Europe. Baron Meliadus begins to court Yisselda, but she refuses to elope with him knowing that her father would not agree to their marriage. Meliadus attempts to kidnap her, wounding Bowgentle in the attempt, but is defeated by Count Brass and expelled from Kamarg. Meliadus swears an oath on the legendary Runestaff to gain power over Count Brass, gain Yisselda and destroy the Kamarg. In the German province of Köln a rebellion against the Dark Empire led by Duke Dorian Hawkmoon is put down, and the captured Hawkmoon is brought to the Granbretan capital Londra as a prisoner. Hawkmoon is kept in luxurious captivity and offered a bargain for his life and freedom by Baron Meliadus. First to judge his suitability he is tested on the mentality machine by Baron Kalan, and judged sane. Meliadus offers him freedom for himself and Köln if he travels to Kamarg and kidnaps Yisselda from Count Brass: Hawkmoon agrees to the bargain. To ensure Hawkmoon's loyalty a Black Jewel is inserted in his forehead: this jewel will relay Hawkmoon's sight back to Londra, and will eat his brain should Hawkmoon attempt treachery. Before he departs Hawkmoon is granted an audience with the immortal King-Emperor of Granbretan. The plan is that Hawkmoon shall journey to Kamarg dressed as Meliadus, with the story that he drugged him and thus secured passage undetected. Thus Hawkmoon travels from Granbretan across the Silver Bridge to the Crystal City of Parye, Lyon, Valence and finally arrives at Castle Brass. Along the way he catches a glimpse of a mysterious warrior in jet and gold. Count Brass realizes the nature of the Black Jewel and by physical and sorcerous means manages to capture the life force of the jewel, rendering it safe. The reprieve is only temporary, but Brass informs Hawkmoon that a sorcerer from the East called Malagigi of Hamadan may possess the power to remove the jewel if Hawkmoon can find him in time. Led by Baron Meliadus the army of Granbretan advances on the Kamarg, harried by sniping attacks led by Hawkmoon. At the battle of the Kamarg the Granbretan army is defeated by the exotic war towers of Count Brass and Meliadus flees. Following the battle Yisselda pledges her love to Hawkmoon and persuades him to seek the sorcerer Malagigi to free himself from the Black Jewel. Hawkmoon rides one of Count Brass's giant flamingos towards the East, but is accidentally shot down by a furry midget crossbreed of a human/mountain giant pairing named Oladahn. Hawkmoon and Oladahn are attacked by a band of brigands but manage to steal two of their goats and ride off. A month later Hawkmoon and Oladahn come upon the freak-show caravan of 900 year old sorcerer Agonosvos. As an ex-inhabitant of Köln Hawkmoon expects Agonosvos to show loyalty to his duke, but instead Agonsovos kidnaps Hawkmoon to sell him to Baron Meliadus. Hawkmoon is rescued by Oladahn and the pair flee from Agonosvos, who swears vengeance upon them. Hawkmoon and Oladahn take a ship to Turkia, narrowly avoiding ships from the Dark Empire's warfleet, before heading further into Persia. A month later the pair are attacked by a group of 20 Granbretan warriors but are rescued by the mysterious Warrior in Jet and Gold, who accompanies them towards Hamadan. Arriving in Hamadan they find that ruler Queen Frawbra has been ousted by her brother Nahak in league with the forces of the Dark Empire. Hawkmoon finds sorcerer Malagigi but he refuses to help him and, spotting his enemy Baron Meliadus, Hawkmoon flees the city. Hawkmoon persuades Queen Frawbra and her followers to lead an assault to re-take the city, and together with Oladahn and the Warrior in Jet and Gold they attack Hamadan. During the battle Hawkmoon finds himself pitched against Baron Meliadus, and the two fight till they both collapse. Meliadus is later presumed dead, though his body is nowhere to be found. Queen Frawbra's forces succeed in recapturing the city with Frawbra killing her brother Nahak. Malagigi is finally persuaded to help Hawkmoon and succeeds in drawing out the life in the Black Jewel, though Hawkmoon elects to continue to wear the inactive jewel in his forehead as a symbol of hatred. The Warrior in Jet and Gold informs Hawkmoon that he is a servant of the Runestaff, though Hawkmoon dismisses this as a legend. Queen Frawbra offers marriage to Hawkmoon but he refuses and, accompanied by Oladahn, begins the return journey to Kamarg and Yisselda. |
6326826 | /m/0g14hl | Bastard Out of Carolina | Dorothy Allison | 1993-03 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01jym": "Bildungsroman"} | The book opens with Bone relating the details of her birth. Bone's fifteen-year-old mother, Anney, gives birth to her after being seriously injured in a car accident. Anney, who is comatose during the delivery, is unable to lie about being married. Her mother and older sister, Ruth, attempt to give a false name and are caught in their deception. This results in Bone being declared illegitimate. Anney, who "hated to be called trash", then spends the next two years unsuccessfully petitioning to get a new birth certificate issued without the word "illegitimate" stamped on it. This opens her up to the ridicule of the customers in the diner in which she works. At age seventeen, Anney marries Lyle Parsons and gives birth to another daughter, Reese, in short order. Lyle is killed in a car accident which left Anney "all butter grief and hunger." After remaining single for a few years she begins to date Glen Waddell, the son of a socially prominent dairy owner. Two years later, as a result of becoming pregnant, they get married. Anney gives birth to a stillborn boy and becomes unable to have more children. The family's fortunes plummet, with Glen losing job after job due to his anger management problems. It is then that Glen, who had been loving and gentle with Bone, begins sexually molesting her. The abuse culminates in beatings and whippings that leave Bone nursing bruises and broken bones. When Anney discovers the abuse, she leaves Glen, who promptly promises never to do it again. Anney takes him back and the abuse resumes. Anney leaves Glen again after her tough, hard-drinking brothers severely beat Glen upon discovering that he has beaten Bone once again. Bone then announces to her mother that she will never live in the same house with Glen again. Bone then tells her mother that she loves her and will forgive her if she decides to go back to Glen, reiterating that she will not return to the house with Glen. Her mother then vows not to go back to Glen unless Bone comes with her. When Glen discovers this, he attacks Bone at her Aunt Alma's house, breaking her arm and raping her on the kitchen floor. Anney walks in on him and fights him off. Glen follows the two out to the car, begging Anney to kill him rather than abandon him. To Bone's disgust and amazement, Anney ends up crying and throwing her arms around Glen. Bone's aunt, Raylene, visits her at the hospital and takes custody of Bone, as Anney has disappeared. While she is recuperating at her aunt's house, Anney shows up with a new birth certificate for Bone, this time without the word "illegitimate" stamped on the bottom. She asks Bone's forgiveness and leaves without telling Bone where she is going. |
6327841 | /m/0g16c7 | Snakehead | Anthony Horowitz | 2007 | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/06wkf": "Spy fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/03k9fj": "Adventure"} | The story picks up moments before Ark Angel ended. Alex Rider lands in the South Pacific after falling from outer space. He is picked up by the USS Kitty Hawk, a U.S. Aircraft Carrier doubling as a "hospital at sea", where he recovers from his trip into space. He then travels to a military base owned by the Australian SAS and goes on a barbecue with a few of the soldiers, only to find himself on a war field by accident, which he manages to escape. He later learns that the war zone he stumbled onto was in fact a test of courage and stamina orchestrated by ASIS director Ethan Brooke to prove to their agents that Alex is as tough as his reputation suggests. Meanwhile, the criminal organization Scorpia is hired to assassinate eight celebrities who are hosting a "Make Poverty History"-type conference on Reef Island, an island off the north-west coast of Australia, using a bomb (which they do not have possession of yet), at the same time as the G8 summit. The deaths must look accidental. Scorpia board member Winston Yu, the head of a powerful Asian snakehead gang, is charged with this mission. Two days later, Scorpia agents break into a Ministry of Defence weapons research centre and steal a prototype bomb codenamed "Royal Blue". Ethan Brooke, head of ASIS (Australian Secret Intelligence Service) coerces Alex into helping him about by pairing him with agent Ash, who was his godfather and one of his father's best friends, to investigate the snakehead ring. Alex travels to Bangkok where Ash explains their plan; he and Alex will take on the identities of Afghan refugees who have paid the snakehead to smuggle them into Australia. In this way they can identify important members of the snakehead and find out how they smuggle the refugees. They are given disguises and sent to an area in Chinatown to await contact from the snakehead. Alex is taken to an illegal Muay Thai boxing arena by a member of the snakehead and put up against the snakehead's toughest fighter, Sunthorn. Alex wins by spitting water on Sunthorn. The unexpected victory incites a riot, but Alex manages to escape when someone (later revealed to be Ben Daniels) cuts the lights and attacks. The snakehead is still willing to take Ash and Alex to Australia. They go on to Jakarta, Indonesia, the next step of their journey. Despite a brush with Kopassus, the Indonesian special forces, in the snakehead's toy factory, Alex and Ash make it to a port, and discover a container ship, the Liberian Star. The two of them are separated and put into separate containers, which are loaded onto the ship. While the boat is at sea, Alex escapes by using one of his coins, and explores the ship. He eventually finds Royal Blue, and sees Major Yu scanning his fingerprints into a machine that will give him sole control over the bomb. Once Yu is gone, Alex scans his own fingerprints into Royal Blue then escapes the ship using another coin. After this Ash is caught and held hostage, forcing Alex to surrender. Alex is then knocked on the head and falls into unconsciousness and is captured by Yu. When Alex wakes up he is invited to tea with Yu before Alex is sent to a hospital in the Australian rainforest where he is to be used as a donor for illegal organ transplants. Alex escapes using his final exploding coin. After kayaking down the river and being shot at Alex attempts to contact MI6. Alex discovers that there is no battery in his watch, and shorts a circuit from a battery in his trainers and is rescued by MI6. Along with Ben Daniels, Alex is sent as part of an SAS team to the oil rig where Royal Blue will be detonated. On the oil rig, Alex and Ben confront Yu and his assistant; Ben shoots the assistant, who is revealed to be Ash; he had became a double agent for Scorpia following the botched mission to kill a drug dealer. Yu escapes and triggers the sinking of Royal Blue. Alex detonates it early and it harmlessly goes off. Yu is killed in the resulting shock wave due to his fragile bone structure, known as osteoporosis. At the end of the novel, Jack Starbright, Alex's housekeeper, calls a mysterious person over for dinner. Alex is surprised to see the guest is Sabina Pleasure, his old friend who moved to San Francisco after the events of Eagle Strike. |
