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7486424 | /m/02636n0 | In the Time of Dinosaurs | K. A. Applegate | 1998-06 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | When Marco sees a news report about a downed nuclear submarine, he and the other Animorphs set out to find it in dolphin morphs. When the warheads in the submarine detonate, however, the group finds themselves transported through time by a Sario rip, to the era of dinosaurs (the Late Cretaceous period, to be exact). Rachel and Tobias are eaten by a kronosaurus and believed dead by the other Animorphs. The other Animorphs make their way to land, where they encounter a number of dinosaurs, including the Tyrannosaurus rex, which attempts to eat Jake. Jake morphs while inside the beast, injuring it and causing it to spit him out, and die but not before the other three Animorphs acquire it. Tobias and Rachel, meanwhile had escaped from the kronosaurus, and make their own way to land. Tobias' wing has been broken and was unable to be healed by morphing, most likely as a result of the time travel. The two of them have a run-in with a pack of deinonychus, but both manage to acquire the pack's leader and escape. Later they encountered by a vicious antlike alien race known as the Nesk, who attempt to kill Rachel and Tobias. The six Animorphs find themselves reunited above a large canyon on a force field with an artificial city at its bottom. After investigating it, they are welcomed by an alien race known as the Mercora, who had fled their own planet which was destroyed and intend on making Earth their new home. However, they are at war with the Nesk, and do not have the technology to help the Animorphs return to their own time. The Nesk, however, do—so the Animorphs storm the Nesk's camp in order to steal a warhead to recreate the explosion that sent them into the past. The Nesk angrily flee Earth, but divert the path of a nearby comet towards the planet. The Mercora respectfully ask the Animorphs to surrender their warhead, thinking they can use it to dissolve the comet, and Tobias agrees to let them have it. However, realizing that the Mercora must have died in the explosion as they are not a current part of Earth and that the comet will cause the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, he tells Ax to render it useless. The Animorphs escape back into the ocean, and the force of the comet propels them back to their own time. They are unable to use their dinosaur morphs following this book. |
7487573 | /m/02637qd | Icerigger | Alan Dean Foster | 1974 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | After an unfortunate accident, Ethan Fortune, a simple salesman and sophisticated interstellar traveler, finds himself stranded on the deadly frozen world of Tran-Ky-Ky with professional adventurer Skua September. Together they search for a way off the planet while fighting against both the extreme weather and deadly fauna of the alien world. |
7489799 | /m/0263b33 | Body of Evidence | Patricia Cornwell | 1991 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner of Virginia, gets involved in the case of a brutal stabbing death in Richmond of romance writer Beryl Madison. Then, Madison's greedy lawyer accuses Scarpetta of losing his client's latest manuscript, an autobiographical expose of Beryl's early life as protégé of a legendary novelist. As more deaths occur and the killer closes in on her, Kay finds herself also having to deal with the unexpected reappearance of long-lost lover Mark James.Scarpetta soon finds herself living Beryl's nightmare. |
7489838 | /m/0263b4h | All That Remains | Patricia Cornwell | 1992 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | A serial killer is loose in Richmond, specializing in attractive young couples whose bodies are inevitably found in the woods months later—minus their shoes and socks. After months of exposure to all the elements, all that remains of the killer's victims has in every case left Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta unable even to determine an exact cause of death. Frustrated that her high-tech forensic skills have apparently proved useless, Kay enlists the help of an ace crime reporter and a psychic whose powers have been vouched for by the FBI. Racing against time, Kay finds she must draw upon her own personal resources to track down a murderer skilled at eliminating every clue. All that remains to her now is her courage, intuition, and the will to stop a killer before he can strike again. |
7489949 | /m/0263b6k | Cruel and Unusual | Patricia Cornwell | 1993 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta is called in to autopsy the body of convicted murderer Ronnie Waddell after his execution. Several days after the execution, a young boy is discovered murdered in the fashion of Waddell's earlier killings, with Waddell's prints near the body. Scarpetta, along with FBI Agent Benton Wesley and Detective Pete Marino, try to discover how a dead inmate could have possibly committed another murder after his death. |
7489957 | /m/0263b77 | The Body Farm | Patricia Cornwell | 1994 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Kay Scarpetta is called in to assist in the investigation of the brutal murder of 11-year old Emily Steiner in rural North Carolina, whose murder resembles the handiwork of a serial killer who has eluded the FBI for years. Scarpetta is joined by her ingenious, rebellious and very annoying niece, Lucy, an FBI intern with a promising future in Quantico's computer engineering facility. To help with the investigation, Scarpetta turns to a clandestine research facility in Tennessee known as the Body Farm. There she finds answers to Emily Steiner's murder. |
7489971 | /m/0263b7l | From Potter's Field | Patricia Cornwell | 1995 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction"} | The story begins as a rotten Christmas for Scarpetta: Temple Gault has struck again, leaving a naked, apparently homeless girl shot in Central Park on Christmas Eve; Scarpetta, as the FBI's consulting pathologist, is called in. Later, a transit cop is found shot in a subway tunnel, and, back home in Richmond, Virginia, the body of a crooked local sheriff is delivered to Scarpetta's own morgue by the elusive, brilliant Gault. The normally unflappable Scarpetta finds herself hyperventilating and nearly shooting her own niece. In the end, some ingenious forensic detective work and a visit to the killer's agonized family set up a high-tech, difficult to follow, climax back in the New York subway, which Gault treats as the Phantom of the Opera did the sewers of Paris. |
7489978 | /m/0263b7y | Cause of Death | Patricia Cornwell | 1996 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | New Year's Eve and the final murder scene of Virginia's bloodiest year takes Scarpetta thirty feet below the Elizabeth River's icy surface. Dr. Scarpetta receives a phone call reporting the death of investigative reporter Ted Eddings, who was found dead in diving gear amongst the Navy's reserve fleet. Was Eddings probing the frigid depths of the inactive shipyard for a story, or simply diving for sunken trinkets—and why did Scarpetta receive the phone call reporting the death before the police were notified? The case leads Scarpetta, her niece Lucy, and police captain Pete Marino into a terrorist plot that threatens thousands of lives. |
7490052 | /m/0263bbp | Hornet's Nest | Patricia Cornwell | 1997 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction"} | The creator of Kay Scarpetta, the most fascinating character in contemporary crime fiction, now cunningly reveals the heart and soul of a metropolitan police department. With Charlotte as her simmering background, she propels us into the core of the force through the lives of a dynamic trio of heroes: Andy Brazil, an ambitious younger reporter for The Charlotte Observer and an eager - sometimes too eager-volunteer cop; Police Chief Judy Hammer, the professionally strong yet personally troubled guardian of Charlotte's law and order; and her deputy chief, Virginia West, a genuine head-turner who is married to her job. To walk the beat with Hammer, West, and Brazil is to learn the inner secrets of police work - the tension and the tedium, the hilarity and the heartbreak, the unexpected pump of adrenaline and the rush of courage that can lead to heroics ... or death. |
7490054 | /m/0263bc0 | Unnatural Exposure | Patricia Cornwell | 1997 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta has a bloody puzzle on her hands: five headless, limbless cadavers in Ireland, plus four similar victims in a landfill back home. Is a serial butcher loose in Virginia? That's what the panicked public thinks, thanks to a local TV reporter who got the leaked news from Scarpetta's rival, Investigator Percy Ring. But this is no run-of-the-mill serial killer. A shadowy figure has plans involving mutant smallpox, mass murder, and messing with Scarpetta's mind by e-mailing her gory photos of the murder scenes, along with cryptic AOL chat-room messages. Central to the plot is the case of Janet Parker, the last person known to have died of smallpox, which she contracted in 1978 due to a lab accident in Birmingham, England, after the disease was eradicated in the wild. Cornwell makes the villain a junior employee of the lab at the time who was made a scapegoat for the accident and whose career was blighted as a result. This provides the plot with a credible source for the virus and a motive for the central crime. |
7494666 | /m/0263fwg | Unwiederbringlich | Theodor Fontane | 1892 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Count Helmuth Holk lives with his countess Christine and their two children in a lonely valley. Christine was raised by nuns and is serious and pious, whereas Holk is by nature fun-loving. When Holk is called away to the Copenhagen court of the Danish princess, he becomes fascinated by a young companion of the princess, Ebba von Rosenberg, who flirts violently with him. By contrast, his marriage with Christine begins to seem unbearably dull, and he rashly seeks a divorce from his wife before realizing that Ebba's attentions were not serious. A long separation of Holk and Christine ensues, and only after years and great efforts by friends is a reconciliation between husband and wife engineered. Although on the surface all seems well, Christine is haunted by the previous rejection and drowns herself in the sea. |
7501439 | /m/0263mn9 | Elfangor's Secret | K. A. Applegate | 1999-04 | null | The former Visser Four inadvertently discovers the Time Matrix and uses it to rewrite history to make the Yeerk domination of Earth much easier - America is now a technologically inept, genocidal empire; Jake is a neo-Nazi who demands to be called "Supreme Leader" by the other Animorphs, and Rachel is in a re-education camp to be "taught her place", her role on the team now being filled by Melissa Chapman. None of the Animorphs are aware of the change, as this is, to their minds, what life has always been like, Visser Four having changed events before their births. The Ellimist and Crayak have formed a temporary truce in order to stop Visser Four, and they send the Drode to offer the Animorphs, having restored their true memories and line-up, a Hobson's choice; they can refuse the opportunity to track down Visser Four, and the timeline remains as it is, or they can defeat Visser Four and return the timeline to how it originally was... for the price of one of their lives. The Animorphs of course have no choice but to accept, and set out to stop Visser Four's rewrite of time. The Animorphs pass through many historical events, including the Battle of Agincourt, Washington's crossing of the Delaware (in which, as Marco and Cassie predicted and feared due to his previous actions against Crayak, Jake is killed in the crossfire), the battle of Trafalgar (in which Rachel, Marco, and Ax are also "killed", but not really due to the only required life, Jake's, being taken), and finally Princeton University a short time after 1932. It turns out that the American colonists lost to Britain and the Hessians, and France won the battle of Trafalgar, leading to the U.S. and England having to make peace with Napoleon Bonaparte. The United States - or rather, whatever the country is called now - is still under British control. However, Visser Four had made a mistake. Although originally planning to kill Albert Einstein at Princeton, his own meddling in the past had changed the future so that Einstein was not at Princeton at this time (still in Germany). Furthermore, Cassie and Tobias make the discovery that Rachel, Marco and Ax have been resurrected, and thus the remaining five Animorphs realize that the Ellimist's conditions allowed that only one Animorph could be killed; with Jake's death, the rest of the Animorphs are essentially immortal, albeit just for the duration of their mission. Visser Four begins to rapidly leap through time and space in order to shake the Animorphs off, but when he is unable to lose them, he directs the Time Matrix to the Normandy Landing. After navigating through the time-altered battle (including an Adolf Hitler who is a harmless jeep driver and the French and Germans on the same side), the Animorphs close in on Visser Four, whose host body (John Berryman) has been fatally injured. Visser Four abandons John's body, and Marco kills the Yeerk. Cassie, much to her chagrin, asks John where and when his parents met, and the Animorphs direct the Time Matrix to San Francisco in 1967 to prevent John's parents from ever having met. But when they get there, they start to debate the morality of their intended actions; maybe history would be better somehow if they didn't cut off his life. However, they accidentally distract his mother, so she never meets his father and they never have to make the choice. With John never being born, he was never infested by Visser Four, who in turn never found the Time Matrix, and the events of this story never actually took place; Jake returns to life, as the Animorphs were never actually at the Delaware crossing. Despite the reset, the group remembers everything, even after they go home, due to Drode having buffered their memories and personalities. |
7501701 | /m/0263mym | The Soulforge | Margaret Weis | 1998-01 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The story begins from Raistlin's childhood, and follows his progress through magic school. Many things occur that foreshadow the great power that he would one day attain, and offer an explanation as to why he is often vindictive and power hungry. The book concludes with Raistlin's test at the Tower of High Sorcery of Wayreth. The account of the test conflicts somewhat with a story that appeared in one of the books of the Dragonlance Legends trilogy, but gives a much more detailed account of how Raistlin came by his golden skin and hourglass eyes, and also how he bested the ancient archmage, Fistandantilus, from the time before the fall of Istar. |
7501814 | /m/0263mz_ | The Wild Irish Girl | Lady Morgan | 1806 | {"/m/02ql9": "Epistolary novel", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"} | The Hon. Horatio M———, son of the Earl of M———, is banished to his father's estate on the northwest coast of Connacht (i.e. County Mayo) as punishment for accumulating large debts. The novel consists of letters written by Horatio to his friend J.D., an MP. He finds a dilapidated castle and the remnants of the Catholic Gaelic nobility that was displaced by his ancestors after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. He acquires a new respect for Irish history and culture and falls in love with an Irish princess named Glorvina. |
7501824 | /m/0263m_b | Back to Before | K. A. Applegate | 2000-04 | null | After a particularly vicious battle, Crayak sends the Drode to tempt Jake into accepting an alternate reality in which the Animorphs did not walk home through the abandoned construction site, did not meet Elfangor, and did not become Animorphs. The results are drastic: a friendless Tobias joins The Sharing, and is infested by a Yeerk who is later revealed as a spy for Visser One, and is killed. Marco- now dating Rachel in this world- runs into his mother, but she escapes before he can confront her. Jake discovers that his brother Tom is involved with dangerous dealings after a Yeerk security leak. And all the while, Cassie has a strong feeling that all is not right. Ax manages to escape from his Dome Ship, and begins to warn the people of Earth about the Yeerk presence. The Yeerk response is immediate: they abandon their silent invasion and launch all-out warfare. In the ensuing chaos, Marco, Rachel and Cassie are all killed, while Jake and Ax meet up and manage to kill Visser Three by ramming the Blade Ship with a stolen Bug Fighter. They take control of the Blade ship and plan to use it to destroy the Yeerk Pool Ship, at which point the Drode and the Ellimist interrupt the timeline, returning the deceased characters to life and returning everyone's memories. The Drode complains that the events in this timeline are doomed to cause failure, and the Ellimist reveals that Cassie is an anomaly, a rare individual who is grounded in the true timeline and will disrupt any other timelines that try to take its place- explaining Cassie's feeling that something was not right. It is also revealed that The Ellimist manipulated events (or as the Drode exclaimes in disgust "stacked the deck") to ensure that Cassie, Marco, Tobias, and Ax- the anomaly, the son of Visser One's host, Elfangor's paradoxical son and Elfangor's brother- were all Animorphs; Jake and Rachel apparently became Animorphs through chance alone. The Ellimist restores everything to as it was - with only Cassie retaining even a vague memory of this new timeline, preferring that Jake and Tobias not know how they gave in to the Drode and the Yeerks respectively - and this time around the Drode decides not to try to tempt Jake into accepting the alternate reality. |
7502438 | /m/0263nd3 | The Betrothed | Walter Scott | 1825-06-22 | {"/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Baldwin, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had exhorted the Britons, and the Anglo-Normans who were settled on the borders of the Welsh principalities, to lay aside their feuds and join in the third Crusade. Accordingly, Gwenwyn, the Prince of Powys-land, and Sir Raymond Berenger, the Knight of Garde Doloureuse, had accepted each other's hospitality, and Gwenwyn, at the suggestion of his chaplain, had arranged to divorce his wife Brengwan, in order that he might marry Sir Raymond's daughter Eveline. In reply to his proposal, however, a messenger brought a letter stating that she was promised to Sir Hugo de Lacy, the Constable of Chester. This being taken by the Welsh as an affront, the call to war was sung by the bards, the Norman castle was attacked, and its owner slain in a combat with his would-be son-in-law. Nerved by the presence of Eveline on the battlements, and supplied with food by a ruse of her father's vassal the Flemish weaver, the garrison, assisted by the military predilections of their chaplain, held out until Damian Lacy arrived with a large force, when the brave but unarmoured Britons were repulsed, and their prince Gwenwyn was killed. Having granted an interview to her deliverer, Eveline was escorted by her suitor the Constable, and a numerous retinue, to her aunt's nunnery at Gloucester. On her way thither she passed a night at the house of a Saxon kinswoman, the Lady of Baldringham, where she occupied a haunted chamber, and saw the ghost of an ancestor's wife, who foretold that she would be Widowed wife, and married maid, Betrothed, betrayer, and betrayed. During her visit to the abbess she was formally espoused to Sir Hugo; but the archbishop having the next day commanded him to proceed to Palestine for three years, he offered to annul their engagement. Eveline, contrary to her aunt's advice, promised to await his return; and it was arranged that she should reside in her castle, with Rose and Dame Gillian as her attendants, and Damian as her guardian. Wearied with her monotonous life during this seclusion, she was induced one day to join in a hawking expedition unaccompanied by her usual escort, and was seized by rebels secretly instigated by Ranald Lacy. In attempting to rescue her Damian was severely wounded, and she insisted on nursing him in the castle, while Amelot led his men-at-arms in pursuit of the outlaws, whose disaffection had reached the king's ears, with a rumour that Damian was their captain. Sir Guy Monthermer was, accordingly, sent to demand admittance to Garde Doloureuse, where he was reported to be concealed; and when Eveline ordered the portcullis to be dropped against him, a herald proclaimed her, and all who aided and abetted her, as traitors. The constable and his squire, who were supposed to be dead, returned from Syria, disguised as palmers, just as the royal troops, headed by Prince Richard, had occupied the castle, Eveline at the same time being sent to a convent, and Damian consigned to a dungeon. Having learnt the ill news from old Raoul and his wife, Sir Hugo made his way towards King Henry's camp, near which, surrounded by an assembly of spectators, Ranald Lacy, who by false representations had obtained a grant of Eveline's forfeited lands, and assumed his kinsman's dress and title, was about to present a royal charter of immunities to a procession of the Flemish settlers. Cadwallon, the Welsh bard, had, however, attached himself to Sir Hugo as a Breton minstrel, in order that he might avenge the death of Gwenwyn; and mistaking Ranald for the returned constable, suddenly sprang behind him as he leant forward in his saddle, and stabbed him in the back. Sir Hugo now made himself known, and was welcomed by the king, the assassin was executed, and, convinced that his betrothed's love had been given to Damian, the old Crusader resigned her to him, and consoled himself by taking part in the subjugation of Ireland. |
7502598 | /m/0263njl | The First Journey | null | 1999-03 | null | This book loosely follows the plots of Animorphs books , and . The book narrates from the reader's point of view, as a sixth Animorph (Ax does not consider himself to be one of the "Animorphs"), and they are able to choose their morphs as the story progresses. The book opens up with the reader ("you") riding their bike around the abandoned construction site. They join up with the Animorphs, witness Elfangor's demise at the "hands" (mouth) of Visser Three, and pedal furiously home. The next morning, Marco comes to the reader's house to explain that they have all started acquiring morphs, and that they plan to investigate a Sharing meeting that evening. A correct choice by the reader of a ferret as their first morph leads to Ms. Humphries, the reader's next-door neighbor with a lot of ferrets and cats, taking them along with her to The Sharing meeting, as she is also a Controller. Ms. Humphries puts the reader down near a volleyball net, and the reader call to Cassie for help. She lets them escape and demorph with only a few minutes to spare. When the reader suggests that everyone could do with some better morphs than just lizards, dogs, cats, and ferrets, Rachel agrees. Cassie leads everyone to The Gardens to get some better morphs. The gang all split up when a security guard with a golf cart chases them, and they find themselves inside the giraffe exhibit. The reader acquire the giraffe, then re-enter the hallway. After two animal handlers leave a tranquilized female hyena, they enter and acquire her DNA. As the reader leaves, they are caught and detained by park security. The reader morphs Princie, one of their dogs, and leads the team astray by not following their (human) scent, leading them to Ms. Humphries' house, and rubbing their sweatshirt (left outside earlier) over everything in the neighborhood before running home. Knowing that the reader have to meet up with the rest of the Animorphs in their trip to the Yeerk Pool, they decide on a morph to sneak in with. A failed choice of the K9 police dog leads to the reader being recognized by Finley, the taller police officer. After the Animorphs battle and escape from the Yeerk Pool, Visser Three kills them with his eight-headed, fireball-launching alien morph. A correct choice of a ferret morph has the reader hiding in the elevator leading down to the Yeerk Pool, one of many entrances. Some people take notice of the reader, and are about to get rid of them, when Jake's brother Tom spots the reader and recognizes him as one of Ms. Humphries' pets. He says they shouldn't touch "it", because "Chapman said to take no chances." At the bottom floor, another Controller presses a series of buttons on the elevator, making it go past where normal people should be able to get to. The elevator opens up, and the reader descretely follow the Controllers down a staircase to the giant cavern that holds the city's main Yeerk Pool. They see mulitple hosts (human and Hork-Bajir) in cages, a woman re-infested, and Tom being put into a cage. The reader also see Cassie about to be led to the loading pier. Running in her direction, Tobias spots the reader and they tell him that they all have to save Cassie. Then the reader run to Jake, Rachel, and Marco, who haven't morphed yet, and Jake tells them to demorph behind a storage shed. Rachel tells the reader to rest and wait for them. A few minutes later, a male human-Controller, a Hork-Bajir, and Taxxon find the reader. Rachel, morphed as an elephant, rescues the reader, and they all run to save Cassie. The reader morph into the hyena and kill a Taxxon. Marco is a gorilla, Jake is a tiger, and Rachel is still an elephant. Events transpire much as they did in The Invasion, with Marco unlocking cages, Cassie being rescued and morphing into a horse, and Visser Three entering the scene. He morphs into a giant eight-headed, eight-armed, and eight-legged creature that breathes fireballs, and Tom tries to attack the Visser. The gang escape into the school hallway, run outside, and demorph. A few months later, Ax has joined the group, and the reader is in their kitchen at home when they start having flashing visions of being in a jungle. The reader rides their bike to Jake's house and tells him what's happening. He remembers the events of Book 11, but even though the rest of the reader were there too, they don't remember it. Now it's the reader's turn to be having the flashes instead of Jake. Suddenly, the Sario Rip flash takes the reader and Jake into the rain forest, and Jake distinctly remembers being there in The Forgotten. He leads the reader to a downed Bug fighter, saying that they have to take the onboard navigating computer before Visser Three comes back. Cassie recalls being on the Bug fighter shooting Dracon beams at Visser Three's blade ship, and Jake notes that the last time a Sario Rip happened, he had to die and he doesn't want to do that again. Ax and Jake decide that this second go-around means that they should do things differently. Jake decides to have Ax disable the computer instead of taking it, to make it look like it happened in the crash. The gang decide to morph parrots and fly through the jungle. The reader see human- and Hork-Bajir-Controllers destroying the rain forest, and Polo's tribe spying on the Hork-Bajir. They land on their shoulders, and Cassie demorphs first. She reveals her human head and retracts her bird tail first, to give the appearance of being an animal spirit. She communicates with the small tribe by way of dirt drawings. Through these drawings, she conveys that the Hork-Bajir (diablos) are the enemy to be fought, and that she and her (bird) friends need to get on board the Blade Ship with the tribe's help. She arranges to meet up with the tribe again just before dusk. As chameleons, the gang make their way to the Blade Ship. When the reader sneaks on, Ax suggests the reader split up to avoid attention. After some brief arguing over whether the gang should kill Visser Three in "this timeline" and what it might mean, Visser Three boards and orders both the Blade Ship and the fixed Bug fighter to start up. Both ships rise, and before the gang can attack, the ships fire at each other, closing the Sario Rip when the Dracon beams intersect. The reader is suddenly back in their hometown (as a human), albeit a year too early. The reader is at a bus stop with Rachel and Marco. Suddenly, Marco's mom drives up to the curb, and she offers Marco a ride home. The reader and Marco are shocked at this because (at least in the proper timeline), Marco's mom is "dead" - rather, the host of Visser One. Suddenly, Visser Three comes running to attack Eva as a Pit Bull. The reader morphs into a giraffe to attack the Visser. The second the reader kicks him, they are suddenly back in their own home in the kitchen. The reader runs over to Jake's house, where he and Ax are eating licorice sticks and pizza like they were when the reader first ran over there before the Sario Rip. Ax and Jake figure out that Visser Three had tried to use a Sario Rip to his advantage to go back in time and kill what would be his rival's human host. They go into a detailed explanation of exactly what transpired in the Sario Rip and why certain individuals remember what they remember, or why they did what they did. Jake concludes by saying that it's good that they've restored the correct timeline, and that "there will still be more battles to fight." the reader adds "But first, there's pizza." This is the winning ending. |
7502736 | /m/0263nmp | The Next Passage | null | 2000-03 | null | This book loosely follows the plots of Animorphs books , Megamorphs #2: In the Time of Dinosaurs and . The book narrates from the reader point of view, as a sixth Animorph, and they are able to choose their morphs as the story progresses. Like all gamebooks, the choices the reader make cause different endings. One of the splits in the story involves Cassie being killed and Rachel forcing the reader to promise not to meddle. If the reader refuses, the others will force them to stay in a fly morph and become a nothlit and they will die but the other split is being in prehistoric time. Unlike other gamebooks, if the reader make a decision that causes them to die, the 'failure' page will refer them to the page that allows the reader to choose another action. Notes are written in bold text at the bottom of certain pages. |
7502895 | /m/0263ntx | Chronicles of the Canongate | Walter Scott | null | null | The MacTavish family lived near Oban in 1775. Hamish MacTavish Mohr ("Senior"), a daring freebooter, had met his death in an encounter with the Saxon red-coats, by whom the Highlands were garrisoned after the battle of Culloden. His wife, who had shared all his dangers, strove to inspire their only son with his father's love of adventure and hatred of servile toil; but as he grew up the lad evinced no inclination for lawless pursuits, and, unable to endure his mother's taunts at his want of spirit, enlisted in one of the regiments formed in Scotland to oppose the French in the American war of independence. Before sailing he sent her some money by Phadraick, and returned to spend a few days with her, when she fiercely reproached him for daring to act in opposition to her will, and, failing to alter his purpose, drugged his parting-cup, thus causing him to exceed his furlough, and render himself liable to the lash as a deserter. She then urged him to flee to her kinsmen, while she baffled his pursuers; but he resolved to await the arrival of the sergeant and men of his regiment who, he felt sure, would be sent to arrest him. They came, and, on being summoned to surrender, he shot the sergeant dead. The other soldiers secured him, and he was marched as a prisoner to Dumbarton castle, where he was tried by court-martial and condemned to be shot. His captain and a Presbyterian minister interceded for him; but the English general in command was determined to make an example, and the next morning his sentence was carried out in the presence of his comrades. His mother, who had attempted to follow him, was met by the minister wandering in a wild glen, and on hearing her son's fate, she uttered terrible imprecations, and renounced all further intercourse with the world. She lived, however, for many years in her lonely cottage, regarded with awe and pity by her neighbours as the victim of destiny, rather than the voluntary cause of her son's death and her own wretchedness. At length, while two women, who had been set to watch her last moments, were sleeping, she disappeared from her bed, and was never heard of again. |
