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K Is for Killer | Sue Grafton | 1,994 | In the eleventh of the 'Alphabet Murder' series, Kinsey Millhone is hired by Janice Kepler to investigate the death of her daughter, Lorna Kepler. Lorna had been found dead and badly decomposed ten months earlier in her secluded cabin home. The police at the time suspected it might have been a murder case, but from lack of evidence as to cause of death, the official line was that Lorna died naturally, as a result of an allergic reaction. Now someone has sent Janice a tape of a porn movie Laura apparently made before her death, and Janice, who has coped badly with her daughter's death, wants Kinsey to find out the truth. Mace, Janice's husband, and her two surviving daughters, Berlyn and Trinny, seem less keen on the investigation, and Mace and Berlyn, in particular, become positively hostile to Kinsey as she sets out to find out what happened to Lorna. With some help from Officer Cheney Phillips, Kinsey quickly learns that Lorna, who was a receptionist at the water treatment plant by day, had accumulated a modest fortune as a high class prostitute by night. Lorna was a beautiful loner, but had some friends - mainly people who like her tended to be up and about at night. Kinsey finds herself having to abandon her usual day-time routine in order to get herself into Lorna's world. Lorna's body was found by Serena Bonney, night-shift nurse and estranged wife of Lorna's boss at the water treatment plant, Roger Bonney. Serena's father, Clark Esselmann, is a powerful business tycoon with a number of enemies. She also befriends Danielle, a teenage colleague of Lorna's in her night-time occupation, who obliges Kinsey by giving her a badly needed haircut. When Danielle is savagely attacked in her home, Kinsey becomes convinced there's a link to Lorna's death, and her quest to discover the truth becomes more personal. Meanwhile, Kinsey has a terrifying Mafia-style encounter with a man describing himself as an attorney for a Los Angeles man to whom Lorna was engaged. He asks Linsey to keep him abreast of any developments in the case by giving her a telephone number. Kinsey soon uncovers a variety of secrets: Berlyn actually discovered Lorna's body, but kept quiet about in order to lift some of Lorna's money, and also sent her mother the porn video. Leda, the wife of Lorna's landlord JD, had bugged Lorna's cabin because she was worried (needlessly, as it turned out) that Lorna and JD were having an affair - and still has the tape. With the help of Lorna's friend, late-night radio DJ Hector Mereno, Kinsey transcribes a phone conversation Lorna had before her death which seems to have upset Lorna, but she can't make sense of it until Clark Esselmann is electrocuted in his swimming pool. Kinsey realises that the conversation on the tape is someone telling Lorna the plot - and surmises that having objected to it, Lorna was killed so that the plot could still be carried out. Her suspicions turn to Stubby Stockton, a business opponent of Esselmann's, and to Roger Bonney, since Kinsey now knows, from Berlyn's admission of the discovery of the body, that Lorna was already dead when Roger claimed he spoke to her for the last time. He is also the one with the necessary knowledge and access to his father-in-law's pool to have set up the electrocution. The final link in the chain is when Kinsey, in the course of cleaning up Danielle's trashed apartment while she's still in hospital, finds a photo of Lorna and Danielle with Stockton and Bonney. Kinsey talks to Cheney about her suspicions of Roger, but he points out there's no evidence. Frustrated that Bonney may get away with murder, the final straw is when Danielle dies in hospital. Kinsey phones the secret number and reports that Bonney is the killer. Overcome with guilt, she immediately tries to warn him, but he misunderstands, thinking she has come to confront him with the murder, and stuns her with a tazer. While Kinsey lies powerless on the floor, the Mafia types arrive and escort Bonney away. He is never seen again. |
L Is for Lawless | Sue Grafton | 1,995 | Kinsey is asked by her landlord Henry Pitts to help out Bucky, the grandson of their recently deceased neighbor Johnny Lee. Bucky is trying to ensure his grandfather has a military burial, but when Bucky submits a claim for his grandfather's death benefits, the military has no record of his grandfather. It appears that Johnny's past is not what it seems. Ray Rawson and Gilbert Hays, old acquaintances of Johnny Lee, turn up unexpectedly and are interested in the meager contents of Johnny's garage apartment. Events send Kinsey across the country in a wild search for the proceeds from a crime committed 40 years ago. |
M Is for Malice | Sue Grafton | 1,996 | Kinsey Millhone is hired to find the black sheep of the Malek family after the death of his multi-millionaire father. Guy Malek had been a ne'er-do-well rebel, who had finally tried his father's patience too far twenty years before, and been thrown out and never heard from since. His unlikeable brothers do not want him back in their lives, and especially do not want him taking a share of the millions they feel he did not deserve. Yet the man Kinsey tracks down has changed his life radically and seems to be the best of the Malek boys. His reappearance, followed within days by his murder, opens up wounds which had been hidden for decades. At the same time, Kinsey is trying to cope with her own personal problems, not helped by the reappearance in her life of Robert Dietz, the attractive but non-committing private investigator with whom she had had a previous relationship. |
O Is for Outlaw | Sue Grafton | 1,999 | Kinsey’s curiosity is roused when she receives a call from a man who has bought some of her possessions at an auction of defaulted storage locker items. She recognises the box as stuff which she left in the possession of her former husband, Michael Macgruder - whom she met and married during her time on the Santa Teresa Police Force at the age of 21 - when she walked out 8 months into the marriage in 1972. Mickey had asked her to give him a false alibi when he was accused of violence against a recently-returned Vietnam veteran Benny Quintero, who later died. Kinsey refused to lie, assuming his guilt, and left him. As well as high school and police academy memories, she finds in the box a letter written to her 14 years before, shortly after she left Mickey, which never reached her. It’s from Dixie Hightower, barmaid at an old haunt from that era called the Honky-Tonk, saying that Mickey was with her the night he was accused of killing Benny. Whilst shocked to find out her husband was cheating, Kinsey realises she did Mickey an injustice thinking he killed Benny and sets out to find out what has happened to him. The trail leads her to Shack, a former colleague of Mickey’s, and to Tim Litenberg, the son of another colleague, who is running the Honky-Tonk, as well as to Dixie herself, living in new-found luxury with her Vietnam vet husband Eric. Kinsey finds out Mickey had been frequenting the Honky-Tonk and is suspicious of his motives, sensing that he had uncovered some sort of illegal activity. She also contacts Mark Bethel, Mickey’s lawyer on the Quintero manslaughter charge, another veteran now running for political office. Two LAPD officers shock Kinsey with the news that Mickey is in a coma, having been shot with a gun registered to her, a present from Mickey she abandoned along with him. She is disconcerted to find this puts her high on the suspect list, especially since her assurances that she hasn’t spoken to Mickey in years are belied by a record of a 30-minute call from Mickey’s number to her apartment in recent weeks. Illegally breaking into Mickey’s apartment in search of answers, Kinsey finds a stash of weapons, false IDs, and evidence of a trip Mickey made to Louisville, Kentucky, but her search is interrupted by a biker called Carlin Duffy, looking for Mickey, and who has been a frequent visitor in recent months according to Mickey’s neighbour Wary Beason. Duffy, a habitual criminal, turns out to be Benny Quintero’s half brother, and like his brother, hails originally from Louisville. Clearly he and Mickey shared an interest in finding the truth about Benny’s death. From Duffy, Kinsey learns that Mickey was interested in Benny’s connections to a young Louisville journalist called Duncan Oaks, who was killed in Vietnam. Benny had Duncan’s press pass and dog tags, which Duffy passed to Mickey, and which Kinsey assumes have been stolen from Mickey’ s apartment, though she later find she has them herself, sewn into a jacket of Mickey’s she took from the apartment as a souvenir. Kinsey follows Mickey’s trail to Louisville. She discovers that Oaks was injured in Vietnam but disappeared in transit for medical treatment, and also that he was a classmate of Mark Bethel’s wife Laddie. She deduces that Duncan and Laddie had some sort of affair, giving Mark Bethel a motive for Duncan’s disappearance in Vietnam. Back in Santa Teresa, the LAPD detectives reappear and confirm they have traced Bethel’s fingerprints in Mickey’s apartment, searching for the missing press pass, and suspect him of shooting Mickey. They compare notes and conclude that Bethel must have pushed Oaks out of the medical helicopter, witnessed by Benny Quintero. When Quintero headed for California after the war and presumably tried to blackmail Bethel, Bethel killed him and set Mickey up to the take the rap. Years later when Mickey finally uncovered the truth, Bethel shot him, implicating Kinsey. Kinsey is reluctantly persuaded by the detectives to attempt to trap Bethel into a confession, an operation which goes badly wrong, and she ends up a target. However Duffy, now understanding Bethel to be the one responsible for his brother’s death, decapitates Bethel with a digger, saving Kinsey. Meanwhile Kinsey has uncovered the truth at the Honky-Tonk: it is being used to manufacture fake IDs, as Mickey had discovered. She reports the scam, and having exonerated Mickey on all fronts, is with him when he dies without regaining consciousness. |
Twilight at the Well of Souls | Jack L. Chalker | 1,980 | The plot of Twilight at the Well of Souls is a direct continuation of the plot of The Return of Nathan Brazil. As that novel concludes, guards at the South Zone of the Well World have killed Nathan Brazil. Or have they? As Twilight at the Well of Souls opens, it turns out that Brazil is not killed so easily. Yet another being carrying Brazil's appearance is shot down by the guards, and the leader of Zone, Serge Ortega, is informed that the latest victim is the 27th of the current day. Ortega reveals that he has deduced that Brazil had actually entered several weeks before, even arriving prior to his companions Mavra Chang, Marquoz, and Yua (all of whom had been led to believe that Brazil had not yet journeyed to the Well World). Marquoz has been busy in his short time on the Well World. After awakening as an armored war-lizard in Hakazit, he immediately insinuates himself into the local government. He learns that the government is a sort of a dictatorship, but one in which anyone who assassinates the current leader is elevated to that position themself. Marquoz does not wish to take overall leadership, but he does assassinate and supplant the head of the secret police. He leverages this position and the Hakazit lust for war and combat to raise an army to fight on Brazil's behalf. In contrast, Yua finds what seems like a hopeless situation in Awbri. The society there is dominated by the males, because every month the females go into heat (referred to as the Time) which can only be relieved by mating with a male. Just as Yua is despairing of being able to do her part to assist Brazil, she receives instructions which had been planted subconsciously by Obie. These instructions give Yua the recipe for making a hormonal replacement that will prevent the Time from occurring. Fortified with the means to gain control from the men, Yua sets about raising her own army. Mavra prefers to begin in Dillia by journeying to the neighboring hex of Gedemondas. She recalls that during her previous visit to the Well World, she had seen that the inhabitants there had amazing mental powers, with the ability to control the thoughts of others. She believes that the Gedemondans would be powerful allies, and she wants to do something more than just sit and wait until she is called. Mavra is able to catch on with a hunting party headed by Colonel Asam, as Asam has heard the stories of Mavra's previous visit to the Well World and is also very interested in meeting a Gedemondan. Their party is waylaid near their first overnight rest stop in Gedemondas. Although they succeed in fighting off the attackers, several members of the party perish and Mavra is critically injured by a blow to the head, putting her in a coma for three days. After turning the other wounded members of the group over to a rescue party, Mavra and Asam travel further into Gedemondas. At one of their rest stops, the Gedemondans arrive to meet them. Holding Mavra and Asam in thrall, the Gedemondans heal their wounds, then discuss the mission to repair the Well. Mavra asks for their assistance, but is not told whether it will be offered. The Gedemondans inform her of a council of war that will soon be conducted in the empty Gedemondan embassy in South Zone, and Mavra suggests that the fastest way to get there is via the Gedemondan Zone Gate. The Gedemondans take her and Asam there, though they do not allow either traveller to remember anything of the journey. At the council, the three conspirators are reunited, and they learn of one another's new forms. The last member of the council is Gypsy, who inexplicably retains the same appearance as he had before arriving at the Well World. Gypsy informs the rest of the council of Brazil's early arrival on the Well World, and discusses the plan for misdirection of the search for Brazil. Gypsy demonstrates that he has the ability to morph into the same appearance as Brazil, capable of fooling any observer not aware of the switch. He informs the group that he will join their army at some point in the future in the guise of Brazil, with the intention of drawing attention away from the approach of the real Brazil to the Well. |
T Is for Trespass | Sue Grafton | null | Kinsey’s cantankerous neighbor Gus is badly injured in a fall and hires Solana Rojas, a private nurse, to help him while he recuperates. Kinsey becomes suspicious when Gus becomes isolated and withdrawn. She finds out that Solana is con artist who engages in identity theft. What Kinsey doesn’t know is that Solana is a dangerous sociopath with an accomplice and a history of clients who died under her care. Kinsey works with other neighbors and friends to rescue Gus and expose the con-artist without rousing her suspicions. At the same time, Kinsey investigates a case of possible insurance fraud involving a student who drove into another car. The female passenger in the other car had extensive injuries and she and her husband are suing the student and the insurance company. Kinsey must track down a reluctant witness and use her rather rough charm to get him to come forward. Unlike previous books in this series, this book alternates between two perspectives; Kinsey's and Solana's. |
The Naughtiest Girl in School | Enid Blyton | null | "I won't! I won't!"-Those are Elizabeth's favourite words. Hoping to get sent back home, she tries every trick she knows, and indeed she knows many-breaking rules, being rude and being sternly disobedient. However, she has a heart of gold beneath her bad behaviour, and when she meets a girl with a broken heart, it has strange effects on her. Elizabeth Allen is a spoiled girl who is the only child of her parents. She becomes very upset and outraged when she learns that she is being sent to a boarding school. When Elizabeth joins Whyteleafe School she is determined to misbehave so that she will be expelled and able to go back home as soon as possible. At Whyteleafe Elizabeth discovers a new world. Because of her mischief she is first disliked by her fellow students, but slowly, Elizabeth learns how to share and get along with people, she learns to make friends and understands the importance of friends. She likes Rita and William - the Head Girl and Head Boy of the School. Rita tells her that a girl in her class - Joan Townsend - is not happy, as her parents neglect her, and Elizabeth promises to try to make friends with Joan. Joan convinces her that misbehaving in order to be expelled is a bad idea, and advises her to be good, and to ask the heads of the school to tell her parents that she is unhappy and to ask them to take her away, but not in disgrace. Elizabeth accepts this suggestion, and her behaviour improves a lot. She also makes good progress at her piano lessons and secretly longs to play at the function held after the half-term break, though she knows this will not be possible if she goes home at half term. Her friendship with Joan develops and Joan talks about how much she loves her mother and how hurt she is by her mother's neglect. Joan knows that her mother will not send her any birthday presents or cake. Elizabeth arranges for a large cake, presents, and cards to be sent to Joan for her birthday, as if from her parents. Joan is overjoyed at first, but when she writes to her mother to thank her, her mother replies that she did not send anything. Joan is distressed, wanders off in the rain, and becomes very ill. Elizabeth writes to Joan's mother to confess her role in making Joan ill. Joan's contrite mother arrives to visit Joan, and explains to the heads that her neglect of Joan stems from a resentment that Joan survived an illness years before, while her more loved twin brother died. Joan and her mother reconcile, and Joan becomes happy again. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, with the help of Rita and William makes up her mind to stay at Whyteleafe as she realizes she is happy there and does not want to leave behind her friends. |
Blue Light | Walter Mosley | null | In 1965, a mysterious beam of blue light came down from space and overlooked Northern California. This light had extraterrestrial powers that caused whomever the beam touched to die, go mad, or acquire a special unique power. This power is defined as full actualization of humankind, with strengths, understandings and communication abilities that exceed our normal capabilities. The people touched by the light in the novel were soon referred to as "Blues" and were segregated from society because of their new and improved super human powers. Soon after this discovery, they came together to try and find their purpose in the universe. As they look for their calling in life, an evil force emerges which sets the stage for a battle later on in the novel between good and evil. The evil represents the "Gray Man"l which is Horace LaFontaine, a character in the novel who is struck by the light at the moment of death and revived as a demon sent to kill all of the "blues". Once the "blues" discover this nemesis, they take refuge in the forest outside of Northern California. Soon the Gray Man finds out where they are hiding from inside sources and the "blues" come to a consensus in which they are going to confront their enemy and declare war with the Gray Man. This epic battle takes place at the ending of the novel and has an extraordinary finish. The "blues" all use their powers that they were given to destroy the Gray Man. They soon reside in the small cities of Northern California and live normal lives with the people of California. |
Adrenaline | James Robert Baker | null | The book is about two "lusty" gay lovers from Los Angeles named Nick and Jeff who at the beginning of the novel were having passionate sex when two "wildly homophobic cops" break in on them. They fight back and while trying to defend themselves, they take one cop as hostage. |
Vectorial Mechanics | Arthur Milne | null | Vectorial Mechanics has 18 chapters grouped into 3 parts. Part I is on vector algebra including chapters on a definition of a vector, products of vectors, elementary tensor analysis, and integral theorems. Part II is on systems of line vectors including chapters on line co-ordinates, systems of line vectors, statics of rigid bodies, the displacement of a rigid body, and the work of a system of line vectors. Part III is on dynamics including kinematics, particle dynamics, types of particle motion, dynamics of systems of particles, rigid bodies in motion, dynamics of rigid bodies, motion of a rigid body about its center of mass, gyrostatic problems, and impulsive motion. |
The Ointment Seller | null | null | There are two extant fragments of this manuscript. This plot summary pertains to "The Museum Fragment (Musejní Zlomek)." The play begins with Rubin approaching the Merchant and telling him that he will gladly serve him if the Merchant gives him a pot of barley porridge and three new spoons. The Merchant agrees to provide these goods if Rubin helps him find a place to set up a stall to sell his ointments. Rubin then starts to sing a song with Pusterpalk extolling the virtues of the Merchant's ointments, and continues after the song to praise the Merchant and his ability to cure sicknesses of all kinds. Rubin runs off amongst the people and the Merchant, not able to find him, calls for him repeatedly. When Rubin returns to him, the Merchant asks him to take out the ointments and enumerate them for him. Among these ointments is one that is "so precious that neither Vienna nor Prague has it: A young lady made it all out of gnat lard, she added a few farts to it so that it should not quickly spoil; that's the one all praise most keenly." The Merchant suggests after some time that they should set up their stall somewhere else since no customers are coming. Rubin then tells him that he has heard that there are three ladies in town seeking good ointments. The three ladies - all named Mary - are standing in the crowd and Rubin calls them over. The Marys ask for ointment to anoint their Lord Jesus Christ's body. At this point Abraham appears carrying his son Isaac and asks the Merchant to heal him and make him rise from the dead. The Merchant agrees but only if Abraham gives him gold and his daughter, to which Abraham agrees. The Merchant proceeds to pour feces over Isaac's backside. Isaac then rises and gives thanks to the Merchant for healing him. The Marys continue to request ointment to anoint Jesus Christ. The Merchant asks for two talents of gold instead of three as usual and the Merchant's wife then yells angrily at him for offering the ointment for less gold, blaming him for their poverty. To his wife's outburst, the Merchant exclaims: "I would advise you to stop, to let me be in peace. And if you do not stop it maybe you will rise and go away from me in tears. Busy yourself with your distaff at once, or I will punch you in the face!" Rubin and Pusterpalk then have a conversation about their lineage and get into an argument, whereby the Merchant tells the Marys not to pay attention to their fighting. This is how the Museum Fragment ends. |