6327856 | /m/0g16d8 | Skeleton Key | Charles L. Grant | 9/4/2001 | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel", "/m/06wkf": "Spy fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | The book opens with two men, Marc and Carlo, flying to meet with General Alexei Sarov in Cayo Esqueleto (Spanish for "Skeleton Key"), an island just off of Cuba to exchange a kilogram of uranium for money the general has promised them. However, when Sarov reveals he needs to raise it, the two threaten to call the American Intelligence if the money isn't received in three days. Taking this as a threat, Sarov turns the runway lights when the two go to leave, and their plane lands in a mangrove. Sarov watches with pleasure as the two men and the pilot are devoured by the inhabiting crocodiles, he then loads the uranium in the Jeep he came in and leaves. Meanwhile, it is revealed Alex had survived the fight with his clone and is visited by John Crawley at school. Crawley offers him tickets to Wimbledon , but Alex learns he must go undercover as a ball boy following suspicion of a break in. There, he befriends a ball girl called Sabina Pleasure. Alex notices a suspicious looking guard who happens to be Chinese and decides to investigate, but the guard lures him and attempts to kill him. Alex survives the attack and learns that the man was a member of the Chinese Triad gang "Big Circle" and was attempting match fixing. Alex is targeted by the triad gang as another member makes an attempt on his life while surfing on vacation with Sabina in Cornwall, he comes close to drowning but Sabina manages to save his life, as she is an excellent swimmer and knows CPR. For his safety, both MI6 and the CIA arrange to send him with CIA agents Tom Turner and Belinda Troy to Skeleton Key to investigate General Sarov. The two CIA agents would pass off as his parents. The CIA is concerned about the actions of Sarov since he intends to meet the Russian president, Boris Kiriyenko. En route to Skeleton Key, the 'family' of Alex, Tom and Belinda stop in Miami. The two CIA agents are not happy about bringing Alex and they attempt to keep as much information from Alex as possible, clearly discrediting him, much to Alex's frustration. Tom meets a salesman on a boat called the 'Mayfair Lady', suspecting that the salesman was involved in a deal with Sarov. The salesman however ties Tom up, knowing that he works for CIA. Alex manages to board the boat and set fire to it, causing a distraction. A firefight ensues, where Alex escapes with Tom and the boat later explodes, killing everyone on board. Despite his life being saved, Tom is frustrated at Alex for causing the explosion, although Alex is not convinced. It is later revealed that Conrad, Sarov's henchman, planted an explosive on the boat due to the fact the Salesman may contact American Intelligence. Just after arriving in Skeleton Key, Alex notices a Geiger counter in a Game Boy console he was given by the 'parents' that is designed to pick up nuclear radiation. Alex learns that Turner and Troy were sent to the island to search for a nuclear bomb. The two CIA agents reveal to Alex that the salesman had sold weapons grade uranium to Sarov and they explain to Alex their plan to infiltrate the residence of Sarov - the Casa de Oro. They intend to scuba dive into a cave and then climb up to the surface. Alex goes with them but stays on the boat whilst Turner and Troy go underwater. When they do not return, Alex dives in alone and after a close encounter with a shark, discovers a mechanical spear trap that impaled Turner and Troy. When he resurfaces, the boat driver has been killed and Alex is captured by Conrad, who puts a sack over his head and injects him with a drug giving him the inability to move. When the sack is taken off, Alex finds himself in a sugar factory lying down on the conveyor belt where Conrad interrogates him. Alex lies to him but Conrad knows and activates the belt, causing alex to head toward a pair of crushers. Despite finally telling him the truth about the bomb, Conrad decides to kill him anyway, however, General Sarov stops the machine. Alex, overwhelmed that he was inches near death, passes out. Alex wakes up in the Casa de Oro and demands to know what Sarov wants with him who tells Alex he will tell him in time. The next day, Sarov tells him how he had a son named Vladamir who he encouraged to go to war in Afghanistan. However, he was killed in action by a sniper. The General tells Alex how he wishes to adopt him as he shares many traits with Vladmair due to their similar physical appearance and common traits. He then has Alex moved to the slave house. Alex attempts to escape the mansion by hiding in the boot of a limousine following a lunch meeting between Sarov and Kiriyenko. He is however caught by Sarov thanks to a sensor that can detects circulation, who spares Alex's life yet again but punishes him through mental torture, with Conrad pointing a pistol at Alex, Sarov holds the device in front of him so Alex can hear his own heartbeat, Conrad holds the gun against Alex's heart. The whole time, Sarov talks to Alex as if he really is going to have Conrad shoot him. As his heartbeat gets faster, Conrad then puts pressure on the trigger, and Sarov suddenly turns off the device, having Alex fall under the impression he'd been shot, Sarov then tells Conrad to take him back to the slave house. At dinner later that evening, Sarov drugs Kiriyenko and his guests, making them all unconscious and has them moved to the slave house. He then has the nuclear bomb transported onto the island. On the flight to Russia, Sarov tells Alex that they are heading to Murmansk, which contains a shipyard of nuclear submarines, he wants to drop the nuclear bomb their, which is powered by the uranium, and is activated by a key card which Sarov shows him, the bomb will cause a massive explosion, Russia will be blamed and they will turn to their president, Sarov will then release edited footage from an interview exposing Kiriyenko as a lazy drunk idiot who says he can't deal with the issue, this will force him out of power and he will eventually be found dead due to heart faliure, Russia will go back to communism, and Sarov will be taking over. The plane makes a fuel stop in Edinburgh. Alex uses a stun grenade (courtesy of Smithers at MI6) to escape the plane whilst it had landed, incapacitating Sarov and Conrad temporarily. Alex runs to one of the terminal buildings and attempts to call the police but is stopped by a security guard named George Prescott. Despite Alex's efforts to convince Prescott of the situation, Sarov recaptures Alex and Prescott is killed by Conrad. They continue their flight to Murmansk. At Murmansk, Conrad plants the bomb on a submarine using a magnetic crane. One of Sarov's men handcuffs Alex to a handrail close to the submarines, Sarov approaches him and bids him farewell before leaving. Alex sets himself free by using bubble gum that can be turned into a reactive substance when chewed for a certain period of time(again supplied by Smithers). Conrad immediately notices and lowers himself out of the crane to engage Alex. During their fight, the Russian army arrives and starts fighting Sarov's men. Despite Alex's efforts to fend Conrad off, Conrad easily overpowers him and attempts to strangle him to death. However, Conrad (who has numerous pieces of metal inside his body) is grabbed by the magnetic crane. Alex takes over the crane controls himself, dropping Conrad into the sea and grabbing the nuclear bomb from the submarine. He then removes the detonation card from the bomb, only to be told to put it back by a reappearing Sarov. When Alex tells Sarov that he would rather die than become Sarov's son, Sarov commits suicide. In the final chapter of the novel, it is revealed that when Alex explained his predicament to John Prescott, his office heard their conversation through Prescott's radio transmitter. Initially, they didn't believe Alex, but when they discovered Prescott's death, they immediately notified MI6, who then warned the Russians. Alex is depressed after everything he has been through, but Sabina approaches Alex and invites him on holiday with her family in France for a couple of weeks, cheering Alex up. |
6334150 | /m/0g1jm8 | The Stress of Her Regard | Tim Powers | 1989-09 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/035qb4": "Historical fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The story begins shortly before the wedding of Michael Crawford, a doctor. The night before he marries Julia, he inadvertently places his wedding ring in the hand of a statue in a garden. When he goes to retrieve it, he discovers the statue has mysteriously vanished. Despite this mysterious event, the wedding proceeds. Julia's disturbed twin sister Josephine serves as the maid of honor. The next morning, Crawford awakes to discover Julia's horribly mutilated corpse next to him in the bed. Knowing he will be suspected of murdering his bride, Crawford flees to London and passes himself off as a medical student. He meets John Keats, who is also studying medicine. One day while visiting the wards they encounter the grief-stricken Josephine, who attempts to shoot Crawford to avenge her sister. A mysterious apparition saves him. Keats does his best to help Crawford understand what has happened. By placing the wedding ring on the statue Crawford unwittingly attracted the attention of one of the nephilim, who now considers herself Crawford's true wife. The nephilim killed Julia so she could have Crawford for herself. Keats, who has some experience with the nephilim, recommends that Crawford visit the Alps. There is a place high in the mountains where he may be able to free himself from "the stress of her regard". While traveling on the Continent, Crawford is called upon to assist another Englishman who is suffering from a seizure. The man is Percy Shelley, and is accompanied by Lord Byron, John Polidori, and Claire Clarmont. Byron and Shelley are also connected to the nephilim, which they see as both a blessing and a curse. The nephilim can prolong the lives of humans and serve as muses who help to inspire great works of creativity, but they are extremely jealous and will destroy anyone they see as a rival. Crawford and the two poets make their way up the Jungfrau, where it is said one might be able to break the bond with a nephilim. After answering a version of the Riddle of the Sphinx Crawford manages to free himself from his "wife". In doing so he also learns more about the nature of the nephilim. Yet the danger is not over for Crawford, the poets, and their loved ones. The nephilim are still active, and developments in Venice may threaten all humanity. Crawford, Josephine, Shelley, and Byron, all haunted by personal tragedy, must find a way to save themselves and the rest of the world from the nephilim. |
6335613 | /m/0g1lps | The Shepherd of the Hills | Harold Bell Wright | null | null | The story depicts the lives of mountain people living in the Ozarks. The main story surrounds the relationship between Grant "Old Matt" Matthews Senior and Dad Howitt, an elderly, mysterious, learned man who has escaped the buzzing restlessness of the city to live in the backwoods neighborhood of Mutton Hollow. Howitt spends his time alone, acting as a mediator and friend to the mountain people, and trying to recover from his tragic past, which includes the prior deaths of his wife and children, and the later presumed madness and subsequent suicide of his only surviving child, his artist son (later referred to as "Mad Howard"). Howitt's reclusiveness has earned him the moniker "The Shepherd of The Hills", yet he befriends the Matthews clan (the strongest and most respected family in the area) who come to love and trust him. Old Matt and the Shepherd's common history (which only The Shepherd knows at the outset) involves Old Matt's daughter, who died while giving birth to her son (and Old Matt's grandson), Pete Howard. Unbeknownst to the Matthews, Mad Howard is Pete's father, and thus The Shepherd is Pete's grandfather. Years earlier, Mad Howard returned home after spending time painting in the mountains, and one of his paintings became famous, as did he. That painting was of a young girl, pretty, standing beside a creek; the girl in the painting was Old Matt's daughter, with whom he had fallen in love. However, Mad Howard believed that his father's pride of family and place in society would never allow him to approve of his son's marriage to an Ozark country girl. Mad Howard packed up his paintings and returned to the city, leaving Old Matt's daughter with the impression that he would return. Once returning to the city, Mad Howard sent her a letter explaining that his father would not approve of their marriage. However, he never told his father about Old Matt's daughter and his relations with her a secret; the secrecy drove a wedge between Mad Howard and his father, although his father never understood why. Meanwhile, Old Matt has sworn he will kill the man who abandoned his daughter, as well as his father, if ever he finds them. Over the years, Mad Howard's love for Old Matt's daughter and his guilt over abandoning her slowly drove him insane. Eventually, Mad Howard feigns suicide and leaves behind his city life. He goes to the Ozarks and learns that Old Matt's daughter is dead, but that she has a son who (like his father) suffers from mental instability. Mad Howard hides in the woods, living like a hermit, trying to atone for the wrongs he has done. Mad Howard is portrayed throughout the story as a ghostly person, masked and always hiding in the shadows, who reveals himself only to Pete (as a result, Pete is also believed to have some mental instability). The Shepherd is suffering a mental breakdown of his own over the presumed death of his son. Though The Shepherd is a pastor, he realizes that has no true belief in the Good Shepherd he preaches to others; this crisis of faith pushes him over the edge. His doctor recommends he take a long vacation, so he spends some time wandering around the country, rediscovering and strengthening his faith. Eventually, he changes his name and moves to the hills to connect with what his son loved most. Here he finally learns of his son's secret, the subsequent death of the Matthews girl, and the identity of young Pete as his grandson. He keeps this and his true identity from everyone, knowing that Old Matt has sworn vengenance. The Shepherd also hopes to do what he can to atone for his son's actions and intends to spend the rest of his life helping these people and teaching them about the "true Shepherd". Only later in the story does The Shepherd discover that the ghostly figure is his son Mad Howard. Shortly afterwards, Mad Howard is shot while risking his life to save others. The Shepherd then confesses his identity to Old Matt and tells him that the betrayer of his daughter is still alive, but dying and desires to be forgiven. After The Shepherd's confession Old Matt, although angry, finds it within himself to forgive both father and son, and he and the Shepherd (along with his wife and Pete) go to Mad Howard's bedside. With the doctor and family present, Mad Howard looks at the painting of the Matthews girl. He speaks to her of their life together, saying, "I loved her, I--LOVED--HER. She was my natural mate. My other self. I belonged to her, she to me." For a time he lies exhausted; then he rises on his arms and says, "Do you hear her? She is calling. She is