7504806 | /m/0263qv8 | The Titan's Curse | Rick Riordan | 4/1/2007 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"} | Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase and Thalia Grace, go to Westover Hall in Maine after Grover Underwood discovers two sibling half-bloods named Nico and Bianca di Angelo. They narrowly escape an attack by a manticore named "Dr. Thorn," with some help from Artemis and her hunters, which include Zoë Nightshade. Though they survive the attack, Annabeth is captured by Dr. Thorn. Percy and his friends must look for Artemis before the winter solstice meeting of the Olympian council, when the goddess's influence could change an important vote on the war with the Titans. Percy joins Thalia, Zoe, Bianca di Angelo, and Grover on their dangerous quest. They also are searching for a rare monster that Artemis was trying to hunt down when she went missing; it is so strong that it can obliterate Olympus. Percy is called by a hippocampus to rescue a marine cow-like creature trapped in the Long Island Sound called the Ophiotaurus, whom Percy names Bessie, not knowing it is male. Percy is forced to trail slightly behind the rest of the travelers, catching up with them by flying Blackjack, a pegasus he liberated in The Sea of Monsters to Washington, D.C.. He also spots Dr. Thorn there as well, and follows Dr. Thorn into a private meeting at the National Museum of Natural History, which Percy infiltrates by using Annabeth's invisibility baseball cap. As he watches, Dr. Thorn is severely berated by a man known only as "the General," who uses dinosaur teeth to grow skeleton warriors trained to track down and kill the hunters. Percy races across to the National Air & Space Museum to warn the others, but just as soon as he arrives, the museum is attacked by the Nemean Lion, which they manage to subdue and defeat. When they spot a helicopter following them as they flee, they enter the Washington Metro to throw it off their trail. Apollo finds them at a freight yard and supplies them with a way to Cloudcroft, New Mexico – hopping into cars on an autorack freight train, which delivers them to Cloudcroft the next day. In Cloudcroft, Grover senses the presence of Pan, the Greek god of nature, and a wild gift from him, the giant Erymanthian Boar, comes to carry them further on to Gila Claw, Arizona. It takes them to the junkyard of the gods, and Percy meets Ares and talks to Aphrodite, at which point it is hinted that Annabeth and Percy will most likely have a romantic future. Eventually, the group enters the junkyard, where Bianca tries to steal a statue for her younger brother. She accidentally awakens a prototype of Talos, a giant man of bronze, and dies after being inside the metal giant while it was shocked by telephone poles, but still successfully destroyed it. While being attacked by skeletal warriors at the Hoover Dam, Percy meets Rachel Elizabeth Dare, a girl who can see through the Mist. She saves Percy by confusing the skeletons, allowing Percy and his friends to escape after another ambush by praying to Zeus to animate two angel statues on the terrace, which take them to the Embarcadero in San Francisco. They go to seek the help of Annabeth's father; who, after a brief discussion, lends them his car. They travel to the Garden of Hesperides, where Zoë meets her sisters and is bitten and poisoned by the dragon Ladon while trying to help Percy and Thalia pass. They continue to the Mountain of Despair on Mount Tamalpais up in Marin County, where Mount Othrys, the Titan capital, is now located. From the top of the mountain where Atlas held up the sky, they see Artemis taking on his burden. Annabeth is held captive by Luke, and has been handcuffed and gagged. Realizing that the prophecy made by the Oracle involves him, Percy takes the burden—the Titan's curse—from Artemis. In the ensuing fight, Annabeth's father helps by flying his Sopwith Camel (a biplane) and shooting celestial bronze encased bullets, and Atlas (the General of the Titans) throws his daughter Zoë, slamming her against the rocks. Artemis tricks Atlas into taking his burden from Percy. Zoe dies (because of the poisonous bite from Ladon and the impact of the rocks(caused by her father)) and Artemis turns Zoë into a constellation, in memorial to her. During a battle between Thalia and Luke, Luke falls off a cliff and Percy assumes that Luke is dead. Later, Percy is told by Annabeth, and confirmed by Poseidon, that Luke has survived the fall, and Thalia is asked by Artemis and agrees to join the Hunt to become safer and prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled. They promise each other to hide this fact from everyone else, especially the Titan's army. |
7506061 | /m/0263s2x | The Ravi Lancers | null | null | null | The story concerns an Indian cavalry regiment which is sent to the France at the outbreak of the First World War. The Ravi Lancers is unusual in that it is part of the army of a semi-independent Hindu state (a Princely state) attached to British India. It accordingly follows different traditions than the regular regiments of the British Indian Army. These include a semi-feudal relationship between the Indian 'sowars' (cavalrymen) and their ruler. It also means that all officers except for the British regiment commander are Indians, which would not have been the case in a regular regiment at the time. The book centers on the relationship between the regiment's British commander (a member of the Savage family, though with a different family name) and his Indian second-in-command Krishna Ram - heir to the throne of the state of Ravi. The young Indian prince, originally a naive admirer of the British Empire, increasingly discovers its shortcomings and develops his own awareness of being Indian. The British commanding officer Colonel Bateman, originally liberal minded, becomes a harsh and demanding martinet under the stress of trench warfare. The situation is further complicated by Krishna Ram's secret affair with Bateman's sister. Finally the two divergent characters and their respective sets of values come to a shattering head-on clash in the midst of a devastating attack on the German trenches. The climax involves what is effectively a mutiny while trapped by the German counter-attack, a daring escape with the Indian soldiers relying on stealth to get back to the British lines, and the suicide of the broken Bateman at his estate in England, leaving the Indian protagonists with a strong feeling of guilt. At the end Krishna Ram decides that he and his men will remain on active service in France, rather than returning to Ravi, because "we gave our word to serve" and out of a form of loyalty to the dead Bateman. |
7507529 | /m/0263ts5 | The Great Fetish | L. Sprague de Camp | 1978 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The book is both an adventure story and a satire on the scientific dispute over Creationism. It is set on the planet Kforri, where descendants of space travelers from Earth have reverted to a pre-technological society. The truth of their origin has faded into legend, and as a result the story of the space voyage and the scientific theory of evolution have become competing accounts of the genesis of humanity. In an ironic reversal, the Religionists hold that man evolved from the native animals of Kforri, while skeptics against the received dogma, known as the Anti-Evolutionists, are more open to the spaceflight theory. Schoolteacher Marko Prokopiu, has been found guilty of teaching the Anti-Evolutionist heresy, as established by the Holy Syncretic Church, but escapes from prison. He embarks on a quest to discover the truth by finding the Great Fetish, said to contain the real story. A parallel motivation is to recover his wife Petronela, who has run off with his friend Chet Mongami during his imprisonment. Marko joins a caravan and falls in with the philosopher Doctor Halran, a professor who is experimenting with a new hot air balloon. The two are launched in the balloon and land by accident on the Island of Mnaen, populated only by female 'witches' who guard The Great Fetish. This is revealed to be a collection of documents with microscopically-reduced writing. Escaping from the witches, who follow the worship of the cult of Einstein, they attend a great philosophical convention. Using an experimental microscope being demonstrated at the convention, the documents reveal information about the origins of Kforri, validating the truth of the anti-evolutionists. They further show that Kforri gained its name from that given by the discovering expedition (K40 became Kforri), and that the expedition members disagreed and dispersed. They eventually formed nations with cultures and languages derived from their native ones. The name of the Island of Mnaen, for instance, was based on the earthly Manhattan. Using the documents, the inhabitants of Kforri rapidly advance their technology. They eventually hope to build spaceships to travel back to Earth. |
7508881 | /m/0263vmd | Badge of Evil | null | null | null | A man named Rudy Linneker is killed when a mystery killer blows up his house using a couple of sticks of dynamite. Assistant district attorney Mitch Holt is called to the case as well as police officers Leron McCoy and Hank Quinlan. The pair have gained a celebrity status in the city after thirty years of impeccable service and are considered legends in the city. Quinlan’s leg was injured years before and he has since walked with a cane. At first, Linneker’s daughter Tara and her fiancé Delmont Shayon are the primary suspects until disgruntled employee Ernest Farnum makes a surprise confession and is promptly jailed. Holt is baffled by Farnum’s testimony regarding the dynamite he planted in Shayon’s apartment which contradicts his previous statement where he said he did not want to involve an innocent man like Shayon. Holt becomes suspicious of McCoy and Quinlan when both pay Farnum separate visits in his jail cell. Holt brings this inconsistency to the attention of his superior James Adair and Chief of Police Gould. When Holt accuses McCoy and Quinlan of planting evidence, Adair and Gould dismiss his allegation as an attempt to gain political mileage in the District Attorney's office. Things become dangerous for Holt when his house is shot at by a mysterious gunman whom he suspects is McCoy himself. Holt sends his wife Consuela and daughter Nancy to live in his father-in-law’s ranch in Mexico where they would be safe. Holt then goes to the Hall of Records and digs into the past cases that involved McCoy and Quinlan. Holt then meets with Dan Buccio, brother of gangster Emil Buccio, to confirm that the Buccio family had nothing to do with the shooting incident. Afterward, Holt discovers that his Hall of Records transcripts are stolen. Soon after Consuela returns, Holt enlists the aid of the Press-Examiner newspaper to make his accusations public. This stirs things up in the city and Adair and Gould wash their hands of it. The plan backfires when Farnum commits suicide and the Press-Examiner is forced to drop Holt’s story. Holt is later suspended but his problems worsen when Consuela is lured to a motel, drugged and framed for possession of illegal narcotics. Desperate, Holt asks his friend Van Dusen to provide him with a wireless transmitter. Holt then confronts Quinlan about what he knows regarding McCoy's planting of evidence. The guilt-ridden Quinlan agrees to Holt’s plan to force a confession out of McCoy. To that end, Quinlan is wired and he drives Holt to McCoy’s residence. There, McCoy gleefully confesses his crimes to Quinlan while Holt secretly tapes their conversation in Quinlan’s car. But in the heat of the discussion, the two cops become confrontational and McCoy shoots Quinlan dead. Holt escapes and later he plays the tape he made to Adair and Gould. McCoy is exposed and he later commits suicide. Consuela is eventually released from jail and Holt is reinstated as assistant in the District Attorney's office where he is given full authority to investigate the McCoy-Quinlan cases. |
7511283 | /m/0263xg5 | From the Files of Madison Finn | null | null | null | This series is about a 12-year-old girl named Madison Finn, who lives in the fictional town of Far Hills in New York. Madison is the daughter of Francine and Jeff Finn, who are divorced. The series starts shortly after the events of the divorce. Madison is just like any other average 12-year-old girl. She worries about school, her best friends Aimee Gillespie and Fiona Waters, her crush on Hart Jones, and her constant rivalry with former friend, Ivy Daly. To get through it all she writes files on her computer, which acts as a sort of diary. There are currently 22 books in the series, including three super specials, which are slightly longer than the usual books and deal with certain special events in Madison's life, such as her dad's remarriage. Madison can be mean towards Ivy (and vice versa) in a few of the books, but in the end she is a nice, kind, caring, and lovable 12-year-old girl. |
7514876 | /m/0263_wy | Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television | null | null | null | Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television argues that the technology of television is not a neutral or benign instrument or tool. The author argues that in varied technologies and institutions such as militaries, automobiles, nuclear power plants, mass production, and advertising, the basic form of the institution and the technology determines its interaction with the world, the way it will be used, the kind of people who use it, and to what ends. The author argues that far from being "neutral," television predetermines who shall use it, how they will use it, what effects it will have on individual lives, and, if it continues to be widely used, what sorts of political forms will inevitably emerge. The four arguments are: # While television may seem useful, interesting, and worthwhile, at the same time it further boxes people into a physical and mental condition appropriate for the emergence of autocratic control. # It is inevitable that the present powers-that-be (or controllers) use and expand using television so that no other controllers are permitted. # Television affects individual human bodies and minds in a manner which fit the purposes of the people who control the medium. # Television has no democratic potential. The technology itself places absolute limits on what may pass through it. The medium, in effect, chooses its own content from a very narrow field of possibilities. The effect is to drastically confine all human understanding within a rigid channel. What binds the four arguments together is that they deal with aspects of television that are not reformable. It is perhaps then paradoxical that attempts to define the arguments of the book inevitably fall into Mander's dilemma: even current forms of technology such as the internet and Wikipedia itself reduce complex information and its perception to slogans and inconsequential 'bits' (in the computer or informatic sense). |
7517890 | /m/026432s | Mr. Tall | Roger Hargreaves | 1978 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Mr. Tall hates his oversized legs. He meets Mr. Small, and when Mr. Small goes for a swim, Mr. Tall can't, but three other Mr. Men teach him that oversized body parts can be helpful. Mr. Tall decides his long legs are great for walking, and while Mr. Tall made it home quickly, Mr. Small took a year to get home. On the 1997 Mr. Men Show, his legs are thicker and farther apart than in the book. |
7528630 | /m/0264fr9 | The Glass Inferno | Thomas N. Scortia | 1974 | null | The story concerns the events during the grand opening celebration of a brand new high-rise building (66-stories-tall) in an unnamed American city. The building was called the National Curtainwall Building, nicknamed the Glass House, the headquarters of the fictitious National Curtainwall corporation. A combination of a skyscraper built to the absolute minimum compliance with safety rules, combined with cutting corners to save money on construction, leads to a disaster waiting to happen. Craig Barton, the building’s architect, is to meet for dinner with the building’s owner, Wyndom Leroux in the building’s Promenade room. During drinks and dinner Barton questions Leroux regarding the specifications of the building and whether or not they have been altered from his original plans, why they have been altered and what the consequences of this may be. After dinner they are alerted by the hostess that there is a fire in one of the building’s storage rooms on the 17th floor. Barton is sent down by Leroux to assist with the firefighting operations while his wife, Jenny, remains at dinner with Leroux and his wife Thelma. A small home furnishings store owner, despondent over his near bankruptcy, decides to burn his business down for the insurance. He tries to do so, but realizes what it will do to his business partner and lover, Larry. He puts out the fire but realizes that he's now really ruined because of what he has done. He then discovers that he is smelling smoke which is not from the fire he tried to set, but is from a real fire, unrelated to his, that has occurred in the building. A part of the story deals with a TV reporter named Quantrell, who, using a disgruntled former employee of the contractor, was given copies of documents relating to the building's construction. In one scene, Quantrell uses them on his television show to point out how the building was designed in violation of local building codes at the time the drawings were made, and that the local building codes were changed afterward to allow the design to be in compliance, implying that the owners of the building paid bribes to have the building codes rewritten. The reporter gets threats from all sides to back down on his aggressive reporting of the building's failures. After the initial alarm of fire division chief Mario Infantino, a chief who specializes in high-rise fires, is called to the scene and given the overall command by fire chief Karl Fuchs, whose son, Mark, is also a fireman at the scene. Barton and Infantino, who have been friends before the fire, work to understand what is happening to the building as flames race through its poorly constructed heart. The story continues as it shows the efforts of other residents of the building attempting to escape the flames, some successful, some not. One character is the brave Lisolette (also featured in the Irwin Allen film adaptation). Eventually a number of people end up in the penthouse restaurant of the building, where they are trapped and unable to get down. They are eventually rescued successfully by helicopter. The fire is eventually put out by blowing up water tanks below the roof of the building, which causes the water to drown the fire. es:The Glass Inferno |
7528632 | /m/0264frn | Joshua Then and Now | Mordecai Richler | null | {"/m/012jgz": "Autobiographical novel", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Joshua Shapiro, successful writer and pundit, lying in a hospital room, seems to have lost his wife and is in the middle of a sex scandal. Compelled to find meaning in his life, he reviews it from his youth to the present day. Joshua grew up as a Jew in the working class St. Urbain Street area in Montreal. His upbringing was unusual because his father was a boxer who had become a gentle crook and his mother was a strip-tease dancer. Embarrassingly, she strips for his friends as part of a Bar Mitzvah party for him. Joshua's father is revealed to have a unique perspective on life, sex, and religion. A trip to Spain as a young man is the impetus that sparks a career as a journalist and writer. In England in a momentary lapse of reason, Joshua forges letters about a (fake) homosexual affair with a British writer to sell to an American university archive. He meets an upper-class Canadian married to a poser of a communist and steals her away to become his own wife. She is the daughter of a Canadian senator and Joshua's key into a level of society of which he is quite contemptuous. In the meantime, Joshua's childhood friends have become successful in their own right. They soon become targets of pranks as he settles various scores. Joshua's conceited brother-in-law assumes a pivotal role in the novel as it is revealed that he is insecure and vulnerable. Neighbors in the wealthy cottage community around Lake Memphremagog lead him astray with dreadful consequences. Past indiscretions rear their ugly heads and Joshua must put together the shambles of his life. |
7528714 | /m/0264fws | Doppelganger | David Stahler, Jr. | 2006 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The book opens on a scene where Mirage, a Hunter (individuals who specialize as assassins, bodyguards and spies), is hiding and preparing to strike three men who mistake her for a witch at first then for a Cousin (witch's assistant). Mirage, being a great Hunter trained from Silverfire, gets her mark and almost kills the three men. The scene cuts to Eclipse, Mirage's schoolmate at Silverfire, one of the numerous Hunter schools, walking through Chervie's streets amidst a festival. He goes to a bar and meets Mirage, whom he calls Seniade. Mirage recognizes him and calls him Kerestel. Eclipse teases Mirage and they talk and catch up with each other until Ice arrives, a Hunter from Thornblood, a school Silverfire is not friendly with. Ice flirts briefly with Eclipse but is stopped by Mirage. A hostile conversation takes place and only stops when Mirage learns she was chosen for a commission. Mirage pays for a private room, which is hard to find and expensive since the festival is taking place. She and Eclipse search the room for any possible places where eavesdroppers might hide and, finding none, start talking. Mirage is quite taken aback and starts having second thoughts when she learns it concerns the assassination of a witch and generally the witch community, which she avoids concerning herself with since she is always being mistaken for a witch for her red hair. Reluctantly, Mirage accepts the commission for her popularity, having been on a commission two times now in a short period of time. They travel to Corbeth to meet their employer. Upon arriving there, they learn they need to take a blood oath, which means they either do the job or die. They are prepped by a witch and after discussing it, decides to go to Starfall to investigate Tari-nakana's house Meanwhile, Miryo is introduced in the story sitting on a roof and thinking over her future as a witch and what will happen if she fails the test she needs to pass to become a witch. Soon Eikyo, her friend, comes along and comforts her and reminds her of her homework and also reassures her she will pass and that many women have passed this stage. Miryo gets nervous about failing, remembering a schoolmate Hinosuka who died as a result of the test. Eikyo helps Miryo decide what Path she will be in and without much conclusive results, Miryo goes back to her room to start a homework. The next scene is featured in the library, where Miryo talks with an Air Head, Narika-kai. Narika-kai notices that Miryo is jumpy that day and correctly assumes Miryo is studying and also says every witch studies herself exhausted when her trials approaches. |
7530845 | /m/0264j2z | Blueberries for Sal | Robert McCloskey | 1948 | {"/m/016475": "Picture book", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | "The book opens and closes with a picture of little Sal and her mother in the kitchen, the mother is canning blueberries... One sees in this opening picture Sal entertaining herself by placing the canning rings on her wrist and a spoon, a simple childlike act which helps to set the stage for Sal's obvious child actions throughout the books. This is not to be the overly diligent or angelic girl of so many other books, Sal is a real child figure. She gets into mischief and causes her mom no end of trouble.” Little Sal's Mother takes her to Blueberry Hill to pick berries. Sal drops three berries in her bucket, then eats them. This continues as she and her mother concentrate on the berries and gradually get separated on the hill. What they don't realize is that a mother bear and her cub have also come to Blueberry Hill to eat berries for the winter. The book uses a number of visual and verbal techniques to compare and contrast the bear and the human families. Both families pictures are similar in compositions, but they head in opposite directions when they reach the blueberry patch. Little Sal’s Mother tells her that they can’t eat all the berries because they need to save them to can for the winter, but the bear mother tells her child to eat as much as it can to store up fat for winter. The bear's way of preparing for winter is more natural for Sal who soon wanders off to eat. Sal and the bear cub get mixed up and follow after the wrong mother. It takes the mothers several minutes to realize they're being followed by the wrong child; it isn't until the bear cub tries to eat from Sal's mother's bucket and the mother bear hears the "ku-plink, ku-plank, ku-plunk" sound of Sal dropping blueberries into her tin pail that they realize what happened. Ultimately each child is reunited with its proper mother and they both leave the hill. Just before leaving Sal drops a blueberry into her empty pail. The end papers show Sal again playing in the kitchen while her mother cans berries. |
7533370 | /m/0264lvf | Jovah's Angel | Sharon Shinn | 1998 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Some 150 years have passed since the events of Archangel and weather patterns have become increasingly unstable. The current Archangel, Delilah, is injured while flying in a storm and her angelico killed. Jovah decrees that she can no longer be Archangel as she is unable to fly, and names Alleluia Archangel in her place. While many protest her elevation, others believe she has been chosen because Jovah never fails to hear her voice. Alleluia does not feel up to the task of managing the other political powers of Sammorah, but somewhat manages with the aid of the angel Samuel. As pressure continues to mount on her, the old music machines located in Eyrie begin to fail until only one is left. Seeking any diversion, Alleluia goes off in search of the inventor/engineer Caleb, whom a Edori in Velora believes may be able to fix it. She finds him in Luminaux where she discovers the former Archangel performing in a club under the name "Lilah." Delilah wants nothing to do with Alleluia, but Caleb agrees to visit Velora as soon as possible. Caleb is revealed to be friends with Delilah and another inventor/engineer Noah. The two inventor/engineers theorize that Delilah is seeking thrills to entertain her, so when they mention that they will be travelling to Bereven as part of their work, she decides to accompany them. They travel via Noah's "Beast," a primitive steam powered car. When Delilah learns of the reason they have travelled there to aid the design of self-propelled ships, she wishes to join the Edori expedition to Ysral. Noah, who is falling in love with her, declares that she cannot go and that he will go in her stead. Alleluia as Archangel, must also find her angelico. Jovah only refers to him as "The son of Jeremiah" and much of her time is devoted to searching for him, and consulting the oracles. The oracle of Mount Sinai has recently died leaving no third oracle, and in her attempts to better understand Jovah, Alleluia takes several books and begins learning the old language used at the interfaces. She learns through the interface that Jovah is in need of help, and that is also the son of Jeremiah who could help Jovah. As these events take place, the weather is beginning to threaten their very way of life, and Alleluia finds references in the old texts and Edori songs that the weather is returning to how it originally was when the first colonists arrive. In a particularly harsh storm, Alleluia is also cast to the ground and uses that event to great effect to appease the other political powers. She manages to convince them that it is not the Angels causing the storms in purpose, but that they may all be in genuine danger. Alleluia begins the theorize that similar to the music machines some sort of device that aids Jovah to hear the angels may begin failing and once again locates Caleb. They meet up at Hagar's Tooth to look for such a device, and amid their budding romance find it and determine that it is working correctly. Alleluia departs as rapidly as she can citing that she can not fall in love because she must marry her angelico as decreed by Jovah. Caleb chases after her and after a circuitous route meets her at Mount Sinai where she hopes to commune directly with Jovah. Alleluia logs in and teleports up to Jehovah, the spaceship above the planet, just in time for Caleb to see her vanish. He reasons out what she must have done and follows her. On the spaceship she goes through a crisis when it is revealed that Jovah is the AI controlling the ship. Some relief is provided by Caleb being revealed as the son of Jeremiah. Caleb also manages to repair the Jehovah so that all angels' voices will be heard again. As they leave the Jehovah, Caleb takes several batteries with him. He returns to Luminaux just before Delilah is to depart for the journey to Ysral, and convinces her to try one last time to repair her wing. The battery is inserted and somehow jumpstarts damaged nerves so that while there is no feeling, Delilah can now control her wing. She decides not to go and Noah remains as well. A short time later Delilah triumphantly returns to Eyrie to resume her role as Archangel with Noah as her Angelico. After much soul searching, and a quick Q&A session with Jovah, Alleluia also returnes to Eyrie shortly after Delilah. She confirms that Delilah will be continue as Archangel and that she will become the new oracle at Mount Sinai. Caleb returns with her and founds an engineering college at the base of the mountain. * Archangel (Ace Books, 1997) * Jovah's Angel (Ace Books, 1998) * The Alleluia Files (Ace Books, 1999) * Angelica (Ace Books, 2003) Although this is the fourth novel in the Samaria series, it is set before the first book Archangel. * Angel-Seeker (Ace Books, 2004) |
7533422 | /m/0264lyj | The Truth-Teller's Tale | Sharon Shinn | 2005 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Eleda and Adele, mirror twins, discover that they are a Truth-Teller and a Safe-Keeper, respectively. Truth-Tellers are incapable of telling lies and recognize when others are lying, so society relies on their unwavering trustworthiness. Safe-Keepers cannot reveal what is told to them in confidence, and they bear the burden of people's confessions. The sisters do not realize the ramifications of their gifts until their teen years, when romantic and political intrigue abounds, and situations become more adult. Their friend Roelynn, whose wealthy merchant father intends to marry her off to the prince, sows plenty of wild oats behind her father's back. She often drags the sisters into the fray, and the summer they are all 17, a chain of events is set into motion that changes their lives. |
7533533 | /m/0264m0m | The Alleluia Files | Sharon Shinn | 5/1/1999 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Generations ago, religious people built a colony spaceship called 'Jehovah'. A planet called Samaria was established. The colony ship, orbiting above, was able to provide supplies and services. These were accessed by genetically modified 'angels', who were the only ones capable of performing the right vocal tones. Over the generations, the concept of the ship was forgotten and it was believed Jehovah was an actual deity. Now factions of 'angels' fight against rebel forces called 'Jacobites'. The angels want to keep their power and the Jacobites wish to know the truth. * Archangel (Ace Books, 1997) * Jovah's Angel (Ace Books, 1998) * The Alleluia Files (Ace Books, 1999) * Angelica (Ace Books, 2003) Although this is the fourth novel in the Samaria series, it is set before the first book Archangel. * Angel-Seeker (Ace Books, 2004) |
