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Smoky Valley | Donald Hamilton | 1,954 | John Parrish doesn't run, even when the local land baron tries to burn him out of his home. The former soldier has to stay alive long enough to outwit his enemies. |
The Klingon Gambit | Robert E. Vardeman | 1,981 | The Klingon ship 'Terror' has recently murdered the innocent crew of a Vulcan science ship. The Enterprise is sent to meet this new threat, only to fall apart from within. Crew members throw immature temper tantrums. Orders are ignored. One by one, the crew are losing their minds. |
The Covenant of the Crown | null | 1,981 | Spock, McCoy and Kailyn, the beautiful heir to the Shaddan throne are the only survivors of an Enterprise shuttle crash on the barren planet of Sigma 1212. The three must survive Klingon scouts and literally reclaim the Shaddan crown; else risk a Klingon territorial takeover. |
The Prometheus Design | null | 1,982 | The U.S.S Enterprise arrives to assist the Helvans, who are being plagued with outbreaks of many types of violence. Soon Captain Kirk becomes mentally ill. He is removed from command and Commander Spock takes over, but it is not exactly an improvement. Spock's orders seem to be just as irrational and cruel. |
The Abode of Life | G. Harry Stine | 1,982 | The citizens of the isolated planet Mercan cannot conceive of the existence of much past their home planet and their dangerous, flaring sun. The USS Enterprise, severely damaged, must somehow find a way to repair itself without exposing the Mercanians to societal concepts for which they are not yet ready. The Federation's 'Prime Directive' forbids interference in less advanced cultures. |
Black Fire | null | 1,983 | An explosion destroys the bridge of the Enterprise, killing trainee crewmembers and severely injuring the main crew. Spock ignores a chunk of metal in his spine to take command and figure out exactly what happened. His investigation soon leads him and the Enterprise's Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott to the discovery of the Tomarii, an alien race who reveres war and conflict. Despite the urging from Scott and others, Spock refuses to take the time to have his injuries treated. Scott and Spock meet with a small grouping of Romulans and Klingons, all three races having been attacked. The grouping is captured by the Tomarii, who use them in other conflicts. Meanwhile, Spock has been framed for the explosion and Captain Kirk, recovering from his own wounds, must clear his friend's name. |
Triangle | null | 1,983 | Both Captain Kirk and Commander Spock have fallen in love with the same woman, Federation Free Agent Sola Than. This situation ties into the galaxy threatening danger of the immense intelligence known as the 'Totality'. |
Highways to a War | Christopher Koch | 1,995 | When legendary Australian war photographer Mike Langford goes missing in Khmer Rouge Cambodia in 1976, childhood friend Ray inherits his taped diaries. Using these, his own memories, and the recollections and records of others, Ray attempts to reconstruct Langford's life, to understand how he became a myth and why he went back into Cambodia. Eventually this will lead Ray to Thailand, to the Cambodian border and the truth about Langford's fate. Though different parts of Highways to a War are told from different perspectives, the overall result is a coherent narrative and a portrait of a life. It begins with Langford's childhood on a Tasmanian farm, his "novitiate" in Singapore, where he nearly starves before finding work, and his early experiences in Vietnam, in Saigon and in the Mekong Delta with the ARVN, the South Vietnamese army. The story then jumps from Saigon in 1966 to Phnom Penh in 1973. Among other dramatic episodes, Langford is captured by North Vietnamese troops and witnesses the fall of Saigon. The story is tense and gripping, but the centre remains Langford's development: he is a tough man, a survivor, but he is also an idealist and, when he loses his objectivity and becomes involved with the Free Khmer, his fate has a tragic inevitability to it. Its unity comes from its focus on Langford, but Highways to a War has plenty of other memorable characters. His fellow photographers and correspondents are a fascinatingly idiosyncratic bunch. And Langford's romantic idealisation of women makes them a key part of his life: in Australia, the daughter of a poor fruit-picking family and then the wife of his mentor, in Saigon an older French-Vietnamese woman, and in Phnom Penh the Cambodian woman whose fate becomes tied up with Langford's. Highways to a War also offers a vivid perspective on the course of the Second Indochina War. This, however, is implicit: Koch makes no attempt to write a history of that war (and readers without any background knowledge may find parts of the novel confusing), or to take sides in the debates over that history, and it is through personal stories and personal tragedies that he sheds light on the broader tragedies. |
Web of the Romulans | null | 1,983 | A deadly virus causes desperate Romulans to invade Canara and incite a battle with the U.S.S. Enterprise. Captain Kirk, fully willing to get the antidote to the Romulans, has to deal with the ship's central computer. It has developed romantic feelings for Kirk himself. |
Journey Through a Small Planet | Emanuel Litvinoff | 2,008 | In "Journey Through a Small Planet" (1972), the writer Emanuel Litvinoff recalls his working-class Jewish childhood in the East End of London: a small cluster of streets right next to the city, but worlds apart in culture and spirit. With vivid intensity Litvinoff describes the overcrowded tenements of Brick Lane and Whitechapel, the smell of pickled herring and onion bread, the rattle of sewing machines and chatter in Yiddish. He also relates stories of his parents, who fled from Russia in 1914, his experiences at school and a brief flirtation with Communism. Unsentimental, vital and almost dream like, this is a masterly evocation of a long-vanished world. |
Thunder and Lightnings | Jan Mark | 1,976 | Andrew Mitchell moves to Tiler's Cottage in East Anglia. He goes to his new school and meets Victor Skelton in G.S. The two slowly become friends, and do things together like go to RAF Coltishall and see the aeroplanes, which are English Electric Lightnings. Victor is devastated when he discovers that his beloved Lightnings are to be replaced with Jaguars. |
In Her Shoes | Jennifer Weiner | 2,002 | Rose and Maggie Feller are two young sisters who share little in common except their shoe size. Rose is the eldest and has been watching after Maggie since they were young children and their mother Caroline died in a car accident. They were raised by their father Michael (perpetually in mourning for Caroline) and stepmother Sydelle (who resents them both). Rose is a thirty-year old single, successful lawyer who struggles with her weight, and who resents her younger sister's beauty and success with men. Maggie, a twenty-eight year old who uses her beauty and charming nature to hide the obstacles she faces due to dyslexia and related learning difficulties, resents Rose's academic success and consequent wealth. While close as children, standardized testing sets them on different paths in high school: Rose's success on the exams leads to Princeton University and University of Pennsylvania Law School; Maggie's failure on the exams leads to a future path of drifting through a string of clerical jobs until she ends up homeless and jobless on Rose's couch. Both nearing the age of their mother when she died, Rose and Maggie each feel as if there is a vacuum in their lives which they are unable to fill. After wearing out her welcome with Rose (and being evicted from her father's home by her step mother), Maggie runs away, choosing to hide in Princeton University, which she had visited when Rose was a student. Finding shelter in a lower level of the library (with a fully equipped bathroom/shower), Maggie fills her free time doing something that she had avoided her entire life: reading. She also accepts a part-time position as a care-taker for a nearby elderly woman. Maggie is surprised to find that when reading in her own way at her own pace, she enjoys the activity and even begins to attend a poetry class. Eventually, however, a boy (whose wallet she had stolen) discovers her belongings in the library. Realizing her charade at Princeton is over, Maggie runs away. She travels to find her long-lost grandmother, whose old letters she had discovered previously in her father's desk. Rose, meanwhile, leaves her career in law in order to discover what life as a dog-walker would be like. She also begins to date Simon Stein. Grandma Ella, who had previously tried to track the girls via the Internet (only finding information on Rose) is delighted to see Maggie and invites her to stay in her home. Gradually Maggie, Ella, and eventually Rose reconcile with each other, and in the process come to terms with both the life and death of Caroline. |
Mutiny on the Enterprise | Robert E. Vardeman | 1,983 | A much needed peace mission to the Orion Arm is delayed when the Enterprise becomes damaged while in orbit around a living planet. Further problems arise when a mysterious female guest causes much of the crew to become hardline pacifists. Kirk must now lead the rebellion against his own crew. |
The Trellisane Confrontation | null | 1,984 | The planet Trellisane is the breeding ground for a three-way war. Captain Kirk ends up as a passenger on a Klingon warship. Doctor McCoy is stuck with cannibals. The USS Enterprise is surrounded by Romulans and the Neutral Zone is filled with more danger then ever. |
Corona | Greg Bear | 1,984 | A sentient force of protostars, called 'Corona', endangers a team of Vulcan scientists. Captain Kirk and the USS Enterprise arrive, their onboard situation complicated by a female reporter and a new computer system that can override Kirk's commands. The situation further degrades with it is learned the protostars might restart the entire universe. |
My Enemy, My Ally | Diane Duane | 1,984 | The USS Enterprise is contacted by Ael i-Mhiessan t'Rllaillieu, a Romulan commander whom Captain Kirk has tangled with several times before. Ael has become disillusioned with the Romulan Empire's politics, and is especially concerned with a secret project she has discovered which seeks to use medical research on captured Vulcans to allow Romulans to develop extensive mental powers. She convinces her crew to cross the Neutral Zone into Federation space, where the Enterprise is patrolling with the Starships Constellation, Intrepid and the Denebian Defender-class battleship Inaieu. Ael hopes to convince Kirk to launch a strike against the medical facility. The Captain declines, but when the USS Intrepid mysteriously vanishes during an ion storm, Ael convinces him that the ship has been captured by Romulans and its Vulcan crew will become part of the project. This convinces Kirk to take the Enterprise with Ael's ship, Bloodwing, into Romulan space in a rescue mission. The plan involves Ael's ship pretending to capture the Enterprise, taking it back home through the Romulan defences on a course which will pass close to the research station. The plan proceeds smoothly until a double cross by Ael's son, Tafv threatens to leave the Enterprise genuinely captured. This attempt is overturned, the Intrepid and her crew rescued, the base destroyed, and the Enterprise duly heads back to Federation space. Ael and Kirk go their separate ways, he back to duty and she to a life of exile as a traitor. Before leaving she tells Kirk all of her names and their meaning, a highly symbolic act for a Romulan which is only done to "one closer than kin". She tells him her names will be purged from the records back home, rendering her essentially a non-person in Romulan eyes. On returning to Earth Kirk hangs a pennant with Ael's names on it in a remote valley, symbolically counteracting this status. |
The Tears of the Singers | Melinda M. Snodgrass | 1,984 | Captain Kirk and the USS Enterprise joins with the Klingons to investigate a spatial anomaly that has already swallowed one starship. Kirk suspects the problem has something to do with the nearby lifeform on Taygeta V, beings preyed upon for the jewels they secrete at the moment of their death. Unfortunately a Klingon officer has mutiny on his mind and the anomaly threatens to destroy all of known space. |
The Vulcan Academy Murders | Jean Lorrah | 1,984 | Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy travel to a hospital facility on Vulcan to acquire treatment for a badly wounded Enterprise crew member. Kirk encounters Spock's mother, Amanda Grayson and soon becomes heavily involved in Spock's personal life. Then people begin to die. Kirk, trying to solve the case, is hampered by some Vulcan's belief that it would be too illogical for murder to be happening on their homeworld. |
Uhura's Song | Janet Kagan | 1,985 | Lt. Uhura's friendship with a cat-like diplomat from Eeiauo becomes vital when a plague threatens the population and the Enterprise itself. |
Shadow Lord | Laurence Yep | 1,985 | Prince Vikram of the planet Angira has spent some time studying on Earth. He plans to return home with new ways of changing his homeland. Accompanying him are Spock and Hikaru Sulu. Resistance comes from Angrias who hate new technology. The two Starfleet officers are swept up in the fighting and must use primitive weapons themselves to survive. |
Killing Time | null | 1,985 | A Romulan time-tampering experiment changes the past. Kirk is now a cynical ensign and Spock is the troubled captain of the ShiKahr, the alternate-universe version of the Enterprise. The two must work together to keep the Romulan incident from destroying the galaxy. |
Dwellers in the Crucible | Margaret Wander Bonanno | 1,985 | Warrantors of peace are a new plan for preventing war among the major powers of known space. Basically hostages, a representative of each race would be killed if their people start a war. Unfortunately outside agents then take six warrantors; a situation that threatens to start a war. Hikaru Sulu of the USS Enterprise is sent off to rescue all six Warrantors. |