calling again! Yes, sweetheart. Yes, dear, I am coming!" With that, Mad Howard dies and is buried in an unmarked section of a cave on Dewey Bald. Shortly thereafter, Pete also dies and was buried next to his mother. A backdrop storyline surrounds the pretty Samantha "Sammy" Lane and her love of Grant "Young Matt" Matthews, Jr. Young Matt is in love with Sammy, who is also being courted by two other men: Ollie Stewart (a "city slicker" who at the outset appears to have the inside track, but Sammy decides that she doesn't want to move to the city) and Wash Gibbs (leader of the Baldknobbers, a gang who terrorize the countryside wearing frightening masks with horns at their top and who rob banks and settlers as they see fit). Gibbs (who's father and Sammy's father Jim were involved with the Baldknobbers in the past) is jealous of Young Matt, and during the story kills Jim after he refuses to go along with one of the Baldknobbers schemes (it is during this episode that Mad Howard is shot by a posse mistaking him for one of the Baldknobbers). Eventually Sammy and Young Matt marry and have children of their own. The last chapter of the story skips ahead many years to an artist wandering through the mountains, looking for inspiration. He meets The Shepherd, and the two men converse casually for a time. The Shepherd notes that the mountains will eventually become "the haunt of curious idlers" once the railroad comes, but he will not be alive by then. For a few days they see one another regularly, conversing, and one day The Shepherd invites the artist to his home where the artist meets Sammy and Young Matt and their family. Inside, the artist takes special note of how nicely decorated the home is, and he is especially interested in one room, where paintings of good quality are hanging. He notices that the largest painting is veiled, hiding its content. The Shepherd never offers to show the young artist that painting, and the young artist does not ask to see it, but remains curious. The artist leaves the mountains, but returns the following summer. He is greeted by Young Matt and Sammy, and discovers that The Shepherd's prediction had come true – the railroad was blasting away nearby mountains, but he had died while the surveyors were in the area before construction had started (and was buried at Dewey Bald). It was then that, as requested by The Shepherd, the veiled painting is revealed to the young artist, who then becomes excited, knowing it immediately as Mad Howard's famous lost painting (though not revealed in the story it is implied that it is the painting of Old Matt's daughter). The young artist asks excitedly, "How – where did you find it?" They enter another room, as Young Matt and Sammy begin re-telling the story of The Shepherd of The Hills. |
6339165 | /m/0g1sy1 | The Judas Pair | John Grant | 1977 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery"} | Antiques dealer Lovejoy is commissioned to hunt down what he considers to be a mythical object, the Judas pair, the supposed thirteenth pair of duelling pistols made by the famous London gunmaker Durs Egg. After two murders Lovejoy is certain that the pistols do exist, and are now in the hands of the murderer. |
6341826 | /m/0g1xn2 | Joe Gould's Secret | Joseph Mitchell | null | {"/m/05h83": "Non-fiction"} | By observing the lives of those around him and recording the goings-on, Gould set about compiling an exhaustive record of modern life he called "Oral History." He claimed that oral history held more truth than the formalized history of textbooks and professors, as it gave voices to the lower classes that were representative of true humanity. In the 1920s, Gould had small portions of his "History" published in magazines, but in the years that followed he became more secretive and eccentric. He was well-known among the local shopkeepers, artists, and restaurateurs, many of whom gave him handouts of money or food in support of his project. Mitchell met Gould in 1942 and wrote the profile "Professor Sea Gull" on him for The New Yorker. The first part of Joe Gould's Secret is made up of this profile, from Gould's graduation from Harvard University in 1911, leading up to the writing of his "Oral History", said to be composed of 20,000 conversations and 9,000,000 words. The second part of the book is a more personal memoir of Mitchell's experiences with Gould, their eventual falling out, and his discovery of Joe Gould's secret: that the "Oral History" did not exist. Gould suffered from writer's block and hypergraphia; while to those around him he appeared to be taking constant notes—a notion he was happy to reinforce—he was, in fact, re-writing the same few chapters dealing with seemingly trivial events in his own early life. He had filled countless notebooks with edited versions of these events, evidently searching for meaning in the revisions. Out of respect, Mitchell waited several years after Gould's death to reveal the secret. He wrote the second article in 1964, and combined it with the original article in book form in 1965. Ironically, Mitchell was plagued with writer's block for the next three decades, and was never able to publish another book. Mitchell's pieces on Gould were later collected along with many other of his prominent works in the volume Up in the Old Hotel, published in 1992. |
6342228 | /m/0g1y1k | The Heralds | Brian Killick | 1973 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/01z4y": "Comedy"} | The book begins with a brief introduction describing the lasting nature of the College of Arms through successive monarchs and governments. Immediately, though, the book shifts its focus to the current set of officers of arms at the College. At the end of the first chapter, Garter Principal King of Arms–the head of the body of heralds – announces his intended retirement from the post in six months time. The announcement by Garter throws the entire College of Arms into confusion. Set in the late 1960s, the retiring King of Arms had led the College since the end of World War II. Each of the other, twelve officers of arms in ordinary begins calculating his own chances of promotion to the top spot. Some continue about their own business, knowing that their dutiful service will be rewarded, however, Cecil Gascoigne, who is Chester Herald, decides he will stop only short of murder in obtaining the coveted office. Slowly, but surely, Cecil Gascoigne begins eliminating his competitors. His methods are diverse, and include devising for a colleague to be caught smuggling illegal substances into England; also using blackmail and bankruptcy to his advantage. Over time, Gascoigne begins grasping that unfortunate problems have befallen his fellow officers, and he is not the cause. Thinking that his competition has him on a list for elimination, Gascoigne begins doubling his efforts; by book's end, four officers of arms have died, and the rest disgraced. As Cecil Gascoigne awaits the inevitable appointment as Garter King of Arms, he is arrested for an arson at the College of Arms that he did not commit. With his staff depleted and the College demoralized, Garter King of Arms decides to shoulder the burden and continue on in his duties. |
6347846 | /m/0g22_5 | Magic Moon | Wolfgang Hohlbein | 1982 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Kim is an average German schoolboy who hates math but loves to read the latest copy of Star Fighter. His daydreaming life spirals into a nightmare when his parents inform him that his little sister Rebecca has fallen into a mysterious coma after her appendicectomy. A visitor from the realm of Magic Moon, the wizard Themistocles, tells him there is only one way to free her from the enchantment of eternal sleep: Kim himself must travel into the land of dreams and save her from the dark wizard Boraas, who has captured her soul. So his next dream pulls Kim into Magic Moon, where he must fly a spaceship, disguise himself as a dark warrior, fight dangerous monsters and fantastical creatures, and journey ever-onward through forests and mountains to the end of the world, only to find out that the answer to saving Rebecca – and Magic Moon – lies within himself. |
6349278 | /m/0g23wk | An Experiment with an Air Pump | Shelagh Stephenson | null | null | The plot takes place in the same house in two different time periods divided by the gap of two hundred years (1799 and 1999). The play questions the basic principles of scientific (medical) research, such as the right of the scientist to cross ethical limits: the right to perform dissection on the recently deceased (1799) and use of embryos in stem-cell research (1999). Both years are symbolic—they stand at the turns of new centuries and have to face the challenges the new times are about to bring. There will be a great development in medicine in the 19th and of genetics in the 21st centuries. The play also implicitly deals with gender roles and questions the stereotypes of women scientists. While in 1799, it is the father (Fenwick) who is the enlightened soul and his male friends are also scientists (Armstrong, the physician, and Roget, the to-be-author of the thesaurus), his wife (Susannah) is a stereotypical wife of the time and their two daughters (Maria and Harriet) are expected to be such, too. The decision of one of them to become a scientist leads to disapproval. In 1999, the roles somehow change: Ellen, the wife, is the geneticist, and her husband, Tom, is historian. Ellen's friend, Kate, is also a young genetic researcher. There are also two "uneducated" characters: Isobel, the 1799 maid, and Phil, the 1999 handyman. An additional theme of this play involves the ethics of using human life, in any form, for the advancement of science. Though the topic is not specifically discussed in 1799, the characters in 1999 do talk about the issue, though no concrete conclusions are drawn. Besides the general questions about a scientist's responsibilities and limits, the play is in part a detective story. In the modern times, a skeleton is found in the basement. The skipping between the two time periods highlights, then resolves, questions about the identity of the corpse and the means of their death. After Armstrong seduces Isobel, he confesses to Roget that he feigned love for Isobel because then she would agree to have intercourse with him. If she is naked, then he can examine her twisted spine more thoroughly. Isobel overhears and is moved to kill herself by hanging. Armstrong finds her hanging and speeds up the process. The characters in 1799 ring in the new year with the death of Isobel, whereas, the characters in 1999 begin the new millennium leaving their old home, and the certainties it possessed for them, behind. |
6350429 | /m/0g24vv | The Will of the Empress | Tamora Pierce | 2005-11 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The primary plot of the novel is the struggle of Sandrilene fa Toren, a half-Namornese noblewoman, against her cousin, Empress Berenene of Namorn; Sandry had inherited the vast Namornese estate of Landreg from her mother, who had accustomed her to receiving a yearly income from the estate while rarely visiting it. Empress Berenene, who wants to keep the revenue from the estate within Namorn, repeatedly invites Sandry to visit her court in Dancruan while levying increasing taxes from her estate. When Sandry realizes that the Empress has been threatening Namorn's amicable trade with Emelan, she decides to accept the Empress's invitation and use the visit to visit her estate and Namornese family. Sandry's uncle, Duke Vedris of Emelan, asks her childhood companions Daja Kisubo, Trisana Chandler and Briar Moss who have just come back from their travels to accompany her in lieu of a company of guards, a gesture both discourteous and ineffectual. Though their friendship with Sandry and with each other has become strained since their return to Summersea after years of world-traveling, Daja, Tris and Briar agree, and the four travel to Namorn together. While there, they learn of the Western Namornese custom of bride kidnapping, which entails a man kidnapping a prospective bride and holding her captive until she agrees to sign a wedding contract. While the so-called "horse's rump" wedding is usually only used to bypass reluctant families or out of a sense of adventure, some marriages are forced, and the custom remains legal. Empress Berenene has never attempted to illegalize it despite having twice been kidnapped, because she believes her ability to escape both times means that only weak women would allow themselves to be forced into a marriage they don't want. When he hears of this, Briar comments that the Empress's captors are unlikely to have used the same level of violence as a common woman might encounter. Because of their power and renown, Empress Berenene decides that Namorn stands to benefit if she persuades all four mages to remain in her court, in addition to Sandry and the funds from her Namornese estate. She offers Tris a position as a court mage with a large salary and benefits including access to the Imperial library, attempting to appeal to her merchant upbringing and her known bibliophily. She appeals to Briar by inviting him to her fantastic private greenhouses, offering him unlimited access as her personal gardener and showing him public favor, including an earldom. To entice Sandry to remain in court, she sends an entourage of four young nobles to escort her to Clehamat Landreg, including Finlach fer Hurich and Jakuben fer Pennun, who openly compete in their courtship of Sandry. Daja develops a relationship with Berenene's beautiful