7533582 | /m/0264m2b | Angel-Seeker | Sharon Shinn | 2004 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Samaria is a changed land. Corrupt politicians are gone. The poor are not so destitute. The Edori are no longer slaves. Elizabeth is a young, healthy farm-girl. Tired of her lot in life, she leaves for Cedar Hills with one goal in mind. To birth the child of one of the powerful Angel beings and live in the lap of luxury for the rest of her natural life. The story also focuses on the isolated life of Rebekah, a Jansai woman and the Angel Obadiah, whom she nurses back to health after he is wounded flying over the desert. * Archangel (Ace Books, 1997) * Jovah's Angel (Ace Books, 1998) * The Alleluia Files (Ace Books, 1999) * Angelica (Ace Books, 2003) Although this is the fourth novel in the Samaria series, it is set before the first book Archangel. * Angel-Seeker (Ace Books, 2004) |
7534826 | /m/0264njs | The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel | Michael Chabon | 5/1/2007 | {"/m/0mz2": "Alternate history", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The book opens with Meyer Landsman, an alcoholic homicide detective with the Sitka police department, examining the murder of a man in the hotel where Landsman lives. Beside the corpse lies an open cardboard chess board with an unfinished game set up on it. Landsman calls his partner, half-Tlingit, half-Jew Berko Shemets, to help him investigate further. Upon filing a report on the murder at police headquarters, Landsman and Berko discover that Landsman's ex-wife Bina has been promoted to commanding officer of their unit. Landsman and Berko discover that the victim was Mendel Shpilman, the son of the Verbover rebbe, Sitka’s most powerful organized crime boss. Mendel was believed by many to be the Tzadik ha-Dor, the potential messiah, born once in every generation. As Meyer continues to investigate Mendel's murder, he discovers that the supposed "chosen one" had taken a flight with Naomi, Landsman's deceased sister. He follows Naomi's trail to a mysterious set of buildings with an unknown purpose, set up in Tlingit territory by Jews. Landsman flies there to investigate; he is knocked out and thrown in a cell, whose walls have graffiti in Naomi's handwriting. The naked and injured Landsman, after a crazed escape attempt, is rescued by a local Tlingit police chief, Willie Dick, who reunites him with Berko. They discover that the mysterious complex is home to a paramilitary group who plan to build a new Temple in Jerusalem. This involves destroying the Dome of the Rock. The American government, led by an evangelical Christian Zionist, has provided support. As Landsman and Berko follow up on this lead, a news report reveals that the Dome has been bombed. American agents apprehend the detectives and offer them permission to stay in Sitka after the reversion if they agree to keep quiet about the plot they have uncovered. Landsman says that he will and is released. Landsman reunites with Bina, frustrated by his failure with the Shpilman case. He keeps going over the chess board in his head, and suddenly realizes that it's not an unfinished game but a puzzle, and that he had seen the same position from the perspective of the other player in Berko's father, Hertz Shemetz's house. Landsman and Bina track down Hertz, and he confesses to killing Mendel at Mendel's own request. Landsman contacts an American newsman with the story. The book ends with Bina and Landsman reunited and ready to face their future wherever they may land in the Diaspora. The book contains a great deal of comic relief. The creative and playful use of the Yiddish language (for example, cops call a gun a "sholem" – literally a "peace") is an ongoing feature. The juxtaposition of the culture of the shtetl (the Jewish village of eastern Europe) on the Alaskan landscape is also playful and amusing. |
7534915 | /m/0264nlh | The Oxford Murders | Guillermo Martínez | null | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction"} | In this thriller, mathematical symbols are the key to a mysterious sequence of murders. Each new death that occurs is accompanied by a different mathematical shape, starting with a circle. This pure mathematical form heralds the death of Mrs Eagleton, the landlady of a young Argentine mathematician who narrates the story. It appears that the serial killer can be stopped only if somebody can decode the next symbol in the sequence. The mathematics graduate is joined by the leading Oxford logician Arthur Seldom on the quest to solve the cryptic clues. The book explains how hard it can be to solve math in a cryptic form. |
7543031 | /m/0264ycg | Spring Awakening | Steven Sater | null | {"/m/04rlf": "Music"} | ;Act I Wendla Bergmann, an adolescent in late-nineteenth century Germany, laments that her mother gave her “no way to handle things” and has not taught her the lessons she needs to learn (“Mama Who Bore Me”). She tells her mother that it is time she learned where babies come from, considering that she is about to be an aunt for the second time. Her mother cannot bring herself to explain the facts about conception clearly to Wendla despite knowing her daughter is reaching puberty. Instead, she simply tells Wendla that to conceive a child a woman must love her husband with all of her heart. The other young girls in town appear to be similarly innocent and are upset about the lack of knowledge presented to them ("Mama Who Bore Me" (Reprise)). At school, some teenage boys are studying Virgil in Latin class. When Moritz Stiefel, a very nervous and intense young man, sleepily misquotes a line, the teacher chastises him harshly. Moritz’s classmate, the rebellious and highly intelligent Melchior Gabor, tries to defend him, but the teacher will have none of it, and hits Melchior with a stick. Melchior reflects on the shallow narrow-mindedness of school and society and expresses his intent to change things ("All That’s Known"). Moritz describes a dream that has been keeping him up at night, and Melchior realizes that Moritz has been having erotic dreams which Moritz believes are signs of insanity. To comfort the panicked Moritz, Melchior, who has learned sexual information from books, tells Moritz that all of the boys at their age get the dreams. The burned-out boys tell about their own frustrating thoughts and desires. ("The Bitch of Living"). Moritz, who is not comfortable talking about the subject with Melchior, requests that he give him the information in the form of an essay, complete with illustrations. Some girls are gathered together after school and tease each other as they fantasize about marrying the boys in the town. At the top of the list is the radical, intelligent, and good-looking Melchior ("My Junk"). Meanwhile, Hanschen masturbates as he looks at an erotic postcard, and the piano student Georg indulges in some lively fantasies about his well-endowed female piano teacher. Moritz has eagerly digested the essay that Melchior prepared for him, but complains that his new knowledge has only made his dreams even more vivid and torturous. Melchior tries to calm and comfort his friend, but Moritz runs off in frustration. All of the boys and girls express their desires for physical intimacy ("Touch Me"). Searching for flowers for her mother, Wendla stumbles upon Melchior. The two share a moment while sitting together in front of a tree (they were childhood friends, but grew apart as they got older). Each of them considers what it would be like to give in to their physical desires, but they do not do so ("The Word of Your Body"). Meanwhile, at school, Moritz sneaks a look at his test results and is thrilled to learn that he has passed his midterm examinations, but the teacher and schoolmaster cannot pass everyone, so they decide to fail Moritz anyway, deeming his passing grade is not up to the school's lofty standards. Martha, one of the teenage girls, accidentally admits to her friends that her father abuses her physically (including sexual abuse) and that her mother is either oblivious or uncaring. The other girls are horrified to hear this, but Martha makes them promise not to tell anyone, lest she end up like Ilse, a friend from childhood who now wanders homeless and aimless because her parents kicked her out of the house ("The Dark I Know Well"). Later, Wendla finds Melchior again at his spot in the woods and tells him about Martha's abuse. Melchior is appalled to hear this, but Wendla convinces him to hit her with a switch, so that she can try to understand her friend’s pain. At first Melchior is determined to do nothing of the sort, but reluctantly complies. He gets carried away in the beating, taking his own frustrations out on Wendla and throws her to the ground. He then runs off, disgusted with himself, as she weeps curled up on the ground. Alone, Wendla finds that Melchior has left his journal on the ground. She picks it up and takes it with her. Moritz is told he has failed his final examination, and his father reacts with disdain and contempt when Moritz tells him that he will not progress in school; rather than attempting to understand his son's pain, Moritz's father is only concerned with how the others in town will react when they see 'the man with the son who failed'. Moritz writes to Melchior’s mother, his only adult friend, for money to flee to America; she tenderly but firmly denies his request and promises to write his parents to discourage them from being too hard on him ("And Then There Were None"). Devastated by the refusal and feeling he has few choices left, Moritz begins to contemplate suicide. In a stuffy hayloft during a storm, Melchior cries out in his frustration at being caught between childhood and adulthood (“The Mirror-Blue Night”). Wendla finds him once again, telling him she wants to return his journal, and each apologizes for what happened the last time they met. Before long, they begin to kiss; Wendla resists his advances at first. Although she doesn't really understand what's going on between them, Wendla is reluctant, sensing that what they are doing is something very powerful, and very unlike anything that she has known before. As Melchoir becomes more insistent, he overpowers her objections with a combination of affection and sheer force, although they continue, and they begin to have sex in the hayloft ("I Believe"). At the very moment Melchior commits the act, Wendla cries out against it, and the darkness falls. (Note: This scene was slightly softened from the show's Off-Broadway run, when the act as a rape without Wendla's consent was more straightforward. Later, as staged by the Broadway show, Wendla still objects to Melchior, but gives in without understanding what he is actually trying to do, leaving the question of consent still ambiguous on many levels.) ;Act II Wendla and Melchior are finishing their moment of confused intimacy in the hayloft; they reflect on and discuss what has just happened (“The Guilty Ones”). Moritz, having been thrown out of his home, wanders the town at dusk, carrying a pistol ("Don't Do Sadness") when he comes across Ilse, an old childhood friend. Ilse, who is secretly in love with Moritz, tells him she has found refuge at an artists' colony; and they reminisce in some childhood memories and "remarkable times" ("Blue Wind"). She invites him to come home with her and join her in sharing some more childhood memories and maybe something more. But Moritz refuses, Ilse does everything she can to change his mind ("Don't Do Sadness/ Blue Wind"). After coming close to kissing and admitting their mutual feelings, Moritz refuses and Ilse leaves, distraught and upset. Realizing his true feelings for her, he changes his mind and calls after her, but it is too late; she is gone. Believing that he has nowhere to turn, Moritz shoots himself. At Moritz's funeral, each of the children including Ilse, drops a flower into his grave ("Left Behind"). Back at school, the schoolmaster and teacher feel the need to call attention away from Moritz, whose death was a direct result of their actions. They search through Moritz's belongings and find the essay on sex which Melchior wrote for him. They lay the blame of Moritz's death on Melchior, and although Melchior knows that he is not to blame, he knows there is nothing he can do to fight them, and he is expelled ("Totally Fucked"). Elsewhere that night, Hanschen meets up with his shy and delicate classmate Ernst. Hanschen shares his pragmatic outlook on life with his classmate before seducing him ("The Word of Your Body (Reprise)"). Wendla has become ill, and her mother takes her to visit a doctor. He gives her some medication and assures them both that Wendla is suffering from anemia and will be fine, but he takes Wendla's mother aside and tells her that Wendla is pregnant. When her mother confronts her with this information, Wendla is completely shocked, not understanding how this could have happened. She realizes that her mother lied to her about how babies are made. Although she berates her mother for leaving her ignorant, her mother rejects the guilt and insists Wendla tell her who the father is. Wendla reluctantly surrenders a passionate note Melchior sent her after they consummated their relationship. She reflects somberly on her current condition and the circumstances that led her to this difficult position, but ends with optimism about her future child ("Whispering"). Meanwhile, Melchior's parents argue about their son's fate; his mother does not believe that the essay he wrote for Moritz is sufficient reason to send him away to reform school. When Melchior's father tells his wife about Wendla's pregnancy, she finally agrees that they must send Melchior away, which they do without telling him that Wendla is pregnant. During this time, Melchior and Wendla only keep contact through the use of letters, with Ilse delivering them back and forth. At the reform school, Melchior gets into a fight with some boys who grab a letter he has just received from Wendla and use it in a masturbation game. As one of the boys reads from the letter, Melchior finally learns about Wendla and their child, and he escapes from the institution to find her. He does not know that Wendla's mother has already taken her to an underground practitioner to have an abortion. When Melchior reaches town, he sends a message to Ilse to have her get Wendla to meet him at the cemetery at midnight. But she can take no action as Melchior "hasn't heard" about Wendla. There, he stumbles across Moritz's grave and swears to himself that he and Wendla will raise their child in a compassionate and open environment. When Wendla is late to the meeting, Melchior begins to feel a little uneasy. Looking around, Melchior sees a grave he hadn't noticed before. He reads the name on the stone – Wendla's – and realizes that Wendla died from the botched abortion. Overwhelmed by shock and grief, he takes out a razor with the intention of killing himself. Moritz's and Wendla's spirits rise from their graves to offer him their strength. They persuade him to journey on, and he resolves to live and to carry their memories with him forever ("Those You've Known"). Led by Ilse, everyone assembles onstage to sing "The Song of Purple Summer." |
7547831 | /m/02652t3 | Force 10 From Navarone | Alistair MacLean | 1968 | {"/m/098tmk": "War novel"} | The story starts straight where the film ended, with Mallory and Miller aboard the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Sirdar, sailing on its way to the besieged island of Kheros. The ship is forced to turn around and head back to Navarone when they receive an urgent message from Captain Jensen, who orders them to collect Andrea Stavros and await transport on a deserted airstrip. Mallory and Miller go ashore and arrive in Mandrakos just in time to witness Andrea' wedding to the feisty resistance fighter, Maria, who had led them into the fortress to destroy the guns. After persuading Andrea and barely appeasing Maria, the three board a Wellington Bomber to take them to Termoli, Italy and Captain Jensen. In Termoli, Jensen congratulates Mallory's team and introduces them to three Royal Marine Commandos sergeants, each an exact replacement for Mallory's men. However one of the sergeants (Reynolds) is less than pleased to be considered a reserve and makes his feelings known. With the introductions over, Jensen briefs them on the mission, they're to go to the Neretva area of Bosnia to discover why in the recent weeks every allied agent parachuted into that area has been captured. Later Jensen introduces Mallory to a Partisan General called Vukalovic. Jensen explains that Vukalovic commands the Partisans in the Neretva valley who are now trapped against the Neretva river to the south and east and impassable mountains in the north and west in the so-called Zenica Cage. Across the river German General Zimmerman commands two German Panzer Divisions camped in the Pine forrests waiting to cross the lone bridge and slaughter the helpless Partisans, and when that happens the Germans will have nearly enough control of Yugoslavia. The next day Mallory, Miller, Andrea and the three sergeants fly from Italy to Bosnia, where they empty their plane's fuel tanks and parachute into a clearing not far from the area the agents were captured. After landing they meet up with what they believe to be a group of Partisans, led by Droshny, a huge Bosnian Captain. Droshny immediately takes a strong dislike to Andrea who nonchalantly kills one of the Partisans and injures another when they aim their guns at Mallory's team. With both men ready to tear the other apart, Mallory calms the situation down and they head off to the Partisan camp. At the camp they're ushered in one of the huts and are shocked to be greeted by a German Army Captain, Captain Neufeld explains that Droshny's men are not Partisans but German collaborators called Chetniks. So now captured, Mallory tells Neufeld the story he briefed the team while they were aboard the plane, but Neufeld seems unconvinced that they are deserters who have been tried for selling penicillin. But when Neufeld's men discover the crashed plane, which Mallory deliberately jettisoned the spare fuel to tie in with his story of how they'd run out of fuel, he seems to believe the tale. Amongst the Chetniks is a female guerrilla fighter named Maria, who with her blind and mute brother Petar wanders the area playing his guitar and sort of singing in a strange way. In an area where superstition is part of the culture, people no matter that they are Partisan or Chetnik see Petar as 'cursed' and will not turn him away from their doors. So he and his sister have found themselves being able to go anywhere in the area, making them valuable spies to the Germans. General Vukalovic, who was parachuted into the Zenica Cage by a different plane, meets his various commanders one by one. First the General meets Major Stefan, whose troops block the Western Gap. Stefan explains to the General that the Germans have moved units of their 11th Army Corps to attack through the gap. Back in the Chetnik camp, Neufeld radio's General Zimmerman at the Neretva Bridge. Zimmerman is concerned with the fact that the Allies are bound to mount a counter attack to save their Partisan allies, but he doesn't know two things, when and where. To find out, Neufeld sends Mallory's team to a nearby Partisan encampment and return with the vital information. The Chetniks then escort Mallory's team through the towering forests in an ancient truck to near Partisan territory. Lrft to make the final part of the journey alone, Mallory instructs Andrea and Miller to kill two Chetniks who were trying to follow them. But unbeknownst to Andrea and Miller, Droshny is also following behind the two Chetniks. Arriving at the Partisan camp (strangely similar to the Chetnik camp), Mallory is met by Major Broznik. While Broznik and Mallory go to the HQ hut the rest go to a communal rest hut, except Saunders who Mallory sends to the radio hut to report to Captain Jensen. Reynolds now even more bitter as he suspects Mallory of betraying them notices the normally aggressive Maria talking friendly to Mallory outside Broznik's hut, a short while later they descover Saunders murdered and his radio smashed. While Mallory, Andrea and Miller are sure it was Droshny, Reynolds believes the murderer to be Mallory. With friends and enemies mixed together, Mallory must continue the real purpose of their mission while keeping the two remaining disgruntled Marines in check. As the story twists and turns, Mallory's team travel back to the Chetnik camp before taking Neufeld and Droshny as hostages to rescue the captured British spies. After releasing the British agents and imprisoning Neufeld and Droshny with the guards at the remote concrete block house, Mallory and co travel up into the Bosnian mountains where Partisans have constructed an airstrip on a waist deep snowy plateau. Of course Neufeld and Droshny escape just in time to witness Mallory's team boarding an Allied bomber and fly off to Italy. But typically for a MacLean novel, Mallory and co haven't left but five Partisans and the agents hasve. While returning back to the Neretva valley, Mallory with the help of Reynolds realises that Droshny must have witnessed him and Maria talking friendly too and must now rescue her and Petar. Neufeld radio's Zimmerman and tells him that Mallory said the Partisan's expect the attack to come from across the Western Gap, feeling safe Zimmerman orders his two armoured divisions around the bridge for their attack in a few hours time. Having returned to the block house, Neufeld and Droshny are astonished to be confronted by Mallory, Miller and Andrea while they're interogating Maria. Freeing Maria and her brother Mallory returns to Neufeld's camp and destroys his radio. Finally after a terrifying ride on an old and rusty narrow gauge railway engine, the group descends the Neretva gorge down to the river bank with Andrea fighting a rear guard action while squadrons of Lancaster bombers saturate the Western Gap with high explosives. Mallory and Miller manage to scale the dam wall and covertly drop into the reservoir where they destroy the dam with a submersible mine dropped by a lone Lancaster bomber. Escaping the reservoir in time to see the dam explode, millions of gallons of water rushes down the gorge and destroys the bridge, washing away the bridge and Zimmerman and his two armoured divisions crossing it. |
7551292 | /m/02654rv | The Rez Sisters | Tomson Highway | null | null | The opening scene begins with Pelajia Patchnose nailing shingles on her roof on the fictional Wasaychigan Hill Indian Reserve on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. She is joined by her sister, Philomena, with whom she discusses her longing to leave the reserve, to which Philomena receives skeptically: "But you were born here. All your poop's on this reserve". They are joined by their half sister, Annie Cook, who they treat disdainfully, and who shares the news that she is expecting a package before leaving to pick it up. Meanwhile, Marie-Adele is playing with Zhaboonigan, while Nanabush, in the form of a seagull, watches on. This is where we first learn of Marie-Adele's (cervical?) cancer, and Veronique's insecurity about having no blood children of her own. The various tensions between the seven sisters, such as shared lovers and stolen husbands, is slowly exposed. This is also when we first hear rumors about THE BIGGEST BINGO IN THE WORLD, a possibility which all the women are ecstatic about. Soon Annie arrives and the women march to Emily Dictionary's store to discover the details. Once the women are gathered at the store long suffering tempers flare and the scene dissolves into the sisters tussling and exchanging verbal attacks, during which Zhabooginan wanders to the side stage and re-accounts her brutal rape by two white boys with a screwdriver to her audience, Nanabush, who is experiencing "agonizing contortions" during the retelling. However, as soon as news of THE BIGGEST BINGO IN THE WORLD is confirmed, the women promptly stop their squabbling and cooperatively plan how to fund the trip to Toronto in order to attend. A mad flurry of activities ensue as the women plan the trip and raise money in various ways. Once they have consolidated their efforts and funds, they set out on the drive in a borrowed van. They encounter several diversions, a flat tire, Marie-Adele collapsing (and having another encounter with Nanabush, this time as a nighthawk), but the most notable part of the scene is the emotional stories the women exchange: Emily re-accounts witnessing her lesbian lover die in a motorcycle accident, Marie-Adele expresses her fear of dying, etc. Finally they arrive at THE BIGGEST BINGO IN THE WORLD, where Nanabush plays the bingo master and the audience plays along. At the end of this climatic scene, Marie-Adele dies just as the other women are losing. The play jumps back to Wasaychigan Hill, and Philomena has won $600 and got a new toilet, but otherwise things remain largely unchanged. |
7553568 | /m/0265658 | The Pit: A Story of Chicago | Frank Norris | 1903 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Pit opens with sisters Laura and Page Dearborn and their aunt, Aunt Wess, outside the Auditorium Theatre opera house awaiting the arrival of their hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Cressler. Once inside, they are joined by three other guests of the Cresslers, Mr. Curtis Jadwin, Mr. Landry Court, and Mr. Sheldon Corthell. Corthell and Laura are apparently very well-acquainted before this evening, for their conversation begins with the artist confessing his love for the young woman. Though she does not return this feeling, Laura admits that knowing she is loved is “the greatest exhilaration of happiness she had ever known." We soon learn that Corthell is not the only man interested in having Laura as his wife. Both Jadwin, the mature and mysterious man of affairs, and Landry, the exuberant and extravagant man from the Battle of the Street, are captivated by the girl’s unparalleled charm and beauty as well. Despite the fact that she makes it clear to each of them that she has no intentions of ever marrying and declares that she will never love, the three men insist on courting her. Miss Dearborn enjoys having these men chase her, but before long she grows weary of being the object of so many suitors. Enraged at herself for having made herself so vulnerable and for behaving so coquettishly, she dismisses Corthell, Landry, and Jadwin all at once. Jadwin, a man of persistence who is accustomed to getting what he wants, refuses to give up. Soon enough, Laura agrees to marry him. When her sister asks her if she truly loves Jadwin, Laura admits that though she “love[s] to be loved” and loves that Curtis is wealthy and willing to provide for her whatever she desires, she is not sure if she loves the man himself. To Mrs. Cressler she confesses:“I think I love him very much – sometimes. And then sometimes I think I don’t. I can’t tell. There are days when I’m sure of it, and there are others when I wonder if I want to be married, after all. I thought when love came it was to be – oh uplifting, something glorious . . . something that would shake me all to pieces. I thought that was the only kind of love there was.” As Joseph McElrath observes in his analysis of the novel, this passage captures the attitude that Laura will maintain through the final chapter of the book: “She will have ‘the only kind of love’ described here." Regardless of any internal reservations, Laura becomes Mrs. Curtis Jadwin on the first weekend in June. For the first years of their marriage, the couple is very happy together. Soon, however, Jadwin discovers a new source of passion that eclipses everything else – wheat speculation. Though he has been warned many times of the dangers of grain trading by his dear friend Mr. Cressler, Jadwin cannot resist the roar of the Pit down at the Chicago Board of Trade. Little by little Jadwin becomes increasingly more obsessed with speculating until the deafening murmur of “wheat-wheat-wheat, wheat-wheat-wheat” is all he can hear. The love for his wife that used to dictate his every action is replaced with an inescapable infatuation with the excitement of the Pit. All of Jadwin’s time is spent at the Board of Trade Building; often times he even sleeps there at night. Laura, left all alone in her huge house through the day and night, feels lonely and neglected and begins to discover that she needs more from her husband than his money. The extremity of Jadwin’s obsession and Laura’s worries and frustration are summed up in a passage Laura speaks to her husband after working up the nerve:“Curtis, dear, . . . when is it all going to end – your speculating? You never used to be this way. It seems as though, nowadays, I never had you to myself. Even when you are not going over papers and reports and that, or talking by the hour to Mr. Gretry in the library – even when you are not doing all that, your mind seems to be away from me – down there in La Salle Street or the Board of Trade Building. Dearest, you don’t know. I don’t mean to complain, and I don’t want to be exacting or selfish, but – sometimes I – I am lonesome.” This selfish concern that she expresses shows the extent to which Laura cares for husband’s troubles. Though he promises time and again that this deal will be his last, it is not until the market has ruined him that Jadwin is able to let it go. During this distressful time Sheldon Corthell reenters Laura’s life after having been abroad in Italy. While Jadwin spends all his time with his broker Gretry at the Board of Trade, Laura renews her companionship with Corthell, a sensitive man who can dazzle Laura with his knowledge of art and literature and who is willing to dedicate all his time to her. As Mrs. Jadwin continues to see more of Corthell than she does of her own husband, their friendship trends towards intimacy. Corthell would love nothing more than an affair with this married woman, but Laura decides that she values her marriage more than this romance and sends Corthell away for good. Meanwhile, Jadwin continues wheat trading and grows unbelievably richer by the day. He discovers that he is in the position to do the impossible – corner the market. The game for him has lost its fun, however, and is taking a serious toll on both his mental and physical health. He cannot concentrate on anything other than counting bushels of wheat and cannot sleep for his nerves won’t let him. Greedy and crazed with power, Jadwin tries to control the forces of natures and drives the price of wheat up so high that people around the world, including his best friend Mr. Cressler, are financially destroyed. Only when the “Great Bull’s” corner is finally broken and he and his wife are reduced to poverty can Jadwin and Laura finally see past their individual problems and rediscover their love for each other. The couple decides to leave Chicago and head west, and the reader is left with the feeling that the Jadwins, despite the horrors they’ve just been through, have found happiness at last. |
7554875 | /m/02656v8 | Danny and the Dinosaur | Syd Hoff | 1958 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | "One day Danny went to the museum," is the first sentence of this book. In the museum, Danny sees other things, but is almost immediately drawn to the dinosaur section and is delighted to find a living dinosaur. Both agree to play with each other, and Danny rides out of the museum on the dinosaur's neck. Danny and his dinosaur buddy embark on an adventure-filled day, including... *the dinosaur confusing a building for a rock *attending a baseball game *eating ice cream instead of grass *going to the zoo *playing hide and seek with other children The dinosaur is well-intentioned throughout the story, for he helps a lady cross the street, takes Danny across a river and lets the children use him as a slide. He's also a celebrity, as the illustrations show hundreds of people leave the zoo to play with Danny. Danny and the Dinosaur ends late in the day as all the children return home. Danny waits until the dinosaur walks back to the museum. While walking home, Danny thinks about one of the things first stated in the story: he wants a dinosaur for a pet, but realizes a dinosaur would be too big to stay at his house. As he walks up the driveway, Danny has last line, "But we did have a wonderful day." |
