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7151237 | /m/0h6zlg | The Runestaff | Michael Moorcock | 1969 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Baron Meliadus is summoned to an audience with King-Emperor Huon, where he is threatened with dismissal if he does not learn the means of the escape of the Asiacommunista emissaries. Meanwhile Countess Flana wonders at the fate of Hawkmoon and her lover D'Averc. Hawkmoon attempts to break free from his destiny by sailing to Europe, but finds his way blocked by numerous sea creatures which drive their ship to crash upon an island. On the island Hawkmoon and D'Averc meet the Warrior in Jet and Gold's brother Orland Fank who gives them a boat to coninue on their original journey to the city of Dnark. Orland informs Hawkmoon that the inhabitants of Castle Brass are safe, though Elvereza Tozer has escaped. Orland stays with Hawkmoon's crew to repair their ship, while Hawkmoon and D'Averc depart for Dnark. Hawkmoon and D'Averc arrive back in Amarehk and find themselves in a strange city of glowing organic buildings. There they meet a child called Jehamia Cohnahlias who confirms that this is the city of Dnark - the home of the mythical Runestaff and inhabited by the ghostly forms of the Great Good Ones. There they also meet Count Shenegar Trott, who claims to be visiting as a peaceful emissary of King-Emperor Huon. The next day Shenegar Trott leads an army to capture Dnark, threatening to kill Jehamia Cohnahlias if Hawkmoon tries to stop him claiming the Runestaff. Hawkmoon and D'Averc are rescued from Trott's forces by the Great Good Ones, who transport them to the location of the Runestaff. There they confront Shenegar Trott and find themselves joined by Orland Fank and the Warrior in Jet and Gold. Jehamia Cohnahlias frees himself from Trott's grasp, revealing himself as the spirit of the Runestaff, into which he disappears. Hawkmoon summons the Legion of the Dawn and they begin attacking Trott's forces, but Hawkmoon is knocked out in the fight and as he loses consciousness the Legion disappears. By the time he recovers consciousness and the Legion returns The Warrior in Jet and Gold has been killed. Hawkmoon kills Shenegar Trott and his army is defeated by the Legion of the Dawn. Jehamia Cohnahlias instructs Hawkmoon to take the Runestaff to Europe and decide the battle between himself and Meliadus once and for all. Baron Meliadus conspires with Countless Flana to overthrow King-Emperor Huon and enthrone Flana as Empress. Huon orders Meliadus's loyalty tested on the Mentality Machine but Baron Kalan agrees to doctor the results. Meliadus visits Taragorm who informs him of the return of Elvereza Tozer after his escape from Castle Brass, and that he will soon have the means to return Castle Brass to this dimension. King-Emperor Huon summons Meliadus and sends him on a mission to Amarehk to learn of Shenegar Trott's fate. Meliadus summons the various captains of his assembled army and convinces them to aid him in treason. Hawkmoon and D'Averc are transported back to Castle Brass by the Great Good Ones, where Yissela tells Hawkmoon she is to bear him a child. Baron Meliadus leads his fleet back up towards Londra and begins his assault on Huon's forces. Meliadus meets Taragorm who tells him his device is now ready to transport Castle Brass back into this dimension. King-Emperor Huon's forces are pressed back towards the palace, and Huon dispatches a messenger by ornithopter to summon aid from his generals in Europe. Taragorm uses his sonic device to shatter the crystal device that is keeping Castle Brass in another dimension, and the castle returns to the destroyed Kamarg. In a nearby village Hawkmoon finds that the Dark Empire army has left, but have destroyed the village behind them. Orland Fank appears and gives Hawkmoon and company a collection of mirrored helmets to be worn by the leaders of the Kamarg: Hawkmoon, Count Brass, D'Averc, Oladahn, Bowgentle, and Yisselda. Baron Meliadus's forces are swelled by those of Adaz Promp as he joins forces. Kalan creates a war machine to breach the walls of the palace, but after it does so it explodes, killing Taragorm in the process. Meliadus breaches the throne room and kills King-Emperor Huon, but suffers temporary blindness from the flash of Huon's shattered throne globe. Hawkmoon and his army cross into Granbretan and defeat the awaiting Dark Empire army, forcing Meliadus to flee back to Londra by ornithopter. Kalan works on a device to reactivate the Black Jewel embedded in Hawkmoon's skull, and Hawkmoon begins to feel the effects, though the Red Amulet holds its full power at bay. Hawkmoon and his army attack Londra and Oladahn, Count Brass, Bowgentle, and D'Averc are all killed. Hawkmoon kills Baron Meliadus though his army is overrun by the Dark Empire forces. Overwhelmed with grief at D'Averc's death Flana stops the fighting and orders Kalan to remove the Black Jewel from Hawkmoon's head. Flana vows to make amends for Granbretan's evil and Orland Fank takes the Runestaff, the Red Amulet, and the Sword of the Dawn into safekeeping, till Hawkmoon should need them again. |
7151252 | /m/0h6zmv | La Terre | Gérard Gengembre | 1887 | null | The novel takes place in the final years of the Second Empire. Jean Macquart, an itinerant farm worker, has come to Rognes, a small village in La Beauce, where he works as a day labourer. He had been a corporal in the French Army, a veteran of the Battle of Solferino. He begins to court a local girl, Françoise Mouche, who lives in the village with her sister Lise. Lise is married to Buteau, a young man from the village, who is attracted to both sisters. Buteau's father, the elderly farmer Fouan, has decided to sign a contract known as a donation entre vifs (literally: "gift between living people"), whereby his three children, Fanny Delhomme (married to a hard-working and respected farmer), Hyacinthe (aka "Jesus Christ", a poacher and layabout), and Buteau will inherit their father's estate early; they agree to pay their parents a pension in return. The property is painstakingly measured and divided up between the three children, as the Civil Code of 1804 dictated. Almost as soon as the contract is signed, Buteau begins to resent the pension, and quickly refuses to pay it. In the house Lise shares with her sister (the property having been shared between them on the death of their late father), Buteau begins a campaign of sexual advances towards his sister-in-law, which she attempts to repel. Midway through the novel, Fouan's wife dies and, since it seems wasteful for Fouan to retain their marital home, the property is sold, and Fouan goes to live with Fanny and her husband. While Fanny is scrupulously respectful of the conditions of the donations entre vifs, she nevertheless make it clear that she resents his presence. Fouan eventually moves to live with his son "Jesus Christ" who shares a shack with his daughter "La Trouille", a put-upon dogsbody. Under "Jesus Christ's" influence, Fouan's self-respect dwindles: while previously law-abiding, he now joins his son on poaching expeditions and takes part in Hyacinthe's favourite evening activity, farting contests. Eventually, however, Hyacinthe's abusive drunkenness is directed against Fouan, who leaves to take up residence with Buteau and Lise. Meanwhile, Françoise and Jean have married. Françoise can no longer remain under the same roof as Buteau, whose sexual overtures are becoming more and more persistent: Lise, jealous of Françoise, insists that her sister is behaving in a deliberately provocative way. Françoise, who is now pregnant with Jean's child, decides to leave, but demands that Buteau and Lise buy out her share of the house, which the couple cannot afford to do. The situation worsens until, in a shocking scene, Buteau and Lise set upon Françoise when she is alone in the fields at harvest time. Lise restrains her sister while she is raped by Buteau, then pushes her onto a sickle, wounding her in the belly and killing her unborn child. The two flee the scene. While Françoise is still conscious when she is found, her family pride leads her to refuse to name Lise and Buteau; she claims instead that her injury was the result of an accident, and dies shortly after. Back in the Buteau home, the greedy couple turn their attention to Fouan, whose obstinacy in remaining alive has become a serious financial drain. One night while Fouan is asleep, they steal into his bedroom and smother him; finding he is still alive, they set fire to him, while arranging the scene to look like an accident (their story is accepted by the local community). The Buteaus refuse to pay Jean the money for Françoise's share of the family home, which is now rightfully his as her next-of-kin. Horrified by his suspicions regarding both his wife's and Fouan's deaths, and by the heartlessness of those around him, Jean returns to his wandering, and leaves the region for good. As he leaves, he passes the freshly dug burial mounds of Françoise and Fouan, and the ripe corn in the harvest fields. |
7152231 | /m/0h70rl | Traitor's Purse | Margery Allingham | 1941 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction"} | A man wakes in hospital to find he cannot remember anything except that he has something vital to do, connected to the number fifteen. He hears voices outside discussing the unconscious patient - who they say has killed a policeman and will be hanged. He escapes in a stolen car. He is followed, but instead of the police, the car contains a woman who seems to be helping him. She calls him Campion. Also in the car is an old man, Mr Anscombe, who they drop off at his house before continuing to Lee Aubrey's house, where they are staying. Campion remembers that the woman is called Amanda and thinks she must be his wife, so he is shocked when she tells him she wants to break off their engagement. He does not tell her about his amnesia. Campion receives a letter from Stanislaus Oates telling him to investigage Anscombe - but then Superintendent Hutch arrives and tells them that Anscombe is dead. He takes Campion, the last person to see Anscombe alive, to see the body. Pyne, who had just arrived to visit Aubrey, accompanies them - Campion guesses he must be an old friend and talks to him accordingly but then finds out they only met three days before. Amanda tells Campion that she is falling in love with Lee Aubrey. Then Hutch takes Campion to Bridge, where he smuggles him into the Council Chamber, the headquarters of the Masters of Bridge, built into caves in a hill overlooking the town. Campion finds an agenda for a meeting which mentions Minute Fifteen, and Anscombe's intended retirement. Exploring further, he finds a vast cavern filled with hundreds of trucks. Next day, Aubrey takes Campion for a tour of the Institute. They meet Mrs Ericson, whose volunteer workers are housed in the Institute grounds - she is clearly infatuated with Aubrey. They also see a researcher who is developing a new, very powerful explosive. Pyne tips Hutch off that Campion might be an impostor. Hutch asks Campion questions to prove his identity, but his mind is blank. He hits Hutch, knocking him out, and drives to Coachingford, the main town in the area. Acting automatically, he goes to a newsagent's shop. In a back room he meets Lugg, who he does not recognise. Campion tells Lugg about his memory loss and Lugg patches up his injuries - and shows him the basket full of pound notes which he left on his last visit. Then a man with a gun arrives and offers Campion cash to leave town - he runs when he realises it is the real Campion, not a fake. Lugg recognises him as one of many professional criminals who have arrived in town. Amanda summons Campion to a hotel where he meets Miss Anscombe. She gives Campion her brother's diary, and tells him she believes he was smuggling contraband in the caves under the hill. The hotel is surrounded by both police and criminals, so Campion escapes over the roofs and catches a train to London where he meets Sir Henry Bull. He tells Campion that Minute Fifteen is a war loan, details of which are going to be mailed to every taxpayer in the country. Campion rushes back to Coachingford - he now knows that Pyne must be working with the criminals and believes he is responsible for Anscombe's murder. But as he gets off the train, he is arrested. Trying to get away from the police station, he is knocked out again. Waking up he has forgotten what happened since his original injury but remembers everything before. He is investigating counterfeit currency being given away to crooks and vagrants. Amanda arrives and he finally puts the two halves of the story together - the trucks are going to be used to distribute vast amounts of forged currency to cause economic crisis. He is left waiting in the police station until Hutch, with a broken jaw, arrives from speaking to Oates, who has been in hospital, unconscious and under guard - he was the prisoner that Campion heard being discussed when he first woke up. When Campion gets to the cave, the trucks are already leaving. He uses the experimental explosive from the Institute to blow them up, killing Pyne and many of his criminal employees. In the debris he finds letters showing that the cash was going to be posted out to poor people disguised as a social security payment - the vast number of envelopes would have been disguised by the letters about the war loan going out on the same day. Campion and Hutch realise Pyne could not have carried out the plan by himself. The mastermind turns out to be Lee Aubrey, who admits what he has done - his idea was to bring down the government and install himself in its place. Amanda and Campion talk - it turns out that Aubrey lost interest once he thought he had made her fall in love with him. They decide to get married the next day. |
7152378 | /m/0h713z | Ishmael | Barbara Hambly | 5/1/1985 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Spock travels back to the time and place of Here Come the Brides, a television program loosely based upon Asa Mercer's efforts to bring civilization to 1860s Seattle by importing the marriageable Mercer Girls from the war-ravaged East Coast of the United States. The show's premise was that eldest brother, Jason Bolt, bet his entire logging operation that he could persuade one hundred marriageable ladies to come to Seattle, and that all of them would be married or engaged within one year. Much of the dramatic and comic tension revolved around the efforts of their benefactor Aaron Stemple to thwart the deal and take control of the Bolts' holdings. Spock discovers a Klingon plot to destroy the Federation by killing Aaron Stemple before Stemple could thwart an attempted 19th-century alien invasion of Earth. During most of the story, Spock has lost his memory and is cared for by Stemple, who passes him off as his nephew "Ishmael" and helps him hide his alien origins. Spock identifies one of the women in the story as likely to be an ancestress of his. |
7152995 | /m/0h72fw | The Sherwood Ring | Elizabeth Marie Pope | 1958 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"} | When seventeen year-old Peggy Grahame's father dies, she has no choice but to reside in the home of her only remaining relative, her uncle Enos. She journeys to her family's ancestral estate, "Rest-and-be-thankful," in Orange County, New York, and soon finds her uncle to be an eccentric and rather crochety man who is obsessed with his family's history. While Peggy strikes up a tentative friendship with a young British man called Pat, who is doing some research in America, her uncle is quick to forbid the two from seeing each other. Peggy is forced to spend much of her time alone in the large, Colonial house, and soon discovers it to be haunted by the ghosts of her eighteenth-century ancestors and their contemporaries. The ghosts relate their stories in first-person narratives throughout the book which are interwoven with the narrative of the present day. With the help of the ghosts' stories, Peggy is able to unravel a centuries-old family mystery, win the affection of her uncle and find a romance of her own. |
7155427 | /m/0h760v | The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet | Eleanor Cameron | 1954 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | When two boys find a mysterious ad in a newspaper asking for two young boys to build a spaceship, they quickly construct one out of old tin and scrap wood, and bring it to the advertiser. This man is the mysterious Mr. Bass, a scientist living in an observatory who goes unnoticed by most of the townspeople for some reason. He shows the boys a previously undetected satellite of the earth, the eponymous planet, that can only be seen with a special filter he has concocted. He gives them some special fuel he invented to power their spaceship, and tells them to fly to the mushroom planet (after getting their parents' permission). He warns them that their trip will only be successful if they bring a mascot. When it is time for launch, they grab a hen at the last moment for a mascot, and rocket into space. They wake up on the mushroom planet, a small, verdant world covered in soft moss and tree size mushrooms. They quickly meet some residents of the mushroom planet, small men with large heads and slightly green skin, the cousins of the mysterious Mr. Bass. They tell the boys that their planet has had a crisis and everyone is slowly dying. The boys meet up with the king of the planet, the Great Ta, and end up solving the natives' problem, before returning to Earth. The mushroom people's crisis was a lack of sulfur. They resolved this with their mascot hen, as chicken eggs have a high sulfur content. |
7155567 | /m/0h765n | Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet | Eleanor Cameron | 1956 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The story opens with Theo Bass, the cousin of Tyco Bass, coming to Pacific Grove, CA and visiting the two boys (Chuck and David) from the first book. He has been a traveller around the world for many years, and when he finds out about the mushroom planet, he decides to rebuild the boys' lost spaceship and return to what he knows is his ancestral home. Earlier, the boys had written a letter to a nearby university professor inviting him to come and give a lecture to their young astronomers' society. The letter arrives while the professor is away and is received by his ambitious young assistant, who comes to Pacific Grove to give the lecture himself. The young assistant, Horatio Peabody, ends up going to the Mushroom Planet as a stowaway, and causing quite a bit of trouble there. This book is much more topical than the last one was, as Peabody insists that the Mushroom Planet must be explored and exploited "for the good of science" (as well as for his own personal glory). Mr. Peabody ends up committing an act of sacrilege on the Mushroom Planet that almost gets everyone involved killed, and in general annoys and scares all. However, by the end of the book, Horatio Peabody learns his lesson about the arrogance of his scientific beliefs, and the situation, overall, returns to equilibrium until the next book. |
7157210 | /m/0h781t | Furies of Calderon | Jim Butcher | 2004-10 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/03qfd": "High fantasy"} | The story takes place in the Aleran Empire, which contains "crafters", people who control the elements: water, air, earth, fire, wood, and metal, through a person's bond with an element's fury. A young woman named Amara travels with her mentor Fidelias as part of her graduation exercise. Amara is training to become one of the Cursori, messengers and spies for the First Lord of Alera, Gaius Sextus. They infiltrate a camp of mercenaries when Amara is tricked by a watercrafter named Odiana and betrayed by Fidelias. Odiana is the lover of Aldrick ex Gladius, the greatest swordsman since Araris Valerian, a legendary swordsman who had been in the service of the Princeps of Alera, the First Lord's late son. Amara escapes and makes contact with First Lord Gaius using her aircraft. He instructs her to go to the city of Garrison. The story switches to a steadholt controlled by Bernard, a man who lost his wife and children and stays with his sister Isana, and their nephew Tavi who is seemingly furyless. Tavi finds that one of his sheep has gone missing. He and Bernard track the sheep when they are attacked by a Marat warrior. The Marat and the Alerans had fought a war before Tavi was born in which the Marat killed Gaius' son, Princeps Septimus. The Marat are a warrior people who form tribes based on bonds with different animals, for example horses. In the fight Tavi and Bernard kill the warrior's war bird but not before Bernard is wounded. Tavi is running for help when a furystorm hits. While seeking shelter he finds Amara and the two find the Princeps Memorial, a cave dedicated to Princeps Septimus. Bernard makes it back to his steadholt, where Isana uses her watercrafting skills to heal him. Bernard then finds Tavi and Amara and bring them back to the steadholt. Fidelias, Odiana, and Aldrick stay at the steadholt where they discover Amara and attempt to capture her. Amara and Tavi escape with Fade, a servant of the steadholt who is seemingly dim witted, and together they travel through the woods before Amara splits from the other two. Tavi and Fade are attacked by Kord, the leader of Kordholt and a slaver. During the fight Bernard and Amara attack Kord when Fidelias, Odiana, and Aldrick attack. Aldrick kills Kord's son Bittan, and after arriving Isana floods the river. Bernard and Amara go one way; Tavi and Fade a second, and Fidelias and Aldrick another; Isana, Odiana, Kord, and Kord's oldest son Aric are washed to Kordholt. Tavi and Fade are captured by a Marat Headman named Doroga. Odiana and Isana, captured by Kord, are locked away and Odiana is raped. Bernard and Amara continue to Garrison where they rouse the Legionares, or soldiers. Fidelias and Aldrick go to the Marat leader Atsurak, who decides to invade Garrison immediately. Tavi convinces Doroga to let him undergo a trial that can stop the attack on Garrison. Tavi faces the trial with Kitai, Doroga's daughter, and wins, saving Kitai's life in the process, and undergoing some sort of bond with her which changes the colour of her eyes to match his, although he does not understand the meaning of this change. Isana and Odiana convince Aric to help them escape Kordholt, and they split up and head to Garrison. Tavi and the Marat head to Garrison to stop Atsurak. Bernard and Amara hold off the Marat, while realising their feelings for one another, and Isana arrives and hides. Tavi and Doroga attack and kill Atsurak, and Tavi reunites with Benard and Isana when they are attacked by Fidelias and Aldrick who defeat Bernard and Amara with ease, when Fade attacks Aldrick and defeats him but leaves him alive. It is hinted here that Fade is Araris Valerian. Fidelias throws Fade off the wall, attacks Tavi, and takes Aquataine's dagger. Garrison survived the attack and Tavi is granted a scholarship to the Academy by the First Lord, Bernard and Amara become Count and Countess of the garrison, and Isana is given the title of Steadholder, making her the first woman ever to own a steadholt and gain citizenship through merit rather than marriage. Fidelias and Aldrick return to Aquataine, greeted by Inividia, Aquataine's wife and discover Aquataine sleeping with Gaius' wife Caria. |
7157972 | /m/0h78vf | When Darkness Falls | Mercedes Lackey | 2006-07 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | After the Great Working to scry through the wards of Armethalieh and deflecting the attack of the Demon Queen Savilla, most of the Allied camp is drained for nearly a sennight. However, Savilla is likewise weakened and now both sides know a secret lost for a thousand years, that a combination of High Magick and Wild Magic can kill a Demon. When the Elven King Andoreniel proposes sending all Allied children and pregnant women to the Fortress of the Crowned Horns of the Moon, Knight-Mage Kellen points out numerous flaws but cannot think of an alternative plan. Meanwhile, Savilla plots to break the bonds that bind He Who Is, the creator of the Demons, by casting secret sacrifices on an enchanted spear in one of the many chambers of the vast World Without Sun. From the Crystal Spiders, Vestakia learns that an enclave of Shadowed Elves still exists somewhere in the Elven lands, in a cave associated with crystal and water though she doesn't know precisely where that is. The Elves give Cilarnen, the banished High Mage, a gift of many of their older books which discuss the High Magick. Unfortunately, he still lacks a source of power to cast any spells from. Jermayan, the only Elven Mage, and his Bonded dragon, Ancaladar, depart to begin the evacuation of the pregnant Elven women from the Nine Cities. At the first city, the women refuse to depart to safety while the city is under near constant attack from various Tainted creatures. Jermayan evacuates the entire city through the mountains and burns its Flower Forest so it will not fall to enemy hands. Approximately a third of the already reduced population survives attacks by Coldwarg, Frost Giants, Ice Trolls, and an Ice Drake. As the Allied army holds Council, Kellen reiterates the belief that the many attacks are meant to divide the Allied forces and stop them from interfering with what he believes to be the Endarkened's ultimate goal, Armethalieh. Without word from Andoreniel, the only orders the army commander, Redhelwar, is to give is to allow refuges from the other races to enter the relative safety of Elven Lands. Kellen is given command of a third of the army with directions to go to the Jeweled Caverns of Halacira to make it a suitable fortress for the refugees. Cilarnen confers privately with Kellen to inform him that the books may have given him the answer to his power problem. If he can get permission from them, he believes that he could use the power of the Elemental Powers that sustain the land-wards that surround the Elven nation. Unfortunately, the meeting with Viceroy Kindolhinadetil leaves both Kellen and Cilarnen confused as to whether it would be allowable. Unbeknownst to the side of Light, Crown Prince Zyperis of the Demons initiates a plague to affect both animal and forest to further distract the Allies. Kellen, with a third of the army under his command, moves out to journey to Sentarshadeen. Along the way they discover a village decimated by the plague loosed by the Demons. The Elves recognize it for what it is as the Enemy used the same tactic during the last war. Cilarnen receives a later from the viceroy that gives him permission to do all he can to aid the war effort, including summoning the Elementals of the land wards. A Salamander enters the summoning circle and merges its essence with Cilarnen, giving him much greater power while inside the Elven lands, but shortening his lifespan to a few years. The depleted High Council and High Mage Lycaelon fall further and further into the traitor Anigel's power. With his Magewardens policing the Mages and blindly following his lead, his work continues on lowering the City Wards that protect all within the City from Demons. Demon raids in the farther out City lands allows him to convince the Council that Wildmages are attacking. Cilarnen witnesses via a scrying spell the meeting that sends a unit of the Guard and two High Mages to the village of Nerendale to deal with the fictitious menace. Two days later, he witnesses the destruction of a Demon ambush and the kidnapping of the High Mages. Kellen and his troops reach the mountains where he and Shalkan discover a pass blocked by a Shadewalker, a huge monster with the ability to regenerate nonfatal wounds within minutes. Together they defeat it and determine it to have been the cause that no messages have gotten through between the army and the king. They reach Ondoladeshiron to find it suffering from the plague and news that Andoreniel lies ill and unresponsive in bed in Sentarshadeen. Kellen sends Keirasti and a small unit back to Redhelwar with this news and orders to move to the capital. Vestakia's attempts to discover the (hopefully) last enclave of the Shadowed Elves via telepathic communication with the Crystal Spiders are still fruitless. The only clues she has received are jewels and water. The prolonged communication opens her mind even further than before and she begins to see glimpses of her father, the Demon Prince Zyperis's mind while she's asleep. Finally, the Crystal Spiders manage to convey an image of giant xaique-pieces. The recently returned Jermayan and Idalia realize the enclave must be in Halacira, the cave where Kellen is heading to prepare for the refugees. Cilarnen manages to find and destroy a latent spell placed in his mind by Anigrel that would have caused him to attempt to kill Kellen. With his help, Idalia and Jermayan find Keirasti's group which Jermayan and Ancaladar go to intercept. They return to inform Redhelwar of the king's health, leaving Kellen without Vestakia's warning. Kellen suspects a trap in Halacira regardless and cautiously leads some of his troops in while the rest secure the other exits. The Shadowed Elves release a trap that floods most of the cave with the nearby river but with the help of Wildmages in his party and his casting of a spell he shouldn't have been able to cast, Kellen is able to break through. They eradicate the Shadowed Elves which were the last of their kind. The main army departs as Jermayan takes Keirasti back to her unit and then moves on to inform Kellen of the now-sprung trap. Kellen informs Jermayan of Andoreneil's illness and asks that Cilarnen, Idalia, and Vestakia be brought to assist the king and see if any Shadowed Elves remain. Unfortunately, the Wild Magic isn't strong enough to directly cure Andoreneil, but a combination of treatments seems to help. Savilla uses the High Mages captured at Nerendale to capture a unicorn and bring it to the enchanted spear. With its death, the barrier sealing He Who Is is greatly weakened. However, Zyperis was able to follow the unicorn's trail and know understands his mother's plans. Kellen charges Cilarnen with devising a way to open communications with Armethaleih to form an alliance and create the spells to protect Halacira. Vestakia learns through her dreams and counseling with Ancadalar, the Queen of Shadow Mountain's plans for He Who Is. Though a simple riddle game and a scrying spell, Kellen, Jermayan, and Idalia learn of the bargain Vielissar Farcarinon made to seal He Who Is during the last Shadow War. Idalia specifically learns the Great Working she'll need to cast, but lacks the consent of all the races of the Light which is required. Fortunately, Andoreneil has recovered enough to point her to the banners in his council chamber which are magically bound promises of all the races to serve in the time of need. Jermayan and Ancadalar take her to a Place of Power in the far north where she summons the Starry Hunt, the Powers that the Elves followed during their continual internal wars before the Endarkened first appeared. Their arrival in the world restores the waning of the Wild Mage and closes the door on He Who Is, though doesn't lock it. Jermayan and Idalia return to Redhelwar's army which is moving far too slow to be able to be of use in the spring battles to come. Jermayan offers a solution: a Great Working that would move the entire army to Kellen but would cost his and Ancadalar's lives. Understanding the necessity, the spell is cast and the army moved. However, the Starry Hunt intervenes and spares their lives at the last moment though it costs them all of their magic. Andoreneil gives Redhelwar a Viceroy's ring giving his autonomy and the authority to refuse the king's orders if he see fit. The army moves towards Armethaleih encountering refugees they send to Elven lands and Demon attacks along the way. Cilarnen negotiates with the land ward Elementals to get another Elemental to assist him when he crosses the borders and spends as much time as possible working on a plan with the Unicorn Knights. Anigrel has weakened the City Wards enough to let the mildest of Demonic influence in. With it he convinces Lycaelon of the need for allies against the Wildmages. He tells of another city that has isolated itself and is willing to assist Armethaleih and its inhabitants known as The Enlightened. Although an obvious cover for the Endarkened, Lycaelon and the High Council agree to hear from an envoy. The Endarkened army moves parallel to the Allied one as they approach Armethaleih. Vestakia, now able to read her father's mind even while awake, tells the Allies that the Demons intend to make a Great Sacrifice. By sacrificing a person who represents the Land at a Place of Power (one of which is very near to the Golden City), the Queen of Shadow Mountain will be able to break the bonds on He Who Is, even those created by the Starry Hunt. Upon reaching the city, the Allied army prepares for battle. However, Savilla uses all of the slaves the Demon army has to cast an extremely powerful spell that masks the presence of the Demons even to those with magical abilities. A small party of "The Enlightened" approach Armethaleih and the Arch Mage's party exits to meet them. Although the Wildmages are temporarily about to dispel the illusion, the Demons succeed in capturing Lycaelon who qualifies as representing the Land. The Demons withdraw from the City's immediate vicinity. Cilarnen leads the unicorns in a pattern that represents runes and manages to shatter the already corrupted City Wards completely. Attempting to regain Savilla's favour, Zyperis proceeds to lead an attack on the Allied army with the Demon forces not located at the Place of Power. Cilarnen, Jermayan, and Idalia enter the Golden City of Bells and confront the remains of the High Council, calling for immediate action in informing the citizens of the true nature of the Tokens of Citizenship, the rebuilding of the City Wards, and sending aid to the Allied army. Cilarnen's father, Lord Setarion Volpiril, intercedes and rejoins the Council and acts as a temporary leader when Cilarnen releases the bonds Lycaelon placed on him. Redhelwar hands leadership of the army over to Kellen shortly before the battle commences. Due to Kellen's reorganization of units, the Starry Hunt, and his Knight-Mage abilities, they are able to hold their own against the Demons and their ilk. With the help of a reclusive and often near-Banished scholar, Idalia works out a spell that combines High Magick and Wild Magic that should break through the Demon's shields at the Place of Power and transport Lycaelon back to the City. Meanwhile Cilarnen begins the Grand Circle to recast the City Wards, the most complex spell in the High Magick. The Circle completes the casting just as his energy runs out and he collapses. With the help of some High Mages, Kellen's army manages to continue fighting until midnight approaches. Before entering the Circle that will cast the spell to save Lycaelon, Idalia finally accepts Jermayan's token of marriage, a necklace with a silver eight-pointed star. Without saying goodbye, she enters the Circle knowing what no one else does, that Lycaelon cannot merely be transported, a switch needs to be done. It is the final Mageprice for her, the one she incurred when she saved the Elven lands from the released storms nearly a year previous. As Lycaelon appears in the Circle, Savilla strikes Idalia with her blade and Jermayan runs for Ancadalar to try and save her. A wave of light washes over the land replenishing Wild Mages and High Mages and restoring Ancadalar and Jermayan's magical abilities. With it also comes the destruction of Zyperis and half of the Demons at the Place of Power. Jermayan slays Savilla with his re-acquired magic as well as the other Demons in the area. Kellen arrives later to find the surrounding area covered with flowers and Jermayan holding Idalia's body. Cilarnen recovers the next day and finds his memories intact and the Elemental has left him. By an ancient law of the City, he is voted the next High Mage as Lycaelon's mind was too damaged by his time in Savilla's custody. Jermayan and Ancadalar disappear shortly after Kellen found them. Kellen returns control of the army to Redhelwar and is in turn given control of a force to mop up the remains of the Demon's force and orders to then return to Sentarshadeen in three months time for Idalia's funeral. All of the races send their highest ranking members to Idalia's funeral and many speak of her. Even Lycaelon gives a nominal eulogy, though Kellen declines to do so himself. Cilarnen approaches him afterwards and tells him of the progress he has made in reforming the City. Andoreneil asks to see Kellen in regards to the Fortress of the Crowned Horns. Kellen is to go and inform them of the end of the war and that they may return to their homes. When he, Vestakia, and Shalkan arrive, they find Ancadalar sunning himself on the rocks. Jermayan is inside with Ashaniel, the Elven Queen. Her new baby girl who was born with violet eyes and a silvery eight-pointed star birthmark on her chest. The Wild Magic's gift; Idalia reborn. When he leaves the fortress, Kellen realizes it was over a year ago he was rescued by Shalkan outside the City Gates. Kellen leaves the fortress hand in hand with Vestakia, and with a little prodding from the now-distant unicorn, Kellen kisses her. |
