title
stringlengths 1
220
| author
stringlengths 4
59
⌀ | pub_year
int64 398
2.01k
⌀ | summary
stringlengths 11
58k
|
|---|---|---|---|
The Arabian Nights Murder | John Dickson Carr | null | When Scotland Yard detective John Carruthers attends the Wade Museum of Oriental Art, and begins to investigate the interior of one of a series of carriages on exhibit, he is sarcastically told by the night watchman "Watch out when you touch it! There's a dead man inside!" Of course, a dead man tumbles out. The corpse has been stabbed with an elaborate Persian dagger, is wearing an obvious set of false whiskers, and is clutching a cookbook. Gideon Fell must investigate the death and explain all the bizarre circumstances of what was a very busy night at the museum. it:Delitti da mille e una notte |
Ratha and Thistle-chaser | Clare Bell | null | Thistle-chaser, the daughter of the Named clan leader, Ratha, has no recollection of her past or true name. Due to this, she lives alone on a coastline, befriending the seamares that reside there, and goes by 'Newt'. In her dreams, a creature she knows as the Dreambiter, which bites her foreleg, often makes her go into seizures and fits of panic. A clan cat, Thakur comes across Thistle-chaser while searching for water. He befriends her and starts having her swim in a lagoon which acts as therapy for her shriveled leg. When he reports of the water and seamares that live there, Ratha decides to move the clan and their livestock to the coast, going as far as to capture the seamares. Thistle-chaser is upset by this and frees them, making Ratha, who refuses to believe that Thistle-chaser is her daughter, order the clan to attack Thistle-chaser if she tries anything like it again. Thistle-chaser eventually learns that Ratha is her mother and realizes that the Dreambiter would be destroyed if Ratha was killed. Ratha bit Thistle-chaser when she was young, which was the cause of the Dreambiter. Thistle-chaser decides to attack Ratha and the two get into a fight. When Ratha gets her foot stuck between two rocks, Mishanti, an Un-named cub which Ratha was going to abandon, gets caught in the fray and tries to defend Ratha. In her fury, Thistle-chaser goes after him, only to be stopped by Ratha, who calls her names and brings her back to reality. Thakur and Fessran, another clan cat, arrive soon and together with Thistle-chaser bring Ratha and Mishanti to safety. Through these events, Ratha is able to admit that Thistle-chaser is her daughter and Thistle-chaser is able to forgive her mother. Mishanti, being an orphan and lacking any proof that he is sentient, is taken in by Thistle-chaser who will raise him and bring out his hidden sentience. The Named are a group of prehistoric sentient large cats; they call themselves a clan and are led by the female Ratha. The clan is herds creatures and uses them as livestock, and also has fire, which they call Red Tongue, which they use for heat and protection. They are recognizable by their cleanliness and their eyes, which have a distinct look of knowingness and brightness. They can love and feel for other members of the clan and have morals and their own language. The group has Herders, who keep herd the livestock and protect them, and Firekeepers, who tend to the Red Tongue. The Un-named are the opposite; non-sentient large cats who live in no distinct group, but band together sometimes for attacks. They are dirty and their eyes are distinct and unaware of what happens. They rely on instinct and have no language. A cat can be born Unnamed, but it is due to related linage with members of the Named. Unlike the Named, they do not herd animals, but hunt instead.The Unnamed are Sabre Tooth Cats. Red Tongue is fire used by The Named. Seamare is the term used for water creatures with protruding teeth, a horse-like head and neck, and a blubbery body. They have webbed feet, and live in a herd.The Seamare are Paleoparadoxia. |
The Eight of Swords | John Dickson Carr | null | Mr. Septimus Depping is found dead in his Gloucestershire country house, shot with his own gun and holding a card from the Tarot deck, the eight of swords, which stands for "condemning justice". Among those present is an Anglican bishop who is an expert in criminology, and sees wanted criminals in every parlourmaid, and Henry Morgan, who writes exciting mystery novels under two different names. Mr. Depping turns out to have been an American criminal, and Gideon Fell must penetrate the secrets of his American associates as well as his British life in retirement in order to bring home the crime to the unlikely criminal. |
The Four False Weapons | John Dickson Carr | null | Richard Curtis is a junior British barrister entrusted with disentangling a client of the firm, Ralph Douglas, from his involvement with poule de luxe Rose Klonec. The infamous Rose has had more lovers than she can count—she removes all their cash and jewelry in the process, then discards them. Rose's dead body has been found in Douglas's country villa and in the room are a pistol, a razor, a box of poison pills and a stiletto. Henri Bencolin, of the Paris police, proves that none of these four weapons were used to kill Rose, and that she has been the victim of an unusual fifth. The comings and goings at the villa that night are the subject of much investigation. It is not until Bencolin is invited to take a hand at the Corpses' Club to play an 17th century game of chance, basset, that has never been played by any living person, that he resolves the contradictions and solves the crimes. |
Three Cups of Tea | Greg Mortenson | 2,009 | In 1993, mountaineer Greg Mortenson attempted to climb K2, the world's second highest mountain and located in the Karakoram range of northern Pakistan-administered Kashmir, as a way of honoring the memory of his deceased sister, Christa. As a memorial, he had planned to lay her amber necklace on the summit of K2. After more than 70 days on the mountain, Mortenson and three other climbers had their ascent interrupted by the need to complete a 75-hour life-saving rescue of a fifth climber. After getting lost during his descent, alone, he became weak and exhausted. Instead of arriving in Askole, where his porters awaited, he came across Korphe, a small village built on a shelf jutting out from a canyon. He was greeted and taken in by the chief elder, Haji Ali of Korphe. To repay the remote community for their hospitality, Mortenson recounted in the book that he promised to build a school for the village. After difficulties in raising capital, Mortenson was introduced to Jean Hoerni, a Silicon Valley pioneer who donated the money that Mortenson needed for his school. In the last months of his life, Hoerni co-founded the Central Asia Institute, endowing the CAI to build schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to the book, Mortenson faced many daunting challenges in his quest to raise funds for the building of more than 55 schools in Taliban territory. Some of these challenges included death threats from Islamic mullahs, long periods of separation from his family, and being kidnapped by Taliban sympathizers. Reflecting on the state of a post-9/11 world, Mortenson advocates in his books and during his speaking engagements that extremism in the region can be deterred through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls. Formerly in Afghanistan and Pakistan, schooling focused on boys. Because educated boys tend to move to the cities to find jobs, they seldom return. By contrast, educated girls tend to remain in the community and pass their enhanced knowledge to the next generation, thus, Mortenson suggests, educating girls has more of a lasting benefit for their community. |
The Farther Shore | Christie Golden | 2,003 | There is a Borg conspiracy going on on the Earth, and suddenly people begin to transform into Borg drones. Now Captain Janeway and her crew must save the Earth. |
The Bottom Billion | null | 2,007 | The book suggests that, whereas the majority of the 5-billion people in the "developing world" are getting richer at an unprecedented rate, a group of countries (mostly in Africa and Central Asia but with a smattering elsewhere) are stuck and that development assistance should be focused heavily on them. These countries typically suffer from one or more development traps. The Conflict Trap: Civil wars (with an estimated average cost of $64bn each) and coups incur large economic costs to a country. Additionally, in the time period immediately following a major conflict, relapse is highly likely. Collier also argues that the longer a country stays in a state of conflict, the more players become established that profit from the state of tumult, making the situation increasingly intractable. The Natural Resource Trap: Countries that are rich in natural resources are paradoxically usually worse off than countries that are not. Collier attributes this to a variety of causes: * Resources make conflict for the resources more likely. * Natural resources mean that a government does not have to tax its citizens. Consequently, the citizenry are less likely to demand financial accountability from the government. * The exploitation of valuable natural resources can result in Dutch disease, where a country's other industries become less competitive as a result of currency valuation due to the revenue raised from the resource. Landlocked with Bad Neighbours: Poor landlocked countries with poor neighbours find it almost impossible to tap into world economic growth. Collier explains that countries with coastline trade with the world, while landlocked countries only trade with their neighbors. Landlocked countries with poor infrastructure connections to their neighbors therefore necessarily have a limited market for their goods. Bad Governance in a Small Country: Terrible governance and policies can destroy an economy with alarming speed. The reason small countries are at a disadvantage is that though they may have a low cost-of-living, and therefore be ideal for labor-intensive work, their smallness discourages potential investors, who are unfamiliar with the local conditions and risks, who instead opt for better known countries like China and India. He suggests a number of relatively inexpensive but institutionally difficult changes: # Aid agencies should increasingly be concentrated in the most difficult environments, accept more risk. Ordinary citizens should not support poorly informed vociferous lobbies whose efforts are counterproductive and severely constrain what the Aid agencies can do. # Appropriate Military Interventions (such as the British in Sierra Leone) should be encouraged, especially to guarantee democratic governments against coups. # International Charters are needed to encourage good governance and provide prototypes. # Trade Policy needs to encourage free trade and give preferential access to Bottom Billion exports. The book does not include a list of bottom billion countries because Collier believes this might lead to a "self-fulfilling prophecy." However, he states that there are 58 such countries mentioned throughout the book. In his book Wars, Guns, and Votes, Collier lists the Bottom Billion, to "focus international effort": Afghanistan, Angola, Azerbaijan, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Kenya, North Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. |
The Color of Death: A Sir John Fielding Mystery | Bruce Cook | 2,000 | People got attacked by aliens. Even Sir John is laid low, and young Jeremy Proctor must take a significant role in the investigation. |
Assassin | null | 2,006 | The book begins with the story of Arabella "Bella" Getchel, who was taken hostage by John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of former President Abraham Lincoln, during the assassination at Ford Theatre itself. Wilkes, in the book's second chapter, mentions that he likes to be called by his last name. The book continually switches between the two stories, as Bella builds a friendship with a character named Steven and Wilkes. The friendship between Wilkes and Bella was merely a trap so he could get her to look for him in the theatre, where he locks her in a closet so she cannot stop him from assassinating the President. |
Five Times Dizzy | Nadia Wheatley | 1,982 | Five Times Dizzy is about the comedy and drama of a Greek Australian family in a multi-cultural neighbourhood of inner-city Sydney. To help her Greek grandmother feel more at home, Mareka comes up with a brilliant plan to give her a pet goat. |
Hag's Nook | John Dickson Carr | null | Tad Rampole is a young American traveling in England who, in a chance encounter on a railway platform, meets and falls in love with Dorothy Starberth. Rampole has a letter of introduction to Dr. Gideon Fell and both soon become involved in the affairs of the Starberth family. The family has a long history as having been the governors of Chatterham Prison and, in connection with that post, there is also a tradition that the "Starberths die of broken necks". Chatterham is now abandoned and inhabited only by rats, but the eldest son and heir to the Starberth family must spend the evening of his 25th birthday there, as directed by an ancestral will. The night after Rampole meets Dorothy Starberth, her brother is found with a broken neck, below the balcony of the room where he was to spend the night. Dr. Fell must sort out ancient superstition from modern-day malice to ensure that the responsible criminal does not go unpunished. it:Il cantuccio della strega |
The Demoniacs | John Dickson Carr | null | Handsome young Jeffrey Wynne has just rescued pretty young Peg Ralston from a "fate worse than death"; she thought she was going to attend a French acting school, but soon learns that it is the "school for the French King's private brothel". Wynne was hired by Peg's father Sir Mortimer Ralston to retrieve her, possibly without the knowledge of Sir Mortimer's mistress, Lavinia Cresswell (and her brother, dangerous swordsman Hamnet Tawnish), who would like nothing better than to see Peg put in Bedlam. Wynne's ordinary job is somewhat similar; he is a thief-taker under the direction of Sir John Fielding, a real-life personage who was in charge of the Bow Street Runners despite his blindness. Wynne and young Miss Ralston soon become involved in the mysterious murder of an ancient bawd who lives on London Bridge; the old woman seems to have no mark of violence upon her body, but what might be a fortune in jewels is missing. The investigation of the crime leads Wynne through the heights and depths of society, including a bagnio in Covent Garden and a drinking bout with Laurence Sterne, until he perceives the well-hidden truth and solves the crime. |
In Spite of Thunder | John Dickson Carr | null | Beautiful film star Eve Eden's fiancé Hector Matthews died in a strange accident while the couple was visiting Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden in 1939. Although he had no reason to commit suicide, he apparently flung himself off a high balcony to die hundreds of feet below—and no one was near him at the time, as the witnesses Gerald Hathaway and Paula Catford say. Years later, Eve is married to actor Desmond Ferrier and living in Geneva. Brian Innes, a painter who lives in Geneva too, is asked by his old school friend DeForrest Page to warn his daughter Audrey against continuing to associate with Eve. When Eve Ferrier appears at the Hotel du Rhône, where Innes had been dining with Sir Gerald Hathaway, she proves to be carrying a perfume bottle filled with oil of vitriol, apparently to her own surprise. The next day, when Innes is called to Eve Ferrier's villa by a desperate Audrey, he arrives in time to see Eve fall to her death from a high balcony—and no one was near her at the time. It takes the investigative genius of Gideon Fell to penetrate the ingenious murder method and reveal the criminal. |
The Witch of the Low Tide | John Dickson Carr | null | David Garth, M.D., has fallen in love with the beautiful widow Betty, Lady Calder. Detective-Inspector Twigg of Scotland Yard tries to warn Dr. Garth about the chequered past of Lady Calder, but it takes all the nerve of Garth's friend Cullingford Abbot, assistant to the Commissioner of Scotland Yard, to state that, among other things, Betty danced for three seasons at the Moulin Rouge and is thought to have joined a Satanist group in Paris. She is also reputed to be a blackmailer responsible for at least two suicides. However, Betty herself raises the possibility that she is being mistaken for the machinations of her sister Glynis. When Glynis is found dead on the beach near a bathing-pavilion, in the middle of a stretch of unmarked sand, Betty is suspected of arranging the death (although no one can suggest how it might have happened). It takes Dr. Garth's special knowledge of both medicine (the new science of "psychanalysis") and literature like Gaston Leroux's The Mystery of the Yellow Room to solve the impossible crime and reveal the criminal. |
The Quantum Prophecy | Michael Carroll | 2,006 | The story opens with a seemingly random battle among the many superhumans that inhabited the western world, set ten years ago at the foot of a gigantic tank built and driven by Ragnarok that was on its way to New York City. During the course of this slugfest, the superheroes and supervillains all seem to lose their abilities. Ten years later, Brian McDonald has been told by the teacher to assign the class' homework assignment, and he chooses to write about what it would be like to be a superhero. On the way home, Brian's little sister Susie almost gets hit by a bus while riding her bike, but Danny Cooper foresaw it coming and rescued her in the time it took his friend, Colin Wagner, to turn his head twice. At home he ponders over this and comes to the conclusion Danny is a superhero. He confronts his friend about it later and Danny grudgingly reveals his father was Quantum and that he inherited his powers. When Colin gets home he starts to hear things far away, and his mom reveals she and his father were Energy and Titan respectively, two other heroes that were believed to have disappeared. Soon after that a helicopter comes and after a quick chase Colin, his parents, Danny, and Danny's father are captured and taken to America. Around that time a mysterious man known as Joseph gets broken out of a top-secret prison in Nevada by a man known as Victor Cross. In the airport Colin escapes from his captors and, following his fathers tip, searches for a man known as Solomon Cord, who used to be Paragon. He takes refuge in a shelter where, after a brief standoff, befriends the delinquent Razor. Later he and Colin escape by use of a stolen car when the police arrive. Colin refuses to answer Razor's questions and they make their escape to New York. Colin finds Cord but, refusing to believe him, Cord shuts his garage door. Colin rips it off, and Cord remembers a bit of Quantom's prophecy: "He will be strong, that's how you will know." Colin and Razor meet Cord's wife and two daughters, one of which Colin falls for. Around that time Danny and the others arrive at Cross' base, where they are held captive with the newly awakened hero Renata Soliz. Cord takes Colin to the base and they invade it. Soliz and Danny take out most of the guards and Colin get's captured. Danny runs in, seeing Colin being tested on similar to how he was. Cross enters with Joseph, who reveals himself to be Danny's father (Paul Joseph Cooper), the real Quantom, and the other to be Facade stuck looking like Quantom. Danny takes a gun and threatens to shoot. Joseph becomes grave and tells him to put it down. Danny replies there are no bullets inside, and Joseph says that doesn't matter. Danny then slaps him with the butt of his gun. He remembers when he threw a rock at the wall and it seemed to be moving slow but it exploded on the wall as blood spills onto the floor from Joseph's head. |
2nd Chance | James Patterson | 2,003 | Homicide Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer is still recovering from the recent loss of her partner and is just returning to the force when she is called in to investigate a series of murders that include an 11-year old girl and an elderly woman. Through her investigations she discovers a connection to a jail-hate gang called Chimera. After another police officer is sniper-killed by a sniper and then her boss is murdered, the trail leads to the ex-cop Frank Coombs. To further complicate all of the Women's Murder Club ladies, Jill is pregnant, Claire becomes a target for the Chimera killer, Cindy starts dating the murdered girl's pastor and Lindsay's father shows up. Finally after chasing the trail of Frank Coombs, Lindsay trails the real killer, Rusty Coombs - the son of Frank Coombs, to a tower on a college campus where he has opened fire and killed several students. Rusty is getting revenge for all that has happened to his father and no longer cares if he lives or dies. Lindsay kills Rusty at the college tower. As an epilogue, Lindsay receives a postcard from her father in Mexico saying sorry for lying to her about his crooked past and that he has bought a boat and named it Buttercup, his pet name for her. This is a story with the theme of revenge. it:Seconda chance (romanzo) |
The Creationists | null | 1,993 | The expanded edition covers the history of creationism from the time of Darwin to the present day. It first describes early opposition during Darwin's lifetime, then George Frederick Wright's conversion from Christian Darwinist to Fundamentalist opponent and how creationism influenced the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy and the rise of prominent populist creationists such as William Jennings Bryan. It then narrates the careers of two early, self-taught, 'scientific' creationists, Harry Rimmer and George McCready Price. It then chronicles the growth of creationist organisations in the mid 20th century, such as the Religion and Science Association, the Deluge Geology Society, the Evolution Protest Movement (in the United Kingdom), and the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA), the latter moving almost immediately in the direction of theistic evolution. The book then narrates the young Earth creationist backlash against the ASA's modernism, with Henry M. Morris and John C. Whitcomb, Jr.'s publication of The Genesis Flood and the forming of the Creation Research Society, which created the creation science movement. It continues with Morris' founding of the Institute for Creation Research and the Seventh-day Adventist Church's founding of the Geoscience Research Institute. The book finally describes the influence of creationism in churches and in countries outside the United States, then the rise of the intelligent design movement, before returning to the subject of creationism's global impact. |
Curse of Xanathon | Douglas Niles | null | The Duke of Rhoona has begun issuing strange proclamations, such as decreeing that all taxes are to be paid in beer, horses are to be ridden backwards, and all dwarves are to be shaved and stretched to make them "presentable to human sensibilities". Duke Stephan is suffering from a curse which was brought upon him by Xanathon, chief cleric of the Ethengar Khanate immigrants living inside Rhoona's walls, and Stephen's own treacherous guard captain, Draco Stormsailer. The player characters must discover the nature of the Duke's affliction. They will need to learn how to lift the curse from the Duke of Rhoona, as he is needed to lead his troops against an invading army. They will need to find the antidote for the curse, battling Xanathon, Draco, and their minions to achieve their goal. Lawrence Schick, in his sourcebook of roleplaying games, Heroic Worlds, describes the module as a town adventure in which the players are tasked with solving a mystery in order to remove a curse. The cursed town is threatened by a dwarven army, and the player characters must save the town. |
Sakkara | Michael Carroll | 2,006 | Sakkara is a superpowers research facility in the heart of the United States. The adolescent superhumans of The Quantum Prophecy return; this time their covers are blown and they are forced to flee to the US in order to protect themselves from attack and publicity. The facility that they hide in is thought to be secret, until its name is known around the world following a terrorist attack in which the supervillain-turned-assassin leaves the word "Sakkara" spraypainted on the wall of an airport after killing dozens of people. Someone among the "New Heroes" or "old heroes" has broken protocol, but everyone is a suspect. As more and more attacks begin to occur, the pattern emerges that they are going after Trutopians. Trutopians are an international organisation designed to give each of its members security and equality, but with reduced comfort and freedoms. It is revealed that they are run by the antagonist of the last novel, Victor Cross, who is really just trying to "take over the world". The "New Heroes" learn more about their power and discover other heroes too. Colin learns that he actually inherited his powers from his mom, Energy, instead of his father, Titan. The heroes then learn that Yvonne was the one leaking information and in the end Solomon Cord, or Paragon, dies from a decision made by Colin. |
Ha'penny | Jo Walton | 2,007 | The book is a mystery thriller set inside an alternate history in which the United Kingdom made peace with Adolf Hitler in 1941. It's 1949 and Britain has slid into fascist dictatorship. When a bomb explodes in a London suburb, Scotland Yard Inspector Peter Carmichael is assigned to the case. He finds a web of conspiracy and a plot to murder both Britain's new Prime Minister and Adolf Hitler, during the latter's Friendship visit to London. Carmichael's professional ethics became compromised during a previous case involving the aristocratic and political establishment, which may affect his ability to handle the case at hand. Life is also complicated for Viola Lark, who abandoned the upper class environment of her family and lost touch with her five very different sisters (inspired by the real-life Mitford sisters) when she chose to become an actress. Viola is given the role of a lifetime and hard decisions to make, as she becomes caught up in family politics. The first "Small Change" novel, Farthing, was released in August 2006 by Tor Books. A third novel in the series, Half a Crown, came out in September 2008, also from Tor. |