7560717 | /m/0265bl2 | Space Viking | H. Beam Piper | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | On the Sword World Gram, Lucas Trask, Baron of Traskon, is about to marry Elaine Karvall, whose father owns the Karvall steel mills. In addition to being a political alliance, it is also a love match. But Andray Dunnan, the insane nephew of Duke Angus of Wardshaven, is under the delusion that Elaine loves him and is being forced into the marriage. When she tries to correct him, his anger boils over. He crashes the wedding ceremony, kills her and seriously wounds Trask, before stealing the Duke's newly built starship, the Enterprise, and escaping. When Trask recovers from his injuries, he pledges his realm to Duke Angus in return for another warship, twin to the one hijacked by Dunnan. He hires Otto Harkaman, an experienced Space Viking captain who had lost his own ship in a civil war on Durendal, to command the new vessel, which Trask christens Nemesis. Trask sets out in search of Dunnan, though Harkaman warns him that given the vastness of the galaxy and the speed of spacecraft, his goal is nearly hopeless. They first visit Tanith, a primitive planet Duke Angus had planned to turn into a raiding and repair base. They find two run-down Space Viking ships already in possession, the Lamia and the Space Scourge. Trask decides to implement the Duke's original plan, taking in the other two crews as very junior partners. The natives begin receiving better treatment at his hands and training in the use of modern technology. After some refitting, the Nemesis and the Space Scourge raid three planets, Khepera, Amaterasu and Beowulf. The loot Trask sends to Gram excites interest (and greed). Duke Angus uses the incentive of shares in the Tanith venture to gain supporters and assumes control of Gram. He promotes himself to king and names Trask his viceroy on Tanith with the rank of prince. Ambitious men begin emigrating to Trask's new realm. Beowulf is the most advanced of the raided worlds, lacking only interstellar space flight. Puzzled, Trask investigates and finds out that it has no gadolinium, an essential element for hyperdrive engines, but does have plutonium. Coincidentally, Amaterasu (another world rising back up after undergoing decivilization) has sizable deposits of gadolinium, but lacks plutonium. Trask seizes the opportunity to set up profitable, peaceful trade between the three planets. In the process, he gradually gains two allies. Meanwhile, ships that put into Tanith for trade and repairs occasionally bring news of sightings of Dunnan. From what he learns, Trask wonders if his enemy is plotting to conquer the civilized world of Marduk, a feat thought impossible — just the thing a megalomaniac like Dunnan would attempt. He visits two Mardukan colonies, finding that Dunnan had recently attacked them. At the third, he comes upon the Enterprise and another Dunnan ship locked in combat with the Royal Mardukan Navy warship Victrix. He jumps into the fray and destroys both enemy ships, though he remains unsure if Dunnan was killed. The Victrix, under the command of Prince Simon Bentrik, is too badly damaged for hypserspace flight, so Trask takes the crew back to Marduk. Trask becomes friends with the Mardukan royal family and particularly King Mykhail, the constitutional monarch of Marduk, but is contemptuous of their shaky democracy. It appears that a fanatical rabble-rouser named Zaspar Makann is poised to win the next election and become Chancellor, but that is not Trask's concern. On Gram, King Angus has been abusing his power, straining relations with the other powerful nobles and also with Trask. Finally, Prince Trask declares Tanith's independence and renounces his fealty to Angus. Later, word reaches him that civil war has erupted on Gram. Many of Trask's followers urge him to claim the throne himself. Lucas is not interested. Gram, along with the other Sword Worlds, is in decline; Tanith is the future, the core around which civilization might possibly reform. To distract his divided subordinates, he fabricates a more immediate threat, claiming (without proof) that Andrey Dunnan is responsible for the unrest on Marduk. His big lie turns out to be the truth. Not winning a majority in the election, Makann seizes control of the government. Prince Bentrik shows up on Tanith as a refugee, bringing two pieces of news: fighting has broken out on Marduk; and, more importantly, Dunnan is the power behind Makann. Trask assembles a fleet of Tanith Navy ships, including independent Space Viking raiders and loyalist Royal Mardukan Navy ships and speeds to Marduk for the final showdown. He wins a fierce space battle. Space Viking and loyalist ground forces root out Dunnan's followers. Some of the last holdouts surrender, handing over Andrey Dunnan in return for their lives. When the insane Dunnan raves that Elaine is waiting for him back on Gram, Trask shoots him. Trask decides to marry a Mardukan lady-in-waiting. He also decides to strive to form a League of Civilized Worlds out of the alliance that rescued Marduk. |
7566934 | /m/0265jj6 | The Wounded Land | Stephen R. Donaldson | 1980 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Ten years have passed since the end of the first Chronicles. After his experiences in the Land, Thomas Covenant has resumed his career as a writer. He is still isolated from society, but he has come to terms with that and with the other mental and physical consequences of his leprosy. The story begins by presenting us with a new main character, with the prologue being told entirely from her point of view. Linden Avery is a doctor who has moved to Covenant's hometown to take a position at the local hospital. Her traumatic childhood and rigorous medical training have left her emotionally isolated from other people. In her own way, she is as much an outsider in society as Covenant. The chief of staff at the hospital (who appeared briefly in the first Chronicles) asks her to check up on Covenant. Linden, reluctantly, drives to Covenant's house outside of town. On the way, she sees an elderly man in an ochre robe collapse by the side of the road. Using CPR, she revives him: he makes a number of cryptic pronouncements and walks off, telling her to "be true". Confused and disturbed by this strange encounter, Linden continues on to Covenant's house. Although he initially brushes her off, she is persistent, and finds that Covenant's estranged wife has returned to him, but that she is under the influence of a cult of worshippers of Lord Foul, who has found a way to exert his influence in Covenant's world. After Covenant is stabbed in the chest by one of Foul's dupes in the "real" world, he loses consciousness and hears a familiar voice: Lord Foul's. Taunting Covenant that there is "more despair bound up for you than your petty mortal heart can bear", Foul vows that he will have his final revenge on Covenant and the Land. He awakes to find that both he and Linden have been transported to the Land - to Kevin's Watch, the mountain at the Land's south frontier where he was first summoned by Drool Rockworm ten years before. His wound has been healed - somehow Covenant was able to use the "wild magic" of his white gold ring, although he had no conscious control over the process. Descending from the Watch, he also finds that a terrible change has transpired: four thousand years have passed, the Earthpower is gone, or nearly gone, and the people of the Land are out of touch with what remains of it. The Land is afflicted with the Sunbane, a disruption of the physical order which alternately causes rain, desert, pestilence and unnatural fertility to wreak havoc on man, animals and nature. The people of the Land have turned to human sacrifice as a means of harnessing the power of the Sunbane: shortly after their arrival, Covenant and Linden are taken prisoner and condemned to be "shed". They escape, but shortly thereafter Covenant is bitten by a monster. Linden, who has become imbued with a form of clairvoyance which allows her to perceive the fundamental nature of people and things in this world (which, with her medical training, she comes to think of as her "health-sense") is able to save Covenant from a life-threatening infection, but the venom from the bite leaves Covenant unable to control the destructive power of the wild magic. Despite these difficulties, Covenant and Linden Avery join with Sunder and Hollian, a man and woman of the Land, to travel to Revelstone to challenge the corrupt new rulers of the Land, the Clave. On the journey, Covenant enters the Andelainian Hills, a region of the land free of the Sunbane. There he meets with the Forestal Caer-Caveral (formerly Warmark Hile Troy) and the spirits of the long-dead characters of the First Chronicles, who provide him with rather cryptic advice concerning the plight of the Land. Saltheart Foamfollower gives Covenant something more: Vain, a creation of the ur-viles, who accompanies Covenant to Revelstone. (Linden, Sunder, and Hollian have already been captured by the Clave and imprisoned there.) Once there, Covenant agrees to undertake a "soothtell", a ritual of divination by blood. Before Covenant can defend himself the Clave's minions open his veins: this triggers the ritual. Covenant thus discovers that the cause of the current condition of the Land is the destruction of the Staff of Law, which he himself had wrought. Without the strength of the Staff to protect it, the Earthpower itself has been corrupted by Lord Foul; hence, the Sunbane. Covenant also discovers that the leader of the Clave, the na-Mhoram, is a Raver, one of Lord Foul's immortal, incorporeal servants. As each new na-Mhoram succeeds the last, the Raver takes possession, ensuring that the Clave continues to maintain the Banefire which strengthens the Sunbane. The Banefire is fed by copious quantities of blood: among the victims held by the Clave for future sacrifice are a group of Haruchai, the descendants of the race which formerly served the Land as the Bloodguard. Covenant frees the Haruchai and his friends and retrieves the krill, an ancient and powerful sword forged in the days of the Old Lords, but, due to his power-madness combined with his blood loss, is unable to single-handedly battle the combined power of the Clave, and thus is forced to leave Revelstone. Revelstone is located at the western limit of the Land; beyond is only mountainous wastes. Hence, Covenant and his companions set out east. Their journey is made perilous by the corruption of the Sunbane and the perversity of Sarangrave Flat, a marshy plain on the lower portion of the Land which has been inhabited for millennia by the "lurker", a mysterious and malevolent creature which is aroused by the presence of power. However, the party is preserved by Covenant's wild magic, Linden's health-sense, the Sunbane survival skills of Sunder and Hollian, and the physical prowess of the Haruchai. As they approach the sea-coast at the eastern edge of the Land, the travellers encounter a party of Giants, of the same race as Foamfollower's long-dead people. Covenant, Avery, Vain, and four of the Haruchai take ship with the Giants in search of a solution to the matter of the Staff of Law, leaving Sunder and Hollian in the Land to try to gather resistance to the Clave in preparation for the final battle. |
7567075 | /m/0265jpc | The One Tree | Stephen R. Donaldson | 1982 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | This book differs from the others in the First and Second Chronicles, in that the story takes place outside of the Land, although still in the same world. Following the vision he received from the Clave at Revelstone, Thomas Covenant has resolved to find a solution to the problem of the destruction of the Staff of Law, the result of which has been the corruption of the Land's natural beauty by the curse of the Sunbane. He is accompanied on his quest by Linden Avery, a physician from his own "real" world, and four Haruchai bodyguards. Their means of travel from the Land is a ship crewed by the Giants, a benevolent, seafaring people from a distant region of the Earth. The journey is made more difficult by Covenant's continuing relapses into sickness caused by the venomous bite of a Sunbane-spawned monster: the venom leaves Covenant prone to uncontrollable outbursts of power-madness, the wild magic unleashed by his white gold ring posing an imminent danger to those around him. Linden, who in this world is endowed with a kind of clairvoyance, is frustrated by her inability to help him. From the Land, the Giant-ship sails to the home of the Elohim, a race of beings who are known to possess supreme wisdom. Linden perceives that the Elohim are in fact the embodiment of Earthpower, the mysterious energy which is the source of the beauty and magic found in this world. Despite their seeming omnipotence, the Elohim are bound by a strange code of behavior, and provide no direct help to the quest, other than showing the Giants the location of the One Tree, from which the Staff of Law was fashioned. This knowledge was hidden in Covenant's mind by the Forestal Caer-Caveral (Hile Troy), but Covenant lacked the means to reveal it. In the course of rendering this service, the Elohim cause Covenant to go into a catatonic state - "don't touch me" is all he can say. Sailing the course which has been charted for them, the travelers find that one of the Elohim, named Findail, has joined them aboard the Giants' ship, for purposes which he declines to reveal. The questors are not pleased at this uninvited companion but are powerless to make him leave. After suffering severe damage in a storm, in which Findail refuses to help, the ship arrives at the port city of the Bhrathair, a militaristic - but also wealthy and civilized - people living at the edge of a great desert. The Bhrathair are ruled by the gaddhi, Rant Absolain, who rather coldly receives the quest's shore party, and it is discovered that the true ruler is the gaddhis chief adviser, a wizard named Kasreyn of the Gyre. Kasreyn initially appears to be kindly disposed to the quest but is revealed to have ulterior motives. The ship is repaired, but two of the Haruchai guards lose their lives - one at the hands of a Sandgorgon, a monster indigenous to the desert, and one killed by a hustin, a semi-human creature of the gaddhis guard. Kasreyn abducts Covenant, who is still in a catatonic state, and attempts to use his powers to compel Covenant to give up his ring. The remainder of the shore party is imprisoned in the gaddhis dungeon. Using her power to invade Covenant's consciousness - which she had been loath to use because she abhors the idea of "possession" - Linden breaks Covenant's catatonia and thwarts Kasreyn's efforts to seize the ring. Covenant and the Haruchai fight their way to Kasreyn's laboratory, but discover that Kasreyn has a parasitic being, a croyel, living on his back and providing him with extended longevity, as well as immunity to physical attack. Findail destroys this croyel, killing Kasreyn and setting off a palace coup that leaves the port in a state of chaos. The ship narrowly escapes, and further travel eventually brings the quest to the island where the One Tree is located. Brinn, Covenant's Haruchai bodyguard, sacrifices himself in a duel with the Tree's Guardian ak-Haru Kenaustin Ardenol (himself a figure from Haruchai mythology who represents their idea of the perfect warrior), and is then regenerated as the new Guardian and leads the party to the Tree itself. When Covenant attempts to take a piece of the Tree using his power of wild magic, he is stopped by Cable Seadreamer, the mute giant. When Seadreamer makes the attempt himself, he is killed: he has disturbed the Worm of the World's End, which sleeps beneath the Tree and whose "aura" serves as a defense mechanism. This aura triggers Covenant's power to an exponential degree. As Covenant attempts to overwhelm the Worm with his power, Findail warns Linden that the Arch of Time cannot contain the struggle between the two powers and that the world will be destroyed if it continues. Linden, much against her will, mentally reaches out to Covenant. Sharing his thoughts, she sees him open a passage back to the "real" world and attempts to return her to it. She senses, however, that in the "real" world Covenant's body is very weak (from the stab wound inflicted just before the summoning) and will die if he does not himself return. Unwilling to do this, Covenant draws Linden back through the rift between the worlds. With her help, he is able to contain his power, but at the price of the Isle of the One Tree sinking beneath the ocean as the earth heaves with the movements of the Worm of the World's End settling back from disturbance into slumber. Thus, the quest ends in failure. |
7567132 | /m/0265jr2 | White Gold Wielder | Stephen R. Donaldson | 1983 | {"/m/05h0n": "Nature", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Leaving the sunken island of the One Tree, the Giant ship Starfare's Gem sets course to return to the Land. In a dangerous region of the ocean known as the Soulbiter, the ship is blown off course into the far northern reaches of the Earth and becomes ice-bound. Realizing that the Land's need cannot wait for the spring melt, Thomas Covenant leaves the ship and strikes out south over the ice-scape, accompanied by Linden, Vain, Findail the Elohim, Cail of the Haruchai, and four Giants. The party encounters many dangers on its journey but reconnoiters with Sunder and Hollian, the man and woman of the Land who Covenant left behind in order to attempt to gather resistance to the Clave, the corrupt rulers of the Land. They have little comfort to offer: the Clave has become so blood-hungry that entire villages have been completely emptied in order to sustain the Banefire, making the corruption of nature by the Sunbane worse than ever. Only the stalwart Haruchai, freed from the Clave's magical coercion, have rallied to the side of freedom. Covenant and his companions nevertheless march on Revelstone, the mountain fortress of the Clave. Once there, Covenant stuns the others by summoning a Sandgorgon, the beast responsible for the deaths of two of his Haruchai companions in the previous book. The Sandgorgon, grateful to Covenant for having previously spared its life, breaches the outer defenses of the great Keep. After a tremendous struggle, Covenant and the Sandgorgon are able to destroy the Raver who leads the Clave, although at the price of the life of Grimmand Honninscrave, the valiant Giant captain of Starfare's Gem. Mourning the loss of his friend and the deaths of many of the innocent denizens of Revelstone, Covenant is able to come to terms with his power-madness, through a process in which he mimics the Giantish caamora, a ritual of purification by fire. Using the Banefire and the wild magic of his white gold ring, he is able to negate the effect of the strange venom with which he has been infected. The process hurts Covenant but does not do him permanent injury. With the aid of the Sandgorgon, Linden and Covenant are able to extinguish the Banefire. The defeat of the Clave causes the corruption of the Sunbane to diminish but not to disappear. Sending Cail and the Giant Mistweave to reconnoiter with Starfare's Gem at the eastern coast of the Land, and charging the remaining Haruchai to resume their Bloodguard forebears' role as the warders of Revelstone, Covenant and the rest of his party set out to challenge Lord Foul directly, in his lair in the depths of Mount Thunder. En route, Hollian and her unborn child die resisting an attack of a band of Sunbane-warped ur-viles. Sunder is left numb and wordless with grief: in Andelain the Forestal Caer-Caveral sacrifices his immortal life to re-unite Sunder with Hollian and the yet-to-be-born child and give them a second chance at life. In so doing, he breaks the Law of Life, which prevents the dead from intervening directly in the world of the living. Bereft of the Forestal's protection, Andelain begins to succumb to the Sunbane. Covenant leaves the young family in Andelain and continues his journey, accompanied by Linden, two Giants, Vain, and Findail. At Mount Thunder, Covenant gives the white gold ring willingly to the Despiser, an action which was foretold by Lord Foul upon Covenant's initial return to the Land; Linden Avery refrains from preventing him from this action, despite her ability to do so. The Despiser then kills Covenant, and attempts to destroy the Arch of Time with the wild magic. However, Covenant's spirit blocks his assault: in a manner similar to the cleansing experience with the Banefire, the power of wild magic causes Covenant pain but does not harm him, and in fact makes him more powerful with each attack. (Covenant later explains, "Foul did the one thing I couldn't: he burned the venom away.") Covenant's ability to interfere in this manner is revealed as a consequence of the breaking of the Law of Life and a fulfillment of Lord Mhoram's prophecy ("You are the white gold"). Unable to comprehend this, Lord Foul continues to attack Covenant's spirit until he vanishes, drained of all his power. Linden Avery then takes the white gold ring, and uses it to bond Vain with Findail. Linden thus creates a new Staff of Law, combining the rigidness and structure of the ur-viles' lore with the pure and free Earthpower of the Elohim. Then, combining the new Staff with the power of the wild magic, she heals the Land of the Sunbane. Giving the Staff to the Giants to take to Sunder and Hollian, Linden fades away. In the limbo between the worlds, Covenant speaks to her and explains how he defeated Foul and re-assures her that their love will transcend both time and death. Linden wakes up in the "real" world, finding Covenant dead, as expected, but takes comfort in the knowledge that through his love, she has redeemed both herself and the Land. At the very end of the book, Linden takes Covenant's white gold wedding ring. |
7567287 | /m/0265jx7 | Water | Bapsi Sidhwa | 2006 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Water is set in 1938, when India was still under the colonial rule of the British, and when the marriage of children to older men was commonplace. Following Hindu tradition, when a man died, his widow would be forced to spend the rest of her life in a widow's ashram, an institution for widows to make amends for the sins from her previous life that supposedly caused her husband's death. Chuyia (Sarala) is an eight year old girl who has just lost her husband. She is deposited in the ashram for Hindu widows to spend the rest of her life in renunciation. She befriends Kalyani who is forced into prostitution to support the ashram, Shakuntala, one of the widows, and Narayan, a young and charming upper-class follower of Mahatma Gandhi and of Gandhism. For a full length summary see: plot summary. |
7573843 | /m/0265pp3 | iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon - How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It | Steve Wozniak | 2006-09 | {"/m/0xdf": "Autobiography"} | Wozniak starts his autobiography with a description of his parents, some of their history, and describes how his father had a top secret job involving electronics. Both of his parents were Republicans. He goes on to describe how his father took the time to describe to him, in detail, how electronic components work. He cites this as a major reason for his later success. Wozniak goes on to describe his childhood, in the 1950s Silicon Valley, which was then very agricultural, abounding with fruit orchards. He describes some pranks that he and his friends pulled off and described some gadgets he was able to design because of his knowledge of electronics he gained from his father. Wozniak then recalls and describes some science fair entries he built and entered. He describes how the devices worked, and why they were notable at the time. He also relays that he won every science fair he entered, except one. Wozniak explains how in high school, he picked up the unusual personal hobby of redesigning electronic components. Whenever he found schematic diagrams for new devices coming to market, he would redesign them to use the fewest components possible. Though this took up a great deal of his time, he kept this hobby a secret, even from his parents. He explains that by doing this, he became a system engineering expert. During this time, since about the fifth grade, Wozniak describes his great shyness and how it adversely affected his personal life. Later in high school, he came across the opportunity to work for Sinclair and how he loved the exposure it gave him to computers and the computer programming language FORTRAN. Wozniak discusses how he decided to enroll at the University of Colorado at Boulder, through a trip he and some friends took to Boulder, Colorado area one winter before finishing high school. During this time Wozniak was an active member of the Young Republicans club at college. Because of the high tuition, and an inadvertent expense he had incurred for the university's computer department, he was unable to attend for a second year and instead enrolled in the local junior college, De Anza College. Wozniak describes his lack of religious convictions (his parents never attended any church while he grew up), but that through the friendship of a college dorm roommate, a born again Christian, he decided that, although he didn't necessarily believe in the religious figure of Jesus, he felt an affinity for his philosophy of peace and love for one's fellow man. After some research, Wozniak decided he opposed the Vietnam War, not seeing how it helped the United States' security. His viewpoint drove a wedge between him and his father, who supported the war, though Wozniak felt his father supported it "blindly"—not really knowing why he supported it, just that he supported it because he was a conservative. About this time, Wozniak states that his father began to drink heavily, which also impacted negatively on their relationship. Wozniak tried to unify himself with the hippie culture of the 1960s, because he generally agreed with their peace-based philosophy, but never dressed like them (though he did grow his hair long and sported a beard). But he says he was ultimately rejected by them because he refused to use recreational drugs. Wozniak goes onto describe how he met Steve Jobs when Jobs was still a high school student (Wozniak was four years his senior and had graduated years earlier). He describes how they both "hit it off" right away. They enjoyed the same music, had the same interests and both had a working knowledge of electronics. It would turn out, they would both also have an affinity for pulling pranks. Wozniak describes his development of his infamous blue box (a device that allowed the user to make free long distance phone calls), his involvement in the early phreaking community and some trouble it got him into. He also describes his development of the first "Dial-A-Joke" number in the San Francisco Bay Area and how, through it, he met his first wife, Alice. Wozniak describes with a great deal of affinity, his job as an engineer at Hewlett Packard (HP). He describes HP as a company he wanted to work for the rest of his life because it was, in his words, perfect for engineers. Wozniak describes his encounter with the first successful video arcade game, Pong, at a bowling alley with Alice (then his fiancee). He describes just staring at it, amazed that computers could be used in such a way. He went home and recreated the game on his own, using a standard television for the display (which in itself, took some doing). He even added some features not found on the commercial game, such as displaying the score onscreen and displaying four-letter exclamations when missing a ball. Once while visiting Jobs, he showed it to one of the top executives of Atari, Inc., Al Alcorn, who was so impressed that he offered Wozniak a job right on the spot. Wozniak declined, however, explaining that he could never leave HP. While still with HP, Wozniak describes his moonlighting development, with Jobs, of the prototype of the arcade game Breakout for Atari, Inc in only four days. He also describes, without bitterness, how Jobs shortchanged him on the job. Jobs, who worked for Atari Inc., said he would give Wozniak half of "whatever they paid him" for development of the game. Jobs subsequently gave Wozniak $375, saying Atari Inc. paid him $750 for the game. Later Wozniak found out that Atari Inc. actually paid Jobs five thousand dollars for the game. Wozniak describes his impetus for joining the Freemasons. He says he joined, actually, to be able to spend more time with his wife, Alice. Alice belonged to a group, Eastern Star, that did a lot of joint projects with the Masons. He says that although he took the necessary oaths and is a lifetime Freemason, he doesn't actually put a whole lot of stock in the mystical and religious overtones of the oath or the order. He says that he joined the Freemasons for one specific purpose, but he is very unlike the other members of the order. He says he quickly rose to a third degree Freemason because, whatever he does, he tries to do well. Wozniak describes how he got involved with the Homebrew Computer Club when it was still very small and met in a garage. From his involvement with the club, he was inspired to develop a computer, which would ultimately become the first Apple computer, the Apple I. He showed it off at some club meetings, after the main meeting because he was too shy to give a demonstration before an audience. He gave out his schematics to the club members for free, so they could build their own. None did, however, as they lacked the time or resources. Wozniak also showed the computer to Jobs. During this time, Wozniak was still working as an engineer for HP. All his development time was done after work and on weekends. Jobs successfully secured an order for 100 Apple Is at USD$500 a piece, something Wozniak said he could have never done himself. About this time, Jobs suggested that he and Wozniak start a company. Wozniak was never interested in being an entrepreneur, feeling that such would detract from his role as an engineer. However, Jobs convinced him it would be something they could look back on and be proud of, even if it failed. Shortly after this, and toying with several names, he and Jobs settled on "Apple," after Jobs visit to a commune with a similar name. After their first order, he and Jobs set about assembling the computers, with some paid help of friends and family. They delivered the assembled computers—really just printed circuit boards with components soldered on—as they were completed to the computer store that had commissioned them. The owner of the shop paid them in installments as they were delivered. Suddenly, he and Jobs had a huge cash reserve and nothing to spend it on (they didn't pay themselves a salary). At this time, Jobs still had his job at Atari and Wozniak still worked for HP. Right after designing the Apple I, Wozniak set about designing the Apple II. He says that all the ideas for improving the computer came to him while he was designing the Apple I, but he didn't implement them because he wanted to finish the Apple I in a timely manner. The Apple II featured several improvements over the Apple I, including real color graphics and six expansion slots (an idea he and Jobs disagreed over). It also had a real case, something the Apple I lacked. About this time, Jobs and Wozniak searched for someone to head their company, and finally found Mike Markkula. Markkula was convinced Apple would be a Fortune 500 company within five years. Wozniak, however, was unconvinced. Markkula said that Wozniak would have to leave his job at HP. Wozniak was reluctant to do so, since he wanted to be an engineer and not a manager. He finally agreed to do so after an old friend told him he could join Apple and still be an engineer. Shortly after the release of the Apple II, Wozniak says that he was almost an overnight millionaire. He went from being just an employee of HP to being worth millions of dollars. The Apple II had a working cassette tape interface, for secondary storage. Markkula was frustrated with the slow operation of the cassette tapes, and their instability. He asked Wozniak to develop another method of secondary storage. Wozniak settled on the floppy disk, a new idea at the time. Wozniak developed the entire floppy disk system in two weeks time, with the help of another engineer. Wozniak spends a great deal of time pointing out how advanced the Apple II was to other home computers available at the time, including its graphics, sound and programming ease. Wozniak discusses his courtship with Candi Clark and a plane crash that happened shortly before their marriage. He crashed a private plane while taking off from a Scotts Valley airport. He was unable to recall any of the events of the crash and for many weeks after being released from the hospital, didn't realize he had been in a crash at all. He says he wandered around in a haze and didn't report to work, thinking every day was a weekend day (the same day, in fact). He didn't remember one day to the next and needed to be told how to get to places familiar to him. He finally figured out what happened through logic, after which his memory began operating correctly again. About this time, Wozniak decided to return to college to finish his degree. He also points out that he did not drop out of college, he simply couldn't afford the last semester at the time. He enrolled in University of California, Berkeley under an assumed name, since by now his name was a household word. He lived in a rented apartment near the university while his second wife, Candi, stayed at their home in the Santa Cruz mountains, where he visited her on weekends. At this time, Wozniak discusses his launch of the US Festival, envisioning it as a modern day Woodstock Festival, but featuring progressive country music, a genre Wozniak had just developed an affinity for from listening to Gilroy's KFAT radio station. Ultimately, it turned into a rock format, because another backer feared a country-themed festival wouldn't attract enough customers. Ultimately Wozniak lost money on the venture, but stated he didn't care since it made the attendees—and him—happy. The first festival opened the day after his first child, Jesse, was born. Despite losing money, it didn't stop Wozniak from backing another US Festival the following year. Though mostly another rock festival, the second festival also featured a "country" day. Wozniak also lost money on the second festival—despite enhanced security. But he states once again that it was worth it. Wozniak describes that he had a myriad of electronic entertainment devices in his Santa Cruz home (more than most people had at the time). Each was controlled by a different remote control. He hated having to use each one whenever he wanted to watch television, for example, the sound output of which was routed through his stereo. After a while, he decided to start a new company to develop what is now known as a universal remote. As he left on good terms with Apple, a Wall Street Journal journalist interviewed him about his departure. Wozniak was careful to tell him he had no qualms with Apple, but that he just wanted to develop the new remote. Unfortunately, the article stated just the opposite, which resulted in hard feelings on the part of Jobs. Wozniak started the new company, called CL 9, with two other friends, in Los Gatos. He intended financing the entire venture by himself, but later external investors also contributed money to the company (much to his chagrin). Wozniak and friends made great headway on the product, which Wozniak states was revolutionary at the time. About this time, Wozniak's second marriage, to Candi, was breaking up. In fact, their third child was born after their divorce was finalized. He states that Candi still lives on their Santa Cruz estate. Wozniak eventually sold CL 9, which he states subsequently went out of business. All the while, he states he is still an Apple employee, but states that he makes as little as a full time employee of Apple can make. He says that he represents Apple at conventions and other groups. Wozniak discusses how he always had a yearning to teach, since about the fifth grade (about 10 to 11 years old in the United States). For 10 years, starting when his son, Jesse, was in the fifth grade, Wozniak donated computers and taught a computer class at his son's school. He states those were the happiest ten years of his life. Wozniak discusses his main reasons for finally writing his autobiography was to dispel several myths that surround his history, and that of Apple Computer. Including: * He developed the Apple II almost independently, not with a lot of help from Jobs * He didn't leave Apple; he is still, in fact, officially employed by Apple * He didn't have a "falling out" with Jobs (except right after the development of CL 9) and was still friends with him. Wozniak ends his book with advice to others, particularly the youth, on how to develop their own inventions and encourages them to ignore the mainstream and follow their own passions and ideas. |