7159487 | /m/0h7c2y | The King's Justice | Katherine Kurtz | 1985 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The plot of The King's Justice spans a period of two months, from May 1124 to July 1124. The novel begins as King Kelson Haldane is making final preparations to launch a military campaign into the province of Meara. Although Meara has been a part of Gwynedd for over a century, a descendant of the ancient Mearan rulers, Caitrin Quinnell, has gathered an army and risen against Kelson to secure her place as queen of an independent and sovereign Meara. Additionally, Caitrin has allied herself with Edmund Loris, the rabidly anti-Deryni former-Archbishop who has managed to escape from his imprisonment. Kelson plans to set the Haldane potential in his uncle, Prince Nigel Haldane, before his departure, ensuring that his family's legacy of magic will not perish if Kelson should not survive the war. However, Kelson's plan deeply concerns the Camberian Council, who has long believed that multiple Haldanes cannot wield the Haldane magic simultaneously. Further complicating matters is the ill-timed return of Kelson's mother, Queen Jehana, whose anti-Deryni sentiments cause considerable friction with her son. Nonetheless, Kelson carries through with his plan and sets the Haldane potential in his uncle. The following day, Kelson sends off the first half of his army, placing it under the command of Bishop Duncan McLain and Earl Dhugal MacArdry. As Caitrin's forces prepare to do battle with Kelson's armies, Kelson receives the homage of King Liam Lajos II Furstán of Torenth, who travels to Rhemuth to acknowledge Kelson as Overlord of Torenth. However, Kelson decides to take both Liam and his mother as honorable hostages, ensuring that Torenth will make no aggressive move against Gwynedd while Kelson is occupied with the Mearan situation. Shortly thereafter, Kelson and Duke Alaric Morgan lead the second half of the royal army out from Rhemuth to meet the Mearan rebels. Over the following weeks, the Gwyneddan armies attempt to hunt down and destroy the Mearan forces. In the north, Loris and Sicard MacArdry, Caitrin's husband, continually elude Duncan and Dhugal. Meanwhile, in the south, Kelson and Morgan chase after Caitrin's son, Prince Ithel, whose own acts of rape and destruction have fueled Kelson's anger. Kelson eventually succeeds in capturing Ithel, who is summarily executed for his crimes. On the same day, Sicard and Loris lure the northern Gwyneddan army into a trap. Realizing that Loris is determined to capture him, Duncan orders Dhugal to flee the battle, hoping that the rest of the army will survive. Dhugal manages to escape the battle, but Duncan is defeated and captured. In Rhemuth, Jehana suffers a crisis of conscience when her own Deryni powers enable her to discover a Torenthi plot to assassinate Nigel. Jehana finally decides to warn Nigel, and the assassination attempt is foiled. Loris tortures Duncan horribly, mutilating the Deryni bishop in an attempt to force him to confess to charges of heresy. That night, Dhugal succeeds in contacting Kelson and informs the king of Duncan's plight. As Kelson's army marches through the night to rescue their comrades, Loris prepares to burn Duncan at the stake. However, Duncan's execution is interrupted by the arrival of Kelson's army. Both Kelson and Morgan use their Deryni powers to protect Duncan, but it is ultimately Dhugal who rescues the bishop. Kelson corners Sicard, but the Pretender's husband refuses to surrender. Unwilling to allow Sicard's defiance to cost additional lives, Kelson kills Sicard with a single arrow. The remaining Mearan soldiers throw down their arms, and the Gwyneddan army is victorious. After several days of resting the army, Kelson leads his host to Laas, the Mearan city to which Caitrin has fled. Kelson demands the Pretender's surrender, and Dhugal convinces his aunt to accede to the king's terms. After Kelson's army takes possession of the city, Loris and his aide are executed for their crimes, and Kelson reluctantly orders the execution of the last member of Caitrin's family, Prince Judhael. With the Pretender's bloodline extinguished and her army defeated, Kelson secures his authority over the land of Meara. |
7161872 | /m/0h7h_7 | Amaryllis Night and Day | Russell Hoban | 2001 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"} | Peter Diggs has a vivid dream in which he meets a woman called Amaryllis. When he later encounters the same woman in real life, he discovers that the two of them have the ability to enter each other's dreams. A cautious relationship is begun, half in the real world and half in dreams, in which both parties struggle to overcome the emotional effects of previous failed romances. |
7162589 | /m/0h7k58 | A Woman of Substance | Barbara Taylor Bradford | 1979 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"} | The book starts with Emma, now an old lady, flying to New York with her personal assistant and favourite grandchild, Paula. Emma contemplates the empire she has created. She has trained Paula to be her successor, both as the head of Harte Stores and as representative of her mother, Daisy Amory, at Sitex. On their arrival in New York, Emma's secretary, Gaye, tells her that she heard Emma's sons discussing a plan to force her to retire and break up her empire so the pieces can be sold. Devastated initially, Emma isn't surprised but changes her will, choosing to leave her business interests to her grandchildren instead. The story then goes back to when Emma was a teenager and working as a servant at Fairley Hall in rural Yorkshire. Her father, Jack, and two brothers, Winston and Frank, also work for the Fairley family. Jack and Frank work at the mill and Winston works at the brickyard. After the death of his mother, Winston joins the navy as he had wanted to since he was a child. As parlourmaid, Emma sees a lot of the Fairley family and becomes friends with the younger son, Edwin. They bond over the death of their mothers. Emma also meets Blackie O'Neill, a wandering Irish navvy who has been hired to do some work at Fairley Hall, and they become fast friends. One day, Emma and Edwin realise they feel more for each other than friendship. Their friendship becomes intimate and Emma gets pregnant. Edwin, horrified at this news, does not offer to marry her so she runs away to Leeds. Wanting to protect herself and her child from gossip, Emma tells her landlady and new friends that she is married to Winston, a sailor currently away at sea. While looking for work, she meets Abraham Kallinski and rescues him from an attack by local youths. After she gets rid of them, she sees Abraham is not well and walks him home. He introduces her to his wife, Janessa and sons, David and Victor. Janessa, out of gratitude, invites Emma to stay for dinner. When Emma tells them she is looking for work, Abraham immediately offers her a job at his clothing workshop. He and David are pleased with Emma's work and she becomes good friends with them. As the birth of her baby approaches, Blackie arranges for her to meet his friend Laura Spencer in the village of Armley. Laura needs someone to share household expenses and Emma needs someone to look after her so it seemed ideal. They become good friends, Emma moves in and Laura gets her a job at Thompson's Mill. In March, Emma has a daughter and names her Edwina. Needing to work to support them, Emma's cousin, Freda, takes Edwina. After a year of working two jobs, Emma makes enough money to rent a shop in Armley. This shop is a success and Emma's business expands to two shops, then three. Not expecting to see the Fairleys, she is horrified when Gerald visits. He found her after seeing she worked at Thompson's Mill, now owned by his father. He tells her Edwin will soon be engaged and demands she tell him where the child is. Emma refuses to admit that there is a child, and after a violent confrontation, realizes she needs someone to protect her. Worried Gerald will return, she marries her landlord, Joe Lowther. They became friends when he taught her how to do her own accounts. Soon after their marriage, he and Emma have a son, Christopher, nicknamed Kit. Emma's business continues to expand with Emma going into business with the Kallinskis. Unfortunately her private life doesn't run as smoothly. Joe is killed in the battle of the Somme and Laura, now married to Blackie, dies giving birth to a son, Bryan. Emma raises Bryan until Blackie returns from the war. In early 1918, Emma meets Paul McGill. They fall in love and while their time together is short it is a very intense affair. Paul is in the Australian army and returns to France after recovering from a leg injury. After the war, he goes home and despite promising to write, never does. Emma, hurt and disappointed, especially when she finds out he and his wife have a son, turns to an acquaintance for consolation and marries again. She and her new husband have twins, Robin and Elizabeth, but the marriage is unhappy (her husband, Arthur Ainsley, is possibly homosexual and certainly has a drinking problem) and ends when Paul returns. Paul has kept in touch with Emma's brother Frank who informs him that Emma's marriage is unhappy. At Paul's request, Frank arranges a meeting between Emma and Paul. Emma is initially angry but calms down when Paul explains why he never wrote to her. They start dating again and she divorces her husband when she finds out she is pregnant with Paul's child. Emma has a daughter that they name Daisy after his mother. In February 1939, seeing war on the horizon, Paul goes to Australia to get his affairs in order, as he anticipates that once war starts travel will be difficult if not impossible. While there, he is seriously injured in a car crash and almost dies. He survives but disfigured, and is told that he will be dead within a year. He redraws his will, leaving almost everything to Emma and Daisy, and commits suicide. Emma is devastated but eventually recovers enough to look after her family and business empires. Emma's life goes on. Her children marry and have children of their own: Edwina marries Lord Jeremy Standish and has a son Anthony; Kit has a daughter Sarah; Robin has a son Jonathan; Elizabeth marries repeatedly resulting in son Alexander and daughters Emily and twins Amanda and Francesca; Daisy marries David Amory and has two children, Philip and Paula. Back in 1968, Emma invites her family to her house in Yorkshire for the weekend. They come, curious to see how she is after recovering from pneumonia, and she tells them that she has discovered their treachery and outmaneuvered them by changing her will. Her older children are furious but each accepts a one million pound trust that Emma offers as a bribe not to cause trouble. Her grandchildren are pleased and all promise to run their section well. Emma also gives her blessing to Paula becoming involved with Jim Fairley. He is Edwin's grandson and she tells him Edwina is his aunt but he had guessed, seeing her resemblance to his great-grandmother, Adele. Jim also has a surprise for Emma, giving her a stone she and Edwin found, revealing the woman painted on it, was her mother, Elizabeth. He tells her about the history of brief but tragic relationships between Fairley men and Harte women and tells her that on his deathbed, Edwin asked Jim to beg Emma to allow Paula and Jim the happiness they were denied. He also asked for her forgiveness as Jim revealed Edwin had never recovered from the guilt he suffered for abandoning her and their child. Emma was happy to forgive Edwin and give her blessing to Jim and Paula's marriage. |
7163822 | /m/0h7mds | Let It Come Down | Paul Bowles | 1952 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | A dark, even bleak, novel, Let It Come Down follows American Nelson Dyar as he arrives in the International Zone of Tangier, Morocco to begin a new job and a new life. Dyar's exploration of the brothels, drugs and unsavoury characters of Tangier leads him gradually, logically, to a sinister conclusion. Bowles took the book's title from Macbeth III.3, just before Banquo is murdered: :Banquo: It will be rain to-night. :1st. Murd.: Let it come down. :(They set upon Banquo.) The author has described the line as an ‘admirable four-word sentence, succinct and brutal’. |
7164050 | /m/0h7mtw | The Stones of Summer | Dow Mossman | 1972 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The Stones of Summer follows the life of Dawes Oldham Williams (D.O.W.) from childhood to teenage years in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and finally adulthood. The book is divided into three sections. Section 1 describes Williams' experiences in grade school and on a vacation to his grandfather's farm in Dawes City, Iowa, a depressed town built by Williams' once-prosperous and now ruined ancestors. In school, Dawes takes interest mostly in disorderly behavior; he idolizes and befriends the profane and often obnoxious Ronnie Crown, and to some extent emulates Crown's rebelliousness. In one climactic moment, Dawes, Crown, and a friend exact revenge on a Cedar Rapids neighbor by blowing up her garage with a stick of dynamite. After the explosion, the three boys evade the police by hiding in empty coffins in a nearby building. Section 1 also follows Dawes and his parents, Simpson and Leone, on a visit to Dawes and Leone's ancestral hometown, Dawes City, Iowa. There, the Dawes and his family visit his maternal grandparents. Dawes' grandfather, Arthur, is a greyhound breeder whose success is waning. Dawes' experiences his grandfather are awkward and often painful: Dawes is already a strange boy, and Arthur's ridicule often compounds his grandson's odd behavior. Despite this, Dawes sometimes feels a bond with Arthur, especially when it comes to the dogs, and after running errands with Arthur in town. While running errands, Arthur takes Dawes to the barber for a haircut and demands that his head be shaved. After the haircut, Arthur leaves Dawes with Abigail Winas, an old family friend and cryptic chicken farmer with whom Dawes seems to be a kindred spirit. During the visit with Abigail, it is revealed that Winas' mental health has seriously deteriorated since Dawes' last visit. Winas tells the boy a mix of truth and fabrications about the reliability of history- especially relating to Dawes city- and she condemns Dawes' devotion to nightly Bible readings. Dawes and Winas' discussion frequently borders on friendly and antagonistic, a consistent theme throughout The Stones of Summer. At the end of Dawes' visit with Abigail Winas, she slays and guts three chickens for the Dawes' family's dinner. When Arthur and Dawes return to the farm, Arthur is chastised for getting such an extreme haircut for Dawes. Nonetheless, when the boy is asked whether he enjoyed his trip with Arthur, he is surprised by his own quick affirmation. By the end of the vacation, however, Dawes has a tantrum after Arthur acts mean-spiritedly in croquet, when Dawes had tried to play fairly. Fed up, Dawes destroys a part of the croquet set. As a result, Arthur beats his grandson with a board. Simpson and Leone chastise Arthur for the harsh punishment but Dawes runs away despite their defense. He returns in the morning after spending the night in the woods near another remnant of his defunct family's empire: a decrepit house within which he finds a sleeping Abigail Winas. Section 2 of The Stones of Summer chronicles Dawes' teenage life and his escapades with best friends Dunker, Travis, and Eddie. Throughout the section, the three boys drink great quantities of alcohol, get into fistfights with strangers and each other, and engage in many picaresque activities, as well as car accidents. In this section, Dawes learns about sex well after his friends and eventually strikes up a romance with school girlfriends Becky Thatcher and later Summer Letch. This entire section is brimming with sexual undertones- whether Dawes and his friends are cruising for girls, or Dawes is experimenting with Summer in a doomed relationship, or the four boys watch a disturbing carnival peep show. This section ends in a terrible loss, though, at the end of the summer before college. As Dawes and his three best friends are speeding away from their final revenge upon a farmer who once chased them away with shotgun fire, their convertible leaves the road and Travis, Dunker, and Eddie are killed. Only Dawes survives after miraculously escaping from the out-of-control car before it crashes into the ravine below. This great loss apparently leaves Dawes inconsolable and finally sends him over the edge of reason. Ten years have passed, and Dawes is in Mexico with a young woman. The literate Dawes' writings while in Mexico illustrate his poor mental health. Additionally, Dawes' conversations with others are much more cryptic and sarcastic. He is cruel to his Mexican girlfriend- who even seems to understand him somewhat. The section itself is schizophrenically-constructed and jumps back and forth through time. Throughout the section, it is revealed that Dawes has had stints in a mental institution. After leaving the hospital, Dawes decides to get drunk at an old hangout. He gets into a fight after refusing to pay a $5 bet at the pool table, and winds up on the floor after being hit with a pool cue. Dawes follows the attacker outside, where he is urinating on a nearby wall. Dawes convinces the man that he can urinate great distances and tricks him into an elaborate and far-fetched ploy to teach the art of long-distance urinating. Dawes' tactics, he demonstrates, involve warming up on all-fours and breathing heavily before finally jumping to one's feet. As the man follows Dawes' advice, Dawes attacks him and severely beats him with an axe handle. With Mexico already in his mind, Dawes flees to his parents' house hearing the police sirens. They are surprised to see him. In this painful encounter, Dawes tries to borrow $100 from his father, but his request is peppered with verbal abuse, sarcasm, and vitriol, and Simpson refuses. Dawes destroys a cake that Leone had made for his birthday, causing her to cry, and he ridicules both of his very patient, confused, and worried parents. Despite their pleas for rationality, however, Dawes leaves in a fury, and kicks out two doors to the house. Leone comments that Dawes has lost all of his humanity. |
7167716 | /m/0h7s_f | Tintin in Thailand | null | null | null | The plot opens on a rainy and cold Marlinspike Hall; the occupants, Tintin and Captain Haddock are miserable and poor because there are no new Tintin adventures sending them to adventures in the sun any more since the death of their creator Hergé. (This is the first of many self-references the plot makes.) As they consider their plight, Jolyon Wagg's wife arrives and ask them to go to Thailand to look for her husband who went there on a trip he won from his employer, the Rock Bottom Insurance Company, but never came back. The wife has already sent Thomson and Thompson there to look for Jolyon but without any results. As it is an all expense paid trip, the group eagerly accept and are soon off to Thailand. Nestor, Snowy and the cat are left behind, but Professor Calculus comes along too. As the group checks in to their Bangkok hotel they are spotted by Derek Dimwit, a representative of the Marlinsprick Company that holds the rights to the Tintin franchise. He calls head office and is told that he must stop the group from going on any more adventures that would be the basis of a pirated book not controlled by the Marlinsprick Company. The group head out to the red light district where they run into General Alcazar, now the owner of a Thailand bar after being deposed by General Tapioca. Alcazar has seen Jolyon Wagg pass through the bar, but he has gone north to Chiang Mai with a kathoey (transexual). Calculus and Haddock both hook up with prostitutes in the bar but Tintin prefers the company of a young boy instead (This is a reference to questions by fans regarding Tintin's sexuality in the original books). The next day the group takes a flight north and soon run into Thomson and Thompson. The Thompson twins do not want the group to find Wagg as they enjoy being in Thailand at Wagg's wife's expense. However, the group picks up the trail to Jolyon Wagg who is living in a house outside Chiang Mai and finds that he does not enjoy the company of his kathoey partner. Jolyon longs for his wife's cooking, in particular her rabbit marinated in beer. After a series of misadventures the group finds itself back in Chiang Mai in time for the celebration of the new year of 2000. The story ends with Tintin being presented with the first copy of Tintin in Thailand, and he exclaims that this work will guarantee him many peaceful days in the sun. |
7169623 | /m/0h7wd2 | Whittington | null | 2005 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | The story is about a cat named Whittington that goes to live in a barn that is owned by a man named Bernie. Ben and Abby, Bernie's grandchildren, come to the barn. Ben struggles with reading in school. Ben has dyslexia and is struggling to learn how to read. He has been told by the school principal that if his reading skills do not improve, he will not advance to the next grade. Whittington tells the story of his namesake, a man named Dick Whittington, which encourages Ben. |
7171966 | /m/0h7zhw | Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers | null | 4/25/1990 | {"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"} | The novel tells the story of Jamal Hicks, a 12-year-old boy from Harlem in order for his older brother to be released from jail joins a gang. Jamal is having a hard time at school, home, and in the streets. The only person he can count on is his best friend Tito. The main problem in his life is trying to get his brother, Randy, out of jail. Randy is a 17-year-old who is the leader of the Scorpions, a local gang. The gang's motive is to make money by selling cocaine and crack. His family includes himself, Mama, his 8-year-old sister Sassy, Randy, and his father, Jevon Hicks. Jamal's father used to be an alcoholic after losing his job and started abusing Jamal's mother Mama until she moved away from him with the kids. This happened while Jamal was very young. Now Jamal's father only comes to visit the family once in a while on occasion. The story starts out with Jamal and his family thinking that Randy needs only $500 for his appeal. Then the next morning, Jamal's Mama tells Jamal that Randy says to go see Mack. Mama does not like the boy because he is on crack and thinks he caused Randy to kill the delicatessen owner. She keeps warning Jamal about Mack. His mother soon finds out that his brother has been attacked and stabbed while in jail and is in medical care while his mother visits him, the other members of the Scorpions find out, thinking they should defend themselves by offering Jamal to join the Scorpions much to Indian's dismay. They believe this will help make a connection by having orders directly from Randy to Jamal back to the members; the other members feel through they should just vote on a new leader because they feel Randy is dead to them and feeling that letting a 12-year-old joining a gang would not be beneficial. When Jamal meets Mack, Mack tells Jamal to be the leader of the Scorpions and finds out the appeal is really $2,000. The second time Jamal meets Mack, Mack gives him a gun while high at a park. At school, Jamal is having a tough time with the principal, Mr. Davidson. The teachers are giving him trouble, and Dwayne is giving him trouble by bullying him. In the book, he fights Dwayne and threatens Dwayne with a gun in the second fight which leads to Jamal getting into deeper trouble in school. Jamal is given a gun to get his way in to his brother's former position as the leader of the Scorpions. One afternoon after Jamal and Tito get out of the school they follow the brother's fellow gang member Mack. The gun causes several bad occasions, ultimately causing Jamal's best friend Tito to be sent to Puerto Rico. |
7172464 | /m/0h7_57 | A Very Private Life | Michael Frayn | 1968 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The protagonist (Uncumber) begins life in a privileged home where she is estranged from her family by their reliance on drugs to regulate their emotions and social interactions. She leaves them in order to pursue a man (Noli) that she falls in love with on first sight despite a language barrier existing between them, which stops her from forming any relationships with him or his family. Noli unlike Uncumber is from the working class and she finally abandons him when he insists on using the drugs which she abhors in their love making. She finally makes it full circle when she is picked up shortly afterwards by the police and imprisoned in a room remarkably similar to the one in which she began and is eventually reconciled to the medicated life where every emotion exists on tap and the most intimate experience is sex which has been replaced by lying next to your lover experiencing entirely private and separate hallucinations. |
7172958 | /m/0h7_s5 | Vinland | George Mackay Brown | 1992 | {"/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The novel's progagonist is Ranald Sigmundson, an Orkneyman who journeys to Vinland as a youth, fights in the battle of Clontarf, and has other adventures. Later in life, Ranald tends his farm and warns his family and friends against becoming too involved in worldly affairs. The story's prose style is quite minimalistic and vivid, after the manner of an ancient Norse saga. It is, like much of Brown's other work, a revival of that literary form. Written at a time when Brown's health was wavering, Vinland is a rare autobiographical insight into the author's thoughts about death. Like Ranald Sigmundsson, Brown converted to a Christian mentality. In the novel, Ranald yearns for a final voyage back to Vinland. However, the voyage is metaphorical: he dies on Easter Monday, and therefore his voyage is a spiritual rather than a physical one. What Vinland represents is echoed throughout Brown's work in his search for 'silence', that is, a sense for Christian peace, unity, meaning and order. He uses the Viking's belief in fate (wyrd) as a backdrop to his message for Christian order. Ranald starts to despise the Viking way of life, and he soon turns very introspective and isolated, contemplating the meaning of life along emerging Christian principles. In short, his final voyage to the 'west' is a voyage to heaven, to an Eden - a harmonious world that was lost when the mythological representative of the apocalyptical hound Fenrir, Wolf, swings his axe and kills an native American, destroying any hope of reconciliation. |
7173127 | /m/0h7_yp | Eucalyptus | Murray Bail | 1998 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Eucalyptus tells the story of Ellen Holland, a young woman whose "speckled beauty" and unattainability become legend far beyond the rural western New South Wales town near the property where she grows up. Her protective father's obsession with collecting rare species of Eucalyptus trees leads him to propose a contest - the man who can correctly name all the species on his property shall win her hand in marriage. |
7175594 | /m/025v6sd | Conviction | Richard North Patterson | 1/25/2005 | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | As described by Sherryl Connelly of the New York Daily News, |
7177512 | /m/025v8ww | The Bull from the Sea | Mary Renault | 1962 | {"/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Theseus returns to Athens along with the other Athenian bull-leapers. His father, Aigeus, has committed suicide, which leaves the kingdom to the young Theseus. He soon meets Pirithoos, the rebellious pirate king of the Lapiths, and the two go on several adventures. Pirithoos talks Theseus out of going to Crete to meet his bride-to-be, Phaedra, and instead the two journey to Euxine, home of the Amazons. There, Theseus falls in love with Hippolyta the leader of the Amazons, and after defeating her in single combat, takes her home to Athens with him. She is boyish and athletic, and in additional ways a personification of qualities that he admires in himself -- physical fearlessness, pride in 'kingship', etc. Hippolyta bears Theseus a son, Hippolytus, and continues to fight and hunt alongside him. Theseus, feeling pressure from his advisors, agrees to marry the Cretan princess Phaedra. Hippolyta advises him to make this marriage, regarding herself now as his vassal who must serve his interests. Phaedra bears him a son, Akamas, but continues living in Crete; in Athens, Hippolyta is queen in all but name, and unsurprisingly, Phaedra remains jealous of her, for Theseus treats Phaedra with cold insensitivity, making no secret of his preference for Hippolyta. When the Scythians (allied with the Amazons) attack Athens, Hippolyta helps defend the Acropolis and is killed in battle, sacrificing herself in his place. Years pass. Theseus finally invites Phaedra to Greece, but it is too late to repair relations between them. She meets the now-grown Hippolytus and conceives an unrequited passion for him. After being unable to secure his affection, she convinces Theseus that he attempted to rape her. Theseus curses Hippolytus, but quickly realizes that his wife is the real culprit. His realization comes too late: Hippolytus, fleeing his father's wrath, crashes his chariot during an earthquake and is killed. Theseus kills his wife (making it look like suicide) by throttling her slowly and spends the rest of his days alone. He expresses no contrition for this murder for the remainder of the novel but seems to have been rendered embittered and hopeless. The final section of the book deals with Theseus' decline and final years. On another roving expedition, he suffers a stroke. At last, having become old and frail from years and illness, he throws himself off a cliff while visiting the king of Skyros, fulfilling the titular motif of sacrifice in The King Must Die. |
7180709 | /m/025vcl6 | Rise of a Hero | Hilari Bell | 2005-05 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Legend has it that when Farsala most needs a warrior to lead it, Sorahb son of Rostam will be restored by the god Azura. That time has come. After a devastating loss to the army of the Hrum, Farsala has all but fallen. Only the walled city of Mazad and a few of the more uninhabitable regions remain free of Hrum rule, and they seem destined to fall as well. Farsala needs a champion now. Soraya risks being a slave herself to save her little brother and her mother, who are currently in the Hrum slave pens. Kavi has second thoughts about helping the Hrum and switches sides. But Jiaan and Soraya still hate Kavi for his betrayal of Farsala and are furious when the three are re-united. |
7180741 | /m/025vclx | The Wizard Test | Hilari Bell | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Dayven is a watcherlad who wants to become a Guardian. He definitely does not want to become a wizard, regarding them as deceitful and disloyal. When he is sent to the wizards to take the wizard test, he hopes to fail. Instead, he finds he has a gift for magic. Dayven refuses to acknowledge his power and later his cousin Soren tells him that the Lordowner, Lord Enar, wants to see him. Lord Enar asks what he thinks about wizards and Dayven says how much he hates them. Lord Enar agrees about Dayven's opinion of wizards and asks if he wants to spy on the wizards and Dayven agrees. http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Wizard_Test.html?id=UnaUPwAACAAJ One of the wizards, Sundar, gives Dayven money to bail a wizard, Reddick, out of jail. Reddick wants Dayven to go with him to spy on the Cenzar. On their journey they come across a dry stream and after some investigation help the villagers solve the problem. As the journey continues they reach the city of the Cenzar. In the city Reddick takes Dayven to the zondar, or training school for soldiers. As he becomes entrenched in the war, Dayven comes to a discomforting realization that there is no just two sides to a battle, just as there is not just black or white. He befriends a boy on the other side of the war, and during the war, he works as a healer in the surgeon's tent. In the end, when he sees his friend hurt, he heals him, at the cost of losing everything he had dreamed to be. Dayven realizes the flaws of his people. The Cenzar used to only farm three fields out of four at a time. This way the land had a full year to regain it's minerals and nutrients. When the Cenzar lost their land this rule was viewed as laziness and ignored. If Dayven's people continue to have their way, they will make the land infertile and then move to somewhere new as they have done countless times before. Dayven uses spells to make sure that the Cenzar win the battle. He stays behind when his people are forced to move on. |
7184065 | /m/025vg1g | The Last Summer of Reason | Tahar Djaout | 1999 | null | Boualem Yekker is a bookseller in a country probably modelled on Algeria. His home is firmly in the grip of religious fundamentalists, but only recently: it was once a republic, but now it is a "Community in the Faith". Djaout presents readers with a terrifying world of religious fundamentalism comparable to Orwell's 1984, but substituting a religious ditatorship for a purely political one. At first Yekker is only on the periphery of danger. He is "neither elegant nor talented", which puts him out of the spotlight: "what is persecuted above all, and more than people's opinions, is their ability to create and propagate beauty." Still, Yekker is a purveyor of these outrageous "idea- and beauty-filled objects" known as books, so he doesn't fit in too well in this new, retrograde society. Business isn't exactly booming, of course. Touchingly Djaout describes Yekker's brief moments of hope when he sees people gazing in the shop window. But there is hardly a market for the sorts of books he has any longer. One acquaintance, Ali Elbouliga, still comes to while away time there. Otherwise, Yekker remains largely alone in his bookish world—and the books ultimately prove almost as much a burden as a solace. Family life also gets more complicated when his daughter turns on him. "The illness of fanaticism had attacked her." She is transformed, "covered with superior certainties". Yekker tries to continue to live his life in the manner he is accustomed to, but there is no escape from the encroaching fanaticism. It crushes all opposition. Any semblance of rationality is done away with. Even weather forecasts are banned, as if these called some all-mighty's grand plan (and his power) into question. (What a pathetic god it must be they're protecting, if he can be threatened by mortals' barely educated guesses at tomorrow's weather; doesn't the fact that the meteorologists barely ever get it right instead reinforce the idea of divine omnipotence?) Imagination is dulled, "the world has become aphasic, opaque, and sullen; it is wearing mourning clothes." Books "constitute the safest refuge against this world of horror" all around Yekker, but the books are also a danger to him. Eventually they must make place for "the one, the irremovable Book of resigned certainty." The threats against Yekker mount. What is, at first, almost harmless child's play intensifies to very real danger. Might conquers right: They have understood the danger in words, all the words they cannot manage to domesticate and anesthetize. For words, put end to end, bring doubt and change. Words above all must not conceive of the utopia of another form of truth, of unsuspected paths, of another place of thought. |
7184483 | /m/025vgg5 | Tremor of Intent: An Eschatological Spy Novel | Anthony Burgess | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The amoral Agent Hillier of MI6 journeys to the city of Yarylyuk aboard the passenger ship Polyolbion, on a mission to infiltrate a convention of Soviet scientists and return to Britain his childhood friend Roper, who has defected to Russia. En route, he meets the sexually precocious sixteen-year-old Clara, the voluptuous femme fatale Miss Devi, and the shadowy tycoon Theodorescu. |