Half a Crown | Jo Walton | 2,008 | The book is a thriller set inside an alternate history in which the United Kingdom made peace with Adolf Hitler and the United States did not become involved in World War II. The British government has become fascist and authoritarian. Peter Carmichael, formerly a police inspector at Scotland Yard, is now head of the secret police called "The Watch". He must deal with political intrigue by those jealous of his position and safeguard his teenage ward while keeping secret his illicit activities helping Jews and dissidents who wish to flee the country. |
The Fifth Son of the Shoemaker | Donald Corley | 1,930 | The book concerns the story of a Russian family of hereditary shoemakers who have immigrated from Moscow to New York, their establishment in a humble East Side cellar, rise from rags to riches, and travels around the world. |
London Calling | Edward Bloor | 2,006 | Martin Conway is an unhappy 7th-grade student at a conservative New Jersey prep school, All Souls Preparatory, that reveres the memory of such famous graduates as General "Hollerin' Hank" Lowery. His self-sacrificing mother doesn't listen and his father is an alcoholic and is seldom around. Their marriage is falling apart. The only person he is able to talk to is his grandmother. Martin is bullied both by students and teachers, his grades are falling and he has few friends, and is finally involved in an altercation with one of the school's most famous students, the grandson of an important World War II veteran. Almost simultaneously, Martin's grandmother dies. Martin becomes seriously depressed, and rarely leaves his basement room. In her will, though, she leaves him an antique radio. When he tries it out, its hidden static is ghostly signal is also a portal to the deadly past of the London Blitz. At first Martin believes he is having nightmares vision related to his stressful situation, but with the help of his older sister, an Ivy League graduate, he researches historical details from his visions. When they turn out to be true, he realizes that he is really traveling through time. A child with a British accent emerges through the radio static, and eventually leads Martin back to the streets of WWII-era England. Jimmy Harker is a boy in desperate need of help, but the help he needs will require more heart and courage from Martin than he ever knew he had. Martin complies with Jimmy's request and sets forth on an adventure in history, revenge and redemption, couched in serious questions about death and the afterlife. He begins to discover secrets he didn't know existed, and finds answers to questions people wanted to keep hidden. What he learns ends up changing the historical record on General Lowery, bringing peace to an old man's life, and altering a number of lives for the better, including his own. Another important plot theme is that of how family history and what we want to believe about people doesn't always match up with reality. |
Cocaine Blues | Kerry Greenwood | 1,989 | After the Honourable Phryne Fisher solves a country-house jewel robbery in record time, she is asked by Colonel and Mrs. Andrews to look into the matter of their daughter in Australia, who they fear may be being poisoned by her husband. Having grown bored with English social life, Phryne is happy to have an excuse to put off making decisions about her future for the next few months or so, and promptly relocates to Melbourne. |
Gemma Doyle Trilogy | Libba Bray | null | The story revolves around Gemma Doyle, a young woman sent from her home in British India to the mysterious boarding school, Spence Academy. There she meets Ann, Felicity, and Pippa, three other remarkable young women and together they discover the dark past of their school. Gemma learns of her own heritage and the magical powers she possesses. The three books in the trilogy span just one year, with A Great and Terrible Beauty beginning in June 1895 and The Sweet Far Thing ending in June 1896. |
Sword Quest | Nancy Yi Fan | 2,008 | There is war in the kingdom of birds, which was started by the prehistoric birds known as the archaeopteryxes. In the only place where birds are still safe, a magical island called Kauria, the King, Pepheroh the Phoenix, orders his birds to make a sword as a result of what the Great Spirit tells him. Once the sword had been forged, a tear gem from the Great Spirit, a godly entity watching over birds, lands in the hilt of the sword, and seven other gems, each a color of the rainbow, are scattered around the world. These gems are the Leasorn Gems, and hold clues to where the magical kingdom of Kauria and the sword are found. A bird destined to be a hero will take hold of the sword at the fifth full moon three years from then and rescue the warring world. However, should the sword fall into evil hands, the world of birdkind shall be in peril. Hungrias the Second, Ancient Wing (or king) of the archaeopteryxes, sends Sir Maldeor, his top knights, and his son, Prince Phaethon, to a tribe of doves, who have the orange Leasorn Gem. The mission fails, as a monstrous four-winged bird/reptile creature attacks and eats Phaethon, who was in possession of the orange gem. The creature bursts into blue flames and Maldeor sends his troops to kill all the remaining doves. However, a dove named Irene manages to escape and lays an egg. When the egg hatches to reveal a fully feathered hatchling, she names him Wind-Voice. Meanwhile, the four-winged creature, named Yin Soul, is stuck between the world of the living and that of the dead, and can only escape if he can find the body of a likely hero that can get the Hero Sword, or else he will die a painful death. Yin Soul attempts to take control of Wind-Voice, but Wind-Voice sees through Yin Soul's illusion and refuses. Before meeting Yin Soul, it was revealed that Wind-Voice's mother had been killed, and he was made a slave. Wind-Voice later meets a wood-pecker scribe named Ewingerale, nicknamed Winger. Winger had been imprisoned after his tribe was destroyed. The archaeptyx were planning on fattening Winger up and eating him for supper. Wind-Voice breaks Winger out, is attacked by an archaepteryx guard, and is brought to Hungrias, where he is put over a spit to cook for supper. On the spit, after he faints from the heat and is brought to Yin Soul's realm, Wind-Voice escapes and meets Fisher, a battle scarred crane, in a tribe in the surrounding swamp, as well as Winger. Fisher begins to teach Wind-Voice how to fight with a sword and later tells him of the Leasorn Gems. Wind-Voice is determined to find the gems and finding the hero, who will bring peace to the world. Before leaving to find the gems, Fisher gives them a map to finding Fleydur, who will help them on their journey. Also coming along is Stormac; a myna who can't resist his temptation for riches. Wind-Voice, Winger, and Stormac meet a golden eagle, who is revealed to be Fleydur. The group head out into the desert and battle a group of an archaeopteryx, who are in possession of the red Leasorn. Winger and Fleydur manage to escape with the gem, but Stormac is mortally wounded and is later found by a group of parrots, who heal him with the use of there green leasorn. Wind-Voice has been captured and taken to the castle of the archaeopteryx, where Maldeor is the new emperor. Maldeor is revealed to be Yin Soul's apprentice and had wing chopped off and then exiled by Hungrias for losing Prince Phaethon. After nearly dying in a blizzard, Yin Soul summons Maldeor and gives him a new, bat like wing. But the wing needs a potion every new moon to keep it going. Maldeor goes to Hungrias, takes the throne and then kills him. Maldeor throws Wind-Voice in the dungeon and later attempts to have him executed by tying him to a log and throwing him off a waterfall. Wind-Voice survives and meets up with Stormac, who now has the green Learson gem. The two go to Sword Mountain and gain the purple gem. Meanwhile Winger and Fleydur are heading over the ocean the land of the penguins in search of the teal Learson. Along the way Fleydur reveals that he is actually a prince exiled from his home of Sword Mountain because of his belief that music can bring joy and healing to the world. Wind-Voice and Stormac are also heading over the ocean and end up in the Island of the Pirates, were they find the blue Learson gem and on Byrdsfish Island; the seagull tribe. Stormac is attacked and killed by a group of pirates lead by Captain Rag-Foot and Wind-Voice heads alone to Kauria. Yin Soul attempts to take control of Maldeor but is rebuffed and left to die. Later Maldeor launches an attack for Kauria, but ends up in the land of the penguins and most of the forces are defeated or killed. Maldeor and his remaining army head to Kauria, where he sees a recently reunited Wind-Voice, Winger, and Fleydur. An army of free birds arrive to battle against the archaeptyx forces. Wind-Voice and Maldeor both head to the island and the two begin to battle. Wind-Voice escapes from the fight and manages to find the Hero's Sword, but doesn't take it. Maldeor however has taken a false Hero's Sword and attacks Wind-Voice. The real Hero's Sword appearance in Wind-Voices claws and Maldeor is killed when the temple that they are in begins to fall apart. The archaeopteryx army leave and begin to form their own tribes and Fleydur is taken back into his family. Wind-Voice is renamed Swordbird by King Pepheroh and it is revealed that Wind-Voice's father is the Great Spirit. The clues on the Leasorn Gems disappear and the day that Wind-Voice became Swordbird is made a holiday called the Bright Moon Festival. Swordbird reveals to Winger in a dream that he too was killed by the rubble and that he is now a spirit and a guardian of peace, and will help any that summon him. |
The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous | null | null | Lysander Hawkley has a knack for trying to help the helpless, even if the helpless is a bored housewife. After his father refuses to lend him any money, his friend, Ferdie, comes up with a scheme to make money out of his womanizing: to help wives make their wandering husbands jealous. The plan, in theory, is simple: to make bored husbands realise why they had fallen in love with their wives in the first place. |
Cinna | Pierre Corneille | null | Act 1 - Emperor Augustus has executed Toranius, the father of young Emilie whom he considers nonetheless like a daughter. Emilie, in love with Cinna, asks him to save her honor by killing Augustus. In exchange, she will marry Cinna. With the help of his friend, Maxime, Cinna plots to kill the emperor. Act 2 - Augustus, tired of ruling the Roman Empire, seeks the advice of his friends Maxime and Cinna. Should he renounce his rule? Because he desires the love of Emilie, Cinna advises Augustus to keep his throne so he can go forward with his assassination plot. Augustus thanks the two men by offering them important government posts and land, and he even offers Emilie to Cinna as wife. Act 3 - Meanwhile, Maxime is also in love with Emilie, and when Cinna reveals his true reason for advising Augustus to stay on the throne, Maxime is overcome with jealousy. Maxime's servant, Euphorbe, suggests that Maxime betray Cinna and go to Caesar with the assassination plot so that he may receive Emilie in marriage; however, Maxime does not listen. Cinna is faced with a dilemma: the goodness and generosity of Augustus has caused him to question his devotion to Emilie. He nonetheless decides to go through with the assassination attempt to please his lover. Act 4 - Euphorbe, claiming to be sent by Maxime, goes to August to reveal everything. Caesar's wife, Livie, tells him to pardon Cinna in order to gain glory and respect, but Augustus is apparently deaf to these arguments and calls Cinna before him. Maxime goes to find Emilie to declare his love, but Emilie pushes him away and accuses him of betraying Cinna. Act 5 - Emilie finds Cinna before Augustus. She declares her guilt and tries to clear Cinna's name by saying that she seduced him to do her will. Cinna tries to protect Emilie by declaring her story to be false. Finally, Maxime enters and declares that he and Euphorbe had made the entire story up. Faced with those he holds dear, Augustus decides to pardon them all. He proposes that his enemies take the government positions and lands that he offered them prior to the scandal, and they all accept and thank him graciously. |
The Golden Keel | Desmond Bagley | 1,963 | Peter Halloran, a migrant to South Africa after the end of World War II has established himself as a successful and profitable designer and builder of yachts and small watercraft. Life is good – business is good, and he has a beautiful wife and daughter. One day, in the local yacht club bar, he meets Walker, an alcoholic ex-soldier, who tells him an improbable tale of a hidden treasure. When Walker was a prisoner of war in Fascist Italy, he managed to escape with a small band of Allied prisoners, including an Afrikaner named Coertze and some Italian partisans, and waged a guerilla campaign for several months in the hills of Liguria against the Nazi Germans. Towards the end of the war, their band ambushed a truck convoy, which contained a massive treasure in gold bars, jewels and even the State Crown of Ethiopia. Rather than turn the treasure over to the authorities, they hid the trucks in an abandoned mine and sealed the entrance. Now that the war is over, the treasure is for the claiming, provided that they can think of some way to smuggle it past Italian customs. Halloran thinks little of the tale until several years later, when life has turned sour. His wife having been killed in a traffic accident, he finds that he needs a change in life. A chance re-encounter with Walker leads to a meeting with Coertze, and with the three men agreeing to a partnership to recover the treasure. Walker and Coertze know where it is, and Halloran has the perfect solution to getting it out of the country. But questions start to worry Halloran – such as why only Walker and Coertze survived out of the much larger group of guerillas, and why Walker is so terrified of Coertze? The mystery deepens as the men travel to Tangiers, and from thence to ports around the Mediterranean and find their steps dogged by unsavory characters. It is soon clear that they are not the only ones after the treasure. |
Wyatt's Hurricane | Desmond Bagley | 1,966 | David Wyatt is a white West Indian, originally from St Kitts by way of Grenada, and is a meteorologist working with the United States Navy's “Hurricane hunter” flights researching storms and severe weather patterns. He is based out of San Fernandez, a fictional Caribbean island nation with a history and political background strikingly similar to Haiti. Wyatt is convinced that Hurricane Mabel will strike San Fernandez head-on, with a storm surge that will flood its capital of St Pierre, potentially killing thousands. The paranoid, megalomaniacal dictator of San Fernandez, General Serrurier, will hear nothing of it. A hurricane has not struck San Fernandez in over a hundred years, and he has much more important things to worry about – such as an armed revolt against his rule. As civil war erupts, Wyatt struggles to convince his superiors, the government, and eventually the rebels that the hurricane will be their most serious problem.. |
Running Blind | Desmond Bagley | 1,970 | Ex-MI-6 spy Alan Stewart is coerced by his former masters to undertake a very simple mission – to deliver a small parcel to a man in Iceland. The mission should be simple for Stewart, as he happens to be fluent in Icelandic, and has an Icelandic girlfriend. However, immediately things go very wrong, very quickly. Soon after arrival, he is forced to kill a KGB agent who tried to take the package from him. When he tries to deliver the parcel, he realizes that he has been double-crossed, and that his former boss is now a double agent. Stewart sets off on a desperate race overland across some of the world’s most rugged, desolate and dramatic scenery, pursued by the KGB, the CIA, and his own people, who now think that he has become a traitor. The secret is with the mysterious parcel – and the opposition is more than willing to kill him to prevent him from discovering what that secret is. |
Bahama Crisis | Desmond Bagley | 1,982 | Tom Mangan is a wealthy white Bahamian, and owner/president of a company operating resort hotels, marinas and car rental companies in the Bahamas. His business is successful and growing, and he has a beautiful wife and two children. Things could not be better. One day, he is visited by an old friend from his college days at the Harvard Business School, Billy Cunningham, and his beautiful younger cousin Debbie. The Cunninghams are owners of the Cunningham Corporation, a major conglomerate based in Texas. The Cunningham Corporation wants to invest heavily in developing the tourist industry in the Bahamas, and Mangan agrees to form a partnership with them. However, soon afterwards, disaster strikes. The yacht with Mangan's wife and one of his daughters mysteriously disappears, and the body of his daughter washes up on a beach hundreds of miles from where the yacht should have been. A rash of mysterious events strike the tourist industry, ranging from an unprecedented labor dispute and riot, Legionnaire's Disease striking the hotels, baggage carousels running amok at the airport, arson at an amusement center, and an oil slick from an oil tanker where it should not have been. As Mangan attempts to track down the murderer of his wife, he discovers that these seemingly unrelated events are all connected, and that the plot involves the future of the Bahamas itself as a nation. |
The Enemy | Desmond Bagley | 1,977 | Malcolm Jaggard is, on the surface, a marketing research consultant. However, his real job is with an unnamed government department in industrial espionage counter-intelligence. After he becomes engaged to genetics researcher Penelope Ashton, on a whim he runs a computer search on her father, the wealthy and respectable entrepreneur George Ashton. Much to his amazement, he finds that any and all information regarding George Ashton is classified at an astronomically high level, and that he is not regarded as having a “need to know”. Furthermore, the very act of researching information on George Ashton sends alarm bells ringing in multiple departments in the Whitehall hierarchy. If this was not bad enough, a mysterious attacker throws acid in the face of his fiancée’s younger sister, causing the mysterious George Ashton to flee England. Without being allowed to know more about Ashton, Jaggard is sent on a desperate search to find him, racing the KGB to the forests of Sweden, and eventually to a remote island in the Scottish Highlands, where he finds that the true enemy is much closer to home. |
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Stieg Larsson | 2,005 | In December 2002, Mikael Blomkvist, publisher of the Swedish political magazine Millennium, loses a libel case involving allegations about billionaire industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. He is sentenced to three months (deferred) in prison, and ordered to pay hefty damages and costs. He is invited to meet Henrik Vanger, the retired CEO of the Vanger Corporation, unaware that Vanger has checked into his personal and professional history; the investigation of Blomkvist's circumstances has been carried out by Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant but deeply troubled young woman who works as a surveillance agent with Milton Security. Vanger promises Blomkvist considerable financial reward and solid evidence against Wennerström, ostensibly for writing the Vanger family history, but really for discovering what happened to Harriet. Vanger believes that his great-niece Harriet, who disappeared 36 years earlier, was murdered by a member of the family. He has been trying to find out what happened to her ever since. Harriet disappeared during a family gathering at the Vanger estate on Hedeby Island, when the island was temporarily cut off from the mainland by a traffic accident. Blomkvist moves to the island and begins his research into the history of the Vanger family and Harriet's disappearance. Lisbeth Salander is under the care of a legal guardian, Holger Palmgren, the only person she trusts. When he suffers a stroke, he is replaced by lawyer Nils Bjurman, who takes advantage of his position to sexually abuse her. After using a hidden camera to record Bjurman raping her, she takes her revenge, torturing him and threatening to ruin him unless he gives her full control of her life and finances. She also brands him with a tattoo identifying him as a rapist to make sure he never harms anyone again. While searching through the evidence, Blomkvist decides that he needs a research assistant, and Vanger's lawyer mentions Salander. When he sees the report she prepared for Vanger, Blomkvist realises that Salander has hacked into his computer. Salander agrees to assist in the investigation, and eventually becomes his lover. Blomkvist and Salander soon realise that they are on the trail of a serial killer who has been preying on women for decades. When looking through old photographs, Blomkvist realises that they contain a clue to the murderer's identity. After an unseen assailant tries to kill him, Blomkvist becomes suspicious of Harriet's brother, Martin, and goes to his house. Martin has expected him, however, and takes him prisoner. Martin reveals that he was initiated as a teenager into rape and murder by his late father, Gottfried, who had also molested him. Martin brags about murdering dozens of women, but denies killing his sister. Martin tries to kill Blomkvist, but Salander arrives just in time and saves Blomkvist's life. Martin flees in his car, pursued by Salander on her motorbike. He collides head-on into a truck and dies. By following a trail of clues, Blomkvist and Salander discover that Harriet is still alive and living in Australia. Blomkvist flies there and meets Harriet, who tells him that her father had repeatedly raped her until she killed him in self-defense; Martin saw her do it, and began sexually abusing her until he was sent away to boarding school. She saw him on the day of the accident on the Hedeby Island bridge, and asked her cousin Anita to smuggle her out of Sweden in order to get away from him. Blomkvist persuades Harriet to return to Sweden, where she reunites with her great-uncle, who makes plans for her to take the position of CEO of the Vanger Corporation. Blomkvist accompanies Salander at the funeral of her mother, who has just died. Salander also tells him that, as a child, she had tried to kill her father by setting him on fire. Henrik Vanger gives Blomkvist the promised evidence against Wennerström, which turns out to be useless. However, Salander has already hacked Wennerström's computer and has discovered that his crimes go far beyond what Blomkvist documented. Using her evidence, Blomkvist prints an exposé and book which ruins Wennerström and catapults Millennium to national prominence. Meanwhile, Salander steals more than 2.4 billion Euros from Wennerström's secret bank account. Blomkvist and Salander spend Christmas together in his holiday retreat, and Salander admits to herself that she is in love. She goes to Blomkvist's house with a present for him, but retreats on seeing Blomkvist with his longtime lover and business partner, Erika Berger. Heartbroken, she throws the gift into a skip and leaves the country. As a postscript, Salander continues to monitor Wennerström, and after six months anonymously informs a lawyer in Miami of his whereabouts. He is found in Marbella, dead, shot three times in the head. |
Socks | Beverly Cleary | 1,973 | The story is told from the perspective of a tabby cat with four white paws who lives with a young married couple, Bill and Marilyn Bricker. Initially, Socks and the Bricker couple are alone, and Socks receives a great deal of love and attention as a result. However, the Brickers soon have a baby son and Socks begins to feel as though he has been forgotten. In order to take care of the new baby, Socks receives less attention than he normally would, and even ends up living in the garage at one time when his behavior is misinterpreted. He has several misadventures in the course, culminating in a fight with another neighborhood cat. After this takes place, the Brickers realize they have been so wrapped up with the new baby that they have neglected Socks. Later on, Socks discovers that he has a new friend in little Charles and a new way to be part of the family. |
The City of Dreaming Books | Walter Moers | 2,004 | Optimus Yarnspinner, or Hildegunst von Mythenmetz in the German version, is a Lindworm (dinosaur) who inherits his authorial godfather's possessions, including a perfect story written by an unknown author. An aspiring author himself, he travels to Bookholm, the city of dreaming books, in search of the unknown writer. Upon arrival, Yarnspinner falls in love with the city because of its literary appreciation. But beneath Bookholm stretch vast labyrinthine catacombs in which many valuable books lie hidden – but also dangers of unimaginable sorts: Various kinds of monstrous insects and other inconceivable horrors, the deadly Toxicotomes – books which can injure and kill anyone who touches them, blood-thirsty book hunters, and worst of all, the Shadow King. Yarnspinner is hoping this city of literature can fulfill his hunger for inspiration and help him solve the riddle of the mystery writer and his amazing story. Unfortunately the first real spark of hope gets a shower of questions when he is inexplicably warned for lurking danger and given the advice to flee while he still can. He comes into contact with a publisher in a cafe who directs him to Pfistomel Smyke. Smyke happens to control the entire book trade in Bookholm as well as much of the trade throughout Zamonia. When Yarnspinner travels to his house on 333 Darkman Street, Smyke reveals his plan to completely eradicate all forms of art in Zamonia. Then he is tricked into picking up a poisoned book and falls unconscious. He awakes in the famous catacombs of Bookholm, one of the most dangerous places in Zamonia. |