Don't Call Me Ishmael | Michael Gerard Bauer | 2,006 | The novel's main character, Ishmael Lesuer, is named after the main character of Moby-Dick. He was given the name because just before he was born, his parents performed a scene from the novel. He is fourteen years old and the world's only sufferer from the self-diagnosed Ishmael Leseur's Syndrome – a chronic ailment capable of turning an otherwise normal person into a "walking disaster area registering nine point nine on the open-ended imbecile scale". Ishmael showed no symptoms of his apparent syndrome until his first day of secondary school. The school bully, Barry Bagsley, teases him about his name. He tries to avoid Barry and acts invisible but swears to stand up to Barry in Year Nine. His Year Nine teacher, Miss Tarango, tells the whole class about the name Ishmael coming from Moby-Dick, which gives Barry and his friends more names to tease Ishmael with. Ishmael later intervenes when he sees Barry and his friends tease a boy who joins Ishmael's year level. A new boy called James Scobie becomes a target for bullying because of his appearance. However, James responds to the bully's taunts with humour. He tells the class that he is fearless because he had a brain tumour that damaged the part of his brain that feels fear. Barry is the only person that does not believe James. About a week later Barry puts a lot of insects and spiders in James's desk, but James is not frightened. During a rugby match James's fearlessness changes the course of the game. Ishmael, Scobie, a hilarious, outgoing and independent boy called Orazio Zorzotto, an overweight, sci-fi geek called Bill Kingsley and a very smart nerd Ignatius Prindabel participate in debating. Barry and his friends mock Bill about his weight by destroying his debating certificate. Kelly Faulkner, a girl Ishmael starts to fall in love with, thanks Ishmael because she is the sister of the Year Four boy Ishmael saved from Barry. On the last day of school at the 'end-of-year extravaganza thingy', Ishmael invents a prayer that will humiliate Barry. However, he eventually decides not to say his prayer, because he does not want to humiliate Barry's innocent parents, ruin the ceremony for the people who worked to make it or become the person Barry was. Ishmael then receives a letter from Kelly. He runs out on to the school's oval, completely ecstatic and bursting with happiness, and reads the letter, which says that she has invited him to her friend's party. He finally realizes that his life is not as bad as he once have believed. |
The Forbidden Garden | Eric Temple Bell | 1,947 | The novel concerns the search for soil from a remote part of Asia for the cultivation of weird flowers that can destroy humanity. |
Untamed | Kristin Cast | 2,008 | Zoey is hiding in the stables with her horse, Persephone. After an internal debate she finally decides to talk with her friends. On the way to the cafeteria she feels the presence of Darkness and rushes inside. She tries to blend in and act normally but her friends ignore her and the situation degenerates with the appearance of a newly re-Marked Aphrodite, who chooses to sit with the 'nerd herd'. A confrontation is postponed by the arrival of new fledgling and famous archer James Stark. After lunch, Zoey meets Aphrodite and Stevie Rae in her room. She finds out that Stevie Rae is mostly normal now and the only differences she experiences is an intense aversion to sunlight, and that Aphrodite's Mark is fake- she has mostly reverted to a human teenager, except for her visions. Aphrodite tells Zoey that she had a vision of a world full of violence, hatred, and darkness, which was triggered by Zoey's death. When Zoey asks, Aphrodite reveals she saw Zoey die two ways: The first way was drowning near a European palace and the second way was decapitation by a strange blackness - in both visions, Zoey was alone as Neferet planned. After Stevie Rae's departure, the two are about to leave Zoey's room but meet Damien, the Twins, and Jack on the threshold. Aphrodite explains to them that Zoey confided in her because she was the only other one who could block her mind from adult vampyres and that her visions show Zoey dying alone. They make up with Zoey. After they leave, Aphrodite asks Zoey to cast a circle to see if she still has her Earth affinity. When the green candle "zaps" her, Aphrodite is convinced that the goddess has taken back her gift because she was disappointed in her. Zoey casts the circle and asks for guidance. Nyx appears to tell them that she still loves Aphrodite, that she was only safekeeping the Earth affinity for Stevie Rae, and that she reverted back to human because her own humanity was too strong. After the goddess' disappearance, they rush to a Council meeting. They find out that the Priestess of all vampyres, Shekinah, has come to the House of Night to reject Neferet's declaration of war on humans. She follows Zoey's advice to put Detective Marx on the case instead. Erik Night returns to the school and takes over Professor Nolan's drama class, much to Zoey's dismay. On her way back Zoey meets Stark and watches him practice. He confesses to her that he has a gift for archery- that he never misses a target- and it was discovered when he killed his mentor by mistake. Because he fears his power, he asks Zoey to use her powers to protect the others from him. When she starts to leave, his body rejects the Change and he dies in her arms. Zoey tells him, before he dies, that he might be revived as a red fledgling. Zoey, Darius and Aphrodite go to Street Cats, a local cat shelter, as Zoey has been searching for a community activity for the Dark Daughters. The organization is led by nuns from the Benedictine Abbey. Their leader, Sister Mary Angela, astounds Zoey with the contrast between her beliefs and John Heffer's. At the shelter, Aphrodite is chosen by a cat, to her delight, and names her Maleficent. On the way back they stop to eat at one of Zoey's favorite restaurants where they have a run-in with Heath, who is with one of Zoey's old friends. He tells Zoey that he's given her up as loving her hurt too much. At school she's late for drama class and Erik, the new teacher, makes her play Desdemona to his Othello in a Shakespeare improvisation. She's initially mad, but uses this as an opportunity to explain her feelings for him and kisses him just before the bell rings, but he storms off. Outside, she meets Darius who brings her to Aphrodite, revealing a gift for speed. Aphrodite has been having a vision of Sylvia Redbird's house and copies out a poem in her writing. Zoey calls her grandmother and together they uncover that the poem is a warning about an ancient Cherokee legend. The poem warns that Kalona, a fallen angel, will rise again throughout the help of the Tsi Sgili queen, a dark witch that uses pain. Her grandmother also warns her to beware the Raven Mockers, half-raven half-human offspring of Kalona. Zoey asks her to come to the House of Night to be safe. Zoey then goes to Shekinah, and is attacked by a Raven Mocker on the way. She escapes Aphrodite's second vision of death by calling for Damien, who sends Air to banish the creature. Outside the Council chambers she happens to eavesdrop on a discussion between Neferet and Shekinah. She incredulously hears how Neferet manages to twist all the problems she's faced since the beginning of her change and make it seem as if they were Zoey's fault. After Neferet leaves, Zoey tells Shekinah about Street Cats and asks for lodging for her grandmother. On the doorstep she bumps into Erik and explains to him about Loren. Her grandmother arrives and she moves into Zoey and Stevie Rae's room. In the middle of their discussion they discover a Raven Mocker listening at their window. The next day, Zoey is woken up by Shekinah, who announces that her grandmother was hurt in a car crash. She and Aphrodite rush to the hospital. To be sure her grandmother is guarded from Raven Mockers, who she suspects of causing the crash, she asks the hospital if a medicine man could sit at her grandmother's bedside. When the Catholic hospital refuses, she asks Sister Mary Angela instead. Back at school, Zoey begins a cleansing ritual at Shekinah's request. Zoey tries to introduce the red fledglings and Stevie Rae makes an appearance, but is interrupted by Neferet who brings an undead Stark and tries to frame Zoey. In the ensuing commotion, Neferet makes Stark shoot Stevie Rae, fulfilling another line of Aphrodite's poem. Her blood frees Kalona. Neferet reveals herself as the Tsi Sgili queen from the poem, and then kills Shekinah with her thoughts to prove it. As the Raven Mockers explode into their physical form and start a feeding frenzy, Zoey and her friends blend in with the night and together they escape to the Tulsa Depot tunnels. |
The Book of Ptath | A. E. van Vogt | 1,947 | The novel concerns a tank-battle casualty reincarnated as a dispossessed god-figure who struggles against one of his two consorts to re-establish his dominion in the far future Gondwanaland. |
Holiday | Stanley Middleton | 1,974 | The novel revolves around Edwin Fisher, a lecturer who takes a holiday at a seaside resort. The work takes place entirely within the mind of Fisher, with much of the book's development dealing with the painful realities of Fisher's mind and life. |
The Elected Member | Bernice Rubens | 1,970 | The novel's main character is Norman Zweck, who is addicted to amphetamines and is convinced that he sees silverfish wherever he goes. |
Saville | David Storey | 1,976 | The novel centers around Colin, a young boy growing up in the fictional Yorkshire mining village of Saxton during the Second World War and the postwar years. |
Sinister Barrier | Eric Frank Russell | 1,943 | The novel concerns a future where the human race is owned and operated by the invisible Vitons, parasites that feed on human pain and anguish. The Vitons are only visible when humans come into contact with a certain combination of chemicals. After several people use the combination of chemicals painted on the skin and die the person investigating the suspicious deaths is puzzled by the victims apparently insane actions. |
Dexter by Design | Jeff Lindsay | null | Dexter Morgan leads a double life: a vigilante serial killer by night and a blood spatter analyst with the Miami Police Department's forensics team by day. After the events of Dexter in the Dark, Dexter is eager to resume his hobby, but first must endure a honeymoon in Paris with his unsuspecting wife Rita. At an art gallery, Dexter and Rita are introduced to the concept of body parts being used as art by an avant-garde performance piece called "Jennifer's Leg" in which the artist amputates her own limb. On returning home, Dexter finds that his relationship with his sister, Deborah Morgan, has become strained since she learned of his murderous pastime at the end of the first book. Deborah is a Sergeant detective in the Miami Police Department's Homicide Unit and is torn between loyalty to her brother and their father (who trained Dexter to confine his murderous impulses to other killers, and taught him how to escape detection) and her duty as a police officer to arrest him. At work, Dexter is called to investigate a gruesome tableau on a local beach, where a pair of bodies have been mutilated and arranged in a display that parodies the state's tourist trade. At home, Rita is concerned for her children, Cody and Astor, who appear withdrawn and different from normal children. Dexter knows that the two share his pathology (which he calls the Dark Passenger) and has promised to train them to kill those who "deserve it", as his adoptive father, Harry, trained him. Cody is enrolled as a Cub Scout, which Rita believes will help him to bond with normal children. Dexter believes it will help him learn how to pretend to be normal. |
Der Schrecksenmeister | null | null | The novel takes place in Malaisea, the "least healthy place in Zamonia". The city is dominated by the Alchemaster of the title, Ghoolion, who lives in a building which towers over the town and who combines a range of activities: alchemy; controlling the city's Ugglies (roughly equivalent to witches); spreading disease among the city's inhabitants; and painting pictures of natural disasters. The novel's other main character is Echo, a Crat (an animal identical to a cat except that it can speak all languages and has two livers). On the death of his owner, Echo faces starvation until he makes a deal with the Alchemaster: the latter will fatten the Crat for a month, in return for which he will then be permitted to kill Echo and extract his fat. Ghoolion intends to use the fat for various alchemistic purposes, but in particular as the final ingredient which he needs to secure the secret of eternal life: it turns out that Echo's deceased owner had been the long-lost lover of Ghoolion, who intends to bring her back to life. Echo attempts to escape from his pact, enlisting the help of a Tuwituwu (a one-eyed species of owl) by the name of Theodore T. Theodore, and the last Uggly in Malaisea, Izanuela, who is in love with Ghoolion. Echo and Izanuela plan to use a love potion to make Ghoolion return the Uggly's love. The plan fails, and Izanuela is killed, but in revenge the living houses of the Uggly destroy the Ghoolion's castle. Echo is saved and sets off in search of his own love with a female Crat. |
Skylark of Valeron | E. E. Smith | 1,949 | The novel concerns Richard Seaton and Martin Crane, who reach new heights in superscience while fighting Blackie DuQuesne. |
Seven Out of Time | Arthur Leo Zagat | 1,949 | The novel is written as a first-person narrative, the narrator being a young attorney from New York named John March. While investigating the disappearance of Evelyn Rand, a young heiress, March is transported across time and space. He finds himself on a strange world which is inhabited by bizarre tentacled creatures who claim to be the descendants of the human race. There he finds Evelyn Rand, abducted as he was, and the two become enamoured of each other. Also present are many historical people who disappeared mysteriously, including the poet François Villon, King Arthur, the lost Dauphin, John Orth of Austria, and the Prophet Elijah. The seven band together to confront their captors, demanding to know why they are there. Two chapters are devoted to an exposition of the history of the human race in evolutionary terms. Despite their technological prowess, the "future men" have lost certain human qualities - including love, loyalty and faith - which they now believe vital to their survival. They will stop at nothing to wrest these "secrets" from their abductees. Horrified by their inhumanity and ruthlessness, the seven vow to stop them at any cost. As the creatures suffer an attack by mindless monsters which they themselves created, John March and Evelyn Rand are transported back to 20th-century America. March decides to publish a record of their experiences in the hope of changing the direction of human civilization. |
Purple Hibiscus | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | 2,003 | Purple Hibiscus is set in postcolonial Nigeria, a country beset by political instability and economic difficulties. The central character is Kambili Achike, fifteen for much of the period covered by the book, a member of a wealthy family dominated by her devoutly Catholic father, Eugene. Eugene is both a religious zealot and a violent figure in the Achike household, subjecting his wife Beatrice, Kambili herself, and her brother Jaja to beatings and psychological cruelty. The story is told through Kambili’s eyes and is essentially about the disintegration of her family unit and her struggle to grow to maturity. A key period is the time Kambili and her brother spend at the house of her father’s sister, Ifeoma, and her three children. This household offers a marked contrast to what Kambili and Jaja are used to. Though Catholic, it practices a completely different form of Catholicism, making for a happy, liberal place that encourages its members to speak their minds. In this nurturing environment both Kambili and Jaja become more open, more able to voice their own opinions. Importantly, also, while at Aunty Ifeoma’s, Kambili falls in love with a young priest, Father Amadi, which awakens her sense of her own sexuality. Ultimately, a critical mass is reached in terms of the lives of Kambili, Jaja and the existence of their family as it once was. Unable to cope with Eugene’s continual violence, Beatrice poisons him. Jaja takes the blame for the crime and ends up in prison. In the meantime, Aunty Ifeoma and her family go to America to live after she is unfairly dismissed from her job as lecturer at the University of Nigeria. The novel ends almost three years after these events, on a cautiously optimistic note. Kambili has become a young woman of eighteen, more confident than before, while her brother Jaja is about to be released from prison, hardened but not broken by his experience there. Their mother, Beatrice, having deteriorated psychologically to a great degree, shows small signs of improvement. In essence, a better future is possible for them all, though exactly what it might involve is an open question. |
Vectors in three-dimensional space | null | null | Vectors in three-dimensional space has six chapters, each divided into five or more subsections. The first on linear spaces and displacements including these sections: Introduction, Scalar multiplication of vectors, Addition and subtraction of vectors, Displacements in Euclidean space, Geometrical applications. The second on Scalar products and components including these sections: Scalar products, Linear dependence and dimension, Components of a vector, Geometrical applications, Coordinate systems. The third on Other products of vectors. The last three chapters round out Chisholm's integration of these two largely independent developments. |
The Coming of the King | Nikolai Tolstoy | null | Set in 6th century Europe after Arthur's death, the novel retells part of Merlin's life using the Black Book of Carmarthen, Robert de Boron, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and other sources. Elements of the childhood of Taliesin are also used. The novel covers Merlin's life from infancy to adulthood as well as British and Saxon conflicts, climaxing with a battle at Dineirth in Wales. Historical and legendary figures appearing in the novel include Cynric of Wessex, Maelgun Gwynedd, Beowulf and Taliesin himself. Merlin serves as mentor to Maelgun instead of Arthur as popularized by Thomas Malory and others. |
Charon: A Dragon at the Gate | Jack L. Chalker | 1,982 | "He" wakes up on a prison ship, and discovers that "he" is a copy. He learns that he is in the body of a notorious killer of women named "Park Lacoch", and that he is very short. At the orientation on Charon, a hot and steamy world of jungles and deserts, he learns that magic works. Magic here means that some individuals can sense, and learn to control, the Warden organism that pervades everything and everyone. It is possible to fool the Wardens into believing they are something else, such as converting a fruit juice to poison, or changing a person into an animal. One's status depends a lot on how much of the power one can learn to use. Park is singled out early, during the placement interviews the newcomers are getting. He is told that the leadership of the planet is aware that there is a Confederacy Assassin planted on Charon to kill the Lord of Charon, Aeolia Matuze. The agent "Park" is well aware of this, as he is that very agent, just arrived. Fortunately for him, the security interviewer is under the impression that Park's new girlfriend, Zala, is the Assassin, as she has a genetically created double mind. Park is assigned as a Town Accountant to a town where the authorities believe he will be contacted by a well-organized group of revolutionaries seeking to re-install a former Lord of Charon that Aeolia displaced. After a series of adventures, Park gains much control over the power, and with Zala (aka Kira) and his new girlfriend Darva, assists in an attack on the palace where Aeolia Matuze resides. This attack is a coordinated one, coinciding with the overthrow of the government everywhere, and prompted by Dr. Dumonia of Cerberus, a Confederate plant with many agendas. The attack is successful, but the former Lord of Charon cannot go through with killing Aeolia, who was his ex-wife that he still had feelings for. Aeolia, not as sentimental, kills him. When it seems that all is lost, Kira kills Aeolia, with the tacit approval of Aeolia's Chief of Security, Yatek Morah, who as it turns out, is really in the employ of the aliens. Yatek having no love for the late Aeolia, is willing to discuss matters with Park, and there is the implication that Park will have a chance to become the new Lord of Charon. The book closes with the Agent in the picket ship being even more affected by this latest experience. He more than ever questions the values and efficacy of the Confederacy, and wishes to delay making a final report because he fears what his government's response will be. The computer shows that it is more than merely an assistant or partner, by nearly overriding him, and almost not letting him out of the capsule. "Mr. Carroll" manages to convince the computer that he will return, and only wishes to gather the final report from Medusa before making his report to the Confederacy. The saga continues in the fourth and last book of the series, Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail. |
A Useless Death | Patti Smith | 1,972 | The poem talks about a person witnessing the execution of a queen. |
John Halifax, Gentleman | Dinah Maria Murlock Craik | 1,856 | The action is centred in the town of Tewkesbury, scarcely disguised by the fictional name Norton Bury, in Gloucestershire. The story is narrated by Phineas, a friend of the central character. John Halifax is an orphan, determined to make his way in the world through honest hard work. He is taken in by a tanner, Abel Fletcher, who is a Quaker, and thus meets Phineas, who is Abel's son. John eventually achieves success in business and love, and becomes a wealthy man. |