7184908 | /m/025vgwy | For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto | Murray Rothbard | null | {"/m/05r79": "Political philosophy"} | Chapter 1, "The Libertarian Heritage: The American Revolution and Classical Liberalism", mentions the then-recent successes in U.S. Libertarian electoral politics. Richard Randolph had been elected to the Alaska House of Representatives and the "Congressional Quarterly" listed the LP as the third-largest political party. It describes America as having been, above all countries, born in an explicitly libertarian revolution. It argues that libertarianism was crippled by utilitarianism, which was not radical or revolutionary enough because its desire for expediency was in contrast to radical abolitionism, which sought to eliminate wrong and injustice as rapidly as possible. The original chapter i, on "The New Libertarian Movement," being deemed irrelevant and outdated, was transformed into an appendix providing an annotated outline of the complex structure of the current movement. Chapter 2, "Property and Exchange", introduces the nonaggression axiom, property rights, free exchange and free contract, and the inextricable connections between property rights and other human rights. It argues that the whether or not immoral practices are supported by the majority of the population is not germane to their nature. It states that one of the libertarian's prime educational tasks is to spread the demystification and desanctification of the state. Chapter 3, "The State", defines the state as an aggressor and decries its efforts to cloak its criminal activity in high-sounding rhetoric. It dismisses constitutional restrictions as ineffective. It describes taxation as theft and government as a band of robbers. Chapter 4, "The Problems", identifies government as the red thread marking and uniting the major problems of the day. It cites the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, stagflation, and others 1970s-era issues in addition to such perennial bugaboos as high taxes and traffic congestion. It faults government for poorly managing that which is in the public domain. Chapter 5, "Involuntary Servitude", cites conscription, anti-strike laws, the tax system, the court system, and compulsory commitment as vectors of involuntary servitude. It notes that the court system forces people to give testimony and to serve on juries. It also decries the concept of contempt of court, which allows a judge to act as prosecutor, judge, and jury in accusing, convicting and sentencing the culprit. Chapter 6, "Personal Liberty", deals with freedom of speech, freedom of radio and television, pornography, sex laws, wiretapping, gambling, narcotics and other drugs, police corruption, and gun laws. Abortion is dealt with from an evictionist perspective, stating that no human has the right to exist, unbidden, as a parasite within another human being's body. Thus, the female has a right to cause the fetus to be ejected from her body if she wishes; which includes changing her mind if she had earlier decided she wanted to have a child. Chapter 7, "Education", voices opposition to government involvement in education. He notes that the very nature of the public school requires the imposition of uniformity and the stamping out of diversity. Social conflict is unnecessarily generated by the school system having to choose between traditional or progressive, segregated or integrated, rather than letting each school and each customer choose individually what is best for them. Chapter 8, "Welfare and the Welfare State", argues that welfare should be completely privately provided. It cites welfare checks as promoting present-mindedness, unwillingness to work, and irresponsibility. Thus, ultimately welfare actually hurts the poor. Chapter 9, "Inflation and the Business Cycle: The Collapse of the Keynesian Paradigm", argues that government has found ways of inflating money that are more subtle than simply printing more bills. The Federal Reserve determines the total amount of reserves. It lends money out at an artificially cheap rate (the rediscount rate) and conducts open market purchases. Chapter 10, "The Public Sector, I: Government in Business", notes that people tend to fall into habits and unquestioned ruts, especially in the field of government. Thus, they blindly assume that government must provide certain services or else they would not be provided. It argues that the question of how the poor will pay for defense, fire protection, and so on, is answered by the counter-question, how do the poor pay for "anything" they now obtain on the market? Chapter 11, "The Public Sector, II: Streets and Roads", notes that streets will be safer when they are privately owned, and the owners have the ability and incentive to get rid of crime. It states that people would ensure their own ability to enter and exit their land by obtaining easements giving them the right to access rights-of-way through neighboring property. It cites the railroad police as an example of a successful private police force. Chapter 12, "The Public Sector, III: Police, Law, and the Courts", states that police protection is not a single, absolute entity but a product that can exist in degrees. For instance, the police can provide personal bodyguards, detectives, uniformed officers, patrols, cars, etc. The chapter argues that allocation of these funds will be made in response to market signals if the police services are privatized, promoting better use of resources. Chapter 13, "Conservation, Ecology, and Growth", states that property rights are the solution to pollution. It argues that the emanation of noise, polluted air, and so on, onto others' property should be considered an aggressive act for which one may be held civilly liable. It holds that the current pollution problem is caused by government deciding that some pollution is needed for the common good. Chapter 14, "War and Foreign Policy", notes two basic problems with war. First, innocent civilians are killed who had nothing to do with the offense caused by their government. Second, war is financed by coercive taxes. Thus, libertarians oppose war. It also notes that collective security has the potential to draw otherwise uninterested parties into what could have limited to a local skirmish. It calls for the U.S. to dismantle its bases, withdraw its troops, stop its political meddling, and abolish the Central Intelligence Agency. Chapter 15, "A Strategy for Liberty", discusses the possible avenues for reform. It argues that libertarians should advocate radical change and hold to the ultimate ideal of abolition of all invasions of liberty. It also notes that the state will not be converted out of power; means will need to be found to remove the State from power. Libertarians will need to find ways of applying pressure. This could include massive failure to cooperate with the state. |
7185757 | /m/025vhl8 | Baby With the Bathwater | Christopher Durang | null | null | Two parents who are completely unprepared for parenthood bring home their newborn baby. The two cannot seem to name the baby. John thinks the baby is a boy, but Helen says the doctors said they could decide later. When the baby cries, the two cannot quite decide what to do. To their rescue comes Nanny – who enters their apartment as if by magic, and is full of abrupt shifts of mood, first cooing at the baby soothingly, then screaming at it. In subsequent scenes, John and Nanny have an affair, Helen takes baby and leaves, only to come back a moment later rain-soaked and unhappy. By the time the baby is a toddler, Daisy has finally been named. At this age Daisy has a penchant for running in front of buses and for lying, depressed, in piles of laundry. The audience hears an alarming essay Daisy has written in school, and the principal, the terrifying Miss Willoughby, is oblivious to the essay’s cry for help, and instead gleefully awards it an "A" for style. Years later, Daisy enters dressed as a girl, but obviously a young man. The audience follows his years of therapy, where he alternates between feelings of depression and anger, and is unable to complete his freshman essay on Gulliver’s Travels despite having been in college for five years. In a scene reminiscent of the beginning of the play, Daisy (who has since chosen a new name) and his young bride fondly regard their own baby, determined not to repeat their parents' calamitous mistakes. |
7186250 | /m/025vhxn | Love Medicine | Louise Erdrich | 1984 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Chapter 1 opens in 1981 with June Morrissey in Williston, North Dakota, an oil boom town, after she has left Gordie Kashpaw and her son yet again. She dies trying to walk home in a snow storm. Part two of chapter one is in the first person voice of Albertine Johnson, June's niece, who receives a letter from her mother informing her that her Aunt June is dead and buried. Her mother did not invite her to the funeral, and as a result, Albertine refuses to speak to her. Two months after receiving the letter, Albertine goes home to the reservation. Albertine tells stories about June: her mother dying, father running away, marrying her cousin, leaving Gordie and King Kashpaw, returning only to leave again. During Albertine’s visit to the main house (where all Kashpaws were welcome), the entire family gathers. This opening chapter sets the tone for the subsequent altering of perspectives and going back through history. In Chapters 2, 3, and 4 we become acquainted with Marie, Nector, and Lulu (the love triangle the novel is centered on) as young adults in and around the year 1934. We learn that Marie once wanted to be a nun and never really liked the Lazarre side of her family. Nector was always in love with Lulu but married Marie for reasons unbeknownst to him. We learn that Lulu always assumed she and Nector would be married, but when she found out about Marie, she went to Moses Pillager (Lulu’s cousin and well-known medicine man) but left him, taking her first child (Gerry Nanapush) back home when Moses refused to move out from the wilderness. In Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 Erdrich explores the complexities of parenthood and infidelity for Marie, Nector and Lulu. We are acquainted with Lulu's 9 children and Marie's 7 children. Chapter 5 occurs in 1948; chapters 6, 7, and 8 occur in 1957. Chapter five deals with June being adopted by Marie, and later raised by Eli. Part two of chapter 5 is about the controlling power and rage of Marie’s mother-in-law, Rushes Bear. Marie gradually warms up to Rushes Bear. In chapter 6 we learn about the death of Lulu’s first (legal) husband, Henry Lamartine and Lulu’s affair with his brother, Beverly Lamartine, during Henry’s funeral. Years later, Beverly decides to go home to the reservation and claim his son, Henry Jr. Instead, Beverly is seduced by Lulu, forgets about claiming his son, and returns to the city. Chapter 7 is the turning point in the novel, because this is where the love triangle (Marie, Lulu and Nector) gets demolished. Nector and Lulu begin an affair that will last five years and produce a son, Lyman Lamartine. Then, Nector decides to leave Marie and marry Lulu. He leaves a note for Marie (which she later ignores completely), and takes a letter to Lulu. But while Nector waits for Lulu he accidentally burns down her home. When Lulu runs in to save her son, she burns all her hair off and it never grows back. Chapters 9 and 10 focus on the brothers Henry Lamartine Jr. and Lyman Lamartine in 1973 and 1974. Chapter 9 recounts Albertine Johnson running away from home as a 15-year-old. She meets Henry Lamartine Jr., and loses her virginity to him. Chapter 10 is about Henry Jr. and Lyman and the car they bought together. Lyman recounts the many road trips before Henry Jr. went off to war, before he returned a very changed man. Their first road trip afterward turns out to be tragic: Henry Jr. jumps into the river, toward his death, and try as he might, Lyman could neither find nor save him. Chapters 11 through 18 occur between the years 1980 and 1985, when Nector enters his “second childhood” and Marie and Lulu become friends in the retirement community. Chapter 11 shows Albertine working with Gerry Nanapush’s girlfriend at a weigh station. We learn that Gerry Nanapush is a prisoner and frequent escapee. Chapter 12 focuses on Gordie’s alcoholism following June’s death. He has nearly drunk himself to death when one night he thinks he sees June’s ghost. He goes to the car not thinking about how drunk he is and subsequently runs into a deer. He decides to put the deer in the backseat but forgets this and hallucinates that he has in fact killed June. He panics and goes to the convent where he drunkenly confesses to a nun. The police are called and Gordie runs away. Chapter 13, entitled “Love Medicine (1982)” is central to the book. We learn that the entire family of Kashpaws/Pillagers/Nanapushes had/have special gifts of healing and insight. Lipsha Morrissey says, “I got the touch.” As we learn from Lyman later in the novel, the Pillagers were members of the Midewiwin (medicine men and women who were blessed by the Higher Power to help others. Nector has entered his “second childhood” and is unbearable for Marie because all he refers to is Lulu who is living in the retirement community with Marie and Nector. Lipsha is relatively young, 18 or 19 years old when his adopted grandmother, Marie, asks him to work love medicine on Nector. Love medicine, as Lipsha explains it, should always be used with extreme caution. Lipsha and Marie plot how to get Nector to eat a male goose heart while Marie eats a female goose heart. Lipsha chooses geese because they mate for life, and Marie wants him to be faithful. Nector refuses it and taunts Marie by putting the heart in his mouth but not swallowing. Marie is furious and smacks Nector on the back to make him swallow, but instead Nector chokes to death. Naturally, Lipsha and Marie are grieved, but by the end of the chapter Marie says, “Lipsha… you was always my favorite.” Chapter 14 shows of Marie nursing Gordie through his sickness (alcoholism). Chapter 15 is Lulu’s 1st person perspective. Lulu tells the story of her house burning down, and subsequently, the ending of her affair with Nector. The day Nector dies, Lulu is in recovery from surgery (possibly the removal of cataracts). Because the facility is short on aides, Marie offers to take care of Lulu. This begins an unexpected and often difficult friendship between the two matriarchs of the extended family. Chapter 16 (moved to the P.S. section in the 2009 edition) is told from Lyman’s 1st person perspective. He is crushed by Henry Jr.’s death and takes a year to mourn him. Eventually, Lyman ends up in Indian politics and policy. Ironically, he is re-assigned by the BIA to set up the factory his father (Nector Kashpaw) had begun years earlier. After a workers riot, Lyman closes the factory and, by chapter 17 (entire chapter deleted from the 2009 edition), has a grand idea for the building: bingo, and later, a sex house. He has made up his mind. In chapter 18, Lipsha is back at the retirement community when Lulu demands that he speak with her. She tells him about his parentage (which everyone on the reservation knows except Lipsha). She tells him because she has little to lose: “I either gain a grandson or lose a young man who didn’t like me in the first place.” Lipsha goes to visit King (his half-brother) to learn more about his Gerry, who does escape prison that very night and meets Lipsha: “So many things in the world have happened before. But it’s like they never did. Every new thing that happens to a person, it’s a first. To be a son to a father was like that. In that night I felt expansion, as if the world was branching out in shoots and growing faster than the eye could see.” Lipsha drives Gerry to Canada. |
7187222 | /m/025vjj9 | How Much for Just the Planet? | John M. Ford | 1987-10 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | In the novel, large deposits of dilithium are detected on a colony planet, and delegations are sent by the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire to negotiate for mining rights (neither able to openly fight against the other because of the "Organian Lightbulbs", a reference to the Organians from the original series). They find the planet Direidi and its inhabitants to be very strange indeed. Planet inhabitants occasionally break into song to explain their narratives, and both crews (as well as the three person crew of the Federation prospector that found the planet in the first place) get into various adventures with the planet's inhabitants. In the end, it turns out that the inhabitants have set everything up according to "Plan C" - Comedy. All of the adventures the two crews encountered were designed to soften them up so that they wouldn't mine the whole planet, but would be willing to work with the inhabitants and each other. |
7187288 | /m/025vjkb | Sender Unknown | null | 2002-10 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Mark, a young man, has just moved into a grand new house in a new neighborhood so that he can hold a company party at his house. He doesn't like his new house and would prefer living in his small cottage on the outskirts of town, but has no choice. While moving in, Mark discovers that hard copies of magazines are delivered to his house every day except Sunday. Perhaps what is the most curious of the magazines is that they are filled with things that most people wouldn't buy: Toys. For a while, Mark simply ignores the magazines, keeping piles of them in his house. Finally, he decides to order something from them, just to see what happens. He orders ten action figures to give to the children of employees at Cannady and Company In the meantime, Mark is getting ready for a company party that is to be held at his house. His assistant Elliot follows him around trying to convince him that his boss, Mr. Cannady won't be pleased if the company party is held in a house with no furniture. Mark's constant teasing of Elliot during their preparation for the party about how he is never relaxed is one of the book's many sources of humor. One day when Mark gets home from work, he discovers four huge crates on his front porch. He has no idea where they could have possibly come from, after all, he has only ordered small action figures so far. He opens the crates and discovers the first four children, along with a note saying that three more toys are on their way, one is backordered, and one is recuperating. Desperately, Mark tried to find a way to return the children, but his efforts are futile. Unable to figure out what to do with the children, Mark goes to his sister Kate to ask her for advice. Of course he can't tell her that he ordered the children from a catalog, so he tells her that he is foster parenting them. She is flabbergasted at the idea that Mark would take in children when he is so busy with his new job, but agrees to watch them for a while. Unfortunately for Mark, a while turns out to be only one night. Luckily, he is able to find a new babysitter for the kids: Lady A (Lady Anderson), who owns a quirky store Mark orders from often. Lady A also believes that Mark is the children's foster parent. Lady A also brings a problem for Mark though: she reminds him that the children need to be enrolled in school. For the time being, Mark decides to keep the kids, but he doesn't know exactly what he is going to do yet. One day, when riding in a taxicab to the book store, Mark meets an ex-cop named Pete. Pete and Mark talk for a while, and Mark learns that Pete knows someone who worked in DNA registration. Mark has a revelation and realizes that Pete could hold all of the answers to the questions he has. Mark offers Pete a job: to help him register the children's DNA and get them official identification until he can figure out how to return the children. He also asks Pete to help him track the magazines. Pete accepts. Mark is feeling great right until he gets home that day and sees two more huge boxes on the front porch, and finds two more children. The next day, Pete arrives at Mark's house to collect DNA from the (now seven) children. Pete tells Mark that because he had to quit his job as taxi driver, he and his granddaughter need a place to stay while he works on the project. Mark warmly welcomes Pete into his house. Pete has the DNA checks done, and discovers that all of the children's DNA is synthetic. He then tells Mark about the website where ID records are stored, and that Mark has to figure out a way into the records. It takes Mark about 20 minutes to hack into the records. Once he is done, Pete calls a friend who knows how to access the proper virtual-forms that are required for registering DNA. When Pete's associate has pulled up the necessary forms for Mark, he fills them in and submits them. Much to Mark's dismay, Pete has had no luck tracking down the company that is sending the magazines. When things start to look a little more promising for Mark, he receives a large crate in the mail, with BACK ORDERED stamped across the front. Out of this crate comes yet another child. A few days later, Mark is at a party with Lady A when the last box comes in the mail. Inside this box is Castor, the cyborg. When Mark sees that Castor cannot be in any way from this planet, he begins to think about genetic engineering as a possibility for the appearance of all the children. He uses company funds to pay for viewing rights of secure documents regarding genetic engineering that have absolutely no relation to his current project at work, and discovers that genetic engineering is not only common, but the fine for it is measly, and not likely to stop anybody from doing any of their experiments. The night of the party at Mark's house finally arrives. It is the time for all of Elliot's nagging to pay off. Other than the caterers leaving in the middle of the party because of an impending snow storm, all goes well. Mr. Cannady and the rest of the guests really enjoy the party. Then the snowstorm hits, causing the power to go out, and everyone's cars get snowed in. Luckily, Mark is able to entertain most of the guests. When most people can't stand to wait at the house any longer, the children show their true abilities. Sam flies to peoples' houses to check on their children, Rollo magically fixes the furnace, and Castor starts heating up (and starting) peoples' cars. But the one act that transforms most of the people in the party from non-believers in fairy tales to believers is when Mark is hit by a falling tree, and Sam lifts the entire tree off of him. Although normally most people would consider this a trick of the eyes, those at the party have seen so much that they cannot possibly deny that something unnatural is going on, despite what society may tell them. Mark realizes that he has brought belief in fairy tales back to people in the world who had only believed in logic before. He felt so connected to the children that he finally decided for sure that he was going to keep the children just as they were. If possible, he might even try to find more people with catalog children like him, and share his information. Finally, as Mark was going through a box owned by his father in his attic, he discovered a little tag. On the tag, it said "Unknown experiment." In his father's handwriting is "My son". Mark throws away the tag and it is hinted as he was going to ask Lady A to marry him. |
7188342 | /m/025vkdk | The Rise of David Levinsky | Abraham Cahan | null | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The book is told in the form of a fictional autobiography. The main character, David Levinsky, is born in 1865 in Antomir, a city of 80,000 in the Kovno district part of northwestern Russia. His father dies when he is three, leaving him and his mother to fend for themselves. He grows up in abject poverty, he and his mother sharing a single basement room with three other families. His mother scrounges together money (largely from wealthier relatives) to send him to a private cheder for elementary instruction in Judaism and the Torah, because the public cheder are known for the inferiority of their education. When payments are late, the headmaster threatens to throw David out of school; his mother convinces the headmaster to let him stay, promising to pay every penny. Owing to his poverty, he suffers frequent abuse at the hands of the teachers, who cannot take their aggression out on the richer students. From all of this abuse, he becomes one of the tougher kids. But also he excels academically. Furthermore, he receives the respect of the other students after beating up richer kids. At the age of 13, David finishes his cheder education and begins Talmudic studies in a yeshivah. He meets and befriends Reb (Rabbi) Sender who has been supported by his wife while he spent sixteen hours daily studying the Talmud. Reb Sender is one of the most "nimble-minded" scholars in the town, and well liked by nearly all of the congregation. He also befriends Naphtali, another student two years ahead of him. David and Naphtali often study together at nightly vigils until morning worshippers come. During this book, David begins to feel an inner conflict between the religious instruction he receives and his growing interest in girls. He is often tempted by the sight of girls entering the synagogue. He also thinks of his childhood dislike for Red Esther, the daughter of one of the other families in his basement home. Meanwhile, a Pole moves to Antomir and becomes a regular reader at the synagogue. The Pole has memorized 500 pages of the Talmud and recites by memory, provoking David's jealousy. He begins memorizing sections of the Talmud, but Reb Sender finds out and questions his motivation. This leads to a physical confrontation between David and the Pole. David is harassed in in the Horse-market during Passover by a group of gentiles celebrating Easter. One gentile even punches him. His mother sees his split lip and goes out to set straight the gentile who hit him against the urging of the co-habitants of their residence. She is beaten to death and dies that night. David is in a state of shock as he receives the sympathy of others while in mourning. He moves into the synagogue, as was often customary for poorer Talmudic students, and continues his studies. As was also customary for poor talmudic students, he "eats days" at the houses of benefactors, who invite Talmudic scholars for one meal per week. By and large, however, he goes hungry, until Shiphrah Minsker—a rich Jewish woman—hears of his plight and begins looking after him with clothing and money. Finally well-fed, he reapplies himself to his studies. He has, however, lost interest in the Talmud, and contends that "[its] spell was broken irretrievably." The situation of Jews in Russia began to deteriorate after the assassination of Czar Alexander II in 1881 and anti-Jewish riots "were encouraged, even arranged, by the authorities". Many Jews participated in the "great New Exodus", and David Levinsky's thoughts also turn to emigration and seeking his fortune in America. All of David's thoughts and attention have been turned away from his Talmudic studies towards America. He falls ill and is visited by Shiphrah every day in the hospital. After he is discharged, he is taken into her home while her husband is out of town on business long-term. He is introduced as the son of the woman killed on the Horse-market. In her house, he meets her daughter, Matilda, who has studied at a boarding school in Germany as well at secular Russian schools. She watches him eat breakfast and then taunts him in Yiddish while conversing with her friends in Russian, a language David does not understand. She talks with him and urges him to get an education at a Russian university, but he insists on going to America to work until he can save up adequate funds to finance his studies. Matilda is convinced and offers to finance his journey on the condition he does not tell Shiphrah. He realizes he is "deeply in love" with her. She frequently teases him, and when she says he knows nothing of love, she goads him on into kissing her, and he declares his love for her. They kiss several times on several more occasions, and she floats the idea of him studying at a Russian university, which he sees as a confirmation of her love. When word arrives that Matilda's father is returning from his business trip, David returns to the synagogue. He is torn up inside with his feelings for Matilda, and she stops by to give him the 80 rubles the trip would cost. David says he cannot leave, as he would not be able to live without her. She tells him he is crazy, gives him the money, wishes him luck, and leaves. On the eve of the 1 year anniversary of his mother's death, he goes to the train station, and is seen off by his friends from the synagogue and Shiphrah, who gives him money and food for his journey. The year is 1885. David boards a steamer from Bremen to New York and spends most of the journey praying, reading Psalm 104, and thinking about Matilda. He meets a fellow passenger, Gitelson, and wanders through the city. A man recognizes Gitelson to be a tailor and offers him work. David wanders about and is repeatedly called a greenhorn by passers by. He eventually finds his way to a synagogue and asks to sleep there for the night, but is told repeatedly that "America is not Russia." There he meets Mr. Even, a wealthy Jewish man, who recognizes David as a greenhorn. David tells him the story of his mother's death, and Mr. Even gives him money, clothing, dinner, and a haircut—including the removal of his sidelocks. Mr. Even also arranges for lodging for David. Before bidding him farewell, he asks David not to neglect his religion and his Talmud. David spends the money he got from Mr. Even on dry goods and begins peddling, but only manages to pay rent and food, and makes no headway. He changes to selling linens, but his heart isn't really in it. He is terribly homesick and discouraged by his peddling business. He spends many of his free evenings reading at the synagogue, but still gradually sheds his Russian-Jewish traits. His overall impression is that America is an impious land. The book begins with David's reflections on the other peddlers he interacts with while peddling, and the coarse and exaggerated stories they tell. One in particular, Max Margolis, takes David aside and tells him he is a "good-looking chap", and recommends he learn to dance. Max is older than David and frequently gives David his wisdom about women, such as that "every woman can be won, absolutely every one, provided a fellow knows how to go about it." Fascinated by this advice, he tries to make advances on his landlady, Mrs. Levinsky (no relation), even though he actually loathes her. She remarks that he is no longer a greenhorn, rejecting his advances. David ponders the distinction between love and lust. He tries the same advances on Mrs. Dienstog, his former landlady, and she kisses him once, and then rejects further advances, which David interprets to be "a mere matter of practical common sense". His work is only an obligation which he doesn't like, and he is constantly distracted. He even starts frequenting prostitutes, like the one known as Argentine Rachael, who also is from Antomir. The "fallen women" disgust him, but he still visits them, even though he cannot afford it and he is disgusted with himself afterwards. He enrolls in night school and makes efforts to Americanize himself. He learns English and is especially fond of grammar. David at first dislikes his teacher, Mr. Bender, but still tries to copy his mannerisms, and slowly grows to like him. They have long talks and David learns a lot about America and its history and politics, and begins to read the bible in English. At the end of evening school, Mr. Bender gives David a copy of Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens. He neglects his work peddling and spends his time reading the book. After a few short stints at various jobs which he quits or is fired from, he's unemployed and destitute. He is however impressed by his own progress learning English language and by the English literature which he regards with awe. He spends a lot of time in a music shop listening to the patrons and musicians who gather there, and he borrows a lot of nickels, dimes, and quarters, which he is entirely unable to pay back. ===Book VIII: The Destruction of My Templ ook IX: Dor ook X: On the Roa ook XI: Matrimon ook XII: Miss Tevki ook XIII: At Her Father's Hous ook XIV: Episodes of a Lonely Life=== |
7192248 | /m/025vp7c | Journey to the River Sea | Eva Ibbotson | 2001 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel"} | Maia is an orphan living in the Mayfair Academy for Young Ladies in England. However, word comes from Mr. Murray, a lawyer and her money management guy, that he had found her relatives that were willing to take her in, called the Carters. Along with a governess, Miss Minton, Maia goes by sea to Manaus, Brazil. On the ship, she meets a boy named Clovis King, who is traveling with his adoptive parents. He wishes to go back to England, to his foster mother, but the Goodleys (the acting troop) won't let him. Maia promises that she will go and see his play once in Brazil. The Carters aren't as kind as she had hoped for. Beatrice and Gwendolyn, the twins, seem to be strictly British and not the least bit active. So when time comes to see Clovis's play in the town, the twins lie and say that all the tickets had sold out and they had not bought one for her. But Maia wants to see Clovis, and she secretly slips out of the Carters house and tries to get to Manaus. When she gets lost an Indian boy takes her to the theatre on his boat. When Maia finally gets to watch(Little Lord Fauntleroy) Clovis is acting very well, but in the most important part, his voice cracks and the play is ruined.Later, Maia meets a half-native, half-British boy called Finn Taverner and finds out that he was the boy who gave her a ride to Clovis's act. Men, who Maia nicknames "the crows", are chasing him because his grandfather had wanted to be the heir of Westwood, the estate of the wealthy Taverner family. Finn doesn't want to go, because he is wants to travel up the Amazon to where an Indian tribe(his mother's tribe)called the Xanti live. Afterward, Clovis meets Finn to and Finn suggests that they swap positions because Clovis wants to go back to England and Finn wants to stay in Brazil. Clovis will pretend to be Finn Taverner and become the heir to Westwood, while Finn will explore the "River Sea", which the name given to the Amazon River by locals. The swapping is successful, and for a while, everything seems to be going fairly well. But then one day, Miss Minton disappears. She has plans to rescue Maia from the Carters by taking the place of Mademoiselle Lille, the governess to a Russian family, the Keminskys, Maia's friends Sergei and Olga and their parents, the Count and Countess Keminsky. While she is gone, the twins accidentally start a fire in the Carters's home. Mrs Carter tries to kill a bug but the sprayer lid came off, spilling onto the oil lamp, burning the twins' bedroom and finally the whole house. The Carters are sent to the hospital in the river ambulance, but Maia is left on her own. She is found by Finn and he takes her on his boat, the "Arabella", to embark on the adventure she had hoped for. Miss Minton and her friend, Professor Neville Glastonberry, chase after them by boat as well. They find the Xanti and for a short time, they live with them and are perfectly happy. Then a problem presents itself. Maia is singing for the Xanti, and the police from Manaus hear her voice and also find Miss Minton's corset, and, thinking they will rescue Miss Minton, Maia, and the curator of the Natural History museum, take them back to Manaus. Clovis confesses that he is not the heir and wishes to go home , but covers it up after Sir Aubrey has a heart attack. Finn goes to Westwood, his father's home.(to help clovis ) In the end , maia , miss minton and finn all return home ( manaus) and clovis "finn" became the hier. |
7193894 | /m/025vq_2 | Checkpoint: A Novel | Nicholson Baker | 2004 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The main characters are two men, Jay and Ben. The novel consists of their dialogues in a hotel room in Washington, D.C., in May 2004. The story begins with Jay asking Ben to go to his hotel room. From that conversation it is inferred that Jay is depressed: the women in his life have abandoned him; he has lost his job as a high school teach and now works as a day labourer; he has declared bankruptcy; and spends his days reading blogs. Jay explains to Ben that he has decided he must, "for the good of humankind", assassinate President George W. Bush, and then kill himself. Ben, who symbolises American modern liberalism, and spends his time trying to persuade Jay to cancel his "mission". The novel ends inconclusively, the reader left unaware of whether or not Jay is going to go through with his plan. |
7199235 | /m/025vww5 | Electric Brae | Andrew Greig | 1992 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Jimmy Renilson is an engineer aboard a North Sea oil rig, who divides his time between his affair with temperamental artist Kim Russell (born Ruslawska) and rock climbing. The narrative describes Jimmy's stormy relationship with Kim, and events affecting their circle of friends, especially Jimmy's climbing friend Graeme and his bisexual partner Lesley. Set in various parts of Scotland, especially Orkney, the book describes the two men's ambition to climb the Old Man of Hoy. The main story is framed in a memory game Jimmy is playing with Kim's daughter. The author has described the book as 'a modern romance without heather or hardmen'. It was shortlisted for the McVitie's Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year. |