7575811 | /m/0265r3m | Earth Hive | Steve Perry | 1992 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The book begins with a routine space junk cleanup mission in Earth orbit, with a small derelict spaceship being prepped for de-orbit and burnup. The crew doing the cleanup investigate the ship, and, much to their horror, an alien xenomorph stowaway on the derelict manages to board the cleanup crew's ship, and kill them. The ship is destroyed when one of the crewmembers panics and collides the cleanup ship with the derelict. However, everything was captured by the cleanup ship's black box. A CIA-like organization, called the TIA, realizes the threat posed by the alien species, and is able to use the information in the black box to retrace the route of the derelict ship. A decision is made to send a Colonial Marine expedition to the origin planet of the derelict ship, presumably the home planet of the alien species. Wilks, a battle-hardened space marine, is picked for the job. He previously encountered the aliens on the colony world of Rim, where he managed to escape alive with only one survivor, a little girl named Billie. Wilks agrees to the mission, but first makes plans to break Billie out of a mental hospital, where she has been suffering from nightmares ever since her rescue from the aliens on Rim. On board the Colonial Marine ship is a marine named Mitch, with whom Billie begins a romantic relationship en route to the alien planet. Meanwhile, greedy executives from the Weyland-Yutani corporation, learn of the Colonial Marine expedition to the alien homeworld, and make plans to intercept and destroy it. They hire a black-ops mercenary named Massey and his team of illegal combat synthetics, whose programming has been altered to permit the harming of human beings, in violation of the First law of robotics. It turns out that Weyland-Yutani already has a specimen of an alien on Earth, and wishes to keep its monopoly on the species, and prevent anyone else from obtaining a specimen. A third group enters the fray, a religious cult that worships the alien xenomorph, and whose members believe that implantation by a facehugger alien is something akin to joining with god. After the marine expedition leaves for the alien planet, followed by the mercenary ship, the alien god cult manages to locate the Weyland-Yutani lab holding the alien samples, breaks into the lab using suicidal attacks, and manages to get several members implanted by alien facehuggers. After arriving at the alien planet, the colonial marine ship is ambushed by Massey and the combat synthetics, assisted by the leader of the colonial marine force, who turns traitor for money. After seizing control of the marine's vessel, Massey kills the traitorous marine, leaving Wilks and the rest of the marines captive. The mercenary reveals his plan is to send the marines down to the planet, as 'bait' for the aliens, and then use the combat synthetics to collect the implanted marines. All of the marines except for Wilkes are sent down to the planet, unarmed, with the mercenary combat synthetics keeping a close watch. On the planet below, the first team of Colonial Marines, including Mitch, is forced to enter an alien hive. Before the aliens can come out and attack, the mercenary synthetics who are keeping guard are attacked by another hostile alien species (not the xenomorphs). The Colonial Marines take advantage of this situation, and kill the mercenary synthetics and take their weapons. During the surprise attack on the colonial marine vessel, Billie managed to hide and avoid detection in the initial sweep of the ship, and her name is not listed on the crew roster. She manages to kill one of the mercenary synthetics, get a weapon, and make her way to the bridge where Wilks and Massey are located. Billie and Wilks fight Massey, and manage to kill him. However, another group of marines is not so lucky, and is captured by a nearby alien hive. The surviving marines, led by Mitch, have no choice but to attempt a rescue. The rescue attempt comes at a great cost, only a few marines manage to make it out alive. Wilks and Billie fly down in a dropship to pick up the surviving marines, when Mitch is apparently killed by an alien - only to be revealed to be a synthetic as well. The Colonial Marine force included a team of synthetics so accurate, they could completely pass for human. Billie had no idea Mitch was synthetic, and is devastated. Mitch and the rest of the marines make it into the dropship, just as a horde of aliens start to swarm over the ship and try to break in. The ship cannot take off, and Wilkes is about to undertake a suicide mission to try to go outside to clear the aliens off, when suddenly all of the aliens are killed. A new alien appears, looking something like a giant elephant. The characters in the book do not realize it, but this is the same species of creature whose crashed ship the crew of the Nostromo encountered on LV-426 in the original Alien movie - the so-called "Space Jockey." The elephant-alien does not appear hostile or particularly interested in the humans, as it returns to its spaceship without making contact with Wilkes. The remaining crew of the Colonial Marine expedition - Wilks, Billie, Mitch, a marine named Blake, and a naval crewman named Parks, return to their ship and head for Earth. On Earth, the alien cult has successfully broken into the biowarfare lab containing the alien specimen, and has released wild aliens onto the planet. The aliens are slowly taking over, despite the best efforts of Earth defense forces. Over a period of several months, the aliens so completely dominate the planet, that most humans have been killed, and the rest have evacuted to earth orbit or other planets. As Wilks, Billie, Mitch, Blake, and Parks return to Earth, the last organized survivors of Earth are preparing to leave. Upon landing, a group of military survivors approach them, demanding that they hand over their ship. The encounter turns violent: Blake is killed and Parks panics and abandons the group. Wilks, Billie, and Mitch manage to stow away on a container ship headed for an unknown destination. They escape from Earth, with no idea of their final destination. This cliffhanger ending leads into the next book in the trilogy, Nightmare Asylum. |
7579048 | /m/0265tf9 | Mad White Giant | null | 1985 | {"/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel"} | Mad White Giant begins with Allen recounting the role of the Amazonian region in his childhood fantasies.), Allen decides to shoot and eat Cashew to survive. |
7579564 | /m/0265tzz | None But Lucifer | H. L. Gold | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The book is a dark fantasy, a version of the Faust legend set in New York City during the Great Depression. A man named Hale makes a deal with the devil and then attempts to cheat his fate of eternal damnation. Ironically, his very success in defeating Lucifer ensures his own undoing. |
7579786 | /m/0265v7k | Zündels Abgang | Markus Werner | 1984 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | From diary-style notes and personal memories and conversations, the fictive narrator Reverend Busch reconstructs and documents the stepwise fall of his missing friend, the teacher Konrad Zündel. During many summer weeks, the life of the depressive, intellectual, quixotic protagonist is destroyed step by step. In the reader’s eyes, Zündel simply suffers one mishap after another, but for the unstable teacher - that says, he never was happy in his life - these mishaps lead into mania and into the planning and execution of his departure. Konrad Zündel and his wife Magda, whose relationship after five years breaks down because of everyday things, decide to spend their holidays separately. While Magda spends some days with her friend Helen, Konrad decides to visit Greece. But in Italy, he suddenly loses an incisor and travels back to Switzerland per train. While travelling, his wallet gets stolen and he, into the bargain, finds a severed finger on the train closet. This severed finger’s origins and meaning never are explained. In his Swiss flat, the caretaker denotes, Magda did something with another man. Later, this statement turns out to be a lie – but the thought of losing his wife throws Zündel out of his way. He travels to Genua, where he once was sired by a Swiss sick-nurse and an irresponsible globetrotter. In Genua, he is drunken nearly all the time and tries to write down his philosophical – often cynic – gnosis. It is about – like the whole novel – the relation between Konrad and Magda, between man and woman, between womanhood and manhood. The guilty for his departure, due to Magda, who represent the totality of all women, who destroy men with their will to self-actualization. Zündel has two important meetings in Genua: In a bar, he meets Serafin (not only his name reminds angels) a Spanish sailor with an Austrian dialect. The two men are constating a relation between their souls – and leave each other. Not less surreal is the meeting with the French woman Nounou; Zündel spends a night with her, again discovering relation of souls. He leaves her in dawn, before the situation would necessitate hundred knives to separate us. After these two meetings, Zündel wants to fulfil the main goal of his voyage: Getting an illegal handgun. This plan shipwrecks, too. Because of his naivety and gentleman's style, Zündel is frauded. Afterwards, he travels home. Extremely confused, undernutrited and now heavily addicted to alcohol, he enters the flat, where the distressed Magda has expected his return for days. A normal conversation, that would clear these misunderstandings (e.g. the not existing lover), isn't possible, because Zündel now is mentally ill. The next morning, the teacher Zündel only gives another two lessons, which turn out to be very strange. Then he breaks down in school, is brought to the hospital and then to mental clinic. The psychiatrists fail in making a diagnosis. Zündel escapes from the clinic to his weekend house in the mountains, where he hides armed and dangerous. The narrator, Busch, is the last person who is able to get close to him, before he departs finally. |
7580125 | /m/0265vqb | John Henry Days | Colson Whitehead | 5/15/2001 | {"/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Building the railways that made America, John Henry died with a hammer in his hand moments after competing against a steam drill in a battle of endurance. The story of his death made him a legend. Over a century later, J. Sutter, a freelance journalist and accomplished expense account abuser, is sent to West Virginia to cover the launch of a new postage stamp at the first 'John Henry Days' festival. |
7585676 | /m/0265_n8 | Zombie | Joyce Carol Oates | 1995-10 | {"/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/089m7": "Zombie", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The protagonist, Quentin P, seeks to create a "zombie" out of an unsuspecting young man. He intends to find a perfect young male companion and re-wire his brain, thereby turning the victim into a mindless sex slave. His several attempts at creating a zombie all end in failure, however, as the men he abducts, rapes and tortures all die at his hands. By the end of the novel, he has begun to enjoy killing for its own sake, and experiments with cannibalism and necrophilia. Adding to his frustrations is his increasingly suspicious family, particularly his father. |
7589425 | /m/026632j | Déjà Dead | Kathy Reichs | 1997-09 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction"} | When the meticulously dismembered body of a woman is found discovered in the ground of an abandoned monastery which is too "decomposed for standard autopsy", an anthropologist is requested. Dr. Temperance Brennan, Director of Forensic Anthropology for the province of Quebec, who has been researching recent disappearances in the city, is given the case. Despite the deep cynicism of Detective Claudel who heads the investigation, Brennan is convinced that a serial killer is at work. Her forensic expertise finally convinces Claudel, but only after the body count has risen. Tempe initiates an investigation, but her determined probing places those closest to her in danger. |
7589435 | /m/026632w | Death du Jour | Kathy Reichs | 1999 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | On a bitterly cold March night in Montreal, Temperance is exhuming the remains of a nun proposed for sainthood in the grounds of a church. Hours later she's called to the scene of an horrific arson, where a young family has perished. There seem to be no witnesses, motive and no explanation. From the charred remains of the inferno to a trail of sinister cult activity and a terrifying showdown during an ice storm. Tempe faces a test of both her forensic expertise and her survival instinct. |
7591063 | /m/0kvc03 | Arrow to the Sun | Gerald McDermott | null | {"/m/016475": "Picture book", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | The Boy (he is never given a personal name) is the son of the Lord of the Sun, who sends the spark of life into a maiden of the Pueblo. He is ridiculed by the other boys because he has no father. The Boy asks various adults of the Pueblo for help in finding his father. When he asks the wise Arrow Maker, the man transforms the Boy into an arrow and launches him to the Sun. Arriving in the Sun, his identity as the Lord's son is tested by passing through four ritual huts: the Kiva of Lions, the Kiva of Serpents, the Kiva of Bees, and the Kiva of Lightning. After the Boy endures these trials, the Lord acknowledges him as his son. The Boy is then sent back to Earth by his father, to bring the Sun's spirit into the world of men. |
7592012 | /m/02664yp | Treasure of Khan | Clive Cussler | null | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | A relatively small oil company headed by the antagonist, Borjin, a Mongolian who is bent on taking control of the world oil market, and also determined to re-unite the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia with Mongolia, has stolen a machine which can create an earthquake. He has also found significant oil deposits buried at unusual depths in Inner Mongolia. He uses the machine to destroy major oil production facilities through the world, crippling China's and the rest of the world's oil supply in a matter of weeks. He then uses this shortage to make an offer to supply China all the oil it needs. He demands that Inner Mongolia be ceded to Mongolia, and China pay market price for the oil he will supply them, which he guarantees will meet the colossal demands of the Chinese economy. China accepts this deal, not knowing of the hidden oil deposits they are handing to him. Dirk Pitt intervenes to end the situation, and discovers that the grave of Genghis Khan has been located by Borjin. A subplot centers on Kublai Khan's second invasion of Japan by Mongolia, and in its failure, inadvertently discovering what we now know as Hawaii. In the present, Dirk Pitt discovers Kublai Khan's tomb is in a lava tube in Hawaii along with a great treasure. He does this after finding an ancient scroll which had been buried for centuries, was excavated during the early days of the War of Resistance. The pertinent clues were then quickly lost, and found again by Pitt. fr:Le Trésor du Khan (roman) it:Il tesoro di Gengis Khan |
7594155 | /m/02666c3 | Thumbsucker | Walter Kirn | 1999-11 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Kirn's novel tells the story of Justin Cobb, a Minnesota teenager whose family experiences a broad spectrum of dysfunction. Father Mike is a washed-up college football star with a militaristic and unemotional attitude inspired by his former coach. Mother Audrey, a nurse, is struggling to accept how her life has wound down. Younger brother Joel simply does everything he can to fit in and seem normal. Amidst pressures to stop sucking his thumb, 14 year old Justin turns to unorthodox dentist Perry Lyman who attempts to use hypnosis to remedy the problem with limited success: The thumb sucking disappears, but other problem habits arise to take its place. Justin starts behaving oddly, and his condition is 'identified' as attention deficit disorder by his school and he is consequently prescribed Ritalin. The drug appears to help the problem for a time, but this is merely a stop-gap whilst Justin's (and indeed his family's) real problems remain at large. When Justin gives up Ritalin he turns to drugs (pot), sex and religion to combat his problems. Eventually deciding that he's had enough of this life, Justin returns to Perry Lyman who reminds him that we all have flaws, the goal is not to fix them, but to live with them. With this message in mind, Justin is sent off to be a Mormon missionary in New York, and winds up sucking his thumb again, at the expense of the drugs and sex. Coming of age tale touching on the raw emotions experienced during this time and the wider concepts of identity and existentialism. ru:Дурная привычка (фильм) |
7596049 | /m/02667tm | Thirst for Love | Yukio Mishima | null | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The novel centers on the experience of Etsuko, a woman who has moved into the house of her in-laws following the death of her husband Ryosuke from typhoid. There she falls into a physical relationship with her father-in-law (Yakichi) which both repulses and numbs her. She comes to develop romantic feelings for the young gardener Saburo, who is oblivious of her interest, and turns out to be having an affair with the maid Miyo. The story develops over a period of just over a month, from September 22, when the book opens with her buying a pair of socks as a gift for Saburo, to October 28, 1949, when the story reaches its violent climax. The narrative progresses through a series of flashbacks, and intense, stream of consciousness reflections, focusing on Etsuko's obsession, which she attempts to hide in the beginning, but which reveals itself as it gradually spins out of control. At times lyrical, the novel is starkly drawn, with dark brooding scenes interspersed with bright sunbursts. The text is particularly notable for its sharp and radical observations, as in: "Etsuko was a beautiful eczema. At Yakichi's age, he couldn't itch without eczema." (p. 134). The writing is interlaced with asides reflecting a dark brooding focus, as in the child taking pleasure after drowning a colony of ants in boiling water, or in mutilated rose petals lying face down in rainwater. These dark moments, as in much of Mishima's writings, tend to bring the reader to a foreboding of impending tragedy. |
7601834 | /m/0266g4b | Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn | null | null | null | The series begins in U.C. 0001, at the very beginning of human space colonization, when a space colony called Laplace is destroyed during a ceremony hosted by the Federation's Prime Minister ushering in the Universal Century dating system. The main story takes place in UC 0096, three years after the events of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack and 27 years before Mobile Suit Gundam F91. The story revolves around Banagher Links, a seemingly normal boy living and going to school in the space colonies. His life changes one day when he meets a girl named Audrey Burne, as the encounter brings him into contact with a new Gundam and its connections to an item called "Laplace's Box." |
7603691 | /m/0266hzs | Expecting Someone Taller | Tom Holt | 1987 | {"/m/06nbt": "Satire", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01z4y": "Comedy"} | The story involves Malcolm Fisher, a hapless auction clerk in modern-day England, who runs over a badger one night. The badger turns out to be the giant Ingolf, brother of Fafnir, and Fisher becomes the new owner of the Ring of the Nibelung and the Tarnhelm, and, thereby, ruler of the world. He also drinks some of the Ingolf's blood, which gives him the ability to understand the language of the birds. He finds that if he allows himself any negative emotions such as anger or frustration, he will cause various catastrophes worldwide. Thus Malcolm tries to be as positive as possible in his day-to-day life. He uses the ring to gain enough gold to buy a mansion and tries to live a quiet life. However, Wotan, king of the gods, still wants the ring, as do others, and Fisher finds himself pursued by numerous characters from Wagner's opera: Wotan and Loge (also known as Odin and Loki in Norse mythology), the Rhinemaidens (who want their gold back), and Alberich (who stole the gold, made the ring and still wants it). He also becomes romantically entangled, first with the Rhinemaiden Flosshilde, and later with one of the Valkyries, Ortlinde. Malcolm is unaware of the Valkyrie's true identity and does intend to give the ring to her, but a bird reveals to him who she truly is. It is then revealed that his housekeeper is actually Erde (Mother Earth), mother of the Valkyries. Despite this, he continues to believe himself in love with Ortlinde. Malcolm still intends to give her the ring, but she leaves. Wotan then resorts to sending an army. Malcolm faces the army and destroys it as well as all the high gods, by force of will and the power of The Ring. Malcolm fears that he has also destroyed Flosshilde whom he now knows he loves, but it turns out she was just visiting her cousins. When she returns he gives her the ring, believing she will do a better job—and because he thinks that the ring is now merely a token of his love and not the all important Ruling Ring. He keeps the tarnhelm which gives him immortality. |
7604643 | /m/02pcl0w | Dorsai! | Gordon R. Dickson | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/01smf2": "Military science fiction"} | The book is about Donal Graeme, warrior extraordinaire. In the Childe Cycle universe, the human race has split into a number of splinter cultures. Donal is a member of the Dorsai, a splinter culture based on the planet of the same name, which has specialized in producing the very best soldiers. Since each splinter culture specializes in a specific area of expertise, a system of trade labour contracts between the cultures allows each planet to hire the expertise they need. The Dorsai, inhabiting a resource-poor world, hire themselves out as mercenaries to other planetary governments. Donal has great ambitions, and the book follows his rise in an episodic nature. The book begins as a straightforward tale of his career and then becomes something else, as it becomes clear there is something different about Donal Graeme himself. |
7604954 | /m/0266k6c | Harold and the Purple Crayon | Crockett Johnson | 1955 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | The protagonist, Harold, is a curious four-year-old boy who, with his purple crayon, has the power to create a world of his own simply by drawing it. Harold wants to go for a walk in the moonlight, but there is no moon, so he draws one. He has nowhere to walk, so he draws a path. He has many adventures looking for his room, and in the end he draws his own house and bed goes to sleep. |
7605271 | /m/0266kj0 | A House Like a Lotus | Madeleine L'Engle | 11/1/1984 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Polly begins narrating the novel just as she arrives in Greece. She expects to be picked up by her Aunt and Uncle but they were detained and will not arrive in Greece for a few days. Polly goes to her hotel and feels rather depressed about the current state of affairs. But her mood improves when she meets Zachary Gray at the hotel restaurant. He is quite interested in her and is attracted to her innocence. He offers to take her around Greece and show her the sights. Polly is reluctant but agrees. Zachary is an interesting tour guide and Polly enjoys his companionship. But when Zachary begins to show interest in a romantic and physical relationship, she resists. When Polly's aunt and uncle show up, Zachary is unable to keep up his relationship with Polly but insists that they will see each other again. During this time, Polly has been flashing back to the past and how she managed to get a trip to Greece. About six months earlier, Polly was introduced to Max, a friend of her uncle. Although Max is an adult and Polly is still a teenager, the two begin a friendship and Max encourages Polly to develop her identity. Polly's friend Renny also encourages her and Polly blossoms. When Max admits that she and her "friend" Ursula have been lovers for thirty years, Polly is surprised but decides this does not change who Max is and remains friends. Max also admits she is dying, which devastates Polly. But after one night of heavy drinking, Max makes what seems to be a sexual advance toward Polly. Polly is horrified. Ursula tries to assure Polly that Max loves her (Polly) as a daughter, not in any romantic sense but Polly is still terrified and runs away. She stays with Renny. While still vulnerable and scared, Polly and Renny sleep together. Polly returns to her family and does not tell them about Max or Renny. While she severs all contact with Max, she still accepts the trip to Greece. In the present, Polly goes to a literary conference, held on Cyprus, where she is to volunteer. Surrounded by new friends and interesting work, Polly begins to heal. But Zachary suddenly appears and asks Polly to go out with him. She reluctantly agrees. The two go sailing on the ocean but an accident occurs and the two nearly drown. They are saved by Polly's friends from the conference. This event makes Polly realize that she needs to talk to Max, before it's too late. She phones America and tells Max that she forgives her. The line goes dead after a few minutes but Polly is satisfied because she and Max are friends once more. |
7608013 | /m/0266mgd | Nightjohn | Gary Paulsen | 1993 | {"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The novel is set on a plantation in the Southern United States in the 1850s. The narrator and protagonist of the story is a young African-American slave named Sarny, who is taught to read and write by another slave, Nightjohn, also known as John. John escaped to the free north but returned to the south in order to teach slaves to read and write. It was followed by a sequel |
7608156 | /m/0266mkv | Treasure Box | Orson Scott Card | 1996 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The plot details a middle-aged man, Quentin Fears (pronounced "fierce"), who marries a woman who turns out to be a succubus. The story unfolds as Quentin tries to stop her and the witch who controls her from unleashing a great evil upon the world. |