seamstress, Rizuka fa Dalach, which is encouraged by the Empress in order to keep Daja in Namorn. When Fin, frustrated by Sandry's reluctance, kidnaps her with the aid of his uncle, locking her in a magic-proof box in the Julih Tunnel, a secret part of the castle, Sandry reconnects her magical bond with Briar while he is at a dance with Caidy, calling out to him for help. Briar and Tris succeed in extracting Sandry, and they decide to leave Namorn despite Empress Berenene's efforts to dissuade them and the incarceration of Fin and his uncle, until then the head of the Dancruan Mages' Society. The Empress then orders Ishabal Ladyhammer, her most powerful war-mage, to prevent the four from leaving to save face, and Ishabal casts a curse on Tris, causing her to fall down the stairs and fracture most of her bones. The injured Tris insists that Sandry, Daja and Briar travel ahead of her, and she catch up to them when she recovers. Halfway to the border with Anderran Sandry is again kidnapped, this time by Pershan fer Roth, whose proposal of marriage she had refused shortly before leaving Dancruan, and Quenaill Shieldsman, a powerful court mage and Shan's rival for the Empress's attentions. Quen lays a powerful sleeping spell on Briar and Daja and magic-dampening spells on Sandry. Briar uses smelling salts he calls "Wake the Dead" to wake up Daja and they start to go after Sandry when they are confronted by Quenaill. Briar and Daja engage Quenaill, draining him until the spells on Sandry wear off. When Sandry wakes up, she is covered in charms to prevent her from using her magic. These charms are tied to her with ribbons and she is thus able to free herself. Sandry then uses thread magic to unravel her captors' clothing and cocoon them in the resulting threads. After meeting up with Daja and Briar again, the party continue to the border. Aware that the empress may attempt to stop them, they send ahead their traveling companions and send their guards home. At the border, they are confronted by Ishabal Ladyhammer. She raises a barrier against them, but Sandry uses the circle of thread that binds them together to combine their powers. Tris, who had been travelling behind, magically accesses the ring from a distance, allowing the four mages to use their amplified power to shatter the border barrier. The thread circle disappears and all four now have a circular lump in their hand. Having invested much of her power in the barrier, Ishabal is magically drained when she leaves without attempting to stop Tris from crossing. The original title of the novel, The Circle Reforged, refers to the reforging of the four protagonists' friendship. In the year of the Circle of Magic quartet, Sandry, Tris, Daja and Briar live together and develop a strong friendship that manifests itself magically as a bond that allows them to communicate telepathically and causes their magical abilities to cross over from one to another. In The Circle Opens the four are separated, although their bond is clarified when they refer to each other as siblings or foster-siblings. Sandry remains in Summersea, living with her uncle in the Ducal Citadel, while Briar, Daja and Tris travel the world with their respective teachers. When they return, Daja after two years and Tris and Briar after four, the experiences they had while apart lead them to close their mental connection to each other, a representation of the distancing of their relationship. Sandry, feeling betrayed first by having been left behind, then by the telepathic wall, reciprocates in the same manner. Throughout the first few chapters of the book the four mages fight frequently. Briar and Tris are invited by Daja to live in her new house, with Tris taking over housekeeping duties to assuage what she perceives as charity from her wealthier friends. Daja withholds the extent of her hurt at not being able to return to Winding Circle as well as her experiences with the arsonist Ben Ladradun during Cold Fire. Tris lies about her newly learned ability to scry on the wind because of the ill treatment she experienced from other mages who found out. Briar refuses to discuss his experiences of war in Gyongxe and his resulting post-traumatic stress disorder with anyone but Rosethorn, his teacher and traveling companion. Sandry and Daja are the first to reopen their mental connection, ending their estrangement. Later in the book, Briar and Tris open their connection with each other. Some time later, Sandry telepathically calls out to Tris and Briar when she's trapped in a box, nearly paralyzed by spells that bind her magic and her own fear of the dark. Eventually, their telepathic bond is completely restored, though they maintain their ability to screen their minds when they choose to. The bond, and the circle of thread that represents it, serve them in a joint magical working to breach the barrier on the Namorn-Anderran border during the book's climactic battle; once complete, Sandry finds the thread gone, and each of them is left with a scar on their right palm resembling the four lumps in the thread that had represented their magical identities. In the post-climactic scene, each of the four reveals the secret that they had been keeping, and Briar introduces his sisters to a mental recreation of Discipline Cottage, their former home, which he had created and used when he wanted to feel safe. The Will of the Empress is the first book set in Emelan to involve the protagonists in a romantic sub-plot. While previous books alluded to romantic relationships between the adult characters, none of the four main characters were shown to have romantic interests. Sandry's visit to Namorn is punctuated by Empress Berenene's desire to see her marry a Namornese nobleman. She is courted by Jak and Fin, whose advances she rebuffs while maintaining a friendly acquaintance with them. She develops feeling for Shan and responds to his less public courtship, but when she learns that he's sexually involved with Empress Berenene, she doesn't pursue the relationship and rejects his offer of marriage. After Fin's incarceration Jak learns that Sandry is leaving Namorn and visits her before she leaves, when she tells him that she enjoys his company much more as a friend than as a suitor. Daja meets Rizu, the Empress's Mistress of Wardrobe, developing an infatuation with her and commenting on her beauty and flirtatiousness. Her feelings remain unacknowledged until Rizu makes the first move and kisses her, resulting in awkwardness on the part of Sandry, who telepathically senses the kiss and is flustered by the rush of Daja's emotions while dancing with Fin. Daja and Rizu's relationship quickly becomes sexual, and is discovered by Briar when he finds Rizu in Daja's bedroom one morning naked. During their short relationship, Daja develops intense feelings for Rizu and shows a desire for her to be accepted as part of her siblings' inner circle, while they are reluctant. When Daja prepares to leave Namorn she asks Rizu to return to Emelan with her and is heartbroken by her refusal; during the ride to the border she's shown to carry a small portrait of Rizu in her pouch. After Daja leaves, Berenene comments on Rizu's low spirits since her lover's departure. Briar, coping with an unspecified war in the country of Yanjing, tends to romance as many women as he can, mainly Caidy. He reassures the others that he takes droughtwort, a plant that renders the eater temporarily sterile. He has vivid nightmares of the war in Gyongxe when he sleeps alone. |
6350803 | /m/0g254y | Briar's Book | Tamora Pierce | 1999 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | To Briar, the Mire is familiar territory, having been first a street-rat and then a thief in Deadman's District, the poorest quarter of his native Hajra, before his magic was discovered by the great mage Niklaren Goldeye and he was taken to Winding Circle, a temple school for ambient mages. One day while out running errands with his teacher, Rosethorn, Briar is summoned to the Mire to examine Flick, a poor friend affected by a strange illness. Puzzled by what he has encountered, Briar enlists Rosethorn's help. The two bring the feverish girl to Urda's House, (a small charity hospital), where they learn that Flick is by far not the only one affected; many other people from the poorest parts of Summersea are ill as well. They also learn, to Briar's dismay, that the hospital has been put under quarantine to help stop the "blue pox" - so named for the bluish sores that mark the skin - from spreading even further. Trapped in Urda's House due to the quarantine, Rosethorn and Briar are kept busy with caring for the patients. Together with the healers, they come to the conclusion that it isn't the blue spots that are necessarily dangerous, but the fever. Even more troubling is the fever's apparent resistance to willowbark tea, a usually successful remedy. These revelations don't make the task of caring for patients any easier, however, and over the next few days many of them - including Flick - pass away. Eventually it's realized that the quarantine on Urda's House is useless; the plague has already spread to the whole of Summersea. Briar and Rosethorn are given leave, and travel back to Winding Circle, where Sandry, Tris and Daja spend the night with Briar in the altar room to help him cope with Flick's death. Rosethorn works with Dedicate Crane and a team of Air mages to find a cure for the sickness. But it is Briar's sharp-eyed friend Tris who discovers the first real breakthrough; the origin of the disease. With Niko's help, she learns that the disease was a result of a magical experiment gone wrong and disposed of incorrectly. Unfortunately, just as things start to look bright in the search for a cure for the blue pox, an accident in Crane's lab causes Rosethorn to become sick with it as well. This causes Briar to work twice as hard, determined not to lose Rosethorn as he had lost Flick, and slowly a cure begins to develop. (Rosethorn continues to send notes to Crane through Briar.) After several days, the cure is deemed to be safe and Crane tests it on Rosethorn. She starts to recover, but has a bad cough, which develops into pneumonia. Lark goes to find a healer, but while she is gone, Rosethorn has a seizure. Briar, not wanting to lose his teacher, plunges after her into death, magically linking himself to the three girls and his beloved shakkan, or miniature tree. Suspended in a sort of limbo, he finds Rosethorn in a garden, and they argue fiercely. Only after he threatens to sever the magical cords linking him to life does she agree to return with him. Upon their return, they discover that Rosethorn has temporarily lost her ability to speak, due to the seizure and the accompanying block of oxygen flow to her brain. But that appears to be the only lasting damage, and the blue pox has vanished for good. A month later, Briar and the girls on on the roof. Sandry comments that it is the four's birthday, they have all been at Discipline Cottage for a year. Everyone has to leave for various reasons, leaving Briar alone. He contemplates birthdays, and decides his birthday will be the following day, the day Rosethorn invited him to her garden. She calls up to him and tells him to come down and start weeding. |
6355219 | /m/0g28_w | Riverwind the Plainsman | Paul B. Thompson | 3/31/1990 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Riverwind the Plainsman begins in the village of Que Shu shortly before the southern invasion of the War of the Lance. Riverwind the Plainsman is slightly different than the rest of the Preludes series, in that Riverwind was unknown to the other companions at this time. However, Riverwind's blue crystal staff was one of the focal points of the original Chronicles series. This is the story of how that staff came into his possession. The story starts with Riverwind undergoing tests of strength and courage in order to be allowed to be betrothed to Goldmoon, the princess of the Que Shu tribe. Goldmoon's father Arrowthorn, along with many other villagers, sees this as an unpopular match. Riverwind is from an outcast family not even permitted to live within the city walls. Their crime was believing in the true gods instead of recognizing the chief as a god, and Goldmoon as a goddess. Riverwind passes his tests, and so Arrowthorn gives Riverwind a quest. Arrowthorn instructs Riverwind to leave Que Shu with only a day's supply of food and water and search for proof of the true gods; only upon proof will Arrowthorn allow the betrothal. Upon leaving the village, Riverwind is joined by another tribal outcast: Catchflea. Old and slightly crazed, Catchflea is a self-proclaimed seer, who tries to divine the future in reading acorns shaken out of a gourd. Riverwind and Catchflea are not gone long before they find themselves unwilling participants in a civil war. Accidentally falling down a magical shaft while chasing a thief, they discover a new race of subterranean elves, who were originally Silvanesti elves, the Hestites, which fled Silvanesti during the Kinslayer Wars. These elves had, over 2,000 years ago, founded their underground city of Vartoom, which operated under a caste system consisting mostly of a warrior class, a smithing class, and a slave class. Riverwind and Catchflea are befriended by Di An, a female elven slave and one of scores of "Barren Children"- children born without military or magical inclinations put to work as diggers in the many underground mines. They are taken prisoner and taken to the queen of Vartoom, Li El—a cruel and idealistic elven wizardress. Eventually, Riverwind