7199332 | /m/025vwxk | Fledgling | Octavia E. Butler | 9/8/2005 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The novel tells the story of Shori, who appears to be a 10 or 11 year old African-American girl, but is actually a 53 year old member of a race called "Ina", or vampires. They are nocturnal, long-lived and derive sustenance from the drinking of human blood. They are physically superior to humans, both in strength and the ability to heal from injury, but the Ina's relationships with humans whose blood they drink are non-lethal and symbiotic. The story opens as Shori awakens with no knowledge of who or where she is, in the wilderness and suffering from critical injuries. Although she is burned and has major skull trauma, she kills and eats the first animal that approaches her. A construction worker named Wright picks her up on the side of the road, and they begin a vampire-human relationship. While staying at Wright's home, Shori feeds on other inhabitants of the town, and develops a relationship with an older woman named Theodora. Shori and Wright return to a burned-out, abandoned village near where she woke up to learn more about her past. They eventually meet Iosif, Shori’s father, who tells her the burned out town was once her home, where she lived with her sisters and mothers. They also learn that Wright and Shori’s mutually beneficial relationship makes Wright Shori’s symbiont. Furthermore, Shori’s dark skin is the result of genetic modification with which the Ina were experimenting to make their kind resistant to daylight. Later Iosif’s settlement is burned down like Shori’s home was. Shori and Wright meet the only two human symbionts who survived, Celia and Brook. Shori adopts Celia and Brook as her own symbionts, and the four flee to another house that Iosif is known to keep. When they are at this new house, they are attacked by several men with gasoline and guns, but they escape. The group travels to the Gordon family settlement, where they are welcomed and guarded by human symbionts during the day. These guards capture three new attackers alive. The Gordon family interrogates the intruders and finds that they were sent by the Silks, another Ina family. The Gordons suspect the attacks on Shori are motivated by disdain for the genetic experimentation that created Shori. The Gordon family calls a Council of Judgment on Shori’s behalf. Thirteen Ina families and their symbionts come to the Gordon settlement to discuss the Silks attack on Shori. While the Council is happening, Katherine Dahlman sends one of her symbionts to kill Theodora, Shori’s symbiont. So in addition to issuing a punishment the Silks, the Council must also punish Katherine Dahlman. The Silks have their sons taken from them, to be adopted by other Ina families. Thus the Silk line will die out. Katherine Dahlman is sentenced to have her leg amputated. However, she refuses this punishment and is consequently executed. As the book ends, Shori is invited to live with a group of female Ina, the Braithwaite family, to whom she is distantly related. |
7206031 | /m/025w29b | The Snow Goose: A Story of Dunkirk | null | null | null | The Snow Goose is a simple, short written parable on the regenerative power of friendship and love, set against a backdrop of the horror of war. It documents the growth of a friendship between Philip Rhayader, an artist living a solitary life in an abandoned lighthouse in the marshlands of wartime Essex because of his disabilities, and a young local girl, Fritha. The Snow Goose, symbolic of both Rhayader (Gallico) and the world itself, wounded by gunshot and many miles from home, is found by Fritha and, as the human friendship blossoms, the bird is nursed back to flight, and revisits the lighthouse in its migration for several years, as Fritha grows up. Rhayader and his small sailboat eventually are lost in the British retreat from Dunkirk, having saved several hundred men. The bird, which was with Rhayader, returns briefly to the grown Fritha on the marshes. She interprets this as Rhayader's soul taking farewell of her (and realizes she had come to love him). Afterwards, a German pilot destroys Rhayader's lighthouse and all of his work, except for one portrait Fritha saves after his death: a painting of her as Rhayader first saw her—a child, with the wounded snow goose in her arms. The book was a huge success in England where it remains popular with, and recommended for, readers of all ages. |
7207514 | /m/025w3vx | Mark Coffin U.S.S. | null | null | null | Young, idealistic Mark Coffin—he will not turn thirty until a week after the election—wins a surprise, upset victory, turning him from Stanford professor into the junior senator from California. Not only that, in the presidential election held at the same time, the presidential candidate of his party rides Mark's coattails to corral California's electoral votes and the White House. Mark is not totally a political neophyte. His father-in-law is Jim Elrod, the powerful senior senator from North Carolina. Mark's father owns one of the largest newspapers in the state. Mark goes to Washington amid the glare of the media spotlight. Some reporters consider him one of the most idealistic and finest senator to hit town in decades. One female reporter, though, is a sort of senatorial groupie--it is revealed that she has slept with earlier neophyte senators, and Mark is her latest target. Mark's hopes of sitting on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are damaged when he takes strong positions on two hot button issues—his father-in-law's bill to add an extra ten billion dollars to the defense appropriation, to be used to try to catch up with the Soviets; and the nomination of Charlie Macklin, the tough D.A. of Los Angeles County to be Attorney General. Mark leads other junior senators in bucking the Washington establishment on these two issues. The "Young Turks" include Rick Duclos of Vermont, who has an eye for the ladies and a teenage son, and Bob Templeton of Colorado, who recently lost his family in a plane accident. When Mark will not soften his opposition, he is deprived of the committee assignment, which is given to Duclos instead. Three other main characters include reporters Bill Adams, Chuck Dangerfield, and Lisette Greyson. They all take an interest in Mark's career from the start and seem to develop a case of "true believerism" (i.e. thinking Mark is a breath of fresh air and will do great things for the world). Lisette Greyson also takes a different kind of interest in Mark. She makes it clear almost from the start that she wants a relationship with Mark despite the fact that he is married. It is made clear throughout the novel that she has tried the same thing with other senators. Lisette and Mark run into each other on Inauguration night. Mark, drunk and depressed because of being kept off the Foreign Relations Committee, ends up sleeping with Lisette. Chuck Dangerfield knows of the affair and is determined to help mark in any way that he can to keep the story quiet. Inevitably, the story comes out, and Mark is damaged. His marriage is threatened, but survives, as his wife, knowing what is expected of political wives, backs him up publicly while slowly reconciling privately. Macklin tries to make political capital of the scandal, but overplays his hand, offending more senators than he persuades, and his nomination is narrowly defeated. Mark, however, loses on the appropriation issue, but his father in law is careful to allow him to save face. It is made clear that Mark enjoys a long political career. |
7209386 | /m/025w5wm | Until the Final Hour | Traudl Junge | null | {"/m/016chh": "Memoir"} | This memoir deals with the years (1942-1945) that Traudl Junge spent with Adolf Hitler as his personal secretary. When he first hired her, by chance as it turns out, she was 21 years old and was sought out because a secretary needed to be replaced. During Traudl Junge's time with Hitler, she claims that she was blind to the genocidal activities that were conducted around her because she was so spellbound by Hitler's paternal charisma. She also describes in great detail some of the luxuries that she and other secretaries took advantage of while working for Hitler. For instance, she was treated to tea-parties and dinner parties with Hitler, Eva Braun, the other secretaries (all women), and the military chiefs. Traudl Humps married Hans Hermann Junge, one of Hitler's military "orderlies". Although they were in love, they were hesitant to marry so soon because they had not known each other for very long. Hitler, however, goaded her into marrying Junge, which occurred in June 1943. As the years passed, Hitler's health deteriorated, Germany began losing the war, and Hans Junge was killed in combat at the front in August 1944. They traveled a great deal, going from the East Prussia Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair), to the Berghof, to Munich, to the Reichskanzlei (Reich Chancellery) and back, all by way of train. Once the Red Army began sweeping across eastern Europe after Stalingrad fell, the Wolfsschanze had to be abandoned. Hitler had two bunkers built around the Reich Chancellery to protect from the air raids. The author was in the Reich Chancellery, the Vorbunker and the Führerbunker with Hitler. Therein, they (along with Eva Braun and the others) awaited the eventual, inevitable fall of Berlin to the Soviet Army. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler provided everyone with cyanide capsules. Hitler stated outright he would stay in Berlin, head up the defence of the city and shoot himself before he would surrender to the Soviet Union. The mood in the bunker in the final days was one primarily of depression and hopelessness. Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda poisoned their six children with cyanide (to Junge's horror) and their bodies were found, in their beds in the Vorbunker (upper bunker), by the Russians a few days later. Goebbels and his wife either committed suicide or had the SS guards shoot them ("eyewitness" accounts differ on this point). Hitler was dubious that the cyanide capsules would be powerful enough to kill him, so before he attempted his suicide, he tested a capsule on his beloved dog Blondi. The capsule killed Blondi almost instantly. Hitler killed himself with a gunshot wound to the right temple, using his own Walther PPK semiautomatic pistol chambered for 7.65 mm/.32 ACP while simultaneously biting into a cyanide capsule. Eva Braun, his bride of less than 40 hours, used cyanide alone. Eventually, Junge and others still in the bunker were led out to try and break out of the Soviet encirclement. She and another secretary wanted to avoid the Russians, so they decided to flee. Junge was eventually captured by soldiers of the Soviet Army, but was held only briefly when she was in the custody of the Americans. Considered to be merely a "young follower" she was quickly released, and was never prosecuted for any crime. In 1989 her manuscript detailing the war years was first published in the book Voices from the Bunker by Pierre Galante and Eugene Silianoff (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons). |
7213629 | /m/025wb1p | Magic | William Goldman | 1976-08 | {"/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The novel concerns a man named Corky Withers, a shy, odd-tempered and alcoholic magician, whose lackluster performances start to turn around when he adds a ventriloquist's dummy, Fats, to the show. It chronicles Corky's childhood and adolescence, and his deep love for a high-school crush named Peggy Ann Snow. After seeing the increasingly disturbing connection to Fats, many people begin to worry about Corky. Although Corky thinks Fats is alive, and can not bear to be apart from Fats for a long period of time, his friends know that Fats is actually an outlet for a hidden homicidal trait in Corky's personality, and that he has multiple personality disorder. Soon, "Fats" begins to tell Corky to murder anyone that threatens their relationship. All these factors combine and quickly reach a shattering climax during a weekend at Peggy's home in the Catskills. The novel is written kaleidoscopically, changing time period, location, and point of view swiftly and leaving certain aspects of important events unknown for extended periods of time, especially concerning the identity of Fats the dummy for the early portion of the novel. |
7214036 | /m/025wbcb | Draconian Measures | Don Perrin | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The book begins with Kang and his force of draconians preparing to ambush an army of goblins which are trying to destroy Kang's force because they have females. After springing the ambush, they find out that the goblins were aware of the ambush, and turned the ambush around on the draconians. Hobgoblins quickly appear, and so Kang tells his main force to retreat, while signaling a support force to cover. Meanwhile, on a hill a short distance away, the guarded female draconians notice that Kang's force is retreating, and becoming suspicious, they question the male draconians that are guarding them; however, they only learn that "The...uh...commander does that sometimes. Marches...er...backward. Good for...discipline." Obviously realizing that they are being given an excuse, Fonrar sends in a sivak, Shanra, disguised as a male to discover the truth, since the female sivaks had an ability to blend in with their surroundings. Later, after Shanra returns, Fonrar and Thesik learn that the bozaks saw flashes of light in a nearby canyon. Knowing that the males wouldn't believe them, Fonrar and Thesik set out to learn more. After getting closer to the light, Fonrar accidentally trips, which causes the mysterious shapes that caused the light to question them. They are faced with answering, or getting attacked within five seconds, and so, Thesik and Fonrar jump onto a boulder to announce their presence. The moonlight shines off of Thesik's scales, revealing her as an aurak to the draconians that were the mysterious shapes. Back at the base, the hobgoblins attack, quickly overwhelming Kang's force. Kang and Slith prepare to make a bold stand when suddenly the hobgoblins retreat in a wild melee. Then, Kang hears giggles behind him, and turning around, sees Thesik, Fonrar, and the sivak sisters, Shanra and Hanra. The females announce that they brought reinforcements, salute (while giggling) him, and introduce Prokel, the subcommander of the Ninth Infantry. After introductions, Prokel leads Kang and his forces to a "fort", a ramshackle mess, evidenced by the collapsing guard towers. They meet the commander of the fort, General Maranta. Slith recalls a situation during the war against the elves when Slith kills a "pointy-eared female", then "does a dance" as the pointy-ear for the benefit of the troops. Maranta was surveying the camp at that time, and orders the pointy-eared female to be put under arrest. After learning it was Slith, he was given latrine duty for a month. Thankfully, Maranta doesn't remember any of that. Maranta calls of the commanders into the Bastion, a gigantic extremely well fortified building at the heart of the fort, and then introduces Kang to the rest of the commanders. Noticing that Kang had an aurak in his forces, he asks why Kang is in command. Kang then reveals the females, creating an enemy out of Maranta because Kang received the "glory" from Takhisis. Life in the fort continues, until Maranta discovers that the goblin horde didn't give up, and are gathering outside the fort to prepare for a siege. Obviously, this strains the relationship between Kang and Maranta. The females are forced to spend their lives within a wooden house, supposedly to protect them from other draconians, and so, begin to get bored. They decide to begin drills to prepare themselves to fight, and so the females ambush a draconian to get a requisition allowing them to get twenty swords from the quartermaster. At this time, Maranta decides to examine the females, and so when Cresel announces to the females that a visitor is coming, the females place a "water barrel drop", intending that it drops on Gloth's head. Unfortunately, when Maranta enters, the water barrel falls on him instead. Kang is sent to a nearby fort of Knights of Takhisis to ask for help. He learns that the Knights of Takhisis are actually paying the goblins to kill the draconians with the help of an informer, a female knight that he had met before, Huzzad. Huzzad is discovered by the Knights, and so is forced to escape with Kang. They return to the fort, where Maranta wants to torture Huzzad. Kang refuses to give her over, causing Maranta to tell Kang that he can have her for personal uses. Huzzad becomes a friend to the females, and learns about their secret abilities, like Kapak spit, which is like a healing salve, unlike the male Kapaks' poisonous spit. She also manages to persuade Kang to allow the females to parade and march with the males, forcing Kang to rethink whether the females still need to be "babied" anymore. The siege continues, with the draconians unable to break out. Kang and his forces begins to build an explosive fake dragon that can fly to scare the goblins, but by then is not welcomed by Maranta anymore. About this time, Kang begins to notice that his draconians are disappearing. Events reach a climax when the goblins attack the fort, causing Kang to admit that the females should be treated just like the rest of the males, and so, with the females, and Huzzad, enters the Bastion to search for Slith, one of the missing draconians. He finds out that Maranta has the Heart of Dracart, a magical orb that duplicates draconians by splitting the draconian's soul into hundreds of parts, or hundred of "new" draconians. Discovering that Maranta intends to do this to Slith, he and the females manage to kill Maranta. They attempt to leave the Bastion, but Maranta's personal guards attempts to stop them, with a crossbowman managing to fatally wound Huzzad. The females then become berserker-like by the death of their friend and kill almost all of the guards. Then, after finally exiting the bastion, they find that the goblins have breached the fort. Kang gives the command to release the fake dragon, and Thesik casts an illusion on the dragon to look like a real gold dragon. The dragon flies over the wall, but Kang realizes that the fuse for the explosives have gone out. He crushes the Heart of Dracart in his hand, mangling his hand, but gaining enough magical power to cast a fireball, which causes the dragon to explode, destroying part of the goblin army and the hobgoblin general. After the siege, Kang and the females conduct a funeral for Huzzad, and with the other draconian troops, heads to Teyr to establish their own draconian city. Kang also retires from being the commander due to personal reasons, and the fact that he can't fight well with his mangled hand anymore. He becomes the Governor of Teyr. The author also hints that Kang has fallen in love with Fonrar. |
7214247 | /m/025wbm7 | The Machine's Child | Kage Baker | 2006-09 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | At the end of The Life of the World to Come, Alec Checkerfield, aboard his schooner the Captain Morgan, crewed and piloted by the eponymous AI he created from a teaching computer given to him as a child, had escaped from Dr. Zeus' installation on Santa Catalina Island with information stolen from the Company databases. Using this information the Captain turned the ship into a time machine, leaving the year 2351 to hide in history. Along the way Alec found and lost Mendoza, unwittingly downloaded his alter egos into his own brain, and equally unwittingly was party to one of the most infamous massacres in human history, the destruction of the colony Mars Two by terrorists. As a result Alec is racked with guilt, and thus weakened he falls prey to the other personalities, especially the former assassin Edward. In a bizarre joint effort they break in and steal from the Nuevo Inklings in 2351 more information in the form of a buke, a 24th century notebook computer. Thus fortified they disappear into time to plot the rescue of Mendoza. The Captain begins talking to the personalities individually as he creates the plan. Mendoza is in "Options Research", 300,000 years in the past. This is a facility dedicated to finding ways to kill cyborgs, using Preservers who have lost their will to live as guinea pigs. Only one Company operative is there, but it is Marco, the only Enforcer other than Budu to remain free once the Enforcers original mission was completed. Instead of being placed in suspended animation like the other Enforcers, he was sent to run Options Research where he systematically disassembles cyborgs and subjects them to horrendous treatments in an attempt to destroy them. Alec and the Captain arrive from the future, with Edward in control of their body to carry out the mission. This is fortunate, as the horrors created by Marco sicken Nicholas and Alec. They find Mendoza, who has been lying in a steel coffin for 900 years, disabling Marco in the process. The Captain has duplicated the virus that brought down Budu, although Edward is only able to inject it by sheer luck. Mendoza is in dreadful condition; her coffin is only 1 meter long. In the year 2317, Joseph is still waiting for Budu to finish regenerating after rescuing him in 2276. He lives in a corner of the revival facility under Mount Tamalpais, near San Francisco, stealing food, clothing and other equipment as he needs them. Lately he has been playing the role of visiting handyman and lover to Mavis, the landlady of the nearby Pelican Inn. Budu finally awakes, despite being blind and unable to communicate. Joseph steals a vocoder and hooks it into Budu's systems so he can hear and talk. Budu tells his story about what happened to him after he escaped from Company custody in 1099. Becoming a rogue like Joseph, he roamed Europe until the Black Death gave him the idea of using disease to cull humanity of its violent members. Contacting his various recruits, like Labienus, he formed the Plague Cabal, which began creating diseases designed to kill target populations quickly and then die out before spreading to the rest of humanity. Labienus, however, had visions of reducing human population on a global scale, committing genocide, and caused Budu's downfall at the hands of Victor, who had unwittingly been made into a carrier of targeted viruses. Joseph finds a time-travel capsule that Budu had hidden on Morro Rock and goes to Options Research in search of Mendoza. He arrives well after Alec has left, and is attacked by Marco even as he lies ill with the virus. After Marco calms down, he tells Joseph what happened, before wading into the sea, presumably to hide himself from the Company, who he now believes is after him. Joseph, horrified by what he sees and failing to find Mendoza, returns to the 24th century and contacts Suleyman, who mounts a mission to rescue the cyborgs held at Options Research and expose it to all the other active Company operatives still alive. With knowledge supplied by Budu, Joseph begins to ransack Company databases for information about Mendoza, his friend Lewis, and the Adonai project which created Alec, Edward and Nicholas. Over the last few decades he had lost some of his grip on reality and thus became obsessed with destroying Adonai. Knowing that Alec is born in 2320, he brings Alec's "parents", the Earl and Countess of Finsbury, to the Pelican so he can prevent Alec's conception. To his dismay he finds that they had long ago decided not to have children and Roger had been medically sterilized. In reality, Alec was born to a host mother and given to the Checkerfields by the Company. Alec and his phantom companions are finally able to hold their beloved once the Captain, using his own version of the Company revival tank, rebuilds her. She has lost most of her memories, though there are indications the Captain may have blocked them to protect her sanity. One side effect is that the Company conditioning which suppressed her paranormal abilities has been removed, and she constantly creates temporal anomalies around her when her emotions are aroused. The typical result is that plants seem to grow with incredible speed. The ship is soon a floating greenhouse. The Captain meanwhile has been digesting the Company data. He can make Alec immortal like Mendoza, who thinks he is already immortal like her. He can create devices using nanotechnology that the Company, slow and bureaucratic, had never thought to build. Alec and Mendoza proceed to drop small time-bombs in the form of collections of nanobots throughout history. Meanwhile a search for Alec's original genetic template, which the Captain needs for the immortality treatment, turns up the mortal remains of both Edward and Nicholas, hidden in Company repositories; this is a shock for each of Alec's mental passengers. Eventually they locate Alpha-Omega, a secret facility where genetic templates for all operatives, and indeed every kind of human who has ever existed, are stored. Before doing this Alec insists on a vacation, and since he is obsessed with his romantic vision of pirates, he decides to go to Port Royal, Jamaica, in its heyday before being destroyed by an earthquake in 1692. Joseph and Budu have been studying Alec, and have realized that he is likely to visit Port Royal. Joseph sets himself up in the less rowdy inland community of Spanish Town, ready to wait years for their arrival, equipped with a device that can detect and jam the Captain's signals. Alec arrives with Mendoza, though he is quickly repelled by the place, and is only able to continue with help from Edward and Nicholas, who are not bothered by such horrors as abbatoirs, meat markets, pet animals, thugs and pirates. By way of celebrating their impending triumph over Dr. Zeus, Alec and Mendoza, helped considerably by Nicholas' passion and poetry, marry themselves and enjoy a belated honeymoon in a harbor inn. Joseph has had the misfortune to be away from his home when his alarm is activated, and when he returns the couple are gone. After an exhausting journey he finds the Captain Morgan at anchor and sneaks aboard, after disabling the Captain with a signal jammer. Confronting the man he thinks of as Alec Checkerfield, he is astonished to be attacked by the Nicholas personality. Knocking Alec out, he interrogates him when he revives, but finds himself dealing with Edward. At that point Mendoza erupts from the cabin of the ship, and the Captain defeats the jamming and activates the ship's defenses. Mendoza does not recognize Joseph, who realizes that whatever he thinks, Alec, Edward and Nicholas genuinely love her. He flees and returns to Budu. From Budu's point of view, Joseph has been gone a few days. From Joseph's viewpoint, it has been 20 years. Alec's injuries from the fight require even more recuperation. In a resort in 2276 they play a violent video game that is illegal in Alec's time. Edward beats the game, literally burning it out. As a result he becomes Alec's equal in cyberspace, though this is unknown to the others. Finally raiding Alpha-Omega, on an island in 500,000 BCE, they bypass the AI and the single human attendant it protects, and recover the Adonai genetic template. With the Captain distracted by the other AI, Edward takes over Alec and confines the other personalities to a virtual prison. His bravado is short-lived, however. Alec and Nicholas attempt to escape, distracting Edward when he is attacked by an ichthyosaur while wading into the sea. Gravely injured, he attempts to transfer his personality into Mendoza's systems, but the result leaves her catatonic. The Captain is left to pick up the pieces. The final scene is enigmatic, and a cliff hanger. Mendoza is "rebooted", but the Captain seems to have obtained human form. He implies that Alec and Nicholas are still trapped in Mendoza's mind and, strangely, calls her "mother". |
7215432 | /m/025wcv3 | Wolves Eat Dogs | Martin Cruz Smith | 2004 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Russia has changed from a Communist to capitalist state, and Ukraine has seceded from the former Soviet Union. When Pavel "Pasha" Ivanov, one of the leading members of Russia's new billionaire class, dies in an apparent suicide, Renko investigates. Pasha fell from the balcony of his penthouse apartment, and all the signs point to his having been alone at the time. The only anomaly is a large mound of table salt in the victim's wardrobe. Despite interference from his own boss as well as from other persons of power, Renko continues his investigation by questioning Pasha's friends and associates. There is apparently some kind of dark secret in Ivanov's past, and Pasha was always very depressed around May Day. Just before he is forcefully removed from the investigation, Arkady returns alone to Pasha's apartment and reconstructs his movements on the night he died. In the drawer of his bureau, Arkady finds a radiation dosimeter wrapped in a blood-stained handkerchief. Turning it on, he finds that the entire apartment is radioactive, the highest levels coming from the mound of salt. Arkady concludes that Ivanov did indeed commit suicide but that it was under a form of duress. A HazMat team re-examines the apartment and Pasha's body and finds that the salt was mixed with a small quantity of cesium chloride, identical in appearance to table salt. It so happens that Cesium-137 is an isotope that is lethally radioactive. After confirming that his apartment was filled with radiation, Ivanov swallowed a quantity of salt with bread before jumping in an apparently futile attempt to try and protect any acquaintances entering the apartment later. A week after Arkady's discovery Pasha's business partner, Timofeyev, is found brutally murdered near Pripyat, Ukraine, in the "dead zone" around the site of the Chernobyl disaster. Arkady's superior, exasperated at his insubordination, posts him to Ukraine to "investigate" this murder with neither assistance nor standard resources. He makes the acquaintance of the colorful local community: a team of radiobiologists, various foreign scientists, and a small group of peasant squatters who refuse to leave the area despite the official evacuation. Various odd events occur around the dead zone, including the murder of a local scavenger. Arkady also becomes the lover of Eva Kazka, a medical doctor assigned to the scientific community. Eva confides to him that she was rendered infertile and also suffered a long series of operable cancers as a result of exposure to radioactive fallout that blanketed Kiev while she was marching in a May Day parade after the meltdown. Eva's ex-husband, Alex Gerasimov, the leader of the radiobiology team, kidnaps Arkady and reveals himself to be the culprit, explaining his motives with relish: Ivanov and Timofeyev were the scientific colleagues, and favorite pupils, of Alex's father, Felix Gerasimov, the Soviet Union's leading authority on nuclear accidents. When the Central Committee telephoned Gerasimov to ask what to do about the meltdown, Gerasimov was too drunk to respond, so Ivanov and Timofeyev took the call, pretending to be relaying Gerasimov's instructions. Based on what the Committee told them, Ivanov and Timofeyev decided that it was unnecessary to either evacuate Chernobyl or to cancel the May Day celebrations in Kiev. In other words, Ivanov and Timofeyev were ambitious men who reacted to a crisis the way ambitious men do: by covering up for their boss, and by telling the men in charge what they want to hear -and by doing so, they allowed millions of civilians to be exposed. Gerasimov remained untouched by the scandal but later committed suicide. Alex felt the two co-conspirators ought to be held accountable to some degree. He planted tiny grains of cesium on their clothes and persons, tormenting them before administering fatal doses. He even offered to stop if Ivanov and Timofeyev would return to Chernobyl and admit their responsibility, but "they were too ashamed, even to save their own lives." After Ivanov's death, Timofeyev tried to save himself by returning to the scene of his crime, though Alex alleges he doesn't know who murdered him. Having killed his assistants in cold blood, Alex prepares to kill Arkady to cover his tracks when he is shot down by the vengeful sister of one of the assistants. Arkady reports back to Moscow that Pasha's case has been solved, though the murders of Timofeyev and Alex Gerasimov remain open. He is recalled to Moscow. Eva leaves with him, and the couple adopt an orphaned boy named Zhenya whom Arkady has been mentoring at a local shelter. A few months later, they make a one-day trip back to Chernobyl to visit some of their local friends, an elderly farmer couple who have lived in the same place all their lives, and whose grandchildren died from radiation poisoning. Seeing the husband slaughter a pig in almost exactly the same way as Timofeyev was killed, Arkady and Eva realize that it was Roman who killed Timofeyev, and why, but refrain from reporting it to the authorities. |
7216366 | /m/025wdhs | On the Razzle | Tom Stoppard | null | null | Stoppard's farce consists of two hours of slapstick shenanigans, mistaken identities, misdirected orders, malapropisms, double entendres, and romantic complications. Herr Zangler, the twisted-tongued proprietor of an upscale grocery store in a small Austrian village, plans to marry Mme. Knorr, the proprietor of a women's clothing shop in Vienna. In preparation for new life in the big city, he orders a new wardrobe and hires the fast-talking Melchior as a personal assistant. He arranges to send his niece Marie to his sister-in-law in Vienna, Miss Blumenblatt, to protect her from the penniless Sonders who is courting her. As he departs for Vienna, Zangler entrusts the operation of his business to his garrulous head clerk, Weinberl, and his naive apprentice, Christopher, who decide to go "on the razzle" to Vienna. Almost immediately, Weinberl and Christopher catch sight of Zangler and disguise themselves as mannequins in the window of Mme. Knorr's House of Fashion. Circumstances propel the two into a fancy restaurant in the company of Mme. Knorr and her customer, Frau Fischer (who has been roped into pretending she is Weinberl's new wife), the same restaurant to which Zangler intends to take Mme. Knorr. Several sprinting waiters, a sexually obsessed coachman and a carefully positioned Chinese screen come into play, and things finally seem to be settling down when the eloping Sonders and Marie enter the scene and the chaos starts anew. The various characters flee to Miss Blumenblatt's, who mistakes Weinberl and the disguised Christopher as Sonders and Marie. Eventually, all is sorted out, Christopher and Weinberl make it back to the store in time to prevent Zangler from ever knowing they were gone, and everything solves itself: Sonders comes into an inheritance and is allowed to marry Marie, Weinberl and Frau Fischer discover they have been romantic pen pals all along, Christopher is promoted, Zangler and Mme. Knorr finalize their engagement, and life returns to normal after one night "on the razzle." |