Red Sky in the Morning | null | null | Anna is ecstatic when her parents announce to her that they are having a baby. She sees this as her opportunity to show that she is grown-up and can take care of the family. But Ben's birth is overshadowed by the fact that he is born with hydrocephalus. At first, it is very hard for Anna to cope with this new situation, but she really loves Ben and does her very best to take care of him. At school she has problems explaining to people what is wrong with her brother, because she thinks that they will not understand and she doesn't want their sympathy. Soon after Ben 'meets' Anna's school-mate, Miranda, for the first time, the word of him being disabled quickly spreads to the rest of Anna's classmates. Anna gets angry, but then breaks down, and all her friends feel sympathetic toward her. She then says how Ben really is and invites her friends to meet him: it turns out they love him as well. The book focuses mainly on the difficulty faced by Anna and her family in dealing with Ben's disability and later coming to terms with losing him and trying to move on with their lives. |
Lush Life: A Novel | Richard Price | 2,008 | The book is set in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and begins with a crime that at first seems straightforward, but quickly expands into a thicket of complications. On the way home from a night of drinking, three men—cafe manager Eric Cash, bartender Ike Marcus, and a friend of Marcus'—are accosted by two muggers. Marcus is shot and killed, in a manner echoing the real-life murder of Nicole duFresne. NYPD Detective Matty Clark winds up investigating the crime, and keeping an eye on Ike's distraught father Billy, whose behavior becomes increasingly erratic. Cash is initially arrested for the crime, but later released when the accounts of other witnesses back up his own; his own behavior is affected as he has difficulty coping with the memory of the incident and the stresses of the police interrogation. Interwoven with the main plot are vignettes of the Lower East Side and the waves of immigrants that have come through there and lived in its tenements over the years. |
Scenes of Clerical Life | George Eliot | 1,857 | The titular character is the new curate of the parish church of Shepperton, a village near Milby. A pious man, but "sadly unsuited to the practice of his profession", Barton attempts to ensure that his congregation remains firmly within the care of the Church of England. His stipend is inadequate, and he relies on the hard work of Milly, his wife, to help keep the family. Barton is new to the village and subscribes to unpopular religious ideas; not all of the congregation accept him, but he feels that it is especially important to imbue them with what he sees as orthodox Christian views. Barton and Milly become acquainted with Countess Caroline Czerlaski. When the Countess' brother, with whom she lives, gets engaged to be married to her maid, she leaves home in protest. Barton and his wife accept the Countess into their home, much to the disapproval of the congregation, who assume her to be his mistress. The Countess becomes a burden on the already stretched family, accepting their hospitality and contributing little herself. With Milly pregnant and ill, the children's nurse convinces the Countess to leave. Milly dies following the premature birth of her baby (who also dies) and Barton is plunged into sadness at the loss. Barton's parishioners, who were so unsympathetic to him as their minister, support him and his family in their grief: "There were men and women standing in that churchyard who had bandied vulgar jests about their pastor, and who had lightly charged him with sin, but now, when they saw him following the coffin, pale and haggard, he was consecrated anew by his great sorrow, and they looked at him with respectful pity". Just as Barton is beginning to come to terms with Milly's death, he get more bad news: the vicar, Mr. Carpe, will be taking over at Shepperton church. Barton is given six-months notice to leave. He has no choice but to comply, but is disheartened, having at last won the sympathies of the parishioners. Barton believes that the request was unfair, knowing that the vicar's brother-in-law is in search of a new parish in which to work. However, he resigns himself to the move and at length obtains a living in a distant manufacturing town. The story concludes twenty years later with Barton at his wife's grave with one of his daughters: Patty. In the intervening years much has changed for Barton; his children have grown up and gone their separate ways. His son Richard is particularly mentioned as having shown talent as an engineer. Patty remains with her father. The second work in Scenes of Clerical Life is entitled "Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story" and concerns the life of a clergyman named Maynard Gilfil. We are introduced to Mr Gilfil in his capacity as the vicar of Shepperton, 'thirty years ago' (presumably the late 1820s) but the central part of the story begins in June 1788 and concerns his youth, his experiences as chaplain at Cheverel Manor and his love for Caterina Sarti. Caterina, known to the family as 'Tina', is an Italian orphan and the ward of Sir Christopher and Lady Cheverel, who took her into their care following the death of her father. In 1788 she is companion to Lady Cheverel and a talented amateur singer. Gilfil's love for Tina is not reciprocated; she is infatuated with Captain Anthony Wybrow, nephew and heir of Sir Christopher Cheverel. Sir Christopher intends Wybrow to marry a Miss Beatrice Assher, the daughter of a former sweetheart of his, and that Tina will marry Gilfil. Wybrow, aware of and compliant to his uncle's intentions, nonetheless continues to flirt with Tina, causing her to fall deeply in love with him. This continues until Wybrow goes to Bath in order to press his suit to Miss Assher. He is then invited to the Asshers' home, and afterwards returns to Cheverel Manor, bringing with him Miss Assher and her mother. Wybrow dies unexpectedly. Gilfil, finding a knife on Tina, fears that she has killed him, but the cause of death is in fact a pre-existing heart complaint. Tina runs away, and Gilfil and Sir Christopher fear that she has committed suicide. However, a former employee of Sir Christopher and Lady Cheverel returns to the manor to inform them that Tina has taken refuge with him and his wife. Gilfil seeks her out, helps her recover and marries her. It is hoped that marriage and motherhood, combined with Gilfil's love for her, which she now reciprocates, will endue her with a new zest for life. However, she dies in childbirth soon afterwards, leaving the curate to live out the rest of his life alone and die a lonely man. Janet's Repentance is the only story in Scenes of Clerical Life set in the town of Milby itself. Following the appointment of Reverend Mr Tryan to the chapel of ease at Paddiford Common, Milby is deeply divided by religious strife. One party, headed by the lawyer Robert Dempster, vigorously supports the old curate, Mr Crewe; the other is equally biased in favour of the newcomer. Edgar Tryan is an evangelical, and his opponents consider him to be no better than a dissenter. Opposition is based variously in doctrinal disagreement and on a suspicion of cant and hypocrisy on the part of Mr Tryan; in Dempster's wife, Janet, however, it stems from an affection for Mr Crewe and his wife, and the feeling that it is unkind to subject them to so much stress in their declining years. She supports her husband in a malicious campaign against Mr Tryan, despite the fact that Dempster is frequently drunkenly abusive to her, which drives her to drink in turn. One night her husband turns her out of the house; she takes refuge with a neighbour, and, remembering an encounter with Mr Tryan at the sickbed of one of his flock, where she was struck by an air of suffering and compassion about him, asks he might come to see her. He encourages her in her struggle against her dependence on alcohol and her religious conversion. Shortly afterwards Robert Dempster is thrown from his gig and seriously injured. Upon discovering what has happened, Janet, forgiving him, returns to her home and nurses him through the subsequent illness until he dies a few weeks later. Tryan continues to guide Janet toward redemption and self-sufficiency following the death of her husband. She, in turn, persuades him to move out of his inhospitable accommodation and into a house that she has inherited. It is hinted that a romantic relationship might subsequently develop between the two. His selfless devotion to his needy parishioners has taken his toll on his health, however, and he succumbs to consumption and dies young. |
When You Are Engulfed in Flames | David Sedaris | 2,008 | Sedaris's sixth book assembles essays on various situations such as trying to make coffee when the water is shut off, associations in the French countryside, buying drugs in a mobile home in rural North Carolina, having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger on a plane, armoring windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds, lancing a boil from another's backside, and venturing to Japan to quit smoking. Little, Brown and Company issued a first-run hardcover release of 100,000 copies. |
Le Vingtième siècle. La vie électrique | null | null | An electric storm raging in France as a result of the breakdown at one of the electric stations accidentally puts in contact George Lorris and Estelle Lacombe who meet each other via the téléphonoscope. George, a lieutenant of the French army in the corps of chemical engineers, is the only son of the great scientist and inventor Philox Lorris. Estelle belongs to a middle class family. George is planning to marry Estelle, a plan which encounters opposition from his father. The latter wants to marry George to either La Docroresse Bardoz or La Senatrice Coupard, de la Sarthe, either of which is a woman of great accomplishments. George insists on his original intention, and when he and his bride embark on a pre-nuptial journey, Philox Lorris employs his colleague Sulfatin to break the relationship of the couple. Instead of the tour over the factories and scientific laboratories suggested by Philox Lorris and intended to fatigue the young pair, George takes Estelle and Sulfatin to a quiet village whose inhabitants resist modern technology and live in the traditions of the 19th century. Sulfatin takes along on a journey his ward and patient, an invalid Adrien La Héronnière who is suffering from the exhaustion of the body due to an intensive mental work during his lifetime. Despite the instructions of Philox Lorris, Sulfatin does not meddle in the relationship of George and Estelle, apparently trying to make his boss disinherit George. This would make Sulfatin the sole successor of the great scientist. Philox Lorris seeing the failure of his plans, engages George in military maneuvers where George excels and advances in esteem of his bride even further. When George returns from his trip, more than ever convinced in the rightness of his decision to marry Estelle, his father becomes furious. Still, Philox Lorris believes he can alter the choice of his son. Presently, Philox Lorris is working on his two novel scientific applications: a biological weapon and a vaccine that is meant to give boost to one's health. To promote these achievements and lobby them on a political level, he organizes a large party at his house to which he invites various dignitaries, including Arsène de Marettes, a prominent political figure. George is asked to collect the video-recordings of the greatest singers and performers of the past and play them for the audience. Unfortunately, as the party begins and the videos are played out, the sound quality turns out to be mediocre. The voices recorded on the tapes sound as if their owners caught a cold. This is due to Sulfatin's absent-mindedness: he took the tapes out to a chilly air last night. Due to this unforeseen circumstance, the video concert is going to be stopped in the middle. However, Estelle had taken the copies of the tapes for her personal enjoyment, and since the copies have not been affected by the cold air, she is able to replace the originals with them after which the concert continues with great success. Meanwhile, Philox Lorris explains his inventions to politicians. Sulfatin who is assisting him with the demonstrations, confuses the health vaccine with the biological weapon and lets some of the latter escape into the room where the guests are gathered. Panic ensues; and many people including Philox Lorris and Sulfatin are poisoned. Luckily, the weapon is not lethal, and only incapacitates the affected. The house of Philox Lorris is transformed into a hospital where the guests (named the martyrs of the science in newspapers) occupy sick-beds. Philox Lorris and Sulfatin quarrel, but soon notice that Adrien La Héronnière recently cured by Sulfatin by the vaccine is immune to the poison. Philox Lorris has an idea: he tries the vaccine on himself and in two days recovers completely. He repeats the application of the vaccine on the rest of the sick and achieves the desired effect. This makes a phenomenal advertisement of the vaccine which is immediately accepted as panacea on a national level. George marries Estella, and Philox Lorris has to save his face before La Docroresse Bardoz and La Senatrice Coupard, de la Sarthe having previously offered the hand of George to both. He escapes the looming lawsuits by managing to marry La Senatrice Coupard, de la Sarthe to Sulfatin and La Docroresse Bardoz to Adrien La Héronnière. |
The Ravenous | T. M. Gray | 2,003 | The Ravenous introduces us to Eddie Spears, a teenager who is into video games and hanging out with his best friend, Jess Brown. Eddie has a problem: he can hear distant whispers and this causes severe headaches. When he discovers the true cause for his town's prosperity: a sacrificial pseudo-Druid cult, Eddie comes to realize he has a special gift—but can he use it in time to save his sister's life? |
Ghosts of Eden | T. M. Gray | 2,005 | Ghosts of Eden set in 1947 is the story of a young woman who returns to her childhood home in Bar Harbor after spending several years in a mental ward. Ghosts of Eden introduces us to Saxon Faraday, a heroine struggling with a tragic past who unlocks the mystery surrounding her home, Roquefort Manor. Is she strong enough to battle the evil ancient entity she discovers there, or will she succumb as a victim of the Great Fire of 1947? |
Apex Hides the Hurt | Colson Whitehead | 2,006 | The book is set in the fictional town of Winthrop. The protagonist of the book is an unnamed African-American "nomenclature consultant" who has had recent success in branding and selling Apex bandages, which come in multiple colors to better match a broad array of skin tones. The novel begins with the main character being contacted by his former employer, which he had left after losing a toe. He travels to the town of Winthrop after requests from the town council, which has proposed that the town be renamed. However, three key citizens disagree what the name should be: Albie Winthrop, descendant of the town's namesake (who'd made his fortune in barbed wire); Regina Goode, the mayor (descendant of one of the town's two founders); and Lucky Aberdeen, a software magnate who's leading the drive to rename the town. Winthrop wants to keep the name; Goode wants the town to revert to the name it bore at its founding as a town of free blacks, Freedom; while Aberdeen wants to call it "New Prospera." |
The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy | null | null | The boys receive a letter from Alfred Hitchcock requesting they visit a friend of his, Professor Yarborough, who has a mummy along with other artifacts in his house. The mummy has been whispering in a strange language, but only when Yarborough is alone in the room. They also receive a letter from a Mrs Banfry in Santa Monica, whose distinctive cat has gone missing. They meet with the Professor and his butler, Wilkins, who is convinced the whispering is an ancient curse. They also approach Yarborough's neighbor, Professor Freeman, for help on the language. Jupiter gets the mummy to whisper to him while disguised as the professor. Pete tackles a boy hiding in the grounds of the house, and later befriends him. The boy is named Hamid and believes the mummy is one of his ancestors. Pete and Hamid hide in the mummy's case when thieves steal it and take it to a warehouse. They escape, but can't find their way back until they get a lead from placing a series of telephone calls to friends, who then call their friends and so on. Jupiter calls this a Ghost to Ghost Hookup. The boys learn that the mummy and missing cat cases are connected, and when Jupiter happens upon the warehouse and the thieves, he must hide in the mummy case to avoid being caught. The case is taken to a familiar location and Bob and Pete quickly arrive on the scene and the villain is caught. sv:Tre Deckare löser Viskande mumiens gåta |
Jake's Tower | Elizabeth Laird | 2,001 | Every day life for Jake is a struggle due to his mother's horrible and violent boyfriend, Steve. To escape his problems, Jake dreams of having his own tall tower where he can be peaceful and safe. In his pretend tower he daydreams of his father, who gave him a hug and a fluffy duck when he was born. Though certain he will never see him again, Jake believes that he might somehow get to meet him one day. But when the struggle gets too much for him and his mother, they run away from Steve to Jake's grandmother (his father's mother, Mrs Judd). She never believed that Jake was her son's son until she meets him and, seeing the resemblance, she helps protect him from the danger that he is involved in. However, Jake's mother insists on fighting for Jake's custody, resulting in a case conference between Jake's mother and his grandmother. Meanwhile, Jake bestfriend Kieran, a boy at his school and they agree to go to and from school with each other. When Kieran is sick one day, Jake takes a shortcut, only to be apprehended by the one person he did not want to meet - Steve. Steve grabs Jake, but immediately releases him when Jake's teachers come out. However, when his teacher leave, Steve starts to intimidate Jake again. Jake manages to escape to his grandmother's house, where Mrs. Judd manages to get rid of Steve when he follows Jake. The following day Jake returns home from school while Mrs Judd and his mother are at his case conference. Suddenly the door opens - standing at the living room door is Jake's father. |
The Garbage King | Elizabeth Laird | 2,003 | It tells the story of Mamo and Dani. Mamo is from a very poor family where everyone has died except for him and his sister, Tiggist. Mamo is kidnapped by a slave trader who claims to be his Uncle Merga. "Merga" takes Mamo far from the city and sells him to a cruel farmer. Dani comes from a rich and privileged family in a prosperous part of Addis Abbaba. His father, however, wants him to join the army to toughen him up. Dani's mother is sick and is moved to London, England, to receive better medical care. Dani runs away to escape his father. At the same time, Mamo escapes from the cfarmer and hitchhikes back to Addis Ababa, and hides in a graveyard where he meets Dani who is also hiding there. They form an unexpected alliance and together join a gang of beggar street boys. The gang members offer different talents to the group, and share a strict code of sharing whatever they obtain. Mamo becomes "the garbage king" because he is an expert at finding treasures in rubbish heaps. Dani writes stories which the others sell for money. Mamo tries to sell a story to a schoolteacher that turns out to be one of Dani's teachers, Ato Mesfin. Ato Mesfin recognizes Dani's handwriting, and approaches Dani's father, Ato Paulos. Ato Mesfin and Ato Paulos learn of the boys' pitch to sell their stories by talking with homeless street people. Eventually they find Dani and his gang, and Ato Paulos is angry that his son left a prosperous home to become a street urchin. Dani returns home with his father once he hears his mother is recovering, and that she will soon return home. Mamo sets off to find his sister, and learns she now lives with a new husband. When they reunite, Tiggist is happy to have her younger brother back. The two boys remain friends and provide food and new clothes for their old gang members. |
The Bridge of Light | Alpheus Hyatt Verrill | 1,950 | The novel concerns the search for a lost city in South America. |
The Cometeers | Jack Williamson | 1,950 | Young Bob Star—the son of hero John Star—lives in Purple Hall on Phobos, feeling like a prisoner. Grim news arrives about a "comet" approaching the solar system comet that moves about as if it is managed by intelligent beings. The invading aliens are referred to as The Cometeers. After the so-called Cometeers penetrate into the secret archives of The Green Hall and carry out information that a man named Merrin alive, the Council of The Green Hall decides to destroy the comet with the secret weapon AKKA. Jay Kalam the commander of the Legion seeks peaceful contact with the aliens at first. The Green Hall directs John Star to kill Merrin if necessary. Merrin is Stephen Orco - his old acquaintance the Legion Academy. Merrin is in fact a psychopathic, outlawed android who once subjected Star to horrific torture with the help of the Iron Confessor device developed by the "Reds" of the Old Earth. Kalam tells Bob that entrepreneur Edward Orco found in space a life-support space capsule with a child inside who Orco adopted under the name Stephen. Stephen Orco graduated the Academy, was assigned to Callisto, created a vortex gun based on the plasma weapons of the Medusae, and raised a revolt against Green Hall. Aladoree Anthar's attempt to destroy the rebels with AKKA failed, as Stephen Orco has the same weapon, designed by himself. However, the Legion was able to develop its vortex cannon and forced Orco to surrender. Orco bargained for her life, only Bob Star can kill Orco. Kalam leaves Star on Neptune, which contain secret prison with Orco and goes off on a mission of goodwill to Cometeers. Bob Starr sees a girl, begged him to kill Orco. Suddenly appear Cometeers, kidnapped prisoner and murdered all jailers. Surviving legionnaires Gilles Habibullah and Hal Samdu with Bob Star found the wrecked ship Jay Kalam, which was destroyed by Cometeers. Then they find the ship "Kingfisher Bird" and fly away. But Cometeer destroys the engines. Heroes find a mysterious asteroid - the base of a brilliant scientist (but they also found traces of Cometeers). There, Bob Star finds a girl who uses a certain kind of teleportation. Asteroid is sucked into a comet. Legionnaires find a cache with fuel and fly to the main comet planetoid, where are captured by Cometeers. Kalam understand the language of a girl. She is one of the descendants of the Spanish crew of the research starship captured by Cometeers. She knows that in the center of the main planetoid is a weapon that can destroy the body intangible Cometeers. Bob Star can incite the prisoners to revolt, the heroes get to the center planetoid, where they find an empty box. Kalam tells Steven Orco (he became Cometeer) and the ruler of a comet that Orco - android, an artificial person, created in the asteroid exile scientist Eldo Arruni. Realizing what the devil he has created, Arruni placed Orco in a capsule and sent it into space. At this time, Habibullah finds a mysterious weapon and sends it to Bob Star, he remembers that Orco was unable to break his will with the help of the Iron Confessor and destroys cometeers. He speaks to his mother that the girl is his bride. |