and Catchflea learn of an impending war between Li El and her former lover, General Mors. Mors recognizes Li El's evil and cruelty for what they are, and leads an invasion against her. A spellbound Riverwind fights in the ranks of Li El, while Catchflea teaches the slave class the lost art of archery and the use of pepper as a sort of biological agent. Mors is victorious, Riverwind is released from the spell, and Vartoom is liberated. Mors wants Catchflea to remain in Vartoom as an ambassador and consultant, but is outwardly cold toward Riverwind after a magicked Riverwind had fought in Li El's ranks. Riverwind and Catchflea are forced to escape Vartoom with the help of Di An, who by this time is in love with Riverwind. For miles, they trek secret tunnels until they come upon the sunken city of Xak Tsaroth, which is by now swarming with Gully Dwarves (Aghar), goblins, and Draconians. In Xak Tsaroth, the three meet an almost indifferent dark cleric named Krago, who is in Xak Tsaroth under orders from the Queen of Darkness to continue creating and perfecting more Draconian warriors. Xak Tsaroth's second in command (behind the Black Dragon Khisanth)is a juvenile Draconian named Thouriss, whom Krago created was grooming as a perfect sire to future generations of Draconians. Krago only initially takes interest in the three when he learns of Di An's stunted growth in relation to her age due to living underground her entire life and being largely malnourished (although the three tell their hosts that Di An is a Silvanesti Elf to avoid suspicion). Thouriss is a dangerous combination of extreme naïveté and irritability who doesn't know if he wants to graciously host the three outsiders, or eat them. Krago is also creating the perfect female specimen to mother future generations of Draconians, whom he names Lyrexis. Riverwind narrowly defeats Thouriss in battle by drowning him when he correctly assumes Thouriss hasn't yet been taught to swim. Riverwind is dragged underwater during his battle with Thouriss and is assumed dead when neither warrior rises to the surface. Catchflea and Di An are taken hostage by an increasingly frustrated Krago. Di An takes an alchemical blood purifier that she finds in Krago's lab and is wracked by pains throughout her body. This chemical begins to "cure" Di An's stunted growth and the elf girl starts to slowly grow to the correct size for her age and species, starting at her feet. Riverwind goes back to Krago's lab to free his companions and escape the city. By now, Lyrexis is awake and out of control, attacking the companions as well as crushing Krago's hand. She escapes the lab and heads into town where she attacks and easily defeats many goblins, but pauses when confronted by fellow Draconians. During Lyrexis' battle with the Draconians, the three with Krago taken as hostage reach the huge pots that are raised and lowered to and from the surface. Krago casts a spell to lift the pot but is killed by a Draconian crossbow bolt, ending the spell. The three are forced to climb up the chain to the surface as bolts whistle all around them. While escaping the city, Catchflea is shot by an enemy crossbow bolt and dies. It is here, in the above-ground section of the city, where Riverwind sees Di An succumb to a sort of reverse-agoraphobia and run off. Her many years living underground had given her a strong and powerful fear of open spaces, fearing that she would "fall up" into the open sky. It is also in the above-ground Xak Tsaroth where Riverwind encounters Khisanth, the Black Dragon who guards the city and helps to oversee the creation of the Draconians. It is during this encounter that Riverwind is given the blue crystal staff of Mishakal by the goddess herself when he is forced into a temple by the Black Dragon and her company of Draconians. Riverwind is able to repel the dragon and Draconians by using the staff's ability to severely injure any being aligned with evil if the staff even slightly touches them. After finally escaping from Xak Tsaroth, Riverwind finds Di An and the two enter the swamps. Riverwind became afflicted with swamp fever and Di An was still suffering the effects of being above ground. Mishakal gave Riverwind a choice. He could either use the staff to heal Di An, or use the staff to heal himself. Ultimately, Riverwind decided to use the staff to heal Di An, who instantly vanishes along with the staff. Di An is teleported by the Goddess back to Mors (whose blindness has been cured by Mishakal in preparation for Di An's return) and the rest of the underground Elves. Di An is to spread the word of the True Gods among her people. Now without his proof of the true gods, Riverwind set off for Que Shu to admit defeat. While journeying back to Que Shu, the staff materializes in front of Riverwind. Now with his quest complete, Riverwind continued to the village and, still delirious from the fever, collapses at Goldmoon's feet. The story ends with the staff being taken to Arrowthorn, who will decide if it is sufficient proof. The authors do not tell us the outcome. |
6355963 | /m/0g29n9 | A Thousand Pieces of Gold | null | null | null | Lalu is the oldest daughter of a Chinese farmer. Her father loses everything by gambling on winter wheat futures, and Lalu finds herself thrust into debt slavery. At the end of the book, after many hardships, she dies. |
6357789 | /m/0g2chw | Shock Wave | Tony Abbott | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel"} | While investigating the deaths of a large number of marine animals, Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino encounter a group of tourists on Seymour Island. Aboard the tourists' cruise ship (the Polar Queen), a mysterious "disease" has killed everyone on board. The tourists are brought to the Ice Hunter, a research vessel for the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA). Here, they find out that the Polar Queen is missing and will not respond to their calls. After some searching, Pitt and Al discover that the missing ship is heading towards a cliff. After being winched onto the ship from a helicopter, Pitt steers and manages to narrowly avoid the crash. But he finds only one surviving passenger on board: Dierdre. Maeve, the tour guide from Seymour Island, is Deirdre's sister, and she seems perplexed to find Deirdre aboard. Pitt and Al uncover more evidence to suggest that the passengers of the Polar Queen were killed by extremely high-powered soundwaves. At this time, more outbreaks occur on a cargo ship and a Chinese junk. The cargo ship blows up while a boarding party from a passing ship is aboard; in the distance, a futuristic yacht is spotted heading away from the scene. We learn that the yacht belongs to the Dorsett Consolidated Mining Company, a gemstone mining company headed by the ruthless Arthur Dorsett. Dorsett is also the father of Maeve, Deirdre and a third daughter, Boudicca. Of Dorsett's three daughters, Maeve is the only one who does not work for his company. As a young girl, she ran away from home, broke all bonds with her family, and changed her last name to Fletcher. By borrowing the US Navy sonar net in the Pacific, NUMA discovers that the acoustic plague appears to be caused by a convergence of soundwaves from four sources around the Pacific: in the southwest, Gladiator Island; in the northwest, one of the Commander Islands; in the northeast, Kunghit Island; and in the southeast, Easter Island. Since Kunghit Island is located not far from the United States, Pitt decides to go there to investigate. He enlists the help of Mason Broadmoor, a Native American fisherman who, along with his associates, delivers fish to the Kunghit Island mine every week. During one such visit, Pitt is smuggled onto the island and given a tour of the mine by a disgruntled employee. The mine has a revolutionary mining method in which high-powered soundwaves are used to dig through clay containing diamonds. Pitt learns that the Dorsetts have kidnapped both of Maeve's sons and are holding them hostage. The company security force captures Pitt as he leaves the island, but Broadmoor rescues him, and the two escape using jet skis. Soon after returning to the US, Pitt, Al and Maeve are sent to Wellington to board another research vessel, the Ocean Angler. Their mission is to covertly infiltrate Gladiator Island, find Maeve's sons, and bring everybody back to the vessel. However, the plan is derailed when the pickup car drives them to a Dorsett company warehouse instead of to the research vessel. After a failed escape attempt, they are all brought onto the Dorsett yacht and immediately put out to sea. After about a day, Pitt, Al and Maeve are abandoned in the southwest Pacific Ocean, in a small craft and far away from ordinary shipping routes; in addition, a tropical cyclone is quickly approaching. Meanwhile, the NUMA computer center in Washington discovers a way to predict the coming convergence zones, and in a few weeks the Hawaiian island of Oahu will be hit. The head of NUMA, Admiral James Sandecker, fails to convince the President of the looming threat, so he launches a clandestine operation to avert the disaster. The plan is to reflect the soundwaves from the convergence zone back towards Gladiator Island. A giant reflector is obtained from a government agency; it is dismantled, loaded onto the Famous Deep-sea recovery ship Glomar Explorer, and brought into the convergence zone. Pitt, Al, and Maeve have successfully endured the storm and finally stumbled upon a small island. Here they find the remains of a sailboat, which they use along with their own battered craft to build a small sailship. With this ship, they set course for Gladiator Island, planning to rescue Maeve's sons from her evil family. As they climb ashore, the sound reflector outside Oahu successfully reflects the high-powered soundwave toward Gladiator Island. At the same time, scientists realize that this could cause both volcanoes on the island to erupt. Admiral Sandecker is shocked when he receives a call from Pitt, using Mr. Dorsett's phone. Pitt and Al rescue Maeve's sons and kill Arthur, Boudicca and Deirdre Dorsett—however, Deirdre fatally shoots Maeve before Pitt kills her. Pitt and Al flee, using the Dorsett yacht to make their escape. Al takes the children aboard a helicopter that was parked on the yacht, and as they fly away from the island, Al sees the yacht become engulfed by a pyroclastic ash cloud with Pitt still on board. Al arrives to a safe landing point, where he is recruited by rescue officials to fly back to the island. Al is concerned about what he will find there, but he has already decided to fly back and try to rescue his friend Pitt. Al also agrees to take a load of food, fresh water, and medical supplies to the islanders, who will most certainly need the items in the days following the eruptions. Upon his arrival at the island, Al is told that the authorities have received no radio communication to suggest that Pitt is still alive. As Al begins to mourn the loss of his best friend, he hears new information about a stranded yacht that has been seen floating several miles from the island. Al, feeling it might be Pitt, flies the helicopter to the coordinates hoping to find Pitt alive. Al indeed finds that Pitt is alive, having survived by barricading himself from the searing heat of the ash cloud. Sadly, however, Maeve is discovered dead from the injuries she sustained at the hand of her sister. We also discover that, prior to her untimely death, she and Pitt had pledged their deepest love for each other. After Pitt is rescued, he flies back to D.C. on a commercial jet flight and heads home, but not before spending some time in a hospital recovering from his very serious injuries. it:Onda d'urto (romanzo) |
6363079 | /m/0g2jm4 | Boris Godunov | Aleksandr Pushkin | 1831 | null | *Scene 1 – Kremlin Palaces *Scene 2 – Red Square *Scene 3 – Novodevichiy Monastery *Scene 4 – Kremlin Palaces *Scene 5 – Night; A Cell in the Chudov Monastery *Scene 6 – The Fence of the Monastery (Note: Deleted from the published drama) *Scene 7 – Palaces of the Patriarch *Scene 8 – The Tsar’s Palaces *Scene 9 – An Inn on the Lithuanian Border *Scene 10 – Moscow; The Home of Shuyskiy *Scene 11 – The Tsar’s Palaces *Scene 12 – Kraków; The Home of Vishnevetskiy *Scene 13 – Castle of the Voyevoda Mniszech in Sambor (Note: also deleted from many editions) *Scene 14 – A Suite of Lighted Rooms *Scene 15 – Night; A Garden; A Fountain *Scene 16 – The Lithuanian Frontier *Scene 17 – The Tsar’s Duma *Scene 18 – Plain near Novgorod-Seversk *Scene 19 – Square before a Cathedral in Moscow *Scene 20 – Sevsk *Scene 21 – A Forest *Scene 22 – Moscow; The Tsar’s Palaces *Scene 23 – A Tent *Scene 24 – Lobnoye Mesto (Red Square) *Scene 25 – The Kremlin; The House of Boris |