Pawns and Symbols | null | 1,985 | Jean Czerny, a Federation survivor of an earthquake, is suffering from amnesia. She becomes involved in a Klingon crisis, caused by an empire-wide famine. Captain Kirk and the Klingon Captain Kang clash over the potential war brewing and the fate of Jean. |
Prisoner of the Daleks | null | null | The TARDIS arrives on the planet Hurala. Whilst investigating the deserted site the Doctor makes his way to the base's computer data core room, where he is locked inside by the computer along with the corpse of another person previously trapped inside. Five days later, the bounty hunter ship Wayfarer lands on the planet, its crew of five hoping to use the fuel stores to refuel their ship. They soon come across the TARDIS, and then hear a repeating tapping noise. One of them, called Scrum, realises that its a Morse code SOS message. They quickly trace it to the computer data core room where they find and free the Doctor, who has been sending it out with a spoon. On the insistence of the Doctor and another of the bounty hunters, Stella, the group investigate the computer's systems. They discover an override which, when activated, took control of the base and trapped the Doctor. Someone had used the computer to set a trap. Who did is soon answered when the group are attacked by a Dalek patrol. The Doctor and the bounty hunters, who now reveal that they kill Daleks for a living, race back to the Wayfarer, escape to the TARDIS being blocked by Daleks. They manage to take off but the Daleks blow up a refueling pump, sending debris flying into the ship through the open landing ramp, badly wounding Stella. As the crew attempt to put her into cryo-freeze a Dalek manages to get into the ship through an air-lock, and exterminates Stella. Before it can kill anyone else the Doctor freezes it using the emergency cryo-charge intended for Stella. With the Dalek immobilized Stella's body is also frozen and the crew make a course for Auros, Stella's home world. On the way, the Dalek's eye stalk is removed so that the crew can claim the prize-money for killing it, and it is placed in the cargo hold. Whilst talking with the crew the Doctor realizes that he's travelled back along the time line to before the Time War. At this point in history the Daleks are locked in a huge galactic war with Earth's first empire, at a moment when victory can go either way. The Doctor also learns more about the crew. Commanding the ship is Bowman, a former Earth trooper who has been fighting the Daleks for years and is a veteran of the Draconian Wars. Scrum is the crew's technician, Cuttin' Edge is a former Space Marine who was dishonorably discharged and Stella was the ship's Medic. The other crew member, Koral, is a humanoid alien whose planet and people of Red Sky Lost were destroyed by the Daleks. Upon arriving at Auros the Doctor and the crew discover that the planet's population are abandoning the planet as the Daleks are preparing to invade. Using the Osterhagen Principle, they detonate a series of nuclear bombs and destroy the planet to prevent it falling to the Daleks. The Doctor and Bowman realize that the Daleks will now ambush the retreating convoy. They try to warn them but before they can the Daleks arrive, forcing the convoy to surrender and destroying its flagship as a warning to the other ships. Furious at the loss of Stella and her home world, the crew of the Wayfarer decide to interrogate the captured Dalek. With the Doctor's reluctant help they disarm it, and then Koral uses its claws to open the casing. They then remove the creature inside and torture it, despite the Doctor's protests. Eventually they give up when the Dalek tells them nothing. After they've left the cargo hold, however, the Doctor returns and reveals to the dying Dalek who he is. The Dalek, amongst its predictable ranting, lets slip that the Daleks plan to 'eliminate all humanity from its very beginnings!' Eventually the Dalek dies, and the Doctor works out what it meant. He reveals to the crew that the Daleks must be looking for the Arkeon Threshold, a schism in time and space which, if opened, will give the Daleks access to the Time Vortex. Deciding that the Doctor is telling the truth, Bowman orders the crew to head for the remains of the planet Arkeon, which had been destroyed at the start of the war. When they arrive they find that the planet has been split in two, with the surviving half still retaining a breathable atmosphere. The Wayfarer lands and the Doctor and the crew disembark. Whilst looking round the devastated landscape they encounter dozens of mutated Arkeonites, devolved by the radiation fallout. They chase the crew to the very edge of the planet, where they are captured by Daleks. After destroying their weapons the Daleks force the Doctor and the crew onto a lift, which descends down the side of the planet towards they core. Here the Doctor discovers that the Daleks, far from searching for Arkeon, have been on the planet for years. They have constructed a huge underground base where thousands of human prisoners from Auros are mining the core, looking for the Threshold. The base also contains experimentation labs, and the largest Dalek Prison outside of Skaro. The Doctor and the crew are taken into the base where they are scanned for 'suitability'. Scrum is found to be of marginal use. Cuttin' Edge and Koral are both sentenced to work in the mines. When Bowman is scanned its is discovered that he is in fact 'Space Major Jon Bowman', the designer of Earth's defence system and high on the Dalek's list of wanted people, causing the commander to be alerted. Upon being told by the Command Dalek that Bowman will be taken for brain excoriation, which will kill him, Koral, who is secretly in love with Bowman, lashes out at the nearest Dalek. In retaliation the Daleks kill Scrum, the weakest member of the group. As the Daleks prepare to take Bowman away the Doctor stops them and whispers something to the Command Dalek. The Command Dalek, suddenly terrified, orders two of its minions to scan the Doctor. They immediately identity him and prepare to exterminate him. The Doctor persuades them to interrogate him first, however. News of the Doctor's capture is sent to the Supreme Dalek on Skaro, who sends the Primary Intelligence Unit, led by the Dalek Inquisitor General, to interrogate the Doctor. Cuttin' Edge and Koral are sent to work in the mines, replacing a group that is exterminated for being to slow. The Doctor is placed in the same cell as Bowman, who reveals to him that the Dalek Inquisitor General, called 'Dalek X' by the Earth authorities, is second in command to the Supreme Dalek and is described as being 'the Devil in Dalek form'. Dalek X accepts his Earth designation to cause fear. Dalek X arrives at Arkeon aboard the Exterminator, the Dalek Empire's most advanced ship, containing 500 Daleks and accompanied by a small fleet of Dalek saucers. Upon arrival Dalek X takes over command of the base, and exterminates one of the its mining Daleks for failing to meet its target. He then orders that every hour the weakest group of workers will be exterminated. Soon after the Doctor is brought to the interrogation room, where Dalek X measures the Doctor's capacity for physical pain using a mind probe, simply out of curiosity. Dalek X reveals he gave the order to destroy the Auros Ship. After an unknown length of time in pain the Doctor is released from the mind probe, and shown around the base by Dalek X. Meanwhile the Wayfarer is destroyed, and Bowman is taken to have his brain removed. Dalek X reveals to the Doctor that once the planetary core has been extracted, the Daleks will locate the Threshold using a Large Chronon Collider. They will then open it, access the time vortex and defeat the Time Lords. There is a chance that the collider won't work properly, however. To ensure success the Daleks need a control element; the Doctor's TARDIS. The Doctor refuse to co-operate, but the Daleks threaten to exterminate a woman and her daughter from Cuttin' Edge's and Koral's work force if he doesn't comply Eventually, the Doctor agrees to help, but under the condition that Cuttin' Edge, Koral and Bowman come with them to help him operate the TARDIS. The Daleks agree and Bowman is released, just before he is about to be killed. The Doctor tries to have the Woman and her daughter taken as well, but the Daleks refuse. The Exterminator and its escort fleet head for Hurala, with the Doctor, the surviving Wayfarer crew members and the Dalek Temporal Research Team on board. When they reach the TARDIS the Doctor claims to have lost the Key, saying it is in the room he was locked up in at the Dalek Base. As they head for it, Cuttin' Edge recognises the identification symbol on one of the Daleks. It is the same one that killed Scrum. He lashes out at it, knocking it down the steps, and is exterminated by Dalek X, though he pulls another Dalek into the ray, destroying it. The Doctor, Koral and Bowman use the distraction to escape into a maintenance duct. After escaping the Doctor reveals his plan. There is still enough astronic energy fuel on the planet to cause a huge explosion. If they can detonate it they can destroy Dalek X, the Temporal Research Team and the orbiting Dalek fleet. They make their way to a silo that still contains fuel, and the Doctor starts to rig it to explode. Dalek X, enraged by the Doctor's escape, catches up with them and prepares to exterminate the Doctor. Dalek X is attacked by Koral and Bowman, who eventually disable it and push it over the edge of the gantry they are standing on. The Doctor is nearly finished, but realises that he can't stop the safety override by remote control. Someone will have to stay behind and hold the manual override lever down until the silo reaches critical. Bowman volunteers to stay behind, refusing to leave despite protests from Koral. Eventually he knocks out the protesting Koral so that the Doctor can take her back to the TARDIS and safety. The Doctor and Koral make it into the TARDIS just as the Daleks arrive. In the silo Bowman holds the lever down as the Daleks approach, and as the whole base beings to shake the Daleks retreat. Finally the silo reaches critical mass and Bowman prepares to face death. He is saved at the last second by the Doctor, however, who materialises the TARDIS on the gantry. Bowman leaps into the TARDIS just as the Command Dalek tries to exterminate him. A second later the silo explodes, killing every Dalek on Hurala, as well as destroying the Exterminator and its escort fleet. Back on Earth Bowman and Koral report to the Earth authorities. They learn that the Dalek fleet is in complete disarray thanks to them, and a task force is preparing to attack the Dalek base on Arkeon and release the prisoners. The Doctor leaves as Bowman and Koral prepare to go and meet Bowman's parents. The Doctor travels to Hurala, where it has been sealed off for 5,000 years due the radiation fallout. There he finds Dalek X, badly damaged but still alive at the bottom of a pit. The Doctor informs it that Arkeon has been taken by the Earth forces, the Daleks are in full retreat on all fronts and that he has sealed off the Threshold. The radiation will help Dalek X keep alive, but by the time the Quarantine is over Dalek X will be dead. Regardless of the Doctor's revelations, Dalek X rants that the Daleks are never defeated. The Doctor replies that the Daleks are always defeated, because they can never accept that every other form of life in the Universe is better than the Daleks. To prove this the Doctor points out that there is no form of life in the Universe that would volunteer to be a Dalek. As the Doctor prepares to leave Dalek X vows to hunt him down. The Doctor responds by simply stating that he'll be waiting. The Doctor then finally departs Hurala, leaving Dalek X trapped on the planet, alone. |
Mindshadow | Jeanne Kalogridis | 1,986 | The peaceful planet of Aritani becomes the center of a Romulan plot to gain power. A Romulan double agent and a severely injured Spock further complicate the situation. |
Crisis on Centaurus | Brad Ferguson | 1,986 | On the planet Centaurus, the planetary capital of New Athens has been annihilated by a terrorist antimatter bomb. Millions are dead; because of a computer malfunction, the planetary defense system is preventing any rescue ships from approaching the planet. No subspace communication is possible, and traditional speed-of-light radio is blanketed with heavy static. Despite an emergency do-not-approach warning (known as Code 7-10, which went unheard), the first three relief ships, carrying hundreds of medical personnel, are destroyed by ground-to-air missiles as they assumed standard orbit. The USS Enterprise has been sent to assess the situation and offer what relief they can, but they are in need of help themselves as the ship is falling apart around them due to an unexplainable massive computer malfunction of their own; the transporter is made inoperable by the antimatter's residual tachyon radiation. The tragedy has a personal touch as well-- Doctor McCoy's daughter Joanna is among the missing, as well as friends and relatives of other crewmembers. While Spock attempts to disable the planetary defense computers, Captain Kirk, Mr. Sulu and attorney Samuel T. Cogley become involved with the terrorists when the terrorist leader contacts Cogley and ask him to represent them in Federation court. Despite his personal feelings, Kirk is determined that the terrorists will get a fair trial under Federation jurisdiction, but certain individuals in the patchwork government are equally determined that the terrorists will not leave Centaurus alive. While the surviving Centauran government engages in an all-out search for Kirk and party, Kirk learns that three more antimatter bombs are somewhere on the planet, and is forced to take refuge in the one place he cherishes most - the little cabin he had built in Garrovick Valley, on the river Farragut. On seeing the names 'Garrovick' and 'Farragut' on a map, Commander Spock correctly surmises the position of Kirk's buen retiro, and a scan from orbit reveals an army of government hovercars flitting around the cabin. By leveraging the Enterprise's crippled warp drive's controls, engineer Montgomery Scott and his second-in-command succeed in enabling the Enterprise to enter the atmosphere. The government hit squad's weapons are no match for a starship's phasers set on stun; the captured terrorists are taken in custody, but the secret of cheap antimatter synthesis is lost: its creator was the suicide bomber who set the first weapon off. In the epilogue, Spock traces the computer malfunction to a quantum black hole accidentally forming, against all odds, within the Enterprise in warp, drilling a hole straight through a good part of the computer memory banks. |