Traveling Scholarships | Jules Verne | 1,903 | Antilian School is a renowned London college, which hosts only young European people born in the Caribbean. Nine of its students are to be awarded travel grants offered by the school's sponsor, a wealthy Barbados woman. Harry Markel, a former captain turned pirate, has been captured and transferred to England, but he escapes along with his right-hand man John Carpenter and the rest of his accomplices — known collectively as the "Pirates of the Halifax" — and seizes the Alert, a three-masted ship leaving, after having massacred the captain and crew. It is precisely the ship that's just embarking the winners, accompanied by their mentor Horatio Patterson, the bursar of the school. The long voyage across the Atlantic starts and Markel and his crew, who have assumed the identity of the murdered officers and sailors, prepare to kill the passengers. But Markel learns that they will receive a large sum of money from the hands of their benefactor upon their arrival in Barbados. By greed, he resigns himself to temporarily leave the students alive a little more. On stops in stops, they visit the islands where they were born, receiving a warm welcome from their parents and their friends. The trip in the archipelago is a delight, but it may end tragically. Indeed, when Markel confirms that the youngsters are in possession of the prize offered by Mrs. Seymour, he is preparing to commit his crime. However, to Markel's bad fortune, a sailor named Will Mitz takes place on board the Alert on the recommendation of Mrs. Seymour. Mitz surprises the criminal plan of the false captain, over-hearing one of the pirates' conversations. Taking advantage of the night, he attempts an escape with the students and Patterson, but fails, then after a brief confrontation, takes command of the ship after locking up Markel and Carpenter on the captain's quarters and the other pirates in the ship's cellar, where they discover rum and get drunk. After a while, Markel and Carpenter finally manage to get out and go free their fellow criminals, but it is too late. The pirates experience a horrible end, having accidentally caused a fire that sinks the vessel. Meanwhile, Mitz and his protégés succeed in escaping in the ship's demise aboard a boat, and live through difficult times before being rescued by a steamer and repatriated to Britain where, having received notice of their adventure, they are received by the press and a large crowd. At the end, after their exciting and eventful trip, the students gather at their school for another busy year. cs:Cestovní stipendia de:Reisestipendien es:Los piratas del Halifax fr:Bourses de voyage pl:Sakiewki podróżne ro:Burse de călătorie |
The Purchase of the North Pole | Jules Verne | 1,889 | In the year of 189-, an international auction is organized to define the sovereign rights to the part of the Arctic extending from the 84th parallel, the highest yet reached by man, to the North Pole. Several countries send their official delegates, but the auction is won by a representative from an anonymous United States buyer. After the auction closes, the mysterious buyer is revealed to be Barbicane and Co., a company founded by Impey Barbicane, J.T. Maston and Captain Nicholl — the same members of the Baltimore Gun Club who, twenty years earlier, had traveled around the Moon inside a large cannon shell. The brave gunmen-astronauts had come out of their retirement with an even more ambitious engineering project: using the recoil of a huge cannon to remove the tilt of the Earth's axis — so that it would become perpendicular to the planet's orbit, like Jupiter's. That change would bring an end to seasons, as day and night would be always equal and each place would have the same climate all year round. But the society's interest lay in another effect of the recoil: a displacement of the Earth's rotation axis, that would bring the lands around the North Pole, which they had secured in the auction, to latitude 67 north. Then the vast coal deposits that were conjectured to exist under the ice could be easily mined and sold. The technical feasibility of the plan had been confirmed by J. T. Maston's computations. The necessary capital had been provided by Ms. Evangelina Scorbitt, a wealthy widow and ardent Maston's admirer (whose more than scientific interest was lost on the obsessive engineer). The cannon needed for that plan would be enormous, much larger than the huge Columbiad that had sent them to the Moon. Once the plan became public, the brilliant French engineer Alcide Pierdeux quickly computes the required force of the explosion. He then discovers that the recoil would buckle the Earth's crust; many countries (mostly in Asia) would be flooded, while others (including the United States) would gain new land. Alcide's note sends the world into panic and rage, and authorities promptly rush to stop the project. However Barbicane and Nicholl had left America for destination unknown, to supervise the completion and firing of the monster gun. J. T. Maston is caught and jailed, but he is unwilling or unable to revel the cannon's location. Frantic searches around the world fail to find it either. The cannon in fact had been dug deep into the flanks of Mount Kilimanjaro, by a small army of workers provided local sultan who was an enthusiastic fan of the former Moon explorers. The projectile, steel-braced chunk of rock weighting 180,000 tons, would exit the barrel at the fantastic speed of 2,800 kilometres per second — thanks to a new powerful explosive invented by Nicholl, which he had called "melimelonite". The cannon is fired as planned, and the explosion causes huge damage in the immediate vicinity. However, the Earth's axis retains its tilt and position, and not the slightest tremor is felt in the rest of the world. Alcide eventually deduces that J. T. Maston, while computing the size of the cannon, had made a calculation error — the first of his life. Indeed he had accidentally erased three zeros from the blackboard when he was struck by lighting during a telephone call from Ms. Scorbitt. Because of that single mistake in the data, twelve zeros got omitted from the result. The cannon he designed was indeed way too small: a trillion of them would have had to be fired to achieve the intended effect. Riduculed by the whole world and bearing the bitter resentment of his two associates, J. T. Maston went back into retirement vowing to never again make any mathematical calculations. But Ms. Scorbitt finally declared her feelings, and he gladly surrendered to marriage. |
Subspace Explorers | E. E. Smith | 1,965 | It is essentially in three overlapping parts: * A space catastrophe and its results * The discovery and scientific study of psionics * A war between the corrupt and shortsighted (including Labour, politicians, Soviet-style communists and greedy capitalists) and those who can see a bit further (mostly tradesmen, professionals, and businessmen). |
The Reformed Coquet | null | null | The story begins by briefly recounting the history of the main character, Amoranda. Her father was primarily interested in “whoring and drinking” and her mother was a “Lady clandestinely.” Her father’s brother had made a fortune as a merchant and repurchased the family’s estate, which he gave to Amoranda’s father. By the time she was seven years old, Amoranda was very vain, insisting on being called “madam” and she spent much time dressing herself in front of a mirror. In a notable anecdote, a little boy “who used to call her Wife” tried to give her a hug, but she shoved him away and told him to “see her no more.” The boy responded by saying that he liked another girl more, and Amoranda was left crying due to her jealousy. Davys notes, “Women like the Love, though they despise the Lover.” By the time Amoranda was fifteen, however, both of her parents had died and she was left with three thousand pounds a year, equivalent to about £ in present day terms. Her uncle was left as her guardian; however, he resided in London and Amoranda lived in the country, and her uncle considered the city to be a place of too many temptations. Thus, she was left alone in the country with her servants. The years had given her much appeal and grace, and she was greatly desired “for ten Parishes round.” Lord Lofty was chief among her admirers, and while he was waiting to visit her one morning, he found a letter on the ground, written by a woman and directed to Amoranda, warning her that Lofty “carries nothing but Ruin to our whole sex.” He proceeded to put the letter in his pocket and did not mention it to Amoranda. Amoranda later realized that Lofty had stolen her letter, but she remained mute on the matter. After dinner, Froth and Callid, two of her suitors, are frustrated that she will not have either of them. Together, they devise a plot to kidnap her in the night while she is outside with them, but their scheming is overheard by one of Amoranda’s servants. The servant tells Amoranda and she rewards her with a few guineas. Later, a stranger shows up at Amoranda’s home and hands her a letter from her uncle declaring that the stranger, an old man named Formator, is to be her new guardian. Amoranda tells Formator of Froth and Callid’s plot against her, and he decided that he, along with some hired footmen, will dress as women in her place. The next morning, one of Amoranda’s servants presents her with Lofty’s silver snuff box which she found in the garden. The box contained a paper that provided evidence that Lofty had broken a contract to either marry a woman or pay her ten thousand pounds. She shares the evidence with Formator who deicides to turn Lofty away when he visits. At this point, Amoranda declares that she will obey and that she likes Formator, in spite of his age. At the appropriate time that night, Formator and his companions foil Froth and Callid’s plot. Froth and Callid are taken completely unaware and, ultimately, both die as they run one another through with their swords. Lofty, after being turned away twice by Formator, wrote Amoranda a letter, but, while she was reading his letter, a stranger came to visit her. The stranger was shortly revealed to be Altemira, the woman who Lofty was supposed to have married. She shares her story with Amoranda. Altemira was about fifteen when her brother attempted to have incestuous relations with her, so she ran away from home. She stayed with a woman named Cook, who married a gardener of Lofty’s. Lofty showed up one night and inquired of Cook about her. Eventually, Altemira and Lofty began something of a relationship, but she would not sleep with him. Finally, Lofty promised that he would marry her and presented her with the contract that Amoranda’s servant had found in Lofty’s snuff box earlier. With this in her possession, she felt secure in her decision to finally sleep with Lofty. After she slept with him, however, Lofty stopped seeing her and she found that the contract had been stolen from her possession. However, she tracked him down and warned Amoranda with the letter that Lofty had found earlier in the story. Amoranda replies to Lofty’s letter that she will meet him in her summer-house and marry him. However, they trick Lofty into marrying Altemira instead, and Lofty offers her his “Heart for Life.” The next morning, Lofty, Altemira, Amoranda, and Formator departed to Lofty’s estate. Later, Altemira receives a letter from her brother declaring that he misses her and apologizing for his previous actions. When Amoranda departs, she is attacked by masked men, but Formator fends them off and they race home. Later, Amoranda’s childhood friend, Arentia, with her friend Berintha, come to visit. They are suspicious of Formator, and Formator is suspicious of Berintha actually being a man. Nonetheless, Amoranda spends a good deal of time with them. After a few days, they desire to go on a boat trip down the river with her. Amoranda goes with them against Formator’s advice, and Birintha reveals himself to be Biranthus, a man. Biranthus, aided by his barge-men, attempt to kidnap her, and he runs ashore with her and Arentia. Arentia gets bitten by an adder, or venomous snake, and dies. A man who names himself as Alanthus shows up on horseback, and Amoranda pleads for his help. After Biranthus attempts to shoot Alanthus with a pistol, one of Alanthus’s men kills him with his sword. Meanwhile, barge-men friendly to Amoranda have retaken her boat and they return to her home. Suspiciously, the plot progresses without Alanthus, with whom Amoranda has become smitten with, or Formator having met, and Alanthus sends Amoranda letters claiming that he is sick and therefore cannot visit her. Alanthus’s sister, Lady Betty, stops by Amoranda’s home and, as they talk, Amoranda learns that he has not written his sister for several months. Eventually, Amoranda’s stables catch fire in the night and Formator hastily runs to her bedroom. In doing so, he forgets to put on his beard, and when Amoranda looks at him she sees Alanthus. He hands her a letter from her uncle stating that Alanthus, a marquis, is the man that he has chosen for her to marry if they liked one another. Shortly thereafter, Lady Betty and Amoranda’s uncle both showed up and they were married that afternoon; a week later they all went to London. |
Waking the Moon | Elizabeth Hand | 1,994 | Sweeney Cassidy starts out as a freshman at University, where she meets the mysterious Angelica and falls in love with the strange and beautiful Oliver. She gets tangled up in sinister, supernatural events involving the awakening of an ancient, malevolent goddess. According to the afterword for the short story "The Bacchae", found in the collection Last Summer At Mars Hill, it is another trope on ancient Greek myth that prefigures Waking the Moon. They both involve murderous cults of women. Elizabeth Hand has said that she wanted to show that ancient goddess cultures were not all as peaceful and idyllic as we tend to think. |
Dreadful Sanctuary | Eric Frank Russell | 1,951 | The novel concerns an international conspiracy to prevent humanity from achieving space travel. |
Replay | null | null | Leo is 12 years old, imaginative, sympathetic, but often lost in his large family, with his busy parents, older sister, two younger brothers, and large extended family. He has just tried out for the school play, a fantasy about an old man who accepts two lost children into his life and regains some of his childhood magic, and Leo is cast oddly as "the old crone". At the same time, Leo is learning more about his father after finding an old autobiography his father wrote at 13 and has had stashed in his attic along with some tap shoes. Part of the discovery is of the existence of a long-lost aunt. Leo's friend Ruby, who plays a donkey in the play, also reveals the death of her younger brother. Leo is trying to make sense of losses, life-changes, and regrets as the play and his life lead to mutual revelations. Leo wonders about the mysteries of his life, not least of all, why his father is so sad and what happened to Rosaria, his sister, and why no one mentions her. Leo feels lost in the sea of people that are his family. He dreams of changing the world, or at least getting his family to notice him. Leo's family is very busy with their own problems, and hardly talk to him besides to tell him to do one chore or another. Near the beginning of the story Leo joins a play called Rumpopo's Porch. |
Seeds of Life | Eric Temple Bell | 1,951 | The novel concerns the creation of a superman using radiation. |
Fat Chance | null | 1,996 | The story is set in suburban Melbourne, Australia. The protagonist, Lisa Trelaw, is a teenage girl who is overly concerned about her weight. Other characters include her brother, Nick, who frequently teases her; Lisa's hard working father and over-weight mother; and her best friend Penny. The narrative follows Lisa through a series of life changing events. First, the 'Dog Squad' food van her parents bought and she worked in. Also, the cliff accident where a large rock fell, crushing two of Lisa's friends and narrowly missing her. The story has an ambiguous climax when Lisa is offered a modelling contract. By this stage Lisa's attitude had gone full circle. She had started out obsessed with her weight, always binge eating and then starving herself. In the end she is confident, eating healthy, with no eating disorder. |
The Crystal Horde | Eric Temple Bell | 1,952 | The novel is a science horror story that involves crystalline life. |
The Berkut | null | 1,987 | The novel begins in the final days of Nazi Germany with Hitler sheltering in his bunker. Hitler officially commits suicide along with Eva Braun. However, after Eva kills herself, a preselected double takes Hitler's place and is disposed of along with Braun in the Chancellery yard for the Russians to find. The real Hitler escapes the bunker along with Colonel Günther Brumm, a German commando officer and together with a rag tag team, escape Berlin. Stalin meanwhile has intuitively deduced that the psychological make-up of Hitler is not that of a man who would commit suicide. Hence he sets up a special team of five operatives with wide ranging powers to round up Hitler and bring him back for Stalin's personal revenge. The novel soon becomes both a thrilling chase and a ruthless game of cat and mouse. Hitler and his protectors make their way across Germany, a charred wasteland where Hitler's dreams of glory lie in ruins and ashes. Their ultimate goal is Italy (where they have been promised sanctuary) but the Russian team is in hot pursuit. Along the way, Heywood provides an unforgettable historical snapshot of the aftermath of World War II. It is worth noting that many of the German survivors are depicted as admirable, while Red Army and even United States Army personnel are shown to be either timid, short-sighted, or corrupt. In one particularly chilling sequence, US Army Major Rosemary Wilson, a rich older woman, stumbles upon Waller, the beautiful German girl who is carrying the plans for Hitler's escape. Instead of interrogating the girl or turning her over to the American MP's, Major Wilson insists on renting a room for Waller and taking her to dinner at a small, dimly lit restaurant nearby. Wholly intent upon a classic lesbian seduction, Rosemary Wilson proves no match for the highly-disciplined German girl. She drinks far too much at dinner and falls into bed in a state of blissful anticipation, only to be found dead the next morning with an SS dagger buried in her breast. The Russians ultimately catch Hitler and bring him back to Stalin. Hitler is secretly imprisoned in a hanging cage in a sub-basement of the Kremlin which is too small for Hitler to either stand or lie fully. He is fed scraps through the bars of the cage and allowed no toilet facilities. Over the years, Hitler changes to a filthy, senile beast who has his right leg amputated above the knee and his left leg amputated above the ankle as gangrene sets in. He is finally executed by Petrov when Stalin is on his death bed and the sub-basement in which Hitler was kept is walled off forever. |
The Promised Land | Władysław Reymont | 1,899 | Karol Borowiecki, a Polish nobleman, is the managing engineer at the Bucholz textile factory. With the help of his friends Max Baum, a German who is the heir to an old handloom factory, and Moritz Welt, an independent Jewish businessman, they embark on setting up their own brand new textile plant. Borowiecki's affair with Lucy Zucker, wife of another textile magnate, gives him advance notice of a change in cotton tariffs and helps Welt to make a killing on the Hamburg futures market. But more money has to be found, so all three characters cast aside their pride to raise the necessary capital. On the day of the factory opening, Borowiecki has to deny his affair with Zucker's wife to a jealous husband. But while Borowiecki accompanies Lucy on her exile to Berlin, Zucker apparently takes his revenge by burning down the three partners' uninsured factory. |
Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil | Robert Zubrin | 2,007 | Zubrin contends that OPEC nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, have used their enormous oil wealth to fund Islamic extremism; in effect, the US is financing both sides of the War on Terror. They have been able to do this through colluding illegally to keep oil prices high. Due to its dependence on their oil, the United States (and the rest of the world) is powerless to do anything about this. The key to winning the war on terror, therefore, is to create a substitute for oil. Zubrin argues that a mandate that all new cars sold in the United States be flex-fueled (FFV, for Flex-Fuel Vehicle, able to run on gasoline, ethanol or methanol, or any combination thereof) would very quickly make such vehicles the world standard, as occurred in the early 1980s with the introduction of catalytic converters. As a result, consumers would demand ethanol- and methanol-blended fuels due to their price competitiveness with gasoline, which would in turn prompt gas stations to instal biofuel pumps. Under such a situation, competition would drive oil prices down. Zubrin argues that biofuels should be subsidized in order to keep their price advantage over gasoline, as it is the only way to cripple OPEC. Some have argued that a switch to electric cars would be more beneficial. While this may be a longer-term solution, a switch to biofuel can be achieved in a few years (as in the case of Brazil). Additionally, existing cars (including hybrids) can be retrofitted with flex-fuel capability for "between $100 and $500". A switch to biofuel would have the additional benefit that it is potentially a carbon-neutral fuel. Ethanol is produced primarily via the fermentation of corn or sugar cane (or indeed any other glucose-rich crop). Methanol can be produced from any plant matter. As both of these products can easily be produced in developing countries, Zubrin contends that the resultant expanding market for farm produce would be greatly beneficial for third-world farmers. There would be no need for western nations to subsidize their own farmers, as third-world produce could be absorbed into the larger market without causing a price-crash that would bankrupt western farmers. Anne Korin, of The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, has developed this concept further, adding to Zubrin's mandate the necessity to eliminate ethanol and sugar import tariffs in the United States for it to succeed. |