6369513 | /m/0g2v5f | Zorachus | Mark E. Rogers | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The novel Zorachus is chock full of sex and violence. It depicts several gory scenes of death, murder, war, and torture. It depicts in equally explicit fashion many scenes of sex. Very little of the sex is of the standard variety. The novel features as its protagonist the eponymous Mancdaman Zorachus, a powerful sorcerer who at the beginning of the novel was in his early 30s and had become a Seventh Level Adept of the Sharajnaghi Order. He was acknowledged by teachers and peers alike to be the most puissant sorcerer in the world. After his elevation to Seventh Level Adept, Zorachus learned from his teachers that he was the son of Mancdaman Zancharthus, former ruler of the city of Khymir, in the north. Khymir was, and always has been, the most evil city in the world, a bottomless pit of vice and temptation. Emissaries had come from Khymir to ask Zorachus to come back to his father's city and help the current regime rule the place. Zorachus was asked by his Sharajnaghi teachers to go to Khymir and, under the guise of doing the will of the ruling order and enjoying the pleasures of Khymir, prevent Khymir's evil from spilling out and making victims of nearby peoples. Zorachus was a very moral man, having been raised by the Sharajnaghi. He was afraid that he would not be able to resist the temptations to lust and violence Khymir and its people, and Tchernobog, offered. However, he was eventually convinced by his friends and teachers to go. From the very start, even on the voyage by water to Khymir, the Khymirians tempted Zorachus, performing sexually in front of him and inviting him to join in. Zorachus resisted these blatantly sexual advances fairly easily. He had a more difficult time not killing his Khymirian hosts to wipe out their evil. For instance, when the Khymirian ship was attacked by Kragehul pirates, Zorachus helped fight the pirates using his natural fighting ability and his battle magic. The victorious Khymirian sailors and soldiers, however, began to rape the captured Kragehul. Zorachus nearly gave into the urge to blast the rapists with the same magic he had used to blast the pirates. The magnitude and variety of the temptations only increased after Zorachus arrived in Khymir. Slavery was widespread in Khymir, and no one saw anything wrong in mistreating, torturing, raping, or killing slave and freeman alike, so long as the victim was of lower class than the victimizer. Zorachus was very strong-willed, but even he began to despair under the constant onslaught of horrible experiences he was forced to witness, all the while pretending he saw nothing wrong. In the end, Zorachus' bloodlust; his repressed desire for the Asa, wife of his Kragehul friend Halfdan; his loathing for Asa's lesbian, unfaithful relationship with the female slave Leahkalah; and his self-hatred; all combined to convince him that every human was evil. Zorachus led a coup d'etat, using baleful, evil, forbidden magic to seize absolute power in Khymir. He personally killed dozens of people in horrifying ways, completely abandoning all his former moral precepts. This was just as Tchernobog had planned, turning a good and moral magician-warrior to evil. |
6370864 | /m/0g2wx8 | Was | Geoff Ryman | 5/1/1992 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The novel is separated into three parts, "Winter Kitchen", "Summer Kitchen", and "Oz Circle". The primary focus is put on Jonathan, a gay male actor with AIDS who goes on a pilgrimage of sorts to Manhattan, Kansas and the "real" (in the novel) Dorothy on whom the book's version of L. Frank Baum based the character. Characters include Baum, who makes an appearance as a substitute teacher in Kansas. Millie, a makeup girl on the set of the original film version film narrates an encounter with Judy Garland, its lead actress. |
6374257 | /m/0g2_mg | Tears Of The Giraffe | Alexander McCall Smith | 2000 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/028v3": "Detective fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Mma Ramotswe is not impressed with Mr. J.L.B Matekoni's maid who has been sleeping in his bed with other men and not feeding him properly. The maid, sensing that the forthcoming marriage will involve her dismissal, attempts to plant a gun on Mma Ramotswe in order to have her jailed, but the maid's plan is foiled and it is she who ends up behind bars. She also investigates a butcher's wife who is suspected of an affair, and discovers that the woman's son has - unknown to her husband - been fathered by another man who is paying for his private education. The resolution of this case highlights differences between the methods and moralities of Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi. Mma Makutsi has expressed her yearning to do detective rather than administrative work, and Mma Ramotswe promotes her to assistant detective (although also retaining her secretarial role). The solution of the paternity case proves to be the first test of Mma Makutsi's detective and diplomatic skills. Mr J. L. B. Matekoni is maneuvered into offering a home to Motholeli and Puso, two orphaned children with a tragic past. He worries that this may affect his engagement to Mma Ramotswe, but she accepts the children and they both see potential in them, particularly in the girl, Motholeli, who uses a wheelchair but displays a real aptitude and interest in the work of the garage. A family unit begins to emerge. sv:Giraffens tårar |
6374919 | /m/0g30kv | Morality for Beautiful Girls | Alexander McCall Smith | 2001 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/028v3": "Detective fiction"} | Mma Ramotswe is engaged to "the excellent" Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, owner of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, but faces a slowdown of business at the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency that threatens its existence. Forced to make difficult choices, Mma Ramotswe moves the business into the office of her fiancé's garage and makes her assistant, Mma Grace Makutsi, its assistant manager. At just this time, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni has been showing signs of lethargy and neglecting his business. An important government man approaches Mma Ramotswe to investigate his sister-in-law, whom he suspects of attempting to poison his brother. The beauty contest: Mma Makutsi interviews beauty competition competitors to determine their good character. The mysterious orphan: Mma Silvia Potokwane, matron of the local orphanage, deals with a strange new child who, it is rumored, has been raised by lions. sv:Vackra flickors lott |
6382892 | /m/0g37qx | Open Veins of Latin America | Eduardo Galeano | 1971 | null | In the book Galeano analyzes the history of Latin America as a whole, from the time period of the European settlement of the New World to contemporary Latin America, describing the effects of European and later United States economic exploitation and political dominance over the region. The Library Journal review stated, "Well written and passionately stated, this is an intellectually honest and valuable study." |
6385011 | /m/0g39q7 | The Outstretched Shadow | Mercedes Lackey | 10/3/2003 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Seventeen-year-old Kellen Tavadon has lived his whole life in Armathelieh, the Mage City. The son of Arch-Mage Lycaelon Tavadon, Kellen is expected to become a Mage by Armathelieh's citizens. However, fate has different plans for him. Stumbling through the City's Low Market, he comes upon three mysterious books — the books of the Wild Magic , an art forbidden by the High Mages. When Lycaelon searches his room and finds the books, Kellen is accused and convicted for the practice of Wild Magic. He is forced from the city by an Outlaw Hunt — a rare event orchestrated by the Mages of the Council to look like banishment , but actually a cover-up for murder. Kellen casts a Wild Magic spell asking for help in escaping the Outlaw Hunt. The Wild Magic grants him a unicorn named Shalkan who agrees to help Kellen on the condition that he remain chaste and celibate for a year and a day. Seeing little choice, Kellen agrees. After he and Shalkan fight off the stone hounds of the Outlaw Hunt, both are badly injured and seek refuge at the home of a Wild Mage named Idalia. Idalia happens to be Kellen's older sister who also was banished by their father. She takes him in and teaches him about Wild Magic. Meanwhile the demons, led by Queen Savilla, want to conquer the world of light. Savilla does this by trying to get the elves and humans to fight. Her son Prince Zyperis tells a spy for the council that Kellen has escaped and is learning wild magic from his sister. The council then decides to extend its border to where Idalia and Kellen live. Idalia, Shalkan and Kellen are forced to move into Elven lands, while the other folk (sylphs, dryads, fauns, pixies, gnomes, and centaurs) have to go north towards the mountains. As Kellen, Idalia, and Shalkan approach the Elven lands, Kellen notices that the woods are different from the wild wood and there are no other folk. When Kellen meets the elves he thinks they are perfect in every way. Their beauty and their whole civilization seem perfect. When they first arrive at their new home Kellen meets Jermayan, who loves and is loved by Idalia. However, she does not want to be with him because he will live for hundreds of years and she will die. Jermayan does not care, but Idalia rejects him. While Kellen is exploring he meets a young elf, Sandalon, who happens to be the prince of the elves and takes him to his mother, Queen Ashaniel. While she is there she tells him that a drought has happened. Idalia then learns this is not a natural drought. When she tries to summon water by wild magic it is rejected. The drought is a magical drought; someone is stopping the water. Idalia learns that the demons are the ones causing the drought. She believs she can fix it but she and the elves will have to pay a price. Then someone will have to go to the place the spell is being held and put a keystone with the counter spell and change it. Kellen has to do that because when the drought is broken huge storms will come and Idalia is need to slow and stop the spells and Kellen and Idalia are the only wildmages in elven lands. Kellen goes with only Jermayan and Shalkan. They journey into the mountains were the demons live to stop the counter spell. As they are traveling Jermayan teaches Kellen how to become a knight when he learns that Kellen is a knight-mage, making him an excellent fighter, but only an average wild mage. When several human and centaur bandits attack them, Kellen kills for the first time and is terribly upset. Jermayan is mortally wounded and Kellen heals him with wild magic, during which the gods of wild magic tell him "you will know what to do when the time comes" and Jermayan is healed but weak. Meanwhile, Kellen learns from Jermayan of the Great War. The elves, humans, and wild folk fought against the demons. Kellen learns that there were wild mages that did not want to pay their price so they joined the demons. Each had mighty dragons on both sides, and many races of the light were lost forever. As they get closer, the price in which Kellen paid for healing Jermayan leads him to someone harassing a girl. Kellen engages the man, deciding against drawing his sword against the man's club, instead using his armored gauntlets to knock him unconscious. Then Kellen realizes that the girl he saved looks like a demon. Jermayan sees her and tries to kill her but Kellen protects her. While they are fighting Shalkan walks up to her and touches her with his horn. If a demon touches a unicorn horn they die. Jermayan stops fighting Kellen and only accepts her because Shalkan threatened to kill him. The girl, Vestakia, says she can lead them to the barrier where the spell is being held. She can sense where demons and demon magic are. She then tells the story of how her mother was a Wild Mage who unknowingly slept with a demon in human guise. When she found out, she called on the wild magic for help and was given a choice: her child could be born human but with a demon nature, or a demon with a human nature. Both choices would cost twenty years of life. She took the second option and fled with her sister into hiding. Vestakia finally leads them to the mountain where the barrier is held. Vestakia, Kellen, Jermayan, and Shalkan ascend the mountain to find an obelisk. Kellen has to climb up it to position the counter-keystone while the others are weak because of the demon magic. As Kellen climbs up a demon army of goblins comes, and Vestakia, Shalkan, and Jermayan fight them off. During the battle, Jermayan learns to trust Vestakia and saves her life. Meanwhile, Kellen realizes he is going to die by going up there. He wishes he never left the golden city and learned wild magic. He realizes that he didn't miss the city itself, but what it could have been. A place of honor, justice, and law, and he misses the fact that he used to think it was. He ascends the staircase to the top of the obelisk, and is surprised to confront a doppelganger of himself. The doppelganger attempts to persuade him to give up his mission, to try to convince him of returning to Armathelieh. He tells him to renounce the three books, beg for his father's forgiveness, and he can take his father's throne to make the city how he wants it. Kellen almost accepts, but realizes it is all a trick. He slams the counter-keystone into the obelisk, starting the spell that will eventually shatter it. When he does, Doppelganger Kellen turns into the Demon Queen and disappears. Kellen's hands burn from holding the counter-keystone in place, and he thinks he going to die from the pain. He collapses when the obelisk is destroyed, and the goblins flee. Back in elven Lands, Idalia knows that she sent Jermayan and Kellen to their deaths. Then she feels the magic of the barrier being destroyed. She summons the wild magic, hesitating on the price but accepts to control the weather patterns as the storms built up from being stopped by the barrier. It transforms her into something big and she flies into the storm and controls it. Three days later, Ashaniel finds Idalia unconscious in a field. Kellen wakes up with Vestakia, Shalkan, and Jermayan all next to him and finds it raining. He feels really weak, and his hands hurt badly and are bandaged. As the book ends the Demon Queen is furious and Kellen's tutor Anigrel talks to her and she tells him what to do in the golden city. |