Dreadnought! | Diane Carey | 1,986 | The novel begins with Lt. Piper (no first name), a native of Proxima Beta, taking the Kobayashi Maru simulation at Starfleet Academy. After her "ship" takes several hits and takes heavy damage, Lt. Piper uses an unusual method to issue commands to the ship's computer via handheld communicator. The technique results in the computer controlling the simulation crashing. The simulator's commander comments during the debriefing that she has come closer to checkmating the no-win scenario than any other command-line candidate, then tells her that she has been reassigned to the starship Enterprise by special request. Lt. Piper meets briefly with Brian Silayna, an Academy cadet in the engineering program and her friend and lover. Piper and Silayna had originally been assigned to the same ship, but with Piper's reassignment (which Silayna reveals was from Captain Kirk, who had been observing the Kobayashi Maru simulation) they wind up saying their goodbyes instead. Lt. Piper takes a shuttle to the Enterprise and reports to her assigned cabin. Here she meets her cabin-mates: a Gorn named Telosirizharcrede, a human from Earth named Judd "Scanner" Sandage, a humanoid from Altair Four named Merete AndrusTaurus, and a Vulcan named Sarda. It is revealed that Piper and Sarda have a history together which has generated animosity between them. Shortly thereafter, Lt. Piper is s summoned to the bridge where she finds out that a top-secret Federation vessel named Star Empire, first of a new class of heavily-weaponed and heavily-shielded dreadnought, has been stolen by persons unknown and that the Enterprise has been dispatched in pursuit. The head of the dreadnought project, Vice-Admiral Rittenhouse, is in pursuit as well aboard the destroyer Pompeii. She also finds out that the Star Empire has transmitted rendezvous coordinates to the Enterprise and that Piper's unique biocode would be needed to enable transmissions at the rendezvous point. After a conference, Piper retires to her cabin and has a conversation with AndrusTaurus, where it is revealed why Sarda and Piper have strained relations. Sarda has a talent for defensive weapons design, which Starfleet keeps developing for offensive uses as well and that is something which Vulcans considered immoral. Piper, in her ignorance, informed the Academy staff of Sarda's talents, which led to his great personal embarrassment and being ostracized by other Vulcans in Starfleet. Piper and AndrusTaurus do some research on Vulcan and decide to consult with a Vulcan embassy that specialized in human-Vulcan relationships. Upon arrival at the rendezvous point, the Enterprises finds Star Empire being attacked by four Klingon vessels. The Star Empire is apparently helpless, its crew unable to fight while the attacking Klingons inflict heavy damage the dreadnought with phaser fire. Enterprise moves in to help the cripped dreadnought, engaging the Klingons with phasers and photon torpedoes. One is damaged and retreats to hide in an asteroid field and hard fighting results in another Klingon ship being destroyed. However the Enterprise is also damaged in the fighting and is left facing long odds against the two remaining Klingon ships. Suddenly movement is detected in the asteroid field, and a second Star Empire appears. Engaging the damaged Klingon ships with heavy photon torpedoes, this unhurt Star Empire destroys two of them and sends the last one fleeing. Then it is revealed that the damaged Star Empire is in fact a sophisticated sensor projection when it dissolves from sight shortly thereafter, followed by the creation of five more dreadnought projections. This projection device is one of Sarda's weapons projects he finds embarrassing. Captain Kirk hails the Star Empire and after Piper's biocode is transmitted communication is established. To everybody's great surprise, Brian Silayna appears on the screen. He reads a message from Commander Paul Burch stating that they have seized the dreadnaught in the name of galactic civility and request an ambassadorial party of Kirk, Piper, and a Vulcan. Kirk refuses to comply and orders Piper arrested for conspiracy with terrorists, then cuts the transmission. Kirk orders the security guards to confine her to her quarters. In her quarters, Piper reflects on the situation and decides she had to get over to Star Empire to find out what was going on, why Silayna was on the dreadnought, and why he had never revealed his intentions to her. She tricks open the door by cutting the fire-alarm circuits to the bridge then triggering the heat sensor with a curling iron so that the safety features override the door lock and lets her out. Piper runs to the nearest transporter room and begins to activate the equipment with the intention of beaming over to Star Empire. Sarda finds her there, having deduced her intentions and location after discovering her missing from her quarters, and informs her that the Star Empire has moved out of transporter range. Instead they move to the hangar bay, open the doors, steal a 2-seat Arco-class light attack "sled", and head towards the Star Empire. During the flight, Sarda informs Piper that 3 more starships (Hood, Lincoln, and Potempkin) have been ordered by Admiral Rittenhouse to the location, and also accidentally reveals another benevolent invention that Starfleet weaponized and that he is embarrassed about. Their trip to Star Empire is cut short, however when the destroyer Pompeii drops out of warp, interceps the attack sled and uses a tractor beam to haul it inside its hangar bay. They meet Vice-Admiral Rittenhouse, who informs them that Commander Birch was his personal aide but had deteriorated until Rittenhouse believe he had become sociopathic. They discuss the situation of Piper and Sarda briefely with Captain Kirk, then Rittenhouse discusses the recent galactic political situation and hints at his desire to unite the various galactic governments under a common flag of peace. He then leave the conference room to attend to other duties. Piper, sensing something in the hints that Rittenhouse dropped, uses the destroyer's computer to access Starfleet and Federation organizational charts. She and Sarda find a disturbing pattern: men that had served with Rittenhouse over the years had been placed in high levels of the civilian and military leadership, including the captains of the three other starships en route. Believing Rittenhouse may be planning a military coup, Piper tries to contact the Enterprise, but Rittenhouse and Dr. Boma, a civilian scientist who also worked on the dreadnought project, stop her and order Piper and Sarda thrown in the destroyer's brig. While in the brig Piper and Sarda discuss Earth history and Piper explains the pattern of socialist political, military, and economic changes that Rittenhouse is repeating and how it would affect the Federation and its galactic neighbors. Suddenly, the power to the brig is briefly interrupted (by Boma, after he realizes Rittenhouse's plans for Star Empires crew), and Sarda acts quickly, throwing himself through the cell's doorway before the forcefield could re-activate. Sarda then turns off the forcefield and he and Piper flee the detention area. Moving through the destroyer, they spy the senior officers from the Enterprise and three other starthips walking through the Pompeii’s corridor into the conference room. Fearing for the safety of Kirk and his officers, Sarda and Piper move to the engineering section, bluff past the engineers there, and find an isolated spot from which to contact the Enterprise. Sarda contacts AndrusTaurus and Sandage, who transport over. With Sandage's help they manage to use the ship's intercom system to listen in on the meeting. During the meeting, Rittenhouse and his hand-picked captains square off against Kirk, with Rittenhouse advocating for harsh measures and indifferent to the potential deaths of the crew on Star Empire and Kirk advocating talks and negotiation with the Star Empire. Kirk becomes increasingly suspicious of Rittenhouse's unwillingness to let him contact the dreadnought's crew and disregard for their lives and balks. Rittenhouse finally orders security to arrest Kirk and his officers and lock them in a stateroom. Piper, Sarga, Sandage, and AndrusTaurus surprise and disable the guards outside the stateroom and an effort to free Kirk and his officers. Only they find that Kirk and his officers have disabled the guards inside their room and were planning to come and rescue them. They then sabotage the Pompeii’s phasers before meeting in the transporter room. Kirk, Spock, Scott, and McCoy beam back first; however before the others can the Pompeii’s crew disable the transporter. They move immediately to the hangar bay; however they have another encounter with a security team. A fight ensues, ending when AndrusTaurus grabs a guard's dropped phaser and shoots him with it. Against regulations the phaser is set to disintegrate instead of stun and the guard is vaporized. AndrusTaurus feels horrible guilt about her action as they continue to flee to the hangar deck. Once at the deck, they are confronted by Rittenhouse and more guards. Piper threatens to self-destruct the Arco attack sled they arrived on and take the destroyer with it. Rittenhouse, seeing that she's serious, withdraws from the deck and allows them to escape. The four of them escape in two attack sleds, skimming along the destroyer's hull to avoid being shot by the Pompeii’s phaser batteries. Piper destroys one phaser bank, then the two sleds vector away from the destroyer and towards the Star Empire before the Pompeii can bring more phasers to bear. They escape to the Star Empire and rush to the bridge. There they find a skeleton, untrained, largely bureaucratic crew that has only basic control over the ship's systems. Commander Burch explains the situation and they try to contact the Enterprise. Pompeii tries to jam the signal, and when that fails the destroyer opens fire on the ill-prepared Star Empire. A fierce battle then ensues. The Pompeiis phasers were disabled after the initial shots, leaving three other starships against Enterprise and Star Empire. Piper is able to unlock the ship's systems, giving Star Empire increased shielding and weapons ability to withstand the heavy attacks by the opposing starships. However Star Empire still takes significant damage, as Burch is not a combat commander and is reluctant to fire on other Federation vessels. Enterprise feigns fatal damage, luring Rittenhouse to order two other starships in to evacuate the Enterprise crew. Kirk then fires on the two starships, inflicting heavy damage and evening the odds. The two sides maneuver warily, until Commander Burch is disabled in an attack. Piper is forced to take command of Star Empire and begins to move aggressively, using the dreadnought's multiple phaser banks and newly-activated secondary shielding to dish out heavy hits on the opposing starships. With Rittenhouse's three starships considerably damaged, Piper bluffs their commanders by arming Star Empires heavy photon torpedoes. Rittenhouse's ships fall back, and Star Empire presses in. Rittenhouse, seeing that he no longer has the upper hand and that victory is out of reach, orders Pompeii to make a suicide run on Star Empire. Kirk, seeing this, moves in quickly and destroys Pompeii before she can collide with Star Empire. With Rittenhouse dead, the commanders of his three other starships surrender. The novel ends with medals being awarded to several of the crew and Piper gets promoted to Lieutenant Commander. Then Captain Kirk extends an offer to Piper to go sailing with him on his schooner. |
Demons | Jeanne Kalogridis | 1,986 | A strange device found by a scientific expedition is taken to the planet Vulcan. It begins taking people over one by one, replacing them with malevolent power-hungry entities. The crew of the Enterprise, those not yet replaced, must contain this threat to Vulcan and defeat it. This story is continued in the Star Trek: The Next Generation novel Possession, also by J.M. Dillard, where it is revealed the device is one of many. |
The Wizard in the Woods | Jean Ure | 1,990 | The story begins with the wizard exam of second class jr. wizard Ben Muzzy. Things go awry when he accidentally teleports himself to a mysterious forest. There he meets twins named Gemma and Joel who pledge to help the lost wizard find his way back home. |
Battlestations! | Diane Carey | 1,986 | Lt. Commander Piper is taking a vacation from her dealings with the traitorous Vice-Admiral during the events of the novel Dreadnought!. She is swept up in new problems when Captain Kirk is arrested for the theft of transwarp plans, a new form of transportation. Piper, Commander Spock, and Doctor McCoy attempt to get to the bottom of things. |
Chain of Attack | Gene DeWeese | 1,987 | While mapping gravitational anomalies, the USS Enterprise is hurled millions of light-years off course. They find themselves in a galaxy devastated by war and soon they are under attack by both warring fleets. Captain Kirk risks his ship and crew in order to stop the war and get home. |
Deep Domain | null | 1,987 | Admiral Kirk and the Enterprise visit the ocean-world of Akkalla for diplomatic reasons. Soon Spock and Chekov become lost. A civil war and secrets under the water threaten the entire planet and the Enterprise. |
Dreams of the Raven | null | 1,987 | A mysterious distress call leads to the USS Enterprise being attacked by the same forces assaulting the other ship. Dozens of Enterprise crew members die in the attack and Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy is critically injured. Although the Doctor recovers from his injuries physically, mentally he has lost of all sense of his former identity. Kirk discovers it is much more difficult tracking down their new enemies without McCoy's always valued advice. |
The Romulan Way | Peter Morwood | 1,987 | Deep-cover Federation spy Agent Terise LoBrutto has her carefully maintained life disrupted by an unpleasant discovery. The chief medical officer of the USS Enterprise, Doctor McCoy, has been captured. It's up to LoBrutto to rescue McCoy. |