7608219 | /m/0266mn7 | Castaway | null | null | null | In her book, Irvine starts with the somewhat odd circumstances of this collaboration, in which she addresses Kingsland’s ad for a “wife to live on a lonely island for a year”. In that year (1982), Irvine was 25, and Kingsland 49. After being formally married — Tuin Island is part of Queensland, and the authorities would have never let them go without marrying first — and Irvine has an IUD implanted to prevent pregnancy, Irvine and Kingsland try to adapt, making the best out of a beautiful but hostile environment with treacherous flora and fauna. Slowly but surely, an intense love-hate relationship develops between the two, as Irvine is much more strict and disciplined than the laid-back Kingsland. Kingsland also makes clear he desires the blonde, slender Irvine, but much to his chagrin, she refuses his advances. However, as both are mutually dependent on each other, and both are also constantly hungry, the tension remains in check. Matters grow worse when Kingsland’s legs become infested with ulcers – it turns out he is allergic to the shark they are regularly eating – and the two are visited by two male naval postal officers who drop supplies. When Irvine flirts with them, and acknowledges being sexually attracted by them, Kingsland is eaten up with jealousy. However, when she eats poisoned beans, he also saves her life, which earns her respect. But things grow from bad to worse when a bad drought comes over Tuin. Having no means of communication – the antenna of their CB radio set is missing — the two nearly starve to death. Irvine has serious abdominal problems and fears she is pregnant, which would be her doom in her weakened state. Then, salvation comes in the form of natives from the neighbouring island of Badu Island, Queensland, who find the castaways and nurture them back, helped by occasionally passing white nurses. Irvine and Kingsland regain their strength and health; Irvine’s abdominal problems are due to inflammation caused by the IUD, not pregnancy. She has it extracted, and after recovering, the two are treated as honoured guests. They are invited to several tribal ceremonies and get a deep insight in their culture. Kingsland establishes himself as a fine addition because he is able to fix many of their technical and electrical devices. He thrives on his new usefulness, and Irvine finds herself courted by young Badu islanders, offers which she politely declines. Feeling proud of Kingsland, Irvine makes a fateful decision. Feeling her libido return and now willing to fulfill Kingsland the one wish she has denied him, she equips herself with condoms and seduces him. They start a fulfilling, but awkward sexual relationship; both enjoy the new quality of their marriage, but Irvine makes clear that she will leave him at the end of the year, as they had planned. She feels that life has more to offer than being the wife of a castaway mechanic, and Kingsland accepts with a heavy heart, stating she is still too young to waste her dreams. They spend their last days together at Tuin Island, and when she flies away to the UK, Irvine feels both sadness and relief. Years later, Irvine stated she liked Kingsland, but hated marrying him. She also states that she would not do it again the same way, but it was an invaluable experience. |
7613180 | /m/0266rpn | The Echo Maker | Richard Powers | 2006 | {"/m/0488wh": "Literary fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | On a winter night on a remote Nebraska road, twenty-seven-year-old Mark Schluter flips his truck in a near-fatal accident. His older sister, Karin, his only near kin, returns reluctantly to their hometown to nurse Mark back from a traumatic head injury. But when he emerges from a protracted coma, Mark believes that this woman — who looks, acts, and sounds just like his sister — is really an impostor. Shattered by her brother's refusal to recognize her, Karin contacts the cognitive neurologist Gerald Weber, famous for his case histories describing brain disorders. Weber recognized Mark's condition as a rare case of Capgras syndrome — the delusion that people in one's life are doubles or impostors — and eagerly investigates. What he discovers in Mark slowly undermines even his own sense of being. Meanwhile, Mark, armed only with a note left by an anonymous witness, attempts to learn what happened the night of his inexplicable accident. |
7613850 | /m/0266s9l | Take A Girl Like You | Kingsley Amis | 1960 | {"/m/02yq81": "Comic novel", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The novel opens with Jenny Bunn's arrival at her lodging-house. She's a young, strikingly beautiful, provincial Northern woman who has moved to a London suburb to take her first teaching job. Jenny has rented a room in the home of a middle-aged couple, Dick and Martha Thompson. Dick Thompson is apparently some sort of an auctioneer and his wife Martha Thompson is bored, cynical, and openly suspicious of attractive young Jenny. The Thompsons' other lodger, Anna, is apparently French. Jenny soon meets Patrick Standish, an acquaintance of the Thompsons, who is immediately attracted to her. Patrick takes Jenny on a date to what seems to her to be a fashionable, upmarket Italian restaurant, but which Amis makes clear is a classless suburban pseudo-Italianate place. Impressed, Jenny lets Patrick take her back to the house he shares with Graham, an unattractive Scottish schoolmaster. Heavy petting ensues and Patrick assumes that Jenny will sleep with him, but instead she rebuffs him and explains that she intends to remain a virgin until she is married. The rest of the novel concerns itself with Patrick's attempts to seduce Jenny (and his first efforts at sexual fidelity), and with Jenny's attempts to fend off his attentions and those of many others who are attracted to her. Eventually, Patrick gives Jenny an ultimatum: either she goes to bed with him or the relationship is over. Jenny finds herself unable to comply and they part. However, at a party given by the flashy and dubious Julian Ormerod (occupation unclear), Patrick takes advantage of an inebriated and defenceless Jenny in a guest bedroom. When she realises what has happened, Jenny is furious and tells Patrick she never wants to see him again; later the same day she decides to accept what she believes is her "destiny" and they reunite. |
7619669 | /m/0266ylh | Slowness | Milan Kundera | 1993 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The novel is a meditation on the effects of modernity upon the individual's perception of the world. It is told through a number of plot lines that slowly weave together until they are all united at the end of the book. * Kundera, as narrator, visits a chateau on vacation and tells a story that seems to be a combination of fiction and fact. * A Chevalier from eighteenth-century France visits the chateau and experiences a night of carefully orchestrated sensual pleasure with its owner, Madame de T. * Vincent, Kundera's friend, visits the hotel and pursues a romance with a girl met in a bar. * Berck, a "dancer", meets a woman who once scorned him at the same conference and shows his emptiness to her. * Immaculata, the woman who scorned Berck, must deal with her disappointment at learning Berck's apparent perfection is actually a facade. Each plot shows a different point-of-view into Kundera's concept of the dancer and provides a perspective on modernity, memory and sensuality. By the end of the book, all of these plots have been brought together in a single location and the characters interact, showing how the ideals they represent interact in the world. Kundera even manages to tie the modern to the past by having Vincent meet the Chevalier as they both depart. By having these characters meet, Kundera again illustrates how the idea of sensuality and pleasure have changed as technology provides humanity with tools that speed us to our destination and demand our attention. |
7620768 | /m/0266zq8 | Here Comes the Sun | Tom Holt | 1993 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/01z4y": "Comedy"} | Mechanical failures begin to trouble the Sun, making it hard for its driver to complete his rounds. The sun is in need of maintenance, and other things are breaking down all over the universe. Fresh ideas are needed. Jane, a mortal and a management trainee, is brought in the sort it all. |
7621730 | /m/0266_px | Dragons of the Dwarven Depths | Margaret Weis | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | After the Companions help the slaves escape and kill the Dragon Highlord Verminaard, the Companions lead the refugees into a defendable valley for the winter. Debate begins on what to do next; whereas some would prefer to wait out winter in the valley, others feel the proximity to Pax Tharkas leaves them too vulnerable to attacks from the dragonarmies. With rumours and legends of the dwarven kingdom of Thorbardin present in their minds, the Companions set out in search of some entrance to the fabled kingdom. Raistlin, Caramon, and Sturm head to Skullcap, while Flint and Tanis head towards a secret dwarven pass leading to Thorbardin. Finding an enchanted helm, Sturm unlocks the key to entering the dwarven kingdom, While Tanis and Flint find a path for the refugees to follow to the gates of Thorbardin. The refugees are driven on the path, led by Riverwind, when the dragonarmy attacks their camp. The refugees flee into a mountain pass and, utilizing an old dwarven trap, close the pass so that the dragonarmy cannot follow. The Companions, meanwhile, enter the gates of Thorbardin and are immediately captured by a group of dwarves who are horrified to see the enchanted helm that Sturm uncovered in Skullcap, proclaiming that it is cursed. They arrest the heroes under suspicion of being the vanguard of an invading army, and take them before the dwarven council. All is not as it seems as some of the dwarven council are under the influence of the dragonarmy and are supplying the army with much needed steel for weapons. The heroes are placed under arrest, and Flint is persuaded to help Arman Kharas, the self-proclaimed reincarnation of the dwarven hero Kharas, to retrieve the legendary Hammer of Kharas, with the caveat that his friends be released regardless of what happens to him. Tanis, Sturm, Caramon and Raistlin fake death after the dwarven guards give them poisoned mushrooms for their dinner, and manage to overcome the draconians and dwarves that examine the 'corpses'. Taking the draconian as proof of the dragonarmy at the doorstep of Thorbardin, they manage to show the thane of the Hylar clan of the conspiracy between the Theiwar, Daergar and the dragonarmy before the draconian escapes. Meanwhile, Arman Kharas and Flint, followed by Tasslehoff Burrfoot, enter the sacred valley of thanes to retrieve the Hammer of Kharas from the tomb of Kharas. Flint struggles internally over the fate of the Hammer, as it is needed to forge the legendary dragonlances, but can also unite the dwarven clans under one leader, putting to rest the risk of civil war developing in the kingdom. Retrieving the Hammer, Flint, Arman and Tasslehoff join the dwarven thanes in the Temple of the Stars, only to be attacked by draconian forces, allied with the Theiwar dwarves. The dwarven forces, supported by the disillusioned Daergar clan, overcome the invading draconians and, regaining the Hammer, the icon of their race, graciously provide the human refugees with shelter. |
7622932 | /m/02670nl | Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen | H. Beam Piper | null | {"/m/0mz2": "Alternate history", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | Humans on an advanced time-line have discovered "lateral" time dimensions that allow them to travel to "worlds of alternate probability". They use it to exploit natural resources from these alternate realities for their benefit of their home time-line. The Paratime Police are tasked to keep the invention of lateral "time travel" secret (referred to as the "Paratime Secret") and to combat abuses. Occasionally, objects or people get caught in the paratime "conveyors" and are inadvertently transported to alternate timelines. While attempting to apprehend a felon at a remote farmhouse, this happens to Corporal Calvin Morrison of the Pennsylvania State Police. Morrison ends up in a significantly different version of Pennsylvania. Initially confused by the old-growth forest and lack of settlements, Morrison meets some friendly peasants who speak an unknown language. In the middle of a meal, they are attacked by a large raiding party armed with flintlock pistols, which he helps fight off with his police-issue .38 revolver. Reinforcements arrive, but in the confusion, he is shot by the beautiful young woman leading them. Fortunately, the bullet hits his police badge; he is seriously wounded, but not killed. While recuperating, he learns the local language. This alternate version of North America is split up into a number of kingdoms, each composed of small principalities, with a level of technology roughly equivalent to that of the late European Renaissance. Morrison finds himself the guest of Prince Ptosphes of Hostigos — whose blonde, blue-eyed daughter Rylla was the woman who shot him by mistake. He learns that the principality is being threatened by two of their neighbors, Nostor and Sask, with a third, Beshta, hungrily looking on. Ptosphes' overlord, Great King Kaiphranos of Hos-Harphax, refuses to intervene because the priests of the god Styphon want Hostigos to be destroyed. The religious sect uses its monopoly of black gunpowder, known in this timeline as "fireseed", and the secret technique of how to manufacture it, to control the various princes and kings. Hostigos has a sulfur spring; since sulfur is a key ingredient of gunpowder/fireseed, Styphon's House intends to seize that spring once Hostigos is destroyed. Denied gunpowder, Hostigos is certain to be defeated. That is, until Morrison (or Lord Kalvan, as the people begin to call him) organizes production of it in quantity. He also introduces the rapier, improved cannons with trunnions and rifling. With his understanding of military strategy and tactics, he reorganizes the outnumbered Hostigos army and repulses Nostor, capturing an important border town in the process. Then, to undermine the primary enemy (Styphon's priesthood), he sees to it that the secret technique of gunpowder manufacturing is spread far and wide. He assumes that this will soon undermine support for Styphon's House amongst the princes, a tactic subsequently proven correct. Meanwhile, Verkan Vall, a top agent of the Paratime Police, tracks Kalvan down and infiltrates his army. The standard procedure would be to "remove" the displaced person to protect the secret of the existence of alternate timelines by any means judged necessary, generally memory erasure, but other possibilities are committal to an insane asylum or even assassination. Vall takes a liking to the resourceful Kalvan and realizes that his brother policeman has fabricated a background for himself, one that also conceals the Paratime secret. To help persuade his superiors to leave Morrison alone, Vall also recruits historians on the Home timeline. They can now use Kalvan to do an experiment testing the Great man theory — can a single, extraordinary individual change the course of history? After the defeat of Nostor, Sask and Beshta become allies, forcing Kalvan to attack before their armies can unite. After a day of confused fighting against the larger Saskan forces, he emerges victorious once again. Sarrask of Sask is captured and agrees to become a vassal of a new Great King after he learns that he can share in the looting of Styphon's lavish temples. At first, Kalvan proposes that his future father-in-law assume the new throne, but Ptosphes refuses, stating that the other princes would never stand for being ruled by someone they consider only an equal. Kalvan, as an outsider, is the only one they would accept. Plus, his cover story — that he was sent by the gods from a far-away land — plays into local legends. Thus, Lord Kalvan becomes Great King Kalvan of Hos-Hostigos, with Rylla as his queen. When Gormoth of Nostor hears of Kalvan's successes, he turns against Styphon's House himself. This leads to a bloody civil war in Nostor, followed by Gormoth's assassination. His replacement, facing open and implacable opposition from Styphon's House, soon acknowledges Kalvan's sovereignty. Balthar of Beshta at first declines to become subject to Kalvan, until he discovers there are no gunpowder mills in his realm; he then quickly changes his mind. Other neighboring princes soon side with Kalvan, as this gets rid of the usurious taxes and loans levied by Styphon's House (which functions as both a provider of weapons and as a bank). King Kaiphranos is infuriated by the defections, as is the Archpriest of Styphon, but the novel ends at this point. A sequel written by Roland Green and John F. Carr, Great Kings' War, continues the story. Carr further continues the storyline with his novels Kalvan Kingmaker, Siege of Tarr-Hostigos, The Fireseed Wars and the forthcoming The Gunpowder God (which shares the same name as the novelette from which Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen was expanded from). |
7629088 | /m/02676cy | The Big Hunt | Lance Parkin | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | Professor Summerfield is trying to enjoy a vacation from work, the Braxiatel Collection and even from her friends, Jason, Adrian and Peter. To her exasperation, she is sent on yet another mission. This task goes badly when she crash-lands on a planet full of hostile robotic animals, big game hunters and amoral businessmen. Bernice soon realizes her only hope for survival is join in on the planet's 'game'. |
7629161 | /m/02676h0 | Sharpe's Christmas | Bernard Cornwell | 1994 | null | Sharpe's Christmas is set in 1813, towards the end of the Peninsular War and falls after Sharpe's Regiment. |
7629770 | /m/026779h | Time of our Darkness | Stephen Gray | 1988 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Some days later Disley again appears at the door, this time with a note from his mother explaining about the unrest in the townships and asking him to look after the boy. André is dismissive of the black boy, warning Pete in jest about what is illegal with blacks – "Specially seduction of minors. You can shoot them in the back but you can't go to bed with them". After André leaves, Pete makes Disley have a bath and then pins some of own clothes so that they fit the skinny little boy's body. Disley is modest as he changes, but Pete is aroused: "I'd found this impromptu ceremony such an enjoyment that a furious guilt arose in me: if I prolonged this it would become more than a merciful deed, and I would be irretrievably lost". He thinks of himself, "kneading an ache over that untouchable item, a black parcel of skin and bone, under age." André has taken to using rent boys, and returns with one called Prince. They all go off to the airport (André is a flight attendant) and go plane spotting. Disley loves it. As Pete gets ready to take Disley to the school where he can stay overnight, he discovers that Disley has deliberately left his jumper and suitcase at Pete's home. Disley also hints that he knows all about André and Pete being gay, and Pete recognises the possibility of blackmail over his teaching position. So he agrees to let Disley stay and to coach him so that he can stay on at the private school. Pete starts wishfully thinking about what might happen after they finish watching Polanski's Macbeth on video, "Probably after that he was going to seduce me, probably I was due to have the experience of a lifetime, and be entirely lost." Pete prepares a bed roll for Disley in the corner of his bedroom, goes for a bath, and returns to find Disley has crept into his bed. Pete climbs in and starts intimately stroking the boy, who responds suggestively "You haven't given me a good-night kiss". Pete thinks "This was not a child, but a lover." Over the next six months, Disley matures, his performance at school improves due to his one-to-one coaching and he starts making friends. But he is drawn back to his roots when a relative dies and disappears from school. Pete and another teacher Jenny set off to find him. Jenny is a radical, always followed by the police, and she seduces Pete and he finally loses his heterosexual virginity. Pete discovers she is laundering money brought into South Africa by André and the novel ends with the suffering typical of the violent world of apartheid and police corruption. |
7639525 | /m/0267jy0 | The Maze | null | 2/5/2004 | null | At the end of the Greco-Turkish War, one Greek brigade wanders lost in the Anatolian desert. Led by Brigadier Nestor, the soldiers hope they are marching west toward the Aegean Sea and the end of their disastrous tour of duty. The war is over, but the men must battle on. Brigadier Nestor, an aging career soldier still devastated by his wife's death a year earlier, has become addicted to morphine and Greek mythology. His second-in-command, Chief of Staff Major Porfirio, while appearing to be a model soldier, is keeping a treasonous secret. The company priest, Father Simeon, imagines himself the Apostle of All Anatolians, but in fact is just a thief. And the rest of the brigade is not faring too well either. Subsisting almost entirely on cornmeal, their morale is low and things are growing stranger the longer they wander. It seems though that the luck of the brigade is finally changing. First, a Greek pilot crashes from the sky bringing hope that perhaps they are being searched for. Then, following a runaway horse, they come across a quiet Greek village virtually untouched by the war. The inhabitants and tales of the village are just as interesting and complicated as those of the brigade. The mayor is about to marry the madame of the brothel, the church is overrun with rats and the Turkish quarter is surrounded by an open sewer. This village does not offer the comforts the brigade had longed for. Brigadier Nestor still hopes to lead the men to the sea and escape, and the mayor knows the way. But before they can leave they must all contend with a desperate war correspondent and one final act of violence that permanently scars the village. This act oddly reflects another moment of violence that haunts the brigade and lies just beneath the surface of all they do. The brigade may finally escape the maze of the Anatolian desert, but each man is forever marred not only by the war but by what has happened since the war ended. The worst casualties may have nothing to do with battle. |
7640402 | /m/0267kr6 | The City of Ravens | Richard Baker | 2000-12 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The story follows a petty thief called Jack Ravenwild, who is hired by the beautiful Elana to find a very special book. In the same tenday (the Realms equivalent of a week), he resorts to spying on another perfect woman, a mage named Zandria, to try to get information. But, the beautiful Illyth invites him to the game of masks, and at the same time he fears for his friend Anders, wanted by the evil Brothers Kuldath for stealing their ruby. Soon Jack finds both good and evil people following him through the streets of Ravens Bluff. |
7640695 | /m/0267kz2 | The Last of the Jedi: Return of the Dark Side | Judy Blundell | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | Things go wrong when Palpatine comes to Samaria, ordering Ferus, who is a double agent, to kill his companions. Years ago, when they were both Jedi Apprentices, Ferus Olin and Anakin Skywalker were rivals. Now their paths are about to cross again.... Abandoning the Jedi Order saved Ferus's life. As a result, he is the only one who can track down and save Jedi who have survived the rise of the Empire. He has Rebellion on his mind, and hopes to bring about the fall of the Emperor. Only Darth Vader stands in his way. Ferus might not realize it, but his old rival is now his new deadly enemy. es:Return of the Dark Side |
7647466 | /m/0267s8h | Brain | Robin Cook | 1981 | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The story starts with a girl Kathereine Collins going to a private GYN clinic, located in Manhattan, New York, where she is undergoing treatment for some Gynac ailments. Simultaneously she has started having seizures where in she smells a repulsive and oddly familiar odor and then loses consciousness. She wants to withdraw her records from this clinic and move onto her hometown to her family doctor. While on her way back, she faints at the elevators. The next scene shows her parents visiting her apartment and the cops searching the room as she has been missing for some days now. The story revolves around the protagonist Dr. Martin Philips from then on, who is a doctor in neuroradiology at the NYC medical center. Dr. Martin Philips, a 41 year old neuroradiologist is involved in creating a self-diagonstic x-ray machine, along with Michaels, who is a researcher graduating from MIT and also head of the department of artificial intelligence. Dr. Philips's girlfriend and colleague Dr. Denise Sanger (28 years old) is also involved in the same hospital. The story proceeds with the hospital working being shown where Dr. Mannerheim, a stubborn neurosurgeon, is to operate on a girl named Lisa Marino who is a seizure patient. She is set to undergo a brain operation to remove damaged brain cells which her doctors say are causing her seizures. The symptoms are described in another female patient, Kathereine Collins, only stronger. However, when Dr. Phillips starts to discover a conspiracy involving usage of human test subjects, he is drawn into a world that is deceiving and dangerous. After the reveal, Dr. Phillips asks to be put in an asylum. |
7648186 | /m/0267t3p | Endymion | Dan Simmons | 1996-02 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The story opens 274 years after the Fall of Hyperion, in which Hegemony CEO Meina Gladstone ordered the destruction of all farcaster singularities to stop the TechnoCore from eliminating humankind. However, the loss of the WorldWeb infrastructure also resulted in the collapse of civilization on most planets. Brawne Lamia, Martin Silenus and the Consul were the only surviving Pilgrims that stayed on Hyperion. The Consul left shortly and joined the Ousters. His fate is uncertain. Brawne Lamia, pregnant from the first John Keats technological reincarnation, gave birth shortly after to a daughter called Aenea. Lamia died when Aenea was still a girl, and Silenus took care of the child. When Aenea was twelve years old, she entered the "Time Tomb" and disappeared. Silenus hid his home and began cryonic hibernation to wait for her return. Father Paul Duré was the only pilgrim not in Hyperion. Before the fall, he had farcasted to Pacem, the dying Catholic Church's planet, and had been elected as the new Pope, under the name of Teilhard (a reference to Teilhard de Chardin). His papacy was determined to rejuvenate the Church. When he died unexpectedly, he was reincarnated as Lenar Hoyt, due to the remaining cruciform on their shared body. With Lenar Hoyt as the new Pope Julius IV, with the help of Cardinal Lourdusamy, the Church took a new direction. Two new Sacraments were introduced, the Acceptance of the Cruciform and the Resurrection. The Church had developed a new technology that improved the results of the Resurrection, so the believers who had accepted the cruciform were virtually immortal. Assisted by the immortality, the Church grew steadily and with help of its military forces (called Pax) filled the void left by the Hegemony after the Fall, as the government of all the galaxy's mankind. When Hoyt died, he was resurrected again and again, and Father Duré never again appeared to the public eye. Under the various Hoyt's papacies, Father Duré was considered as an Antipope that nearly killed the Church. 274 years after the Fall, Raul Endymion is a hunting guide in Hyperion who kills a hunter in self defense (the hunter later resurrects). Endymion is framed for murder and sentenced to death. He refuses the cruciform and appears to be executed. To his surprise, he awakens in the house of an old man named Martin Silenus. The old man tells him that he has been rescued to perform a mission: rescue his "niece" Aenea who is about to return at the Time Tomb, find the old Earth (Silenus may be the last living human born there), destroy the Pax, and "find out what the fuck the TechnoCore is up to and stop it." Endymion assumes that Silenus is demented, but accepts the mission. He is helped by Silenus' android servant A. Bettik and by the old Consul's starship. Meanwhile, the Pax also knows that Aenea is about to arrive. They consider her an abomination and want her captured. The mission is assigned to Father-Captain Federico de Soya, who prepares an army of elite troops on Hyperion's surface and in surrounding space to trap Aenea. Endymion and Silenus's plan consists of arriving at the Time Tombs, flying on the Consul's Hawking mat. When the Tomb opens, Aenea appears as predicted. However, The Shrike also emerges and massacres most of the Pax military units - both on Hyperion and in local space. In the confusion, Endymion meets Aenea and takes her to the starship, where Bettik is waiting. The Pax, fighting with the Shrike, cannot stop the ship before it translates to hyperspace. The ship's first destination from Hyperion is the Parvati star system. The trip starts the friendship between Aenea and Endymion. He realizes that his young friend is far more precocious than a twelve year old should be, and he feels a hint of the mystique that she will have in the future. Meanwhile, Father de Soya, badly injured by the Shrike, is determined to not let Aenea escape again. He takes possession of an Archangel-class courier ship, the Raphael, that allows him and three of his elite soldiers, (Sergeant Gregorius, Corporal Kee and Lancer Rettig, from the Swiss Guard) to fly to Parvati faster than hyperspace. The price of this speed is a painful death and resurrection of the ship's passengers. When Aenea and Endymion arrive to Parvati space, de Soya is waiting to stop them. Aenea threatens to depressurize the old Consul's ship and die. Since de Soya's orders are to catch her alive, he has to let her go. The next destination is Renaissance Vector. De Soya's team, after dying and resurrecting again, are ready to stop her even if she tries to depressurize the ship. Aenea convinces him to allow her ship to land, but instead she flies the ship along the old River Tethys through one of the farcaster portals, all of which have been inactive since the Fall of Hyperion. De Soya guesses her plan at the last moment and attempts to disable Aenea's ship, but too late to prevent it from farcasting. The ship has arrived to an unknown sylvatic planet through the farcaster. The passengers are all unharmed, but the ship is badly damaged. Its AI states that it can be auto-repaired, but it will take about five standard months. Since Aenea cannot wait, Raul constructs a raft to follow the River Tethys. Raul, Aenea and Bettik depart and leave the Ship on the unknown planet. De Soya, unable to determine to which of the hundreds of planets crossed by River Tethys Aenea has fled, begins an odyssey of continuous deaths and resurrections through all known planet systems in order to find her. The raft arrives at the next inactive farcaster, but again it works and translates them to another planet, Mare Infinitus. As they travel across the aquatic planet, looking for next farcaster, they encounter a sea platform occupied by Pax guards. Since they cannot avoid it, Raul boards the flying carpet and goes alone to the platform, taking some explosives in order to create a distraction. He succeeds, but only after fighting with Pax soldiers, losing the carpet, falling into the water, and eventually being rescued by Aenea and Bettik. They find the next farcaster and translate to Hebron. Strangely, they find this Jewish planet absolutely abandoned. Aenea and Bettik find a hospital with automated surgeon units, which heal Endymion, who is still injured from the Mare Infinitus adventure. Meanwhile, De Soya's search brings him to Mare Infinitus, where he finds evidence that Aenea and Endymion have been there, namely the flying carpet. De Soya concludes that Aenea's final destination might be Ouster territory. Hoping to intercept her, De Soya and his men translate there, but there is an accident: resurrection fails, and consequently their ship is automatically rerouted to Pacem. De Soya is resurrected there, but one of his men, Rettig has died the "True Death". The Pax government, in spite of De Soya's consistent failures to capture Aenea, decide to keep de Soya on the mission, and assign a new officer to his guard, Rhadamanth Nemes, a member of a "new race of soldiers, prepared to fight the Ousters." Aenea, Raul and Bettik continue to travel through the farcasters. Their next destination is Sol Draconi Septem, a barely terraformed, frozen, high gravity planet. There, they meet and befriend the Chitchatuk, primitive humans who are adapted to Sol Draconi Septem's terrible conditions. The Chitchatuk take Aenea and her companions to meet Father Glaucus, a blind priest estranged from Pax. At Glaucus' home, Aenea, Bettik and Raul rest and enjoy the priest's friendship. They depart again and farcast to Qom Riyadh, an Islamic planet, which they find also strangely uninhabited, and then to God's Grove. Meanwhile, de Soya has received information that it has been "revealed" to the Pope that Aenea is in Sol Draconi Septem. De Soya and his guards fly there in his Archangel class faster than hyperspace craft, but something is wrong: Nemes is not dead. In fact, she wakes up when the rest of crew has yet to resurrect, and takes a dropship to the planet. She has inhuman strength and skills and is ruthless. She kills the Chitchatuk and Father Glaucus. She also links to the farcaster and learns that Aenea has gone to Qom Riyadh and will soon head for God's Grove. She plants this new destination in the ship's communicator, but de Soya is suspicious. When they farcast to God's Grove, de Soya secretly gives the ship instructions to resurrect the crew in only 6 hours instead of the safer 3 days. Nemes takes the Raphael's dropship and prepares an ambush for Aenea, including monofilament, land mines and a trap to beat the Shrike, if it shows. When the raft transporting the heroes arrives, they fall into her trap. A. Bettik has one arm cut off by the monofilaments while Raul and Aenea shelter in the rapids of the river. When Nemes attacks, to kill Aenea, the Shrike appears and blocks her attempts. They fight each other to a standstill, but Nemes uses her secret weapon. The Shrike is transported 5 minutes into the future, giving Nemes plenty of time to kill Aenea and save her head. However, Father de Soya, barely resurrected and piloting the Raphael in low orbit, talks to Raul by tightbeam and lances Nemes from outer space with a powerful energy weapon. Nemes disappears in a lake of molten rock. Blessing her, de Soya guides Aenea to the dropship and lets her go. The heroes pass through a farcaster to reach their end destination: the supposedly destroyed Old Earth, which is now orbiting a Sun-like star in the Magellanic Cloud. Aenea guides the ship to Fallingwater, Pennsylvania, where she will study with an architect (the Frank Lloyd Wright cybrid) until she is ready to fulfill her mission. |