Captain Pantoja and the Special Service | Mario Vargas Llosa | 1,975 | The novel narrates the story of a Peruvian Army captain, Pantaleón Pantoja, whose superiors involve him, despite his reluctance, in a mission to satisfy the sex drives of soldiers stationed in the Peruvian department of Amazonas. Pantoja is chosen to carry out the mission by virtue of being a model soldier, free from vices and without children of his own. At first Pantaleón rejects the idea since it contradicts his principles, but nonetheless finds himself forced to carry it out. He decides to clean up the zone and military base since they are in terrible condition, and does not say anything to his wife Pochita, since his mission is top secret. The services—which are designated by the term “benefits”—that Pantoja tries to provide are called Servicio de Visitadoras para Guarniciones, Puestos de Frontera y Afines (SVGPFA) (Audit Services for Garrisons and Border-Related Posts), and consist in supplying prostitutes (“visitadoras”) to the barracks in Iquitos, where they are supposed to sexually satisfy the enlisted soldiers first, and to then be made available to the officers, while being an entirely secret matter. Among these sex workers is a very seductive woman, Olga Arellano (nicknamed “the Brazilian”), who becomes involved with Pantaleón, as the latter winds up being unfaithful to Pochita. Pantaleón is a man who is drowned by the solidity of his principles.—Mario Vargas Llosa After “the Brazilian” is assassinated by a group of furious locals, Pantaleón shows up at her funeral dressed in military uniform (thus going public with the nature of the audit services and revealing the secret which he was obliged to keep) in order to raise the morale of the sex workers. Due to the SVGPFA receiving a series of internal and external complaints from the Army, Pantaleón is thus forced to shut down the service under pressure from his superiors. The ensuing complication leads him to believe that his military career has come to an end, but his superiors grant him a last chance and send him far away, to Lake Titicaca (Peruvian Andes), to take charge of a garrison located there. |
Hundred-Dollar Baby | Robert B. Parker | 2,006 | April Kyle appears in Spenser's office after several years without any contact. She's been put in charge of a new upscale brothel by her mentor, the madame Patricia Utley. She says she's being harassed by someone who wants her to pay an extraordinary protection fee. Thugs appear and scare off her customers. Spenser and Hawk manage to fend off the thugs, but things are not as they seem as soon as Spenser starts asking questions. April begs him to stop investigating, but, Spenser being Spenser, can't stop until he unravels the mystery. What surfaces is a web of deceit, greed and the fragile psyche of April Kyle. |
Pregnancy after a loss | null | 1,999 | Lanham says that after her first loss, that she was anxious about another child. She thought that he would end up just like her miscarriage. She covers all the feelings that she felt and being pregnant with her second son Andrew. There is also a dads view in the story. It covers many things such as, gaining the courage to try again, Trying Again, and waiting for the new baby. |
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose | Eckhart Tolle | 2,005 | Tolle begins with an allegorical evocation: "Earth, 114 million years ago, one morning just after sunrise: The first flower ever to appear on the planet opens up to receive the rays of the sun ... this momentous event heralds an evolutionary transformation in the life of plants". This is used by Tolle as an analogy for a transformation in human consciousness that he sees is about to occur and has already begun. Tolle believes that the earliest such "flowers" or spiritual messengers were in the forms of Buddha, Jesus, Laozi and other such great teachers, and that at those particular time periods in history, these great teachers’ messages were not fully understood. Tolle explains In his book A New Earth, Tolle defines the term ego as an "illusory sense of self" based on one's memories and thoughts. Tolle says that when studying history "it becomes obvious that the human ego in its collective aspect as “us” against “them” is even more insane than the “me,” the individual ego, although the mechanism is the same. By far the greater part of violence that humans have inflicted on each other is not the work of criminals or the mentally deranged, but of normal, respectable citizens in the service of the collective ego. One can go so far as to say that on this planet “normal” equals insane. What is it that lies at the root of this insanity? Complete identification with thought and emotion, that is to say, ego." Tolle describes our identification with things: things that we use every day for self enhancement or things we have become attached to and become obsessed with. He describes how inferiority changes the way we act with other people and creates an ego that we didn’t normally have. Tolle uses his term pain body to describe the human tendency to carry around "an accumulation of old emotional pain". The identification is what causes all the reoccurring pain in the individual. Being able to know where the pain is coming from will prevent the pain body to renew itself through you. Our inner consciousness can change the world by not just being satisfied with what you do. Our destinies can be determined by how we carry out our actions and how we can fulfill them with the best possible consciousness. In these chapters, Tolle makes many distinctions: between "knowing yourself and knowing about yourself"; between the "Dreamer" and the "dream"; between the objects of consciousness and the space of consciousness; between outer space and inner space; and between outer purpose and inner purpose In the final chapter, Tolle discusses what he calls "the three modalities of awakened doing": acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm. Acceptance is when you may not enjoy what you are doing but you have to be able to accept it. This is essentially being able to take responsibility in your life and to take action with certain things that are not enjoyable at all and to find peace within these activities. Enjoyment is the next modality and it is being able to make the present moment a pivotal part of your life. This doesn’t mean that if you want to do something that you will find enjoyment in it. It means that with everything you do that you need to enjoy it in the present; you can’t let the moments pass you by or tell yourself you will enjoy something in the near future. The final modality of the inner consciousness is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm entails that there is a deeper enjoyment in the actions you do and being able to work towards a final goal, with a sense of urgency, but without stress. |
King Leary | Paul Quarrington | 1,987 | The novel's protagonist is Percival "King" Leary, a legendary retired ice hockey player living in a smalltown nursing home, who is invited to Toronto by a young hotshot advertising executive to record a ginger ale commercial. The novel tracks his experiences on the trip, as well as exploring his past career through flashbacks. Included amongst these reminiscences are his times at a juvenile reformatory as well as his years with several hockey teams. The book's cast consists of various hockey players; an aged journalist, ‘Blue’ Hermann, who chronicled Leary’s professional life; and members of Leary’s family. In addition to chronicling his experiences on the trip, the novel explores his emotional life, as ghosts from his past come to confront him about his virtual withdrawal from any kind of life outside of the nursing home. |
A Matter of Profit | Hilari Bell | 2,001 | Ahvren's people, the Vivitare, have conquered the T'Chin confederacy. After spending two years fighting a brutal war on another world, Ahvren welcomes peace. However, he is suspicious of his people's easy victory, wondering why the T'Chin surrendered. It is rumored that the Vivitare emperor is in danger of being assassinated and Ahvren offers to uncover the plot, in return for the freedom to choose his own path. To do it, he must understand what motivates the T'Chin. |
Man of Many Minds | E. Everett Evans | 1,953 | The novel concerns the adventures of George Hanlan, a secret service agent who has the ability to read minds. |
Tripmaster Monkey | Maxine Hong Kingston | 1,990 | Set in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1960s, Wittman Ah Sing is conflicted over his Chinese ancestry. He looks down on immigrants from China and refers to them as fobs, while also resenting Asian-American women who alter their appearance to appear more white and know little about the culture of the countries their ancestors came from. He asks Nanci Lee, who is also of Chinese ancestry, out on a date. As time goes on, Wittman become more and more upset at the racism towards Asian people he sees around him. His thoughts become more fixated on the similarities between himself, and the character of a monkey king, Sun Wukong from the Chinese epic novel Journey to the West, giving the novel its name. He loses his job at a department store after becoming irritated at a customer and positioning wind-up monkey toys and barbie dolls in sexual positions. Nanci Lee ends their relationship after Whittman begins imitating the monkey king in front of her. Wittman then goes to a party mainly attended by followers of the Beatnik movement. After overhearing a woman, Taña De Weese, reciting poetry, Wittman composes the basic structure of a play. Only a few of the guests are sober, not under the influence of drugs, and awake the morning after the party, and Wittman briefly performs his play. Wittman and Taña walk home from the party through a park, and are married by a priest so that Wittman will not be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. Wittman cannot find work, and eventually decides he should put on his play at a local community center. After rehearsing, the play is reproduced in the text of the novel. The play is quite long and resembles an epic legend. On the closing night of the play, Wittman gives a monologue that establishes he has accepted his ancestry and culture. |
Three Thousand Years | Thomas Calvert McClary | 1,954 | The novel concerns scientists who attempt to build a utopia after the earth has been placed in suspended animation for 3,000 years. |
Operation: Outer Space | Murray Leinster | 1,954 | The novel concerns the first interstellar flight, financed by making it into a television show. |
G.O.G. 666 | Eric Temple Bell | 1,954 | The novel concerns Russian genetics experiments resulting in a being that is half ape, half brain. |
Insoumise et dévoilée | null | 2,008 | Insoumise et devoilée is the story of Karima, a 32-year-old Muslim woman from Belgium who talks about her life and her violent education, from her childhood to her forced wedding in Morocco. She was beaten by her father to get her to follow their conservative traditions. This book was a real catharsis for the young woman. She broke the silence, but was threatened with murder even before the release of the book. The Muslim community of Verviers wanted to stop her from releasing the book and took her to court. |
The Macdermots of Ballycloran | Anthony Trollope | 1,847 | The narrative of The Macdermots of Ballycloran "chronicles the tragic demise of a landowning family. Larry Macdermot lives in a dilapidated mansion in Co. Leitrim, whose mortgage (enforced by his enemy, the vulgar builder Joe Flannelly) he cannot keep up. Enmity between the Macdermot and Flannelly families is sharpened by Larry's having declined to marry Joe's daughter, Sally. Macdermot's daughter, Feemy, is herself seduced by the locally hated English police officer, Captain Myles Ussher. Ussher, who enforces the excise laws against poteen distilling, is murdered by Feemy's brother, Thady. He is hanged, his father Larry goes mad, Feemy dies bearing Ussher's bastard and the Ballycloran house is finally vacated of Macdermots." |
Under the Triple Suns | Stanton A. Coblentz | 1,955 | The novel concerns the survivors of the destruction of the earth and their attempt at settling a new planet. |
Alien Minds | E. Everett Evans | 1,955 | The novel concerns the adventures of George Hanlan, a secret service agent who has the ability to read minds, on the planet Estrella. |
Islands of Space | John W. Campbell | 1,957 | The novel concerns the adventures of a trio of heroes, Arcot, Morey and Wade. |
The King's Buccaneer | Raymond E. Feist | 1,992 | Nicholas, as third son, is third in the line of succession of the Kingdom of the Isles. However, due to his gentle nature and a deformity, an underdeveloped left foot, his father, Prince Arutha, decides that Nicholas would benefit from a rougher lifestyle than he is used to in Krondor. Arutha sends Nicholas to stay with Martin, Duke of Crydee, Warden of the West, and brother to Arutha and King Lyam. Nicholas is to learn what life is like outside the comforts he is used to as son of the Prince of Krondor, and Arutha deems that the distant town of Crydee, though twice the size of when he was a prince there, is rough enough living to make Nicholas learn to think for himself. Nicholas is accompanied by his faithful squire and friend Harry, and sails on the Royal Eagle, captained by Admiral Amos Trask, to the small town of Crydee. While there, the boys become friends with two girls of the court, Martin's daughter Margaret, and Abigal, daughter of the Baron of Carse. However, after about a month, Crydee is attacked, along with the other coastal towns of Carse and Tulan, by a well-organized army of pirates, hired Tsurani assassins, and Durbin slavers. All three towns are destroyed, and many are taken prisoner during the attack, including Margaret and Abigail. With Martin injured in an accident following the attack, Nicholas vows to rescue the prisoners and takes command. He is accompanied by Trask, Harry, Martin's son Marcus, Calis, son of Tomas and elf queen Aglaranna, the magicians Nakor and Anthony, Ghuda the mercenary, and a company of sailors and soldiers of the Kingdom that survived the attacks. They sail to the island city of Freeport, where Nicholas kills his first man, a pirate named Render who was involved in the attack. Through the encounter with Render, and with the help of a girl thief named Brisa, they learn that the captives were taken on a giant ship to the southwest, across the Endless Sea. The crew of the Royal Eagle, now disguised to hide its origin and renamed the Raptor, follows the captives across the sea with guidance from Anthony, who can sense the whereabouts of Margaret. After two months at sea, they nearly overtake the slave ship, but through magic are first becalmed and then sunk. The survivors wash up on the shore of the distant, unfamiliar continent of Novindus. The crew first must find a way up the cliffs that surround the northeastern edge of Novindus before they starve. After a few days, Calis, Marcus, and Nicholas find a way up the cliffs, but their men are tired and hungry, and many have died. At the top is an oasis, and the last water to be seen for miles. After some deliberation, Nicholas decides to head southeast, in the direction the captives' ship was heading. After crossing the Hotlands, Nicholas and his company stumble upon a plot that appears to be intended to overthrow the Overlord of the City of the Serpent River. However, it turns out that the Overlord is a pawn of the wizard Dahakon and the Lady Clovis, who in turn are in league with the Pantathian Serpent Priests. After some time, Nicholas gains the trust of one of the clans of the City, Calis learns of the whereabouts of the prisoners, and Nakor is able to learn more about the Overlord, Dahakon, and Lady Clovis. When Nicholas's men infiltrate the compound where the prisoners are being held, Anthony makes a terrible discovery: the Pantathians have devised a plague that will kill over half of the people in the Kingdom, throwing it into turmoil, allowing them to reach the Lifestone below Sethanon and accomplish their master plan which will destroy Midkemia. The Pantathians have made copies of the Kingdom prisoners, which are infected with the plague and are to be returned on nearly perfect replicas of two Kingdom ships, including the Royal Eagle. Nicholas and his allies, both those from Crydee and those that joined during their time in Novindus, manage to free the prisoners, capture the copy of the Eagle, and begin the journey home following its sister ship, a replica of the Royal Gull. As Trask is seriously wounded during the capture of the Eagle, Nicholas takes command, despite his relative inexperience at sea. After trailing the Gull closely for the long journey back to the Kingdom, Nicholas and his crew finally engage the ship in battle, burning it and sinking it to destroy the plague-carrying copies. During the battle, a bireme driven by the wizard Dahakon appears, and when all attempts to defeat him fail, Anthony summons the magician Pug, who appears riding the great dragon Ryana and destroys the evil necromancer and his ship and crew of undead minions. Nicholas returns home with his crew to a heroes' welcome, having saved the Kingdom from destruction, and proven his worth as Prince as well. |
Rainbow Boys | Alex Sanchez | 2,001 | The story follows the overlapping lives of three high school seniors, with the chapters alternating between their different points of view. Jason Carrillo, the jock, finds himself questioning his heterosexuality and decides to attend a meeting for gay youth. He does not expect to see his classmates Kyle Meeks and Nelson Glassman at the meeting. Afterwards, Kyle, the mostly-closeted swimmer, decides to help tutor Jason in math. It is revealed that Kyle has had a crush on Jason for the past three years of high school. They bond over their shared feelings towards coming out and their families. Which leads them to become more than friends.' Nelson, the flamboyant class clown, has conflicting feelings towards Kyle and their relationship. He's very close to his mother who claims to have always known about his homosexuality, but rarely sees his father. After getting into an argument with Kyle, he decides to hook up with an online stranger named Brick. He has sex for the first time, and fears he has contracted HIV. He becomes friends with HIV-positive Jeremy, and they begin a relationship. |
Rainbow High | Alex Sanchez | 2,003 | It is the final semester of Jason Carillo's, Kyle Meeks's, and Nelson Glassman's senior year of high school. In the beginning they write letters expressing their past experiences and their current issues. They face the issues of coming out to the public, deciding which college to go to, and the ever-present threat of HIV/AIDS. Nelson is relieved to discover he does not have HIV, but his boyfriend Jeremy is HIV-positive. Nelson thinks Jeremy is pushing him away when Jeremy is just afraid of infecting Nelson. Nelson's mother keeps wanting to meet Jeremy and approves of their romantic relationship until she discover that he is positive. After a while, Nelson suspects Jeremy wants to break up with him, so decides to break up with Jeremy first. They meet in a cafe and Nelson still is undecided about breaking up with Jeremy but eventually Jeremy decides to break up their relationship. Nelson is hurt when Jeremy is immediately content with the idea. Jeremy and Nelson stay friends (or try to), and go to the prom on a platonic date. He is also upset because his best friend Kyle might be going to Princeton without him, leaving him to go to Tech (a boring, nerdy school in his opinion) alone. He feels insecure about his loneliness and his friends, and feels a little left out sometimes. Kyle faces the problem of deciding which college to go to: Princeton or Tech. Jason may be going to Tech, so Kyle invests his hope in the possibility of going to Tech with him. Kyle is afraid of losing Jason when they leave for college. He's willing to give up Princeton for him. Kyle encourages Jason to come out and hopes that he and Jason will be able to be open about their relationship. There are also problems on the swim team. Someone on the team had their parent write a letter to the coach saying that they don't want to shower with a homosexual (Kyle). Kyle just waits until he gets home to shower until the big swim meet. Kyle gets upset from guys bashing him and almost walks out of the front door of the hotel the team was staying at. Coach threatens to take him out of the meet and calls Kyle's father. Kyle apologizes (his father told him to) and he's able to swim in the meet. Later Kyle's father talks to the swim Coach and defends his son and his homosexuality. Kyle and Jason go to prom. In the end, Kyle decides to go to Princeton. Jason wants to come out to the team but is afraid that he will lose his scholarship from Tech. He tells his Coach who handles it very well and so does the team. The team wins state. Jason and Debra have a civil conversation. Jason's confused on why Kyle would give up Princeton for him. He doesn't want Kyle to throw his life away. Jason gives a TV interview about his homosexuality and when asked if he had a boyfriend he says no. Kyle is upset about this. When the team wins state he and Kyle kiss on the court which makes up for the interview. Jason's mother is still having a hard time accepting his sexuality. Tech takes his scholarship away saying that it was due to an altercation earlier that year. Jason thinks that this is false. He and Kyle finally go to the prom together. |