7216522 | /m/025wdkh | Uncle Silas | Sheridan Le Fanu | 1864 | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/039vk": "Gothic fiction", "/m/0d6gr": "Reference"} | The novel is a first person narrative told from the point of view of the teenaged Maud Ruthyn, an heiress living with her sombre, reclusive father Austyn Ruthyn in their mansion at Knowl. She gradually becomes aware of the existence of Silas Ruthyn, a black sheep uncle whom she has never met, who was once an infamous rake and gambler but is now apparently a fervently reformed Christian. Silas's past holds a dark mystery, which she gradually learns from her father and from her worldly, cheerful cousin Lady Monica: the suspicious suicide of a man to whom Silas owed an enormous gambling debt, which took place within a locked, apparently impenetrable room in Silas's mansion at Bartram-Haugh. Austyn is firmly convinced of his brother's innocence; Maud's attitude to Uncle Silas (whom we do not meet for the first 200 pages of the book) wavers repeatedly between trusting in her father's judgment, and growing fear and uncertainty. In the first part of the novel, Maud's father hires a French governess, Madame de la Rougierre, as a companion for her. Madame de la Rougierre, however, turns out to be a sinister figure who has designs on Maud. (In a cutaway scene that breaks the first-person narrative, we learn that she is in league with Uncle Silas's good-for-nothing son Dudley.) She is eventually discovered by Maud in the act of burgling her father's desk; this is enough to ensure that she is dismissed. Austyn Ruthyn obscurely asks Maud if she is willing to undergo some kind of "ordeal" to clear his brother Silas's and the family's name. She assents, and shortly thereafter her father dies. It turns out that he has added a codicil to his will: Maud is to stay with Uncle Silas until she comes of age. If she dies while in her minority, the estate will go to Silas. Despite the advice of her friends Lady Monica and Austyn's executor and fellow Swedenborgian, Dr. Bryerly, Maud consents to spend the next three and a half years of her life at Bartram-Haugh. Life at Bartram-Haugh is initially strange but not unpleasant, despite ominous signs such as the uniformly unfriendly servants and a malevolent factotum of Silas's, the one-legged Dickon Hawkes. Silas himself is a sinister, soft-spoken old man who is openly contemptuous of his two children, the loutish Dudley and the untutored but friendly Milly (her rustic manners initially amaze Maud, but they become best friends). Silas is subject to mysterious catatonic fits which are attributed by his doctor to his massive opium consumption. Gradually, however, the trap closes around Maud: it is clear that Silas is attempting to coax or force her to marry Dudley. When that tactic fails, and as the time-limit of three-and-a-half years begins to shrink, a yet more sinister plot is hatched to ensure that Silas gains control of the Ruthyn estate. Milly is sent away to a boarding school in France, and arrangements are made for Maud to join her after a period of three months. In the meantime, Madame de la Rougierre reappears in Silas's employ, over Maud's protests, and it is she who is charged with accompanying Maud first to London, and then on to Dover and across the channel. However, unbeknownst to Maud, who is asleep in the carriage for most of the journey, she has in fact been taken on a round trip to London and back. She is returned to Bartram-Haugh under cover of darkness, and although she soon discovers the trick, her demands for an explanation are ignored and she is locked into one of the mansion's many bedrooms. Madame de la Rougierre, however, having been kept ignorant of Silas' true intentions, unwittingly partakes of the drugged claret that was intended for Maud, and promptly falls asleep on the latter's bed. Late that night, Dudley scales the building and enters the unlit room through the window, which is set upon concealed hinges that allow it to be opened only from the outside. Maud, crouched and hidden in a corner, watches on in terror as Dudley takes a spiked hammer from his pocket and savagely attacks the figure lying on the bed. Madame de la Rougierre screams briefly and convulses, then lies still. Uncle Silas, who has been waiting outside the door, enters the room, allowing Maud to slip out undetected. With the help of Dickon Hawkes' daughter, whom Maud had befriended during her stay, she is swiftly conveyed by carriage to Lady Monica's estate, and away from Bartram-Haugh forever. Silas is discovered in the morning lying dead of an opium overdose, while Dudley becomes a fugitive and is thought to be hiding in Australia. Maud is happily married to the charming and handsome Lord Ilbury and ends her recollections on a philosophical note: |
7217706 | /m/025wfp_ | The Phoenix | null | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Fact and fiction are combined to tell the stories of two fictitious people who were involved in the catastrophe; Birger Lund, a Swedish journalist and passenger on the airship, who apparently suffered horrific injuries during the crash; and Edmond Boysen, a member of the crew, who was manning the controls at the time, and seems to have got away unscathed. The book begins some years after the disaster has occurred, as Lund - now with a new identity due to a twist of fate - is searching for Boysen, who he hopes will provide him with some of the answers that might help him to come to terms with what happened, so that he can move on with his life. However, once the story has introduced Lund, it switches focus to Edmond Boysen, and much of the plot then unfolds against the backdrop of Nazi Germany, when the giant Zeppelin airships dominated the skies and their crew members enjoyed an almost celebrity-like lifestyle. Here the author spends a great deal of time describing the technical aspects of the airship, while its final journey and ultimate demise is told in intricate detail. Birger Lund eventually catches up with Boysen towards the end of the story, and the two have a lengthy discussion as to why the disaster may have happened. They consider a number of theories, including a suggestion that the airship may have been sabotaged. Following this conversation, Lund feels he is able to get some closure and feels he can now start to rebuild his life. |
7218281 | /m/025wgcn | The Mark of the Angel | null | null | null | Set in 1950s Paris against the backdrop of the French-Algerian conflict, the book tells the story of an affair between its two main protagonists; Saffie, the young German wife of renowned French musician Raphael Lepage; and Andras, a Hungarian-Jewish instrument repairer living in the city's Mairie immigrant district. When they first meet, both Andras and Saffie have been separately damaged by the events of the Second World War, but as their relationship develops over a period of several years, they are both able to begin to come to terms with the harrowing experiences that have shaped their lives - while around them a new generation is committing a fresh batch of atrocities. Ultimately, though, Saffie and Andras's affair has tragic consequences for everyone involved. |
7219612 | /m/025wj43 | Socratic Puzzles | Robert Nozick | null | {"/m/037mh8": "Philosophy"} | Nozick disclaims the title "political philosopher" and characterizes his Anarchy, State, and Utopia as "an accident" that came about because he was "getting nowhere" working on the problem of free will. He discusses his reverence for Socrates, and his intellectual debts to Sidney Morgenbesser and Carl Hempel. At "the most consequential party I ever attended," someone told him about a problem posed by a physicist in California, William Newcomb. Nozick brought this problem into the literature of decision theory ("rational choice theory"). He describes the influence of decision theory on Anarchy, State, and Utopias derivation of the state from individuals' actions, and its game-theoretic analysis of utopia; and especially in The Nature of Rationality, where he proposed a "decision value" alternative to maximizing expected utility and also extended decision theory to issues about rational belief. He concludes the introduction by talking about philosophy as a way of life. Although "being philosophical" in the ordinary sense wasn't his motivation for entering philosophy, he found himself being philosophical when diagnosed with stomach cancer and informed about the dire statistics, adding parenthetically an anecdote about the operation in which much of his stomach was removed, I maintain it was not a complaint when the first words I said to the surgeons upon coming up from anaesthesia after seven hours were, "I hope we don't have to do this again. I don't have the stomach for it." Nietzsche's demand, that you should lead a life you would be willing to repeat infinitely often, seems "a bit stringent", but philosophy constitutes a way of life worth continuing to its end. He did exactly that, according to his friend Alan Dershowitz. |
7221003 | /m/025wktl | Things Not Seen | Andrew Clements | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | Robert Phillips, known by his nickname "Bobby", wakes up one day to find that he can no longer see himself. Upon discovery, he heads downstairs and tries to convince his parents that it's not a trick. He drinks a glass of orange juice, which to the astonishment of his parents, seems to make a"spoon float in the air." After a brief argument with his mother, Bobby is told to stay at home until his parents decide get back from work (His mother is an English professor, and his father a scientist.) After his parents are gone, Bobby heads to the library, bundled up to conceal his secret invisible self, and after a brief walk around, he hurriedly leaves, bumping into a girl. His scarf comes off so he's scared she will freak out. He helps to retrieve her things, and realizes she's blind when he hands her back her cane. Upon returning home, he gets in trouble because he left the house. His parents leave to get dinner and Bobby watches TV and takes a nap when he wakes up the TV says that there was a major three car crash. He sees one of the cars is his family's. The Police then come to his door and check on him. After they leave Bobby goes to the hospital to see his parents. When he gets there he takes off his clothes (so he can be invisible) and goes to find his parents. He can only find his Mom. After talking to his Mom he uses money she gave him to get a taxi and he goes home. He returns to the library the next day. He goes naked this time, and stumbles upon the blind girl in a listening room. He enters the room with her permission and they start talking. He learns that her name is Alicia, and befriends her. Together, they try to find the 'cure' for his predicament. |
7221071 | /m/025wkxb | The Landry News | Andrew Clements | 1999 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Cara Landry, a new student in Mr. Larson's 5th Grade classroom, publishes her own individual newspaper during her first year at Denton Elementary School titled "The Landry News". She writes an editorial about her teacher, Mr. Larson, who had once been a top-quality teacher but had over time become too apathetic to teach. Mr. Larson soon returns to his old teaching ways, when Cara's merciless editorial opens his eyes to that it is true he has stopped teaching. Cara continues an old class newspaper with the novel's title for as far as the teachers are concerned, a "class project". Cara then expands the newspaper with every edition, each even better than the first, with the help of her newly-found friends. One day when the newspaper is at its peak, her friend named Michael, a computer whiz who handles the newspaper layout, comes up to her and asks if she could read a story his "friend" wrote, titled "Lost and Found". When she reads it later that evening, tears form in her eyes, as she realizes it has no name, and it is about a divorce between the author's parents and how he ran away from home, was found, and realized that his parent's divorce had nothing to do with him, and that they love him for who he is. She loves the article mainly because that was exactly how she felt when her parents were divorced. When she shares the story with her mother later that evening, tears form in her eyes as well. At first she thought that Cara wrote it, but after she explains, she discovers the truth. The story is then printed in the paper, only to have a "fed-up Dr. Barnes", who is furious at Mr. Larson for allowing the children to do so. He is keeping an even sharper eye on Mr. Larson because he strongly disapproves of the way he teaches. He also makes a clear point to the media that "This article is too personally revealing for children, nor anyone else." The newspaper receives publicity because of the First Amendment and how the article had been banned, so Cara is interviewed for TV,and a hearing is planned in the auditorium. When the day of the hearing came, it certainly seems like Mr. Larson is going to be fired. The only thing that could possibly save his job is the fact that beforehand, Cara had asked Michael if he could read his story out loud in defense of Mr. Larson, as proof that Michael had written the story himself and wanted it to be published. During the hearing, Cara says that if kids are brave enough to say what they feel, then why is it so bad? Afterward, Cara hands out a special edition of the "Landry News", with one article with the headline "Larson is Vindicated!" and a story explaining what had happened at the hearing. The last article of the newspaper is an editorial written by Cara. |
7222993 | /m/025wmld | Janissaries | Jerry Pournelle | 1979 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | In Janissaries, the leader is a United States Army officer from the Cold War period, Captain Rick Galloway, who along with his platoon-sized unit of soldiers primarily from the U.S. are abducted from a CIA-run operation against Cubans in the fictional tropical African country of Sainte-Marie by a flying saucer. The beings abducting them present themselves as rescuers from a hopeless situation where Galloway's unit is about to be overrun by Cubans in a night assault, the aftermath of which is expected to be the deaths of all. Afterwards, the human soldiers have the option of serving the aliens in a special situation involving a more primitive planet on which there are humans living in medieval conditions. The soldiers are expected to be able to use their superior weapons and tactics to conquer part of the planet. |
7223123 | /m/025wmph | Shadowplay | Tad Williams | 2007-03 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Darkness has fallen on the lands of the sun as an army of misshapen fey spill out from beyond the Shadowline. At their head is Yasammez, dark creature of nightmare. A furtive bargain was struck at the gates of Southmarch and the castle was spared, but centuries of enmity will not be so easily appeased. Meanwhile Barrick, heir to Southmarch and cursed with madness, has crossed the Shadowline into the realm of his people's ancient enemy. There are stranger things than death here – stranger and older. Much further south, shadow is also falling over the reign of the Autarch, god-king, and supreme ruler. Qinnitan, junior wife, must flee the royal household or die, her greatest secret as yet hidden even from herself. Ancient blood flows through her veins and she will become a unique weapon in the fight against her greatest terror. And beyond the ken of all but a chosen few, the gods are awakening and the world is changing. |
7223212 | /m/025wmrx | Mouse Soup | Arnold Lobel | 1977 | {"/m/016475": "Picture book"} | Mouse is in a jam-soon he'll be weasel soup. Weasel is ready for his dinner. and poor mouse is it. Just in time, he thinks up a clever and entertaining way to distract the weasel from serving up mouse soup for dinner. |
7223519 | /m/025wn2z | Private Peaceful | Michael Morpurgo | 2004 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/098tmk": "War novel", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The story is of a young teenager named Thomas "Tommo" Peaceful, who tells the story in account format from the past to the present day events of his experiences living in the village of Iddesleigh during World War I. His oldest brother, Big Joe, has learning difficulties and is always looked out for by his younger brothers. The earlier part of the story tells of his doings before the war, the tale of his love for Molly - a beautiful girl he met on his first day at school and grew to love besottedly - and Charlie Peaceful, Tommo's brother. The trio had grown up together, their mischievous adventures included braving the beastly Grandma Wolf (also referred to as the Wolfwoman) to their mother's despair. Charlie, being older than Tommo, had always protected and looked out for his younger brother. Also, he and Molly become closer as they are both older than Tommo, while Tommo begins to become left out. Later on, it is revealed that Molly and Charlie were secretly seeing each other, and that Molly had become pregnant with Charlie's child. Tommo became extremely heartbroken after the couple hurriedly married a short time later in the village church, before Tommo and Charlie were forced off to France to fight in World War I. All through this time, Tommo recorded his feelings in the novel. The rest of the story describes the brothers' experiences of the war: their Sergeant "Horrible" Hanley, the near misses during battle on the front line, and Charlie's continued protection of Tommo. During a charge of the German lines, Charlie disobeys a direct order from Hanley and stays with Tommo while he is injured on No-man's-land. As a result Charlie is accused of cowardice and given a court martial. The book's chapters count down to dawn when Charlie will be executed. At dawn, Charlie is marched before the firing squad, where he dies happily singing their favourite childhood song, "Oranges and Lemons". Tommo ends the story in the present tense with Charlie's execution and the promise of looking after Molly and Molly's new baby, Little Tommo. Dramatic irony is created here as Tommo is about to enter the Battle of the Somme, where he is unknowingly going to witness and participate in one of the biggest and most tragic battles the British army has ever faced. Private Peaceful epitomizes the devastatingly unfair treatment soldiers were given and the unjust ending many brave soldiers had to face. It is also is a story about the friendship between the two brothers and the undying bond of trust between soldiers in the trenches. |
7225158 | /m/025wp95 | The Lottie Project | Jacqueline Wilson | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Charlotte Enright (who prefers to be called Charlie) is an eleven year old girl who lives with her mother, Jo, in a council flat. She is the 'most popular' girl in her school and as a result has a lot of friends. When her classes' form teacher goes on maternity leave she is replaced by a strict woman called Miss Beckworth, whom Charlie immedietly dislikes. She forces Charlie to sit next to an intelligent boy, Jamie Edwards, who Charlie hates. Miss Beckworth sets the class a history project on the Victorians, and Charlie assumes that the topic will be boring and decides not to listen - until she finds a picture of a Victorian servant girl who looks just like her. Charlie decides to write a diary, told from the point of view of her character Lottie who is eleven years old, like Charlie; however she has left school to become a servant. Jo loses her job as a shop manageress and has to take up cleaning in a supermarket, cleaning houses, and looking after a young boy called Robin in order to earn money. Jo takes a shine to Robin's single father, Mark, much to Charlie's despair. Following a trip to a theme park, Charlie and Robin witness Mark and Jo kissing on a ride. Charlie, upset by this, tells Robin that neither of his parents (his mother's new partner does not get on with Robin,) want him anymore. Distressed, Robin runs away, leaving Mark and Jo distraught for the boy's safety, and Charlie guilt-ridden. In a subplot, Lottie, the servant girl Charlie had created, gets a job as a nursery maid, looking after three young and very irritating children - Victor, Louisa and baby Freddie. Whilst at the park, Freddie is snatched from his pram after Lottie angrily storms off. Lottie is upset and distressed at the loss of the little boy, mirroring Charlie's own feelings towards the disappearance of Robin. Robin is found in a train station behind packages wating to be delivered. He is freezing and is rushed to hospital. Mark is very upset with Charlie (after she admits to him, Jo and the police what she had said to Robin) and even though Charlie is relived that Robin is no longer missing she is still distraught as he catches pneumonia]. Freddie (from Charlie's project) is also returned. The Master of the house decides to take the whole family away, servants and all, to a trip to the seaside for a week. Lottie's last diary entry ends with the words, 'I still cannot say I enjoy being a servant - but it has its compensations!' Robin's pneumonia clears up and, just like in Lottie's diary, Mark, Jo, Charlie and Robin go to the seaside for a day. Charlie buys some Victorian postcards to use for her project, but since she guesses that hers is not done correctly and is sure that it will not win, she decides to give them to Jamie, whom she is now good friends with. Jamie's project wins on account of information, but Miss Beckworth also gives Charlie a prize for demonstrating 'what it feels like to be a Victorian.' The novel ends with Jamie kissing Charlie and Jo and Charlie agreeing on Mark and Robin coming for Christmas. |
7226711 | /m/025wq8v | Only Forward | Michael Marshall Smith | 1994 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | A small boy is left on his own in a flat. The boy answers a knocking on the front door of his high rise flat to find a man with no head standing on the doorstep. The man cannot speak, but the boy knows he is asking him for help. The boy apologises and, explaining that he cannot help him, closes the door and returns to playing games. The protagonist, Stark, a troubleshooter living in the Colour Neighbourhood, accepts a job from his friend, a high-ranking member of The Action Centre, Zenda Renn, and sets out to find senior Actioneer Fell Alkland, who appears to have gone missing under peculiar circumstances. Stark contacts another friend, a psychotic ganglord in the Red Neighbourhood named Ji, to assist him in tracking Alkland down, but something other than kidnapping is to blame for the old man's disappearance. Something that ties into Alkland's past, into The City itself. Stark is forced to confront both his past and a present which has become a living death, in a story of love lost and friendship betrayed. It takes him to places where dreams live, where they can come true, for better or for worse. Where they can kill you. In a world where past and future, reality and nightmare meet up and have a fistfight, Stark is the only man who can make the difference. |
7226799 | /m/025wq9y | Larklight | Philip Reeve | 2006 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/06www": "Steampunk"} | Larklight is a space opera set in an alternate Victorian era, in which mankind has been exploring the solar system for at least a century, and wherein most of the planets are inhabitable. Protagonist Art Mumby narrates an attack on the British Empire and the solar system at large by an ancient, arachnid-like extraterrestrial race, against which he and his family play a central role, aided by the pirate Jack Havock and his crew. The story begins at Larklight, a house that orbits Earth's moon, where the Mumbys receive notice of a visitor from the Royal Xenological Society, a Mr. Webster. The next day, Mr. Webster is revealed to be an extraterrestrial resembling an enormous white spider. Art and his sister Myrtle escape; but their father is captured and held prisoner. Art and Myrtle leave in an escape pod and crash-land on the Moon, where they are encased with the predatory larvae of the Potter Moth and freed by pirate Jack Havock and his crew. Art is shocked to find that Jack is only fifteen years old, and that he is the only human in his crew, while Myrtle is distressed at being in the company of a pirate and demands that Jack take them to the moon's British residence, Fort George. En route aboard the pirates' ship Sophronia, a ship of the British Navy comes alongside and orders Jack to surrender or have his ship destroyed. Jack distracts the officers by pretending to hold Art and Myrtle hostage, giving Ssillissa, the ship's alchemist, time to activate the ship's engines and fly the Sophronia to safety. They conceal themselves on Venus, Jack Havock's old home, where Jack tells Art and Myrtle that the colonists there, including his parents and brother, were changed into trees by a sudden pollination. Romantic feelings begin to develop between Jack and Myrtle. The white spiders thereafter take Myrtle to the Martian home of industrialist Sir Waverly Rain, whose factories cover Phobos and Deimos. She escapes with a Martian maid named Ulla (the name is probably a reference to The War of the Worlds) and her husband, Richard, with whom she learns that Sir Waverly Rain had been captured by the spiders and replaced with a spider-controlled automaton; believing the spiders might manufacture something much more sinister, they race to London. Jack and Art visit Jupiter's moon Io, whence they descend into Jupiter’s atmosphere to ask aid of the Thunderhead, who tells them to protect the key to Larklight. Not knowing what this is, they attempt to leave Jupiter, but are abandoned by their ferryman and escape to a broken-down harpoon ship attached to a native organism, whence they are rescued by the Sophronia's crew. Jack discovers that Myrtle's locket (now in Art's possession) is the key to Larklight, in that it can activate a set of complex engines capable of transforming the solar system, and leads his crew to the spiders' home on the Rings of Saturn to exchange it for Myrtle's safe return. Upon arriving at the spiders' home, most of the crew are captured. Art is later taken before Professor Phineas Ptarmigan, formerly of the Royal Xenological Institute where Jack was imprisoned until he was twelve, who reveals that he wishes to use Larklight to destroy the Solar System, leaving the remains to the spiders whose ancestors had colonized the planetesimals. Meanwhile, Ssillissa and her crewmate Yarg free the captured crew and two additional prisoners, Sir Waverly and Art's mother Emily. Having freed Larklight from the spiders, the protagonists visit Earth, where a gigantic mechanical spider is attacking London (another reference to The War of the Worlds). There, Myrtle takes control of the machine and uses it to kill Mr. Webster, and later re-unites with her family and Jack. The epilogue reveals that the race of white spiders has not been exterminated, but subdued, and that Ptarmigan has been placed in an insane asylum. The Mumby family return to live at Larklight, which they deprive of its otherworldly machinery. |
7227104 | /m/025wqfc | Red Seas Under Red Skies | Scott Lynch | 2007-06 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Escaping from the attentions of the Bondsmagi, Locke Lamora, the erstwhile Thorn of Camorr, and Jean Tannen have fled their home city. Taking a ship, they arrive in the city state of Tal Verrar, where they are soon planning their most spectacular heist yet: they will take the luxurious gaming house, the Sinspire, for all of its countless riches. No one has ever taken even a single coin from the Sinspire that wasn't won on the tables or in the other games of chance on offer there. Locke and Jean soon find themselves co-opted into an attempt to bring the pirate fleet of the notorious Zamira Drakasha to justice. This is unusual work for thieves who don't know one end of a galley from another. All the while, the Bondsmagi are plotting their revenge against Locke, the one man who has humiliated them and lived. |
7231011 | /m/025wsgf | Owl Moon | Jane Yolen | null | {"/m/016475": "Picture book", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The story deals with a father that takes his daughter owling for the first time on a cold winter's night. Along their way, they encounter a Great Horned Owl. While it is not stated which gender the child is, Schoenherr's illustrations gave it away. According to Jane Yolen's website, the daughter is actually Yolen's child, Heidi Stemple. The "Pa" character is based on her husband, an avid outdoorsman and birdwatcher. |
7233855 | /m/025wv3q | Children of Orpheus | null | 1923 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | On an island there lived a solitary family, a father, a mother and a little boy. Once, a man named Johano swam to the island nude, since his ship had sailed off while he was bathing. The parents dressed him and hosted him for a month, during which time he told the boy fables and described continental cities. After he left, the boy ran away from home on a boat. When rescued by a ship, no one could understand his language. In port in Russia, the cook, Ivan, took him to see the city, but got drunk and was arrested, leaving the boy to sleep for several days in a cemetery, where he was found by other parents burying their own dead son. The parents then adopted him. The boy developed great musical talent, and he became a great violin master. In the village Brey, Rika returns home one day to find a baby boy in a box on the table; she calls him Moses. It develops he too is very talented and becomes a violincelloist. In the Prussian city of Prosen a doctor is summoned to aid a dying circus worker. The circus worker dies, but a 16 year old boy with a badly infected knee is discovered in his carriage. The doctor adopts him. He too is very talented and studies the piano. Johano, the man who had visited the family on the island, encounters Ivan, the ship's cook who had been arrested. They learn that the boy from the island is looking for his parents, but has no idea even how to find the island they lived on. They manage to gather money and set off for Russia. On the way they encounter the boy who had been adopted by the doctor, at first confusing him with the boy that they were looking for. Johano arranges for his further study and they continue on their journey. Four years later, in 1914 a concert was arranged in The Hague to which the three masters were invited: the violinist, the violincellist, and the pianist. When they met, they were very shocked, since all three looked identical — even their friends couldn't tell them apart. But they could barely understand each other, as they spoke three different languages. Just then Johano and Ivan appeared, and the detective work began. As it happened, the pianist, former circus boy, had in his possession a diary which had belonged to his mother. Johano recognized the language in the diary as Esperanto, and they began piecing together how the boys had gotten separated. Johano found the father in an insane asylum in The Hague, and they were able to recall him to sanity with their music. Apparently, he too was a famous violincellist. He and their mother had spoken Czech and Esperanto together. The mother and Rika were also found alive. Johano got the boys to learn Esperanto so that they could understand each other. In the end they all left for the island, because the first boy wanted to meet with his adoptive parents. There they said goodbye to Johano, who it turned out, wasn't human at all, but a supernatural being, who had come to protect the three boys, children of Orpheus. |
7234900 | /m/025wvnm | Stormbreaker: The Graphic Novel | Antony Johnston | null | null | The story starts off with Alex Rider at Brookland School, where he gives a speech about his family, but not much of it, claiming he didn't know his parents, since they died when he was small. He currently lives with his Uncle, Ian Rider, but he's rarely at home either. Mostly, Alex lives with his best friend, Jack Starbright, who is also a housekeeper, there for Alex while Ian is always away on business. Alex also makes a claim that his uncle is a bank supervisor and is in charge of customer care, currently at a conference in Cornwall, unaware that Ian's true occupation is a spy, working for the Special Operations Division of MI6. After the school day is over, and after having a talk with Sabina Pleasure about going out on the weekend, Alex's uncle rings Alex and after they engage in a short, simple conversation about how things are, a helicopter approaches the Rider car, and one of the antagonists of the story, Yassen Gregorovich, shoots Ian to death while hanging from the chopper. From there on, the novel follows the plot and scenes of the Stormbreaker movie plot, though some scenes are shortened or excised. Some scenes were also altered slightly, including the dematerializing of a fish in the jellyfish tank (it was a barracuda in the graphic novel, but a jellyfish in the film). |
7238390 | /m/025wycj | Stormrider | David Gemmell | 2002 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | In northern part of the land lies the Moidart and the city of Eldacre; further north is the location of the Rigante clans. This is the place that the highlanders have been forced to settle in order to remain free. The Moidart's son, Gaise Macon (known by the Rigante soul name of 'Stormrider') is in the Royalist king's army, and serves loyally. An old prophecy, however, is making him a hunted man by the treachourous Lord Winterbourne. Winterbourne is the leader of the Redeemer Knights, a cold-hearted group of killers. When he and the Redeemers were sacking the village of Shelsans, a monk showed him an ancient skull - the skull of Cernunnos. A priest prophesiesed before he was executed that Winterbourne would be killed by the man with the golden eye - who Winterbourne assumes is Gaise Macon. Winterbourne kills the king, then, taking control of the army, attempts several assassinations on Macon, and finally launches a wide-scale invasion on the town the Stormrider is deployed at. Macon holds out due to an early warning from a traitor of Winterbourne's army, but the woman he loved was killed by the invaders. The Moidart's castle at Eldacre is invaded by soldiers of the Pinance who are allied to Winterbourne, and is a longtime rival/ enemy of the Moidart. The Moidart hides in the castle with a few loyal men, kills the Pinancer leaders, and takes control of the Pinance's army. Gaise Macon leads the Eldacre Company back to Eldacre, and the Moidart seeks the Rigante's assistance in the coming invasion by Winterbourne and his Redeemers who still think Stormrider will bring their downfall. Cernunnos sprit forces Winterbourne to hand his skull to the Rigante witch-woman, the Dweller, who passes it on to Stormrider. As Winterbourne's forces close in on Eldacre, a mage in the Moidart's service - who is seeking only profit - communicates with Winterbourne, informing him that the skull of Cernunnos is in his possession. Winterbourne moves around the battlefield and comes to Eldacre himself with a detachment of elite troops. However the loss of the skull has reduced the fighting skills of the Redeemers from their previous levels down to a point where they are easily defeated by the injured Rigante. Winterbourne is stopped as he tries to escape with the skull and in that terrible moment discovers that the man with the golden eye was not Gaise Macon at all. Gaise Macon finally uses the skull, and Cernunnos takes control of him, temporarily giving him god-like powers. He heals and revives both his own wounded or dead troops as well as the enemy's. Finally, as Cernunnos prepares to destroy mankind, he is stopped by Macon's old friend, Mulgrave who shoots a golden bullet into his heart - to save the human race. The Moidart is made the new king. |