The King's Peace | Jo Walton | null | Sulien ap Gwien, a woman warrior and daughter of the King of a small part of the island of Tir Tanagiri, is brutally raped by six invading Jarnsmen and her brother is murdered. While travelling to the capital to request help from Urdo, the High King, she happens upon a battle between some more Jarnsmen and some of the King's soldiers. Sulien proves her skill in battle and, drawn in part by the young King's leadership and charisma, she enlists in the cavalry. The novel follows her journey up the ranks, the battles against the invading Jarnsmen and Isarnagans, and Urdo's efforts to unite the many kingdoms of Tir Tanagiri and restore peace and law to the land. |
Fortune's Fool | Mercedes Lackey | 2,007 | Fortune’s Fools is a story involving Ekaterina (Katya), youngest daughter of the Sea King and Prince Sasha of Led Belarus, seventh son of King Pieter. The novel starts with Katya being sent by her father to investigate rumours of bad news on the island of Nippon. Unlike the majority of Sea People, Katya is magically amphibious and is used by her father to spy on Drylanders (humans). Due to tasting dragon’s blood, Katya is able to speak with animals and is also able to speak and understand foreign languages. In Nippon, Katya is able to help a kitsune stop an evil sorceress from conquering the island and gains a valuable gift. The gift is a origami crane that can be sent to pass messages to people Katya knows or magically target someone who she needs. The Sea King sends her on another reconnaissance mission to Led Belarus, under the suspicion that it is too quiet and is a target for evil forces. Katya finds out that Prince Sasha is using his powers as a Seventh Son, a Fortunate Fool, and a Songweaver to subtly manipulate the Tradition into making Led Belarus a peaceful and prosperous kingdom. As the pair has no royal duties to fulfil, they decide to spend time with each other and fall in love. Soon Katya is sent on another mission, to investigate the disappearance of magical maidens near the castle of the Katschei. In disguise, Katya is kidnapped and taken to the castle by a Jinn. Since he has taken over the castle, the Tradition forces him to kidnap young woman, the Jinn uses that to his advantage and kidnaps magical girls so he can take their magic. Although the Jinn is able to sense when the girls use magic, Katya tries to convince the others to escape. She sends out her paper bird to seek help from the nearest Champions. When no sign of Katya arrives, Sasha decides to go after her despite not knowing her location. On the guidance of some witches, Sasha travels to the forest where Baba Yaga resides because she has something he needs. Sasha pretends to be a deaf-mute and becomes Baba Yaga’s temporary servant. Baba Yaga sets him up with the task of cleaning her stables where he meets Sergi, the Humpbacked Horse and frees him along with Baba Yaga’s steed, a Wise (intelligent) goat, and her tracker, a Wise Wolf. During the escape, Sasha ends up in the Kingdom of the Copper Mountain and is able to convince its Queen to help him. She sends him towards the Sea King and the Sea King sends him to two Dragons, the champions who found Katya’s bird. Meanwhile, Katya and the growing number of girls are able to work out they can use the Law of Names to re-seal the Jinn into his bottle. However finding the bottle itself proves difficult in a castle guarded by men and the Jinn himself. Sasha and the dragons, Gina and Adamant, try to work out a plan to save the girls and stop the Jinn. The trio also manage to convince the Queen of the Copper Mountain to lead them aid. Using Sergi as a messenger, the captives and the rescuers are able to work out a plan of attack. Katya sends the girls to escape via tunnels dug by the Copper Mountain subjects and sets out to confront the Jinn with help from the dragons and Sasha. The battle becomes a stalemate until the Queen appears to lend them the power of Earth. Katya seals the Jinn in his bottle and has Sergi send him back to the City of Brass. In the epilogue of the story, the castle of Katschei becomes the Belarus Chapter of the Champions Order of Glass Mountain. The majority of the cast are affiliated with the order and spend their time living happily ever after. |
The City Wit | Richard Brome | null | Master Crasy is a London merchant who has suffered a decline in fortune; he is honest and generous to a fault, and has encumbered himself with a load of debt. In the play's opening scene, a dinner is being held at his house for his debtors and creditors; the plan is that the two sides will reach an agreement that will keep Crasy from bankruptcy. Crasy himself, however, hesitates to join the dinner; he sits poring over his "empty Money-bags, Bills, Bonds, & Bookes of accomptes, &c." and brooding on his decline. His apprentice Jeremy then brings him news that the dinner has turned into a disaster: Crasy's mother-in-law Pyannet Sneakup, a shrew and harridan, has denounced him to the assembled company as a hopeless case: "Her mischievous tongue has over-thrown the good / Was meant to you." The woman herself enters, and reveals herself to be a ceaseless talker who browbeats her husband Sneakup into silence in her presence. Several of Crasy's debtors linger, including the pedant Sarpego, the courtiers Rufflit and Sir Andrew Ticket, and the merchant Mr. Linsey-Wolsey. Crasy makes a last attempt to get them to pay what they owe him, but without success. Crasy announces that he is leaving on a journey, a final attempt to restore his fortunes; he gives his apprentice Jeremy his freedom. Crasy's wife Josina returns to her parents' home. Crasy's departure, however, is a ruse; he remains in London to seek his revenge and the restoration of his credit. Disguised as a crippled ex-soldier, he robs Sarpego at sword-point and recovers the ten pounds the pedant owes him. Crasy's next disguise is more subtle: with a false beard and a gown, he masquerades as a physician, "Pulsefeel," who seeks out Josina as his new patient. She shows no remorse over her husband's fall, and is ready to move on to new fortunes and pleasures. Josina is handicapped by her illiteracy: she cannot read the love-letters and solicitations that Rufflit and Ticket send her. Crasy, as "Pulsefeel," promises to send a confidential servant to help her. Crasy the phony doctor is approached by Crack, a boy pimp in the service of a young woman calling herself Mistess Tryman. Tryman is a fallen woman who masquerades as a wealthy young widow, just come to town from Cornwall; she is instantly the target of fortune hunters, and has found a residence in the house of Mr. Linsey-Wolsey. A woman in her position can use a doctor as a confdiant; and Crasy quickly joins with Tryman and Crack, three allies in confidence tricks and chicanery. Linsey-Wolsey plans to marry Tryman himself, and lays out money in pursuit of that goal; but his neighbor Pyannet Sneakup barges in to disrupt things, with a goal of winning the supposedly wealthy widow for her son Toby. Tryman feigns sickness, and tempts her would-be exploiters with the bequests of her last will and testament. Toby Sneakup has recently won a place at Court; Crasy masquerades as a Court messenger to send false messages back and forth among the characters, playing on their greed and ambition. The talkative Pyannet admits to have cheated Crasy of valuable jewels; the disguised Crasy manages to reclaim them as they pass as intended bribes and gratuities. Crasy manages yet another disguise: Doctor "Pulsefeel" sends "Footwell" (Crasy-as-dancing-master) to Josina as her servant. Josina is eager to have a courtly lover, and is willing to accept either Ticket or Rufflit; "Footwell" pretends to be her go-between, but actually works to frustrate the intentions of all concerned. He inspires Josina to send gems and jewelry to the courtiers, and vice versa...only to intercept the gifts himself. He helps Ticket climb to Josina's balcony for an assignation...only to supend him in mid-air, so that Rufflit can beat him with a stick. He deludes Pyannet into believing that her husband Sneakup is cheating on her, making her a "cucquean" (a female cuckold); she goes to court to find Sneakup and beat him with a truncheon. The tangle of confusion and trickery comes to a head in the final act. Linsey-Wolsey, irate at losing the widow Tryman, apprehends Crack and threatens to turn the boy over to the beadles for whipping; and Crack agrees to expose all. At the Sneakup house, a marriage contract between Tryman and Toby Sneakup is arranged, and a marriage masque is rehearsed in which the real situation is revealed, to everyone's discomfort. Linsey-Wolsey bursts in with Crack, planning to expose Tryman as a fraud — but the exposé is even more extreme than expected, when Tryman lifts "her" skirts to show his trousers underneath. "Tryman" is actually Crasy's apprentice Jeremy in disguise, and Crack the supposed boy pimp is Jeremy's brother; they have been acting their roles to help Crasy recover his fortune and reputation. (It is in this sense that the play's subtitle, "the woman wears the breeches," applies.) Neither Linsey-Wolsey, nor Toby and the Sneakups, want to face public embarrassment over courting a boy in disguise; for all concerned, it is best to let the matter drop. Crasy has cheated his debtors out of the funds they owed him to begin with, and so has evened his score. Josina has not actually committed adultery with either of her would-be lovers, so that a reconciliation with her husband is possible; and Crasy the City Wit has managed to restore himself to his old prosperity once more. |
Kowloon Tong: A Novel of Hong Kong | Paul Theroux | 1,997 | He is made an offer for his textile factory by the shady Mr Hung, and has no choice but to accept, when it is made clear that Mr Hung knows all about the part of Bunt's life that he has kept secret from his mother. |
Fifth Formers at St. Clare's | null | null | Miss Cornwallis is mistress of the fifth form. Hilary Wentworth is a calm and dignified head-girl. Being in the fifth form means quite a lot of changes - for example, the girls have got studies of their own now, instead of common rooms and dormitories, the first- and second-formers have got to work for them. Two girls use their new power badly - Angela Favorleigh takes advantage of her prettiness and charm and turns the younger girls into willing slaves and so does Mirabel, who is games captain. Some room is made for the second-form - Antoinette, Claudine's little sister, has come to St. Clare's, too, and she proves to be as irrepressible as Claudine. There are three new girls in the fifth form and all of them are unpopular - Anne-Marie, who fancies herself a poet, Felicity Ray, a musical genius, and Alma, a fat girl who suffers from what nowadays would be called an eating disorder. Felicity's parents are very ambitious and, in spite of Miss Theobald's warnings, push their daughter too hard - she is to take a very difficult musical exam and works herself too hard. She starts sleepwalking and the end of the doctor tells Miss Theobald that the girl is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Little Antoinette plays tricks on Angela when she sends for her by putting shoe polish cream in their toast (when Annie-Marrie comes to read one of her poems) and polishes her shoes with her best face cream. One part of the book describes fat Alma stealing food from a store cupboard that Antoinette keeps midnight feast food in. Alison discoveres the cupboard open one day and reports to Claudine (Who owns the cupboard) about it, and Claudine then keeps the key to the cupboard safe. Alma is angry, and plays tricks on Alison. Anne-Marie is suspected by Alison because Alison worships a new teacher, Miss Willcox - and once more, she has to realize that the mistress is not as wonderful as she thinks. Miss Willcox dislikes Anne-Marie (even though Anne-Marie fancies her too and is later on jealous of Alison) and tells her that she cannot write poetry. Anne-Marie isn't jealous of Alison any more, (even though Alison still thinks that Anne-Marie plays tricks on her) takes revenge and traps Miss Willcox - she copies a poem written by Matthew Arnold and when Miss Willcox makes fun of her and the poem, Anne-Marie tells the mistress who wrote the poem. One night is especially exciting, and Mam'zelle is the main character. Anne-Marie is satisfied with her trick on Miss Willcox, but needs to prove to the girls that she is a genius. She knows that Felicity sleepwalks, and tries this out too, by pretending. Felicity also really sleepwalks that night, and the second form hold the midnight feast with the first form. Jane Teal, who is feeling very unwell because of the desire to be in Mirabel's and Angela's good books (and being unsuccessful with Mirabel because Mirabel thinks that Jane rang the fire bell in the middle of her meeting to stop it when it was actually Antoinette, will confess later)tries to run away home, and Alma hopes to get some food from the cupboard if it is left open. Alma also sent an anonymous letter to Mirabel saying that the second form were feasting that night, and will not be playing well against the other lacrosse team in the match the next day. As sports captain, Mirabel visits the dormy of the second form to see if they really were feasting. It is a very exciting night, and solves a few mysteries. Pat and Isabel are minor characters in this book, but at the end they are made head-girls because Hilary will leave St. Clare's and go to India to live with her parents. Alison, Anne-Marie, Angela, and Mirabel all redeem themself at the end of the book. |
The Battle of the Labyrinth | Rick Riordan | null | After being attacked by empousai cheerleaders at his new school, Percy returns to Camp Half-Blood and learns about the Labyrinth; part of the palace of King Minos in Crete that was designed by Daedalus. He also meets the camp's new sword master, Quintus. During a battle drill with Giant Scorpions at the camp, Annabeth and Percy accidentally find an entrance into the Labyrinth. Percy soon learns that Luke had used this entrance before and will try and lead his army through the Labyrinth straight into the heart of Camp Half-Blood. Annabeth reads the prophecy and comes back out of the Big House with a feeling of dread. When Percy and Annabeth privately meet afterwards in Athena's cabin, and Percy asks her if she is okay, she is moved to tears and holds out her arms. Percy hugs her, telling her that she shouldn't worry about whatever she was worrying about. What Percy doesn't know is that Annabeth thinks that Percy is going to die. Using the Labyrinth, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson, must find Daedalus to prevent Luke from obtaining Ariadne's String; the tool that would allow Luke to navigate the Labyrinth. Percy and his friends encounter Kampê (Campe), a half woman, half-dragon monster, and free her prisoner, Briares the Hekatonkheires (Hundred-Handed One), Tyson's idol. After an encounter with the goddess Hera and a battle at the farm of Geryon, the group is reunited with Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, who blames Percy for the death of his sister Bianca. Percy helps summon the spirit of Bianca, and Nico is convinced to put his grudge behind him by the ghost of his sister. The next day, however, Percy and his friends (without Nico) depart to find Hephaestus, hoping he would know the location of Daedulus. While travelling, the group gets separated, with Percy and Annabeth searching for Hephaestus and Tyson and Grover searching for Pan. After a meeting with Hephaestus, Annabeth and Percy go to Mt. St. Helens. There he finds telekhines, also known as "sea demons". He is discovered by the telkhines, who attack him. Percy finds Annabeth and they have a short argument during which Percy tells Annabeth to flee. Thinking that Percy is the one to die in the prophecy, Annabeth kisses Percy, tells him to be careful, and disappears. In an attempt to escape the telekhines, Percy causes Mt. St. Helens to erupt, pushing him out of the volcano, draining his energy in the process. When he awakens after the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, he finds himself in the mythical island inhabited by Calypso. After being treated for burns by Calypso and returning to the mortal world, Percy gets the help he needs from a mortal girl named Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who is able to see through the Mist; the magical veil that makes mortals see things differently than demigods. Grover finally finds Pan, but the god of the wild is dying and wants Grover to tell the other satyrs that they must save the natural world themselves. His spirit passes into all present, the satyr in particular, when he dies. They finally discover that Quintus, the mysterious new sword instructor at Camp Half-Blood, is actually Daedalus, who has attained extended life by putting his life-force, his animus, into a robot body and that Kronos has gained enough strength by Luke. He also possess Luke, using his body as a starter form. Kronos finds out that Nico di Angelo is a son of Hades and that he could be the child of the great prophecy, which states that a child of "Big Three" (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) would decide the fate of the gods. Luke has already reached Daedalus and attained Ariadne's string; using the magical instrument, he sends out Kronos's army to take Camp Half-Blood via the Labyrinth. While fighting a losing battle, the entire camp is either injured or killed, and Daedalus and Briares come out of the Labyrinth to help fight the battle and destroy Kampe. Grover rescues Camp Half-Blood by causing a Panic, which Pan had used once before, to scare away the enemy. After the battle, Daedalus sacrifices himself to close the Labyrinth, which is tied to his life. The camp say good bye to the dead, Nico leaves the camp, Grover travels trying to spread the message of Pan, Percy leaves for his 15th birthday and Nico comes by to offer him a proposal on how to defeat Kronos. |
The Crows of Pearblossom | Aldous Huxley | 1,967 | This story, written Christmas of 1944, tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Crow, who live in a cotton-wood tree at Pearblossom. Due to the Rattlesnake living at the bottom of the tree, Mrs. Crow's eggs are never able to hatch. After catching the snake eating her 297th egg that year (she does not work on Sundays), Mrs. Crow requests that Mr. Crow go into the hole and kill the snake. Thinking better of it, Mr. Crow confers with his wise friend, Mr. Owl. Mr. Owl bakes mud into two stone eggs and paints them to resemble Mrs. Crows eggs. These dummy eggs are left in the nest to trick the Rattlesnake, who unknowingly eats them the next day. When the eggs get to his stomach, they cause the Rattlesnake such pain, that he thrashes about, tying himself in knots around the branches. Mrs. Crow goes on to hatch "four families of seventeen children each" and "uses the snake as a clothesline on which to hang the little crows' diapers." |
The Seven Songs of Merlin | T. A. Barron | 1,997 | Young Merlin has brought new hope to Fincayra, the enchanted isle that lies between earth and sky. Having finally freed it from the terrible Blight, Merlin and the forest girl Rhia set out to heal the land using the magical Flowering Harp. But Fincayra remains in great danger still — and the first victim of the renewed tide of evil is Merlin's own mother. Merlin's sole hope of saving his mother's life is to master the Seven Songs of Wizardry passed down from the greatest wizard Fincayra has ever known, Merlin's grandfather Tuatha. Only then can he voyage to the Otherworld of the spirits and obtain the precious Elixir of Dagda. Yet to do that he must first succeed where even Tuatha failed — by defeating Balor, the ogre whose merest glance means death. Even more difficult, Merlin must discover the secret of seeing not with his eyes, but with his heart. |
A Heritage and Its History | Ivy Compton-Burnett | 1,959 | 69-year-old Sir Edwin Challoner lives with his extended family in a grand old house in rural Southern England. Unmarried, he has no direct issue, and the person closest to him is his younger brother Hamish, who is also his business associate. Hamish has a wife, Julia, and two sons, Simon, aged 25, and Walter, three years younger, who has dropped out of Oxford to be a poet. When Hamish Challoner dies of a heart condition, Simon prepares to become head of the house, as everyone assumes that it will only be a matter of a few years, if not months, before Sir Edwin also dies. However, the lonely old patriarch surprises them by announcing his impending marriage to their neighbour Rhoda Graham, who is more than 40 years his junior. After the newlyweds have returned from their honeymoon, Simon and Rhoda share a moment of unbridled passion in the old house ("Youth and instinct did their work"), and Rhoda becomes pregnant. As Sir Edwin and his wife have not had any sex during their brief marriage, there is no doubt as to who has sired the child. However, Sir Edwin decides to be its legal father, and swears Simon, Rhoda, and Walter to secrecy about the paternity of Rhoda's baby. When a healthy boy is born, he names him Hamish in honour of his deceased brother. The implications of this arrangement, ostensibly contrived to keep up appearances, are far-reaching. Suddenly Simon finds himself no longer in a position to inherit his uncle's fortune, which has been the only object of his life ever since he was a child, and he only has himself to blame for it. In addition, he feels that the natural order of things has been turned upside down as now his own son is to precede him as heir to the family estate. When, on top of all that, Sir Edwin asks Julia, Walter and Simon to live elsewhere, the latter feels "displaced" as well as "deposed." It occurs to him that, as a sort of recompense, he might marry Fanny Graham, Rhoda's younger sister, and move into the Grahams' large house, almost empty now, which is conveniently close to the family seat. A few weeks after that, the marriage is announced. Almost two decades later, Simon and Fanny Challoner have five children: Graham, aged 18; Naomi, aged 17; Ralph, 15; and two little ones, three-year-old Claud and two-year-old Emma. They still live in the other house together with Julia and Walter, and Sir Edwin Challoner, now approaching 90, is still alive. Hamish has received a good education and been prepared to inherit both the title and the place from who he believes is his natural father. Simon's line of the family, on the other hand, have been leading rather a modest life, with constant half-serious references to the workhouse as their ultimate dwelling place. Then, another four years later, the past suddenly catches up with the Challoners when Hamish and Naomi announce their intention to get married. It falls to Simon to make a late confession in order to prevent incest between two of his children. Walter, always the poet, calls his brother "the hero of a tragedy. It is a pity you are the villain as well." The one person most profoundly shocked by the revelation is Hamish, who, on an impulse, renounces his heritage ("I shall never marry, as I cannot marry Naomi") and goes abroad to escape the familial tension and to acquire new perspectives. When Sir Edwin, now aged 94, feels that he is going to die, he calls for his son, and Hamish arrives home on what turns out to be the eve of his father's death. On his deathbed, the old man makes Hamish promise to take his place as head of the house. It does not take long before the family realize that, as far as the inheritance is concerned, Hamish has actually made two conflicting promises, both under emotional stress, and that he will have to break one of them. After the funeral, Hamish surprises the Challoners by presenting to them Marcia, the woman he is going to marry. Describing herself as "older and plainer and less poor than I ought to be," Marcia dislikes the old house the moment she sets eyes on it. Said to be easily influenced, especially by his wife, Hamish finally cedes his inheritance to Simon, thus breaking the word he has given his deceased father. Relying on his spouse's financial support, it is now his turn, together with Marcia and his mother, to move out of the house and restore it to Simon, who has always considered it rightfully his. ("A few words sent the history of the house into another channel.") However, despite the fact that they are now occupying the position which was originally intended for them, Simon and his legitimate children are plagued by thoughts of the future now that the title and the place have been separated. On the one hand, Hamish's unborn children might object to their father having given up his heritage. Also, after Simon's death, it might seem more natural for his oldest son to succeed him, and that would be Hamish again rather than Graham. Ralph sums up these thoughts by remarking that "there may be troubles ahead." These deliberations are cut short by the arrival of two telegrams from Marcia informing them that Hamish has died after a short illness—of a heart condition, just like his grandfather—, and that she is not pregnant. In the end Rhoda and Marcia, who have decided to keep on living together, return to the neighbourhood of the old house. Hamish has bequeathed almost everything to Simon, with only a small allowance for Marcia. Moreover, the title and the place are united again, and Simon Challoner becomes Sir Simon. |