The IDIC Epidemic | Jean Lorrah | 1,988 | Vulcans, Humans, Klingons and countless other races live and work together on 'Vulcan Science Colony Nisus'. The colony becomes infected with a contagious disease. The threat to so many races threatens to cause interstellar war. The solution to both aspects of the problem seems to buried in the Vulcan saying 'Infinite diversity in infinite combinations'. |
The Given Day | Dennis Lehane | 2,008 | The Given Day is a historical novel set in Boston, Massachusetts and Tulsa, Oklahoma. The story has two main characters: Aiden "Danny" Coughlin, an ethnic Irish Boston Police patrolman, whose father is a prominent detective and captain in the department; and Luther Laurence, a talented African-American amateur baseball player from Columbus, Ohio. The novel starts at the end of World War I, when union organizing activities are high across the country. The year is 1918 and the BPD patrolmen have not been given a raise since 1905; they are working for below-poverty level wages. The Boston Social Club (BSC) is the fraternal organization of the BPD patrolmen and its members begin to discuss their grievances and possible actions. Due to his family's high status and reputation in the police department, Danny is reluctant to attend BSC meetings . His partner, Steve Coyle, is able to get him to attend some meetings where the BSC hopes to join the American Federation of Labor, a national union. BPD Captain Thomas Coughlin (Danny's father), FBI agent Rayme Finch, and a Department of Justice lawyer, the young J. Edgar Hoover, assign Danny to infiltrate the Roxbury Lettish Workingman's Society in promise of his detective's stripes. Danny is told that they may be collaborating with other radical cells to plan a national revolt on May Day. As Danny is undercover attending meetings with the Letts, he begins to identify with some of the principles they preach. He soon is elected as the vice president of the BSC. Luther Laurence and his pregnant wife, Lila, move from Columbus to Tulsa, Oklahoma to start a new life closer to some of her relatives in the Greenwood District. Laurence and his friend Jessie earn some extra money running numbers for a local bookie and gangster, Deacon Skinner Brocious. When Jessie gets caught skimming from Deacon, a deadly confrontation ensues. Laurence has to leave his wife in Tulsa and flees to Boston, where his uncle sets him up with the Giddreauxs, an African-American couple who lead the Boston chapter of the recently formed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In Boston Laurence gets work as a handyman and servant in the home of police Captain Thomas Coughlin. While working for the Coughlins, Laurence becomes close friends with Nora O'Shea, an Irish immigrant and servant. She was taken in by the Coughlins five years earlier, when the captain found her shivering in the streets on Christmas Eve. Nora and Danny had a love affair, which ended when he discovered a dark secret from her past. She has become engaged to his younger brother, a rising attorney. Laurence is manipulated by Lieutenant Eddie McKenna, best friend to Captain Coughlin and godfather to Danny. Delving into Luther's past, McKenna has discovered that he is running from the deadly altercation in Tulsa. Laurence has been earning his board at the Giddreauxs' home by renovating an old building as the new NAACP headquarters in Boston. McKenna forces him to obtain NAACP membership information and to build a secret chamber in the new headquarters. When the Coughlins discover Nora's secret, she is banned from their household. Laurence is banned after being caught spending time with her and giving her food. Danny's involvement in the BSC takes him away from his family as well; his father is particularly opposed to Danny's new "radical and Bolshevik-like" views. Nora, Danny, and Luther form a close friendship when each finds that the others are the true friends to count on for dealing with their individual hardships. Nora is on her own just as she was five years ago, the men of the BPD are counting on Danny to lead them to a fair wage and working conditions, and Laurence is trying to escape McKenna's clutches and make it back to his wife and child. The story culminates in the historical Boston Police Strike, which is precipitated by the police commissioner's refusal to allow the nascent police union's right to affiliate with national labor organizations, or to exist. In the chaos of the strike, Laurence saves Danny's life. By this time Danny had reunited with and married Nora. Luther reconciles the difficult situation he had run from in Tulsa, and succeeds in returning there to join his wife and recently born child in the Greenwood District. (This is before the area was destroyed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.) |
Timetrap | null | 1,988 | The USS Enterprise investigates the distress call of the Klingon ship 'The Mauler'. It is being assaulted by powerful energies. Despite their situation, the Klingon ship refuses all offers of help. However, Captain Kirk and two security officers beam aboard anyway. The Mauler is seemingly destroyed. Kirk, lacking his security team, finds himself seemingly one hundred years in the Klingon Empire's future. |
The Three-Minute Universe | Barbara Paul | 1,988 | The Sackers, a race of physically repellent beings, murder an entire race to steal a powerful device. This device rips a hole in the fabric of space, bringing in a brand-new universe that threatens the old one. |
Memory Prime | Garfield Reeves-Stevens | 1,988 | 'Memory Prime' is the name of a planet home to aritifical intelligences called 'Pathfinders'. These beings help Federation personnel sort the information coming from all over Federation territory. The planet is also the host to a current series of scientific award ceremonies. Unfortunately the visitors are being stalked by a killer and Spock is being accused of being part of a Vulcan terrorist cell, the Adepts of T'Pel. |
The Final Nexus | Gene DeWeese | 1,988 | In this sequel to Chain of Attack, the Enterprise must deal with an ancient series of warp-gates, now malfunctioning, that threatens to tear apart the galaxy. |
Double, Double | Michael Jan Friedman | 1,989 | One android has survived the destruction of Roger Korby and his scientific facilities. The robot creates another Captain Kirk and fools the U.S.S. Hood with a distress signal. The Hood's command crew is soon overtaken by murderous androids and Kirk himself is framed for murder. Kirk's android double takes over his command position on the Enterprise. The regular Kirk rallies the survivors of the Hood and his own crew into destroying the android's threat. |
The Cry of the Onlies | null | 1,989 | Boaco Six is caught up in revolution and Captain Kirk is sent in to re-establish diplomatic ties. His efforts are going well until an experimental Federation ship destroys a Boacan vessel. In order to stop a war, Kirk attempts to track down and uncover the secrets of the Federation ship. |
Rules of Engagement | Peter Morwood | 1,990 | James T. Kirk is sent to assist in the evacuation of Federation personnel from the crisis-wracked planet of Dekkanar. He is ordered to only participate in the evacuation, not to even raise shields or fire weapons. The situation becomes complicated when Captain Kasak takes an experimental Klingon warship to the planet as well The novel also offers an alternate explanation, via Kasak's viewpoint, why Klingon's facial features have changed over the years. |
Pastors and Masters | null | null | 70-year-old Nicholas Herrick owns and heads a small day school for 10 to 14-year-old boys in the vicinity of his old alma mater but only spends ten minutes a day at the school to read prayers in the morning. The school is run by Charles Merry, a 50-year-old man without a degree who has become a schoolmaster out of financial necessity. Married with four young daughters, he does his best to keep up appearances and make parents believe—mainly on Herrick's behalf—that they are sending their sons to the right school, despite their inadequate equipment and their motley staff of only four: Merry himself; his wife Emily, a mother figure as unqualified to teach as her husband; Miss Basden, an unmarried middle-aged schoolmistress with slight feminist tendencies; and Mr Burgess, a very young and inexperienced graduate. Herrick, who lives together with his unmarried sister Emily, deplores the fact that he has never got round to writing a novel, which in his eyes would make him a "real author." As a matter of fact, his lack of talent has prevented him from ever having a book published, and so he keeps spending his days idling in his study. When a very old don dies and Herrick helps clear out his rooms he finds the typescript of a short novel which he believes the deceased academic has written. He steals it and claims that he has had a sudden inspiration for his long-due book. At about the same time Richard Bumpus, a don and a friend of the Herricks, announces his intention to publish a short novel, a complete rewriting of the book he authored as a young man and the only copy of which, as he found it of inferior quality and thus inadequate for publication, he asked William Masson, a friend and colleague, to bury in someone's grave. The night Herrick and Bumpus want to give a reading from their respective works in progress Masson surprises everyone by stating that he has actually kept, and read, Bumpus's youthful foray into fiction and that he is looking forward to comparing the two versions. When the two authors discover that their first sentences are identical it becomes clear that neither of them has written anything recently and that the only novel which ever existed is Bumpus's early work. |
The Pandora Principle | null | 1,990 | A Romulan Bird Of Prey drifts over the Neutral Zone and into Federation territory. Admiral Kirk and the Enterprise take the ship back to Earth, unaware of the deadly force hiding inside. It is soon learned one way to battle the threat is via the traumatic childhood knowledge of Saavik and her birth planet of Hellguard. |
Doctor's Orders | Diane Duane | 1,990 | In response to good-natured complaints about his command style, Captain Kirk leaves Doctor McCoy in command of the Enterprise. Kirk beams down to the planet 'Flyspeck' in order to facilitate its acceptance into the Federation. Kirk soon vanishes, leaving McCoy stuck with the ship against his will; regulations forbid him from passing on command to Commander Spock. Kirk is nowhere to be found and to complicate matters, the Klingons show up, claiming to have a stake in 'Flyspeck' as well. It is later found that Kirk had been lost in the time stream, as one of Flyspeck's races do not fully live in linear time. |
Enemy Unseen | null | 1,990 | The Enterprise is assigned to carry a diplomatic mission, which is nothing new. Things start to go really wrong for this one. The Federation ambassador is an old 'flame' of Kirk's, who aggressively tries to rekindle their old romance. Another diplomat presents Kirk with three of his wives, a situation he is not comfortable with. Things take a turn for the worse when another diplomat is found killed. |
The Swisser | Arthur Wilson | null | The play is set in Lombardy, and bases its characters on actual historical figures of the early seventh century A.D. As the play opens, Lombard soldiers are fleeing the battlefield, after defeat by the forces of Ravenna. The Swiss mercenary Andrucho, the title character, observes and comments upon the action. The King of the Lombards enters with his courtiers, including his cowardly and defeated general Timentes. (Andrucho, an unsubtle soldier, functions as something like the King's jester; the King calls him his "bandog," and allows the Swiss to criticize the courtiers with little restraint.) The King demands that Timentes rally the troops and lead a counterattack. Andrucho and the old courtier Clephis speak up critically; Clephis in particular advises the King to replace Timentes with the banished nobleman Arioldus. The Lombard troops themselves cry out and demand Arioldus for their commander. The second scene shows Arioldus at his country estate; he lives in retirement with his books, glad to be away from the royal court. Andrucho comes to visit him; their conversation reveals that the Swiss mercenary is actually Aribert, another banished Lombard nobleman. Suddenly, courtiers begin arriving at Arioldus's house, assuring him of their (previously invisible) support and affection. Clearly, a change is in the wind. The King arrives, reverses Arioldus's banishment, and appoints him general of the army. The common troops are revitalized, and Arioldus wins a quick (offstage) victory over the army of Ravenna. Arioldus comes away from his victory with a young female captive called Eurinia. An honorable man, Arioldus protects the virtue of his captive; but she quickly becomes a focus of courtly gossip. When the King meets her, he is strongly taken with her beauty; Arioldus wants to shield Eurinia, but the King commands both of them to attend at his court. The early scenes in the play delineate two factions: the virtuous courtiers, Arioldus, Clephis, and Andrucho/Aribert, are opposed to the more amoral, cynical and self-interested courtiers, Antharis, Asprandus, and Iseas. Antharis and Clephis are old rivals; but their children, respectively son Alcidonus and daughter Selina, are in love and secretly married — though parental opposition forces them to conceal the fact and live apart. Timentes comes to be the play's clown substitute, its focus for broad humor. Andrucho and other courtiers convince Timentes that he is being pursued by an angry mob. To hide, Timentes climbs into an empty coffin, and faints from fear. He is thought dead, until he recovers consciousness and climbs back out of the coffin. Later, Timentes gains a false courage through drunkenness. At court, the King attempts to seduce Eurinia; she resists and stand upon her honor, but the hot-blooded King rapes her. Arioldus learns of the crime, and faces a conflict between his personal honor and his oath of loyalty to the King. The two men confront each other over the issue — but the King is penitent, in his own limited way; he tries to repair matters by arranging a marriage between Arioldus and his sister, the princess Panopia. Arioldus rejects this; and the King offers to fight him, even providing Arioldus a pardon in advance, in case Arioldus kills him. The two are about to fight, when the eavesdropping Andrucho interrupts and prevents them. The young lovers Alcidonus and Selina are surprised in a clandestine meeting, and separated by their fathers. Antharis, ignorant of their marriage, tries to squelch their affair by telling his son a giant lie — that Alcidonus is a bastard, and Selina's half-brother. The two lovers meet over this distressing news; believing themselves guilty of incest, they decide on suicide. They share a vial of poison. Their bodies are found, and Antharis is driven mad by the consequences of his deception. But the prudent Clephis, anticipating trouble, made sure that what the lovers thought was poison was only a sleeping potion. The lovers recover, though Antharis does not. The drama concludes in a large revelation scene, in which Arioldus, Andrucho, and Panopia manipulate the King into a positive resolution. A faked assassination attempt reminds the King that he is not invulnerable. Andrucho is revealed as Aribert, and redeemed from banishment; Eurinia is revealed as Aribert's daughter Eugenia. Years before, the King had loved Eugenia; now, he marries her as a way of repairing the damage he has done to her. Arioldus and Panopia also marry, yielding the requisite happy ending of the tragicomic form. |