Song of the Sparrow | Lisa Ann Sandell | 2,007 | When Elaine of Ascolat's mother is murdered by a Pict warrior, her family's house was burned to ashes on their island of Shalott, and she now lives with her two brothers, Lavain and Tirry, and her father in an army encampment for Briton. Elaine is only 8 years old. She quickly makes friends with Arthur, Lancelot, Tristan, Gawain, and many others. Over the years, Elaine turns into a beautiful young girl of sixteen, with long, fiery red hair. She does all of the mending, washing, and healing of all three hundred and fifty soldiers in the camp. Elaine is in love with Lancelot, Arthur's right-hand man, her long-time playmate and companion. Suddenly, when Aurelius, the leader of the entire Briton army, is poisoned by a Saxon spy, Arthur is left to lead and unite all of Britain.Many leaders don't appreciate Arthur's youth, and even though he is an experience fighter, they leave with their men and horses. The night that Arthur is proclaimed leader, Lancelot tells Elaine he must go and win the favor of Lodengrance, for he is needed at Arthur's round table. Elaine gathers at the Round Table with her father and brothers to listen to Taliesin, the Merlin, give Arthur his title. Being the only girl there besides Morgan, Elaine feels awkward but familiar. After the men accept Arthur as their new leader, Elaine goes to talk to Lancelot who calls her "grown up now" and "a woman" . She is astonished. They part and Tristan comes up to her and speaks about how he came to be part of the army. The next day as Elaine is working on Tirry's clothes, she pricks herself with a sewing needle, something she hasn't done in years." She runs out from the tent weeping, only to be found by Morgan. Elaine says it is a "bad omen" and Morgan brings Elaine to her tent to comfort her. Arthur comes in and they discuss the planned attack on the Saxons, in which Arthur explains that he doesn't want to murder, but it must be done to protect the people. A few days later, Lancelot returns from his mission, bringing back Lodengrance and his stunning daughter, Gwynivere, to be wed to Arthur. However the new dux bellorum is not too ecstatic. Lancelot introduces his feelings for the new girl in front of Elaine. "She should be mine. But I will never have her," says Lancelot, which crushes Elaine, especially when he calls her "a child." To add to her heartbreak, she finds Gwynivere to be "filled with poison." Gwynivere's superior attitude puts the two girls at odds right when they meet. Elaine and Tristan place a frog in Gwynivere's embroidery pouch as a way of repenting her cruelness to Elaine. After the act, he warns her not to follow the men to the Saxons, which is exactly what she decides to do. On the day of their leaving, Elaine, a jumble of worry and nerves, says goodbye and good luck to her father and brothers. She waits a while before taking her own saved provisions and following in their tracks. A brave and persistent woman in her endeavor, she faces loneliness and a nagging feeling of a following presence on her journey. She crosses a river that almost takes her life, simply to be caught by Saxon soldiers. A fight ensues, and Gwynivere appears from the woods, defending Elaine by attacking her captors. The two girls are then both caught and taken to the Saxon camp as prisoners. Tensions and injuries pose obstacles and strain as the time passes, locked away from battle and the men they love. Elaine awakens to the sound of Arthur's army fighting the Saxons. She begins to talk to Gwynivere, admitting her worry and senselessness. While Gwynivere comforts Elaine, Gwynivere confesses herself to be "a jealous person." Later, Yellow Hair's companion comes in to give them a bedpan and unties the ladies. When they hear of the Saxon's surprise attack on Arthur, Elaine solidifies her decision to escape and warn him. The two girls begin to dig a hole near an open tent flap. Once Elaine gets freed, she sprints and distracts the Saxons as Gwynivere sneaks out and dashes to find Arthur around the mountain. Elaine makes her way to a river to find a Saxon boat, but before she gets in, an arrow from the Saxons pierces her chest. She crawls in the boat and starts to float downstream, pondering before blacking out. As Elaine heals from her wound, Arthur decides to move camp back to Carleon-Usk. Elaine is tired often, and takes frequent rests, in which she receives visits from some men, like that of Lancelot. The two resolve their strain, finally friends again. Tristan later joins Elaine on one of her rests, professing his jealousy of Lancelot and his true love for Elaine, who suddenly and shockingly realizes she loves him as well resulting in a shared kiss between the two. Upon return to camp, they all gather at the round table as Arthur invites them to start a new life and city with him, upon that very place. Elaine and Tristan, Elaine's family, and many of Elaine's friends stand with their consent to build their new city and establish their freedom in Camelot. |
The Medici Seal | Theresa Breslin | 2,006 | Italy, 1502. Matteo is saved from drowning by friends of Leonardo da Vinci. The artist and scholar takes the boy under his wing. Matteo accompanies him both as he pursues knowledge and paints magnificent pictures and as he travels across Italy. Soon his story continues. Serving Leonardo da Vinci, seeing first hand the ruthless rule of Cesare Borgia, the ambition of the Medici and the revenge of the dell'Orte. Florence, Milan, Castell Barta and many other places in Renaissance Italy. |
Zombie Broadway | null | null | In Zombie Broadway, the human population of Manhattan has been decimated to the point where the only survivors are a few unlucky civilians and a bunch of stuck-up Broadway effites. The acting mayor (the others have been eaten or killed) of New York has convinced the President to try taming the zombies through theater before the ultimate resolution of dropping a nuclear bomb on the city. The story of Zombie Broadway takes the form of an ensemble black comedy, full of violence and humor. |
The Jem Star | null | 2,007 | The Jem Star begins in Westford in late November. Tansy is riding the Gravity Grinder; a new and thrilling fairground ride that Mal has just introduced her to. Soon after, she becomes locked in a bitter row with her mother, Pauline. Trying to make her feel better, Mal offers Tansy a trip into Westford the following evening which Tansy accepts instantly as she knows her mother would disapprove, but before the night is over, Tansy finds herself having another confrontation, this time with her brother's drunk and violent friend. Later, she rows with her brother himself. Joe insults Mal and, anger surging, the television screen explodes. Thinking that Tansy has thrown the remote control at the television in a fit of rage, Joe runs off to grass to their mother. But his assumption is wrong as Tansy finds that she is still holding the controls in her hand. At this point the reader discovers that this is not the first time Tansy has experienced such a problem. It seems that her temper and electrical equipment do not mix! Tansy feels alone in her problem and does not even confide in Mal. He is suffering with a gluten allergy and is bed-ridden. Bored and alone, Tansy seeks excitement and finds it when she meets Jem, a seventeen-year-old Irish boy. Tansy quickly develops a fascination with Jem: his good looks and cheeky persona. Also, it quickly becomes clear that he knows about her 'problem'. He explains that she is a developing Medlar. Medlars are gifted individuals with many strange abilities and problems; heightened temper response being one of them. He explains that he is a Medlar scout and will therefore help her come to terms with her newfound quirks. Tansy starts to neglect her normal life in favour of spending time with Jem. However, as he is a stranger, her family are deeply suspicious of him and warn her to keep away. But Tansy does not listen. She meets Jem secretly and gets drawn more deeply into the Medlar world. Just when Tansy is starting to feel completely at ease with her new friend though, Jem drops a bombshell and explains her family's mistrust of him. He is on the run from the police. Jem explains that he was arrested after abducting Jessica Wallis, an eleven-year-old girl. However, he insists that it was all a misunderstanding and begs Tansy for her help in clearing his name. He tells her that he escaped from police custody by using his Medlar skills to melt the metal handcuffs that were fastened to one of his wrists. Feeling sorry for Jem, Tansy agrees to help. Soon after, she meets Aidan, Jem's younger brother who she learns she will have to work with in order to help Jem. After making a dodgy deal with Jem, Tansy invites him to tea. But things go from bad to worse when, for the first time ever, she sees a ghost at the dinner table and seizes up with the shock. Later, Jem explains that she has progressed to the next Medlar hook (or level) and will soon be ready to help clear his name. Tansy is hysterical about this new and unsettling ability, so she is pleased when Jem lends her his mobile phone. It has been specially adapted to block out the paranormal - but only when it is switched on. She must also stay within three metres of it for it to have any effect. In order to help Tansy and Aidan overcome their fear of the supernatural, Jem subjects them to a PEPA Flood. This stands for Prolonged Exposure to Paranormal Activity. It's a proven method of tackling Medlar phobias and could help them advance to the next Medlar hook more quickly. But it is not without risks. Although Aidan's flood is a success, Tansy's is anything but. Not only does she witness a disturbing paranormal assault on a young boy but she also encounters Jem's fiery girlfriend, Finola, who inadvertently lets a flood devil into Tansy's flood and it has to be stopped. Tansy later discovers that the young, tortured boy in her flood was Jem at seven years old. He tells her about his aunt, Faith, explaining that ten years ago she stole a precious brooch - the Jem Star - from his mother. In doing so she activated a PEPA Flood which led to the seven-year-old Jem being savaged by a pack of flood devils. Jem shows Tansy a tattoo-like mark of the Jem Star on his upper arm. The next day Tansy has a Near Death Experience. During her conversion from Earth to Heaven she encounters Faith. This pushes her courage to the limit and gets rid of her fears. She therefore advances to the next Medlar hook. But while Tansy's life is spared and she is sent back to Earth, Mal is not so lucky. Tansy finds him covered in blood and dying. He has been stabbed several times and dies in her arms. In his dying seconds he reveals to Tansy that he killed Jem and Aidan's mother ten years before. Tansy keeps Mal's confession to herself for the time being and mourns his death by trying to keep busy. She insists that Jem work her hard as he trains her to use her developing skills. He introduced Tansy and Aidan to the Memo Re-writer; a form of hypnotism which they pick up quickly despite Tansy struggling to cope with her grief. She is also becoming suspicious of her family and of Mal's parents who have refused to inform the police of his death. When Tansy's parents attempt to stop her from seeing Jem and Aidan, she runs away and lives with the boys in their van. Tansy soon gets to see Jessica Wallis for the first time. Using the Memo Re-writer she has to convince the girl that Jem did not abduct her. She is successful, but as she celebrates with Jem and Aidan, Jem is spotted by the police. This gives way to a car chase. Tansy, Jem and Aidan escape and hide in a deserted farmhouse. While they are they, Tansy questions Jem about Mal's confession that he killed his and Aidan's mother. But Jem insists that his mother is still alive. Mal did not kill her; he killed her sister - Jem and Aidan's wicked Aunt Faith - unintentionally. Later, Tansy sees a different side to Jem when he has an anger attack and vandalises the house by psychic power alone. As Tansy and Aidan hide, Aidan explains that Jem has been suffering from these attacks for the last ten years. They are a consequence of his assault at the hands of the flood devils. When he has recovered, Jem tells Tansy how he usually stops the anger attacks occurring. His girlfriend, Finola is a temper-taker and absorbs his anger when they kiss. As they have not been together for a while his anger has surged, resulting in the attack. The police find Jem and he is arrested but Tansy and Aidan manage to escape. They return to the fairground to look for the Jem Star brooch which Jem believes Mal stole from Faith's dead body ten years before. He also believes that it may help them to free him from prison. Thanks to another development in her Medlar powers, Tansy witnesses and listens in on the police interview with Jem. They are getting nowhere until the arrival of an imposing man who insists on questioning Jem alone. He turns out to be John Kerrigan, Jem and Aidan's father, who works for the British Government. Tansy listens to their conversation and is shocked to discover that she is not who she thought she was. Apparently, she is not Tansy Strange at all but Shannon Kerrigan; Jem and Aidan's sister. Ten years ago on the night of Jem's flood devil attack and Faith's death, a fifteen-year-old Mal abducted her whilst trying to save her life. In a panic, he smuggled her back to the fairground where she was brought up by the Stranges. After a final confrontation with Faith, involving not only the Jem Star, but Jem, Aidan, the flood devils and the spirit of Mal, Tansy confronts the Stranges about her true origins. She finally understand their reasons for not reporting Mal's death to the police and also discovers who murdered Mal. It is agreed that she goes to live with her rightful family in Ireland. The final scenes see Tansy saying goodbye to the Stranges and blackmailing Mal's murderer. Also, Jem is reunited with Finola. In the last paragraph of the book, Tansy leaves the fairground to start her new life accompanied by John Kerrigan, Finola, Aidan and Jem. She is looking forward to meeting her real mother and to getting acquainted with her new spirit guide, Mal. |
The Heads of Cerberus | Gertrude Barrows Bennett | 1,952 | The novel concerns people who are transported to a future totalitarian Philadelphia in 2118, after inhaling a grey dust. |
The Abyss of Wonders | Perley Poore Sheehan | 1,953 | The novel concerns a lost race in the Gobi Desert. |
Airhead | Meg Cabot | null | Seventeen-year-old tomboy and anti-materialist Emerson Watts, forced by her mother, accompanies her sister, Frida, and her best friend, Christopher, to a Stark Mega store opening in So Ho, which is attended by the teen supermodel, Nikki Howard. In addition to Howard's celebrity presence there will be an appearance by British heartthrob, singer, and songwriter, Gabriel Luna. Frida has a crush on the musician. The event is protested, and one of the protesters shoots a plasma screen with a paint ball gun, snapping the wires. Emerson (Em for short) saves her sister from being hit by the plasma screen crashing down, and takes the hit herself. At the very moment, Nikki faints and goes brain-dead. A month later, Em finds herself in the hospital, trying to recall what had happened. She finds out she is in Nikki Howard's body when she is kidnapped by Lulu Collins, Nikki's best friend, and Brandon Stark, her on again off again boyfriend. She screams in the limo seeing that she is in Nikki Howard's body on the way to Nikki's loft. She tries to remember the events that went on during the last month, and Em finds out that not only did she die during the accident, but incidentally Nikki Howard had also suffered a fatality as well. Unknown to and without her permission, her brain is transplanted into Nikki's brain-dead body, due to the fact Nikki suffered from a fatal collapse at the same time Em got hit. In an effort to save Em, her parents had agreed to a controversial brain transplant surgery offered free by Stark Industries, on condition that Em continues Nikki's career as the face of Stark Industries. From then on, Em is forced to live the high life while concealing her real identity or be faced with the contract penalty of two million dollars. Em is forced to take on the role of Nikki Howard, all the while struggling with the fact that she does not have control over her life. She tries to let go of her tomboyish ways to take over the highly glamorous life that Nikki had lived. Although she is now dealing with Nikki's job, Nikki's friend Lulu and many boyfriends, she still fights to keep some of her old life by going back to school, also to face Christopher, on whom she has a secret crush. As Em follows through with Nikki's commitments (photo shoots, interviews, etc., not to mention continuing school at Tribeca Alternative High School), she realizes that the supermodel lifestyle is a lot harder than she perceived it to be. Em notices that her best friend Christopher, is now a broken mess after her death. She goes out of her way to try to talk to him, and try to let him realize that she is still alive in someone else' body, by leaving an important clue as stated early in the book. This part of the story ends with Em bringing Lulu to her family's house for dinner, Em learns that Lulu doesn't have a family and spends most of her time drinking and partying. When asked 'how does she know them,' Em answers, 'doesn't know where to begin.' Leaving an open space for the sequel. |
Godfrey Morgan | Jules Verne | 1,882 | Godfrey, an idle twenty-two-year-old, lives with his uncle, the wealthy Lord William W. Kolderup. Prior to marrying the young and pretty Phina, he asked to undertake a sea voyage of two years. Acceding to his desire, his uncle sends him around the world on board the Dream, commanded by Captain Turcott, with his mentor, teacher, and dance instructor, Professor T. Artelett aka "Tartlet". Unfortunately, the ship sinks a few miles from an island where Godfrey will have to learn to survive, to organize his life, face the savages, and overcome other obstacles—together with Tartlet, the only other survivor of the sinking Dream. Faced with this, the jaded young man discovers the value of effort and gains poise and courage. |
Christmas Angel | null | 1,996 | On each page, a different person is wondering where Christmas Angel is. Children can find her by opening the flaps. The aim of the book is to help young children learn how to read. |
Hero in the Shadows | David Gemmell | 2,000 | Waylander, the assassin anti-hero of Waylander and Waylander II, is now a rich old man looking for a world that will give him peace and atonement for his crimes. However, his relatively quiet peace is broken by the appearance of old demons from the past, and enemies from the present. Faced with enemies he cannot easily fight, even a magical sorcerer working for an unknown cause, he is forced to take up his crossbow and sabre to once again become Waylander. Aided by an idealistic warrior, a braggart with a stolen sword, a girl with a special talent, and a mysterious priestess and her followers, he seeks to close the chapter of his life by destroying the evil he has created by his own hand. |
Birds, Beasts and Relatives | null | null | Birds, Beasts, and Relatives, like My Family and Other Animals, offers a series of autobiographical anecdotes from the Durrell family's five year sojourn on the Greek island of Corfu between 1935 and 1939. Gerald was aged ten when his mother, sister and two brothers moved from England to Corfu. The stories related in the book do not occur in chronological order, and are in some cases semi-fictionalised. For example, Gerald's eldest brother Larry - the novelist Lawrence Durrell - was not living with the rest of his family as is depicted in the stories, but was living separately with his wife Nancy, who is not mentioned in the books. Characters in the book also include their widowed mother, the gun-mad brother Leslie, his sister Margo, and Roger the dog. The family are protected by their local friend, taxi-driver Spiro (Spyros "Americano" Chalikiopoulos) and mentored by the physician and polymath Dr Theodore Stephanides, who provides Gerald with his education in natural history. |
Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania | Bayard Taylor | 1,870 | Joseph, a young man, marries a wealthy woman just as he is discovering an even more powerful love with his new friend Philip and must contend with the revelation of his wife's manipulative nature as well as his increasing feelings for Philip. |
A Thousand Country Roads | Robert James Waller | 2,002 | The story relates what happened to Robert Kincaid and Francesca Johnson following their passionate and ill-fated love affair in The Bridges of Madison County. Kincaid initially finds himself with just memories of a lonely existence and of Francesca Johnson, whom he felt a great passion for. Pushed by these memories and desiring to give meaning to his life, Kincaid takes to the road again. A Thousand Country Roads explores his development as he explores himself and the world around him on his journey. |