Opium Season | Joel Hafvenstein | 2,007 | Joel Hafvenstein signed up for a year in Afghanistan in the heart of the country's opium trade, running an American-funded aid program to help thousands of opium poppy farmers make a legal living, and to win hearts and minds away from the former Taliban government. The author was soon caught up in the deadly intrigues of Helmand's drug trafficking warlords. |
Son of the Mob | Gordon Korman | null | Vince Luca is a 17-year-old in high school. Vince falls in love with FBI agent Bightly's daughter Kendra. Vince gets mixed up in his father's illegal business when he is approached with a tale of woe by "Jimmy Rat." It seems that Jimmy Rat has a severe gambling debt, and some of Vince's "uncles" are planning to cut off his fingers as an encouragement to pay off a debt. Vince ends up loaning Jimmy a small amount of money, thinking that all will be well when he is paid back. At length, Vince realizes that one of his "uncles" is an FBI informant. Knowing that the "uncle" should turn his information in, Vince persuades him to do so and join the witness protection program. In gratitude, the "uncle" explains the situation to Kendra, causing them to resume their relationship. After an explosive argument, Vince's father cannot help but by impressed by Vince's bold action in finding the mole and rescuing Jimmy Rat, and their relationship returns to normal. |
The Dream Merchant | Isabel Hoving | 2,002 | Twelve year old Joshua Cope is contacted by a corporation called Gippart International one day late at night. Joshua and his friend, Bhasvar (Baz) Patel go to Gippart and meet Max Herbert, a talent scout. Josh is sent into a dreamworld to sell products. But dreams also come with nightmares... Umaya, the collective dream of everyone at that point in time, is caught between dreams and reality. Josh, Baz and a fellow associate Teresa cannot get out of the dream-world, where time is running backwards due to a Gippart employee attempting to break into real time rather than dream-time. Along his adventure, Josh meets his dead twin sister Jericho, who has been attempting to get in contact with him for 350 years. But with Jericho comes Lucide, a guardian who makes sure that no one crosses the borders of life and death. The members of this troop find themselves with powers that they cannot explain. Baz, the first to find his powers, can control dream time by listening to the rhythm and matching it, causing it to slow, stop, or even rewind. Teresa changes Umaya with words, influencing people and surroundings to her will, she is the group storyteller. Josh is a thief and can change the very nature of things just by looking at them. However, they are trapped in umaya, the dream-world. The four children must find Tembe at the end of time and fulfill Siparti's last promise to Temberi. They learn about each of Siparti's six kids and put together the clues that each of them hold. After a harrowing ordeal, Josh, Jericho, Baz, Teresa, and Mervin Spratt manage to find their way to the edge of time itself, where the Tembe people live in a crumbling Fortress. The Tembe, descended from Temberi, have been trapped at the edge of time for over 1000 years. Luckily, the Tembe are friendly people, and show the associates how their Fortress is slowly being ripped away into the hurricane whom they have named Satura. Using the powers they gained in the journey, the children manage to find their way through the hurricane back into the real world. Unfortunately, in the end, Jericho decides to return back with Lucide and stay in Umaya. |
Bagthorpes Abroad | Helen Cresswell | null | Mr Bagthorpe sets off to write a script about ghosts and decides to get inspiration from renting a haunted house for the summer holidays. After some mis-understanding, Henry's family realizes that 'abroad' is Wales. With Mrs Fosdyke tagging along with her portable pantry, the latter arrives at Ty Cillion Duon. The house has huge holes in the roof, a blackened sink in the 'kitchen', and of course, ghosts. The Bagthorpes never actually see the ghosts, but do feel them. |
Periwinkle at the Full Moon Ball | Geneviève Huriet | null | A young rabbit named Periwinkle Bellflower ("Agaric Passiflore" in the French version) learns of the summertime Full Moon Ball that will soon take place in the community of Beechwood Grove. Unlike the other rabbits in his family, he cannot dance, and this makes him sad. But, with the help of a conniving magpie, Magda, and a wood pigeon and a frog as his teachers, he soon learns how to do so in a couple of days. On the night of the Ball, Periwinkle takes centre stage with his moves, unaware of Madga's plan: the whole of Beechwood is supposed to laugh at him in embarrassment. However, a white owl in the audience exposes the magpie's trick. Recognising his steps, she asks Periwinkle to dance them again, much to the joy of his family and the other rabbits. He continues until dawn, when the Bellflowers return home. |
The Gates of Sleep | Mercedes Lackey | 2,002 | Hugh and Alanna Roeswood conceive a baby girl named Marina and invite all the godparents and villagers to her christening. The godparents go up to lay a blessing on the sleeping baby. Before the godparents had given their blessing, Hugh's sister Arachne, who wasn't supposed to have any magical abilities at all, laid a curse upon the infant. She was cursed to die at the age of 18. The sister then left leaving behind the curse and also Marina's terrified parents and godparents. One of the godparents, Elizabeth Hastings, attempts to remove of the curse, but can only change the nature of the curse instead. Hugh and Alanna know that there is only one option and they give Marina to Margherita and Sebastion Tarrant and Margherita's brother, Thomas Buford. They keep Marina successfully hidden away until about 6 months before her fateful 18th birthday, when her aunt kills her parents, finds Marina, and kidnaps her away from the only family she has ever known. Marina is forced to endure all kinds of lessons, including etiquette, dancing and proper conversation. She also has to endure the company of her cousin, Reginald or the "Odious Reggie" as she calls him. Meanwhile, a doctor by the name of Andrew Pike has moved into the estate next door to take care of his mentally unstable patients. Marina meets him when she attempts to help one of his patients, a girl who got lead poisoning from working at a pottery. In the process, Marina finds out that it is her aunt who poisoned, not only the little girl, but many others at her potteries. Arachne is trying to figure out how to re-instate the curse. Marina figures out exactly what Arachne is, but too late! Arachne re-instates the curse and calls upon Dr. Pike to help her with Marina. It eventually ends with two epic battles between Arachne and Marina and Reginald and Dr. Pike. |
Five Days In Paris | Danielle Steel | 1,995 | The story follows two Americans, Peter Haskell, a man with a strong career and family and Olivia Thatcher, two citizens from different backgrounds and cultures who meet in the Ritz in Paris, France on the night of a bomb threat. The latter character is a woman who is unhappily married to a leading senator, and the first being the president of a significant pharmaceutical empire. |
First Contact | Murray Leinster | 1,945 | A spaceship from Earth on a scientific mission to the Crab Nebula encounters an alien ship on a similar mission. The aliens are humanoid with a few differences, such as 'speaking' with microwaves rather than sound, but with far more similarities, such as a shared sense of humor. The crews of the two ships soon devise a means of communication, and find that they get along well. However, each group fears that they cannot allow the other to leave, and potentially carry information back to that species' home planet which would allow the destruction of the other. Months pass with the ships in stalemate before a junior scientific member of the human crew comes up with a proposal that allows both crews to return home without destroying each other: swap ships, but erase all records of their own home. First Contact was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one the best science fiction short stories published before the creation of the Nebula Awards. As such, it was published in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964. |
Impulse | Ellen Hopkins | 2,007 | Conner is the perfect boy. He's handsome, has amazing grades, and is amazing at sports. His family seems like the poster family for the magazines. He and his sister are supposed to be perfect. His sister has achieved that status in the eyes of Connor's parents. However, when his parents' try to force him to live up to their impossible standards, Connor's only choice is to pull the trigger. Vanessa grew up in a broken family. Her father is overseas, her mother does anything to stop the hurt, and on top of it all Vanessa has to worry about watching after her little brother. When her Mother starts going crazy and talking to her "angel", Vanessa's only comfort is to put the blade to her wrist. Tony grew up in the streets mainly. His father abandoned him, while his mother hooks up with anybody. They leave their son all alone to deal with the hardships of life. Tony was sexually abused by one of his mother's boyfriends. Tony ended up killing the boyfriend. The only person that Tony could trust was his friend, Phillip, but when Phillip died, Tony's only decision was to swallow the pills. Three teens, three different stories, one death wish. Their lives will intersect at a psych hospital. Can they help each other deal with the pain of their previous lives? Most importantly, can they help themselves move beyond their personal demons? Or will the IMPULSE take control? |
Odalisque | Fiona McIntosh | null | The story begins with a slave driver attempting to sell his latest finds, including a foreign captive known only as Lazar. Hot tempered and confident, Lazar invokes his right to a fight to the death that, if he wins, will grant him his freedom. Zar Joreb, Percheron's leader decides to attend the fight and is so impressed by the demonstrated fighting skills that he offers Lazar the elite position of Spur. |
The Aware | Glenda Larke | 2,003 | 'I almost regretted having Awareness. Without it, I wouldn't have noticed a thing; I would have been as oblivious to the danger as everyone else.' Blaze Halfbreed doesn't like Gorthan Spit, but she's being paid to find an enslaved Cirkasian woman. A woman needed by the Keepers to further their political ambitions. When Blaze sees dunmagic running over the floor in the taproom of the Drunken Plaice, she knows trouble is not far away. Could it be in the form of the three tall, very handsome men at other tables? Just what is their business here? Her searth for the Cirkasian takes Blaze deep into Gorthan Spit, and she is horrified to unravel a threat to all the Isles of Glory...and a more immediate threat to her own life. Could the key to it all lie with an ancient legend of vanished islands? |
Born of Man and Woman | Richard Matheson | 1,950 | The story is written in the form of a "diary" in broken English kept by an apparently misshapen child, eight years old, who is kept chained in the basement by its parents, and frequently beaten. It is, however, able to pull its chain out of the wall and observe the outside world through the basement window. On one occasion it sneaks upstairs, although it has difficulty because its body drips green fluid that causes its feet to stick to the stairs. It eavesdrops on a dinner party, but is discovered by the parents, returned to the basement, and beaten. On another occasion it climbs to a small window and observes its young "normal" sister, (who does not know of the child's existence) playing with other girls and boys. One of the boys spots the child, and it is again beaten. In a final incident, its sister comes into the basement with her cat, investigating the boy's sighting of the child. The child hides from them in the coal pile, but is forced to crush the cat to death when it smells the child and attacks. The story ends with the child hitting a stick out of its father's hands and promising violence against its parents if they beat it further. It thinks about running along walls, and it is revealed it has more than one pair of legs, showing that it is extraordinarily different from a normal child. Born of Man and Woman was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the best science fiction short stories published before the creation of the Nebula Awards. As such, it was published in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964. |
Çalıkuşu | Reşat Nuri Güntekin | 1,922 | The events in the novel take place in the early twentieth century, in a warworn Ottoman Empire that is about to collapse. Most of the novel is narrated in the first-person point of view by Feride. In the first section, Feride narrates her childhood and the events that brought her to the alien hotel room which she indicates she is in. The second and the largest section of the book is constituted of Feride's diary entries. The third section is the only one written from the third person point of view, and recounts the events during Feride's visit to her family. Feride is the orphaned daughter of an army officer, and as a teenager attends Lycee Notre Dame de Sion in the winter, and stays with one of her late mother's sisters during the summer holidays. She is given the nickname "the Wren" during her time at school for her vivacity and mischief, two characteristics considered unusual and even a bit inappropriate for Muslim girls at that time. She gets engaged to her charming cousin, Kamran, whom she leaves the night before their wedding, upon discovering that he has been unfaithful to her. She runs away from home to become a teacher in Anatolia, although she remains desperately in love with Kamran. She is forced to move from town to town several times during her first three years as a teacher, as a result of the incompetence of officials, the malice of colleagues and the unwanted attention she gets from men because of her beauty and her lively manner. Meanwhile, she adopts a little girl called Munise, finds out that Kamran has married the woman he had cheated on Feride with, and develops a friendship with Hayrullah Bey, an elderly military doctor who treats Feride with fatherly affection. At the end of these three years, Munise dies and Feride is forced to resign from her post and marry the doctor because of the rumors about her "indecent behavior". A couple of years later, Feride returns to Tekirdag to visit one of her aunts and her cousin Mujgan, where Kamran, now widowed and with a small child, also happens to be. He has never got over Feride, painfully regrets having cheated on her, and confesses to have married the other woman only out of pity after he heard false rumors about Feride being in love with another man. The night before her arranged departure, Feride confesses to Mujgan that her marriage to the doctor has never been consummated and he has in fact died recently. He told Feride to revive her ties to her family as his last wish, and gave her a package to be entrusted to Mujgan. Mujgan takes the package to Kamran, which turns out to be Feride's diary which was hidden and preserved by the doctor. Finding out that Feride is still in love with him, Kamran arranges to be wedded to Feride the next day without her knowledge. The novel ends with their long-awaited reunion, and Kamran's confession that he betrayed her all those years ago because of his insecurity about her love for and loyalty to him, due to her ostensible frivolity and harsh treatment of him. |
Nightwings | Robert Silverberg | 1,968 | In a decadent and caste-based future humanity is divided into guilds, each having a specific job to do. The members of some guilds appear to have undergone genetic engineering; for instance, the Fliers' ability to fly and the Watchers' ability to use their mental capabilities to watch distant stars. The main character in the novella is a Watcher, whose mission is to watch the skies with some sophisticated equipment and to inform the Defenders in the event of an alien invasion. Along with a young Flier girl and a Changeling (who belongs to no guild), he visits the old city of Roum (suspected previously to be called Rome), and becomes entangled in events including the possibility of invasion. Apart from Roum, only two other great cities are mentioned, Jorslem (Jerusalem) and Perris (Paris), but their greatness is relative, as they only have a few thousand inhabitants. |
Sunset in St. Tropez | Danielle Steel | 2,003 | Diana and Eric Morrison are a couple residing in a Central Park apartment in New York City who celebrate the new year with their friends: Pascale and John Donnally and Anne and Robert Smith. During their new year celebrations, they agree to go on a summer vacation together to St. Tropez. However, shortly after the new year, Robert's wife, Anne, suddenly dies - and Robert hesitates whether to join his friends on the planned summer vacation. After much persuasion, Robert agrees to accompany them, inviting a younger film actress to accompany him as his guest. At first, the actress is not accepted kindly by the women, although the men appear to take a liking to her. The plot analyzes forgiveness and the ability to move on throughout life, despite some of the circumstances the couples have endured. |
Memoirs of a Madman | Gustave Flaubert | null | Memoirs of a Madman alternates between the narrator's musings on the present and his memories of the past. In the sections that deal with the present, the narrator takes a bleak outlook on life, discussing writing, sanity, and death. More attention has been given to the memories of his past. In one section, he recalls a summer near the ocean when he is fifteen. There he meets and falls in love with a married woman named Maria (thought to be based on Elisa Schlésinger, who would later influence his Sentimental Education. Later in the work, he will remember returning to the seashore many years later to look for her again unsuccessfully. A second episode concerns his meeting two young English girls, one of whom seems to fall in love with him. Still in love with Maria, he cannot return the girl's emotions, and she moves away. |
Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight | Ursula K. Le Guin | null | A lost child tumbles into the confusing world of SouthWestern desert folklore and lives for a while with the trickster Coyote. |
Thor Meets Captain America | David Brin | 1,986 | Just as World War II began to turn against them, the Nazis were suddenly championed by the Norse pantheon. However, Loki joins the Allies, and they prepare a last-ditch sneak attack against Valhalla called Operation Ragnarok. The story follows Captain Chris Turing, who is part of the team which is going to attack Valhalla and starts out with them traveling to their attack destination in a group of submarines hoping that what remained of the United States Surface Navy would be able to distract the Nazi and Norse pantheon forces. Originally the plan was for Chris' team and their commando escorts, but Loki informs Chris that he will accompany his troops to Gotland. Due to Loki's previous actions in aiding the Allies and the way he ended the Holocaust by saving the inmates of the concentration camps, Chris agrees and convinces Major Marlowe to allow it. While waiting for them to get to their destination, Chris recollects his memory of World War II and how the Nazi Party was about to be defeated by the allied forces until they received the aid of the Norse pantheon. Loki notices Chris and allows the captain to ask the Norse God three questions. Loki answers the questions asked, and in one answer mentions how he does not think that he is older than Chris and also implies that the Nazi extermination camps were established for reasons other than for "Nazi racial purification." The group arrives at Gotland, and during the operation Loki disappears and Thor defeats the troops. The survivors of Operation Ragnarok are taken prisoner after the failed mission and are given to Thor by his father Odin. While in custody, Chris recollects his memory of World War II and how the Nazi Party was about to be defeated by the Allied forces. He recalls how as a child he wished that he would have an event like the war that he could partake in like his father did. He ends up discussing the history of World War II with his captured troops, and ends up being taken to be interrogated by Thor and argues with the group about the way the United States should have simply bombed Germany in order to end the war as soon as possible. After this conversation, Chris is taken to be interrogated by Thor. At first, a Nazi starts interrogating him, but after the captain successfully angers the interrogator through verbal banter Thor interrogates him. Thor tries to get Chris to reveal the whereabouts of Loki, but the captive captain does not tell him and does not know. O'Leary ends up insulting Thor, insisting that they are aliens, and as a result Thor orders his death before revealing that the Norse pantheon were invited "upon the wings of death itself." O'Leary later tells Chris that Loki told O'Leary to tell Chris an answer to one of his questions: Necromancy. Chris realizes that the Death Camps were built not for "racial purification", but for human sacrifices to fuel magic. The captain also realizes that the Norse Gods were created by Necromancy due to Loki's admission that he is actually young. After realizing that he has gained superhuman powers from Loki, Chris attacks the guards and dies in an attempt to resist the Norse Gods after managing to destroy Odin's Spear. In doing so, he hopes that his actions will give hope to other heroes who will eventually rise up to overcome the Nazis. |
A Lick of Frost | Laurell K. Hamilton | 2,007 | A Lick of Frost begins one month after the events of Mistral's Kiss. The opening chapters show Merry and her guards Rhys, Galen, Doyle, Frost, and Abeloec in a conference room, being questioned about the charges of rape against Rhys, Galen, and Abeloec. King Taranis has brought the charges on behalf of the woman allegedly raped by the aforementioned fey. The meeting ends badly, with Taranis losing what little control he had on his sanity, and one of the officers of Taranis' guard, Sir Hugh, telling Merry that he is going to force a vote among the nobles of the Seelie court to choose a new king, and he wants Merry to take Taranis' place. When Merry and her guards get home after taking a trip to the hospital (as Doyle and Abe got badly hurt from Taranis' attack), they call Aunt Andais to tell her of all that has happened- specifically the offer to rule the Seelie Court. Andais believes Merry already agreed to rule and abuses one of her guards (Crystall) in a sadistic rage. Eventually, Merry and her men convince Andais otherwise, but she still continues to abuse the guard in reaction to many of them leaving to join Merry. The series of mirror-calls end, and Merry finalises the coming together of her, Ash, and Holly for later that night. Night comes and Holly and Ash arrive, along with all of the Red Caps in tow. Jonty, a Red Cap that helped Merry fight in Mistral's Kiss, sheds a tear as Merry tells him she would bring the Red Caps into their power. She catches the tear on her finger and consumes it. This brings on the remaking of Maeve Reed's house into a sithen. Those of faerie who stand in that room with no faerie dog to keep them grounded, crumple to the floor. Some of the crumpled men are revived by one of the dogs, but Frost stays down. The creation of the sithen (faerie land) allows the ring of fertility on her finger to flare to life and Merry realises that she is pregnant with twins. Each twin has three fathers like in the story of Ceridwen. A phantom image of Merry's children appear by their respective fathers, Rhys, Frost, Galen, Doyle, Mistral, and Sholto. There is also a dimmer phantom image of a 3rd child (that has the potential to be born after the twins). Frost turns out to be the sacrificial king for the creation of the new sithen. Merry prays for him not to die, and he turns into a white stag and runs off. Merry runs to one of the gardens of her sithen to be alone and grieve the loss of Frost. While out there, Taranis (using illusion to appear as one of her guards) knocks her out and takes her to his bedroom back at the Seelie Court. It is assumed that he rapes her, and then believes he fathers her children. Hugh, some others at the Seelie Court, and Doyle (in dog form) sneak her out of the bedroom and into a press conference where she tells the press that Taranis made the Seelie woman (Lady Catarin) believe that it was Rhys, Galen, and Abe who raped her. However, it was all just an illusion of Taranis' making and the woman was in fact raped by other Seelie nobles working with him. Merry also tells them that she is pregnant, and that Taranis kidnapped and raped her. The book ends with Merry in an ambulance with Doyle, continuing to mourn Frost and her current situation. She is on her way to the hospital to treat the concussion she received from Taranis and to take a rape test. |
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians | Brandon Sanderson | null | Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians is a young adult novel which tells the story of Alcatraz Smedry, a young teen who is always breaking things. After receiving a bag of sand for his thirteenth birthday, he stumbles into a strange set of events which begins with a group of librarians stealing his bag of sand, which turns out to be rather unusual sand. The book starts with Alcatraz setting fire to his foster parents' kitchen. It is revealed that he has been sent to countless foster parents, all ending up with Alcatraz "destroying" things that were precious to the people taking care of him. Ms. Fletcher, Alcatraz's personal caseworker then arrives at his recent foster parent's home and scolds him about destroying his foster parent's kitchen and leaves. The next day, however, an old man knocks on the door and claims to be his grandfather and tells Alcatraz that he has a special, but powerful talent for breaking things. He later finds out that there is a special force called the Librarians, whose purpose is to conquer the remaining Free Kingdomers and rule the world. |