6385365 | /m/0g39x2 | Blood of the Yakuza | David "Zeb" Cook | null | {"/m/06c9r": "Role-playing game"} | Blood of the Yakuza is a campaign setting and scenario package for use with Oriental Adventures. The module describes the Japanese-style island of Wa and the port of Nakamura, detailing the history, politics, districts, architecture, and important personalities of the Tokugawa-era town. The module contains information on the rival Yakuza gangs and the political machinations of the important families and temples, as well as background on the major NPCs of the city, plus lists of names, occupations, and personalities for detailing minor non-player characters. Narratives are provided, rather than presenting the adventures as straightforward encounter plots, and depending on their character classes and backgrounds, the player characters can interact with the stories in many different ways. As the module was based on the Kara Tur boxed set, its information is older than the information about Wa found in such product lines as the Spelljammer series. |
6385549 | /m/0g3b3p | Anne Frank and Me | Jeff Gottesfeld | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction"} | Nicole, a fifteen-year-old American high school student living in the year 2001, comes from an affluent household and takes her lifestyle for granted. She has a website she calls Notes of GirlX. On the website, she talks about her life and frustrations. Absorbed in her studies, she becomes fascinated with a Holocaust survivor who speaks to her English class, named Paulette Littzer-Gold. Nicole feels drawn to the woman, and asks if they have previously met. The class takes a trip to a local Holocaust museum. During the trip, Nicole and her peers are assigned roles as Jewish teens living during the Holocaust. After the activity begins, Nicole hears students shrieking and gunfire. She attempts to run along with the rest of her classmates, but is struck in the back while ascending a staircase and loses consciousness. When Nicole wakes, she finds herself in Paris in 1942. She is told that she is Nicole Bernhardt, the name of the fictional Jewish girl assigned her by her English teacher back in the Holocaust museum. As months past, Nicole tells herself that the 2001 world is a dream and accepts that she is Nicole Bernhardt. Several of Nicole's friends are non-Jews who oppose Hitler's policies and protect the Bernhardt family. However, following the German invasion of France, Nicole's situation gets dramatically worse. Eventually, she is forced to hide in a rundown apartment in the streets of Paris. From her refuge, Nicole writes a string of anti-Nazi letters for the French resistance. In the letters, she calls herself GirlX. The Bernhardt family is betrayed and Nicole is transported to Auschwitz and she meets Anne Frank aboard the train. Nicole remembers that she read Anne's diary and tells her, but Anne says she left it where she had been hiding. Later, a fellow Jew tries to save Nicole by sending her to be slave labor in the camp instead of being sent to be killed. Nicole and her sister Liz-Bette, who is very ill, are to be split up, Nicole to live and Liz-Bette to die. Nicole becomes hysterical and begs to be allowed to accompany her sister. The Germans, after mocking Nicole's devotion to Liz-Bette, allow her to go with the young girl. Nicole tearfully thanks them and then walks with Liz-Bette to the "showers." Liz-Bette is frenzied with terror, but Nicole calms her. Nicole then leads her sister in a Jewish prayer, as she whispers she loves Liz-Bette and they succumb to death. Nicole wakes up, lying on a bench outside the museum. She finds out that other students had set off firecrackers which sent everyone running, when she bumped her head. Nicole stays at the hospital for a few days, and afterwards her life goes on, but she can't figure out if she was really in the Holocaust, or if it was just a bad dream. Nicole believes Paulette Littzer-Gold, the Holocaust survivor, who visited her school was the same woman at the Concentration Camp who told her to "stay to the right." The next day, Nicole finds out Mrs. Littzer-Gold had died overnight. She decides to go to Mrs. Littzer-Gold's funeral. Nicole sees a picture of her, but she looks nothing like the woman she thought she was. Nicole sadly accepts that she was never Nicole Bernhardt and that she never lived during the Holocaust. After the funeral, Nicole looks at the things that belonged to Mrs. Littzer-Gold that are at the altar. She notices that a letter Mrs. Littzer-Gold owned was one of the GirlX letters that Nicole herself had written, back in Paris in 1942. The letter talked about how no one could silence her ( "her" being GirlX). Not only did Nicole find out she did lived in the Holocaust, but she gave Mrs. Littzer-Gold the courage to live. Nicole takes her sister to a museum about Anne Frank. |
6389584 | /m/0g3h3h | Laughter in the Dark | Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov | null | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Albinus is a respected, reasonably happy married art critic who lives in Berlin. He lusts after the 16-year old Margot whom he meets at a cinema, where she works, and seduces her over the course of many encounters. His prolonged affair with Margot is eventually revealed to Elisabeth when Margot deliberately sends a letter to the Albinus residence and Albert is unable to intercept it before it is discovered. This results in the dissolution of the Albinus' marriage. Rather than disown the young troublemaker he is even more attracted to her. Margot uses him to become a film star, her ambition in life. Albinus introduces Margot to Axel Rex, but he does not know the two had previously been lovers. Margot and Rex resume their relationship, and start plotting to get Albinus out of the way and rob him of his money. Rex sees the opportunities that Albinus's infatuation with Margot produces, and understands that even a great risk is little to the blind and helpless; in love, in loss, and in dwindling fortune. Albinus delivers Margot her first role as an actress, but she does not appear to be very talented. In fact, what she possesses in beauty is best captured by the imagination rather than even a still camera. Only Albinus' wealth ensures she gets to play her role. Margot realized she played the role poorly, and Albinus worried about her reaction. Rex, however, adored seeing the girl from the streets suffer, and took the opportunity to use her ineptitude. After Margot becomes upset upon viewing the film, Albinus coaxes her into taking a holiday to the south. They rent a hotel room and, after a chance encounter with an old friend, Albinus happens to surmise that Margot and Rex are engaged in an affair. He had always been envious of Rex as he was the truest of the artists, unlike him. He stole beautiful young things from Albinus his whole life and this was not different. Albinus steals away with Margot and leaves Rex at the hotel. On their journey out of town, Albinus, a self-proclaimed poor driver, crashes the car and is blinded, leaving him in need of care and oblivious to the world around him. Rex and Margot take advantage of his handicap and rent a chalet in Switzerland where Rex poses as Albinus' doctor, although Albinus is unaware of Rex's presence. Unknown to Albinus he was being mocked and tortured during his recovery. He becomes increasingly suspicious as his ears become more attuned and he perceives someone's presence, but his fears are never confirmed. Paul, a friend to the family, after suspecting forgery (Rex and Margot have been bleeding Albinus' accounts dry by feigning his hand on cheques), drives to the residence and discovers Rex toying with Albinus in his blinded state. Paul then escorts Albinus back to his ex-wife, Elizabeth's, home. After a short time, Albinus receives a call that Fraulein Peters (Margot) has returned to his flat to collect some things. Knowing that she is coming, he decides to kill her. Without haste, he heads to Margot's flat and makes his way to the apartment, trapping her inside by barricading the door, intending to shoot her with his pistol. He seeks her out by her scent and faint sounds but when he tries to shoot her she overpowers him, grabs the pistol, and kills him. |
6391335 | /m/0g3lj0 | The Illearth War | Stephen R. Donaldson | 1978 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Several weeks after returning to his world from The Land, the leper Thomas Covenant is taking a phone call from his ex-wife Joan when he falls and hits his head, waking to find himself back in the Land, in the chamber of the Council of Lords of Revelstone. Angered by the fact that he has been transported away from "reality", Covenant nevertheless believes he is once again experiencing a dream or delusion due to his head injury. His hypothesis is supported by the fact that the Land has seen the passing of forty years compared to the few weeks that have passed in his own world: the High Lord of the Council is Elena, the daughter of Lena and the product of Covenant's rape (though he does not know this when he first returns), and now, Covenant's summoner. Elena shows no ill will towards her biological father, and she and Covenant become close friends. Elena explains that the evil Lord Foul has assembled a massive army, with which he now threatens the people of The Land. For forty years, the Lords have dedicated themselves to the study of Kevin's Lore, training new students at the school at the tree city of Revelwood. Only Mhorham remains from Lords of the council during the quest for the Staff of Law, but seven new Lords have taken their seats, having mastered both the magical and martial arts. The horse-tending Ramen have been enlisted to patrol the frontier near Foul's dominions. The Warward, the army of Revelstone, is full of battle-ready volunteers and is led by Hile Troy, who came to the Land from Covenant's world. An attempt was even made to attack Lord Foul directly, via a commando raid on his lair at the Land's eastern edge; although the raid, led by Lord Mhoram, failed, valuable knowledge was gained about Foul's forces. The commander of Foul's army is one of three brothers of the race of Giants, a people previously thought incorruptible. With the aid of the powerful Illearth Stone, Foul's non-corporeal servants, the Ravers, have possessed the three brothers, now renamed Kinslaughterer, Fleshharrower and Satansfist. In shame and despair, the other Giants offer no resistance as Kinslaughterer murders them all in their home city. Thus, the Lords have lost their strongest and bravest ally in the fight against evil. Nevertheless, the Lords resolve to meet the enemy on the battlefield. Hile Troy is a genius in military tactics who developed a mystical form of sight when hurtloam, a magical mud with miraculous curative properties, was used to try and "heal" his lack of eyes. (The hurtloam used to heal Covenant's head injury also has the effect of "curing" his leprosy). While Troy leads the army to confront Fleshharrower's attacking force, Elena and Covenant go in search of the Seventh Ward, a repository of ancient magical power which Elena believes will ensure victory. Covenant, Elena and their two Bloodguard protectors journey through the remote mountain region on the western frontier of the Land to the hiding place of the Ward. Elena gains the power, but foolishly uses it to summon the long dead High Lord Kevin from his grave, and send him against Lord Foul. This act breaks the Law of Death, the barrier preventing the souls of the dead from interfering in the world of the living. Kevin's spirit is easily defeated and then enslaved by Foul wielding the Illearth Stone, and commanded to destroy Elena. The two High Lords engage in a battle of magic, in which Elena and her Bloodguard are defeated and killed, and the Staff of Law lost again. Covenant is able to save himself and his Bloodguard by using the power of his white gold ring, again without understanding how. Meanwhile Hile Troy has been forced into a desperate retreat by the superior force of the Raver's army to the edge of a dangerous, forbidding forest known as Garroting Deep. In desperation, he begs the aid of Caerroil Wildwood, an immortal Forestal who is charged with protecting the ancient forests of the Land from the Ravers. Wildwood brings the forest to life, totally destroying Foul's army, and personally "garrotes" Fleshharrower. The victory is a Pyrrhic one, however: the Lords' army is nearly obliterated, and Hile Troy has sacrificed himself as the price for the Forestal's aid, becoming Wildwood's immortal apprentice. The war thus ends in a draw, and with the death of High Lord Elena his summoner, Covenant once again returns to his own world. His ex-wife has long since hung up the phone, and he is a leper once more. |
6391720 | /m/0g3m32 | Loose Ends | Greg Cox | 6/4/2001 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | It started out as an innocent road trip to Carlsbad Caverns to unwind, but now Max, Isabel, Michael, Liz, and Maria are totally regretting their plan. Hundreds of feet underground, in the cavern gift shop, Liz turns and is stunned to see someone she thought she'd never meet again—the man who shot her long ago in the diner. Their eyes meet and Liz bolts. But running won't solve the group's new "problem." Because the shooter has recognized Liz. Now he wants her dead. And nobody knows why. |