The Murder Book | Jonathan Kellerman | 2,002 | During a surprise trip to Paris, Alex Delaware's girlfriend Robin announces that she will be working as part of the road crew for a rock music tour, while Alex remains at home. The split is hard on Alex, who uses the time to question his relationship with Robin as well as to start drinking heavily. An enigmatic package arrives at Alex's house containing a photo album of violent photographs depicting victims of various cases. Labeled the Murder Book, Alex's friend, homicide detective Milo Sturgis, inspects the book and is disturbed by the image of the body of a young woman, who had been tortured, strangled and dumped. The murder was one of Milo's first cases as a rookie homicide cop. |
The White Mary | Kira Salak | 2,008 | For years, war reporter Marika Vecera has risked her life, traveling to the world’s most dangerous places to offer a voice for the oppressed and suffering. But one day her luck nearly runs out: while covering the genocide in war-ravaged Congo, she is kidnapped by rebel soldiers and barely escapes with her life. Marika makes it home to Boston, where she left behind a burgeoning relationship with Seb, a psychologist who has offered her glimpses of a better world. But her chance for a loving, stable relationship with him is tested as she vows to continue her risky work at whatever cost. It isn’t long before Marika receives devastating news: Robert Lewis, a famous, Pulitzer-winning journalist, has committed suicide. She always deeply admired Lewis for his courageous reporting on behalf of the world’s forgotten. Wanting—needing—to understand what could have caused him to take his own life, she stops her magazine work to write his biography. In the course of doing her research, a curious letter arrives from a missionary who claims to have seen Lewis alive in a remote jungle in Papua New Guinea. The information shocks Marika. She wonders, What if Lewis isn’t really dead? Marika is determined to find out if the letter is true. She leaves Seb to embark on her hardest journey yet, through one of the most exotic and unknown places on earth. She must rely on the skills and wisdom of a mysterious witchdoctor, Tobo, who introduces her to a magical world ruled by demons and spirits, and governed by strict taboos. Marika’s quest for Robert Lewis carries her not only into the heart of New Guinea, but into the depths of the human soul. What she learns about herself—and life—will change her forever. |
The Two Jasons | Dave Stone | null | A few years ago, Jason Kane created three clones of himself, to help him in a scam. Afterwards, the replicants went their separate ways, but now somebody is trying to kill them. Plagued by flashbacks of the original Jason's life, the surviving clones must join forces or die. Or possibly both. |
Double Trouble | Franklin W. Dixon | 2,008 | From Chapters.ca: Teen superstar Justin Carraway is being stalked, and Frank and Joe must figure out who is the culprit. But the case only gets more complicated after they meet Justin's twin brother, Ryan. |
Home Is the Hunter | null | 1,990 | Captain Kirk, commanding the USS Enterprise, gets into a fight with a Klingon ship concerning arguments over a primitive planet and its inhabitants. A mysterious, powerful entity named 'Weyland' stops the fight and decides to punish three of the Enterprise crew with their own history. Hikaru Sulu is sent to feudal Japan during a bloody power struggle. Scotty is sent to Scotland in the eighteenth century on the eve of revolt. Chekov is sent to his beloved homeland of Russia during World War 2. All three eventually make it back home to their right time and place, Sulu even managing to leave a literal mark on history with a carved message on a durable rock. |
Night Walker | Donald Hamilton | 1,954 | Navy Lt. David Young hitches a ride with a friendly stranger and wakes up in a hospital bed with a new name and a pretty young wife. |
Assignment:Murder | Donald Hamilton | 1,956 | Dr. James Gregory, a scientist at a secret laboratory in New Mexico, becomes a hunter's prey and his estranged wife is kidnapped. |
Cherubs! | null | null | On the trail of the murdering archangel Abaddon, the Cherubs get stuck in the mind-numbing mediocrity of Limbo - but not for long. They escape and make it to New York where, looking for signs and portents, they foil a mugging and are befriended by Mary, a sexy 'exotic dancer'. But she has a problem: her boss is Frankie Dracula and his vampire minions are out to kill her! |
Mad River | Donald Hamilton | 1,956 | Boyd Cohoon comes back from prison for the girl, her brother, who'd done the crime, the mine owner who'd gotten rich, and the sheriff, his boyhood friend. |
The Big Country | Donald Hamilton | 1,958 | Maryland sea captain James McKay goes west to Texas, to claim his bride, and steps into a violent feud over land. |
The Man From Santa Clara | Donald Hamilton | 1,960 | Photographer Alexander Burdick drives his old mule-drawn army ambulance and a smooth-bore shotgun to the New Mexico Territory and into a range war. |
The Valley-Westside War | Harry Turtledove | 2,008 | The Mendoza family, funded by a Crosstime Traffic grant and disguised as traders, return to postwar Earth to learn who initiated the hostilities. Liz Mendoza frequently visits the UCLA library to analyze the period books and magazines, searching for insight and reasons for the conflict. It is on her regular trips to the library that she meets Dan, a Valley soldier whom she initially considers dull and dumb. Dan, however, is not as unschooled and ignorant as Liz thinks, and, although he is attracted to her, he has his misgivings about the Mendozas. His suspicions are confirmed, and he blows their cover and causes them to return to their own time alternate, but not before he asks why someone from a different time, who has the knowledge and expertise to help Earth recover from its postwar havoc, does nothing. |
My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir | Clarence Thomas | 2,007 | Thomas describes his life chronologically in My Grandfather's Son. The early parts of the book are dominated by the impact his grandfather had on him, while sections describing his adulthood up to his Supreme Court appointment focus on overcoming personal demons without describing too much about his career. Following his confirmation to the Court, Thomas centers his writing on professional, ideological and judicial issues. The themes of race and self reliance run throughout, and many issues are framed through one or both of those lenses. My Grandfather's Son begins with Thomas's birth, in rural Georgia in 1948, to Leola Anderson, a maid who earned $10 a week. Thomas's father abandoned the family when Thomas was a toddler. In first grade his mother sent him and his brother to live with his maternal grandfather, Myers Anderson, and his wife in Savannah. He attended all black schools until the 10th grade, when Anderson paid for Thomas to attend a Catholic boarding school. Thomas, who had been an altar boy throughout his childhood, wanted to be a priest and was one of only two black students at the school. Upon graduating, he began studying to be a priest, but gave up at the age of 19 because he was disappointed with the church's stance on racism. As a result of Thomas dropping out of school, his grandfather kicked him from the house. Thomas moved to Massachusetts to attend The College of the Holy Cross. One of his reasons for moving was the racism he had encountered as a child, and his belief that in the North he would be freed from that. Once there, he found Massachusetts to be plagued with latent racism and far from the utopia he had anticipated. Thomas excelled academically and socially at Holy Cross, graduating with honors and marrying his long term girlfriend Kathy Ambush shortly after. He also began drinking steadily, a problem that would haunt him in later years. Thomas attended Yale Law School, graduating in 1974. After Yale, Thomas took a job as an assistant district attorney under John Danforth, then Missouri's Attorney General. My Grandfather's Son continues to follow Thomas's career, including a stint at the legal department of Monsanto Company and his 1979 move to Washington, D.C. to work for then-Senator Danforth. Throughout this period Thomas made an intellectual journey from libertarian to conservative, culminating in changing his party registration to Republican in 1980. In 1981 he joined the Reagan Administration's Department of Education as its Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office of Civil Rights, and in 1982 he was promoted to head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The main focus, however, is on Thomas's financial and emotional struggles. Although he says he was never an alcoholic, Thomas says that in the late 1970s and early 1980s his drinking became worse, and that he often drank while home alone. These confessions were the first time there had been any public suggestion that Thomas was a heavy drinker. Burdened by student loans and subsisting on low government salaries, Thomas had a difficult time financially, almost getting evicted from his apartment several times. In one incident, a car rental agent cut up Thomas's credit card in front of him. After falling out of love with his first wife, Thomas worried about the morality of leaving her and his child. Throughout most of this period Thomas was still estranged from his grandfather, and describes being haunted by the memory of Anderson kicking him out of the house. The two reunited briefly in 1983 when his step-grandmother was in the hospital, having a meaningful conversation and embracing at the end. The new found closeness was short-lived, and Anderson died the next month of a stroke before Thomas had another chance to see him. Around this point, Thomas describes himself regaining control of his life. In 1983 he quit drinking cold-turkey. Approximately a third of My Grandfather's Son is spent discussing Thomas's nomination and confirmation to the Supreme Court. My Grandfather's Son goes through the hearings day by day, with Thomas defending himself against his accusers and criticizing their motives. Thomas says he learned of the accusations of sexual harassment by Hill over the weekend after the first five days of the hearings when a pair of FBI agents visited his home. |
Ke Keno Kibhabe | Qazi Anwar Hussain | 1,989 | Someone is stealing US$ five million in front of everyone's eyes and after letting everyone know of the theft from Mido Steel Consortium. But no one knows 'Who' is doing this, 'Why' is the computer doing hiccups, and 'How' can the money be consumed by the thief or thieves. So baroness Lina calls up Masud Rana to solve the mystery. Will he be able to uncover the criminals? or will he be killed by the criminals? |
Texas Fever | Donald Hamilton | 1,960 | Three years after the Civil War, the McAuliffe family drives a herd of cattle north from Texas to Kansas and into another kind of war. |
In High Places | Harry Turtledove | 2,005 | The book focuses on the relations between Christians and Muslims, as well as slaves and masters, in the medieval society through the eyes of Annette, an eighteen year old time traveller from the late 21st century who poses as the daughter of a Muslim merchant and who is captured and sold into slavery. It is also the first book in the series to concentrate more upon the late 21st century origins of the Crosstime Traffic organization. |
Gunpowder Empire | Harry Turtledove | 2,003 | In the novel, Jeremy and Amanda Solter are two teenagers living in the late 21st century. Their parents work for Crosstime Traffic, a trading company using time travel to go back and forth from parallel versions of Earth to trade for resources to help sustain their version of Earth. One summer, the children work with their parents, going to Polisso - in our timeline a village in Romania with ancient ruins nearby, in the alternate timeline a major city of a Roman Empire that never collapsed. In the intervening centuries, the Romans advanced to the extent of inventing gunpowder - hence the title of the book - putting their armies on about 17th Century level. By 2100 they had not, however, gone through an industrial revolution and much of their social institutions, in particular slavery, remain as much as they were in earlier Roman times. North of the Roman Empire, a rival Lietuvan Empire has grown up, with occasional wars breaking out between the two. It is said that most of these wars would end in an exchange of border provinces. Romans consider the Lietuvans as "barbarians", though in fact the two have much the same level of technology and culture. When the youngsters' mother becomes sick, their father takes her back to their home time for treatment, expecting to come back in a few days - but the cross-time travel equipment suffers a break in link, stranding Jeremy and Amanda in Polisso just as the Lietuvan Army crosses the border, placing Polisso under siege. At the same time, the Roman authorities begin to grow suspicious of their trade mission and the origin of such items as watches and Swiss army knives which they offer for sale and which no artisan in the Empire can match. |