Surface Tension | James Blish | 1,952 | Humans crash on a distant planet which is earth like but completely water-covered; their ship is too damaged to take off, nor do they have sufficient supplies to survive for long. The humans create a race of microscopic aquatic humanoids to carry on their legacy before they themselves die. The majority of the story concerns these creatures and their intelligence, curiosity, and evolving technology. In particular, the aquatic humanoids develop a "space ship", or rather "air ship", which enables them to pierce the previously impenetrable surface of the water and travel through what is, to them, hostile space—open air—to other worlds in other bodies of water. Surface Tension was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one the best science fiction short stories published before the creation of the Nebula Awards. As such, it was published in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964. It was adapted by George Lefferts as a radio drama for X Minus One in 1956. In this adaptation, the humanoids are part of an experiment running on a doomed Earth. Anthony Boucher, commenting on the collected version of the story, noted that although Blish might seem "to pass the most remote bounds of scientific extrapolation, . . . the details are worked out in magnificently convincing manner." |
Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn | Robert Holdstock | 1,997 | Christian Huxley enters Ryhope wood on a search for the compelling mythago Guiwenneth and for a better understanding of his mother's suicide. Inside the wood he joins a small group of mythago companions who, in turn, join a vast army of mythagos, numbering in the thousands. This army includes many mythic archetypes including shaman, shapeshifters, and warriors. Among these mythagos are those whose creation is influenced by King Arthur and the Welsh tales of the Mabinogion, specifically the tale of Culhwch and Olwen. Echoing the tales of Culhwch and Olwen, Christian is assigned with completing many impossible tasks. Holdstock uses the story within a story device to have Kylhuk retell a tale involving himself, Olwen and Pwyll, among others. This army, known as a legion, is pursued by the angry dead on its search for the gates to the underworld. As Christian nears the end of his quest in the wood, he has an opportunity to enter the underworld (like Orpheus) and grapple with the suicide of his mother which has two very different manifestations, one true and one false. While in the underworld he is also faced with a difficult choice of rescuing only one of two loved ones from death. |
Wish You Well | David Baldacci | 2,001 | The story starts out with the Cardinal family going on a trip to relieve them from some unknown stress. On the way back, it is revealed that the Cardinal family plans to move to California, due to financial concerns. Jack Cardinal is an acclaimed but underpaid writer, and plans to move with promises of higher pay. However, Amanda, his wife, is opposed to the idea, stating that they would not be happy and that Jack would not be free to write. Seeing that the children seem asleep, they battle it out. Eventually, a violent outburst awakes Lou, a young girl who greatly admires her father. She tries to stop the argument multiple times by offering a story, but Jack is undeterred. Meanwhile, Oz, Lou’s timid little brother is also awakened. Both Amanda and Lou hurry to comfort him, while simultaneously being calmed. As the argument further escalates, no one notices a man in the middle of the road, blocking their way. Jack turns the car just in time to avoid killing the man, but then loses all control. The car rolls, and when it stopped, Jack is dead, and Amanda faints. The story then shifts forward to the funeral, where it is discovered that Amanda is now paralyzed. Lou overhears two men discussing the fate of the children, and offers the idea of moving in with their great-grandmother in the mountains of Virginia, Louisa Mae. The men accept the offer, and the two children, a nurse, and their mother head off. When they arrive at the station, an African-American man picks them up and drives them through a series of towns, each more sparsely populated than the one previous. Soon they pick up a boy, who introduces both himself and their driver. Afterwards, he leaves to fish, and the others continue on towards Louisa’s house. Once there, Lou starts a completely new life, learning different chores and helping with the farm. In return, they achieve a comfortable lifestyle. Diamond, the boy they picked up, starts playing a bigger role, often taking the children out on adventures, showing them things such as a little collection of items, a wishing well, a danger-filled shortcut to the city, his version of constellations and the like. Eugene, the “mute” that drove the car, is also revealed as an honest man that will stand up for what is right. At around the same time, Cotton Longfellow, a lawyer, shows up, and offers to read to Amanda in hopes that she would get better. Then, a mysterious offer from Southern Valley, a coal and gas company, comes in, offering Louisa $100,000 for her land. She refuses, but receives pressure from her neighbors, who have also received the offer but is told that their land is useless without Louisa’s. Then, a series of incidents occurs. Louisa’s barn is burned to the ground in the middle of the night, causing her to suffer a stroke.. Diamond dies in a dynamite explosion, killed trying to save his dog. George Davis, a wealthy but hateful farmer, goes into Louisa’s land in search of something. Southern Valley comes back with an offer of 5 times the original, but is now refused by Cotton. It is then revealed that a court case is to ensue. Southern Valley is represented by Thurston Goode, a renowned lawyer from Richmond. He and Cotton each have several goes at the jury at a very eventful court case. In the end, however, Southern Valley wins, but Amanda comes in, supported by her children, and the book ends with her acknowledging Cotton for all he tried to help and, in the epilogue, it is revealed they married. |
Speech Sounds | Octavia E. Butler | null | In the not-so-distant future, a mysterious pandemic leaves civilization in ruins and severely limits humankind’s ability to communicate. Some are deprived of their ability to read or write, while others lose the ability to speak. They identify themselves by carrying items or symbols that function as names. People communicate among themselves through universally understood sign language and gestures that can often exacerbate misunderstandings and conflicts. Additionally, it seems that as a result of the illness and their handicap, many ordinary people are easily prone to uncontrollable feelings of jealousy, resentment, and rage over their own impairments and the ability of others. In Los Angeles, a woman named Rye decides to seek out her only remaining relatives, a brother and his family in nearby Pasadena. But when a fight breaks out on a bus, Rye is forced to consider walking the rest of the twenty miles through dangerous territory. It is then she meets Obsidian, a man in a police uniform who stops to restore order and then offers her a ride in his car. Confronted with the hostilities of her fellow passengers or the threat of walking the streets alone, she cautiously accepts the stranger's offer, and together they resume the trip out of the city. Before long, Rye learns that Obsidian can still read a map, and she struggles with an intense feeling of jealousy and an urge to kill him. Instead, she reveals that she is still able to talk, and the two share an intimate moment and intercourse. Rye asks Obsidian to return home with her to which he reluctantly agrees. On the road home, the couple observes a woman being chased by a man wielding a knife. Both feel inclined to intervene in the woman’s defense but are unable prevent the woman from being fatally stabbed. After wounding the assailant, the man is able to wrestle the gun from Obsidian and shoot him in the head, which instantly kills him. Rye then kills the assailant. After the violence, two children emerge, a boy and a younger girl, apparently the children of the dead woman. Rye drags Obsidian back to the car with the intension of giving him a proper burial—and initially plans to ignore the plight of the children—but shortly afterward, she has a change of heart and returns for the body of the woman and her two children. As she reaches for the woman’s body, the girl speaks in coherent English, shouting “No. Go Away,” and the young boy tells her not to speak. This is the first coherent speech that Rye has heard in many years, and she realizes that her choice to adopt the children is the right one. “I’m Valerie Rye,” she says. “It‘s all right for you to talk to me.” It is the first time she has spoken her own name in a very long time. |
Le père de nos pères | Bernard Werber | null | The plot takes place mainly in the present, when Professor Adjemian, a palaeontogist, is murdered. Before he died, Adjemian claimed to know the answer to the fundamental question: “Where do we come from?” Lucrèce Nemrod, a young reporter, covers this case and decides to find out why the professor was murdered after the police close the case. For her article, Lucrèce asks Isidore Katzenberg, a former scientific journalist, for help. Isodore and Lucrèce leave for Africa in order to uncover a secret for which some people are ready to kill. Simultanenously, a second plot, becomes entwined with the investigation. This second story takes place "somewhere in East Africa", 3.7 million years ago. It deals with the life of a cave man known simply as "He". The suspense is very intense until it reaches the last word of the book which reveals the identity of the Missing Link. The literary genres of crime fiction], scientific journalism, adventure, biography, philosophical fiction and others are intermingled in Bernard Werber's typical style. |
Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister | Aphra Behn | null | This part is a story of wooing and seduction of a young woman, Silvia, by Philander, her brother-in-law. ;Silvia's and Philander's flight to Holland: Silvia, disguised as a young man with the name Fillmond, and Philander run away to Holland. Brilljard, who has been married to Silvia to save her from being married to another man by her parents, and two male servants accompany them. On their journey they meet a young Hollander, Octavio. Quickly, a strong friendship develops between Philander and Octavio. Not knowing that Fillmond is in fact a woman, Octavio nevertheless falls in love with Silvia on their joint journey. Philander confides to Octavio that he is in conflict with his King, and after Philander and Silvia decline Octavio's offer to stay with him in his Palace, he accommodates them at a merchant's house nearby. There Philander and Silvia, still in disguise, spend a happy time together. Brilljard, staying with them, falls secretly in love with Silvia. When Silvia falls into a violent fever, her true sex is discovered by the servants and the whole truth of their story is revealed to Octavio by Philander. ;Philander's flight from Holland: Octavio, torn between his affection for Silvia and his friendship to Philander, urges the same to leave the country within 24 hours as he fears he will otherwise be taken by force to the King of France. Philander's first response is that he'd rather die than leave Silvia behind. Also, he is scared that she might fall in love with someone else once he has left. But he then is convinced by Octavio and Brilljard – who both love Silvia and therefore have an interest in his departure unknown to him – to save his own life not only for his but for Silvia's sake also. It is agreed that Silvia is to follow him as soon as she has recovered, and equipped with money from Octavio, after a last encounter with Silvia and without telling her of his flight, Philander finally takes his leave to Collen. ;Brilljard's assault on Silvia: Silvia, devastated by his flight, believes his love has worn off already when she receives her first letter from him. And indeed, Philander reveals in a letter to Octavio that he finds life without Silvia less painful than expected. Octavio seizes the opportunity and reveals his affection to Silvia, which she strongly dismisses. Silvia, in need for a second opinion on Philander's letter, shows it to Brilljard, who, seizing his chance to harm the rival, agrees with her that there is a change in Philander's attitude towards her. Silvia gets into such a state that she faints into his arms. Brilljard, overwhelmed by his feelings, almost rapes the defenceless Silvia, but for Octavio's appearance. Though Brilljard can conceal his attack at first, he is later found out by Octavio and Silvia, who after an attempt on Brilljard's life decides to forgive him for her own sake as she depends on him in his position as her husband. Brilljard notices that Octavio's feelings towards Silvia are more than that of friendship and in his jealousy closes a deal with Antonett, maid to Silvia, to betray any news to him in exchange for his affection. Also, Brilljard gets a letter from Philander who confesses to him that, though still in love with Silvia, he has an affair with another woman, and asks him to do anything in his power to delay Silvia's departure for Collen. ;Octavio courts Silvia with the permission of Philander: While Silvia is waiting for further news from her Philander, Octavio is paying her regular visits and no longer hides his affection. Silvia, though she turns him down as she is still in love with Philander, is vain enough to be flattered and encourages him to pursue his advances further. In the course of the events, Silvia becomes increasingly sure of a growing decrease in Philander's love for her, and concludes that someone like him who has loved twice can fall in love for a third time, too. Her sorrow is more and more overcome with anger, and she decides to take revenge, using Octavio as an instrument. Hoping that jealousy will bring Philander back to her at last, she talks Octavio into writing a letter to Philander in which he confesses his love for Silvia, asking him for his permission to do so. Philander's answer is positive. He argues that in case Silvia is true to him, Octavio's love will not do any harm, and in case she turns false on him, she in his eyes is not worth to be preserved. Either way, he encourages Octavio to pursue his courtship. ;Philander confesses his new love to Octavio: In return for Octavio's honesty, Philander reveals to him that he has fallen in love again, too. During his journey, he has made the acquaintance of and become friends with the Count of Clarinau, a Spaniard. Philander accepts Clarinau's offer to stay at his palace. On a walk through the grounds, Philander notices Clarinau's wife, a young girl named Calista which was taken out of a monastery to become Madam the Countess of Clarinau. He observes her secretly, but just as he is approaching her, the Count enters the scene and Philander rushes back into his hiding place without having spoken to Calista, who has not seen a young handsome man before and therefore believes she has seen a vision. Philander spends the following days look-ing for her, without success. He trusts Octavio, his rival, with this secret, at the same time asking him not to use it against him with Silvia. Octavio is outraged when he recognizes that Calista is his sister. He is torn between his friendship with Philander and his love for Silvia, but his honour forbids him to make use of Philander's secret by revealing it to Silvia. ;Silvia's suicide attempt: At the same time, Philander also sends a letter to Silvia, in which he assures her of his love and criticizes her for being too self-interested to understand him. More certain of his betrayal on her than ever before, Silvia attempts to kill herself with a pen-knife, but is saved by Antonett. Being thus rescued, she turns to Octavio for his letter from Philander which she expects to be of use for her peace of mind, and at the same time replies to Philander, threatening him that if she ever found out about him lying to her, she would take revenge on him. At this point, it is not only her love for Philander that makes her go wild but also her pride that has been hurt. Silvia, who finds she is growing fonder of Octavio, still urges him to present the letter to her, and finally he confesses that he owns one. Though he at first denies her to see it, Silvia then gets herself in such a state that in the end, he begs her to let him show the letter to her. ;Brilljard's deceit and its effects: This is postponed when Octavio is called away for a day on sudden business. Brilljard has learned from letters from Octavio to Silvia, which Antonett took to him rather than Silvia first, about Octavio's way of writing. When he also gets hold of a letter from Silvia to Octavio, he misjudges the situation and takes it for sure that they have become lovers already. He therefore sets out and feigns a letter to Silvia, in which he suggest in the name of Octavio that she to him is no more than a common mistress and that the price for Philander's letter would be she herself. Silvia is outraged at first, but still in want of Philander's letter, makes plans for a revenge on Octavio. She agrees with her maid that Antonett will disguise as Silvia and receive him. Again, Brilljard keeps the letter to himself. He also has the letter from Philander, which Octavio sent to Silvia as he had promised to give it to her before. It is Brilljard, disguised as Octavio, who meets Antonett, disguised as Silvia, that night. He hands over the letter, which Antonett passes on to Silvia in an unobserved moment. That night, however, does not proceed according to Brilljard's plans. He has taken aphrodisiacs which made him sick, so that he has to leave Antonett. However, their encounter is observed by Octavio who has returned earlier than expected and who at once hastens to Silvia to see how she has taken Philander's letter. Seeing only Antonett and taking her for Silvia, he is sure that Silvia is entertaining an affair. Silvia in the meantime has read Philander's letter to Octavio. Overwhelmed with an-ger and pain, she faints and it is only with the help of Antonett that she recovers. She then writes an angry letter to Philander in which she calls herself his fiend and curses him. Still, she is aware that a love once lost cannot be retrieved, and encouraged by Antonett, she decides not to pity herself but to set out for revenge. ;Misunderstandings between Silvia and Octavio: Though still mad at Octavio and scared he might have found out what she believes to have been a deceit on him, she regards him as the person best suitable for her plans and therefore contacts him once more. Octavio, who is still in the dark about the previous night's happenings, is mad at her in return, and messages go back and fro further entertaining the misunderstanding between them which leaves him believing her to be a common mistress, while she is by then sure that he has found out about her cheat. It takes a couple of hot-tempered letters until the whole truth concerning the night in question is revealed. ;The proposal: Octavio falls in love with Silvia all over again, and Silvia forgives him for the sake of her revenge to Philander, though she also has to admit to herself that she cares for him, too. Silvia promises Octavio anything he wishes for if only he takes part in the revenge. He proposes to her, but she refuses him, telling him that she is expecting a child from Philander. It is only when Octavio shows her another letter from Philander that Silvia, mad with rage and determined to take revenge, makes up her mind, not considering her marriage to Brilljard nor telling Octavio about it at all. In the letter concerned, Philander is giving an account of his affair with Calista, who he has courted successfully. The couple has almost been discovered by Calista's husband, the Count of Clarinau, but for a spectacular flight of Philander's. Philander closes his letter to Octavio by telling him that he has now lost all feelings for Silvia. The second part of the 'Love Letters' closes with Antonett and Silvia setting off for a church in a nearby village, where they will meet Octavio. ;Dedication: To Lord Spencer: Aphra Behn praises Spencer for his noble birth and the glorious future, that is surely destined for him. The author pretends that there are no parallels between Lord Spencer and Cesario, because Spencer would be as loyal as his own father. However, she seems to warn him implicitly of making the same mistakes as Cesario, the character in her book. Cesario is highly ambitious and wants to become King. But he lacks good advice and patience. Therefore his rebellion against the King, his own father, fails and he dies on the scaffold. ;Characters: Silvia: a beautiful young woman, who eloped from her parents with Philander, the husband of her sister; married to Philander's servant Brilljard (a sham marriage); became Octavio's mistress in Philander's absence Philander: a young handsome man, who enjoys conquering women; left his wife Mertilla for Silvia; found a new mistress (Calista) in Cologne; a good friend of Octavio and his rival as well; a rebel who has joined Cesario's association Octavio: a handsome, rich and noble man; one of the States of Holland; Calista's brother; in love with Silvia and a rival to Philander Cesario: Prince of Condy; leader of the rebellion of the Huguenots in France; aspires to become the next King of France; he is the King's bastard son Brilljard: Philander's servant; Silvia's lawful husband, who promised not to claim her as his wife; however, he fell in love with her Calista: Octavio's sister, married to an old Spanish Count; Philander's slam piece Sebastian: Octavio's uncle, one of the States of Holland as well Sir Mr. Alonzo Jr.: a handsome young gentleman, nephew of the governor of Flanders, by birth a Spaniard; a womanizer Osell Hermione: Cesario's mistress, later his wife; neither young nor beautiful Fergusano: one of the two wizards appointed to Hermione; Scottish; deals with black magic ;Introduction: In the last part of Aphra Behn's “Love-Letters” it is difficult to ascertain the main plot line. Many new characters, such as Alonzo, are introduced and the plot contains various love affairs, disguises, mistaken identities, and personal and political intrigues. Despite the title “The Amours of Philander and Silvia” the love between these two characters does not seem to play the major role anymore (as it did in part 1). Their feelings towards each other are only dissembled and their relationship to other people gain in importance. Silvia is pursued by Octavio and by Brilljard, Philander pursues Calista and other women. Furthermore, a large part of the action is concerned with Cesario's political scheme to gain the crown. That is why it is hard to say, if Philander and Silvia are still the protagonists in part 3 of the novel. In comparison to the first part of the “Love-Letters” Silvia's character has changed a lot. She has become a calculating woman, who is only interested in her own profit. Much of her emotions are dissembled. It could be argued for some inconsistency in Aphra Behn's novel in her character development. What is more, it becomes harder to identify the major characters and to understand the motivations for certain actions. This hangs partly together with the change of the narrative form. The exchange of letters in part 1, and to a lesser extent in part 2, granted the reader more insight into the characters´ motives. The distance to the characters grows in part 3, where the omniscient narrator tells the story with less subtlety. On the other hand, this invites the reader to make up his or her own mind about the character's motives and developments. Silvia and Octavio have to flee. In part 2, Philander has fallen in love with Calista in Cologne. His former mistress Silvia learned about his cheat and wanted to take revenge upon him. She decides therefore to marry his close friend Octavio, who is truly in love with her. This secret marriage is prevented in part 3, but not by Philander. It is Brilljard, Silvia's lawful husband, who has grown jealous of Octavio. Although Brilljard had promised never to claim her as his wife, he reveals in public that he is already married to her. In this way, Silvia's reputation is damaged and consequently Octavio's. Although Octavio has learned that she is already married to Brilljard, he still wants to marry her. He even accepts to be deprived of his honours, when he is charged with not caring about state affairs. This shows that Silvia is more important to him than his own status and societal position. Octavio's powerful uncle Sebastian falls in love with Silvia and brings her to his own house, where he guards her well. He wants to marry her, but is shot dead beforehand, by one of Octavio's pistols that goes off by chance. Octavio and Silvia flee to Brussels. Silvia and Philander reunite. Calista decides to become a nun after having learned from Silvia that Philander has another mistress. The rejected Philander becomes Silvia's lover again. It is astonishing that Silvia yields so easily to him again, considering that she swore to take revenge upon him. What is more, it seemed as if she had gradually developed more feelings towards Octavio. It comes to a duel between the two rivals, in which Octavio is badly wounded. While Octavio is recovering, Silvia runs off with Philander to a little town. This seems to be a spontaneous and unwise action. In contrast to Octavio, Philander is not ready to marry her and thus not concerned about her good reputation. Furthermore, Octavio could secure her financially. Instead of enjoying their reunion Philander and Silvia soon get on each other's nerves and Philander starts having affairs with other women. By now, their love has entirely cooled down. Silvia gives birth to a child, an unimportant event, which is only meantioned in passing. It also remains open what happens to that child; she probably gives it away. Silvia and Alonzo become lovers. While Philander is absent in Brussels, Silvia follows in men's clothes in order to regain Octavio as a lover. She makes Brilljard her confident. To ensure his loyalty she grants him to have sex with her every once in a while. This marks the beginning of her career as a prostitute. Octavio does not fall for her feigned fidelity anymore. Like his sister Calista, he takes holy orders, because he has been disappointed in love. The good-hearted Octavio wants Silvia to lead an honourable life without the support of a lover. Therefore he settles a good pension upon her. However, Silvia immediately spends some of the money on fine clothes, jewels, and a new coach. With this equipment she impresses everyone, including Alonzo, at the “Toure” and she finally manages to gain Alonzo as her new lover. She first met this handsome young man on her way to Brussels. Alonzo then held her to be a French nobleman, because she was dressed in men's clothes. They became good “friends” and even shared the same bed. Silvia felt attracted towards him and wanted to test if he could not be turned into a constant lover. With Brilljard's help she manages to deprive him of his fortune. In the end of part 2, Silvia has turned into a successful prostitute, who enjoys her life. Considering the first part of the “Love-Letters” this is a rather unexptected change. ;The Political Plot: The political plot in part 3 is focused on Cesario's ambition of becoming King of France. His relationship to Osell Hermione plays a crucial role in this part of the story. She has been a former mistress to Cesario and is already past her beauty. To the surprise of everyone, the handsome prince falls in love with her. Only the reader gets to know the reason: Fergusano, a Scottish wizard, made a philtre, that bewitched Cesario and attached him to Hermione. She finally becomes his wife, and stirs up his ambition to become King with the help of two wizards. Cesario leaves with all his men from Brussels to France, where he proclaims himself King. He loses the aid of his more powerful friend, though, who dislike his false declaration to the title. Fergusano had his hand in this affair and it seems as if Cesario is rather gullible and easily deluded into believing in his ultimate success. Cesario's army is defeated by the Royal Army. He was too impatient and what is worse, abandoned by many of his own people. Philander was one of the deserters. He wanted to separate from his own party in France anyway in order to serve the King. This sudden change in his political attitude is not altogether surprising. In part 1, he already showed a lack of enthusiasm for the rebellion against the King. Cesario is finally executed, whereas Philander is pardoned and regains the affection of the King again. |
Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages | null | null | Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages is the story of a magic toymaker, Isaac Bodkins, who passes away before selecting someone to carry on in his work. His toys, each resembling a different recognizable animal, went to children in need; children who had lost parents, children who were ill, neglected, or abused. The plush animals would come alive, giving moral support in times of greatest need. When they were no longer needed, the magic would drain from them, and the children they had cared for would remember them as nothing more than childhood playthings. Now, chased by the evil toys made by Isaac’s predecessor, the toys, led by Amos the bear, must make their way through New York city on a dark and stormy night to seek out the toymaker Isaac had selected. If they cannot find her in time, an evil toymaker will take over and harm will come to the very children the Oddkins were created to protect. The Oddkins is quintessential example of postmodern Gothic fiction, showing the transition from the mythic fantasies of the countryside to the cold harsh Gothic reality of the urban center. |
Before Green Gables | Budge Wilson | 2,008 | This book describes Anne's difficult pre-Green-Gables childhood, including the deaths of her parents. |
Everything on a Waffle | Polly Horvath | 2,001 | Everything on a Waffle, set in a small Canadian fishing village, tells the story of an eleven-year-old girl named Primrose Squarp. Primrose's parents disappear in a typhoon, but Primrose refuses to believe they are dead and doesn't attend their memorial service. While she defends her family's survival,her custody situation moves around from aging neighbor Miss Perfidy to her preoccupied Uncle Jack. The only thing that remains constant is her enjoyment of a restaurant called the Girl on the Red Swing, where each menu item is served on a waffle. Restaurant owner Kate Bowzer takes Primrose under her wing. She teaches her how to cook (recipes are all cited in a notepad) She doesn't question or criticize her, even through her odd predicaments, such as accidentally setting the class guinea pig on fire Primrose is taken from the custody of her uncle 'Uncle Jack' to an older couple. While she likes them, she is involved in a variety of accidents, including losing a toe. Through her oddities and accidents, Primrose becomes a town curiosity, with neighbors questioning her emotional state. But even through all of this, Primrose never gives up hope in finding her parents and being a normal family again.Later on, her parents come back, which is a real shock to everyone in town. |
To Live | Yu Hua | 1,993 | Xu Fugui, son of a local rich man, is a compulsive gambler. After he gambles away the entire family fortune, his father dies with grief and indignation. The Chinese civil war is occurring at the time, and Fugui is forced to join the army. By the time he finally returns home two years later, he finds his mother has died of a stroke, and his daughter has become mute and lost most of her hearing from a fever. Years later, Fugui's only son dies after a blood transfusion. The daughter finally grows up and finds a husband. They are a happy couple until she dies from dystocia. Soon after that, Fugui's wife dies of osteoporosis, and his son in law dies in a construction accident. Eventually, even Fugui’s last relative, his grandson Kugen (renamed Mantou in the 1994 movie adaptation), chokes to death while eating beans. In the end, Fugui buys an old ox to accompany him. It seems that in the world absolutely nothing is left for him, but he does not give up, he believes there is still hope, that just like they say, things would get better. The novel includes first-hand descriptions of some of the less successful aspects of Collectivist policy, such as communal agriculture and the attempt to build a village-based steel industry. A film based on the book was released in 1994, after numerous discussions between film director Zhang Yimou and the novelist author Yu Hua upon the proper film adaptation, keeping the plot within the frame of Yu Hua's artistic vision. Despite being less grim than the novel, the movie was banned in China, and director Zhang Yimou was banned from film-making for two years. |
Family Guy: Stewie's Guide to World Domination | null | 2,005 | Since his birth to Lois and Peter Griffin, Stewie has shown his intentions of world domination, to the extent of storing machine guns and other weapons in his bedroom for usage at whim. Upon deciding people must understand his plans before he can perform them, he discusses his dysfunctional family and modern day society throughout, as well as explaining how ide he intends to take over the world, as well as his personal beliefs on matters such as his family, love, parenting, work, preschool, pop culture, politics, play and more. |
Biting the Sun | Tanith Lee | null | The book opens with the narrator visiting a close friend after his fortieth suicide-by-birdplane. Offended by his insensitivity, she kills herself, then, in a new body, embarks on a series of mundane attempts to amuse herself, including stealing a white fluffy desert animal that she keeps as a pet, programming elaborate dreams for herself, having unsatisfying sex with her peers, and employing a wide variety of legal drugs. Incapable of making emotional connections with anyone, she finds her life increasingly unsatisfying, though her demanding and difficult pet does interest her. Soon after going through the mundane rituals of her life the narrator feels like she should not be a Jang teenager anymore. However, the quasi-robots who run the city determine that she is not ready to become an older person. Soon she tries looking for a useful job, but to no avail: robots and computers perform every useful task. She then attempts to have a child, but is unable to find a suitable partner, tries to have a child with herself, and ends up causing the child to die. Unable to fill the emptiness she feels, she joins an expedition to explore the deserts outside the city. During this expedition, the narrator realizes the beauty of life outside of the domes and she gains a strong emotional connection with her stolen pet. However, it is then accidentally killed, devastating her. Upon returning to the city, she is still unable to make lasting emotional connections with her peers. She considers death and wonders if she really belongs in the city or somewhere else. |
Shutter Island | Dennis Lehane | 2,003 | In 1954, widower U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels and his new partner Chuck Aule go to Shutter Island on a ferry boat to the home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane, to investigate the disappearance of a patient, Rachel Solando, who has escaped the hospital and apparently the desolate island, despite having been kept in a locked cell under constant supervision. Visiting Rachel's room, Teddy and Chuck discover a code that Teddy believes points to a 67th patient, when there are allegedly only 66. Teddy also reveals to Chuck that he is there to avenge the death of his wife Dolores, who was murdered two years prior by one of the inmates, Andrew Laeddis. The novel is interspersed with graphic descriptions of World War II and Dachau which Teddy helped to liberate. After a hurricane hits the island, Teddy and Chuck investigate Ward C, where Teddy believes government experiments with psychotropic drugs are being conducted. One inmate tells Teddy that Chuck is not to be trusted. As Teddy and Chuck return to the main hospital area, they are separated. Teddy discovers an ex-psychiatrist, who says she is the real Rachel Solando, hiding in sea caves. She explains that he has no friends on the island and is himself a prisoner. She warns him to be careful that food, medication, even cigarettes he has taken have been laced with psychotropic drugs. Upon returning to the hospital, Teddy cannot find Chuck and is told he had no partner. He escapes and makes his way to the lighthouse to rescue Chuck where he believes the experiments take place. He reaches the top of the lighthouse and finds only hospital administrator Dr. Cawley seated at a desk. Cawley tells Teddy that he is Andrew Laeddis (an anagram of Edward Daniels) and that he murdered his wife, who is Dolores Chanal (an anagram of Rachel Solando), two years ago after she murdered their 3 children. Andrew/Teddy refuses to believe this and takes extreme measures to disprove it, grabbing what he thinks is his gun and tries to shoot Dr. Cawley; but his firearm is merely a toy water pistol. The man he thinks is Chuck then enters, revealing that he is actually Andrew's psychiatrist, Dr. Sheehan. He is told that Dr. Cawley and Chuck/Sheehan have devised this treatment to allow him to live out his elaborate fantasy, in order to confront the truth, or else undergo a radical lobotomy treatment. Teddy/Andrew finally realizes that he killed his wife and his service as a US Marshal was a long time ago. This breakthrough seems promising for his recovery. The next morning Andrew/Teddy wakes up, leaves the dorm and sits outside on the hospital steps. Chuck/Dr. Sheehan sits next to him. Andrew/Teddy says to Chuck/Sheehan, "I don't know, Chuck. You think they're onto us?" Chuck/Sheehan replies: "Nah. We're too smart for that." Chuck/Sheehan signals to Dr. Cawley and the guards that he believes the treatment was unsuccessful. Dr. Cawley and the orderlies approach Andrew/Teddy as he says "Yeah, we are aren't we?" The ending of the novel is unclear as to which "reality" is true. It is unclear whether he has truly regressed, or if he wishes to "die" (at the very least, lose his abilities for conscious thought, through lobotomy) in order to avoid living with the knowledge that he is a murderer. |
What Was Lost | Catherine O'Flynn | 2,007 | What Was Lost is a mystery story about a missing girl. It is also a portrait of a changing community over twenty years. It examines modern life's emptiness, and society's obsession with shopping. What Was Lost is set in the city of Birmingham, England. The main events of the novel take place in Green Oaks shopping centre. The first part of the novel is set in 1984. A 10-year-old girl called Kate Meaney frequently plays in the newly-opened Green Oaks. She pretends to be a detective, observing and following people. She carries her toy monkey Mickey and a notebook with her. Kate vanishes and Adrian, the 22-year-old son of a newsagent, is the prime suspect in her disappearance. He is hounded by the press and the police. Unable to handle the pressure, he disappears. The novel's narrative moves forward to 2004. Kurt is a security guard at Green Oaks. He has a sleeping disorder. Lisa is the deputy manager of a music store. She is unhappy because of the strange behaviour of her colleagues and customers and because of her relationship with her partner. She becomes friends with Kurt. A girl holding a soft toy is seen in a CCTV security monitor. Kurt and Lisa follow the girl through Green Oaks and investigate how she is connected to Green Oaks' unsettling history. It is revealed that both Kurt and Lisa have connections to the case of the missing girl. |
A Summer to Die | null | null | Meg, the younger of the two sisters, is the story's narrator and primary protagonist. Their father, an English professor at a university, has decided to take a year off from teaching to write a book that he claims will shake the world of literature—only half jokingly. This means the family relocates to a small country house where his daughters are upset they will be sharing a room. Like most sisters, the two girls quarrel over silly things, and Meg is jealous of her sister's blond curls and long eyelashes. The owner of the house the family is renting lives down the road in a smaller house on the same property. The sisters soon establish a rapport with the elderly Will Banks, who learns about photography with Meg and teaches Molly about the abundant wildflowers covering the estate. A few months after coming to the country, Molly begins having constant nosebleeds the doctor blames on the cold weather. Unfortunately, he wasn't aware of the underlying cause, and it is not until Molly's bed is soaked in blood that she is rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with the ultimately fatal disease acute myelogenous leukemia. She seems to recover slightly, though the pills she's taking are causing her hair to fall out. Shortly thereafter, Ben Brady and a pregnant Maria Abbott, whom the townspeople incorrectly assume not to be married, arrive to make the third Banks house their home, and all the inhabitants of the property enjoy each others company for a while. Then the unthinkable happens, and Molly is rushed back to the hospital. She asks Meg to tell the baby to wait to be born until she comes home, and Meg obliges her, and also asks the baby to be born in the daytime since she's been invited to take pictures of the birth. They named it Happy William Abbott-Brady. In the end, Molly dies and the family moves back to the city. Through it all, and with help from those who love her, Meg finds the jealousy she once had for her sister has changed into pure love, and eventually she must choose to accept that bad things happen to good people. In the end, she does. |
Moscow 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March | Adam Zamoyski | 2,004 | Napoleon I of France was, at the time, a very prominent military and political figure, desiring to create a French-governed Europe. He succeeded in annexing many countries to France, placing his relatives and friends as monarchs in those countries. He managed to subdue Prussia and force her to become his ally, and to a great extent did the same to Austria. After winning a war with Russia, he made even the Russian Tzar Alexander (1801) his ally. Only two countries in Europe still resisted France's attempt at domination: United Kingdom and Spain. He failed when attempting to invade Britain and destroy it via a constant blockade. After the execution of duke d'Enghien, however, Tzar Alexander began to hate and detest Napoleon, and began to cooperate with the United Kingdom, disrupting the continental blockade. Napoleon decided then to wage war on Russia, in order to get her back as a French ally. In June 1812, the French invaded Russia on Napoleon's orders, making their way east towards Moscow, suffering large losses caused by lack of food, desertion, disease, exhaustion and battles. Napoleon eventually "conquered" Moscow, only to see the deserted city being set on fire by the Russians themselves, on the order of their commanders. After staying too long in the scorched city, Napoleon finally decided to march back, suffering enormous losses caused by harassment by the Russian troops, the disastrous battle at the crossing of Berezina river, and agonizing cold (down to -30 °C) Napoleon's army of more than 500,000 soldiers was annihilated, thus marking a turning point in world affairs and events around the world. |
Master Georgie | Beryl Bainbridge | 1,998 | The novel is told in six chapters, starting in Liverpool in 1846 and ending outside Sevastopol in 1854. George Hardy, an attractive English surgeon, amateur photographer and bisexual, leaves his affluent lifestyle in Liverpool, where he is heir to a fortune, to go to war at Inkerman in the Crimea. He believes "that the war would at last provide him with the prop he needed." His story is told by three other characters: Myrtle, a lovestruck foundling who bears Hardy's children, Dr. Potter, an intellectual and geologist and Pompey Jones, a one-time street performer who learns photography from Hardy. United by a sudden death in a Liverpool brothel in 1846, the four characters are undeniably linked by love, class, war and fate. |
Nine Months in the Life of an Old Maid | null | null | Beth Cane, the thirty-year-old titular character, narrates the story. Beth is socially isolated and emotionally fragile, having been hospitalized for nervous conditions on several occasions. She lives with her older sister, Mimi, a mystery writer, and her brother-in-law, Barney, a poet. Unemployed, unmarried, and never having left home, Beth is very dependent on her sister, which the ultra-responsible Mimi encourages. The three of them, along with their servants, make their home at Yiytzo, the family estate. Yiytzo, which means "the egg" in Russian, had been established by Beth's communist parents, Josh and Lily, in 1929. Josh and Lily, who were narcissistic and not particularly interested in their children, grew tired of communism. The two got the opportunity to live in California because Josh, a semi-successful novelist, got a job as a screenwriter. They left the young girls in care of servants and rarely visited because, according to them, "you could not raise children in Hollywood." Set in the 1950s, the novel opens with the two sisters awaiting the arrival of their older half-brother Vincent. (Lily had abandoned her first husband along with eleven-month-old Vincent to run off with Josh.) Mimi isn't particularly happy about Vincent visiting; they don't get along well and Vincent enjoys provoking her. Beth, who has always liked her brother, is on edge about the fact that Lily is coming as well. Lily and Josh informally separated many years before and Beth resents the fact that her mother will only visit when Lily feels that Josh is likely to be at Yiytzo. Beth gets along well enough with her father but does not feel much of a bond with him. Mimi and Barney decide to go out alone before the guests arrive; they get into a one-car accident, driving their car partially off the road. They are unhurt and go to bed after resolving to call the mechanic the next day. After they go to their room, their neighbor from down the road, Max, knocks on the door. He has bumped into Barney and Mimi's car and decided to place a lantern on the trunk to warn others that the car is there. Beth invites him in and discovers that he is a former classmate of Vincent's. He leaves after drinking tea and inviting Beth to look at the house that he is renovating. Vincent arrives the next day and Lily arrives shortly thereafter. Lily, who has only come to see Josh, doesn't take much of an interest in the children, angering Beth and Vincent. Mimi announces that she is pregnant after her mother and brother leave. Vincent visits again later that summer. Lily also visits again, having found out that Josh plans to visit. Mimi happily announces her pregnancy to her mother who suggests that Mimi have an abortion if she doesn't want it. This reduces Mimi to tears. Vincent, who is also hurt by Lily's insensitive behavior, storms out of the house during the meal and doesn't even return to get his wallet. Beth ends up quarreling with her mother. Josh arrives via motorcycle on the last day of Lily's visit. During the visit, the family discovers that Josh has decided to sell most of the that make up the estate in order for the town to widen the road near their home. Beth is deeply upset by this decision and begins to feel resentful toward her father. When Thanksgiving comes around, Vincent visits with his girlfriend's son, who immediately bonds with Mimi. Mimi and Vincent also resolve their differences and bond which causes Beth to feel left out. She impulsively decides to leave the house and visit Max. Max is getting ready to visit someone else and invites Beth along. She reluctantly goes and decides not to tell Mimi where she is going in order to make her worry. Beth and Max leave shortly thereafter and Max takes her home. Max becomes a regular visitor afterwards. When Christmas rolls around the entire Cane family descends on Yiytzo. Vincent brings his girlfriend as well as her son this time. Josh and Lily, who travelled together in Spain, come to the house together. Josh gives Mimi and Barney the deed to the house and the acreage immediately surrounding it. He also gives Vincent a few acres nearby. Beth, angered all over again by Josh's determination to sell the land, quarrels with her father who drunkenly curses and insults her. At this point, Max, who has given Beth a beaded purse as a gift, convinces her to take a walk with him. During the walk, Max suggests that Beth marry him and move into the house that he has been renovating. Beth, not particularly eager to marry, promises to think about it. As Mimi's due date approaches, Beth begins to feel increasingly anxious. Beth, who dislikes children, isn't thrilled with the idea of being an aunt. One night, when both sisters are suffering from insomnia, Beth tells Mimi that Max asked her to marry him and that she seriously considering the offer, despite her ambivalence. Mimi and Barney, who had been up drinking in the kitchen, think this is a bad idea and vehemently oppose it. Beth asserts her right to marry as well as her right to keep her previous hospitalizations a secret from Max. Mimi, who has always felt hostile toward Max, begins to cry. Mimi goes into labor a few weeks later. Beth impulsively decides to run to Max's house, failing to put on shoes or a coat first. She shows up at Max's house with cold bleeding feet and accepts his proposal. Barney calls early in the morning and announces that Mimi gave birth to a girl. Beth and Max marry and, at the end of the book, have been together for a year. |
A New Era of Thought | null | null | A New Era of Thought consists of two parts. The first part is a collection of philosophical and mathematical essays on the fourth dimension. These essays are somewhat disconnected. They teach the possibility of thinking four-dimensionally and about the religious and philosophical insights thus obtainable. In the second part Hinton develops a system of coloured cubes. These cubes serve as model to get a four dimensional perception as a basis of four dimensional thinking. This part describes how to visualize a tessaract by looking at several 3-D cross sections of it. The system of cubic models in A New Era of Thought is a forerunner of the cubic models in Hinton's book The Fourth Dimension. |
Darkwalker on Moonshae | Douglas Niles | 1,987 | The novel and its trilogy use the Moonshae Isles as its setting. Kazgoroth, the Beast, has come into the world to destroy the power of the Earthmother. Changing its shape as needs be, the Beast goes across the island of Gwynneth, corrupting everything in its way. Its destination is a large gathering of Northmen raiders at Oman's Isle, in the middle of the Moonshaes, where they are preparing an assault on the kingdom of Corwell. The Northmen don't realize yet that this is going to be more than just a plundering raid. They don't know that their leader isn't King Thelgaar Ironhand, but the Beast, who has killed the king and assumed his shape. Meanwhile, the Earthmother, aware of the danger and hurting from the corruption brought to the land, her body, by the vile presence of the Beast, awakes her children - the Leviathan, the Pack, and Kamerynn, the Unicorn. They will try to stop Kazgoroth in different ways, but that won't be enough. At Caer Corwell, the seat of the king of Corwell, rumour brings word of war coming to the kingdom. Preparation is under way, but the Ffolk don't know where the enemy will strike. It is up to Tristan to organize the Ffolk against this both human and demonic threat. In his fight against the odds, helped by Robyn, he will grow into the responsible leader that should inherit his father's kingdom. |