7243573 | /m/025x1mw | The Shadow in the North | Philip Pullman | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | This book takes place in late 1878, six years after the events of The Ruby in the Smoke. A woman named Miss Walsh walks into the offices of S. Lockhart, Financial Consultant. Miss Walsh tells Sally Lockhart that she lost all of her money in a company called Anglo-Baltic because the company experienced many tragedies, including two ships sinking and one being impounded. Sally swears to get Miss Walsh’s money back. The narrator tells the reader about Sally and how her friend Frederick is in love with her but she does not know if she loves him back. The narrator also introduces Sally’s dog, Chaka. Meanwhile Sally’s friend Jim Taylor helps a magician named Alistair Mackinnon escape two men who have unfavorable intentions toward him. Jim takes Mackinnon to Frederick and his uncle Webster at their photography shop/private investigations office named Garland and Lockhart because Mackinnon says that he is mixed up in a murder. Mackinnon shows Jim, Webster and Fred that he has spiritual abilities (he can see things having to do with an object by touching it) and tells them of a murder he saw by touching a man’s cigar case. Mackinnon believes that the man knows that he knows about the murder, and is terrified for his life. Later that night, Jim and Fred go to a spiritualist séance intending to see if the woman running it, Nellie Budd, is a fraud or is actually a spiritualist. While they are there, Nellie has a vision linking both Mackinnon’s vision and Sally’s investigation. Fred goes to Sally and tells her about it; in turn, she tells him what she knows about the former owner of Anglo-Baltic and now the current owner of a company called North Star named Axel Bellmann. Sally thinks that Mr. Bellman manufactured Anglo-Baltic’s collapse to fund North Star and she believes that he is very vicious. They decide to find out more about him on their own. Mackinnon asks Fred to stay with him during a charity event in case one of the men tries to get him. Fred asks Charles Bertram, a friend of his and a fellow worker at Garland and Lockhart, if he could come with him because Charles is from an aristocratic family and he knows some of the people at the event. At the event, Mackinnon sees a man he recognizes, and Charles finds out that it was Axel Bellmann himself. After Mackinnon sees the man, he disappears, to Fred and Charles’ annoyance. At Sally’s office the next morning, an employee of Axel Bellman named Mr. Windlesham who tries to scare her off investigating his employer. After that meeting, Sally goes to her lawyer, named Mr. Temple, who she tells the whole story to and who tells her to be careful. Axel Bellmann makes a financial deal with a Lord Wytham: if Lord Wytham lets Mr. Bellmann marry his 17 year old daughter named Mary, Mr. Bellman will pay him 400,000 pounds. Fred goes to see Nellie Budd and ask her if she knew anything about her vision. She did not but while he was at her house, Fred learned that she has a sister named Jessie. Sally goes to visit Axel Bellmann; she orders him to pay her the money that Miss Walsh lost but he refuses. Unfortunately for Nellie Budd, Sally drops a business card with Nellie’s name and address on it, and Axel Bellman picks it up. Jim goes to look for Mackinnon and finds that he is residing in a boarding house. This is told to him by Isabel Meredith, a young woman who has a birthmark that disfigures her whole face. Isabel was taking care of Mackinnon when he was in the boarding house. Isabel found a newspaper clipping about a murdered man preserved in ice, the topic of Mackinnon’s vision. Jim also figures out that Isabel is desperately in love with Mackinnon. Charles discovers that Mr. Bellmann and Lady Mary Wytham are getting engaged because one of Charles’ friends told him that they were getting an engagement portrait. Fred, Jim and Charles go to the portrait place, Charles to help and Fred and Jim to investigate. Mr. Bellmann recognizes Fred from the event but Lady Mary distracts Bellman. Jim falls head over heels in love with Lady Mary. Two men go and get Mackinnon’s location from Isabel (they threaten her first). The next day she leaves a note in Garland & Lockhart’s mailbox, which says that Mackinnon is in danger from two men and they know where he is. Sally, Jim and Fred go to keep an eye on things. Sally warns Mackinnon of the danger and he in turn, tells her that his father is Lord Wytham and his mother is Nellie Budd. Fred goes to see Nellie Budd the next day, but he finds out that she has been attacked and knocked unconscious. Mr. Windlesham goes to a hitman and pays him to get rid of Sally. Sally learns that North Star is a weapons company that wants to build a huge "Steam Gun" that shoots thousands of bullets at once. Frederick learns how the steam gun works and discovers that the engineer who designed it was murdered by Mr. Bellmann. Frederick tells Nellie’s sister about Nellie’s injury and learns that Mackinnon is not really Nellie’s son and he learns that Mackinnon is married to a Lady. Fred learns the next day that the lady Mackinnon married was Lady Mary Wytham. Mr. Windlesham’s hitman tries to kill Sally when she is walking Chaka. Unbeknownst to him, the woman he tries to kill is really Isabel and his knife gets stuck in her underclothing. He kills Chaka instead and Sally is devastated. The next day, Sally goes into her office to find it ransacked. Her landlord allowed "police officers" to take her files and Sally is angry at him because he didn’t ask why they were stealing them. The police make fun of her when she asks where her files went. After that, Sally goes to Garland & Lockhart to ask Fred’s help. Fred and Jim manage to get the files back for Sally. After Sally gets her files back, she realizes that the Steam Gun was designed to use against your own population, given that its reliance on railways tracks means that it could never be deployed as an offensive weapon against a military enemy. After Fred tells Jim that Lady Mary is married to Mackinnon, Jim goes to see Lady Mary to tell her goodbye. When Isabel finds out that Mackinnon is married, she is devastated and asks to go away because she thinks that she is bad luck. When Jim comes back from seeing Lady Mary, he brings with him the news that Fred and Jim have to fight to rescue Mackinnon from Mr. Bellman’s men, the same men who beat Nellie Budd up. Jim and Fred cream them and send them to the police, where they will get in trouble with the police. They bring Mackinnon back to Garland & Lockhart, where they keep him. After everyone but Sally and Frederick go to bed, Mr. Windlesham goes to them and pretends that he is on their side. When he is gone, Sally realizes that he was lying. Sally tells Frederick that she loves him and takes him upstairs, whispering, "Not a word - not a word." The two of them sleep together, and afterward Sally lets Frederick ask her to marry him, and agrees. Meanwhile, Mr. Windlesham and Mr. Bellmann plan to burn down Garland & Lockhart. Jim wakes up in time to smell the fire and warn everybody else. They climb out of the window but Jim falls and breaks his leg. Isabel refuses to move. Frederick tries to save her but dies with her. After Fred dies, Sally walks around in a daze. Unknowingly, she takes herself to the North Star headquarters. She gets a hold of herself enough to ask for Mr. Bellmann and to tell him that she is there to see him. Jim Taylor’s leg was broken but he walks to Mackinnon’s place on it. Jim forces Mackinnon to see where Sally is using his psychic powers and then drags him to the North Star headquarters. Mr. Bellmann tells Sally that he wants power and he believes that the Steam Gun could give it to him, claiming that the sheer horror of the weapon will ensure peace. He then asks her to marry him. At that point, Mackinnon comes in, plainly terrified, to bring Sally to Jim. Sally agrees to marry Mr. Bellmann, but he has to give Mackinnon the money for Sally’s client. Mackinnon takes the money out to Jim and Jim correctly realizes that Sally is up to something. At Sally’s request, Mr. Bellmann takes her to see the Steam Gun, which Sally promptly sets off, mockingly informing Bellman that he still fails to understand people, and she only went along with the proposal to regain the money for her client. Jim gets Sally out of what is left of the area around the Steam Gun, but Mr. Bellmann dies. Sally was hardly hurt by the Steam Gun. She brings the money to Miss Walsh, who goes to invest it in Garland & Lockhart. Jim’s leg was badly hurt during his rescue of Sally and he walks with a limp the rest of his life. In the spring of the next year, Charles, Webster, Jim and Sally go find new premises for Garland & Lockhart. They find a beautiful house and Charles gives to Sally a picture that he had taken of Fred before he died. After this, Sally decides to tell all of them that she is pregnant with Fred’s child. |
7243594 | /m/025x1p7 | The Tiger in the Well | Philip Pullman | null | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | This book takes place in the autumn of 1881. Sally Lockhart has a daughter named Harriet, a nurse named Sarah-Jane and a cook named Ellie. Her friends Webster, Jim and Charles are in South America taking pictures. One day a divorce affidavit arrives at the house. Sally, who has never been married, is confused that a customs officer named Arthur Parrish claims he is her husband and Harriet’s father. The affidavit says that Harriet’s “father” wants custody of her. She takes it to her lawyer and gets no sympathy from him; she is only a woman after all and has no power, with the lawyer preferring to focus on the charges Parrish has used to try and claim custody of Harriet rather than whether or not Sally was actually married to him in the first place. The scene shifts to Russian Jews getting off a boat entering England. A German Socialist journalist named Jacob Liebermann goes to the League of the Democratic Socialist Association. He meets Dan Goldberg, another Socialist journalist like himself, and Jacob tells Dan about a paralyzed man called the Tzaddik who is manipulating things so the Jewish people are hurt economically and physically. He also mentions the name Parrish, which Dan recognizes, as being involved. The next day, Sally tells her friend and employee Margaret Haddow everything that has happened. Margaret goes to Parrish’s office and tries to spy on him, but he realizes that she is an employee of Sally’s and tells her so. Sally goes to the church where she supposedly married Parrish and finds an intact record of their wedding. She also finds that the priest that supposedly married them is now retired under a cloud of suspicion. Sally decides to write to Harriet’s aunt Rosa, who is married to a clergyman, so she can find out more about the priest. Meanwhile, Dan Goldberg has arranged for an employee of Parrish to be robbed. Dan looks at a notebook that was stolen from that employee and learns about the case against Sally. The next day, Sally has an argument with her lawyer on how much he is contributing to her case. After that, Sally goes out and buys a revolver. That night, someone comes into her house and takes Harriet’s teddy bear. Soon, Sally goes to ask Parrish’s neighbors about him but they shut their doors to her. She finds out that the same priest that “married” the pair of them also recommended Parrish to the vicar of where he lives now. Sally goes home, bewildered, to find Rosa there waiting for her. They discuss the case and realize that Parrish wants Harriet and that Parrish has forged everything so he can have her. Parrish and Sally have meetings with their lawyers, leaving the former satisfied and the latter angry. On Sally’s way home, one of Goldberg’s employees tries to talk to her but she thinks that he is one of Parrish’s men and threatens to shoot him. Over the weekend, she goes to Rosa’s house and she and her husband Nicholas Bedwell promise to do all they can. Sally goes to a meeting with her barrister and he is very rude to her and tells her that there is no chance of winning, having not even read the papers in sufficient depth to determine that the child involved is a girl. In the courtroom, the case is over before it is begun because Sally does not show up. Custody of Harriet and all of Sally’s money shifts over to Arthur Parrish. Sally plans to hide and fight back. She and Harriet change from their first boarding house in a day because of a disagreement with the landlady. Mr. Parrish steals all of Sally’s money from her bank account without her knowledge and then hires an inquiry agent to find Sally. The inquiry agent goes to Sally’s office and discovers a letter sent by Sally from her current boarding house. Margaret realizes that he knows and sends a message for Sally to leave. Sally has to find another place for shelter but she can’t find one right away. She has to sell her father’s watch for only a few extra coins. Sally finally takes refuge on a park bench but a man named Morris Katz tells her to come with him to somewhere safe. The safe place ends up being a Social Mission. Sally volunteers to work for their shelter. We see the Tzaddik and his servant Michelet arrive at their home in Spitalfields, London. The Tzaddik is told about Sally’s case and he says that it is excellent that she lost. The next morning, Sally sees many social problems when she is working for the Mission. Morris Katz comes back and takes Sally to Soho where she meets Dan Goldberg. Goldberg tells Sally that Parrish is a criminal, involved with many scams including prostitution houses and exploitation of Jewish people. He also tells her about the Tzaddik and she realizes that the Tzaddik is the one who wants Harriet. The Tzaddik blackmails a police officer to arrest Dan Goldberg and find Sally Lockhart. Soon, Sally gets three letters: one from Sarah-Jane, one from Nicholas Bedwell and one from Daniel Goldberg, who had brought them all. Sarah-Jane says that policemen have been searching the house, Nicholas tells Sally that he found the priest that she was looking for, and Goldberg says that he was sorry to have missed Sally. Sally follows up on Nicholas’s lead and finds the priest right where Nicholas said he was. Sally interrogates the priest but he shuts her out. Another priest tells Sally that he has noticed that the priest that married Parrish and Sally is addicted to opium, providing obvious blackmail opportunity that Sally's unknown enemies could use to make him work for them. The next day, Margaret informs Sally that she has found a wonderful lawyer, Mr. Wentworth, by chance. Sally wants to know if he can take on her case and Margaret tells her that she has to come out of hiding first. Before Sally can reply, Goldberg comes and requests her assistance in rescuing a girl named Rebecca Meyer who knows things about the Tzaddik from being forced to go to a prostitution house. She does so successfully. They go to the Katz’s house where Morris, his wife and his daughter Leah are waiting. Rebecca says that Dutch seems to be the Tzaddik’s native language, he tortures his servants, he needs a monkey to help him and he uses whistles to control mobs, forcing them to attack Jewish homes and businesses in Russia. She used to be friends with one of the maidservants before the maidservant disappeared which is how she knows. Suddenly, police raid the Katz’s looking for Goldberg, who is not there. They say that Goldberg is a murderer but when they leave, Katz explains that countries other than England make up false charges when the real charges have to do with politics. Rebecca has brought a label from the Tzaddik’s luggage all the way from Russia. The label belongs to a Mr. Lee and Sally realizes that it is all linked to her. She decides to find Mr. Wentworth to ask him if he will be Goldberg’s lawyer. Mr. Wentworth agrees but he is not sure what will happen to Sally if she continues to hide from the police. Sally has a plan. She chops off her hair and goes to the Katz’s again. She takes Harriet this time, having previously left her at the mission. The three women at the Katz’s dye Sally’s hair with henna. Sally says goodbye to Harriet and goes to infiltrate the Tzaddik’s house. Sally becomes a maid in the Tzaddik’s house. She learns the order of things, the two sets of servants, the servers and the Tzaddik’s personal servants. Later, she meets Michelet, the Tzaddik’s valet who hits on her immediately. She learns that the Tzaddik has a monkey that waits on him hand and foot. Meanwhile, Margaret meets with Mr. Wentworth who is starting to realize all of the odds are against Sally. Sarah-Jane comes in and tells Margaret that they have been kicked out of their house. Mr. Katz’s apprentice tells Goldberg what Sally is doing. Late at night, Sally eavesdrops on the Tzaddik’s secretary and Michelet fighting over how Harriet would be trained to replace the monkey that currently does a lot for the Tzaddik. Sally is understandably horrified. She goes back to her room but Michelet is waiting for her there. She lies and says that she didn’t hear anything but Michelet is not sure. The next morning, Mr. Parrish visits the Tzaddik. Sally tries to eavesdrop but hears nothing. Goldberg holds a meeting to solve some of the injustices being caused against the Jews. Among the people in the meeting is a gang leader named Kid Mendel who helps Goldberg keep order. Parrish finds out where Harriet is as he spreads nasty rumors about the Jews. Goldberg plans to keep a watch on Harriet and Sally but before he is done, Parrish has stolen Harriet. Goldberg gets four groups out looking for Harriet. Sally confronts the Tzaddik and realizes that the Tzaddik is really Ah Ling, who she last confronted and shot over a decade ago; she caused his paralysis when her shot went through his spine. Sally tries to kill him again but she fails. She is taken to the cellar in the darkness but not before she steals a page from a ledger showing the illegal activities going on. Goldberg finds the house where Harriet is and takes a gang of teens in to get her out. They succeed, albeit one of the teens, a girl named Bridie, becomes unconscious and Dan is left behind with a bullet in his arm. Parrish has a lot of explaining to do to the police officer that covers the incident, because he is the one who shot Goldberg. Goldberg is taken into custody. One of Goldberg’s other watch-groups asks the Tzaddik’s secretary where Harriet is and he realizes that they don’t know. He reports this to the Tzaddik and they call the police. Then the Tzaddik and Michelet go down to the cellar to see Sally. Meanwhile, two boys spring Goldberg out of the van where he is being taken to jail in and the bullet in his arm is taken out. He tells the boys who freed him to go find Harriet. Sally interrogates the Tzaddik when he comes to see her, even though she is in no position to. She then lectures him about evil. The Tzaddik then tells Sally that Parrish has Harriet. Suddenly, a flood breaks through the cellar wall. Michelet drowns instantly but Sally, for reasons unknown to herself, tries to save the Tzaddik while the house collapses. Dan is stopping a riot when the police catch up with him. Before he is taken away, he is told that the Tzaddik’s house just collapsed. The Tzaddik tells Sally a story about when a tiger was stuck in a village’s well. They prayed to their gods for rain and the rain drowned the tiger. The Tzaddik is reminded of that story by the current situation but he doesn't say which of them is the tiger in the present situation. Suddenly, the Tzaddik convulses and dies. The gang with Harriet and the unconscious Bridie stops in a place for a while. Bridie wakes up and takes care of Harriet until the owner of the place tells them to leave. The owner realizes that Harriet doesn’t belong with them so he tells a policeman. The other two boys get to the same place that Harriet and her entourage just left, so they are arrested for baby stealing. Sarah-Jane is standing outside of their house when Jim arrives. She explains everything that is going on to him and he starts to go to the house. Kid Mendel stops him and offers his help and his side of the story. Jim takes the advice and they go in the house and start throwing Mr. Parrish’s stuff out the window. When Mr. Parrish tries to stop them, Sarah-Jane drops a chamber pot on his head. Kid Mendel hears that the house where Sally is collapsed so he and Jim go to investigate. Jim arrives just in time to see Sally rescued from the ruins. She gives him the page from the ledger that she’d hid and asks where Harriet is. She is immediately put in medical care. The two boys are released from jail because they couldn’t charge them with anything. They go to where the other group is and report where Harriet is to be found. Jim goes there as soon as possible and brings Harriet home. Mr. Wentworth wins Sally’s appeal with all of the new evidence. Sally decides that she wants to marry Dan Goldberg as she considers him to be her equal. |
7243607 | /m/025x1q8 | The Tin Princess | Philip Pullman | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Sixteen-year-old Becky is about to have her life changed. A dramatic explosion is only the start of her incredible adventure. As maid to the cockney Crown Princess (Adelaide of The Ruby in the Smoke, whose fortunes have greatly changed) of Razkavia, a tiny kingdom in Europe, she is plunged into a turmoil of murder and intrigue. |
7243917 | /m/025x20y | The Cone Gatherers | null | 1955 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Two brothers, Calum (a simple-minded hunchback) and Neil, are working in the forest of a Scottish country house during five autumn days (Thursday to Monday) in 1943, gathering cones that will replenish the forest which is to be cut down for the war effort. The harmony of their life together is shadowed by the obsessive hatred of Duror, the gamekeeper, who since childhood has disliked anything he finds "mis-shapen". We also learn that because of his wife's illness where she lies in her bed all day growing larger, he relates Calum in the sense of his deformity and thus conveys a reason why he grew so much resentment towards him. Lady Runcie-Campbell, the aristocratic landowner, dislikes having the two brothers on the estate, and tries to avoid communicating with them. She is embarrassed by her son, Roderick, who is friendly and welcoming to the brothers. The obsession Duror has for the brothers grows stronger, leading to the climax, when Lady Runcie-Campbell discovers Calum hanging dead from a tree, having been shot by Duror, who subsequently shoots himself. |
7246005 | /m/025x40x | Hardcore History | null | null | null | The book follows the history of ECW from its start in 1991 under the banner Tri-State Wrestling Alliance with owner Joel Goodhart. To being sold to partner and then announcer Tod Gordon. Gordon then renamed the company Eastern Championship Wrestling. It goes into detail of the impact of the early competitors like "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert. Then it shows how the selling of Eastern Championship Wrestling to Paul Heyman would later change the world of wrestling forever. Under Heyman, Eastern Championship Wrestling would be renamed to Extreme Championship Wrestling. From there the book shows on how Heyman would focus on not a cartoon like wrestling show that was being shown be the other 2 promotions WWF and WCW, to a darker more adult orientated wrestling show. The book talks about ECW's first PPV Barely Legal. And goes into a full recap of a wrestling match that went wrong called the Mass Transit incident. The book ends with how ECW went bankrupt in the late 1990s and early 2000. From being pushed off of TNN for Monday Night Raw, to losing all of its top talent to WWF and WCW. In 2007, the paperback version of the book was released with an updated chapter on WWE's revival of the ECW brand in 2006 and how it was met by fans. |
7248326 | /m/025x5zg | Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine | Evaline Ness | null | {"/m/016475": "Picture book", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Samantha (usually called Sam) is a motherless child of a fisherman. To keep herself busy, she pretends that her mother is a mermaid and that Bangs, her cat, can talk to her. Sam also claims to have a pet kangaroo. She prefers her fantasies to reality; but her father calls her tales "moonshine" and warns Sam that moonshine will one day lead her into great trouble. Little neighbor Thomas eagerly believes every word Sam says. One day Sam tells the pleading boy of a not-too-distant cove where he can find her mermaid mother. Bangs follows Thomas on a journey to the cove; but, unfortunately, they are caught up in a seastorm and lost. At home, Sam becomes very frightened when Thomas and the cat don't return, and she tearfully asks her father for help. Luckily, Thomas is found alive (Bangs is later found safe as well), but the boy is now ill. Sam finally understands the importance of telling people about things that are real, as opposed to things that are moonshine. Sam apologizes to the sick little boy (who, the readers can safely presume, will make a complete recovery), and cheers Thomas up by showing him something that is both real and fantastical. |
7258407 | /m/025xgxh | Phoenix | Steven Brust | 1990-10 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | During an unusual attempt on his life, Vlad prays to his goddess Verra for aid and surprisingly receives it. As payment, Verra requests that Vlad kill the King of Greenaere, an island kingdom off the coast of the Empire, where magic does not work. Vlad agrees and sails to Greenaere, where he completes the assassination without difficulty. Fleeing the island, however, proves more difficult. After fighting off some guards, an injured Vlad stumbles upon a drummer in the forest named Aibynn who tends his wounds and tries to cover for him when more guards arrive. Vlad faints from Aibynn's dreamgrass and reveals his hidden location, causing the guards to arrest both of them. In prison, Vlad talks with Aibynn, who thinks of nothing but drumming, and waits for an opportunity to escape. Eventually he learns that Loiosh had flown across the ocean to warn their friends. Aliera and Cawti arrive at the prison and free Vlad using elder sorcery, which does not require a link to the Orb. Vlad brings Aibynn along, though he suspects that he might be a spy. Morrolan provides a boat and the group sails away. Back in Adrilankha, Vlad is still stuck between the Jhereg Organization and his wife's group of Easterner and Teckla revolutionists. Vlad's superior warns him that members of the Council are displeased with the situation. Matters worsen when Greenaere declares war on the Empire and press gangs begin forcibly recruiting Easterners. A watchtower in South Adrilankha is destroyed, and most of the high-ranking revolutionists are arrested, including Cawti. Vlad suspects that the Jhereg are involved in the arrest. After threatening the Jhereg representative at the Capital, Vlad pursues Boralinoi, the Council member whose territory includes Vlad's and South Adrilankha. Boralinoi confirms that he framed the revolutionists and a fight breaks out in his office. Vlad escapes, but knows that the council will be targeting him for assassination. He is summoned before the Empress and convinces her to have Cawti released. On the palace steps, Vlad and Cawti acknowledge that Cawti has changed and they no longer love each other. Vlad goes to South Adrilankha to visit his grandfather, whom he calls Noish-pa, at his shop. After a heartfelt conversation about Vlad's growing self-doubt, Noish-pa warns Vlad of an assassin waiting outside the shop. Vlad exits the shop and kills the assassin with the help of Loiosh. As he flees the murder scene, Vlad becomes aware of a menacing charge in the South Adrilankha residents. After Vlad stumbles upon a slain Phoenix Guard, a riot breaks out. Vlad remembers only short flashes of the violence, but mostly avoids taking part in it. He makes his way back to Noish-pa, who has killed several Phoenix Guards but allowed a female soldier to escape. Vlad convinces Noish-pa to teleport with him to safety at Castle Black. At Castle Black, Morrolan tells Vlad that the riot turned into a revolt, including a short siege on the Imperial Palace. Cawti has been arrested again, this time for treason. While angered by the Empire's brutal suppression of the revolt, Vlad is agonized by the inevitable execution Cawti faces. He visits the Empress again and strikes a deal: he will testify to Boralinoi's framing of Cawti before the Orb and single-handedly end the war with Greenaere in exchange for the pardon of Cawti and her the revolutionists. By testifying, Vlad commits the ultimate sin in the Organization, ending his career and branding him for death. Testifying in public, "under the orb," (which can detect falsehoods) is what ultimately sets the Jhereg Council against him. His previous acts of threatening the lives of his immediate superior in the Jhereg, Toronnan, and his boss' boss, Lord Boralinoi, as well as the Jhereg representative at court, Count Soffta, got the Jhereg to put out a (non-Morganti) contract on him but, given the nature of the organization, Vlad would have been "forgiven" had he "won" his war. But nobody gives open evidence about the Jhereg in public, much less in testimony before the Empress, and lives (except, it seems, Vlad). After his testimony, the contract is revised to be executed with a Morganti weapon, which would destroy Vlad's soul forever. Vlad executes his second obligation with the help of his Dragaeran friends. Together they penetrate Greenaere's magic barrier and teleport outside the Greenaere throne room. Vlad negotiates a peace treaty during a tense stand-off, but the new King wants vengeance on the one responsible for ordering his father killed. Vlad knows that this last stipulation is impossible, but sends the treaty to the Empress. Vlad offers himself to the King, but before he can be executed, the Empress has Boralinoi sent back, claiming him to be the mastermind of the assassination. Vlad kills him for the King, satisfying the terms of the peace treaty. The King still orders Vlad to be killed, but he escapes with the help of his friends. Aibynn begins drumming and inadvertently contacts Verra, who rescues the group. The Empress frees all the revolutionists and honors Vlad with the title of Count Szurke. He gives his primary businesses to his loyal lieutenant, Kragar, and all his South Adrilankha interests to Cawti. He convinces Noish-pa to live in his new county. After these arrangements, Vlad flees Adrilankha to avoid Jhereg vengeance. As he sets out, he wonders what his new life will have in store for him. |
7258437 | /m/025xgyw | Taltos | Steven Brust | 1988 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The story follows three separate timelines that ultimately come together by the end of the book. The first timeline begins each chapter and features Vlad performing an extremely complicated ritual of witchcraft. Vlad actually begins this ritual towards the end of the third timeline. The second timeline charts the details of Vlad's development through childhood. Much of it overlaps with parts of Jhereg and Yendi, but goes into more detail. Vlad was born in Adrilankha, the capital city of the Dragaeran Empire. As an Easterner, Vlad is held in scorn by the larger, stronger, longer-lived, and generally more powerful Dragaerans. His father, a restaurateur, also believes that Dragaeran culture is superior to Eastern culture. He attempts to teach Vlad to feel the same and purchases at great cost a title from the House of the Jhereg, making the family technically citizens of the Empire. Vlad is regularly abused by gangs of young Orca, and learns to hate Dragaerans for the scorn they show him. Vlad spends more time with his grandfather, an actual native of the Eastern Kingdoms, who teaches Vlad about Eastern culture. Vlad learns to prefer Eastern fencing to Dragaeran swordsmanship, and Eastern witchcraft to Dragaeran sorcery. As he grows, Vlad begins defending himself from Dragaerans and learns to enjoy hurting them. After his father dies, Vlad continues to sharpen his skills and gains the friendship of Kiera, a Jhereg thief. Kiera introduces Vlad to a Jhereg business associate, Nielar, and Vlad joins the Organization as a simple enforcer. He is partnered with Kragar, a mild and nondescript former Dragonlord, and quickly establishes himself as a capable enforcer. At the age of seventeen, Vlad completes his first assassination job. Thereafter, Vlad begins to live the high life through a steady stream of jobs. Eventually Vlad receives his first job requiring the use of a Morganti blade, to be used on a Jhereg informant to the Empire. Vlad contemplates his job for a while before deciding to pay off the target's mistress. Despite his aversion to the Morganti weapon, Vlad performs the job and achieves still more renown. After a turf war, Vlad's boss is killed and Vlad receives a new boss, whom Vlad quickly learns to hate. Vlad kills his new boss and takes over his operation. Vlad's new operation runs smoothly for a short time until one of his enforcers, Quion, steals some of his money and flees to Dzur mountain, the home of an infamous and near-legendary sorceress called Sethra Lavode. Vlad must recover the money and kill Quion or he will lose face. This is the beginning of the third timeline. Vlad decides to speak with Sethra's nominal lord, Morrolan, who agrees to bring Vlad to Dzur Mountain. There, Vlad meets Sethra Lavode, standing over the corpse of Quion. Vlad learns that Quion's theft was manipulated to orchestrate a meeting between Vlad, Sethra, and Morrolan. Angered by the manipulation, Vlad comes close to fighting both Sethra and Morrolan, but Sethra shockingly apologizes for her tactics and tempers cool. She further explains that she wants Vlad to steal a specific staff from the lair of a powerful Athyra wizard, Loraan, because only an Easterner can slip through Loraan's wards. He takes the job. Vlad slips into the wizard's lair without much difficulty, only to discover that Loraan is working late. Morrolan appears and enters magical combat with Loraan and his guards. During the struggle, Vlad finds the staff and uses another of Loraan's artifacts, a magical length of gold chain, to destroy its protective enchantments. Loraan launches a blast at Vlad, but the chain absorbs this spell as well. As Loraan turns his attention back to Morrolan, Vlad stabs him in the back. Morrolan and Vlad flee back to Dzur Mountain. There, Sethra and Morrolan inform Vlad that the staff they stole contains the soul of Aliera, Morrolan's cousin, who was trapped in the staff's jewel during Adron's Disaster. They ask Vlad to journey into the Paths of the Dead and rescue her soul from the Lords of Judgment. Vlad agrees on the vindictive condition that Morrolan accompany him, knowing that Morrolan is even less likely to escape than himself. Morrolan and Vlad journey to Deathsgate Falls, where Dragaeran corpses are sent for burial. After rappelling down, they enter the Paths of the Dead, a labyrinth that all Dragaeran souls must navigate as a test before entering the Hall of Judgment. Morrolan and Vlad are challenged to a series of duels by twelve dead Dragonlords, but after Vlad tosses a dagger at one of them, they attack en masse. Vlad and Morrolan manage to kill them all, and continue through a number of other tests. They eventually reach the Lords of Judgment, who judge the fates of all Dragaeran souls that enter the Hall. Arguing that Aliera is the Dragon Heir, Morrolan successfully frees Aliera. Vlad and Aliera are cleared to leave the Halls, but not Morrolan. Aliera refuses to leave without Morrolan and goes to talk with the soul of Kieron the Conqueror, the founder of the Empire and her distant relative. She receives his greatsword after a hostile exchange, but the group is no closer to escaping. Vlad conceives of a plan and begins to perform the complex ritual of the first timeline. If the ritual fails, Vlad could go insane, or become too tired to leave the Halls himself. Through the ritual, he summons a vial of fluid given to him by Kiera in his youth, which Morrolan injects into his own veins. The fluid is the blood of a god, which allows Morrolan to resist the effects of the Halls. The three escape and return to Dzur Mountain. Sethra, Morrolan, and Aliera all express their debt to Vlad. |
7258533 | /m/025xh0m | Orca | Steven Brust | 1996 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Kiera the Thief sends a letter to Vlad's estranged wife Cawti, offering to meet and tell her of Vlad's most recent adventures. In return for not telling Vlad some of Cawti's secrets, Kiera insists on making some omissions from her story. The rest of the novel is Kiera's story, seemingly without the omissions she makes to Cawti. Vlad contacts Kiera from the city of Northport and asks her a favor: break into the mansion of the late Orca businessman Fyres and take any documents she can find. She agrees if he will explain why. He tells her that he went to Northport to find a healer for Savn, a Teckla boy whose mind was damaged during the events of Athyra. A local healer, whom Vlad calls "Mother" because he cannot pronounce her name, agrees to help Savn if Vlad will help fix her problem: she's being evicted from her cottage. Vlad navigates through a labyrinth of business records to discover that Mother's land is ultimately owned by Fyres, who only a week ago died on his yacht. Kiera agrees to help Vlad and performs the burglary. She then goes to her local Jhereg contact in the Organization, Stony, and pumps him for information. He tells her that Fyres's empire was an illusion of loans and deception. Further, his death has devastated a number of businesses, banks, and even some Jhereg crime syndicates, causing most to fold. The closing of banks has ruined many private citizens, including Mother. Vlad becomes suspicious of the quick Imperial investigating that judged Fyres's death an accident. He disguises himself as a Dragaeran and begins questioning Fyres's relatives and the Imperial investigators. He quickly determines that a cover-up is underway by at least one covert Imperial agency. Kiera conducts several burglaries and determines that the Empire's Minister of the Treasury is also involved. During these investigations, Mother makes progress with Savn, who begins to respond more to people around him. Vlad and Kiera's investigations bring them notice from the conspirators, including Vonnith, who was responsible for closing Mother's bank. With Vonnith's help, Vlad is ambushed by Stony, who has learned Vlad's true identity as an infamous fugitive from the Jhereg Organization's assassins. With the help of Loiosh, Vlad kills Stony and escapes. Vlad and Kiera use these events to put the pieces into place: Fyres was assassinated by the Jhereg out of revenge, and his death has allowed a small group of conspirators to profit greatly while the government covers up the assassination to maintain the financial stability of the entire Empire. Vlad lays out the scope of the conspiracy before one of the Imperial agents, whose boss had been killed by one of the conspirators. In return for Vlad killing the architect of her boss's assassination, the agent agrees to get the deed to Mother's house from Vonnith. With those exceptions, the conspiracy will be allowed to succeed. Jhereg loans will protect most citizens from total bankruptcy, and the market will survive. With everything sorted out, Kiera confronts Vlad about several of his actions during the course of the investigation and Vlad admits that he knows a secret about Kiera. Citing several instances when Kiera's speaking patterns changed and she displayed more knowledge of arcane military history than would be expected, Vlad reveals that Kiera is in fact an alternate identity of Sethra Lavode, the most powerful sorceress in the world. Kiera admits the truth, but takes comfort in the fact that Vlad, being the only person who knows both Sethra and Kiera, has had the ability to discover her secret. One of Kiera's omissions in her tale to Cawti appears to be this final revelation. Some time after the end of her tale, Kiera sends another letter to Cawti, sending her best wishes. She also compliments Cawti's young child, Vlad Norathar, whose existence is apparently one of Cawti's secrets. |