7648578 | /m/0267tk2 | Sharpe's Escape | Bernard Cornwell | 6/1/2004 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Set in 1810, the novel finds Captain Richard Sharpe threatened as commander of the South Essex Regiment Light Company by the family politics of the Regiment's Commanding Officer. While the British and their Portuguese allies see off the French assault at Bussaco, Sharpe becomes embroiled in a private feud with the criminal Ferragus, whom he pursues from the abandoned town of Coimbra back towards the massive defensive works which Wellington has ordered built at Torres Vedras. |
7653773 | /m/0267ys2 | Headlong | null | null | null | Martin, the main character, is supposed to be writing a book. He finds himself invited to dinner at the house of a repellent and warring couple, on whom the land and property they own seems entirely wasted. Martin happens on a painting which he takes to be by Brueghel. Painstaking research leads him (via a full scale reassessment of the interpretation of the five surviving pictures in Brueghel's The Months) to identify the picture as the missing sixth picture of Brueghel's famous book of hours. Meantime his wife, (an actual art historian whereas he is only peripherally connected with the scholarly art world), and their baby live in a cottage and he fears his wife eyes him with increasing disdain as, instead of working on his book, he pursues the Breughel data. Martin has to fake the promise of an affair with the woman of the house to get hold of the picture, and indulge in a series of implausible transactions in other pictures to keep his access to the Brueghel open. Once he gets it, his troubles have only begun. Finally, as he is about to succeed in taking it to a safe place and secure his fortune, he crashes the old Landrover and the picture goes up in smoke. You never do find out whether it was actually a Breughel or not. |
7655894 | /m/026800v | A Girl Named Disaster | Nancy Farmer | 1996-09 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Nhamo is an 12-year old Shona girl living in a traditional village located in Mozambique (1981). She was raised with the knowledge and customs of her tribe, but because scandal seemed to follow her and her mother, she was named "Disaster" in the Shona language. After experiencing trouble with a cholera epidemic, a ghost leopard, and a prescribed marriage proposed by a false witch doctor, she flees with her dying grandmother's blessings, some gold nuggets, and her meager survival skills. Nhamo steals a boat under her grandmother's instructions and uses the river as her road to Zimbabwe, where she faces the threat of hippos, crocodiles, and other animals. What should have been a two-day boat trip across the border to her father's family in Zimbabwe spans a year in which Nhamo faces starvation, drowning, and the threat of hungry or aggressive animals. The girl finds her way to a lush, haunted island and lives alongside a troop of baboons. Daily conversations with spirits combat Nhamo's loneliness and provide her with sage and practical advice. She makes mistakes, loses heart, and nearly dies of starvation. Even after she arrives in Zimbabwe where she lives with scientists before meeting her father's family, Nhamo must learn how to live in a modern society (clothing, behavior, literacy), and is urged to let go of the "evil" spirits that "possess" her as prescribed by a priest. |
7656303 | /m/02680m1 | The Egypt Game | Zilpha Keatley Snyder | 1966 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | April Hall is sent to live with her grandmother Caroline in a large university town in California. She was sent there by her mother, Dorothea, a Hollywood actress-singer, because Dorothea was too busy with her career. April makes friends with Melanie, a classmate who shares her fascination with reading and imagination, particularly archaeology. Melanie lives in the Casa de Rosada, a Spanish looking apartment building where April is staying with her grandma Caroline. In August, the girls, along with Melanie's four year old brother, Marshall and his stuffed octopus, Security, begin playing in the storage yard of A-Z Antiques (Curious, Used Merchandise). The children enter through a loose board in the fence. The owner of the store "The Professor", is a mysterious man of whom the neighborhood children are afraid. April has met him once and finds him and his store interesting. April, Melanie, and Marshall research actual Egyptian belief systems and practices, and they create their own rituals intended to reproduce them more or less authentically. They are joined by Elizabeth, a nine year old girl who moves into the Casa de Rosada with her mother and two younger sisters. Sometime in September a child is murdered in the neighborhood, which results in them being restricted from playing outside for a few months. At Halloween they return to Egypt surreptitiously and are discovered by Toby and Ken, two popular boys, who join into the game. Finally allowed to play outdoors again, the "Egyptians" devise an oracle, connected to Thoth, and are unnerved by some of its answers. A series of mysterious things happen, and Melanie wonders if they should stop playing completely. After a horrific incident, the murderer's true identity is revealed. The "Professor" is involved, as he saw what was happening and shouted for help. He now tells the children that he has been watching the game the whole time, intrigued by how they interpreted and re-created Egyptian myths and history. A widower, he became reclusive after his wife's death. As a Christmas gift, he gives a key to each of the six children to access the recently locked storage yard. The children feel that the game cannot continue because its essential of secrecy (or at least of their percep94tion that it is secret) has been destroyed, so they discuss no longer playing. The book ends with one of the children raising the possibility of a new game involving Gypsies. Snyder followed up on this possibility by writing The Gypsy Game in 19 |
7659959 | /m/02683j0 | Thunder Oak | Garry Kilworth | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The main introduction introduces Sylver's band of outlaws: Icham, Dredless, Mawk, Bryony, Alysoun, Miniver, Wodehed, and Luke. Sylver has heard that the sea defences around the island of Welkin are crumbling and will soon collapse completely, allowing the ocean to flood Welkin if the animals of the island don't act soon. With the help of Lord Haukin, a sympathetic stoat, who understands Sylver, Sylver decides to start out on a quest to find the missing humans who abandoned Welkin long before Sylver was born. None of the weasels know why they have evacuated, but Lord Haukin suspects, thanks to a diary left by a girl called Alice, that they were forced to leave and had no choice. His theory is supported by several clues scattered throughout the island, and the first clue is at Thunder Oak, but the weasels will need to make a long journey in order to reach it. Just before departure, however, the voyage is interrupted by the Sheriff Falshed, who has been appointed by Prince Poynt to dominate the rebellious weasels and keep them under sway by enslaving them at Castle Rayn. Falshed attempts to stop Sylver, arriving with a troop of stoats, but the outlaws cleverly ward off the attack by using missiles filled with ants, thus driving the stoats into the vast forest. They strap Falshed to a raft and send him off down the river, where, after an interval with the rats, he makes it back to his home, Castle Rayn, home of the stoats. Meanwhile, Lord Haukin tells the weasels that in order to find Thunder Oak, which does not appear on any of his own maps, they need to find the broken eggshell of an eagle, as eagles fly above the planet and imprint a mental map of the globe which they telepathically pas down to their offspring. The weasels set out to search for this egg, with the stoats in hot pursuit. Prince Poynt has also employs a mercenary fox, Magellan, to hunt down the weasels and bring Sylver to Castle Rayn. After traveling for some while, the outlaws seek shelter at a monastery, which is home to Karnac the Boar, a formidable monk and a sadistic mercenary, who sells weasel skins to the stoats in the form of drums. Karnac traps them inside his monastery, intending to wait until they starve to death before skinning them. Sylver sends Miniver out to rally a nearby village of weasels to help them. Miniver is turned down by each weasel in this town, as they fear punishment by the stoats. Hope appears lost until she meets an exceedingly dirty and eccentric weasel named Scirf, who tells her he can help them if she promises than he can join Sylver's outlaws. Miniver returns to the monastery with Scirf, and while her friends are initially skeptical, Scirf drives Karnac away by reminding him that humans loved bacon, ham, and other meat derived from the flesh of pigs. Karnac flees and the weasels reluctantly allow the overconfident Scirf to join them. As they resume traveling with their newest member, the weasels encounter a forest full of savage pine martens, which is also inhabited by a mad witch - a moufflon named Maghatch. Maghatch blackmails Sylver into slavery by turning the other outlaws into rabbits, but Sylver escapes and enlists the help of the wild dog Gnaish. Maghatch quickly returns the outlaws to their proper forms and allows them to leave. The weasels journey on, but are ensnared by the Hunter's Hall, which is an afterlife for virtuous hunting animals. The dead hunters tell them that as punishment for killing prey animals intended for those in the afterlife, they must work as slaves in Hunter's Hall until they have atoned for their crime. For several weeks they remain in the Hall until Mawk realizes that the ethereal food is keeping them from leaving. Unable to rouse the others, he carries Scirf and escapes. When Scirf awakens, the two males find that Alysoun has followed them, and after Mawk explains the mystery of the food, they try to return and rescue their companions. They find that Hunter's Hall has vanished entirely, being reachable only through Maghatch's sorcery. They decide to backtrack to the witch's cathedral in hopes of finding another way to reach the Hall. Back at Hunter's Hall, Sylver and the others awake to find their friends missing. Fortunately, the dead hunters have decided to set them free, and they head north hoping to meet up with the others. They are soon found by Magellan, who wounds Wodehead with an arrow before disappearing. Sylver sends Wodehead back to Halfmoon Wood along with Icham and Bryony, and goes on towards the Yellow Mountains with Miniver and Dredless. High in the mountains, they meet Magellan once more, and Dredless is killed. Miniver and Sylver escape, and find Falshed's troops, with Falshed having left to report Dredless' death to the Prince. Knowing this would be the last place Magellan would look for them, they pretend to be poor merchants and allow themselves to be captured by the soldiers. Alysoun, Scirf, and Mawk return safely to Maghatch's chapel, and Maghatch sends them down a path which she claims will take them back to Hunter's Hall. Instead, it deposits them directly on a steep mountainside. The three are initially horrified, but Alysoun realizes that these are the Yellow Mountains they've been searching for, and that the eagle's nest must be nearby. They ascend the cliffs and by nightfall come upon the nest. Inside they find the eggshell, broken in half, and imprinted with the map of the world. As they prepare to leave, with Alysoun and Scirf carrying half of the eggshell each, the mother eagle returns and attacks them. In the confusion, Alysoun falls from the ledge, but finds that the eggshell acts as a parachute, allowing her to descend safely. Seeing this, Scirf follows, using his half of the shell similarly. Mawk is left behind and takes refuge in a hare's den until the eagle leaves. Continuing on alone, he is confronted and robbed by three weasel brothers. He finds a hostel in the mountains and no sooner has he entered than Magellan arrives. Mawk hides himself and listens as Magellan takes a room for the night. Shortly after, Falshed's troops arrive, with Sylver and Miniver in tow, still pretending to be merchants. Sylver recognizes him and, trying to keep his identity secret, tells the soldiers that Mawk is one of the outlaws. Mawk tells the soldiers that he knows where Sylver is sleeping, and directs them to Magellan's room. The stoats storm the room and in the ensuing fight, Mawk, Sylver, and Miniver escape into the mountains, where they find Scirf, by himself. Meanwhile, having been separated from Scirf in the fall from the mountain, Alysoun finds herself in the midst of a group of hedgehogs performing a ceremony. The leader of the hedgehogs refuses to let Alysoun leave, intending her as a sacrifice to their god, the Great God Spike, a huge hedgehog built from the skeletons of other animals. Alysoun succeeds in destroying the god and escapes. She returns to Halfmoon Wood with her half of the eggshell, where Sylver and the others are already waiting, and there learns of Dredless' death. After holding a wake for Dredless, the weasels and Lord Haukin decipher the eggshell map and discover that the first clue is hidden in a tree called Thunder Oak, far from Halfmoon Wood. The weasels draw straws to see who will accompany Sylver to the Thunder Oak, and Mawk and Scirf are selected. Before they can begin the journey, a pack of rogue wolves lays siege to the village, but are driven away by a living statue that is seeking Scirf. The statue travels a short distance with the three weasels, hoping to find the quarry from which it was made. They come to an old abandoned church, where the gargoyles tell the statue where to find a nearby quarry. Sylver and his companions enter the church to rest for the night, but after a noisy interruption by living angel statues, Sylver and Scirf decide to sleep in the crypts rather than the church hall. Mawk is alarmed by the idea of sleeping amidst the dead bodies, so he stays above. He awakes the following morning and finds Sylver and Scirf missing from the crypts. After a brief search he finds the two have been kidnapped by a group of mole bandits. The moles prepare to attack him, but their leader, realizing that Sylver is wanted by Prince Poynt, insists that they set the weasels free. As they continue on, the group sneaks through the marshes inhabited by the rats, only to find their way blocked by thousands of living scarecrows. The scarecrows demand that the weasels give them smoking pipes, so that they might look more like humans. Having nothing to give them, Mawk suggests they travel to a nearby abbey and ask the monks for help. From the head monk they learn that the scarecrows are terrified of mirrors, and return to the scarecrows with mirrors in hand. The scarecrows are so distraught by their reflections that they fall to the ground screaming, and the weasels pass unharmed. Upon reaching the Thunder Oak, the weasels find the tree guarded by a stone gryphon, which will not allow them to pass, saying it does not wish for the humans to return. To the surprise of his companions, Scirf hypnotizes the gryphon, putting it to sleep, and the weasels enter the Thunder Oak. Inside they find a small carving of a dormouse in a pool of water. Giving the carving to Mawk to guard, they begin to retrace their steps to Halfmoon Wood. On the return home, Sylver receives a warning from a polecat, sent by Falshed, that Magellan is laying in wait in the forest, and, ordering Mawk and Scirf to wait for him, goes to face the fox alone. While attempting to ambush Magellan, Sylver is caught in a snare set by the bounty hunter. Magellan prepares to kill Sylver with his bow and arrow, but in a final burst of energy, Sylver pulls the iron stake holding the snare from the ground and impales Magellan with it. Mawk and Scirf find him badly injured, but alive, and together they finish the journey back to Halfmoon Wood. After showing the carving to Lord Haukin, the Welkin Weasels hold a celebration before commencing on the quest to find the next clue. The book ends with a brief exchange between Falshed and Poynt, regarding Magellan's death. |
7661594 | /m/02684vr | One Child | Torey Hayden | 1980 | null | At the beginning of the year, Torey is given a long, narrow, carpeted classroom with a single window at the end – very inconvenient for a special education class. Her teaching assistant is a Mexican migrant worker named Anton who didn't finish high school. The students at the beginning of the year are as follows: * Peter, 8, who has seizures and aggressive behavior caused by a neurological condition * Tyler, 8, suicidal * Max, 6, autistic * Freddie, 7, obese and profoundly mentally retarded * Sarah, 7, angry, defiant and selectively mute because of physical and sexual abuse by her father * Susannah Joy, 6, schizophrenic * William, 9, OCD with phobias of water, darkness, cars, vacuum cleaners, and dust * Guillermo, 9, blind, but he's in this class because the normal blind classes were unprepared to handle his aggressive behavior At age 4, Sheila's then-18-year-old mother left and took Sheila and 2-year-old brother Jimmie with her; however, on the highway, Sheila's mother opened the door and pushed Sheila out, leaving her behind. Since then, Sheila has lived in poverty with her neglectful and verbally abusive father. When she joined Torey's class, Sheila's father did not have enough money to get water to wash themselves or the one set of clothes Sheila owned. Thus, she came to school dirty and smelly every day. Sheila joins the group just after Christmas vacation. At first, she refuses to participate in the class and refuses to speak to anyone. She stays sitting in one chair. On her first day of school, at lunch, Sheila takes all of the goldfish from the aquarium and stabs their eyes out with a pencil. Torey and Whitney, a 14-year-old girl who assists the class, chase Sheila into the gymnasium, and Torey eventually soothes the terrified girl into coming back to class. After a few days, Sheila and Torey begin to trust one another, and Torey takes to giving her a bath every morning so her smell doesn't distract the other students. After Sheila began participating in class, there were still a few issues. First, she was focused on revenge. At one point, a teacher scolded her in the lunch room, so she went into the teacher's room and caused $700 worth of damage to the classroom. Also, Sheila refuses to do paper work. However, when given other mediums to work with (stacking blocks, for instance), she reveals that she is incredibly smart and talented for someone who only had a few months of first grade; her I.Q. is later tested, and comes to a total of 184, which is, according to Torey, around 1 in 10,000 for a six-year-old. Sheila remains obsessed with showing people that she is worthwhile, and terrified of abandonment. At one point, Torey goes to California for a few days for a conference. The students were given plenty of warning, but Sheila interpreted it as abandonment by the one person who had shown her love, and misbehaved through the whole trip. In the middle of the year, Torey is notified that a space has opened up at the state hospital for Sheila. Torey is horrified, seeing that this girl with all her improvement should not be put into an institution. They bring the case to court, with the help of Torey's boyfriend Chad, a lawyer, and win. Afterwards, Torey and Chad take Sheila out for pizza and buy her a dress. One day, Sheila comes to school looking pale and nervous. She uses the bathroom twice in the first half-hour. Torey takes Sheila on her lap, and then notices she's bleeding. Sheila eventually confesses that her uncle Jerry had tried to rape her, and when she was too small, he cut her with his knife. Sheila is rushed to the hospital after losing a lot of blood and has to have surgery to repair the damage. In the 1995 sequel, The Tiger's Child, it is revealed that because of this incident, Sheila is infertile. Sheila deals with the traumatic experience remarkably well, though she refuses to wear dresses for a while afterward. At the end of the year, Torey introduces Sheila to next year's teacher. Sheila will be going into third grade, because Torey feels she can deal with the harder material and that it's more important at this point that Sheila's teacher be loving and understanding. Torey knows this teacher personally and knows she would be. |
7663148 | /m/02686l6 | Saturnalia | Grant Callin | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | In the late twenty-first century, a system of space colonies, known collectively as SpaceHome, is slowly winning economic independence from Earth. SpaceHome's president, George Ogumi, is singleminded in this pursuit. Things are shaken up when SpaceHome discovers an alien object on a moon of Saturn. SpaceHome University's sole archeologist, Dr. Kurious Whitedimple (who constantly reminds amused inquisitors his name is pronounced "KOOR-ee-us"), is called in for his opinion by Ogumi. Whitedimple (called Whitey) is able to interpret the message—for so it is. The message is: there are three other identical messages on other moons, a fifth hidden somewhere in the rings of Saturn which will give directions to a sixth artifact, of immense importance. Dazzled by Ogumi, Whitey loses sight of odd things going on around him, and is swiftly shipped off to Saturn to recover the rings artifact, despite an "accident" that nearly kills him. On arrival, Whitey is introduced to Junior Badille, his pilot. Born in high-radiation outer space, Junior is a mutant supergenius, whom Whitey affectionately refers to as "the runt" and "the gnome". Earth has not been quiet, and sends off its own expedition. The Earthers open fire, but Whitey and Badille are able to outmanoeuver them and recover the artifact. The message on the artifact is that the sixth artifact is located on Saturn's liquid surface. (At this point, the short story ends.) Both Earth and SpaceHome gear up for massive efforts. Junior and Whitey, who have formed a strong bond, part, and Whitey returns to teaching classes at the university, first having strong words with Ogumi over what Whitey deems to be deceit. However, SpaceHome has become too small for Whitey now. He enrolls in space pilot training and becomes a brilliant student. As Whitey qualifies, Junior, now the brains behind SpaceHome's Mimas-based efforts to recover the last artifact, stages a strike—Whitey must return or Junior will be so "depressed" he cannot work. Ogumi has little choice but to send Whitey back to Saturn as a pilot. Whitey becomes the lead pilot for the recovery effort. However, an Earth expedition stages a simultaneous attempt, and at first seems to have everything going for it, until it suffers massive malfunctions. Whitey sacrifices the mission to dive deep into Saturn's atmosphere and rescue the Earth pilot and his vessel. While he is still recovering, SpaceHome's backup mission recovers the artifact. The artifact proves to be a much more complex message—there is a starship at a specified location in the outer solar system. When activated, it is assumed that the ship will take anyone aboard to the aliens' star system. As the story ends, Earth and SpaceHome work together to mount a joint expedition. |
7665087 | /m/02688n7 | War of the Twins | Tracy Hickman | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Upon arrival in the Tower of High Sorcery, Raistlin is tested by the undead guardians to prove that he is really the Master of the Tower. It is revealed that he has beaten Fistandantilus and absorbed his soul, thus increasing his power immensely. Raistlin goes to find the Portal to the Abyss, which is necessary to his ascension to godhood. When he goes to it, he discovers that it is not there. Having been bribed with the Globe of Present Time Passing, created by Raistlin, Astinus reveals that it is in the magical fortress of Zhaman, located in dwarven lands. The scene shifts to Tasslehoff Burrfoot, who finds himself in the Abyss. Tasslehoff encounters Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness, who tells him how he has altered time and possibly allowed her to take over the world. Tas meets Gnimsh, a gnome, who claims he is a failure because all of his inventions worked (gnomes in the Dragonlance world constantly invent, and more often than not they fail. The gnomes believe failure is a means of learning). Gnimsh agrees to help Tasslehoff get out of the Abyss and starts to fix the device of Time Journeying. Caramon, Raistlin, and Crysania create the so-called Fistandantilus Army from local populace under pretension of ravaging the dwarven kingdom Thorbadin in the far South, with Caramon being their leader. Many come to join his army, and they number several hundred. The army continues south. The hill dwarves join up with Caramon's army, believing that the mountain dwarves have stolen supplies and wealth from them. Crysania flees when Raistlin rejects her love and makes plans to bring word of the true gods to the people, 200 years before Goldmoon would during the War of the Lance. She encounters place stricken by plague and finds a dying false cleric, who she tries to convert. She discovers that people are still too angry to accept the true gods yet. Raistlin and Caramon begin to joke and share memories. Later, Raistlin and Caramon go to the village where Crysania is. Raistlin uses his immense power to summon a massive fire that razes the town. He is in fact preparing Crysania to come with him into the Abyss with trials comparable to Huma Dragonbane's. Caramon and his army soon capture the fortress of Pax Tharkas, thanks to the help of traitorous dark dwarves. The mountain dwarves retreat to Thorbardin and close the gates, preparing for war. Kharas, the dwarf hero, led a daring assassination attempt on Raistlin. Kharas wounds him drastically, but Raistlin has time before death. Crysania heals Raistlin, perhaps against his will. It is then discovered that Tas and Gnimsh have escaped the Abyss and were captured in Thorbardin. Raistlin appears and rescues Tas, but kills Gnimsh, presumably to correct Fistandantilus's mistake of allowing the gnome to be at the Portal when he tried to enter. Soon after, it is revealed that the dark dwarves betrayed them and had slowly killed off the hill dwarves. They attempt to assassinate Caramon, but are beaten back. Raistlin, after a last talk with his brother, opens the Portal with Crysania's help; at the same time Caramon and Tas activate their device, returning to their proper time period. The result is the explosion that levels Zhaman; however, this time, Crysania and Raistlin enter the Portal whereas Denubis, Crysania's equivalent in the past, had died and Fistandantilus had departed that plane of existence. The book ends with Raistlin entering the Abyss. |
7671018 | /m/0268fw7 | Haters | Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez | 10/4/2006 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Haters follows the character of Pasquala Rumalda Quintana de Archuleta, also known as Paski, as she tries to deal with extreme changes in her life. As a result of her father's comic strip getting optioned for a movie, Paski and her father move to California. Once there, Paski finds herself in a school where materialism and "haters" control the social circles. Paski begins to develop feelings for the handsome Chris Cabrera, who happens to be dating Jessica Nguyen, the resident mean girl. Paski soon finds herself dealing with more problems than Jessica, as she also finds that she has the psychic "gift" of premonition and is predicting Jessica having a terrible accident while participating in a motorcycle competition. |
7671306 | /m/0268fzp | On Beauty | Zadie Smith | 2005 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | On Beauty centres on the story of two families and their different, yet increasingly intertwined, lives. The Belsey family consists of university professor Howard, a white Englishman, his African-American wife Kiki, and their children Jerome, Zora and Levi, living in the fictional university town of Wellington, outside Boston. Howard's professional nemesis is Monty Kipps, a Trinidadian living in Britain with his wife Carlene and children Victoria and Michael. The Belsey family has always defined itself as liberal and atheist, and Howard in particular is furious when his son Jerome, a newly born-again Christian, goes to work as an intern with the ultra-conservative Christian Kipps family over his summer holidays. After a failed affair with Victoria Kipps, Jerome returns home. However, the families are brought into proximity again nine months later when the Kippses move to Wellington, and Monty begins work at the university. Carlene and Kiki become friends despite the tensions between their families. Rivalry between Monty and Howard increases as Monty challenges the liberal attitudes of the university on issues such as affirmative action. His academic success also highlights Howard's inadequacies and failure to publish a long-awaited book. Meanwhile the Belsey family is facing problems of its own, as they deal with the fallout of Howard's affair with his colleague and family friend Claire. Zora and Levi both become friends with Carl, an African-American man of a poorer background than their own middle-class lifestyle. Zora uses him as a poster child for her campaign to allow talented non-students in university classes. For Levi, Carl is a source of identity, as a member of a more 'authentic' black culture than Levi considers his own background to be. |