6393908 | /m/0g3r43 | Redwall Map & Riddler | Brian Jacques | 1997 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | This guide features a full length map covering the topography of the places discussed in the series up until its year of publication. While now outdated, it is still a valuable tool for comparing the locations of the older books. Also featured in this guide is a series of questions to test the reader's knowledge of the series. |
6394413 | /m/0g3s38 | The Power that Preserves | Stephen R. Donaldson | 1979 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Back in his own "real" world, Thomas Covenant is devastated by the loss of Elena, though he still maintains to himself that his experience in the Land was all just a dream. Tormented by this unanswerable paradox, he neglects his physical condition; he stops taking his medications and fails to treat his head wound, allowing his dormant leprosy to once again become active. Wandering in the woods outside of his home town, he comes upon a lost little girl suffering from a rattlesnake bite. At this point he is once again summoned to the Land, this time by the desperate High Lord Mhoram, who is in need of aid. Covenant finds that seven years have gone by since the Illearth War, and Lord Foul is preparing for his final assault on the people of the Land. Foul has enslaved the tormented spirit of former High Lord Elena, who now wields the Staff of Law in the service of evil. The Lords have lost their most loyal defenders, the semi-immortal Bloodguard, and the Land has been cast into a perpetual winter. Furthermore, Lord Foul has rebuilt his army, which, under the command of the third Giant-raver Satansfist, now besieges the Lords' mountain-fortress of Revelstone. As a last resort, the Lords have decided to call upon Covenant, in the hope that he will be able to use the wild magic power of his white gold ring to repel the siege and save the Land from total destruction. Covenant, however, demands that Mhoram release the summons in order to allow him to save the girl's life in the "real" world. Mhoram assents. Covenant does manage to save the girl, but at the cost of being poisoned by the rattlesnake venom he has sucked out of her. In this state and with the knowledge that the girl is safe, he accepts another summoning. Covenant finds himself once again at Kevin's Watch, the place to which Lord Foul transported him at the time of his first summoning by Drool Rockworm. This time he has been brought to the Land by the joint efforts of Triock, jilted lover of Lena (whom Covenant raped on his first trip to the Land resulting in the birth of Elena) and the Giant Saltheart Foamfollower, his boon companion from the quest from the Staff of Law and one of the last two surviving Giants. Descending from the mountain and travelling east with Lena and Foamfollower in search of Lord Foul's demesne, Covenant is horrified to witness the depredations caused by Foul and his servants. South of the Plains of Ra, Covenant finds that his old bodyguard Bannor has joined with the Ramen in an attempt to protect the Ranyhyn, the intelligent, free horses who formerly served the Bloodguard as mounts. Covenant convinces the Ramen to take the Ranyhyn south to safety; Bannor, though no longer sustained by the power of his Vow, accompanies him on his journey east. Kidnapped by Ravers, Covenant confronts Elena and uses the power of his white gold ring to dismiss her ghost, although this results in the destruction of the Staff of Law. Bannor declines to follow Covenant further, although he accepts the metal heels of the Staff for safekeeping and eventual return to the Lords. Meanwhile Lord Mhoram, after a protracted battle, is able to break the siege of Revelstone and kill Satansfist. Afterwards, Covenant and Foamfollower journey to Ridjeck Thome, the very heart of Lord Foul's dominion, where they succeed in defeating Foul; this act also repairs much of the havoc caused by Elena's breaking of the Law of Death. Covenant also uses the power of the wild magic to destroy the Illearth Stone: in the final cataclysm Foamfollower is killed and so, seemingly, is Covenant. However, his consciousness remains, and while in a state somewhere between being and non-existence, he is spoken to in the darkness by the voice of the old beggar from the beginning of the first book, who is in fact the Creator of the Land. The Creator thanks Covenant for saving his creation and asks him what reward he might accept. Excitedly, Covenant asks the Creator to save Foamfollower, but the Creator regretfully tells Covenant that even he cannot undo something which has already occurred: otherwise the Arch of Time, the fundamental structure underlying the Land's universe, will be destroyed. The Creator explains that this restriction, in fact, is what prevented him from dealing with Foul directly: he had to act through a proxy, Covenant, and even after causing Covenant to be transported to the Land, the Creator did not interfere with Covenant's freedom of will in any way. The decision to "save or damn" the Land was Covenant's own. The Creator then tells Covenant that he has a choice: either he can remain in the Land in full health, or he can be returned to life in his own world, where he otherwise would have died from an allergic reaction to the anti-venom treatment applied to his unconscious body. Covenant, still unwilling to fully accept the Land, chooses the latter and awakes in his hospital bed, weakened from his physical trauma, still afflicted with his disease, but happy to be alive, and secure in the knowledge that he had not failed the Land. |
6394687 | /m/0g3sjg | Olive's Ocean | Kevin Henkes | 2003 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Martha goes away every summer from her home in Wisconsin to visit her grandma, Godbee, on the Atlantic Ocean. Right before she left for Godbee's place, she received a journal page from Olive's mother after Olive died. Before receiving the journal page, Martha didn't know about Olive, who admired Martha for who she was even though they never talked to school or hung out. After Martha read the journal page from Olive, she felt regret not to be nice to her. She also find many common grounds with Olive, both of them love the ocean, both of them want to be a writer. Every day she and Godbee will tell about their secret to each other. While there, Martha develops a crush on one of Manning boys living nearby. Her older brother, Vince, is friends with them. She begins to spend more time with Jimmy Manning. She tells Godbee about him and all she has to say is to be careful. Jimmy is interested in film making and shoots a video. He asks Martha to join the love scene in his video taking and Jimmy kissed Martha. Martha is outraged when she learns he only did it for his video and to win a bet with the other boys. At the same time, though, she is heartbroken. Jimmy's younger brother, Tate, who is Martha's age and secretly likes Martha, wants to help her. Before Martha leaves she gets jar and fills it with the ocean water to give to Olive's mom in order to fulfill Olive's dream. It said in the letter that Martha received from Olive's mother that Olive had always wanted to go to the ocean. This would be "Olives Ocean." Martha says good-bye to her aging grandmother Godbee. All Martha hopes for is that she will be able to see her next summer as well. As she is leaving for Wisconsin, Tate stops her and hands her a bag containing Jimmy's tape of Martha and Jimmy kissing. In an accompanying note, he tells her that he likes her. At home in Wisconsin, Martha goes to Olive's mother to give the ocean water to her, only to find that Olive's mother had moved to Washington or Oregeon. Martha writes 'Olive' with ocean water on the front step of Olive's house until the water runs out. Martha stays until the sun dries up the word 'Olive'. And Olive who had been in her mind a long time finally gets forgotten. And then Martha returns home where her loving family is. The book will be made into a motion picture starring Elle Fanning. |
6395740 | /m/0g3tyf | Redwall Friend & Foe | Brian Jacques | 2000 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | This guide features art by Chris Baker and contains descriptions of Redwall heroes and villains. It also features a pull-out poster and a number of questions to test the reader's knowledge of the series. |
6400076 | /m/0g3zth | Believe as You List | null | null | null | The action of the play begins in 169 BC, 22 years after Antiochus's defeat in the Battle of Thermopylae. (The historical Antiochus III died in 187). As the first scene opens, Antiochus is approaching the city of Carthage, accompanied by the Stoic philosopher who is his counsellor, and three servants. After living concealed and in obscurity since the battle, Antiochus is now trying to regain his lost crown; he has come to Carthage, a traditional enemy of Rome, in search of support. He discusses his thoughts and feelings with the philosopher. The middle portion of the opening scene is illegible in the damaged MS. (pages 3-4), but the action is comprehensible: Antiochus's three servants, Chrysalus, Geta, and Syrus, decide to betray their master. They abscond with his gold; Chrysalus leaves a taunting message addressed to "the no king Antiochus" and signed "no more thy servant but superior, Chrysalus." Antiochus is wounded in spirit by the betrayal, but determined to carry on. The second scene introduces the king's chief antagonist, the Roman Titus Flaminius. (The character is based on a Roman politician and general of the relevant period; but the real Titus Quinctius Flaminius died in 174 BC.) The scene is set in Carthage, and shows three merchants from Asia Minor complaining to Berecinthius, the "archflamen" or high priest of the goddess Cybele, about their mistreatment in a maritime dispute with Rome. Flaminius is the Roman ambassador, a powerful figure in a Carthage defeated in the Second Punic War; the merchants and Berecinthius bring their complaints to him, but Flaminius dismisses them with arrogance and contempt. The Roman leaves and Antiochus presents himself, and his former subjects the Merchants recognize him instantly. They and the anti-Roman Berecinthius offer the king protection and support. Flaminius quickly learns of Antiochus's arrival. The three false servants, Chrysalus and company, come to him to inform on their ex-master; Flaminius accepts their information and ruthlessly has them put to death. Antiochus and Flaminius both appear before the Carthaginian Senate; Faminius accuses Antiochus of being a fraud, and demands the Carthaginians surrender him to Rome. Antiochus establishes his identity, with documents and through his eloquence and the majesty of his bearing. The Senators are not bold enough to give Antiochus direct help; but they allow him to leave the city and avoid the tentacles of Flaminius and Rome. The scene shifts to Bithynia in Asia Minor (in the Sebastian play, Florence). Antiochus (along with the Merchants and Berecinthius) has come seeking support at the court of king Prusias. He is fondly remembered and warmly welcomed. Flaminius, passionate to subdue the king, has pursued him to Bithynia; Flaminius subverts Prusias's tutor and favorite Philoxenus, and with threats of war intimidates Prusias into surrendering Antiochus. Prusias yields, to the disgust of his Queen. Berecinthius and the First Merchant also fall into Flaminius's custody, though the other two Merchants escape. Flaminius now confronts the problem of what to do with the king. He persists in the fiction that the man is an impostor, though he himself knows that Antiochus is genuine. He has the king imprisoned for three days without food, then offers him a halter and a dagger; but Antiochus rejects suicide. Flaminius offers the king another choice: he can subsist on bread and water, or he can enjoy good food and comfortable conditions — if he admits he's a fraud. Antiochus is tempted to reject even the prison fare, but concludes that his cause would not be served by slow starvation. Finally, the Roman tries to tempt the king with a beautiful young courtesan. Through his three trials, Antiochus behaves with courage, discipline, and dignity. The last Act opens with Marcellus, the Roman proconsul of Sicily, and his wife Cornelia (in the Sebastian play, they were the Duke and Duchess of Medina Sedonia). Learning that Antiochus is being transported through the island on his way to confinement in the galleys, the two Romans, old friends of the king, arrange an interview. Marcellus is powerful, and Flaminius cannot refuse him, though he plainly dislikes the business. Antiochus once again shows his kingly behavior, and his old friends recognize him and commiserate with his fall in fortune. Cornelia is particularly moved. An angry Flaminius threatens punishment for treason — but Marcellus outdoes him. The Second and Third Merchants have provided evidence of Flaminius's corrupt practices at Carthage; Marcellus has the man arrested and sent back to Rome. Marcellus can do nothing for the king, as Antiochus recognizes in his closing speech: ::::::Then 'tis easy ::To prophesy I have not long to live, ::Though the manner how I die is uncertain. ::Nay, weep not, since 'tis not in you to help me; ::These showers of tears are fruitless. May my story ::Teach potentates humility, and instruct ::Proud monarchs, though they govern human things, ::A greater power does raise or pull down kings. |
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