Dead Heat | Joel C. Rosenberg | null | The year is 2016. In Yemen, a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) covert military strike against one of the head members of the Italy-based terrorist cell “The Legion” succeeds, and the strike team manages to obtain a laptop which bears blueprints for the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California which is currently hosting the Republican National Convention. President James MacPherson is scheduled to deliver a speech at the convention later that day. The president's advisors inform him of the CIA raid in Yemen and about the information recovered from the laptop and express concern for his security. The United States Secret Service also expresses great concern about the president's security, due to new information from British, Canadian, and Mexican intelligence agencies about several terrorist suspects converging on Los Angeles, even with heavy air and ground security at Los Angeles International Airport and the Staples Center. In spite of these security concerns, the president decides to go ahead with his speech. Meanwhile in Jordan, Jon Bennett rushes his wife Erin, a victim of bacterial meningitis, to the hospital in the United Nations relief camp they are working in. As the doctors examine Erin, they discover that she is pregnant. While Erin remains hospitalized, Bennett receives a phone call warning about an impending attack on the United States. At the NORAD Headquarters in Colorado Springs, the Air Force detects the launch of several short-range missiles off the coast of Washington, New York City, Seattle, and Los Angeles. The Air Force, unable to prevent the missiles from reaching their target, fears that each missile is equipped with a nuclear warhead. Their fears prove true when the District of Columbia is obliterated in two massive nuclear blasts. At the same time, Manhattan is flattened and becomes a nuclear wasteland along with Seattle and Los Angeles. NORAD commander Lt. General Charlie Briggs orders the evacuation of the vice president from his private residence in Jacksonville, Florida. Vice President Bill Oaks is sworn in as President of the United States on board Air Force One. Oaks now becomes the forty-fifth President of the United States. Along with death of President MacPherson, the Republican and Democratic Party leadership, members of the United States Congress and the United States Supreme Court are all dead, and millions of lives have been lost. The attack on Washington also leads to the loss of the majority of U.S. intelligence agencies, such as the CIA, and hinders the president's efforts to find those responsible for the attacks. As one of his first acts as president, Oaks orders United States Navy to deploy its entire fleet to sea, in order to avoid an attack similar to Pearl Harbor. As China begins to move military forces towards Taiwan, the president orders the United States Navy's 7th Fleet in Japan to the East China Sea, in order to prevent a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan. China believes that the United States might be holding them accountable for the attacks. As the United States prepares to respond militarily, China warns it will strike if it feels threatened. The U.S. Coast Guard locates one of the cargo ships which launched the missiles which struck D.C. They then pass this information on to the United States Navy. The Navy contacts General Briggs who orders an F/A-18 figher squadron from Naval Air Station Oceana to destroy the cargo ship. In short order, the Navy fighters destroy the cargo ship. Soon afterwards, Navy and Air Force fighters locate and sink the remaining cargo ships which destroyed New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle. During a meeting in Babylon, U.N. Secretary General Salvador Lucente meets with Iraqi President Mustafa Al-Hassani. There they discuss Israel’s continued construction of the Third Temple and how to stop it. Both agree they will have to tolerate this nuisance until they amass enough power. With American economic and military power effectively neutralized, no one will stand in their way. With Manhattan in ruins, Al-Hassani invites Lucente to move the UN Headquarters to Babylon. Lucente publicly accepts Al-Hassani's offer. In Jordan, the mysterious caller contacts Bennett again and asks him to come with Erin to Bangkok. Bennett explains that the President has arranged for him to return to the United States. The line goes dead. The caller is revealed to be Indira Rajiv, a former mole and traitor in the CIA. She begins to plot how to transport Bennett and Erin to her location. Bennett, with help from the National Security Agency and the Israeli Mossad, attempts to trace the call. The president orders the deployment of Delta Force teams to Thailand to capture the caller. Rajiv, however, narrowly escapes being captured by Delta Force. Bennett and Erin, still on a stretcher, board an ambulance headed to Queen Alia International Airport in Amman where a U.S. military aircraft is waiting to return them to America. On the way, the driver is shot by an unseen sniper, and the ambulance fishtails and lands on its side. As a cement truck is bearing down on it, Bennett manages to crawl out of it right before it crushes the ambulance, killing Erin and the nurses in the back. A small squad of men rush toward him from the surrounding hills and knock him unconscious. In America, Homeland Security Secretary Lee James is sworn in as Vice President. The remnant of the government begins receiving intelligence that implicates North Korea as the culprit in the nuclear attacks. President Oaks orders the Air Force to conduct reconnaissance flights off the coast of North Korea. During one such flight, An Air Force RC-135 from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa is shot down by North Korean fighter jets over the Sea of Japan. Also, satellite imagery shows a massive concentration of troops on the border with South Korea. President Oaks and his military advisors begin collaborating with South Korean officials on how to respond to the threat of an invasion. Meanwhile, back at Cheyenne Mountain, Bobby Caulfield, an aide to President Oaks learns that most of his family died in the attack on New York and begins to suffer a mental breakdown. This is coupled with the fact that his older brother is in the United States Army and is stationed along the DMZ with the Eighth Army in South Korea. Caufield also notices that he has run out of his hidden cocaine stash and begins to suffer from delirium. He then assaults a military policeman and steals his Beretta pistol. As he is a presidential aide, he is able to get into a conference room where the president is having a meeting without being searched. He then holds Oaks at gunpoint, demanding that he order U.S. Forces in South Korea not to fight against the North. Unsatisfied with how his demands are being received, he assassinates the President before committing suicide. Vice President Lee James now becomes the forty-sixth President of the United States. Because of the amount of responsibility now heaped in his lap and his doubts about his abilities, President James becomes a Christian. United States Secretary of Defense Burt Trainor becomes Vice President. Israeli Prime Minister David Doron is awoken in the middle of the night with intel placing Jon Bennett in North Korea. Because he is a friend and helped rediscover the Ark of the Covenant, Doron feels his rescue is a top priority. He orders an extraction team to locate and rescue him. Bennett wakes up in a cold, dark cell in North Korea. When two interrogators walk in to extract information, Indira Rajiv enters and shoots them for killing Erin because she was a friend. She tells Bennett that she did not want them to be harmed. She hands him a drive with a plethora of files detailing the names, locations, and plans of every member in the Legion before shooting herself. In America, President Lee James prepares for the first press conference since the attacks. He signs the orders detailing America’s retaliatory strike against North Korea that includes nuclear missiles which are immediately launched. After Indira commits suicide, Israeli special operations soldiers launch a raid on the North Korean prison Jon Bennett is being held in. They manage to rescue Bennett and escort him to their UH-60 helicopter. After the helicopter manages to take off, Bennett notices something streaking across the sky. Tragically, Bennett and the Israeli soldiers are vaporized by one of the six thousand U.S. cruise missiles launched against North Korea. At his underground command center in Mount Weather, Virginia, President James begins his speech before a global audience of more than three billion. As he details what has happened in the last several days and how the government is responding, North Korean cities and targets are being destroyed in milliseconds. During the course of the address, he instantly vanishes. Dmitri Galishnikov, founder of Medexco, an Israeli oil company, and his wife sit in their family room astonished at what has just happened. Having heard End Times prophecies from the Bennetts and others, he realizes the Rapture has occurred. He immediately calls all Christians he knows, and none answer. In the epilogue, a week has passed since the disappearance of President James and nearly one billion others worldwide. Leaders of thirty-nine countries are gone, too, and with their disappearance, most of Israel's key allies in the global community. David Doron is eager to sign a peace treaty proposed by Salvador Lucente. During this time, the Galishnikovs convert to Christianity. Dead Heat ends with them sending an e-mail to the employees of Medexco outlining their conversion and their plans for the future. |
Running Before the Wind | Linda Woolverton | 1,987 | For thirteen-year-old Kelly, running is like running away from the anger and the pain - it lets her forget, at least for a few miles a day, just how much she hurts. But when she is invited to join the junior high track team, Kelly's father dashes her hopes with a blunt "No". Kelly knows there is little she can say to change his mind. In fact, she is afraid of saying anything at all. Kelly lives in fear of her father. He could be nice for days, then lash out in frightening violence. While her mother and sister will do anything to keep the peace, Kelly refuses to pretend that nothing is wrong. Then suddenly, miracously, Kelly is freed from her father's unpredictable rage. But now she feels trapped in a life filled with anger and violence of her own. |
Star Wind | Linda Woolverton | 1,986 | When she returns home from summer camp, Camden Douglas finds that her best friend Mitch is running with a new group. They're followers of an older teen who calls himself WT-3 and tells the "kidsters" that "grownies" are "double ungood" bosses who give children no rights. Miffed at her busy parents, Cadmen plunges in, but a series of nightmarish dreams reveal the truth. |
The Mechanicals | Richard Kelly | 2,007 | July 2, 2008: Madeline Frost Santaros (Mandy Moore) (daughter of the current Senator) calls her father and tells him that Boxer Santaros has been missing for several days. She and Boxer were married for several years. If word got out of his disappearance, it would effectively ruin Senator Bobby Frost’s chances of being re-elected. A person is at the area where the first ball is buried and where Boxer is expected to arrive with the first clue. The person’s mission is to kidnap Boxer and abandon him in the desert. July 3, 2008: Back at the Treer Plaza, General Teena MacArthur was inspecting the body found in the burnt-up SUV, so she calls a long friend named Simon Theory (Kevin Smith) to help her. Ronald Taverner, Zora Carmichaels, Dream and Dion are having breakfast at their restaurant. He wants them to bring himself and his brother to a hospital, believing that there is something wrong with both of them. The Neo-Marxists explain their plan to Ronald. They show him ‘The Power’ script. They are going to get him to go on a ride-along with Boxer for preparation and research for his character. Dion and Dream are going to stage a dispute that Ronald will have to go investigate and pretend to shoot them both dead...and all on Boxer’s video camera. At Fortunio Balducci’s house, he is reading the script when Serpentine (a mistress of the Baron’s) calls him and tells him to facilitate a meeting between Ronald Taverner and Boxer and in return she will pay him for it. At the Neo-Marxist HQ, Roland Taverner is tied up and injected with Fluid Karma. The unconscious Roland begins singing All These Things That I've Done-The Killers. They inject him once more and he stops. Ronald finds a letter belonging to his brother from someone called Pilot Abilene. He asks Zora what he was. She tells him that he was an actor in a comedy troupe and he met Zora, Dion and Dream where they became ‘The Lighthouse Gang’. Pilot Abilene is a former soldier who is now a guard of the generator dubbed ‘Utopia Three’ at the Santa Monica Pier. He was an actor who started out in an action movie with Boxer Santaros. The film was very bad but he became well-known from it, but his career ended when he was drafted to Iraq. It was here where he met Roland and the two became best friends. They learn of an experiment called ‘Serpentine Dream Theory’-all they know is if they sign up for it, you are used as a guinea pig but soon after, you are sent home. They go one night to visit Simon Theory (who is in charge of the experiment). He says no at first, saying that it isn’t for volunteers, but changes his mind once they bribe him. The next morning they are taken to a nearby airbase and each given an injection of Fluid Karma. The next day, the two are about to drop in from a helicopter. Pilot is nervous about it so Roland gives him his iPod to listen to during the drop...the song is ‘All These Things That I Have Done’. They drop successfully and they infiltrate a building where their telepathy kicks in...the drug is working on them. Roland is in a state of dementia, so he throws a grenade into a room, which explodes right next to Pilot, which sends shrapnel into the left side of his face. They never saw each other after that day. The Neo-Marxists are holding another meeting, this time a lottery for thumbs (certain people will be selected to have their thumb cut off to rig the election, they can re-use the same thumb as many times as possible, turning the election in their favour). Ronald, Zora, Dion and Dream are in attendance. The winner is Bing Zinneman who receives a check for $50,000 and then had his thumb cut off his hand. Afterward, Krysta Now and her friends and colleagues Sheena Gee, Shoshanna Cox and Deena Storm are in the middle of a conversation. Krysta tells her three colleagues that she booked a gig on the Mega-Zeppelin for the Baron on July 4. While this is happening, Boxer is walking the beaches of Venice during the night. He takes out the Fluid Karma syringe and injects himself...before he loses conscious, he murmurs ‘Three Days...Three Final Days’... After Krysta leaves the bar where she was talking with her friends, she is cornered by Fortunio. He tells her to tell him everything about ‘Serpentine Dream Theory’. She says that Serpentine is ‘The Great Mistress of the Great Wizard’ who some call the Anti-Christ... Revelation 22:5 - For It Will Never Be Night Again, And They Would Not Need Lamp Light Or Sunlight, For the Lord God Will Be Shining On Them...And They Shall Reign Forever and Ever |
Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083 | Andrea White | 2,005 | Surviving Antarctica takes place in the year 2083 in a television-crazed country of United States. The Secretary of "Entertainment" is the Head of the Department of Entertainment or the DOE. Public schools shut down and are replaced with "Edu-TV" which are lessons with Interactive Quizzes on a television screen. It is mandatory and only goes up to Eighth Grade. After completing the required Eighth Year of Edu-TV, one must pay for High School and College. In the year 2083, America is awfully poor and very bad in the economy. People live in shacks similar to Hoovervilles during the Great Depression. So to pay for further education, a few sponsored scholarships are given out. The most popular is "The Toss" which is a game of pure chance. The administer calls out a number, and the 14 year-old wishing for the full scholarship rolls two dice, hoping it will land on that number. In Edu-TV the Social Studies/History show is called "Historical Survivor". The Secretary of DOE (aka "Hot Sauce" by her employees) gathers a "lucky few" to re-enact parts of history. The five kids (Robert, Polly, Grace, Andrew, and Billy) see an advertisement by the Secretary of Entertainment for a new Historical Survivor Series that features kids. It is called "Historical Survivor: Antarctica". She offers $10,000 to whoever is chosen to re-enact the expedition of Robert F. Scott and an extra $90,000 to the MVP (most valuable player). They had to fill out an application to be eligible. These five kids (out of about 4,000 applicants) made it, unlike most of the others. Unbeknownst to them, however, the Secretary has placed mini camcorders in the eyes to film instead of a camera crew. Hot Sauce also planned different calamities to happen to the kids on their journey that also happened to Scott. But a group of night shift employees engage in acts of sabotage to help the kids on their way. All five come from completely different backgrounds and walks of life, but will have to cooperate to survive Antarctica. Through a series of tragedies and misfortunes, they end up in the middle of nowhere, frostbitten and hungry. But will they get help from the one person nobody would expect- the camera crews? |
Conan the Defender | Robert Jordan | 1,982 | The book opens during midmorning in the mansion of and with Albanus the wizard, Vegentius the Commander of the Golden Leopards (the bodyguard regiment of Nemedia's Kings), Demetrio Amarianus a landowner, Constanto Melius a noble, and Sephana Galerianus a rejected mistress of King Garian. They are gathered to plot the usurping of the Dragon Throne of the kingdom of Nemedia. During the meeting, Albanus demonstrates some magic to placate and wow his guests by summoning a fire elemental to destroy one of his servants. The conspirators are impressed by this and desire to have some magical devices of their own "As a token that [they] are all equals." Melius chooses a sword imbued with the skills of six master swordsmen. The sword grants the wielder sword mastery. Moving the focus of the novel to Conan, it describes how the city of Belverus in Nemedia is unsafe, the tariffs exorbitantly high, starvation rampant, sedition brewing, and that King Garian seems ineffective as a ruler. In reality, Albanus is busy funding and controlling all the unrest in Nemedia as a means of focusing hatred on King Garian. Conan is attacked in Belverus by Melius, who it later turns out was driven insane and "possessed" in a fashion by the tortured spirits in the magical sword he was given by Albanus. Albanus did not know that the blade could cause such madness. Conan is rescued by the town guard who find, to their horror, that they have just slain a noble. Conan picks up the blade and wraps it with the hopes of selling it for a few pieces of silver. Shortly thereafter, Conan meets up with Hordo, a friend of his from several previous and mostly unsuccessful quests who is now a smuggler. Hordo tries to get Conan a job as a smuggler as well, but is harangued by his boss for not being cautious enough (exposing a smuggler fetches a high bounty). Hordo decides to quit his job and join Conan in his mercenary venture. Hordo is often used as a foil to Conan, contrasting the intelligence of Conan to Hordo's less sophisticated thought process and abilities of perception. The pair go to a tavern where Conan's fortune is divinated by an old man. The same fortune appears on the first page of the first mass market printing. The first part of the prophecy comes true as Conan thwarts an attempt by a lady patron of the tavern from pick pocketing him. Leaving the tavern, Conan and Hordo noticed they are being followed by what turns out to Ariane, a poet and patron the inn the Sign of Thestis. The three are then attacked by footpads. All the footpads are slain. Hordo and Conan then spend the night at the Sign of Thestis, telling stories of their adventures. Conan learns that the Thestians (Including Ariane and Sephano, a sculptor) are plotting an uprising against the king along with Taras and the mercenaries which he is hiring to aid in the uprising. Conan and Hordo then are attacked by more armed murderers. Conan figures someone is out to kill him, though he knows not who. It turns out later to be Albanus trying to recover the magic sword and cover up all traces of it. Upon returning to the Thestis, Conan sells the magic sword of Melius to Demetrio, an agent of Albanus, for fifty gold marks. Conan uses the money from the sword to found his own free-company of mercenaries and teaches them horse archer techniques unknown to the Nemedian forces. The next time Conan returns to the Thestis, Conan receives a message that he should meet Hordo at the Sign of the Full Moon. The Thestians are worried that they may be betrayed, but Conan allays these fears by vowing to never betray them. At the Sign of the Full Moon, Conan is ambushed and attacked by assassins. He is also pursued by the Belverus town guard who have also been paid off by Albanus. The message was fake. The next day, Ariane sets up a meeting for Conan with Taras to see if Conan can be hired for the uprising. It turns out Taras is not hiring mercenaries and intends to kill Conan as per Albanus's request. The attempt is thwarted and the ambushers are all killed by Conan. Ariane, having followed Conan, sees the butchery and believes that Conan has betrayed them. The horse archer skills get Conan's company a job in the Nemedian military and Conan a room within the palace, much to the dismay of Vegentius the conspirator. Conan winds up practicing his sword skills with King Garian and besting Garian each time. Meanwhile, Albanus has captured Stephano the sculptor and forced him to create a likeness of King Garian. Conan is asked by the king to deliver a letter to Albanus. While at the palace, Conan sees Stephano and later tells Ariane where Stephano has gone. Ariane goes to find Stephano at Albanus's mansion but is captured and hypnotized by Albanus. Vegentius ambushes Conan in the halls of the palace and frames him as a traitor. King Garian decides that the "Ancient Punishment" would be the best in the case of a turncoat. Meanwhile, Albanus uses magic on the clay sculpture of Garian and animates it so as to be a simalcrum of Garian. Albanus kills Stephano. The plan is: The simalcrum takes over the place of the real Garian, Albanus sends the signal for the unknowing Thestians to rise up and rebel, and the simalcrum hands over power to Albanus to appease the rebels. Conan learns that King Garian has been replaced when Albanus and the simalcrum come to gloat over Conan in the dungeons of the palace. Conan learns this because the simalcrum does not have the bruises that Conan gave the real Garian while they were sparring. As Conan is imprisoned, the people rise up at the behest of the hypnotized Ariane. Conan is sent to the arena of Belverus to be devoured by the wolves as the ancient punishment dictates. Conan thwarts the wolves by rushing into them as they are released and smashing through them and out the still-open gate through which the wolves were released. Conan fights his way through and is rescued by Hordo, Karela (The Red Hawk, friend of Hordo who knows the secret passages of the palace), and the rest of Conan's free-company. Conan and friends ride through the uprising streets of Belverus, creep over the Albanus's walls, and into Albanus's mansion; they promptly rescue King Garian from the dungeons of Albanus. Reasoning that most of the Golden Leopards are still loyal to King Garian, the whole group rides up to the gates of the palace and Garian instructs the guards that Albanus and Vegentius are traitors and to spread the message that all who do not shout "Death to Albanus and Vegentius!" are traitors and are to be killed. Conan's company and Garian split at this point. Conan and his company fight their way through the palace. Eventually, Conan leaves his company and kills Vegentius in one of the palace courtyards. Conan finally confronts Albanus in one of the giant auditoriums of the palace. Conan impales Albnus, but as he dies he is chanting and summoning a great demon. Luckily, the demon fades. The chant was either incomplete or the demon just left. The story ends with Conan, Hordo, and Karela split. Conan leaves for Ophir, listening to the prophecy of the old man. "Beware the gratitude of kings." |