Personal Demon | Kelley Armstrong | 2,008 | The initial story is mainly narrated by Hope Adams an Expiso half-demon with other events being narrated by Lucas Cortez, a sorcerer. In the latter parts of the story the narrating is more evenly distributed between the two characters. Chapters narrated by Hope are given chapter titles while those narrated by Lucas are given chapter numbers. Hope Adams works as a tabloid journalist for the fictional newspaper True News and also for the inter-racial council. Hope's Expiso half-demon nature gives her the ability to sense other supernatural's powers, detect chaos and experience visions of chaotic events. While investigating a story she is approached by Benicio Cortez, CEO of the Cortez cabal and father of Lucas Cortez, with an offer of a job which would repay Hope's debt to him. A rebel gang of young supernaturals led by Guy Benoit has come to notice of the Cortez cabal. The job offer is simple - to investigate the rebel gang. But the bigger worry is if Hope will be able to keep her instinct and lust for chaos in check. As Hope discovers more about the gang and starts a relationship with a particularly charismatic member Jaz, her ex lover, the werewolf thief Karl Marsten, arrives to help and honour his half of the debt. The two find the situation may not be as simple as they thought. With Hope infiltrating the gang, two members of the gang are abducted and a third killed, apparently by the Cortez cabal. This prompts Lucas Cortez and Paige Winterbourne to come to Miami to help Hope and Karl before a war between the rebels and the cabal can destroy them all. |
My Place | Sally Morgan | 1,987 | Recounts of several of Morgan's family members are told. The story setting revolves around Morgan's own hometown, Perth, Western Australia and also Corunna Downs. The book has been published in several parts 'for young readers' in the following parts: Sally's story (Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1990.) edited by Barbara Ker Wilson ('My Place' for young readers, part 1'. For children.) ISBN 0-949206-78-4 Arthur Corunna's story (Narkaling Productions, 1995) edited by Barbara Ker Wilson ('My Place' for young readers, part 2'. For children.) ISBN 0-949206-77-6 Mother and daughter: The story of Daisy and Glady's Corunna (Narkaling Productions, 1994) Edited by Barbara Ker Wilson ('My Place' for young readers, part 3'. For children.) ISBN 0-949206-79-2 The book is widely studied in Public Schools across NSW, Australia as part of an 'Aboriginal Studies' program compulsory for all students. |
Panic Nation | null | null | The book comprises a series of essays written by specialists and experts in related fields. These experts address the state of knowledge in the specific fields and how this conflicts with common knowledge. The contributors are: Stanley Feldman, Vincent Marks, Michael Fizpatrick, Maurice Hanssen, John Henry, Mick Hume, Lakshman Karalliedde, Malcolm Kendrick, Peter Lachmann, James le Fanu, Sandy Macnair, Sam Shuster and Dick Taverne QC. |
Blackbird House | null | null | Surrounded by fields of sweet peas and fruit vines in rural Massachusetts sits Blackbird House, a haunting house to the women who live in her. A raging storm in 1778 sees John Hadley and his sons lost at sea. From then, the lives of the inhabitants are tangled together, until present day when the history of the house, its ghosts and the tragedies yet to come arrive at a dramatic climax. |
The Ice Queen | null | null | The Ice Queen is a nameless woman who makes a wish as an eight-year old child that ruins her life. She grows up cold and unfriendly until, as she stands by her kitchen window, she is struck by a bolt of lightning. She survives but is changed, as if she is made of ice. She can also no longer see the color red. She hears of a man called Lazarus Jones, who also survived being struck by lightning, and is reputed to have a heart and soul made of fire. He came back to life being dead for forty minutes. They embark of a turbulent love affair whilst trying to hide their secrets - how one became full of fire and the other became made of ice. |
Practical Magic | Alice Hoffman | 1,995 | For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that went wrong in their Massachusetts town. Gillian and Sally endured that fate: As children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their darkened house and their love concoctions and their crowd of black cats. All Gillian and Sally wanted to do was escape. One would do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they shared brought them back to each other, and to the magic they couldn’t escape. A delicious novel about witches and real love, family life and everyday spells. A literary incantation. |
The Samurai’s Garden | Gail Tsukiyama | 1,996 | Twenty-year-old Stephen leaves his home in Hong Kong just as the Japanese are poised to further invade China, towards Hong Kong. He is sent to Tarumi, a small beach-side village in Japan, to recuperate from tuberculosis. There, he meets and develops friendships with three adults, Matsu, Kenzo, and Sachi, and a young girl, Keiko, who is his own age. Keiko becomes his first love, but it can't be because she is Japanese and he is Chinese. The Japanese and Chinese were fighting a war at that time, and Keiko's family had prejudiced opinions about Chinese people (especially Keiko's father). Yet Keiko still sees Stephen. Then Keiko's brother eventually dies fighting for Japan, and that causes Keiko to feel guilty for dating Stephen. She ends the relationship because of that. Also, there is a bitter love triangle between Sachi, Kenzo, and Matsu. Sachi is now an old woman with leprosy. Lepers are forced into exile and are said to dishonor their family, because of their disfigured bodies. Sachi says that society thinks of her as a monster, and those thoughts have obviously rubbed off on her self-concept. She always makes sure that no one can see the right side of her scarred face (the left is unblemished and considered to be the most beautiful face Stephen has ever seen). Such beauty existing next to the scars shows that beauty is in everything. Now, when Sachi was younger and "one of the most beautiful girls in Tarumi", she was engaged to Kenzo, another good looking boy who had promise for a great, successful future. But when Sachi got leprosy, Kenzo's parents forbade his going to Yamaguchi, and Kenzo was also afraid of seeing what happened to Sachi. He never realized it, but he had fallen in her love with her beauty, and not the soul. In order to keep in some contact in the later years with Sachi, Kenzo sent messages through his childhood friend, Matsu. Matsu is one of the main characters in this book and housed Stephen. Matsu was Stephen's grandfather's servant, and is a very understanding, quiet man. Matsu taught Stephen many lessons about honor, the cruelties of humanity, and what it is to love someone. Matsu was the only person who was truly there for Sachi, and over the years he and Sachi had started a loving relationship. This was very understated throughout the book, as if Gail Tsukiyama wanted to point out how simple everything was then. Also, Stephen's Ba-ba (father) had an affair with a Japanese woman, and even gave money to his mistress. This tarnished Ba-ba's reputation in Stephen's mind, and he felt betrayed by his father. Throughout the book there is an underlying sense of society being out place, what with their crazy ideas of honor and the fact that there was a war going on. The unwinding stories of his new friends, war, and family eventually bring him to the beginnings of wisdom, love, honor, and loss. |
A Panther in the Basement | Amos Oz | 1,998 | Oz's reminiscent novel describes the doings of a twelve-year-old boy in 1947, the last year of the British Mandate of Palestine, during the British–Zionist conflict. Young Proffy has organized a pro-Israel underground cell that proposes to blow up Buckingham Palace or perhaps 10 Downing Street. These heroic dreams are no danger to anybody, but Proffy's friendship with a kindly British soldier causes his two fellow panthers to accuse him of treason. |
Feuchtgebiete | Charlotte Roche | 2,008 | Set in an anonymous German city, Feuchtgebiete is told by 18 year-old Helen Memel, a schoolgirl who spends some days in the proctological ward of a hospital to be treated for anal fissure caused by the careless shaving of her anal hair. Deep at heart Helen is lonely and bored, and has been so since the breakup of her parents' marriage. Her secret plan is to reunite her father and mother by having them visit her at the same time. However, her parents seem to have little interest in their daughter's well-being and show up only occasionally, only for short periods of time, and at different hours. When she learns that her surgery, which included the removal of haemorrhoids, has been successful and she is going to be released soon, she desperately looks for means to prolong her hospital stay. She secretly rams the pedal of her hospital bed into her anus and immediate emergency surgery has to be carried out to prevent extreme blood loss. Thus having successfully extended her stay, she waits in vain for her miracle to happen: her parents have stopped visiting altogether, and when she tries to contact them by phone all she gets is their respective answering machines. During this time she falls in love with her favourite male nurse called Robin and tries to draw the young man into her world. At the end of the novel the doctor tells Helen she can go home and she asks Robin if she can go to live with him. It becomes apparent that Helen is mentally ill, following a childhood experience when her mother tried to commit suicide. As the novel ends Robin is escorting her through a door in the hospital. |
Thaïs | Anatole France | 1,890 | Paphnuce, an ascetic hermit of the Egyptian desert, journeys to Alexandria to find Thais, the libertine beauty whom he knew as a youth. Masquerading as a dandy, he is able to speak with her about eternity; surprisingly he succeeds in converting her to Christianity. Yet on their return to the desert he becomes fascinated with her former life. She enters a convent to repent of her sins. He cannot forget the pull of her famous beauty, and becomes confused about the values of life. Later, as she is dying and can only see heaven opening before her, he comes to her side and tells her that her faith is an illusion, and that he loves her. |
The Associate | John Grisham | 2,009 | As an idealistic law student and editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, Kyle McAvoy has the promise of a highly successful career, although after graduation, he intends to devote three years to public service before applying for employment with a prestigious firm. His plans are derailed when he is approached by two FBI agents (later proved to be bogus) who interrogate him and then pass him on to a mysterious man known only as Bennie Wright. Bennie has a videotape of a party that took place in Kyle's apartment five years earlier, when he was an undergraduate student at Duquesne University. In it, two of Kyle's fraternity brothers, Joey Bernardo and Baxter Tate, are seen having sexual relations with Elaine Keenan, a coed who later claimed she was raped while unconscious, a charge seemingly supported by Joey asking Baxter "Is she awake?" on the tape. At the time, the incident was investigated by local police, who determined there had been no assault and declined to take further action. With the tape now in his possession, Bennie threatens to expose Kyle's secret unless he cooperates with him and his associates. Bennie's plan is to have Kyle accept a position at New York City-based Scully & Pershing, the world's largest law firm, which is representing Trylon Aeronautics in its case against Bartin Dynamics. The two defense contractors had joined forces to design the B-10 HyperSonic Bomber for The Pentagon, and when they won the contract over Lockheed, the competitor sought support from senators and lobbyists. Legal battles ensued, and Trylon and Bartin – each laying claim to ownership of the design and technologies developed for the project – are ready to wage battle in court. Kyle will be required to infiltrate Scully & Pershing's files and deliver to Bennie crucial information the people he represents need. His first instinct is to ignore Bennie's blackmail threats and deal with whatever consequences may arise, but the thought of the shame and embarrassment his family will suffer if he is indicted for the incident in his past, not to mention the negative impact on his own future, leads him to agree to Bennie's demands. Constantly under surveillance while outdoors and living in an apartment in which he knows bugs and cameras have been hidden, Kyle slowly learns how to trick those who are trailing him into believing he is unaware of their presence. He seeks help from Joey, who has more to lose than Kyle does if the videotape is made public, and with his old friend as a somewhat unwilling accomplice, plots to outwit his blackmailer. What he doesn't anticipate is the re-emergence of Elaine, who still maintains she was raped, and Baxter, who has completed a lengthy stint in rehab and, as part of his twelve-step program, wants to make amends to the girl he raped. His admission of guilt will give Elaine the proof she needs to file charges, and with Kyle drawn into the spotlight, his position at Scully & Pershing will be jeopardized, a risk Bennie must eliminate by any means. Baxter is found shot dead, with no evidence of the murderer's identity, although Kyle is certain that Bennie ordered it. After working at the law firm's 'boot camp' for some months, as do all new associates, Kyle eventually gets drawn into the Trylon case and is granted access to the highly secure computer room where the confidential information is stored. Bennie and Nigel, a computer expert, force him to use a thumbdrive to download the files, which he does. But by this time, realizing that Bennie is nearly always one step ahead of him, Kyle has spoken to Roy Benedict, a criminal lawyer and former FBI operative. He tells Roy the whole story. Roy still has good connections within the FBI, and they set up an operation to catch Bennie as the information is being transferred. But it misfires; Bennie and his associates vanish and remain unidentified and unapprehended. Kyle admits his actions to the firm's partners, and agrees to leave their employ immediately and not practice law in New York for two years. He also voices his belief that one of the firm's partners has acted as a 'mole', passing information to Bennie. Refusing the FBI's offer of witness protection, Kyle goes home to his father, also a lawyer, who knows the whole sorry saga. He plans to became a partner in his father's law firm. |