7673895 | /m/0268hxn | The Stars are Ours! | Andre Norton | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The Moon, Mars and Venus have been explored and found unsuitable for colonization. Back on the Earth, two very different factions compete to determine the future of humanity: the Free Scientists, who refuse to accept political, racial and religious divisions, and the nationalists. Armed men seize control of one of the space stations orbiting the planet, convert it into a weapon, and (perhaps accidentally) devastate most of the world's heavily-populated areas. A fanatic named Arturo Renzi rises up, blaming the catastrophe on the scientists and "techneers" and espousing a return to a simpler, less technological life. When he is assassinated, the Free Scientists are hunted down. Within a period of three days, most are killed; the few remaining survivors are either enslaved by the ruling Peacemen of the Company of Pax or go into hiding, to be tracked down one by one in the following years. Society is structured into three classes, the Peacemen nobility and their landsmen overseers, a vast peasantry, and the work-slaves, composed of actual or suspected scientists. Most technology is rejected and civilization ebbs. Chemist Lars Nordis, his daughter Dessie, and younger brother Dard, are among the lucky ones. They escape the great purge (though Lars is crippled as a result) and find a precarious refuge on a small farm. There, Lars continues his research as best he can and stays in touch with an underground network of scientists working on some great project. One day, Lars finishes his work and notifies his contacts. As a precaution, he makes Dard and Dessie memorize what seems to them to be meaningless words and patterns. But before they can be taken to the last secret stronghold of the scientists, the suspicious local landsman, Hew Folley, calls in the Peacemen to raid their home. Dard and Dessie escape, but Lars is killed. Dard contacts Sach, an agent of the scientists, who agrees to guide them to the refuge. Once inside, Dard learns that the scientists and their supporters are feverishly building a starship to escape the tyranny. They desperately need what Lars was working on - suspended animation. Only it can bring the stars within reach, for the journey will take many, many years. The information that Dard and Dessie had memorized turns out to be what they have been waiting for. But the scientists are racing against time, for the Peacemen are hunting for them. Before they can leave, there is one more task. They need to plot a course using a computer. The only one they know of that still works is located in Pax headquarters. Dard volunteers to lead pilot-astrogator Simba Kimber to it, since he visited the place years ago. They succeed, though they barely avoid capture, and manage to return with the priceless calculations. Then the refuge is found and comes under attack. Fighting a desperate rearguard action, the defenders manage to hold off the Peacemen long enough to blast off. Then, trusting in Lars' invention, they set their course and undergo suspended animation. When they awaken (though a few never do), they find themselves near a star with a hospitable planet. They land and begin to build their new colony. While exploring the surroundings, they discover a cargo container; though they detected no signs of technology from orbit, the planet may still be inhabited by an intelligent race. Dard goes along on a scouting expedition. The explorers find the remains of a road, which leads to a war-wrecked, abandoned city. While travelling in their rocket sled, they barely survive being shot down by decrepit, automated anti-aircraft guns. The sled can barely fly, so some of the explorers have to walk back. When they return, they find a thriving settlement. Soon afterwards, Dessie protects a "sea baby" from small flying "dragons". It turns out that the creature is intelligent. Its parents appear out of the ocean and retrieve their offspring. Seeing that the humans are friendly, their tribe or clan is soon trading goods and information. They are telepathic and can communicate with the newcomers if they hold hands. They reveal that they were once the slaves of the species that built the city. They escaped when the Others warred with each other. Now there are none of the Others left on the continent, but they still live across the sea. But that is a problem for another day. For now, the humans have found a new home. |
7675887 | /m/0268kqv | A Fortunate Life | null | null | {"/m/0xdf": "Autobiography", "/m/07s9rl0": "Drama"} | The autobiography begins at his birth. Albert Barnett Facey was born in Maidstone, Victoria, Australia, in 1894. His father died on the Goldfields of Western Australia in 1896 of typhoid fever and Albert's mother left her children to the care of their grandmother shortly afterwards. In 1899 he moved from Victoria to Western Australia in the care of his grandmother, Mrs. Jane Carr (born 1832 - died 1932), and three of his six older siblings: Roy, Eric and Myra. Most of his childhood was spent in the Wickepin area. He started working on farms at the age of eight and had little education and therefore could not read or write. As a child he taught himself to read and write. By the age of 14 he was an experienced bushman, and at 18 a professional boxer. Badly injured at Gallipoli, he suffered severe problems which later were the cause of his death. In August 1915 during the First World War, in which two of his brothers, Joseph and Roy, were killed. While recuperating he met his future wife Evelyn Mary Gibson and they were married in Bunbury in August 1916. The Faceys lived in East Perth before returning to Wickepin six years later with their children, where they lived until 1934. His wife died in 1976. The couple had seven children - the eldest, Barney, was killed during the Second World War - and twenty-eight grandchildren. |
7678228 | /m/0268n1h | Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher | Bruce Coville | 1992 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | While running away from bullies Freddy and Howard, Jeremy Thatcher wanders into a strange magic shop, where the owner is cranky old man by the name of Elives. Jeremy soon finds what he believes to be a giant marble. After examining it, Jeremy asks the old man how much it is; Elives tells Jeremy that he "doesn't really want" the egg. However, Jeremy persists, persuading the old man to let him hold the egg. When he does, it warms to his touch. Elives then lets him buy the egg for a quarter. He tells Jeremy, "You don't want it, but it wants you." He warns Jeremy to take good care of it. Jeremy finds his way home and reads the instruction sheet Elives had given him, surprised to find information on hatching a dragon egg, and that he has been chosen to raise the hatchling until she is old enough to return to her world. He does not believe at first, but then he hatches the egg in the moonlight, while reciting the poem: "Full moon's light to wake the egg,/Full moon's light to hatch it;/Midsummer Night will crack the world,/But St. John's Day will patch it." He brings the dragon up to his room, and is astonished to find that the instruction sheet had changed to one for feeding and caring for a young dragon. Though invisible to most people, Jeremy still struggles with raising her and keeping her a secret. But Mary Lou, somebody he hates can see the dragon. He goes to the library and talks to Miss Hyacinth Priest, who gives him some books on dragons, though he discovers nothing very useful. However, when he directly asks her for a book on caring for dragons, she hands him a strange book, amazingly written by Elives himself. On his way back home, he talks to Mary Lou Hutton, much against his will. However, he finds that she has read many of the books he has, they begin to form a friendship. He finds his dragon, and after feeding her chicken livers, Jeremy nicknames her Tiamat, as he is not allowed to know her true given name, and continues to develop better communicative skills with her. His time at school is growing more and more miserable. Suddenly, after feeling a strong sense of fear and pain, he realizes it is coming from Tiamat, and rushes home to discover Tiamat had shed her skin, and that Grief, the golden retriever, had tried to pick her up with his mouth while she was on the floor. This provoked her to attack the dog, and hurt herself as well. Then, Mary walks in, and gasps - she can see the dragon, and Jeremy momentarily forgets the situation because he is intrigued. However, soon enough, he tells her to leave him alone, and Mary leaves in a huff. At the Sunday dinner party with the Huttons, Jeremy and Mary glare at each other at first, but quickly grow friendly once more, using the same topic, books. Dinner soon turns into disaster, as Tiamat had escaped from her room, and along with the cats and Grief, wreaks havoc, ruining the dinner. Though nobody blames Jeremy (indeed, Dr. Thatcher was sitting on the floor, laughing), he feels a sense of guilt anyway. The next day, at school, Tiamat comes, responding to Jeremy's feelings of sadness. As Mr. Kravitz talks about the art contest, Jeremy grows angrier and angrier, as Mr. Kravitz is giving out the details in a very insulting manner. Tiamat, once again responding to his feelings, gets 'revenge', and puts Mr. Kravitz's foot on fire. This prompts the angry man to ban the class from the contest, incurring more guilt in Jeremy. As he is going home, he finally finds Fat Peter, being tortured by Fred. He rescues the cat, and Tiamat saves him when Fred tries to beat Jeremy up. Tiamat is slightly hurt in the process. When he goes home, he asks his father for some antiseptic salve, and takes some extra for Tiamat. Something strange happens here, as Dr. Thatcher looks in the exact place Tiamat was sitting, and mutters something about being overworked, while rubbing his eyes. Jeremy finds that he has received a letter from Elives, stating that he must bring Tiamat back to the shop, with all her shed skin and baby teeth and egg shells, on Midsummer Night. His dad informs him that Midsummer Night is on June 23. However, the two have formed a strong bond and Jeremy is saddened when she must return to her world. He moves Tiamat over to a horse stall in his barn, and Mary Lou helps him by bringing in some milk everyday. He then goes to face Kravitz. After telling him that he did it, he is a little surprised when Mr. Kravitz does not believe him. He then blurts out, asking Mr. Kravitz if he hates Jeremy. This puts a pause to the man's talk, and slowly, Mr. Kravitz reveals that he does not hate Jeremy, but he is jealous - Jeremy is very talented at art, but has no discipline. Jeremy is very taken back by this, but understands it. He then repeats that he is responsible for the hotfoot, and Kravitz allows all of his class - besides him - to participate in the contest. He is sad now, but Tiamat lifts his spirits - quite literally, as she introduces the concept of riding to him. He then goes for midnight flights with Tiamat, looking at his hometown from above, and watching her hunt. His doctor notes that he is suffering from general exhaustion, and orders earlier bedtime. Jeremy is happy for an excuse to sleep earlier, so can he have more energy from his midnight flights with Tiamat - though not too many of those are left, he sadly notes. Soon, the 23rd arrives, and he goes back to the shop. To his surprise, he meets Miss Priest, who seems to be involved in the whole thing. She builds the dragon gate using the pieces jeremy bought, and when Jeremy tries to help, he accidentally shoves a sharp tooth into his palm. Miss Priest is unconcerned, and points out why - Jeremy's hand is fine, with one thin white line left on his palm. She then shows a similar line on her own palm. She then repeats the poem he had spoken to hatch the egg, albeit with two small but important changes - she says 'All Hallow's Eve', instead of 'St. John's Day', and 'Crack the World' with 'Break your heart'. After an emotional goodbye, Tiamat goes through the gate to her world, and Jeremy leaves the shop through the side door. Jeremy is now very disheartened at his loss, and shows it in his actions. He watches Specimen as he paints a store window, but reveals he no longer has any urge to draw, which raises concern from his parents. He avoids the library, but he soon receives note from Miss Priest stating that he may keep the book he took out, as it is part of her own private collection, and she wants to give it to him as a gift. He ponders the poem she had said during the Midsummer Ceremony, but doesn't understand it. On Halloween, his parents throw a large party, and Jeremy meets Miss Priest there, to his surprise. While he is resting in the barn, lost in sad thoughts, he views colors in his head, and soon hears Tiamat's voice. He then realizes that he is connected to her mind, and that he can see her world through her eyes and can talk to her telepathically. He is so happy that the next day, he takes out his pencils, and begins to draw. |
7680068 | /m/0268pp8 | Hume's Fork | null | null | null | Hume's Fork is a novel about a philosophy professor named Legare "Greazy" Hume. He attends a conference in Charleston, South Carolina, with his eccentric colleague Saul Grossman and has to stay, much to his annoyance, with his family. A professional wrestling tournament takes place in Charleston at the same time, and soon the wrestlers philosophize while the philosophers begin to act like wrestlers. Hume works through philosophical problems while facing his own identity crisis. The title comes from a distinction made by the 18th-century British philosopher David Hume while also referring to several personal choices that Legare Hume must make. |
7680498 | /m/0268p_7 | Island of the Aunts | null | null | null | ". The three sisters take care of injured and sick creatures, but the work is getting too much for them as they get older. They decide to go to London to "choose" (kidnap) children to help them. Etta kidnaps a young girl named Minette, whose constantly bickering parents are separated. Coral brings a boy named Fabio, originally from Brazil, where he is learning to be an "English gentleman" at the horrible Graymarsh Towers. Myrtle is forced to bring a boy named Lambert, whom she thinks is horrid, after he accidentally sniffs chloroform. When Dorothy is released from prison, Betty sends the spoiled Boo-Boo and Little One with her to the island to be looked after when she breaks her hip. On the island, Minette and Fabio are quickly put to work, including carrying stranded jellyfish back to the sea and holding an eel with scabies. Meanwhile, Lambert is kept in his room because he refuses to help. One day, though, Etta introduces them to a small family of mermaids, part of the menagerie of exotic creatures who sought refuge on the island. The children also meet the Stoorworm, a wingless Icelandic dragon, the egg-bound boobrie (a bird apparently similar to the dodo, but vastly larger) and even talking with the selkies (seals) who can change into humans (they were told if you stab a selkie with a knife it will turn into a human.) Lambert is shocked at the discovery, but Fabio tells them they are hallucinations caused by drugs put in their food. This keeps Lambert quiet, but more determined to be rescued. After some time, the Great Kraken begins swimming the seas to bring peace to the waters once more. Initially accompanied with his child, he leaves it with the Aunts because it is too young to travel the world with its father. The little Kraken instantly misses his father but quickly befriends Minette and Fabio. Back in London, word spreads about the two "kidnappers". Minette's parents have a "war" as they try to outdo each other's "sorrow for their loss" in the news and Fabio's strict grandparents consider suing the police for not doing their job. Lambert, though, finally gets a hold of his mobilephone, which he uses to call his father, Mr. Sprott, for help. When Sprott reaches his son and sees all the fantastical creatures on the Island as a business opportunity, he captures them. He reports the island's location to the police who immediately fly off to rescue Minette and Fabio. The two quickly come up with an idea and lead the police to believe Boo-Boo and Little One are the aunt's victims. They are quickly flown back to London and leave the real children free to attempt to rescue their friends, though eventually the Kraken returns and overpowers Sprott's yacht just when all hope is lost. Everyone is rescued, though Sprott and Lambert believe everything that happened was all an hallucination. The Kraken blesses the island and chooses to bring his son with him on his journey. With the "kidnappers" finally revealed, the aunts are put on trial. Minette and Fabio, however, present an argument that convinces the jury that they are innocent. Fabio is allowed to return home to Brazil, and Minette's parents call a truce. The aunts write a will, leaving the island to both Minette and Fabio, who promise to return one day. |
7680803 | /m/0268q64 | Yavana Rani | Sandilyan | null | {"/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The story starts in Poompuhar, a port city that was an important harbour for the Cholas during a time of trade between the seafaring nations and Tamil Nadu. Ilanchezhiyan is the commander in chief of the eastern regiment of Cholas. The army includes both Yavanas (Romans) and Tamils. When walking across the beach sands of Poompuhar, Ilanchezhiyan finds a beautiful Yavana woman gasping for breath on the bank of the Kaveri River. He takes her to his palace and gets assistance from Hippalaas, one of the many Greek soldiers in the Chola army, in rescuing the woman. Hippalaas is scared to go near the woman, and instead salutes her. Ilanchezhiyan learns from Hippalaas that the woman is of royal origin after seeing the royal emblem of a swan on her golden bracelet. Meanwhile, the Yavana chief of the fort hears of the queen's presence in Poompuhar. He sets out to capture Ilanchezhiyan and Hippalaas for taking the queen. Ilanchezhiyan escapes the Yavana soldiers, using the queen as a hostage. With his sword on her back, he rides away into the thick forest on his white Arabic horse. Tiberius, a great naval commander of the time, who had arrived with the Greek queen to the shores of Poompuhar, chases Ilanchezhiyan in an attempt to rescue the queen. The queen falls in love with Ilanchezhiyan, however, and helps him escape from Tiberius. Illanchezhiyan flees with the queen and Hippalaas. Brahmananda, a monk and politician, helps them escape through a secret tunnel into a temple. They disguise themselves as monks performing bhajans, and emerge from the temple's sanctum sanctorum. Ilanchezhiyan learns from Brahmananda of the murder of Ilanchetchenni, the emperor of the Chola kingdom, by his enemies. He agrees to spy for Brahmananda in Uraiyur, the capital of the ancient Cholas. During the mission, Ilanchezhiyan is captured and imprisoned in a cave by Irungovel, the slayer of the king. Ilanchezhiyan escapes to see a palace burning on the other side of Amaravathi river. He rescues a handsome teenage youth (except for his charred legs) from seven armed soldiers. Ilanchezhiyan helps the youth to a palace, where his lover, Poovazhagi, was imprisoned. It is revealed that the youth is the prince of the Chola kingdom. With the help of Ilanchezhiyan, the prince escapes into the forest. Ilanchezhiyan and the Yavana queen run in the opposite direction, straight into Tiberius. Tiberius poisons Illanchezhiyan and crowns the Yavana as the Queen of Poompuhar on the day of Venus festival. The queen knows the ancient Venus festival occurs on the date of Indrathiruvizha of Poompuhar. Meanwhile, Ilanchezhiyan finds himself in a ship en route to Greece and learns that he was drugged and will be thrown to the lions. Hippalaas rescues him from the ship by throwing him into sea. They survive a shark attack, and a powerful wave takes them to shore. When Ilanchezhiyan opens his eyes, he finds himself being sold as a slave along with Hippalaas. Ilanchezhiyan and Hippalaas return to sea as slaves to be sold in Greece. The slave ship is then attacked and captured by pirates of Erythraean sea. The pirate captain is persuaded by Illanchezhiyan to invade Ghana (present day Yemen or Oman). The pirates are taken as prisoners by Iliasu, referred to in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea as Eleazus, the King of Ghana. The king forces Ilanchezhiyan to become a disciple of the head priest. Ilanchezhiyan lures the priest on board the slave ship for a religious debate. With the help of Alima, the adopted daughter of the lady commander Iliyasu, and his slave friends, Ilanchezhiyan travels back to Tamil Nadu. The political situation becomes tense when Illanchezhiyan arrives. Tiberius builds a fortress impregnable to anyone from sea or land. The fort has two mechanical towers which can throw spears for several miles. Illanchezhiyan is in the dense forest of Guna Nadu, when he sees a huge army disguised as farmers. The army destroys tanks, ponds, farmlands and buildings under the orders of Illanchezhiyan. Irungovel, the assassin of the emperor, wages war with them but is defeated. Illanchezhiyan and the army enter the fortress of Poompuhar on the day of the Venus festival, and capture the signposts and mechanical towers. The key to the mechanical towers is given to Illanchezhiyan by the queen. Tiberius, his dreams of a Greek empire in Tamil Nadu shattered and now surrounded by the enemy army, stabs her before Illanchezhiyan can run to her rescue. Illanchezhiyan's spear throwing expert commander kills Tiberius, but a second too late. Illanchezhiyan cries for his beloved dead queen. The novel ends with the rightful ownership of the Chola Empire being given to the prince (whom Illanchezhiyan had saved earlier) known later as the legendary Karikala Chola. Illanchezhiyan marries his lover Poovazhagi and then assumes his post as the commander for the Chola Empire. ta:யவன ராணி (புதினம்) |
7682992 | /m/0268s74 | Fever 1793 | Laurie Halse Anderson | 2000 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Matilda Cook lives with her hardworking mother, grandfather, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and Eliza, a freed slave who works as their cook, in the apartment on top of their family coffeehouse in Philadelphia. Matilda ("Mattie") Cook is 14 years old with big dreams for her family's coffeehouse. When the yellow fever epidemic breaks out during the summer, people leave the city or die. Matilda realizes she has to fight for her own life and her loved ones. Her father died from a fall from a ladder. In 1793 yellow fever is spreading through Philadelphia. The people close to Matilda are dying. First, many of her neighbors are infected, then her childhood friends, including Polly, their serving girl, then Matilda's mother. She and her grandfather try to flee to a family friend's home in the country, but they are left behind because of guards patrolling the path. (They kept the sick out of other cities, and thought her grandfather ill because of his cough.) Matilda falls ill with the fever and is taken to a hospital by her grandfather. They return to their house, to discover it was robbed by thieves. The next night, men broke in while Matilda was sleeping. She had screamed, which woke her grandfather up. Grandfather tries to save Mattie, and ends up being killed when he flies back toward the stairs after shooting an old rifle at the thieves. After this, Matilda is desperate and searches for Eliza, finding Nell, another fever orphan along the way. Finding Eliza, Matilda recuperates with her family for a while. Eliza's two nephews and Nell become infected with yellow fever. Matilda and Eliza take them to the Cook Coffeehouse, but available medicines have little effect. Finally, the first frost arrives, killing the mosquitoes and ending the epidemic. Near the end of the book, Lucille, Matilda's mother, comes back with the President. She is well but needs to take naps and take care of her health. At the end of the book, Matilda decides to take up a new job, as owner of the coffeehouse with Eliza, and life returns to normal in Philadelphia. |
7683144 | /m/0268sbz | Sid! | Sid Hartman | 1997-08 | {"/m/0xdf": "Autobiography"} | The book starts by talking about Sid as a kid. Sid did the news run in West Minneapolis after dropping out of high school as a junior. Sid's first reporting job was for the Gophers and was a big supporter of the Lakers. The story then progresses to sports, when pro basketball came to Minnesota. He told how newspapers had interest in sports coming to town because it would sell newspapers. He also says that the Lakers had a huge dynasty from 1947-1957 with Mikel and Mikkelson. He goes on to say that the Twins were a very good team when they even though they thought differently. The Vikings came in 1961 and had a shabby team until Bud Grant came in. He brought the Vikings to 4 Super Bowls and would trust Sid with his life. He then transitions into saying that the Twins weren't as popular in the 1970s as they were in the 1960s. He says that the biggest mistake Calvin Griffith made was firing Martin. Many practical jokes were played on Sid, and Sid may have been the reason that only a few reporters are allowed to talk to officials. Then the books goes on to say that the only way the Viking would stay in Minnesota was if a new stadium was built. Calvin was against a dome. Sid was getting death threats in phone calls. They built the Metrodome for football and had the minimum requirements for baseball. He notes that the Twins were on the verge of going to Tampa Bay when Carl Pohlad bought the Twins after Twin Cities business owners bought the cheap seats for games to get Calvin Griffith to resign. After that, the Twins did well. They won the World Series in 1987 and 1991. The Twin Cities got a lot of sporting events in 1991-1992. They had the US Open, the Twins made it to the World Series, the Super Bowl was held in the Metrodome, and the North Stars made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. He goes on to talk about Herb Brooks and that coached the North Stars and the US Olympic team. In 1980 his Olympic team got the gold medal in hockey. He talks about the 1997 Gopher basketball team and their success made it to the Final Four. |
7685271 | /m/0268vhw | Ghost Story | Peter Straub | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The novel opens with a man named Donald Wanderley traveling with a young girl whom he has apparently kidnapped. Eventually Donald and the girl arrive in Panama City, Florida, at which point the novel jumps back in time to the events of the previous winter. Living in the small New York town of Milburn are four elderly men who are members of a group called the Chowder Society. John Jaffrey, a doctor; Lewis Benedikt, a retired entrepreneur; Sears James, an attorney; and Ricky Hawthorne, an attorney and James' partner. For the past fifty years these best friends have gathered together and told each other stories and have been great companions. Once upon a time, however, their group consisted of five members. One year earlier Jaffrey had thrown a party at his house in honor of a visiting actress, and their fifth member, Edward Wanderly, had died in an upstairs bedroom during the festivities. When his body was found there was a look of absolute horror on his face, as if he had been frightened to death. Ever since that night the friends have been plagued with horrible nightmares, and have taken to telling each other ghost stories. At one of their meetings, Sears tells them a The Turn of the Screw-like ghost story about when he was a young man. Before deciding to attend law school James had taken a teaching position in a rural community. He developed a fascination with one of his students, a young boy named Fenny Bate. Fenny and his sister were ostracized by the community, and upon making some inquiries he finds out why. The two children once had an older brother named Gregory, and it was generally believed that Gregory sexually molested his young brother. The parents of the siblings were dead, and Gregory was their guardian. One day while repairing a roof Gregory fell off the ladder and was killed, and someone thought they saw the two young Bate children running away from the scene. Sears tells his friends that in time he began to see a threatening young man hanging around the school, and he eventually comes to believe it to be the spirit of Gregory Bate. Sears attempted to save Fenny from the clutches of his dead brother, but to no avail. Fenny died, and Sears was legally obligated to finish out the school year and then he left the small community. The next morning after telling his story Sears and Ricky are called out to the farm of one of their clients, who has found some mutilated livestock in his field. Later in the car Sears reveals to Ricky that the previous night's story was not fictitious, but had actually happened to him in his youth. Sears also admits that he is scared, as are all the members of the Chowder Society. They decide to write to Edward's nephew Donald Wanderly, as Donald had written an occult novel and they think that his research abilities might be employed to good use on their behalf. Before Donald can arrive, however, Jaffrey dies in an apparent suicide by jumping off of a bridge. Donald arrives just as the funeral is coming to a close. The three remaining members of the Society tell him that they want him to investigate any possible avenues that he might deem appropriate. Several years previously Donald's twin brother David had died under mysterious circumstances, and it led him to write his horror novel. Donald tells them the story of what he thinks actually happened. Several years previously he had landed a teaching position at Berkeley on the strength of his first novel. While there he began seeing a beautiful grad student named Alma Mobley. At first he was inseparable from her, and there was talk of marriage. But over time he began to notice strange things about her. He described it as more of a sensation, but he felt that there was something unnatural about Alma. He stopped seeing her as much, his work suffered, and one day Alma simply vanished. Upon investigating he found out that a great many things that Alma had told him about her past were fabrications. A few months later David called him and told him that he and Alma were engaged, and that he wanted things to be right between Donald and his fiance. Donald tried to warn David, but to no avail. And soon thereafter David was dead. Not long after this Lewis Benedikt dies in the forest, and Sears and Ricky decide that is time to tell Donald the most terrible story that the Chowder Society knows...and it is a true tale. 50 years previously a young woman named Eva Galli had moved to the town. She was in her early twenties and all five of the young men fell head over heels for her. One night in 1929—not long after Black Monday—Eva came to see them, but she was not acting like herself. She made sexual advances and belittled them. There was a struggle, and Eva fell and hit her head. Believing her to be dead, they conspired to hide the body by putting it in a car and driving it into a deep pond. But at the last moment Eva's body disappeared from the inside of the car, and there was a lynx looking at them from the other bank. Donald begins his research and quickly comes to the conclusion that what they are dealing with is a manitou, or some other kind of shape-shifting creature. He also believes that Alma Mobley is actually Eva Galli. Donald theorizes that since these creatures live much longer than humans Eva waited fifty years before returning for her revenge. Donald, Ricky, and Sears are joined in their struggle by Peter Barnes, a young man whose mother was killed by these creatures. Sears is ambushed and killed in his car, and the survivors now realize that Gregory and a reanimated Fenny are helping Eva in her endeavors. Gregory tells them that a woman named Florence de Peyser helped resurrect him, and it seems that Eva is also subservient to the de Peyser woman. Gregory and Fenny attack Peter, Don, and Ricky in a movie theater, but they are both killed in the ensuing struggle, leaving Donald to realize that though they have other-worldly powers, the creatures are not truly immortal. The survivors track Eva down and defeat her, but she escapes. Exhausted, Ricky leaves Milburn for an extended vacation with his wife, and Peter prepares for college. Donald keeps watch to see what form Eva will next appear in, and believes it to be the little girl in the opening part of the book. While in Florida, Eva emerges from the form of the little girl and attempts to twist Donald's mind. He is able to resist and kills her after she tries to take the form of a wasp to escape. Donald then prepares to go to San Francisco to hunt down the de Peyser woman. |
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