Skulduggery Pleasant 2: Playing With Fire | Derek Landy | 2,008 | A year after the events of the first novel, Stephanie Edgeley (now known as Valkyrie Cain) continues to work with Skulduggery Pleasant, an undead skeleton detective, capturing villains for The Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is now ruled by Thurid Guild in a new location after the massacre in the previous Sanctuary. Soon Baron Vengeous (one of the original three generals of Mevolent) escapes his prison and begins searching for the armor of Lord Vile, another one of Mevolent's Generals with which he will be able to resurrect The Grotesquery, a hybrid monster made from a Faceless One's remains with the power bring back the Faceless Ones. Arriving in Ireland, he meets an accomplice vampire named Dusk. He orders Dusk to kidnap Valkyrie Cain. Dusk bites and enslaves two humans to help him. After losing to Skulduggery Pleasant, Baron Vengeous goes after China Sorrows who was once part of a cult that worshiped the Faceless Ones and also included Serpine and Vengous himself. The Baron confronts China Sorrows in her apartment whilst Valkyrie is visiting. Valkyrie hides whilst China and Vengous talk. Vengeous reveals that he was released from prison by an assassin named Billy-Ray Sanguine who promptly arrives along with Dusk. A battle ensues during which Valkyrie reveals herself and defends China. Valkyrie Cain is soon chased by Billy-Ray Sanguine who can travel through earth and buildings. After being in a struggle, Valkyrie is saved by Tanith Low. In the progress Valkyrie steals Billy-Ray Sanguine's razor, his primary weapon, leaving the psychopathic assassin with a grudge against her. Valkyrie and Skulduggery along with a convict called Vaurien Scapegrace went to the Magician's village of Roarhaven to find a mysterious man called the Torment who has information they need. After a battle in a seedy pub with some thugs (including a giant) and an unpleasant incident with some massive spiders, they find the Torment and ask for his help. The Torment only says he will help them find Vile's armour if Skulduggery kills Valkyrie, who is descended from the Ancients whom the Torment despises, as he thinks any power will corrupt civilization. Skulduggery takes Valkyrie around a corner and they summon her Reflection, a living mirror image of Valkyrie who she uses as a decoy, enabling her to live a double life. Skulduggery takes Valkyrie's reflection before the Torment and shoots it. The Torment is satisfied and tells Skulduggery the whereabouts of the Grotesquery. He and Valkyrie return Scapegrace to prison and go to find the Grotesquery, unfortunately Vengeous's minions have already obtained it. Soon after, Skullduggery and Valkyrie take the reflection back to Valkyries's house. Valkyrie touches the mirror to absorb its memories and remembers what it is like to be shot. Valkyrie then notices that whenever she tries to look back in her memories one part always remains blank and she cannot pin it down. She realizes that her reflection hid something from her, and finds it disconcerting and dangerous. However, she goes on with Skulduggery without mentioning it to him. Valkyrie is kidnapped by Sanguine who takes her to an old abandoned church to the Faceless Ones where she is taken before the altar where Vengeous awaits her. The evil sorcerer cuts Valkyrie's finger and spills some of her blood onto the Grotesquery's body before using the Armour's shadow powers which mingle with the blood. Skulduggery subsequently arrives and rescues Valkyrie. After stealing the Grotesquery, Valkyrie is incapacitated and wakes up in hospital. While wearing a 'respectable' blue hospital gown, Skulduggery wears a pink one decorated with bunnies and elephants for the doctor's amusement. Skulduggery turns the lifeless Grotesquery over to the Sanctuary's top scientist to take apart, however, the Grotesquery has already absorbed a lot of power from Vile's armour and Valkyrie's blood, and so wakes up in the middle of the night whilst being operated on. He kills the scientist's assistants and goes after Valkyrie. Skulduggery and Tanith arrive and the three of them attack the Grotesquery before escaping. Meanwhile, members of Sanctuary's all across the world are being murdered by assassins to distract people from Vengeous's plan. Billy-Ray Sanguine has also released Springheeled Jack from prison and sends him after a Sanctuary official in London. After discovering that he is being manipulated by Vengous in a plan to bring back the Faceless Ones, Jack kills his victim. Skulduggery works out that Vengeous is actually a pawn in someone else's plan and accuses Thurid Guild of being in league with this mystery benefactor. In a rage, Guild fires Skulduggery who decides to go after Vengous anyway. Valkyrie begrudgingly goes to her family reunion as a distraction to Dusk. The Torment, meanwhile, has discovered that Valkyrie is alive and goes after her only to be confronted by Skulduggery and Tanith Low. The Torment transforms into a giant spider but Skulduggery and Tanith defeat him nevertheless. Valkyrie is subsequently attacked by vampires and forced to flee. Dusk corners her and vows that when he has transformed her into a vampire he's going to set her loose on her parents while in her bloodlust. Valkyrie stabs Dusk in the leg with the syringe he uses to curb his vampiric side whilst he is transforming, and as a result, he is caught between vampire and human and put in intense pain. Springheeled Jack comes and rescues her and defeats Dusk so as to frustrate Vengeous's plans because he doesn't want the Faceless Ones to return. Meanwhile China is attacked by Vengous in an underground carpark. The dark wizard brutally murders China's bodyguards and viciously beats her unconscious before taking her to Clearwater Hospital, his headquarters. Accompanied by Tanith Low, Mr Bliss and some Cleavers, Skulduggery and Valkyrie go to Clearwater Hospital and do battle with the Grotesquery which due to being part Faceless One is virtually invincible. Mr Bliss is incapacitated but the Cleavers mercilessly attack the Grotesquery and almost overpower it when Vengous arrives along with China whom he has taken captive and together with the Grotesquery he kills the Cleavers and beats Skulduggery and Valkyrie into submission. Valkyrie tricks Vengous into releasing her, saying that she will join him but she releases China who attacks Vengous and the Grotesquery, giving Valkyrie time to free Skulduggery who joins in the assault against Vengous, tearing off his helmet and his breastplate before shooting him in the stomach. In a swoon, Vengous crawls toward the Grotesquery but his god callously breaks the Baron's neck. The Torment subsequently arrives and attacks the Grotesquery but he is defeated and almost killed. In the ensuing battle Valkyrie stabs the Grotesquery through the heart, killing it but before it dies it utters a terrible scream. Sanguine is then seen meeting his mysterious master who reveals that he had never expected the Grotesquery to succeed but he knew that when it was vanquished, the beast's dying scream would alert the Faceless Ones spirits as to the whereabouts of the Earth meaning that all he has to do now is open the door. The mysterious man then pays Sanguine and takes his leave. Valkyrie is later seen talking to Skulduggery on a pier. They reason that they must find out who Vengous and Sanguine were really working for and if Thurid Guild is in league with him. Skulduggery ominously tells Valkyrie "Bad things are coming." They are subsequently attacked by a vampire and the book ends with them going into battle once again. pt:Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire |
Kira Ein Hund Namens Money | null | null | Kira, who is twelve years old, is intent on wasting her limited pocket money on dolls and other childish things. She lives in poor circumstances, her parents constantly arguing about the shortage of money. Kira is therefore upset by the subject of economics and wishes to avoid it. However, when she twice rescues a stray dog (later named Money by Kira), the dog, in gratitude, reveals its ability to talk. The dog seems to have a in-depth knowledge of economics. |
Apocalypse | Tim Bowler | 2,004 | The book begins with a of people (later revealed to be ancestors of the Skaerlanders) attacking a mysterious man on a rock. The man does not flinch as he is beaten to death. The story then moves into the present, with a family of three on board a yacht on a sailing voyage. The protagonist, Kit, and his parents, Jim and Sarah Warren, are taking a final voyage on their yacht, the Windflower. Once a wealthy family, Kit's father has been recently declared bankruptcy, and their yacht will have to be sold when they return. However, they are flung into a nasty storm and lose all their equipment's signal. During which time, Kit picks a small carved boat out of the water and glimpses a man who resembles him in every single way, except age. They run aground on a mysterious island and find it difficult to get their yacht back to sea. Kit goes exploring and sees the man he saw at sea again, as well as a young girl about his age, who quickly disappears. A large wave hits the rocks nearby and Kit is surprised by this. He returns to the boat and tells his parents about his findings. They do not believe him, however. To prove his point, Kit takes them up a mountain nearby. They find a small village over it and go over to it to ask for some help. However, when they arrive, the villagers react with hostility, especially when they notice Kit. They pull out some clubs and charge at them. However, an elderly man with some authority reprimands the leader, Brand, and questions the family. Despite their description of their predicament, the man is unhelpful and contemptuous towards them. The family leave the village and go back to their vessel. They pack up and prepare to leave. Meanwhile, Kit goes off exploring and notices the girl from the day before again. He chases her and loses her. However, after a bit of searching, he finds her pinned against a rock with a couple of men. The more muscular of the two is attempting to rape her. Kit attacks them and manages to free the girl, who runs away and jumps off a nearby cliff. Kit goes back to his boat and takes his dingy to sail around the island. He finds the girl again and manages to run aground. He meets the girl and follows her to her hideout. She tells him the names of several villagers and that her name is Ula, the two who attacked her were called Uddi and Zak, the old man was called Torin and the eldest is called Wyn. She also explains that the island is called Skaer and that it is going to suffer an Apocalypse (come to an end), as everything is dying on the island and the women are all infertile. Kit returns to his yacht and discovers that the tent is slashed open and his mother and father are both missing. He searches, but cannot find them, so he returns to the nearby village to confront the Islanders. However, he is attacked and chased by the angry Islanders, whose attention is briefly diverted by the same man. Ula, however, appears and provides Kit with enough cover to allow him to escape. He follows her back to her cave. Ula explains to Kit that the Islanders are a religious community who believe themselves to be Torchbearers to God and that they will be saved from the Devil. The Devil is apparently the man Kit keeps seeing. She leaves him for a moment to find his parents. He leaves the cave and goes round to the back of the island, where he sees the man building a cairn and is forced to help. However, they are attacked by the Islanders. Windflower is destroyed by the flaming torches of the Islanders. Kit manages to escape, but is knocked out when he is touched by the strange man on the chest. Ula manages to get him to the safety of a cave by the time he regains consciousness four days later. She reveals that the man had forced all the islanders to leave. Wyn has stayed behind. Ula and Kit go down to confront her, during which time, Ula reveals that Uddi is Wyn's son and hates Ula because she had killed his brother (who had raped her). She tells Kit that his parents are in the church nearby and are starving to death. He goes up to the church and discovers that she was lying - Uddi and Zak and Brand are in there. The men attack him and manage to pin him down and strip him naked. They then torture him and attempt to get him to tell them where the Devil was. He does not know, so they hang him in a crucifix position against a very rough wall. His back is grazed horribly and his body sags under his own weight. Kit is left to die and Ula is captured. The man, however, releases him and gives him some water. Then he takes Kit and jumps into the water with him to get to a boat. The remaining islanders appear and attack them. The man insists on rowing the boat himself, but is bludgeoned to death by the Islanders. A wave suddenly appears and threatens to drown them all. Kit manages to escape and he and Ula return to shore, with the island now empty. They climb a hill to get back to the village, when they run into Torin, who had also sheltered in a cave. He insults them while throwing stones at a nearby cairn. He tells Kit that his parents are on a rock nearby and are starving to death. Ula enquires on her own parents. Torin tells her that her mother died at childbirth and that her father was worse than the mother, who lied and concealed his evil from the community. When Ula asks when her father died, Torin responds "Even as you watch," and throws himself to his death. She is filled with grief and buries Torin in a cairn nearby. Kit makes plans to go to the rock and find his parents. They return to the village and Ula gives the weak Kit some food. Later that night, Kit wakes up and cannot find Ula. Despite his searches, he still cannot find her. However, she quickly returns and explains that she had gone to get his dingy, Splinters. However, she reveals that she cannot come with him, as she wants to be the last Skaerlander to die on the island before the Apocalypse arrives. Kit accepts her decision but notices that the two are suddenly speaking stiffly and awkwardly. Ula then passionately kisses Kit. She helps him out of his clothes, strips her own off and the two make love. The next day, Kit and Ula part and Kit sets off for the rock that Torin had told him about. He reaches it and finds his parents barely alive. He helps them into the dingy and they set off for land. Two days later, they meet with a fishing boat and are rescued. Kit learns from the Skipper's daughter that the island is now known as Cairn Island. After about a day of rest and a lot of catering to suddenly, they lose all radio contact, just like at the beginning and the story ends with the Apocalypse suddenly happening. However Kit remembers Ula's advice to 'Love as much as you can' and tells himself that together they can stop the apocalypse. |
Fingerprints | Richard Kelly | 2,006 | June 30, 2008: Ronald Taverner is still on the houseboat with his father and cousin and his girlfriend Sarah Fieldman. We learn that he is suffering from amnesia. His father, Tab, brings him below deck to show him something. Down there is his twin brother-Roland Taverner, he is tied up to a chair. Tab tells him that Ronald kidnapped his own brother to hide him up at the lake for several days. His father tells him that he doesn’t remember it because he hit his head, which caused memory loss and he instructs him to keep taking the injections. His brother Roland was drafted in the Iraqi War and was sent home to work for the U.P.U. (Urban Pacification Unit) Level 2 and uncovered a conspiracy and if the government found him, they would get the information out of him. They need Ronald to impersonate Roland for several days as a part of a mission to destroy US-IDent. He is to meet with a woman named Zora Carmichaels (Cheri Oteri)-a Neo-Marxist (a member of the revolution against US-IDent) in Venice Beach. Zora takes Ronald and the tied-up Roland to Los Angeles. July 1, 2008: Boxer Santaros and Krysta Now finally arrive in Los Angeles. They and Fortunio Balducci (now a producer due to the contract signed in Buffalo Bill’s) visit a friend of Krysta’s named Tawna McBride for research on the script. She tells Boxer to remain in character the entire time. Inside, Tawna tells Krysta that her husband, Rick, died recently due to a drug-over dose, with the same syringe that Boxer had. Boxer shows her the syringe he has and Tawna asks where he got it from and asks whether or not he volunteered for the program. Rick was in the army and volunteered for a Top-Secret program and that the weeks leading up to his death, Rick began to act crazy, wandering off into the desert in the middle of the night saying that he was going to see the Chief. This makes Boxer feel unpleasant so he goes to use the bathroom. Inside the bathroom, a character in the mirror begins talking to Boxer . He keeps asking Boxer: ‘Do You Bleed?...Not Like we Do Future-Man’. Boxer asks who the Indian is. The man says that the Indian is a natural bleeder and that it took long to make contact, he took a shot of Fluid Karma (The name of the substance inside the syringes), The Indian is a natural bleeder (he sees forward in time) and the man in the mirror and Boxer are Chemical Bleeders (they see back in time) but when Chemical Bleeders take Fluid Karma too much, they begin to see both ways...this is why the man in the mirror is seeing into the future-at Boxer. He is 6 months behind in January 2008. The man asks is he fucking Tawna and asks where he is. He then begins to recognise Boxer and his films. The man in the mirror is Rick-Tawna’s husband. Boxer tells him that he is dead. Rick doesn’t believe him and he takes a shot of Fluid Karma and he then falls to the ground and dies. Boxer comes rushing out telling Tawna that he saw her husband die and that he was a part of it. She becomes very upset and she kicks them out of her house. Boxer then faints and falls onto the ground... Boxer seems to be dreaming, he is in a big maze. All of a sudden, a giant snake appears from behind him and it begins to chase Boxer around the maze. Boxer runs up a set of stairs and into a portal. He lands on the other side and sees Ronald standing there. Ronald asks Boxer who he is...Boxer calls himself ‘Jericho Cane’. All of a sudden, Ronald wakes up from his dream. He is still with Zora in her van driving into Los Angeles. He begins to describe the dream for her. In the Treer Plaza, Inga von Westphalen and two fellow scientists are discussing an experiment that they are conducting (several people involved in it is the Taverner twins and Boxer). Boxer was apparently guided to Krysta for a reason (which we don’t know yet). Krysta was a part of the experiment also because of her psychic abilities. They believe that her script ‘The Power’ is a ‘guide map for the experiment’ and a work of prophecy. They administered Fluid Karma into Krysta’s system, hypnotised her and also had her read the entire Book of Revelation, then they told her to create a document that would detail the final three days on Earth before the apocalypse. Inga gets a telephone call from Zora, who tells her that Ronald has experienced his first ‘Fluid Karma dream’. Krysta takes Boxer and Fortunio to a barnyard outside of Los Angeles, where many Neo-Marxists are attending a huge party. They meet up with Jimmy Hermosa who leads them into his tattoo parlour. Krysta tells Boxer that this is where he will become Jericho Kane. He is getting numerous tattoos all over his body. At the same time Ronald and Zora arrive at the barn and she introduces Ronald to Dream and Dion (The leaders of the Neo-Marxist movement). Moments later, Boxer Santaros is introduced to the crowd, who cheer wildly. Ronald is shocked...it’s Jericho Cane from his dream. |
Le Vingtième de cavalerie | René Goscinny | 1,965 | The 20th Cavalry detachment under the stern commander Colonel McStraggle is besieged by the Cheyenne, because the Indians claim that white men had wantonly killed buffaloes, which the Cheyenne need for their survival. Worse than that is that someone has even provided the Indians with firearms! Lucky Luke volunteers as scout for the 20th Cavalry and quickly finds out that Derek Floyd, a renegade cavalrist is hatching a plot against McStraggle for having kicked him out of the army. The situation for the beleaguered soldiers becomes more desperate as Floyd exploits his insider knowledge of the fort to starve out his ex-comrades. |
L'Escorte | René Goscinny | 1,966 | Four years after the great clash between Lucky Luke and Billy the Kid resulting in a 1200+ year prison sentence for Billy, Luke is asked to escort Billy to New Mexico to face trial for the crimes he committed there. However, Billy's enduring reputation and his repeated attempts at escape - mostly with the inept assistance of felon Bert Malloy - offer Luke and Jolly Jumper their fair share of excitement on the way. |
La Diligence | René Goscinny | 1,968 | Due to an increasing rate of stagecoach holdups, Wells Fargo & Co. decides to organize and conduct a special trip with a load of gold from Denver to San Francisco, with Lucky Luke participating as an escort, to reboost the company's failing public image. As expected, the stagecoach becomes the target for various hold-up attempts, in addition to an Indian attack, an encounter with the bandit poet Black Bart, various on-board gambling sessions, and a continuous diet of bacon and potatoes (as prescribed by the company). In the end the gold not only arrives safely in San Francisco, but also the passengers have gained some new personal insights from that trip. |
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