The Gospel According to the Son | Norman Mailer | 1,997 | The novel employs first person story-telling from the perspective of Jesus. It stays nearly entirely true to the text of the four canonical gospels. Jesus tells his own story, from his birth to a teen-aged virgin named Mary to his execution by crucifixion at the hands of the Romans. Just as in the gospels, he is resurrected from the dead, and ascends to heaven. |
Shopaholic & Baby | Sophie Kinsella | 2,007 | The plot jumps several months forward from Shopaholic and Sister. Becky is now heavily pregnant with her first child, and is happily preparing for the arrival of her newborn. While getting a sonogram with Luke, it's revealed that they don't know the sex of the baby because Luke wants it to be a surprise. After he and the sonographer leave the room for a moment, Becky takes the ultrasound stick to find out for herself. She initially thinks that they are having a boy, but when the sonographer catches her using the equipment, she explains to Becky that she was looking at her bladder. Becky and Luke have recently sold their flat in order to buy a house, but have difficulty finding a place that meets her specific qualifications. The biggest being a state of the art Shoe Room. Becky's relationship with Jess has drastically improved in the last couple of months. Though Jess persists that she do environmentally-conscience things like make her own baby wipes, and use a recycled crib. Becky's friendhsip with Suze has also improved, though she sill doesn't like her new friend, Lulu, being boring and drab. Luke has also been under a lot of stress due to his company's business partnership with Arcodas. While shopping at Bambino, Becky hears about a celebrity obstetrician named Venetia Carter, who has just moved back from L.A. and wants to have her. Luke is against it for a personal reason and wants to stick with his family's obstetrician, Dr. Braine(whom Becky never liked being he's old-fashioned). She convinces Luke to go with her to an appointment and discovers his real reason why he was against switching obstetricians from the start. It turns out Venetia is Luke's ex-girlfriend. Becky is taken aback toward her flirtatious behavior with Luke, but dismisses it when she finds out Venetia already has a boyfriend. Unfortunately for Becky, she learns that Venetia has broken up with her significant other after he went back to his wife, and that Venetia has a penchant for married men. As the novel progresses, Becky grows more and more suspicious of the relationship between Luke and Venetia; even going as far as to hire a private detective. Closer to the end of her pregnancy, Venetia spitefully confesses that she and Luke were meant together and that Luke marrying Becky was a mistake, but he doesn't want to jeopardize being in his child's life. Becky is extremely hurt and shocked and plans to catch Venetia in the act after Luke attends a party with her. An extremely miserable Becky arrives at the party to find Venetia and Luke dancing. She passes out. Luke denies any romantic involvement with Venetia, but Becky is suspicious. The couple decide to go back to their original obstetrician. While at her baby shower, Becky finds a love note sent by Venetia. She goes to the birthing center in order to confront her, and pretends to be in early labor in order to do so. Becky is shocked to find her family and friends arriving for the presumed birth. Venetia then arrives in the hospital room to check up on the baby. Becky tells Luke, what Venetia plans to do. At first Luke is in disbelief and questions Venetia on her anticipating actions. She admits what she thinks and even goes as far as to question his marriage to Becky. An angered Luke tells Venetia off that Becky is more caring than her because she puts everyone before herself. He explains that she was trying to keep morale for his company up while he was dealing with Arcodas. It was then Becky tells Luke they lost their family home and it was sold to someone else. He orders Venetia to get out of his life and brings in Dr. Braine to assist with the pregnancy. Becky soon gives birth to a baby girl, whom they name Minnie. For a time being, Becky, Luke and Minnie lives with her parents until they can find a new home. |
Every Man Dies Alone | Hans Fallada | null | The story takes place in Berlin during World War II, with Germany firmly under Nazi terror. The book conveys the level of fear and suspicion engulfing Germany at the time because of the constant Nazi threat of arrest, imprisonment, torture and death. Even if one were not subjected to any of these, one could find oneself ostracized and unable to find work. Escherich, a Gestapo inspector, must find the source of hundreds of postcards encouraging Germans to resist Adolf Hitler and the Nazis with personal messages such as “Mother! The Führer has murdered my son. Mother! The Führer will murder your sons too, he will not stop till he has brought sorrow to every home in the world.” Escherich is under pressure from Obergruppenführer Prall to arrest the source or find himself in dire straits. Nearly all those who find the cards turn them in to the Gestapo immediately, terrified they themselves will be discovered having them. Eventually, someone denounces the postcard writer, who turns out to be a quiet, working class couple, Otto and Anna Quangel. The Quangel's acts of civil disobedience are prompted by the loss of their only son, who has been killed in action. They are arrested and brought to trial at the Volksgerichtshof, the Nazi "People's Court", where the infamous Roland Freisler presides. The Quangels are sentenced to death and later executed. |
The Seven Hills | John Maddox Roberts | null | Rome has reconquered Italy and is resettling it to be as it was before the Carthaginians came. Four legions cut off in Egypt and led by Titus Norbanus, march along the Mediterranean to get back to Rome. Meanwhile, Marcus Scipio prepares Egypt to attack Carthage by investing in new inventions made at the Library of Alexandria. |
Das Königsprojekt | Carl Amery | 1,974 | The Vatican gains possession of a time machine from Leonardo da Vinci after the inventor's death. Selected members of the Pope's Swiss Guard are sent back in time to alter history in favour of the Catholic Church. All this is supervised by a very small group of church officials and without the specific knowledge of the current Pope. The Vatican learns that major historical events can't be prevented, only their details can be altered. For example, the Reformation can not be undone, but the details surrounding it can be changed: Martin Luther can't be killed before publishing The Ninety-Five Theses, but the failed attempt on his life by a time-traveling agent is interpreted by Luther as a visitation by the devil. In 1688, the Progetto Reale (English: Royal Project) is undertaken by the men in charge of the department. The project's aim is to reestablish Catholicism in England through restoration of the House of Stuart. The Catholic Church perceives the Stuarts as too weak for their purposes and instead selects the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach as an alternative. For the purpose of legalising the claim to the British throne, a member of the Swiss Guard, Arnold Füßli, is sent out to exchange the Stone of Scone for a fake. While this mission succeeds, the stone is deposited at what later becomes a reservoir and is lost for the cause. The Church's main asset, its loyal Swiss Guard soldier Franz Defunderoll, however, chooses to desert and meet his unsuspecting self in the future. Eventually, the time machine is destroyed. In the finale of the book, the rebellious Bavarian-Scottish troops sacrifice themselves in the reservoir attempting to recover the Stone. |
Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages | Manuel Puig | 1,980 | The novel is set in Greenwich Village, near Washington Square. Larry, a poor and otherwise-unemployed former college student, accepts a part-time job taking care of 74-year old Mr. Ramirez. Mr. Ramirez is an Argentine expatriate who has apparently lost his memory, as well as his understanding of basic concepts such as love and sexual arousal. Though the two men are ostensibly strangers, their conversations reveal that they may somehow have intimate knowledge of each other's pasts. Abruptly and without clear explanation, dialogue often digresses into elaborate melodramatic reenactments of events that may or may not have happened to the two men. 1980 – ; English translation: Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages (1982) |
Keziah Dane | Sue Grafton | 1,967 | Keziah Dane is a widow who lives "on the brink of poverty" with her children in a small Kentucky town. She lost her husband in a flood that also devastated their town. A vagrant named Web gains Keziah's trust then attempts to rape her eldest daughter. The daughter fends off the attack but kills Web in the process. The body is dumped in the flooded town and unexpected complications ensue for the Dane family. |
The Rebels | John Jakes | 1,975 | The story begins on June 17, 1775, at the Battle of Bunker Hill, in which Philip Kent participates. One major event, the marriage of Philip and Anne Ware, took place in the interim. In September of that year Anne gave birth to her first child, whom they named Abraham after her father. Philip then participated in Henry Knox’ mission to transport cannons from Fort Ticonderoga. Meanwhile, Judson Fletcher, a drunkard and a womanizer still pursued Peggy Ashford McLean, the wife of his friend Seth McLean, whom he had courted before her marriage. Judson lived with his father on Sermon Hill, a large tobacco plantation on the Rappahannock River in northern Virginia. During a great rebellion of slaves Peggy was raped, Seth killed; his father opposed to Judson's defense of black slaves (and his accusation of white violence that caused it) and his way of life, and put his son out of house. Judson’s brother, Donald, was a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress, but he suffered from gout and was unable to fulfill his duty, so designated Judson to act in his stead. While attending Congress in Philadelphia Judson began an affair with Alicia Parkhurst, who now called herself Alice, a former lover of Philip Kent’s. When Tobias Trumball, Alicia’s uncle, found her, he tried to take her home, which Judson prevented, after which Trumball challenged Judson to a duel and scheduled it for July 3, 1776. The day before the duel, during a debate on the Lee Resolution, Judson was dismissed from the Virginia delegation for drunkenness and therefore missed his chance to vote on the resolution. The next day, he killed Trumball in the duel and shortly afterwards, Alicia committed suicide by drowning. While Philip was camped with George Washington’s army in August 1777, he was reunited with his old friend from France, Gil, the Marquis de Lafayette. They participated in the devastating Battle of Brandywine, which left Philadelphia, then the American capital, to be captured by the British. After his expulsion from the Virginia delegation, Judson returned home, but could not move back to Sermon Hill with his father; instead, he lived with Lottie Shaw at a place once owned by her late husband. One day, in a drunken rage, he expelled her from her own property. Soon after, he visited Peggy McLean, by then a widow, and raped her; unbeknownst to him, this encounter would produce a daughter, Elizabeth. Later, when his brother told him that George Rogers Clark had returned to Virginia, Judson rode to meet him. Clark had been a childhood friend and was now recruiting men for a military expedition to the Northwest Territory. Judson enlisted with him, but when he returned home he was met by a disgruntled Lottie, who shot him and left him for dead. Though Judson, because of his wounds, missed his rendezvous, once he recovered he set off for Pittsburgh in hopes of meeting Clark. When he was reunited with Clark, Clark refused to include him in his detachment, due again to drunkenness. On returning to his boat, Clark caught a spy in the act of stealing his orders. After a scuffle the spy shot at Clark, but Judson absorbed the ball and was killed. Meanwhile, Anne Kent had taken the money she had inherited from her father, who had recently died, and invested it with privateers who were aiding the Americans on the high seas. During the time that Philip was away with the army, one of the privateers with whom Anne had invested her money, Malachi Rackham, made overtures towards her, which she rejected. In 1778, he abducted her and took her aboard his ship. After he repeatedly beat and raped her, she fought for her freedom, but in the ensuing struggle both Anne and Rackham were thrown overboard. Philip participated in the Battle of Monmouth and was wounded in the leg, after which he was mustered out of the army. He was informed of Anne’s disappearance in a letter from a member of the privateer in which Anne had invested. As the privateer had captured a British vessel, the investment provided Philip with the money he utilised to begin a publishing firm, Kent and Son. Almost a year later, Gil introduced Philip to Peggy McLean, who would become his second wife. |