7258956 | /m/025xhh2 | Dragon | Steven Brust | 1998 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The plot cuts between three timelines. The first timeline follows Vlad's actions at the final battle of a war he has joined. The second follows the events that lead up to the battle. The third marks the events after the battle. Each chapter begins in the first timeline, then switches to the second, while several interludes and the epilogue trace the third. Several weeks after the events of Taltos, the Dragon wizard Baritt is killed. Morrolan then hires Vlad to protect a cache of Morganti weapons in Baritt's home. Vlad sees to the job with the help of a psychic Hawklord named Daymar. When one of the weapons, an unremarkable greatsword, is stolen, Vlad traces the theft to Fornia, an ambitious Dragonlord who neighbors Morrolan's domain. Morrolan is not sure whether the weapon is actually valuable, or if the theft is merely an excuse to start a war, but he resolves to fight Fornia regardless. When Fornia sends a few thugs to intimidate Vlad at his home (a big taboo for Jhereg in the Organization), Vlad recklessly offers his help to Morrolan in the upcoming war. Vlad and Morrolan attend Baritt's funeral service, where they meet Fornia. The two sides square off and Morrolan delivers the necessary insult to start the war. Vlad insults Fornia as well, publicly committing himself to the war. After the conversation, Morrolan deduces that Fornia values the stolen sword for some reason. To learn more, Morrolan takes Vlad to meet a Serioli. The Serioli tells them that the stolen sword might be a Great Weapon, and that Vlad's magical chain, Spellbreaker, is a piece of a Great Weapon as well. Vlad leaves his operation in the hands of his lieutenant, Kragar, and joins Morrolan's army. Morrolan places him in Cropper Company, an elite unit consisting mostly of Dragonlords, which he places in the vanguard so that Vlad will be close to Fornia's base of operations. Vlad mixes with his fellow soldiers and finds that most of them are surprisingly courteous despite their personal distaste for Easterners. Vlad adjusts to military life and has long conversations about soldiering, military philosophy, and the differences between Dragons and Jhereg. During the first battle, Vlad finds that he cannot bring himself to abandon his new comrades as he had planned. Throughout the campaign he fights bravely and takes several wounds, earning the respect of his comrades. He also makes a name for himself by performing a few acts of nighttime sabotage in the enemy camp, which he finds more suited to his skills than pitched combat. The final battle begins, which is the start of the first timeline. Vlad avoids the fighting and infiltrates the enemy base. He openly approaches Fornia and his honor guard, who take him prisoner. Vlad summons Daymar in an effort to mind-read Fornia's plans, but Fornia blocks him. As Morrolan's forces near, one of Vlad's comrades arrives to help him. Fornia becomes distracted and Vlad leads his small band in a charge at Fornia's position. Vlad kills Fornia's main sorcerer while his comrade attacks Fornia and is killed by the Morganti greatsword. Vlad kills Fornia, tosses the greatsword towards Morrolan, and runs. In the third timeline, Vlad has returned home from war. He learns that Sethra the Younger picked up the greatsword and claimed it as spoils of war, but she could not discover any hidden power within it. She has given up and wants to trade the greatsword for the sword of Kieron the Conqueror, which is now owned by Morrolan's cousin Aliera. Vlad reluctantly arranges a meeting at his house, but the meeting quickly turns violent. Vlad summons Morrolan, who crosses Blackwand with Sethra's greatsword. The greatsword shatters, revealing within it the shortsword Pathfinder, a Great Weapon. Sethra is sprawled by the blow, and Aliera uses the opportunity to accept Sethra's original proposal and take Pathfinder for herself. |
7260593 | /m/025xk0b | Issola | Steven Brust | 2001 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Still on the run from the Jhereg Organization, Vlad receives a surprise visit by Lady Teldra, the Issola servant of his friend Morrolan. At an inn, Teldra tells Vlad that Morrolan and his cousin Aliera have gone missing, and requests his help. They teleport to Dzur Mountain and speak with Sethra Lavode, a powerful enchantress. Vlad learns that the disappearance probably has something to do with the Jenoine. Sethra tells Vlad about how the Jenoine came to Dragaera and magically changed it for their own mysterious ends, and how the Dragaerans, Serioli, and gods managed to oust them from the world. The Jenoine have been trying to return ever since, and this could be the first step in the next major offensive. Vlad and Teldra teleport to Morrolan's home, Castle Black, and meet the Necromancer. They use the connection between Vlad's magical chain, Spellbreaker, and Morrolan's Great Weapon, Blackwand, to trace Morrolan's location. Vlad and Teldra then use the magic windows in Morrolan's study to transport there. They discover Morrolan and Aliera chained to the wall of a large, barren room on another plane of existence. Sorcery is not possible there, and the air is hard to breathe. Several Jenoine arrive, but Teldra speaks their language and attempts to engage them in diplomacy. They give her a Morganti dagger and promise to release the four of them if Vlad will assassinate Verra, his own Demon Goddess. Vlad and Teldra transport to Verra's halls and speak with the Demon Goddess. Vlad behaves flippantly during the conversation, but has no intention of attempting to kill his goddess. Teldra smooths over the conversation with her impeccable courtesy, but the pair return to the barren room having accomplished little. Though they have nowhere to go, Vlad frees Morrolan and Aliera from their bonds using his witchcraft. Soon after, a Jenoine arrives and a fight breaks out. Vlad is knocked unconscious and awakes chained to the wall along with Teldra, while Aliera and Morrolan have escaped. Vlad and Teldra idly chat about the nature and necessity of courtesy. Once Vlad has recuperated, he frees them with his witchcraft again. Vlad continues to note that the Jenoine's treatment of them, and their behavior in general, seem to make no sense. Vlad investigates the room and uses Spellbreaker to dispel an illusion concealing an exit. Outside, they find a natural landscape and a stream. Vlad discovers that the stream consists of amorphia, liquid chaos used to power sorcery, rather than water. He is thunderstruck by such a creation. Using half-remembered magic, he solidifies a small portion of amorphia into the usable form of a stone without destroying himself. Vlad and Teldra return to the room and wait until Morrolan and Aliera arrive on their own rescue mission. An unsuccessful escape attempt follows, and afterwards Vlad realizes that his vision has changed somehow: he now sees additional objects in the room that others cannot. Morrolan uses the power of Blackwand to share Vlad's vision with the rest of the group. They identify a large chunk of rock in the middle of the room as trellanstone, the substance from which the Orb was made, and makes sorcery possible. The Jenoine are using immense power through the trellanstone to keep the amorphia stream flowing. Terrified by this discovery, Vlad uses his witchcraft to summon Verra, an extravagant insult. Verra quickly learns the scope of the situation, however, and leads an assault on the Jenoine. Vlad uses his amorphia stone to channel Elder Sorcery. This distracts the Jenoine long enough for the four to escape. Vlad awakes in Dzur mountain with his left arm numb and lifeless. Sethra, Verra, Morrolan, and Aliera puzzle out how the Jenoine acquired so much amorphia. The Imperial Orb is already linked to the Great Sea of Amorphia, so the Jenoine must be tapping the Lesser Sea, which was created during Adron's Disaster, a mishap with Elder Sorcery instigated by Aliera's father. Sethra organizes an impromptu raid on the Lesser Sea to cut off the Jenoine's link. She insists that Vlad accompany them in spite of his dead arm and lack of magical skill, believing that Spellbreaker might again prove useful. Vlad and Teldra accompany Sethra's group of some of the most powerful Dragaerans in the Empire, along with Verra and assortment of gods, to the Lesser Sea. They cut off the Jenoine's link and engage four of them in combat. Vastly outnumbered by Dragaera's most powerful beings, the Jenoine prove more than a match. Vlad and Teldra stay out of the fighting until Morrolan is killed. Teldra suddenly grabs Vlad's Morganti dagger and stabs a Jenoine. The dagger has little effect on the Jenoine, who then uses it to stab Teldra in turn, destroying her soul. Grief-stricken, Vlad attempts to pull the dagger from Teldra's body, but in doing so allows Spellbreaker to contact the weapon. Using unknown power, Vlad intuitively recovers the remnants of Teldra's soul and joins it with the dagger and Spellbreaker to form a new Great Weapon. Vlad uses the dagger to pierce a Jenoine's defenses and kill it, causing a rout in the Jenoine's ranks. Back at Dzur Mountain, Morrolan is revivified. Vlad speaks to Sethra about his new weapon, Godslayer, though Vlad prefers to think of it as Lady Teldra. Vlad feels her soul within the blade and finally understands how she manages to always seem so genuine: she genuinely likes people. He feels her love for him through the weapon, and believes that it might have a positive effect on his personality. The Necromancer offers to teleport Vlad to a destination of his choosing. Vlad realizes that he has much less to fear from the Organization now. He decides to return to Adrilankha and visit Valabar's, his favorite restaurant. |
7261888 | /m/025xlh2 | Wringer | Jerry Spinelli | 1997 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Palmer LaRue grew up in a town called Waymer with a yearly tradition of letting pigeons out of a crate and shooting them with shotguns in order to raise money for the city's playground. Ten-year-old boys learn how to pick up the wounded birds that have not yet died and then wring their necks to "put them out of their misery." Palmer refuses to take part in such a horrific ceremony. When pressured by his peers, Henry, Mutto, and Beans, Palmer convinces them that he is one of them so that he will be considered cool by his classmates. Palmer keeps a pigeon named Nipper as a pet while keeping the pigeon's existence a secret. The day of the pigeon shooting comes and Palmer is nervous because he let his friend Dorothy release Nipper. It is then revealed that Nipper had been released near the railroad tracks, where people capture the pigeons and crate them for the shooting. The pigeons are released and Nipper is wounded. One of Palmer's "friends" happens to be at the shooting, and he brings the pigeon back onto the field to be killed by the sharpshooter. Palmer carries Nipper off the field in the midst of gunfire. Palmer realizes how he might have changed this tradition when he hears a kid from the audience tell his father that he wants a pigeon for a pet. |
7262573 | /m/025xm10 | A Corner of the Universe | Ann M. Martin | 10/1/2002 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The summer of 1960 is a season that the novel's narrator and protagonist, 11-almost-12-year-old Hattie Owen, expects to be as comfortably uneventful as all the others in her small town of tranquil Millerton, PA. She's looking forward to helping her mother run their boarding house with its eccentric adult boarders, painting alongside her father, and reading. Then 21-year-old Uncle Adam, whom Hattie never knew existed, comes to stay with his parents, who are Hattie's grandparents (Nana and Papa), because his "school", an institution for the mentally disabled, has closed down. Soon, various events occur and start to "shake up" the summer Hattie had planned. Both Adam and Hattie get to know each other, but a heartbreaking turn of events leads to everyone-including Hattie-realizing that no one really knew and understood Adam as much as he needed them to. |
7265102 | /m/025xns0 | The Panic of 1819 | null | null | null | During the 19th century it was believed that the Panic originated within the economic system itself, since the event could not be readily attributed to any specific government blunder or disaster as had previous crises. Rothbard suggests instead that the Panic of 1819 grew largely out of the changes wrought by the War of 1812 on the still-fledgling republic, and by the postwar boom that followed. The outbreak of war stifled foreign trade and spurred the growth of domestic manufacturing, which mushroomed to fill the gap left by declining imports and also served to satisfy the nation's appetite for war goods. The war also brought a rash of paper money, as the government borrowed heavily to finance the war. The credit expansion also led to rising prices, as economic theory from the Austrian School—which includes Rothbard—would predict. Austrian theory also predicts the bust that must inevitably follow the non-specie-based credit expansion. Rothbard lays out the events of both bust and boom. |
7266618 | /m/025xq86 | The Wolf Worlds | Allan Cole | 1984 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Sten, leader of the Mantis Team 13, Empire's covert ops, is on the way back from Eryx Cluster, when his spy ship is ambushed by Janissary cruiser. After crashing on nearby planet, Team 13 is able to overpower Janissars, capture their ship and return home. The Eternal Emperor is not pleased with results of Sten's mission, which confirms existence of very rare mineral in Eryx Cluster. The shortest path to Eryx goes right through Lupus Cluster. Also known as "Wolf Worlds", Lupus Cluster is a home of the cult of Talemein, religious dictatorship, whose military half, Janissars, practice piracy to acquire money and ships, and ruthlessly kill any captives who do not immediately and fervently convert. According to Emperor's analysis, in three years, every "wannabe merchant, miner and explorer" will travel right through Lupus Cluster, where they will be slaughtered en masse by one or other Talamein faction. Emperor will have to send Imperial Guard, which will be a great hit on his public relations, because he gave the worlds to the young soldier Talemein a few thousand years before. Since official action is out of the discussion, the only acceptable solution is unofficial one. Sten receives very simple order: in three years he has to pacify whole Lupus Cluster, by someone who will not shoot at miners when they arrive (i.e. not Janissars). How, it doesn't matter. He can recruit anyone, but no more than one other member from Mantis. Sten took Alex Kilgour, his best friend and former teammember from Mantis. Sten's first action is meeting with "moderate" Talamein, ruled by merchant prince Parral and his prophet Theodomir, and offering them mercenary services and unification of Cluster. They accept, secretly planning to kill Sten when he gets the job done. After that, Sten offers help to Bhor, natives of Lupus Cluster. Bhor are race of knuckle dragging Neanderthals, that, when they're not tearing their competitors in half the long way, they're doing the same to their competitor's bank accounts. Being militant and violent beings, they quickly develop a great friendship with Sten and Alex. Sten then begins his campaign by attacking Janissary military center, followed by multiple distraction attacks. His primary objective is to attack Janissary shipyards. Slightly understrength, Sten accepted help of Mathias, Theodomir's son, who has small group of his followers available. During the attack Parral betrays Sten and orders his ships to retreat, leaving Sten to die on the planet. Luckily, Sten is saved by intervention of Bhor, and he decides to pay Parral a little visit. After Parral's unfortunately demise from the hands of Mathias, Eternal Emperor personally visits Lupus Cluster and declares prophet Theodomir as legitimate ruler, in spite of the fact that Sten warned Mahoney that he needed more time for situation to settle. Day after Emperor left, Mathias murders his own father, falsely accuses Sten and declared holy war against traitors, unbelievers, and "that heretic Emperor". Sten and Alex escapes, but his mercenaries are captured. Sten asks Mahoney to give him back Mantis Team 13, hoping that he can resolve situation. With the help of his team, Sten infiltrates Lupus Cluster capital, where he frees his imprisoned mercenaries and launches an attack. Eventually, Sten captures Mathias, druggs him and forces him to recant and publicly declare peace. The Eternal Emperor is very pleased with Sten's action in Lupus Cluster and promotes him to commander of the Gurkhas, Emperor's personal bodyguards. |
7266781 | /m/025xqdp | The Court of a Thousand Suns | Allan Cole | 1985 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Sten is now the commander of the Imperial Gurkhas, personal bodyguards of the Eternal Emperor. However, Sten isn't happy with his new assignment at the Imperial Court, thinking of Court as "boring place full of boring people". When a bomb explosion in a bar kills a local mafia leader, Sten is surprised that Emperor immediately puts him on the case, apparently for no reason. It is up to Sten and a tough female detective Lisa Haines to discover what happened. Sten finds that the bomb was detonated by an amateur who killed target he was supposed to capture, but whoever hired him, was professional. Sten pursues bomberman, who got himself imprisoned on Tahn world, and extracts him. During interrogation Sten discovers alarming news - the man who hired that amateur is a former member of the Mercury Corps. He also discovers codeword "Rashid" that was supposed to identify bomberman's target. The Emperor is visibly startled - "Rashid" is his name when he goes incognito between common people, so the explosion was meant for him. He orders Sten to continue with investigation. Sten eventually finds renegade Mercury agent responsible for whole operation, but he commits suicide to avoid capture. Sten asks his friends (including Alex Kilgore) for help with the follow-up investigation, while Eternal Emperor goes to diplomatic meeting with Tahn delegation. In Emperor's absence, rebels decide to put the cards on the table. Their original plan was to capture Emperor incapacited by explosion and reprogram his brain, so he would follow their orders. Failing that, they put backup plan in motion - assassinate Emperor and Tahn delegation, provoking war between Empire and Tahn. Sten, Alex and Gurkgas are captured and imprisoned by Praetorian guard, whose members side with rebels. Sten is able to escape and with the help of Gurkhas overthrow Praetorian guard. With the only communication equipment sabotaged, he has no choice than travel to the meeting and try to save as much as he can. After many violent gunfights aboard Emperor's flagship, Sten barely saves the Eternal Emperor from assassination attempt. However, he can do nothing about Tahn delegation, whose members were murdered at the beginning of a coup. Tahn take killing their delegation as a provocation and immediately begin preparation for a war. |
7266960 | /m/025xqkx | Fleet of the Damned | Chris Bunch | 1988 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | In this book Sten goes to flight school to learn the ins-and-outs of space combat and then heads off to the front lines of the impending war with the militaristic Tahn. Being assigned on the planet Cavite to Admiral van Doorman, Sten assumes his command, 4 new tacships (Bulkeley Class) with Alex Kilgour having somehow "assigned" himself (We'll never quite find out exactly how he managed that...). They have a rather interesting time evading van Doorman (who is revealed as more of a social admiral rather than a military one), crewing their tacships with a mix of ex-cops and ex-convicts, and finding ways to get their much needed supplies (with the help of an alien spindar). Eventually, due to events from the previous book, the Empire ends up at war with the Tahn, a war that Sten sees coming but is powerless to prevent. Sten's tacships stop first invasion attempt, but Sten is unable to protect planet indefinitely and eventually loses all his ships (one due to friendly fire, second mysteriously "vanishes", third and fourth are destroyed while defending from second invasion). Sten, Alex and his surviving crew continues in defense of planet as infantry, but eventually situation on Cavite becomes unsustainable and Sten is forced to evacuate all remaining military forces Unfortunately, Tahn fleet intercepts Sten's convoy and he has no choice than attack his numerically superior opponent. When his transports manage to escape, Sten surrenders his heavily damaged ship and both Sten and Alex are captured by Tahn. |
7266985 | /m/025xqm8 | The Quest for Saint Camber | Katherine Kurtz | 1986 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The plot of The Quest for Saint Camber covers a period of approximately three months, from early March to mid-June 1125. The novel begins as Prince Conall Haldane, cousin of King Kelson Haldane, meets with the Deryni adept Tiercel de Claron, a member of the Camberian Council who has been secretly working with Conall to develop the prince's Haldane potential. Meanwhile, Bishop Duncan McLain faces an ecclesiastical tribunal to confirm the legitimacy of the marriage vows he took years before becoming a priest. With the assistance of both Kelson and Duke Alaric Morgan, Duncan convinces Archbishop Thomas Cardiel that his brief marriage was legal, thus confirming the trueborn status of his son, Earl Dhugal MacArdry. A few days later, Kelson, Conall, and Dhugal are all knighted. During the ceremony, Duncan publicly reveals that he is Deryni, an act which causes a great deal of consternation among his fellow bishops. Afterwards, Kelson confesses his growing affection for Princess Rothana of Nur Hallaj, a Deryni religious novice who admits that her love for the king is causing her to doubt her vocation. Although the two make no binding promises, they agree to pursue a deeper commitment when Kelson returns from his summer quest. Their conversation is observed by Conall, whose own attraction for Rothana further fuels his jealousy toward his royal cousin. Conall meets with Tiercel again, but an argument between teacher and pupil results in tragedy when an angry Conall shoves Tiercel down a flight of stairs, breaking his neck and killing him instantly. Conall pilfers a satchel of drugs from Tiercel's corpse, probes the dead man's mind for additional arcane knowledge, then leaves the body hidden deep within the walls of Rhemuth castle. Shortly thereafter, Kelson embarks on a quest to discover lost relics of Saint Camber, accompanied by Dhugal, Conall, and a small party of companions. After their departure from Rhemuth, Duncan discovers Tiercel's body. After informing Prince Regent Nigel Haldane, Kelson's uncle and Conall's father, Duncan travels to Valoret, where he informs Bishop Denis Arilan, another member of the Camberian Council, of Tiercel's mysterious death. Meanwhile, Kelson and his party are exploring the ruins of the MacRorie family lands near Culdi. While traveling through the steep hills, a deadly accident occurs when a rain-soaked trail collapses and several members of the group fall into the river below. Kelson and Dhugal disappear into the river and are quickly swept underground by the current. Although the surviving members of the group search desperately for the pair, they eventually conclude that Kelson and Dhugal are dead. The survivors of the king's party return to Rhemuth, where they inform Nigel of his nephew's death. Stricken with grief, the new king refuses to be crowned until Kelson's body is found or a year and a day pass. While the court attempts to proceed in the wake of Kelson's death, Duncan travels to Corwyn to inform Morgan of the accident. However, Kelson and Dhugal have both survived the incident, and have been swept underground by the river's current. Although desperate to find a way out of the subterranean cavern, Dhugal must first struggle to keep Kelson alive while attempting to treat the king's injuries. In Rhemuth, Conall begins adjusting to his new role as heir to the throne. He pressures Rothana to marry him, playing on her grief for Kelson to convince her that he will need a Deryni queen as much as Kelson did. At Arilan's urging, Conall then tries to convince his father to accept his responsibilities as the next king. However, during the conversation, Conall accidentally reveals his own knowledge of Tiercel de Claron. Desperate to keep his part in Tiercel's death a secret, Conall lashes out with his magical powers, but he is unable to completely control the energy he unleashes. Although Nigel survives the attack, he is left in a comatose state from which he cannot awaken. With Kelson presumed dead and Nigel incapacitated, Conall is acknowledged as Prince Regent. While Kelson and Dhugal continue to struggle for survival, Conall moves to secure his new position of authority. He finally convinces Rothana to marry him, then allows Morgan, Duncan, and Arilan to perform a ritual designed to activate his Haldane potential. After the ritual, Morgan and Duncan depart Rhemuth, determined to find the bodies of Kelson and Dhugal. The missing king and earl eventually reach a series of underground tombs and slowly work their way through each one. When they finally escape the tombs, they are immediately captured and imprisoned. Dhugal discovers that he has inherited his father's Healing talent and quickly heals both himself and the king. Their captors identify themselves as the Servants of Saint Camber, a semi-religious group who have remained hidden for two centuries. To earn their freedom, Kelson agrees to undergo a ritual trial to prove their worthiness. On the same night that Conall and Rothana are married, Kelson submits to the trial and receives a vision of Saint Camber. Meanwhile, Morgan and Duncan succeed in contacting Dhugal, who waits anxiously for the king's return. The following morning, Kelson emerges from the trial and tells the Servants of his vision, promising to restore Saint Camber to a place of honor in Gwynedd. He and Dhugal are released, and the two later rendezvous with Morgan and Duncan. As all four discuss the recent events, they begin to suspect Conall's treachery. Kelson returns briefly to Valoret, where the Curia of Bishops restores Duncan's priestly status despite his Deryni heritage. Several days later, the royal party uses a Transfer Portal to return to Rhemuth, where Morgan, Duncan, and Dhugal use their combined powers to heal Nigel. Nigel confirms Conall's treason, and the prince is immediately taken prisoner. Before Conall's trial, Rothana informs Kelson that she is carrying Conall's child. Although Kelson still declares his love for her, Rothana refuses to consider marrying Kelson, believing that she is no longer a worthy bride for the King of Gwynedd. During the trial, Conall defiantly admits to all of his crimes, including Tiercel's death and the attack on Nigel. He challenges Kelson to a Duel Arcane, but the king defeats Conall by conjuring a surprisingly powerful image of Saint Camber. Almost two months later, Kelson and Dhugal travel to Corwyn after the birth of Morgan's son and heir. They discuss Conall's execution and Rothana's continuing refusal to marry Kelson, despite their love for each other. While riding along the beach, they encounter a mysterious man who provides them with both a vision of Saint Camber's tomb and an additional clue to aid their ongoing quest. |
7267464 | /m/025xr43 | A Thief of Time | Tony Hillerman | 1988 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Ellie Friedman-Bernal is suspected of selling ancient Anasazi pottery on the black market. Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee are sent to investigate. Friedman-Bernal's colleagues, Maxie Davis and Randy Elliott, claim to be clueless about her whereabouts. Hailing from a hard-scrabble farm, Davis is an improbable success at the academic game, while East Coast patrician Elliott is more at home as a scholar. Friedman-Bernal's cryptic notes lead Leaphorn and Chee to preacher/fence Slick Nakai and his musician/accomplice Pete Etcitty. Etcitty later turns up dead, along with another pot poacher. Further complicating matters are rich, unsavory collectors Richard DuMont and local rancher Harrison Houk, the last person to see Friedman-Bernal alive. |
7267762 | /m/025xrfr | Darkwitch Rising | Sara Douglass | 2005-05 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | All of the players are back again, born in medieval London, and with more desire to finish the Troy Game for once and for all. Brutus is reborn as King Charles, Coel as Louis de Silva, Matilda as Queen Catherine, Ecub as Marguerite, Cornelia as Noah Banks, Genvissa as Jane Orr and the hateful Asterion as Weyland Orr. With Genvissa already in his hands with his imp inside her womb, all Weyland needs to do is wait for Noah to come to him as she must, with another imp inside her own womb. Then his plans are to force Jane to teach Noah the arts of Mistress of the Labyrinth, then dispose of Jane however he will. While he is waiting, he is running his own whorehouse. Charles, the rightful heir to the throne of England is exiled to the Scilly Islands, but not entirely. Unknownst to all but his close circle of friends including Louis, Marguerite, Kate, he has a small turf of England. Together, using this small piece of earth, they scry out Noah. Noah makes love to Brutus as a 'healing of the wounds' and they conceive a 'daughter'. That daughter is named Catling - the Troy Game incarnate. As Catling grows in Noah's womb, she traps the imps into her power. Later in the story, Noah Banks returns to Weyland through excruciating pain caused by the imp. At this stage in the story, Catling is already born. Unknownst to her, when she would have died, Weyland came and, unexpectedly, healed her back. Through this pain caused by imps to the two rival women in the past, Jane and Noah both become sisters through shared pain. Much later, Noah falls in love with Weyland and deserts Louis. She is a Darkwitch, the Goddess Eaving and also Mistress of the Labyrinth. Only she, Louis and Weyland combined have the power to finally exterminate the Troy Game for once and for all. But, without Louis by their side, Noah and Weyland fail and so the final part of the Troy Game is written: Druid's Sword. |
7269300 | /m/025xt5t | The Magic Christian | Terry Southern | 1959 | {"/m/02yq81": "Comic novel", "/m/01z4y": "Comedy"} | Guy Grand is an eccentric billionaire who spends most of his time playing elaborate practical jokes on people. A big spender, he does not mind losing large sums of money to complete strangers if he can have a good laugh. All his escapades are designed to prove his theory that everyone has their price—it just depends on the amount one is prepared to pay them. One of Grand's favorite pranks is to buy hot dogs from railway station vendors just before the train pulls out, handing them one overly-large bill after another and then demanding his change, as the train begins to move and the vendor has to run to keep up. Grand pays the actor playing a surgeon in a live television soap opera to deviate from the script, comment in drastic terms on the bad quality of the show, and walk off the set. Other actors follow in later weeks, in the same way, until critics begin to praise the show's "bold, innovative comedy" and the viewing audience comes to watch for "the moment" when an actor will break the fourth wall and leave the set. He also has unusual edits inserted into popular movies, and shown irregularly in theaters, disturbing the viewers who notice them. Grand secretly buys a respectable New York advertising agency, installs a pygmy as its president and has him "scurry about the offices like a squirrel and chatter raucously in his native tongue" in front of all the top executive staff and their prominent clients. He then buys a cosmetics company and launches a big promotional campaign for a new shampoo which, as it turns out in the end, has a very detrimental effect on those who use it. A supposedly pheromone-based scent produced by the same company turns out to be a time-release stink bomb, causing wearers to smell horrible some hours after spraying it on. Grand buys a huge downtown vacant lot in a major city. He then has a three foot brick wall built around the perimeter and fills it with feces and offal into which bills of all denominations have been mixed. He then takes pleasure watching immaculately dressed people defiling themselves by braving the stench, and ruining their clothing and dignity, by wading through the muck for the bills. Grand makes a habit of having his chauffeur park illegally in downtown areas, and when being ticketed offering the officer enormous amounts of money to eat the ticket. A newspaper under Grand's control first begins to add foreign language passages and perverse commentary to articles, then changes to reporting simply dry facts, then to printing only hate mail received by subscribers. Grand takes a vacation, showing up to an African safari with three natives carrying an unmounted howitzer, and firing it at game animals. Grand's final adventure takes place on board the S.S. Magic Christian, a remodeled luxury liner catering only to the super-rich. He first arbitrarily rejects several Social Register favorites for passage, sending them into a furor, then the ship's crew treat the selected passengers harshly. Grand himself responds to the requests from notables for passage. One of the best is when an Italian contessa lists her family history and her qualifications, and Grand rejects her by writing, "No Wops" across the top, and returning it to her.Graffiti gradually appear on the walls, and the ship begins to resemble a ghetto, while the captain (actually an actor) insists everyone remain calm—even when it turns out the only food available is potatoes, and the ship turns around and heads back into port at top speed. Grand cuts back on his activities afterward, limiting himself to stunts like buying local grocery stores, marking the prices down to pennies on the dollar (with even bigger discounts for bulk purchases), then watching the store stock empty out within hours as customers burden themselves with more groceries than they will ever use. |
7272508 | /m/025xx53 | Over My Dead Body | Rex Stout | null | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/028v3": "Detective fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Carla Lovchen and Neya Tormic, two young women from Montenegro, come to Wolfe's office asking his assistance. Miss Tormic has been accused, falsely she says, of the theft of diamonds from the locker room of a fencing studio where she works. She cannot afford Wolfe's large fees, but Miss Tormic has a document showing that Wolfe adopted her when she was an infant, at the time of World War I. Wolfe has not seen her since. Wolfe undertakes to investigate Miss Tormic's predicament, and sends Archie to the fencing studio. At the studio, Archie is gathering information when a body is discovered: that of a British citizen who has just provided Miss Tormic with an alibi for the diamond theft. The body has been pierced by an épée – but because of the rapier's blunt point, this is thought at first to be an impossibility. After the police arrive, Archie notices that an object has been stashed in the pocket of his topcoat. Concerned that he's being set up, Archie escapes the premises without examining the object. Back at Wolfe's house, the object is found to be a bloodstained fencing glove, in which a col de mort has been wrapped. A col de mort, it turns out, is a sharp metal fitting that can be attached to the end of an épée, so as to turn a relatively safe weapon into a deadly one. Wolfe and Archie conceal the glove and the fitting in a loaf of Italian round, which Fritz covers with chocolate icing and keeps in the refrigerator. Subsequently, the evidence is turned over to Inspector Cramer, who decides that his best chance to solve the murder is to camp out with Wolfe and keep an eye on him. Uncharacteristically, Wolfe makes no objection. A patron of the studio, Madame Zorka, phones Wolfe to tell him that she saw someone conceal the glove in Archie's coat and threatens to inform the police. Archie arranges to pick her up for a conversation with Wolfe, but Zorka's gone missing. Yet another murder ensues, this time of a thinly-disguised Nazi who contributes to Miss Tormic's alibi. After a considerable amount of flailing about, Wolfe manages to get the dramatis personae together in his office where, in the manner that became standard in the series, he exposes the murderer and motive. |