The Glass Palace: A Novel | Amitav Ghosh | 2,000 | The novel starts with a teenage boy called Rajkumar running through the city of Mandalay to find a woman called Ma Cho. He is the last surviving member of his family and comes to Burma from India with a bright entrepreneurial spirit and a hunger for success. Rajkumar's work as an assistant on Ma Cho's food stall takes place in the shadow of the Glass Palace, in which King Thibaw and his wife reside with their daughters, the princesses. As the British invasion comes to topple the incumbent regime, everyday citizens of Mandalay are able to enter the enshrined building, and it is then that Rajkumar spots Dolly, one of the princesses' attendants, and instantly falls in love with her. However, the entire Royal Family and their entourage are quickly extradited by the British and forced into house arrest thousands of miles away on the West coast of India. Whilst Rajkumar's quickly evolving career begins to take shape with the help of Saya John, a successful teak merchant (Ma Cho's sometime lover), we are given a glimpse into the awkward beginnings of a new life for King Thebaw and his family as they try to settle into the port town of Ratnagiri, north of Goa. Events conspire to weave Outram House (the name of the residence the British provide to house the family and what remains of their assistants) more firmly into the life of Ratnagiri than had been expected. King Thebaw is revered by the local community, and in time the family come to feel secure and even happy in their new surroundings. The arrival of a new Collector stirs up feelings of resentment towards the colonial regime, but Uma, the Collector's headstrong wife, is able to help bridge the gap by befriending Dolly. Meanwhile, Rajkumar has been enduring the hardships of the teak trade, having witnessed man and beast working together on an epic scale as elephants transport large volumes of wood down from the forests for sale into the British Empire's vastly expanding markets. Being the opportunist that he is, Rajkumar starts to make his own way in world after receiving advice from his new friend and colleague Doh Say. Borrowing cash from Saya John, he makes the journey to India to recruit poverty-stricken village-dwellers into the comparatively lucrative (yet undoubtedly perilous) world of early oil-mining in Burma. Having made enough money this way, Rajkumar does what has been his dream for some time: buy a timber-yard of his own, with Doh Say as business partner. Having built a more than modest commercial empire, Rajkumar had one piece of unfinished business: to track down the only girl he'd ever loved, Dolly. Through an Indian connection in Rangoon (Yangon), Rajkumar makes contact with Ratnagiri via Uma, and is accordingly granted an audience with the Collector and his wife over a meal that of course stiffly conforms to colonial best practice. To his surprise, Dolly is present, and after some drama, he finally persuades her to leave the family she has been exiled with, and return with him to Burma as his wife. Saya John prides himself on being able to spot the next big commodity, and on their return to Rangoon, he hands Rajkumar and Dolly a small clump of odd elastic material: rubber. A joining of multi-ethnic families in Calcutta. Life before World War II on a rubber plantation in Malaya by Rajkumar with help of Saya John. The story of the Japanese invasion of Malaya and Burma and the subsequent family losses of lives and properties. Post WWII lives of the scattered families. |
Panic Spring | Lawrence Durrell | 1,937 | The character Marlowe is stranded in Brindisi during political strife in Greece, and he is eventually conveyed to Mavrodaphne by the boatman Christ who serves Rumanades, a highly successful businessman who owns Mavrodaphne. He is a disillusioned schoolteacher akin to Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall. Shortly after arriving on the island, he meets Gordon and Walsh, both characters from Durrell's Pied Piper of Lovers. In the third chapter, Rumanades' personal history is narrated, leading up through his display of fireworks on Mavrodaphne. This includes his capitalist successes and his acquisition of his fortune, as well as his failed marriage that his wealth could not control. The fourth and fifth chapters have Marlowe moving into one of Rumanades' villas on the island and meeting the remaining characters, Francis and Fonvisin. The narrative then turns to Marlowe's interests in Quietism. The subsequent chapters focus heavily on the individual characters in their own narratives: Walsh, Fonvisin, and Francis. Returning to the present moment on Mavrodaphne, the tenth chapter, "The Music," narrates a gramophone concert leading to an evening spent on a high cliff, with Francis, Marlowe, and Walsh in conversation. Marlowe then begins to write his treatise on Quietism, and Francis is called away from the island back to London, for which she is given a farewell celebration. However, before she can leave, Rumanades dies of a fever brought on by an evening spent in poor weather thinking of his lost wife. One of the priests dies on the same night, and this throws the small community of expatriates into turmoil as they must vacate the island, putting an end to their escape from financial crises, revolution, and the impending World War. |
Rough Justice | null | 2,008 | The story picks up where Tough Love left off. This time it's all about Charley. She has it all now that she is officially a WAG. All the most glamorous parties, her husbands credit card and a million-pound penthouse. But behinds closed doors her life isn't as glossy as it seems. Joel Brady, her husband has a temper and beats Charley when they argue. She has to go, but there's one problem - she still loves him. Will she regret marrying in haste - and against her and her family's will? |
Or All the Seas with Oysters | Avram Davidson | 1,958 | Struck by the fact that there are never enough pins and always too many coat-hangers, a bicycle shop owner begins to speculate on the possible parallels between natural and man-made objects. |
Tough Love | null | 2,007 | Leanne Crompton is a successful glamour model. But when she is sacked by her modelling agency because she's gotten too old she soon finds herself penniless. She decides to move her and her seven year child Kia back to her home town and to her wayward family. Leanne's mother, Tracy is an extreme alcoholic; and her two sisters, Jodie and Karina, want to escape Leanne's shadow; while her younger brother, Scott, is being cheated on by his girlfriend Charly. They all seem so lost in life, including Leanne, except for her older brother, Markie, who has just been released from prison. Having to start from the bottom once again proves tough for Leanne especially due to the secret she burdens, the celebrity identity of her daughter Kia. She questions whether or not to reveal her secret to her mum, who has a habit of selling stories to the newspapers. But before she gets the chance tell anyone, Kia's dad catches up to Leanne and tries unsuccessfully to silence her forever. |
99 Coffins | David Wellington | 2,007 | After having faced down vampires in the previous novel, Laura Caxton is more than happy to continue her career as a trooper in the Pennsylvania State Police. Her life is upended again when Special Agent United States Federal Marshal Jameson Arkeley contacts her to help investigate the discovery of a cache of Civil War-era coffins underneath the grounds of the Gettysburg Battlefield. There are one hundred coffins in the underground crypt along with ninety-nine hearts removed from the moldering vampire bodies, but one coffin is smashed and the vampire body is missing. Hobbled by his crippled hand, Arkeley presses Caxton into service as his field operative to hunt down the missing vampire body before another horrific outbreak of vampirism infects the local population. In a series of flashbacks told through letters, journals, and military reports it is revealed that the 150 year old vampires are the remains of a Union Army vampire corps that was used to turn the tide against the South at Gettysburg. Promised to be revived as human once a cure for vampirism was found, the soldiers were imprisoned in their tomb and were almost immediately forgotten by their commanders. The archeologist who discovers the tomb uses the vampires in a plot for his own personal gain. |
Blood Rites | Jim Butcher | 2,004 | After accidentally acquiring a stray puppy from a kidnapped litter of Tibetan temple dogs, Harry Dresden accepts a job from his White Court acquaintance, Thomas Raith, to investigate a series of deaths on a pornography film set led by director Arturo Genosa. After an entropy curse arrives and almost kills two more people, Lara Raith, another White Court vampire, appears as a replacement actress, discovers Dresden's presence, and soon decides to kill both Harry and Thomas for being involved. However, a surprise Black Court attack forces a truce between them and they flee to the Raith's Chicago mansion for safety. There, Dresden learns that Thomas is his half-brother and escapes an assassination attempt by Lord Raith, Thomas' and Lara's father. Soon after, Dresden finds a pattern to the curses and prepares a counterattack, but one of Genosa's ex-wives prevents him from saving the next target and frames him for the woman's death. He escapes and works out that all of Genosa's ex-wives are behind the curse, with Lord Raith supporting them. Before the next curse can be unleashed against him, Dresden calls upon Murphy to help him stop Lord Raith and maneuvers Lara to save them all from her father. At the same time, Harry has discovered a newly-established nest of Black Court vampires, led by a very old and dangerous vampire named Mavra. To wipe out the nest before it becomes entrenched, he enlists the help of his friend Karrin Murphy, the mercenary Jared Kincaid, and his mentor Ebenezar McCoy, but discovers that Kincaid and McCoy have already met. Despite almost getting blown up and burned to death, the crew successfully battle Mavra, destroy the nest, and rescue the children that had been taken as hostages. At the end, Thomas saves Harry by paying Kincaid's fee using his entire savings. |
Dead Beat | Jim Butcher | 2,005 | It's three days before Halloween and nearly a year after the events in Blood Rites. Mavra, from the previous novel, forces Dresden to locate The Word of Kemmler for her within 3 days, or Murphy will be setup for the murder of one of Mavra's minions last year. Dresden has not heard of The Word, so he consults Bob, who used to belong to Kemmler, a powerful necromancer, the Word most likely being his journal or spellbook, and certainly hunted by his apprentices. Dresden consults Dr. Butters, the Chicago assistant coroner, about any peculiar recent deaths that could be linked to necromancy. They are attacked by zombies under the necromancer Grevane. Harry and Butters escape to Dresden's warded apartment. Dresden leaves Butters with Mouse to follow a lead, the book Die Lied der Erlking Grevane was using. Dresden searches for Die Lied der Erlking at an arcane book store near the University of Chicago. He meets Sheila, a recently hired employee of the bookstore, who assists him in finding a copy. Outside the bookstore, Dresden is attacked by two wizards, Cowl and a his attendant Kumori, for possession of the book. Fighting them to a standstill and utterly exhausted, Harry is saved by the Alphas, who are students at the University. With police sirens getting closer, Kumori and Cowl flee, and the Alphas get Harry home to rest. Dresden visits his old friend Mortimer Lindquist for some answers, who points out locate six areas of Black Magic which the local spirits are avoiding and where recent murders occurred. Dresden and Butters confirm that one of the Black Magic area victims was ritually murdered, and accidentally find flash drive in a corpse. Dresden gets a message from Sheila, asking him to come by the bookstore. While there, Capiocorpus (from Latin capio, "I take" and corpus, "body") and Li Xian begin interrogating the bookstore owner about the Erlking book. Dresden attempts to fight them off but is injured and overpowered by the duo who take his copy of the book. He is rescued by Ms. Gard - under orders from Johnny Marcone. He gives Dresden some information about the sidewalk murder and drops him off at the hospital emergency room. Thomas agrees to guard Butters, while Dresden summons his fairy godmother, Leanansidhe. Instead, Queen Mab answers his call. Mab tells Dresden that the Erlking is able to summon the spirits of past hunters for the Wild Hunt. Kemmler devised a way to devour the energy of the dead and turn himself into a demi-god. And, Darkhallow is Halloween. Queen Mab will tell Dresden everything he wants to know, if he becomes her Winter Knight. As her Knight, Dresden would have more than enough power to defeat these necromancers. Dresden declines her tempting offer and Mab vanishes. Dresden assumes the Darkhallow ritual will cause the Erlking to appear and summon the spirits of past hunters for the Wild Hunt. Then, the necromancer devours the energy of those spirits and turns into a demi-god. He guesses that the ritual only creates one demi-god, hence the competition among Kemmler's students. Back at his apartment, Dresden brings Thomas up to speed. Suddenly, Grevane besieges the apartment. Then, Capiocorpus arrives and attacks Grevane. While they are fighting, Dresden, Thomas, Mouse, and Butters escape, and hide in Murphy's house. That night, Lasciel's image appears in his dream and makes a similar offer to empower Harry. Dresden declines her tempting offer and Lasciel's image vanishes. The next day is Halloween - Darkhallow. Dresden has until sunset to figure out where The Word is hidden and prevent the Darkhallow ritual. Overwhelmed, Dresden calls on the White Council. The Wardens will come in force to deal with Kemmler's apprentices. Since Capiocorpus and Li took the Elrking book from him, Dresden must rely on Sheila's eidetic memory. As she recites the book, he identifies the summoning ritual by its rhythm and phrasing patterns. Leaving her apartment, Dresden is accosted by Kumori. She promises if he leaves town now, he won't be killed, but Dresden refuses. Dresden arrives early at McAnally's, so he can have a peaceful dinner before his meeting with the Wardens. With so many Wardens killed in the war with the Red Court, Captain Luccio deputizes him as a Warden and a regional commander, much to the dismay of Warden Morgan who has never trusted Harry. After planning, Dresden summons and traps the Erlking, so no one else can summon him during the Darkhallow. The Erlking assaults and the containment circle and it holds until Cowl attacks Dresden forcing him to lose concentration and the circle collapses. The Erlking summons the Wild Hunt. Cowl distracts Dresden, while Kumori kidnaps Bob. Dresden and Butters go to Sheila's for help from the Erlking book. Butters tells Dresden that he is talking to himself in an empty room, and Dresden realizes Sheila is imaginary and the working of Lasciel. She again offers to help Dresden, but Harry realizes accepting help from Lasciel is a path down a slippery slope to total dependence upon her. He mentally binds her. With his mind clear, Dresden realizes the flash drive data are GPS coordinates. After stealing a GPS unit, Butters locates The Word in the Field Museum - next to Sue the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Grevane and his associate close in on them. Harry tells Butters and Mouse to flee to safety. Dresden quickly flips through The Word, so Lasciel can read it. Grevane captures Dresden and takes The Word. He gives the manacled Dresden to his associate, Quintus Cassius, the former host for Saluriel who Dresden previously brutally assaulted and humiliated. Cassius begins torturing Dresden, but Butters returns with Mouse, who attacks and kills Cassius. Forewarned, Cassius gives Dresden his death curse as he dies "DIE ALONE." The powerful curse knocks Dresden unconscious. He dreams that he makes a truce with Lasciel and she translates the German text of The Word for him. To be able to go near the Darkhallow, one must surround oneself with traces of necromancer-magic (by performing it). With Butters as his drummer, Dresden raises Sue the Tyrannosaurus Rex from the dead, and they head to the gathering maelstrom over a local college. The five wardens are already on campus, fighting a group of zombies. Dresden runs Sue into the zombies and splatters them. The zombies sideline Warden Yoshimo. Sue eats Li. A wave of specters appear from underneath the Earth and attack the Wardens. Warden Kowalski dies during the battle. Captain Luccio is attacked by Capiocorpus and Luccio impales Capiocorpus but Capriocorpus switches bodies with Luccio and when Harry enters the alley, he is greeted by Capriocorpus in Luccio's body. Dresden recognizes Capriocorpus within Luccio's body and shoots her dead. Warden Morgan witnesses the shooting and it reinforces his belief that Harry is a traitor. Morgan viciously attacks Dresden and is about to kill him, but is shot by Warden Ramirez, who soulgazed Capiocorpus and confirmed that Captain Luccio is now trapped inside the necromancer's body. Dresden and Ramirez ride off on Sue to face Grevane, Kumori, and Cowl. They face Grevane and his zombies first. Sue mows down the zombies, while Dresden slugs it out with Grevane. After Ramirez shoots Grevane, they are ambushed by Kumori and Cowl. Ramirez is sidelined. Dresden attacks Cowl, but Cowl is too powerful for him and Kumori ends up holding Dresden at knifepoint. Bob, forced to reveal the contents of the Word of Kemmler to Cowl, signals to Harry that he is still allied with him. Harry releases Bob and his spirit enters Sue. As Sue, Bob eats Kumori. Quickly, Dresden smashes his staff into Cowl's face, disrupting the spell. The backlash from the botched Darkhallow spell apparently kills Cowl and knocks Dresden unconscious. When Dresden awakes, the Erlking confronts him about Dresden trying to ensnare him, but is pleased with Dresden's summoning of Sue for The Wild Hunt as well as his nerve. Dresden pockets The Word for his deal with Mavra. Then, Dresden and Butters evacuate everyone to Harry's apartment. Listens-to-Wind and his fellow healers arrive and moved the wounded to a more secure location. Dresden hurries to his meeting with Mavra, and they swap the Word for the photos, and Dresden warns Mavra against threatening his friends again. Later, Morgan almost says he is sorry that he misjudged Dresden. The story closes as Butters gives Dresden a guitar as therapy for his burned hand. |
Proven Guilty | Jim Butcher | 2,006 | It's been nearly a year since the events in Dead Beat. Warden Harry Dresden attends the trial and execution of a sixteen year old Korean boy. In his ignorance, the boy repeatedly violated of the Laws of Magic by turning his family and other people into mental slaves. He ordered them to kill others, and then kill themselves. He's been proven guilty. The sentence is death. After the execution, Senior Counsel member Ebenezar McCoy asks Dresden to discover why the Summer and Winter Fae have not attacked the Red Court vampires. The Gatekeeper secretly requests that Dresden investigate the use of black magic in Chicago. At home, Dresden starts the ball rolling. He calls Fix, the Summer Knight, and arranges a meeting for tomorrow. In his Lab, Dresden talks to Bob about temporal mechanics and detecting black magic. As Dresden prepares a ritual to use Little Chicago to locate instances of black magic, he's interrupted by a call from Molly Carpenter, Michael's eldest daughter. She's at a police station and wants him to post bail. At the station, Dresden discovers she lied. She wants him to bail out her boyfriend, Nelson. He was arrested for an assault, which he didn't commit. Molly wants Dresden to help Nelson, because the assault was bizarre—almost supernatural. Dresden takes Molly home. He discovers that Molly had moved out of her parents' home. And, she was arrested for drug possession. Michael pleads with Dresden to help to Molly and her mother reconcile. Dresden agrees, reluctantly. Molly takes Dresden to SplatterCon!!!, a horror movie convention, where Nelson’s alleged assault took place. Detective Rawlings is moonlighting as convention security and is guarding the crime scene. While Dresden looks for clues, the power goes out. Rawlings and Dresden discover a movie monster has come to life. Rawlings shoots the monster to no avail. Dresden destroys it with magic. When the police arrive, Detective Sgt. Greene interrogates Dresden about the attacks. Murphy intervenes and takes Dresden home. The next day, Dresden and Murphy question the survivors at the hospital. Dresden scans them with his Sight. They've been mentally attacked by phobophages: beings that feed on fear. He also finds two inexplicable holes on one victim's head. Dresden meets with Fix, the Summer Knight, and Lily, the Summer Lady, on neutral ground at McAnally's Pub. Dresden asks why the Courts haven't retaliated against the Red Court vampires for trespassing in Faerie. Lily explains that Summer cannot attack the vampires, because it would divert their forces from the Winter-Summer stand-off. Winter and Summer must move together against the vampires, so that neither will side will gain any advantage over the other. Lily invites Maeve, the Winter Lady, to join them. Maeve says that Queen Mab has forbidden them to attack the vampires. Maeve fears that Mab might be succumbing to madness, which would disrupt Faerie and the real world. The meeting adjourns peacefully, but the Summer-Winter stand-off is unchanged. Somehow, Dresden must convince Mab to act. At the convention, Dresden and Mouse feel something hinky about movie director Darby Crane. Murphy questions Crane about the attacks at the Con. Lucius Glau, Crane's lawyer, intervenes and ends the conversation. Crane and Glau recognized Dresden's and Murphy's names. Crane becomes their prime suspect. Sandra, the convention chair, tells Murphy and Dresden that Det. Greene has detained Molly for hours. Dresden tags investigative reporter Lydia Stern to help. Det. Greene and "Agent Rick," Murphy's ex-husband, have been forcefully questioning Molly for hours. Dresden confronts Greene about his illegal detention and interrogation of a minor without parental consent. When Greene gets aggressive, Lydia Stern enters and questions Greene why they're illegally detaining a teenage girl without her parents' permission. Her readers want to know! Greene releases Molly, immediately. Dresden rents a hotel room and casts a magical web to detect the monsters when they re-appear. A panicked Nelson asks Dresden for help. Dresden sends him to holy ground at St. Mary's. Then, he plans another spell to send the phages back at their summoner. When the ward candle flares red and the web hums with powerful magic, Dresden casts the redirection spell. Three phobophages are redirected, but he misses one. Dresden fights that phage with magic and Hellfire. Dresden and Rawlings start tracking the summoner, but they’re attacked by Lucius Glau. He drives his van over Mouse and holds Rawlings at gunpoint. Crane cold-cocks Dresden with a tire iron. When Dresden awakes, he's bound by magic-inhibiting manacles. Rawlings is handcuffed to a pipe. Glau guards them, while Crane auctions Dresden on eBay. The highest bidder is Duke Ortega's widow, Duchess Arianna of the Red Court vampires. Lasciel helps Dresden escape. Dresden frees Rawlings and they try to escape. As Crane is about to kill Rawlings, Thomas arrives and shoots Glau. Crane surrenders. Mouse is alive, but limping. Thomas explains that Crane is Madrigal Raith of the White Court vampires. Crane isn't to blame for the attacks at the Con. As they leave, a Scarecrow kills Glau. Dresden, Thomas, and Mouse fight the Scarecrow, while Madrigal escapes. They escape from the Scarecrow. After they get Rawlings to a hospital, they track the Scarecrow's to the Carpenter's home. Dresden realizes that he somehow sent the phages to Molly and feels guilty about it. Daniel, the oldest son, tells them everyone else is in the panic room. Charity and her children are all right. However, Molly was taken by the phobophages. Dresden and Thomas take the Carpenters to St. Mary's Church. Father Forthill tells Dresden that Nelson seems to be suffering from drug withdrawal. Daniel awakes and tells them that he and Molly tried to distract the phages from the younger children. Dresden looks at Daniel with his Sight so he can never forget what he did to that family. He accidentally looks at Nelson and notices two small circles in his head. Realizing what the holes are, Dresden asks Charity about her magic. Charity admits she has magic, but no longer uses it. She and Molly have been fighting about Molly’s desire to pursue magic. Charity and Dresden go to Dresden's apartment to track Molly, but the spell doesn't work. When Murphy arrives at Dresden's apartment, she suggests using Charity's blood to track Molly. The trail goes to Nevernever through one of the convention theaters. At the theater, they meet Lily and Fix. They can't help Dresden directly, so Dresden gives the debt that Lily owes him to Charity, someone who they can help. Lily opens the gateway to the Nevernever. Molly's trail leads to Arctis Tor: the capital of the Winter Court. Lily tells Dresden that she and Fix cannot go with them. She gives Dresden a fire butterfly to protect them from the cold and to guide them. Dresden, Murphy, Thomas, and Charity arrive at Queen Mab's fortress. It was attacked by someone using Hellfire. They're ambushed by the creatures who kidnapped Molly. Thomas and Murphy make a stand, while Charity and Dresden look for Molly. Molly is held captive at the top of the fortress in an ice garden. The Winter Knight and his Fairy Godmother are prisoners, too. The Knight is imprisoned for his treason and his Godmother for her presumption and arrogance. Neither can aid Dresden. He and Charity fight the Scarecrow to no avail. Dresden realizes the fire butterfly contains the power and light of Summer. Dresden uses the power of Summer to destroy the Scarecrow, but he accidentally blasts the Winter Wellspring. This enrages every being in the Winter realm—even the Erlking. They escape through Lily’s gate into the theater. Dresden realizes they've been used by Lily to distract the Winter Fae and break the Summer-Winter stand-off. They retreat to the safety of holy ground at St. Mary’s. Dresden confronts Molly about using magic on Nelson and Rosie. Molly did it to stop them from using drugs, because Rosie is pregnant. Dresden explains that using mind-control breaks one of the Laws of Magic. As a Warden of the Council, Dresden must bring her to trial. At the trial, most of the Senior Council cannot attend, due to a vampire attack on the Colorado training camp. Despite an impassioned argument, The Merlin votes to execute Molly. Dresden stalls the trial by declaring a point of order that the Gatekeeper has not voted. After deliberation, the Gatekeeper opens a gate for Listen-to-Winds, McCoy, Martha Liberty, Luccio, and a herd of apprentices. They survived another attack on the training camp by the demonic Outsiders. Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Cross, comes through with them. Dresden calls for a vote of the recently returned Senior Council members. Since Michael has just saved about 40 of the White Council's children, they should save one of his: Molly. They vote to not execute Molly on the condition that she becomes Dresden's apprentice and is placed under the Doom of Damocles. Dresden is under the Doom of Damocles, too. If Molly heads back toward black magic, she will be executed—and so will Dresden, for letting her backslide. Dresden makes Molly return to live with her parents, to finish high school, and to dedicate herself to the apprenticeship. Molly whines and complains. Dresden warns that if she doesn't have the patience and dedication to abide with her own family, she won't find the patience and dedication to learn magic. In a cloud of teen angst, Molly returns home. Her family is glad to have her back and Dresden is happy to get Mouse back. The next day, Murphy tells Dresden that she has been demoted to detective sergeant for dereliction of duty. The few hours she spent in Faerie, were days in Chicago time. Later, Dresden and McCoy compare notes on the recent happenings. They agree there's a new group orchestrating events from a safe distance. Dresden refers to this group of unknown individuals as the "Black Council." They agree the attack on the training camp means there's a highly-placed traitor in the White Council, maybe even on the Senior Council itself. Only time will tell. |
White Night | Jim Butcher | 2,007 | A year after the events in Proven Guilty, Dresden is called by Murphy to the scene of an apparent suicide, and senses the victim is a magical practitioner. After investigating another victim, Dresden realizes a serial killer of magical practitioners is loose in Chicago. Acting on a tip, Dresden and Murphy show up at a meeting of female practitioners, the Ordo Lebes. After some initial hostility, their leader Anna Ash reveals that over 20 members of the Ordo and the local Wiccan community have vanished. Others appear to be victims of suicide. A few of the people who disappeared were last seen with a man in a grey cloak—like a warden's cloak. Others were seen with an extremely beautiful, dark-haired man, quite possibly Thomas Raith, Dresdens brother. Dresden goes to Thomas' apartment, but he's gone. There are photos and notes on all the missing and murdered women. While examining the memory of these notes Lash tells him there was a veiled presence at the Ordo meeting, quite possibly a threat. He returns and discovers the veiled person is Elaine, his ex, hired as a bodyguard. After realizing the building is on fire, they escape and Dresden sees a grey-cloaked man and chases him, but "Grey Cloak," jumps in a car and escapes. Eavesdropping by a spell, Dresden learns that a vampire of House Skavis killed the "suicide" women. Dresden's psychic thread follows Grey Cloak through Undertown to his lair, where he reports to his boss, Cowl—who didn’t die during Darkhallow (Dead Beat). Cowl detects Dresden and blasts his psychic thread. Dresden wakes up next to his melted model of Chicago, which absorbed most of the blast. Dresden and Murphy return to Anna's to confront Helen for being the Skavis' informant. Helen convinces everyone that she's not a spy. Olivia is missing. A surveillance photo shows Thomas escorting Olivia from her house. Dresden and Elaine go to Thomas’ boat for answers. They find Olivia and some women and children in the hold. Thomas has been smuggling the targeted women and their children to a safe house. Before Thomas can finish explaining, Madrigal Raith and his ghouls attack. Dresden creates an escape route. Elaine, Thomas and Dresden fight the ghouls, while the women and children escape. Wounded, Dresden falls into Lake Michigan and loses consciousness. When Dresden regains consciousness, he and Elaine check up on her clients. Anna is dead in Elaine's hotel bathroom—an apparent suicide. They find Abby, Priscilla, and Mouse hiding at Abby’s apartment. Now, Helen is missing. Murphy arrives and informs Dresden that one of the suicide victims had been a prostitute at Marcone's Executive Priority Health. Dresden and Murphy go to the fitness club-brothel. Marcone lets them speak to his brothel madam, Ms. Demeter, a.k.a. Helen Beckitt. With Helen's information, Dresden figures out that Priscilla is the Skavis. Dresden and Murphy speed back to Elaine's hotel. Dresden frees Elaine from the Skavis' mind control. Elaine blasts the Skavis and Mouse finishes the job. Elaine is hospitalized, so Dresden calls Carlos Ramirez to help him fight Grey Cloak and Madrigal. Dresden, Ramirez, Molly and Mouse head to the Raith estate for the White Court conclave. Lara Raith escorts Dresden and Ramirez into the Deeps, a cavern, where they wait until the right moment to challenge Vittorio "Grey Cloak" Malvora and Madrigal to combat for violation of the Unseelie Accords. Vittorio and Madrigal accept the duel to the death. They all fight with a combination of physical and magical weaponry and defenses. Dresden kills Madrigal. Vittorio calls Cowl, who opens a gate from Nevernever, ushering in an army of ghouls. Vittorio orders the ghouls to kill everyone. While the ghouls rampage, Dresden opens a gate. Thomas, Murphy, Marcone, and his mercenaries arrive with automatic weapons and high explosives. They escort Lord Raith, Lara, and their entourage to Dresden's gate. Vittorio casts a spell that crushes Dresden, Lara, Thomas, and Marcone to the floor. Inside a time warp bubble, Dresden and Lash discus free will and Lasciel's coin. Dresden refuses to accept the coin to defeat the vampires. Tortured by self-awareness, Lash sacrifices herself to protect Dresden's mind from Vittorio's spell. Suddenly free, Dresden blasts Vittorio with Marcone's shotgun, breaking the spell on the others. As Thomas hauls Marcone through the gate, Cowl closes it, stranding Lara and Dresden. Marcone's explosives go off and the cavern collapses. Dresden folds his shield into a bubble around Lara and himself. They ride the explosion of fire out of the tunnel to safety. Dresden finds out Lara was behind the plot to kill the female practitioners. Dresden agrees not to kill her in exchange for weregild (financial restitution) to the families of the Skavis' victims, for her word that the genocide of magical practitioners will never happen again, and for the release of the imprisoned little faeries. Lara agrees. At the hospital, Dresden learns that Ramirez will recover and Elaine is checking herself out. Elaine agrees to distribute the weregild to the victim's families. For those without dependents, like Anna, Dresden suggests the weregild could fund a safety network for minor practitioners. This paranormal network (Paranet) would provide self-defense classes, mutual support, and a hotline for supernatural problems. Elaine agrees that Anna would have wanted such a resource as her legacy. Dresden brings Helen and Marcone up to speed. Helen is grateful that Anna was avenged. Dresden keeps his word and signs the contract making Marcone a freeholding baron under the Unseelie Accords. Later, Dresden digs up Lasciel's coin and gives it to Father Forthill. Then, Dresden devotes himself to solving the mystery of what Thomas does for a living. He follows Thomas to a trendy boutique-coffee shop, the "Coiffure Cup." Thomas explains he put himself through cosmetology school and opened this hair salon—nothing illegal or immoral is involved. They resolve their differences over coffee and part on excellent terms. |
Three Bags Full | Leonie Swann | 2,005 | At the beginning of the novel, the sheep belonging to George Glenn awake to find their shepherd dead with a spade in his middle, and resolve to solve his murder. The story is set in the fictional Irish village of Glennkill. Horrified, Miss Maple, the cleverest sheep in the flock, suggests they find the murderer. The others agree, and Miss Maple volunteers to inspect the body. A little later, a certain Tom O'Malley finds the body and, panicked, runs to fetch the people of Glennkill. This draws not only the townspeople, but several reporters. |
The President | Miguel Ángel Asturias | 1,946 | The novel begins on the Cathedral Porch, where beggars spend their nights. One beggar, the Zany, is exhausted after being continually harassed about his deceased mother. When one of the President's loyal military men, Colonel Jose Parrales Sonriente, jeers the word "mother" at him, the Zany instinctively retaliates and murders the Colonel. The beggars are interrogated and tortured into agreeing that the retired General Eusebio Canales, once in the President's military, and the independent lawyer Abel Carvajal killed the Colonel because according the President's men, there is no way "an idiot is responsible". Meanwhile, a delusional Zany flees "away down the shadowy streets in a paroxysm of mad terror". A rare glimpse of the President shows him ordering Miguel Angel Face, sometimes referred to as the President's "favourite", to help General Canales flee before he is arrested in the morning for the murder of Sonriente. The President, who presumably orchestrated the accusations for his own purposes, wants Canales to flee because "running away would be a confession of guilt". At the Two Step, a local tavern, Miguel Angel Face meets Lucio Vásquez, a policeman, and is inspired to tell Vásquez that he is kidnapping General Canales's daughter, Camila, as "a ruse to deceive the watchful authorities". He claims to be kidnapping Camila to cover up the truth of Canales's escape. Later, Vásquez meets with his friend Genaro Rodas, and upon leaving a bar they see the Zany. To Genaro Rodas's horror, Vásquez shoots the Zany. The aftermath of this scene is witnessed by Don Benjamin, a puppet-master, whose "puppets took the tragedy as their theme". Genaro Rodas returns home and discusses the murder of the Zany with his wife, Fedina de Rodas, and informs her that the police plan to arrest Canales in the morning. Meanwhile, Canales leaves Miguel Angel Face's home, exhausted and anxious about fleeing the country. Later that evening, Canales escapes safely while the police ransack his home and Miguel Angel Face sneaks in to bring Camila safely to the Two Step. In the early morning, Fedina de Rodas rushes to Canales's house in an attempt to save him from arrest for the murder of Colonel Sonriente. She arrives too late and is found by the Judge Advocate, an aide to the President. He arrests her as an accomplice in Canales's escape, and tortures her in hopes of learning Canales's location. The soldiers smear lime on her breasts before giving her back her baby, which causes its death as it refuses to feed from "the sharpness of the lime". Back at the Two Step, Miguel Angel Face visits Camila. He tries to find her a home with her aunts and uncles but they all refuse to take her in for fear of losing their friends and being associated with "the daughter of one of the President's enemies". More is revealed of Miguel Angel Face's complex character and the struggle between his physical desires for Camila and his desire to become a better person in a world ruled by terror. Camila grows very ill and a boy is sent to inform Miguel Angel Face that her condition has worsened. He dresses quickly and rushes to the Two Step to see her. Eventually relieved of charges by the President, Fedina de Rodas is purchased by a brothel, and when it is discovered that she is holding her dead baby in her arms, she is placed in a hospital. Miguel Angel Face informs Major Farfan, who is in the service of the President, that there is a threat to his life. By this act saving a man in danger, Angel Face hopes "God would grant him Camila's life in exchange". General Canales escapes into a village and, assisted by three sisters and a smuggler, crosses the frontier of the country after saving the sisters by killing a doctor who harassed them with the payment of an absurd debt. A student, a sacristan and Abel Carvajal, together in a prison cell, talk because they are "terrified of the silence" and "terrified of the darkness". Carvajal's wife runs all over town, visiting the President and influential figures such as the Judge Advocate, begging for her husband's release because she is left in the dark regarding what has happened to him. Carvajal is given a chance to read his indictment but, unable to defend himself against falsified evidence, is sentenced to execution. Miguel Angel Face is advised that if he really loves her then Camila can be spared "by means of the sacrament of marriage" and the two of them are soon married. Camila is healing and struggling with the complexities of her new marriage. General Canales dies suddenly in the midst of plans to lead a revolution when he is falsely informed that the President has attended his daughter’s wedding. The President runs for re-election, championed in a bar by his fawning supporters, while Angel Face is entrusted with an international diplomatic mission. Camila and Angel Face share an emotional parting. Major Farfan intercepts Angel Face once he reaches the port and arrests him on the President’s orders. Angel Face is violently beaten and imprisoned and an impostor takes his place on the departing ship. Camila, now pregnant, waits anxiously for letters from her husband. When she is past hope, Camila moves to the countryside with her young boy, whom she calls Miguel. Angel Face becomes the nameless prisoner in cell 17. He thinks constantly of Camila as the hope of seeing her again is the "last and only thing that remained alive in him" and ultimately dies heartbroken when he is falsely told that she has become the President’s mistress. The Cathedral Porch stands in ruins and prisoners who have been released are quickly replaced by other unfortunate souls. The puppet-master, Don Benjamin, has been reduced to madness because of the environment of terror he has been made to endure. Readers are given one more glimpse of the maddening state of life under a dictatorship. The epilogue concludes with a more hopeful tone, which is seen through a "mother's voice telling her rosary" which concludes with the Kyrie eleison; the call for the "Lord to have Mercy". |
Three Days As the Crow Flies | null | null | The book opens with Crow Shade, the protagonist, showering and getting dressed for the day. Crow is an African-American who lives in an under-furnished room in a boarding house in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. He has an expensive cocaine habit. Withdrawing from the cocaine and desperate for another high, Crow resolves to visit his friend Danny, an artist, and borrow one hundred dollars. He arrives at Danny's apartment/studio only to find it empty. At that point, Crow impulsively decides to steal three of Danny's paintings and sell them for drug money. On his way out of the apartment, Crow also steals the manuscript that Danny has been working on so that he will have something to read on the train to Manhattan. Crow eventually ends up in Astor Place and heads for the sculpture in the square. He makes an unsuccessful attempt to sell the paintings before a white man named Bones Young strikes up a conversation. Bones, the son of a wealthy hippies, sells art. He offers to help Crow sell the paintings. After sharing a cigarette the two men head east to the Lower East Side. When the men arrive in the Lower East Side, they meet up with Candy, an old friend of Bones and a follower of the art scene. The two take him to the art gallery, which had been converted from a bodega. There they meet Geoff, a married straight man who adopts an exaggerated effeminate posture. Geoff racially insults Crow, who pulls his wig off in front of everyone. Crow then tries to leave but Candy stops him and convinces him to stay. Geoff eventually apologizes and offers to host a showing of Crow's work. He also suggests that Crow come up with more paintings as the three he previously showed Geoff aren't enough for a whole shoe. The group eventually end up at Club Chaos and meet up with Melissa. Melissa is a beautiful fifty-something mixed race woman. She gets Crow to recite poetry with her. After Crow leaves she reads his tarot cards, immediately sensing that there is more to Crow's story than she was led to believe. Later that night, Crow spends the night with Candy although they don't have sex. Early the next day, Melissa wakes the two by playing a flute underneath Candy's window. The three head to yet another club from there. Bones and Geoff show up and Bones, who has become jealous of the attention that Candy is showing to Crow, elbows Crow in the back of the head. The two men argue for a bit before Candy and Melissa lead Crow out of the club. The trio catches a cab to Melissa's house, a five story townhouse. The three sleep for a few hours before Melissa wakes Crow up and asks him to paint more paintings for the showing that Geoff arranged for him. Although Crow momentarily worries that he will be found out, he goes downstair in Melissa's studio and, drawing on the information that Danny has imparted to him previously, paints three pictures. Melissa is impressed with them. She arranges to have a friend, Burt, drive her and the others to the gallery for the showing. When Burt shows up, he insults Crow, touching off another tense confrontation. Melissa defuses the situation by chanting an incantation that terrifies Burt. She demands that she turn over the keys to his car and she, Crow, Candy, and Bones, who had previously arrived, head to the gallery. The show is a huge success. All of the paintings are sold and Crow makes six thousand dollars minus commission. He is elated but begins to feel guilty about stealing Danny's art work and resolves to give Danny a cut of the money. Candy, Bones, and Crow then accompany Geoff back to his home in suburban New Jersey (using Burt's car) to help him placate his angry wife. The four then ride back into the city and go to Melissa's house. After getting high again, Crow begins to tire of the non-stop party. Everyone except Bones agrees and they leave Melissa's house. Bones and Crow walk Candy part way home and Crow heads off to Brooklyn. Bones, who does not want to be alone, begs to go along with Crow. Crow reluctantly agrees and the two board the train. Bones falls asleep. When the two men reach Brooklyn, Crow makes several unsuccessful attempts to wake Bones up. He then decides to leave without him, leaving a note under his arm. Deciding to put off going to Danny's house, Crow steps into the Palm Coast Bar, an after-hours spot and notorious drug den. The police raid the bar. Crow is able to throw his drugs on the floor before the police see him snorting up. He is patted down by a police officer who doesn't find anything on him and leads him toward the door to release him. On the way out, he bumps into Sergeant Dobson, an old friend of Crow's late police officer father. Sergeant Dobson expresses sorrow that Crow is using drugs and tells Crow that his mother, who hasn't seen him since Crow's father's funeral, is worried about him. He also shares that his own son died of a heroin overdose. He promises to let Crow go if he agrees to go to rehab. Crow, who had already considered getting clean, agrees and accepts Sergeant Dobson's card. Dobson cuffs him and puts Crow into the cruiser (so that the others don't think Crow informed on anyone) and drop him off in front of his house. Crow then makes his way to Danny's house. He decides to tell the complete truth (as well as turn over Danny's share of the money) and ask for Danny's help in getting clean. |
The Shakespeare Stealer | Gary Blackwood | 1,998 | Fourteen-year-old Widge is an orphan who doesn't even know his real name. Widge's previous master, a clergyman named Dr. Timothy Bright, taught him charactery, a shorthand language, to steal other preachers' sermons. His new master wants to use Widge's shorthand to acquire William Shakespeare's Hamlet, which hasn't been reprinted yet, for himself. Widge is given the assignment to write the play out in shorthand and sets off to London with a companion named Falconer. Falconer is a ruthless man, who is given the job of making sure that the deed is accomplished. During the play performance, Widge is so caught up in the play that before long, all he wants is to know what happens in the play. When he returns for a second try, his notebook is stolen. Widge comes back, posing as a hopeful player. He is accepted into the Lord Chamberlain's Men and, for the first time, feels like a part of a family. However, Falconer constantly presses Widge to steal the play, and Widge must decide between his master and the company. |
A Meeting at Corvallis | S. M. Stirling | null | Mike (Lord Bear) and Signe Havel of the Bearkillers and Juniper Mackenzie of Clan Mackenzie, travel to Corvallis, a neutral city-state, to convince them to join with them in resisting the PPA. Meanwhile, the Dunedain Rangers have captured a major knight of the PPA leading a band of raiders into their territory and take him to Corvallis for his trial. Sandra Arminger and her servant/assassin Tiphaine, also travel to Corvallis to speak in defense of the PPA. Sandra sends Tiphaine to kill the knight so he can not be used as evidence against the PPA. Tiphaine successfully kills the knight and flees the scene even though she was ambushed by the Rangers. At the Corvallis Faculty Senate, the governing body of Corvallis originally composed of professors from Oregon State University, the allied forces are unable to convince Corvallis to side against the PPA; but they are successful in getting Corvallis to recognize the Dunedain Rangers. Months later, Lord Protector Norman Arminger finally begins his war against the Bearkillers, Mount Angel, and Clan Mackenzie. Arminger divides his forces into three armies and dispatches them to destroy the three factions. While Corvallis refuses to help, two thousand Corvallis volunteers arrive to reinforce the Bearkillers and help them win their battle against Protectorate forces. The Central Oregon Ranchers Association also pitches in, sending a few hundred light cavalrymen to help the MacKenzies break the siege of Mount Angel. The remaining Protectorate forces regroup and retreat back to PPA territory. Rudi Mackenzie (the son of Juniper Mackenzie and Mike Havel), is captured in a PPA raid to free Princess Mathilda Arminger, and Sandra entrusts him to Tiphaine. Tiphaine takes the two children to her castle, where she holds them. Norman Arminger, however, decides to have Rudi captured and tortured, and sends one of his knights to collect him. A Ranger rescue mission to free Rudy, led by Astrid Larsson, arrives during the skirmish between the PPA factions, but Tiphaine is already victorious. Tiphaine had sworn vengeance on Astrid for killing Tiphaine's lover, Katrina, but Rudi and Mathilda persuade Astrid to leave Tiphaine alive and the women abandon their vendetta. Astrid and the Rangers leave with Rudi, leaving Mathilda with Tiphaine. The war breaks out again and this time the PPA has massed its entire army for one decisive battle. Ten thousand PPA lancers, spearmen and crossbowmen take the field against the combined allied army. Lord Bear Mike Havel, feeling that the allies may lose the battle, publicly challenges Arminger to a personal duel. Arminger, with rebellions back home and knowing that looking weak in front of his nobles would destroy his nation, accepts the challenge. Havel and Arminger meet each other in single combat with lances, swords, and daggers, and after a long fight, Havel slays Arminger with a dagger thrust. Havel, however, was fatally wounded during the battle and after giving his final orders and messages to his family and closest friends he dies. With both leaders dead, the PPA forces begins to break up and return to home. Sandra Arminger negotiates a truce with Juniper MacKenzie and the remaining Bearkiller leaders. They decide on an annual meeting to be held at Corvallis, a peace treaty, and agree that Princess Mathilda and Rudi Mackenzie would spend a few months each year in PPA and MacKenzie territory until they reach adulthood. Soon after, Mike Havel's funeral is held in Bearkiller territory. At the end of the book, Juniper has a vision during a Wiccan ceremony of an adult Rudi leading a massive army that is shouting his craft name "Artos". |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.