7274737 | /m/025xydb | The Queen's Fool | Philippa Gregory | 2004 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The story starts when a nine-year-old Hannah Green sees Thomas Seymour and Elizabeth flirting when she delivers books for her father. When asked why she seems surprised, she tells him she has seen a scaffold behind him. Seymour is executed within a year. Hannah and her father run a book shop on Fleet Street. She and her father left Spain after Hannah's mother was burnt at the stake. On their journey to England, her father dresses Hannah as a boy to protect her. One day, Lord Robert Dudley and John Dee, his tutor, visit the shop. John realises that Hannah has the Sight, after telling them that the Angel Uriel, was walking behind them. Her father denies it, calling Hannah a fool and claiming she is simple. Lord Robert and John Dee, insist on hiring Hannah, begging her as a holy fool to King (Edward VI). The king, on hearing about her gift, asks her what she sees of him. Hannah replies that she sees the gates of heaven opening for him. Amused by her answer, the king accepts Hannah. Though unwilling, Hannah has to accept it and thus begins her life at court. Hannah becomes the Dudley family's vassal, performing tasks and errands for the Dudley family as requested. Lord Robert sends her to spy on Lady Mary, King Edward's heir. She joins Mary's household, seeing a worn-out woman with a sad life. While there, they hear of King Edward's death and the Duke of Northumberland's plans to put his son, Guilford Dudley, and his wife, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne instead, intended to rule them the way he ruled King Edward. Unfortunately the Duke's plans unravel when England declares for Mary so she takes the crown from her late brother, with Hannah by her side. Queen Mary is crowned, making Hannah overjoyed for her mistress but also heartbroken that Robert Dudley is in the Tower of London. The jester Will Sommers, a real historical figure, teaches Hannah how to be an entertaining jester, as her older and more experienced colleague. Meanwhile, her betrothed, Daniel Carpenter, is annoyed that Hannah is in love with someone else. Hannah doesn't have anything against Daniel; she simply doesn't want to marry. She learns to deal with her romantic feelings and worries about Queen Mary's forthcoming marriage to Prince Philip of Spain, an enthusiastic supporter of the Inquisition. Hannah's father, Daniel and his family are concerned that Prince Philip will bring the Inquisition to England and insist on leaving. Daniel and Hannah previously agreed to marry on her 16th birthday but Daniel insists they marry on arriving in Calais, sealing it with a kiss. Hannah realizes that she desires Daniel. When Queen Mary and Prince Philip marry - Hannah's father, Daniel and his family leave England. Hannah initially agrees to go too but changes her mind on seeing Princess Elizabeth going to the Tower of London, promising to join them in Calais when released from service to Queen Mary and Princess Elizabeth. Hannah slips back into court life, receiving a letter from Daniel declaring his love but is unsure how she feels about him. Over a year later, Hannah is arrested for heresy and is taken for questioning. Luckily, the clerk is John Dee, her old friend. He gets the charges dropped, dismissing them as servants' gossip, and she returns to court but asks Daniel to come and collect her - no longer feeling safe. Daniel and her father collect her within a week and they sail to Calais. During the night, Hannah and Daniel declare their love for one another. When they arrive in Calais, Hannah starts dressing and behaving like a lady and is instructed in how to run a household by her mother-in-law. She and Daniel marry and live with their family but Hannah struggles to get on with Daniel's mother and sisters. Later, after an argument with her mother-in-law, she discovers Daniel has a son with a Gentile woman living in Calais. Furious, she confronts Daniel, who admits it and tells her that if she forbids it, he will never see the woman or their son again. Hannah cannot forgive him and leaves Daniel, asking her father to move out with her and start their own bookshop. A few months later, Hannah's father dies and Daniel inherits everything but signs it over to Hannah. She runs the printing shop, taking her father's nurse as a lodger but flees when Calais falls to the French. Whilst escaping, she meets Robert Dudley and the mother of her husband's son. She begs Hannah to take her baby just before being killed by a French soldier. Hannah and her stepson flee to England under the protection of Lord Robert, staying with his wife, Amy, and friends of theirs. They suspect that Lord Robert is baby Daniel's father, treating Hannah accordingly, until she tells them that Daniel is her husband's son. Lord Robert is disappointed when Hannah refuses to be his mistress, having realising that Daniel is the love of her life. She returns to court and is welcomed by Queen Mary and Princess Elizabeth, performing errands for Mary again. Mary asks her to use her gift to see if Elizabeth will keep England in the true faith but Hannah tells Mary that Elizabeth won't but will be a better queen than she is a woman. When the English prisoners are ransomed by the French, she returns to Calais to find her husband. He is released and promises to accept Hannah's son as his own until she tells that baby Daniel is his illegitimate son. They reunite and live together as a Jewish family - Hannah having come to realise the importance of her religion. Daniel is a member of "The d'Israeli family, who in England go under the name of Carpenter" - hinting that Hannah and Daniel might eventually be among the distant ancestors of the 19th Century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who was of Jewish origin. |
7278162 | /m/025y0rn | Hope Was Here | Joan Bauer | 2000 | {"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"} | A teenager named Hope Yancey lives with her aunt, Addie, in Brooklyn, where Addie works as a chef and Hope works as a waitress at "The Blue Box Diner." Hope lives with her aunt because her mother, Deena, (who named her Tulip Yancey, which she disliked so she officially changed her name to Hope when she was twelve) did not consider herself to be a suitable parent. Hope has no idea who her father is and feels that she cannot be whole until she meets him. She has a scrapbook filled with people who she thinks would be her father. Besides the scrapbook, she also has "memory books" from every place that she's been, given that she's moved a lot. Her goal is to be able to pull out all of her memory books when she finally meets her father and give him the play-by-play of her life. When the restaurant Hope and her aunt work at closes down because the owner, Gleason Beal, stole all of the restaurant's money, Addie and Hope decide to move to Mulhoney, a small city in southern Wisconsin, where they will work at a small-town diner. Before leaving her home, Hope writes "Hope was here" on one of the boards on the window. Writing her name somewhere noticeable but not obtrusive is her way of saying goodbye to a place. Hope's new boss, G.T. (Gabriel Thomas) Stoop, is a kind-hearted man, but he has leukemia which keeps him off of his feet at the diner. G.T. decided to run for mayor against the current, very corrupt mayor Eli Millstone. Millstone lets the Real Fresh Dairy company not pay taxes, and in exchange the workers at this company must support his campaign. The current mayor supports a huge company that causes a lot of problems for the townspeople, such as cracking roads and keeping people up at night using illegal routes to the highway. but his political power causes few to run against him. Meanwhile, Addie has been changing the menu at the diner, much to G.T.'s amusement. G.T. then shows interest in dating Addie, who responds positively but brusquely. Encouraged by G.T.'s success, the line cook Eddie Braverman (AKA Braverman), who works at the diner to help support his ill mother, decides to ask Hope out, who initially refuses. Hope is wary of dating Braverman because Deena has always told her to never date the cook. However, after a test date, Hope and Braverman become a couple. Hope also befriends the two other waitresses, Flo and Lou Ellen, and a Russian immigrant, Yuri, who works as a bus boy at the diner. Lou Ellen has a young daughter, Anastasia, who is ill and refuses to eat. G.T. sets up a nursery in his office and lets Lou Ellen bring her daughter to work. Anastasia reminds Hope of herself when she was a baby, so Hope and Braverman decide to help Lou Ellen by watching Anastasia. They finally succeed in getting her to drink from a bottle. Braverman,Hope and a group of students from the area high school form a Students for Stoop organization to support G.T.'s campaign. Because of Braverman's participation, he is attacked and beaten by a group of Millstone's supporters. During his campaign, G.T. discovers that his leukemia is in remission, but Millstone's campaign spreads a rumor that G.T.'s cancer has spread to his brain. The teens, Addie and G.T., along with Brenda, the deputy sheriff, all attempt to spread the truth about G.T., but they are not able to convince the townspeople in time, and G.T. loses the election. A few weeks later, Hope and Braverman are going over the list of voters, and they discover that Millstone rigged the election. G.T. is named the new mayor of Mulhoney and begins many reform programs. G.T. marries Addie and officially adopts Hope. About two years later, G.T.'s leukemia returns and he dies after Hope tells him that she thinks of him as her real father, the one that she was always looking for. Hope and Braverman leave for college, since he can now pay for his tuition thanks to reforms that G.T. started. |
7287353 | /m/025y87t | The Other Log of Phileas Fogg | Philip José Farmer | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/06www": "Steampunk", "/m/0fr3y1": "Parallel novel"} | Phileas Fogg is a mysterious British gentleman who lives with his valet Passepartout at No. 7 Saville-Row in Burlington Gardens during the latter half of the 19th century. Unbeknownst to his peers, he is also the immortal foster child of a race of humanoid aliens known as the Eridani. A man of great intellect and affluence, Fogg enters into a wager with a fellow Eridanian citing that he can circumnavigate the globe in exactly eighty days. Although witnesses feel that his claim is little more than the boasting of a rich eccentric, Fogg is in fact undertaking a secret mission on behalf of his Eridanian colleagues. Along with Passepartout, Fogg begins a quest to find a piece of stolen alien technology – a teleportation device that had recently fallen into the hands of the Eridani's rivals, an alien race known as the Capellas. His journey brings him face to face with the infamous sea scourge Captain Nemo, a Capellan agent who is also known in British circles by his nom de guerre – James Moriarty. The two combatants match wits with one another at several key locations, including the mysterious ghost ship known as the Mary Celeste. The journey climaxes with a final battle at Fogg's home in London, mere moments before meeting the deadline required to win his world-spanning wager. |
7292230 | /m/025ydbx | Earthquake Terror | Peg Kehret | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Palmer family are going on a trip to the Magpie Islands. During their trip, Mrs. Palmer breaks her ankle and has to leave with Mr. Palmer to go to the hospital in Beaverville, California. They make the decision to leave the kids by themselves. Jonathan and Abby are by themselves when Moose, their dog, starts barking frantically, trying to get Jonathan and Abbys' attention. The ground starts rumbling and shaking. It then starts to pour down rain on them. For Abby, the situation was difficult due to her accident when she was two years old, leaving her legs partially paralyzed. She uses her walker during the day, and she usually crawls at night. Jonathan and Abby are frightened, but Jonathan tells Abby to not worry and that everything is going to be all right. Abby is distressed, but she tries to calm herself by singing some songs that she knows. The earthquake stops, but the water is very high and there are trees down. The kids get on trees so they can stay afloat on the river. Jonathan and Abby then go down the river to see if they could get to shore. |
7294471 | /m/09fdf0 | A Riddle of Roses | null | 2000-10 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/021dfr": "Youth"} | The story is about an orphan girl named Meryl and her dream of becoming a bard like her mother before her, and the quest she must go on to achieve this goal. She and a Draoi (dro-aw-eye) named Halstatt come together to journey to a great kingdom and drink from a magic cauldron to discover her true destiny. |
7295674 | /m/025yg_k | Fer-de-Lance | Rex Stout | 1934 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/028v3": "Detective fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Maria Maffei, a family friend of one of his sometime employees Fred Durkin, appeals to Wolfe to locate her missing brother Carlo, a metalworker. Wolfe, affected by the Depression, decides to take the job, although it is unappealing to him. Archie locates Anna Fiore, a girl who listened in on a phone call Carlo received at his boarding-house. Wolfe learns from her that Carlo had clipped a story from a copy of the New York Times about the sudden death (apparently by stroke) of Peter Oliver Barstow, president of Holland College. Before Wolfe makes any more progress, Carlo Maffei is found stabbed in the back in the countryside. His sister says she will pay Wolfe to find his killer, so he keeps working. After consulting with a sports equipment dealer, Wolfe conjectures that Barstow had been murdered, that his own golf club had been the murder weapon, and that Carlo Maffei had been hired to construct it. He further speculates that whoever ordered the weapon killed Maffei to keep him silent. |
7296649 | /m/025yhnj | Mine | null | null | null | The novel tells the story of Laura Clayborne, a successful journalist, the wife of a stockbroker and mother-to-be. With her life seemingly falling apart, Laura hopes that her newborn son, David, will make her life everything it ought to be. Mary Terrell, aka Mary Terror, is a survivor of the radical 1960s and a once a member of the fanatical Storm Front Brigade. Mary lives in a hallucinatory world of memories, guns, and above all, murderous rage. After viewing an ad placed in a popular magazine, she becomes convinced that the former leader of the Brigade, Lord Jack, is commanding her to bring him the child she was carrying when her life was suddenly turned upside down. Mary steals Laura's baby and the manhunt is on. With no help at all Laura sets out on a cross-country trip to reclaim that which is hers. But soon Laura realizes that in order to get back her son and her life she may have to become as savage as the woman she's hunting. |
7297181 | /m/025yhvr | Infidel | Ayaan Hirsi Ali | 2007 | {"/m/0xdf": "Autobiography"} | Hirsi Ali writes about her youth in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya, about her flight to the Netherlands where she applied for political asylum, her university experience in Leiden, her work for the Labour Party, her transfer to the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, her election to Parliament, and the murder of Theo van Gogh, with whom she made the film Submission. The book ends with the controversy regarding her citizenship. |
7302007 | /m/025yn9l | San Andreas | Alistair MacLean | 1984 | {"/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The British Merchant Navy hospital ship San Andreas is en route from Murmansk to Halifax, Nova Scotia during World War II. It is forced to change its destination to Aberdeen, Scotland. It belonged to the Liberty Ship class design with large red crosses painted on the sides of its hull, San Andreas should have immunity from attack from all sides in the war and be granted safe passage. The first sign of trouble occurs when the ship's lights mysteriously fail just before a pre-dawn bombing attack that severely damages its superstructure and sinks its escort frigate. With most of the senior officers dead and the captain incapacitated, Bosun Archie McKinnon must take charge of the damaged ship and steer her to safety despite German aircraft, U-boats, stormy Arctic weather and sabotage by an unknown traitor on board. He must also discover the reason for the frantic and repeated German attempts to sink the San Andreas. What follows is a story of violence and mystery. |
7310111 | /m/025yv18 | Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart | Jane Lindskold | 2002 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Brought up by intelligent language-using Royal wolves, Firekeeper was found by humans and has yet to learn of human politics, diplomacy and more. Her other name is 'Lady Blysse'. After the three artifacts of magical value are stolen by Queen Valora, things start to go wrong. Princess Sapphire and Prince Shad are almost assassinated at their wedding, and in the ensuing battle between loyal subjects of the monarchs and the assassins, Firekeeper successfully manages to capture one of the assassins. Lady Melina Shield, who longs for the artifacts, has sorcery in her control. As soon as Baron Endbrook from Queen Valora comes to bear her a message, she leaves Citrine, her daughter, as a hostage in his care and goes off after the artifacts. However, she is not interested in them for the good of her kingdom - she is interested because they would give her greater power. Firekeeper returns to her pack of wolves after an urgent summoning, and her friends Lady Elise, Sir Jared and Derian watch over the court, uncovering a plan of treason by Melina Shield. In the end, Firekeeper retrieves the artifacts, but breaks them just in case anybody would use them for evil purposes. Afterwards, Firekeeper, along with the aid of her friends and the newly forming kingdom of Bright Haven, join together to save young Citrine from Baron Endbrook. Unfortunately, by the time they rescue Citrine, she has already gone insane since Baron Endbrook cut the two smallest fingers off her left hand. Other books in the series are as follows # Through Wolf's Eyes (2001) by Jane Lindskold # Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart (2002) by Jane Lindskold # The Dragon of Despair (2003) by Jane Lindskold # Wolf Captured (2004) by Jane Lindskold # Wolf Hunting (2006) by Jane Lindskold # Wolf's Blood (2007) by Jane Lindskold |
7310685 | /m/025yvgp | DeBono Hats | null | 1985 | null | Using a variety of approaches within thinking and problem solving allows the issue to be addressed from a variety of angles, thus servicing the needs of all individuals concerned. The thinking hats are useful for learners as they illustrate the need for individuals to address problems from a variety of different angles. They also aid learners as they allow the individual to recognize any deficiencies in the way that they approach problem solving, thus allowing them to rectify such issues. De Bono believed that the key to a successful use of the Six Thinking Hats methodology was the deliberate focusing of the discussion on a particular approach as needed during the meeting or collaboration session. For instance, a meeting may be called to review a particular problem and to develop a solution for the problem. The Six Thinking Hats method could then be used in a sequence to first of all explore the problem, then develop a set of solutions, and to finally choose a solution through critical examination of the solution set. So the meeting may start with everyone assuming the Blue hat to discuss how the meeting will be conducted and to develop the goals and objectives. The discussion may then move to Red hat thinking in order to collect opinions and reactions to the problem. This phase may also be used to develop constraints for the actual solution such as who will be affected by the problem and/or solutions. Next the discussion may move to the (Yellow then) Green hat in order to generate ideas and possible solutions. Next the discussion may move between White hat thinking as part of developing information and Black hat thinking to develop criticisms of the solution set. Because everyone is focused on a particular approach at any one time, the group tends to be more collaborative than if one person is reacting emotionally (Red hat) while another person is trying to be objective (White hat) and still another person is being critical of the points which emerge from the discussion (Black hat). |
7312115 | /m/025ywh0 | The Harrowing of Gwynedd | Katherine Kurtz | 1989 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The plot of The Harrowing of Gwynedd spans seven months, from early January to early August 918. The novel begins as Father Joram MacRorie and his sister, Lady Evaine MacRorie Thuryn, discuss the recent death of their father, Camber MacRorie. As time passes and Camber's body shows no signs of decomposing, they are forced to consider the possibility that their father may not be truly dead. Evaine believes he attempted to work a final spell just before his death, but Joram wonders if Camber may truly be a saint. Throughout Gwynedd, the Deryni attempt to flee to safety as the Regents of young King Alroy Haldane continue their violent suppression of Deryni across the kingdom. Desperate for any slim chance to save even a few of their people, the Camberian Council begins making final preparations for a dangerous deception. They plan to develop a new religious cult, led by their ally Revan, which will preach the possibility of washing away a Deryni's powers through ceremonial baptism. By placing a Deryni Healer who is capable of blocking Deryni powers within the cult, the Council hopes to remove the powers of willing Deryni subjects, thereby protecting them from the wrath of the Regents and the Church. Meanwhile, in Valoret, the king's twin brother and heir, Prince Javan Haldane, strives to maintain the secret lines of communication with his Deryni allies. As Javan's own magical powers continue to grow and develop, he is well aware that the very powers he may need to survive may also result in his quick death if the Regents ever discover them. Nonetheless, he continues to funnel information to the Council and even assists Ansel MacRorie and Tavis O'Neill when they sneak in Valoret to block the faint Deryni powers of Ansel's immediate family. Over the following months, Javan's strengthening powers enable him to mentally probe and influence his squire, his brother, and even Archbishop Hubert MacInnis. To further keep the attention of the Regents away from him, Javan convinces Hubert that he has a growing religious vocation, allowing him greater access to the archbishop's mind. The Royal Court moves from Valoret to Rhemuth, and Revan sets out to start his baptizer cult after finishing his final preparations with the Camberian Council. Evaine and Joram reveal the truth about Camber's supposed death to Dom Queron Kinevan, enlisting his aid in their efforts to restore their father from his limbo state. Evaine succeeds in establishing regular contact with Javan in Rhemuth, but most her time is spent researching ancient Deryni lore with Joram and Queron. By early summer, Revan's baptizer cult is growing in size and popularity. To further convince Hubert that he is genuinely considering a religious life, Javan travels to Valoret to study with the archbishop. After Hubert's brother informs him of Revan's cult, the archbishop and the prince travel to the river to observe Revan's actions for themselves. Although two known Deryni are apparently stripped of their powers before their eyes, Hubert remains skeptical, even after both subjects are tested with merasha. Javan volunteers to submit to the ceremony, and proceeds to do so even after Hubert forbids him to do so. Hubert later has the prince flogged for his disobedience, but Javan once again uses his powers to manipulate Hubert's mind. Gambling that Hubert will not kill him as long as the archbishop believes he is serious about becoming a priest, Javan agrees to take temporary vows as a lay brother, hoping that a religious house will provide the protection and education he will need to survive until he comes of age. After several important breakthroughs and discoveries, Evaine finally feels ready to attempt to free her father. She makes final preparations for the ritual, then briefly visits Javan to provide him with the subconscious knowledge of his magical Haldane heritage. Two days later, as Javan formally makes his vows, Evaine, Joram, and Queron attempt to free Camber from his stasis. In a powerful and mystical ritual, Evaine briefly leaves the mortal plane and communes with several higher beings. She discovers that Camber failed to work his last spell properly, forever trapping him in a state between life and death. Realizing that she must sacrifice herself to free her father, Evaine pours her very life energy into her father's spell, shifting Camber's soul into a state in which he may freely cross the boundaries of life and death. When the process is completed, Queron can only watch helplessly as Evaine's soul departs her dying body. |
7312414 | /m/025ywp7 | Peter Pan in Scarlet | Geraldine McCaughrean | 10/5/2006 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The novel sees the return of Wendy Darling, her brother John, and adopted brothers Nibs, Slightly, Tootles, the Twins and Curly, who were once Peter Pan's Lost Boys. At the end of Peter and Wendy, Wendy, John, and Michael had brought the Lost Boys home to London where Mr. and Mrs. Darling adopted them. The novel opens with John Darling and his wife denying the vivid, realistic dreams about Neverland that John keeps having, which brings back different relics of his time in Neverland as a child: a cutlass, a pistol, etc. We discover that each of the former Lost Boys and Wendy have also been having similar dreams, and Wendy arrives at the conclusion that bombs from the Great War have punched holes through their world into Neverland and dreams and ideas are filtering through. Wendy tells the former Lost Boys, now known as Old Boys, that they must find a way of returning to Neverland to help Peter Pan return both worlds to normality. The Old Boys search the park for a fairy in order to gain fairy dust, but they have no luck. Wendy once again finds a solution in finding a baby and waiting for it to laugh its first laugh. Once it does, they meet the fairy Fireflyer, a lying fairy who eats non-stop. Fireflyer then tells them of a way to get back to Neverland - they must wear their children's clothing. The plan works well for the most part; Tootles turns into a girl due to the fact he only has daughters, and Slightly, who is single and has no children, wears grown-up clothes, but somehow still becomes a child. Nibs decides not to come at all because he would miss his children too much. Peter has been dreaming of the Darlings as well, and to his consternation they were much too big. When they and their "new" dog finally return to Neverland, claiming to be dreaming of him too, he is indifferent. He does not even notice that Nibs is absent, nor that Michael is dead. He is concerned only with having the best adventure in the world. When the Neverwood catches on fire, Peter and company escape the island by way of the Jolly Roger, renamed the Jolly Peter. While on board, Captain Pan discovers the late Captain Hook's second-best coat. In the pocket, he finds a treasure map of Neverland. Finally noticing the beginnings of an adventure, he immediately plans to head to the mountain of Neverpeak to claim James Hook's treasure. Peter makes a fatal mistake in allowing an adult, the circus master Ravello, to join his crew as butler. Ravello seems very urgent when asking Peter to wear the red coat; he is sure the boy will catch cold without it. But along the journey, Peter grows more and more irritable. He develops a harsh cough, and it seems that whenever he wears the coat he is grouchiest - he banishes the fairy Fireflyer for depleting the food supply, and when he learns Slightly is growing older, he banishes him as well - to the awful Nowhereland, home of all the Long Lost Boys Peter has banished in times past. The band of Explorers is shocked when Peter's speaking becomes littered with sailor terms, and especially when he replaces his customary crow with the word "AVAST"! The hike up Neverpeak is particularly arduous; Ravello offers to detach the children's shadows, so they will not get tangled on the way up. When the band finally reaches the summit of Neverpeak, Peter is impatient to get at the treasure, because he has a feeling that he wants whatever is inside so much. Inside the treasure chest, each child finds what they have been wishing for on the way up (which includes Tinker Bell, who was wished up by Fireflyer), and the group is puzzled to discover Peter wished for Eton treasures. Wendy asks why Peter wants them so; he barely hears her as he admires a silver trophy, when he again catches his reflection. He looks exactly like a young version of Captain Hook, complete with long black hair and Eton tie. Peter is horrified that he is not himself, as Ravello suddenly reveals his true identity as James Hook, who has survived the crocodile. Hook is still extremely resentful of Peter, and reveals that he served as his valet so he could train him; he wanted Peter to have his own exact feelings, which were passed on to the boy through the old pirate coat. Hook explains that since he is grown he can no longer wish, and he knows Peter is the only one who could wish strong enough for the treasures Hook has wanted all his life. So he cut off Peter's shadow so the boy could not fly, combed the imagination out of his hair, and choked him with the white Eton tie. Peter refuses to believe he has become Hook, even though he knows he has been wishing Hook's wishes and even dreaming Hook's dreams. The band is shocked, and Peter is horrified. Hook nearly steals the boy's childhood by asking him what he wants to be when he grows up, when Slightly suddenly appears. Slightly, who has been dogging the band's trail all along, warns Peter not to answer, because if you answer, you have betrayed childhood and "Looked Ahead" to adulthood. Peter feebly banishes Hook to Nowhereland, but to no avail. The league is stuck on the mountain in a blizzard, with no fire and no way to get down. Then the other outcast appears — Fireflyer, who, to impress the newly revived Tinker Bell, plunges into the brush and starts a fire, surviving the process. But Peter, who has cast off the hated coat, has become cold and ill in his flimsy tunic. He falls to the ground in a coughing fit, and is soon taken up dead. Tootles insists they need a doctor, so Curly Looks Ahead, growing up and becoming a doctor. He makes an incision over Peter's chest, and draws out a long dusty strand. It is soon learned the Ravello and Hook's coat have not been the cause of Peter's demise, but a strand of common London fog brought in on the children's clothes. Warmed by the fire and gladdened by Peter's newfound health, the band finds spirit enough to descend the mountain. But the danger is not yet over - Peter is accosted by the banished Long Lost Boys at the foot of the mountain, where he, John, and Wendy are thrown in the quicksand to sink. Luckily, they manage to pull themselves out, but during the interval, Ravello has arrived, with his returned circus animals. The animals are about to devour Peter and the Explorers, when a band of warring fairies descend and smother the animals. Hook is enraged, and vows to fight the weaponless Peter, but Peter is again saved, this time by the dog the children brought along. Hook is attacked by the Newfoundland, and is at the verge of death, when Wendy says all he needs to heal is a bit of sleep. She gives him a goodnight kiss, and tucks the dying man under his tattered red coat. The children manage to escape without harm, and even find a way home with help from Mr. Smee, but Peter remains on the island. He cannot fly anywhere, because his shadow has not yet grown back. Wendy's good-bye words to Peter are, "I think your mother only shut the window to keep out the FOG!" Unknown to Peter, sleep restores Ravello as James Hook. The story ends with Hook recalling the Past and anticipating revenge. |
7312895 | /m/025yx07 | Just Ella | Margaret Haddix | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"} | Fifteen year old Ella Brown of Fridesia is forced into servitude to her stepmother, Lucille, and stepsisters, Corimunde and Griselda, after her father dies. She manages to attend the royal ball by wearing her mother's wedding dress and glass slippers she won in a wager. Although Prince Charming was enamored, Ella ran from the ball at midnight, dropping a slipper. The prince finally found her through the shoe fitting. Now she is living at the palace being prepared for the wedding and life as a princess. For the most part, she finds life at the palace to be dull and laments the fact that noble women have virtually no power whatsoever. She despises Madame Bisset, who is in charge of her training, but makes friends with Mary, a 10- or 11-year-old servant girl, and Jed Reston, who is standing in for his father (who had a stroke) as her history teacher. Jed treats her like a normal person. However, they have a falling out when she thinks that he is using her to try and discover his dream of a camp for refugees of the Sualan war. Increasingly dissatisfied with her life at the palace, she brings up the possibility of breaking the engagement. When she does not back down from her request, she is thrown in the dungeon in an attempt to change her mind. Instead, she digs her way out through the hole that is used as a toilet and makes her way to Jed's refugee camp trying to travel incognito, now a reality. Jed then proposes to her, but she tells him to wait six months, so that she has time to sort things out, and ask again. She works at the camp as a doctor and then camp leader when Jed's father dies and Jed has to return to the castle. He writes from the palace saying that right after her escape the prince's people went straight to Lucille's house and took Corimunde to marry the prince. He also mentions that he does not want his father's position and may escape like she did. The book ends with Ella wondering about her future and the true meaning of beauty. |
7312988 | /m/025yx1z | Wittgenstein's Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers | null | null | null | On 25 October 1946, Popper (then at the London School of Economics), was invited to present a paper entitled "Are There Philosophical Problems?" at a meeting of the Moral Sciences Club, which was chaired by Wittgenstein. The two started arguing vehemently over whether there existed substantial problems in philosophy, or merely linguistic puzzles—the position taken by Wittgenstein. In Popper's, and the popular account, Wittgenstein used a fireplace poker to emphasize his points, gesturing with it as the argument grew more heated. When challenged by Wittgenstein to state an example of a moral rule, Popper (later) claimed to have replied "Not to threaten visiting lecturers with pokers", upon which (according to Popper) Wittgenstein threw down the poker and stormed out. Wittgenstein's Poker collects and characterizes the accounts of the argument, as well as establishing the context of the careers of Popper, Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russell, also present at the meeting. The book follows three narrative threads, each pivoting off the 1946 confrontation at Cambridge; the first is a documentary investigation into what precisely took place and the controversy over the differing accounts from observers; the second, a comparative personal history of the philosophers, contrasting their origins in Vienna and their differing ascents to philosophical prominence; and thirdly an exploration of the philosophical significance of the disagreement between the two and its relevance for the great debates in the early 20th century concerning the philosophy of language. |
7314823 | /m/025yxvr | That Summer | Andrew Greig | 2000 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | It is June 1940. Working class Len Westbourne, an inexperienced fighter pilot, falls in love with Stella Gardam, a more worldly radar operator. Stella's friend Maddy is killed in a bombing raid and Len's squadron colleague, Polish pilot Tad, dies in a flying accident. Told in alternate chapters from the perspectives of Len and Stella, That Summer is a love story told against the background of the Battle of Britain. Len is injured when his Hawker Hurricane crashes and goes off to recuperate with Stella in the countryside. |
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