Rommel? "Gunner Who?" | null | 1,974 | Milligan’s 19 Battery 56th Heavy Rgt. R.A. has arrived in Algeria. With his rank of gunner, there is no one under his command; his promotion later in the book is the source of comment. An officer, Lt. Budden says: "Bombardier?" He turned and looked out the window. "Oh, dear." One of Milligan’s first battle encounters is to yell at a passing airplane "I hope you crash, you noisy bastard!" — it immediately does. But the plane was Allied. In a couple weeks they leave the comforts in the area of Cap Matifou, heading east into battle areas, and are now eating army food. Their cook is upper class: :"'Where'd you get that accent, Ronnie?'.... :'Eton, old sausage.' :'Well, I’d stop eatin' old sausages.'" Milligan stays in various accommodations, from a two-man tent stolen from American supplies (which his best friend Edgington burns down while attacking a scorpion), to appropriated housing. The native Arabs are still in the area. Milligan sneaks food a few times to a farmer whose family is "having a rough time". Later, they adopt a French dog; when the owner returns to check his house, he mistakenly shoots it; they spend the evening drinking with him in commiseration. As they see action, one gun crew is puzzled to discover their gun is missing after being fired. It's gone over a cliff, and narrowly avoids killing future Goon Harry Secombe, whom Milligan later meets in passing: : "I saw something that I felt might put years on the war. It was a short Gunner, wearing iron frame spectacles, a steel helmet that obscured the top of his head, and baggy shorts that looked like a Tea Clipper under full sail....It was my first sight of Gunner Secombe: what a pity! We were so near to Victory, and this had to happen. I hadn't crossed myself in years, and I remember saying, 'Please God...put him out of his misery.'" Part of Milligan's job is laying phone lines. On one occasion silence is imperative, since they're close to the enemy, however the hole in the cable drum spool is square, making a great noise as it unreels. :"There was a suppressed laughter. Unable to stop it, we all burst out laughing again. :'Stop it at once!' said Dawson, through his own laughter. We stopped. 'Now stop it, or I'll kill the bloody lot of you.' : A white star shell lit the night. :'What's that?' asked Ernie Hart. :'That, Ernie, means that a child has been born in Bethlehem.'" There's limited time for band music, but Milligan and Edgington play on opposites sides of a bombed out floor. Shortly after Edgington finishes, the piano falls through. Milligan reflects: "It's not often we had been detailed to:—'Clean up that mess of a French Colonial Piano.'" While driving with Major Chater Jack: :"'How does it go again? called Chater. I re-sang the opening bars with intermittent rain. :'Doesn't he know any other tunes,' said Edward. :"'Any others? Christ, he doesn't know this one, he only brings me along as an amanuensis.'" Amid Milligan's persistent whistling and joking are moments of reflection: :"We sang songs, those nostalgic slushy moon-June love songs that had fucked-up my generation....If I sang a song, I was Bing Crosby, if I played trumpet, Louis Armstrong...but who was I when washing out my socks?" And, at the end of the book, as the army triumphantly enters into Tunis: :"Here was I, anti-war, but like the rest of us feeling the exhilaration of the barbarian." |
Shades | null | null | The plot revolves around a family, the Farboroughs who lived in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in the early 1900s, in a small community known as St Matthias. The story follows Walter Brownley, explaining what life was like in South Africa just before the first Boer War. African exploitation, as seen in the mining on the Highveld, is a major theme of the story. |
The Fixed Period | Anthony Trollope | null | Gabriel Crasweller, a successful merchant-farmer and landowner, is Britannula's oldest citizen. Born in 1913, he emigrated from New Zealand when he was a young man and was instrumental in building the new republic as one of a group of similar-minded men which included his best friend John Neverbend, ten years his junior, who is now serving his term as President of Britannula. Whereas decades ago Crasweller also voted in favour of the law which introduced the "Fixed Period," he gradually becomes more pensive as the day of his deposition is approaching. Neverbend has long been planning that day and envisaging it as a day of triumph, believing that mankind and civilisation will move an enormous step forward towards perfection. As the originator of the idea, Neverbend also hopes that his name will go down in the annals of history as one of the great reformers. He considers it unfortunate that his friend Crasweller, as the first one to go, does not show any of the signs of old age for which "the Law" was made in the first place: Crasweller is healthy and vigorous, his mental abilities have not started to deteriorate in any way, and accordingly he is more than capable of managing his own affairs and of earning his living. When all of a sudden Crasweller starts lying about his age and claiming that he was in fact born a year later, Neverbend realises that measures must be taken to ensure the smooth execution of the Law. However, he soon finds out that it has dawned on other elderly citizens as well what the state has in store for them, and that various individuals have come up with all kinds of excuses and plans as to how they are going to oppose their deposition and, eventually, departure. He finds a supporter in Abraham Grundle, one of the young Senators, but is shocked when he realizes that Grundle, who is engaged to Crasweller's daughter Eva, only wants to inherit his friend's fortune as soon as possible. But despite this setback, and although both his own son Jack and his wife Sarah turn against him, Neverbend, who has long since passed the point of no return, considers it his duty as President and law-abiding citizen to have Crasweller deposited. As a man of honour, Crasweller finally yields to Neverbend's arguments and stoically accepts his fate. However, on the very day of his deposition the carriage that is to transport the two men to the College is held up in the streets of Gladstonopolis by British armed forces. They have arrived on a warship of enormous dimensions and, by threatening to destroy the whole city with their "250-lb swivel gun," compel Neverbend to release Crasweller and eventually to step down as President. Britannula is re-annexed by Great Britain, a Governor is installed, and John Neverbend is forced to return to England with them. During the passage Neverbend commits to paper the recent history of Britannula, finishing it only two days before his arrival in England. He plans to write another, more theoretical book on the "Fixed Period" and to preach to the English about this necessary step in the progress of mankind. However, he realizes that he does not really know whether he will be treated with respect in the old country or not, or whether he will ever be able to return to Britannula. |
Generation Dead | null | 2,008 | The protagonist of the story is goth teenager Phoebe Kendall who, along with her best friends Margi and Adam, attends the fictional Oakvale High School. The world in which the story takes place is a strange one, with a supernatural phenomenon that causes dead teenagers to wake from their graves and move about like regular people—except they don't breathe. With help from the school's principal, Tommy joins Oakvale High's football team. The coach is openly hostile towards him and instructs the other players (in particular Pete, his lackeys Stavis and Harris, and Adam) to do their utmost to injure him so severely that he can no longer play. Adam refuses, and Pete and the others fail. Adam and another living boy, Thornton Harrowood, come to accept Tommy, but when the team plays their first match, they are harassed by anti-zombie protestors. Tommy bargains with the coach, promising to quit as long as he can play, however briefly, in the second half of the game. The school is also visited by the Hunter Foundation, which aims to promote tolerance and understanding of the living impaired. Founders Alish and Angela Hunter announce a work and study program open to all students, intended to improve relations between traditionally and differently biotic people. Phoebe, Margi, Adam and Thornton are the only living students to sign up for the class (affectionately referred to as 'Undead Studies'), along with their differently biotic classmates Tommy, Karen, Evan, Colette, Kevin, Sylvia and Tayshawn. When the class list is posted publicly in the school, Pete steals it, planning to go after each of the class members in turn. It is revealed that Pete's first love, a girl called Julie, died suddenly of an asthma attack some time ago and did not 'come back'. As a result of this, he harbours a deep bitterness and hatred for all differently biotic people, believing them to be unworthy of the second chance that Julie was denied. His mental stability is uncertain, since he sees hallucinations of Julie semi-frequently and often refers to Karen and Phoebe as 'Julie' by mistake. Tommy takes Phoebe and Adam to an abandoned house deep in the nearby Oxoboxo Woods. A number of the living impaired who were abandoned by their families reside there and refer to it as 'The Haunted House'. Tommy takes Phoebe upstairs and shows her the 'Wall of the Dead' - a wall of photographs of zombie kids from all over the country. He then tells her to lie down on the floor in the darkness. When she does, he leaves her there for a short time. She becomes frightened and Tommy later tells her that now she knows how it feels to be dead. Tommy invites Phoebe to his house so he can show her his blog on a website called mysocalledundeath.com, which he uses to get in touch with other undead teenagers and to campaign for rights for the living impaired. Phoebe, knowing that her parents will disapprove of her associating with a dead boy, asks Adam and Margi to cover for her. It has been established by now that Adam has feelings for Phoebe and is unhappy about her developing relationship with Tommy, but he agrees. He and Margi visit the Oxoboxo Lake, where Colette drowned a few years earlier. When she was alive, Colette was best friends with Phoebe and Margi (the three of them being collectively known as 'The Weird Sisters') but they haven't spoken since her death, which is a source of constant guilt and misery for Margi. Soon after in Undead Studies, Colette tells the class about her experiences following her return from death. She walked seven miles from the morgue to her family home, where her mother screamed at her to go away and her father threatened her with a shovel. (The family later left Oakvale without Colette.) She then went to a friend's house but was turned away again. Margi bursts into tears and protests that she was scared, ultimately revealing that this 'friend' was her. She runs out of the class, whilst Phoebe stays and reconciles with Colette. Margi later refuses to return to the class and is removed from the program. Meanwhile, all over the country, undead teenagers are being brutally 'reterminated' (i.e. killed permanently, which involves the irreparable destruction of the brain). There are no laws against murdering zombies since they are, technically, already dead. Furthermore, since the differently biotic are widely shunned by living society, the stories of their murders do not even make it into the news. Tommy is constantly doing research into the crimes against the undead, and presents his findings at each meeting of the Undead Studies class. Many of the reterminations seem to involve a mysterious 'white van', suggesting that the killings are planned and systematic. Phoebe and the other living students are horrified, whilst the undead members of the class are unsurprised and seem quite aware that many people would like to see them destroyed. Phoebe and Tommy finally go out on a date and see a movie, after which Tommy asks her to the homecoming dance. He tells her she doesn't have to answer straight away, though she later says yes. Pete makes his first move against the members of the Undead Studies class. His first target is Evan Talbot, a red-headed zombie with a sense of humour that Adam is fond of. Pete, with help from Stavis and Harris, reterminates Evan using a maul. Adam, who was aware of the threats Pete was making towards the living impaired kids, suspects he is the perpetrator, and Pete indirectly confirms his suspicions. Tommy arranges a meeting at the Haunted House to discuss Evan's murder. There, Phoebe and Adam meet Takayuki, a dead boy with a large section of his right cheek missing (leading to Adam nicknaming him 'Smiley') and a marked dislike for the living. When Adam reveals that it was Pete who killed Evan, Tommy announces that they will go to the police with the information. Takayuki is disgusted by this, believing that the police will do nothing, and he and a few other zombies leave. Tommy and Karen then announce their plans to host a party at the Haunted House after homecoming, since many of the undead kids will be unable to attend the dance. Phoebe feels that Adam was being rude and insensitive at the meeting, especially to Takayuki, and they have their first argument. On the school bus the next day, Margi tells Phoebe that she is coming back to Undead Studies. Colette approaches them; Margi apologises to her and Colette invites her to the homecoming party at the Haunted House. Later, Margi and Phoebe ask Karen how she died and she tells them, to their shock, that she committed suicide by taking an overdose. The homecoming dance seems to go smoothly, but unbeknownst to Phoebe and the others, Pete's next target is Tommy, and he plans on attacking him at the after-party (which he found out about by bullying the information out of Thornton). He and Stavis (it is mentioned that Harris, after assisting in Evan's murder, has refused to be part of Pete's schemes any longer) follow the group to the Haunted House. Tommy and Phoebe go outside into the woods to talk. Tommy tells her that he died in a car crash that also killed his father, and reveals that the zombies with the highest level of functionality are the ones who are loved by their friends or families even after their deaths. (This explains why zombies like Colette, who was abandoned by her family and, until recently, ignored by her friends, move and speak so slowly.) Tommy states his belief that if he can get a living girl to fall in love with him and kiss him, he'll come 'back to life' even more. Phoebe has been concerned for a while that Tommy is only interested in her because she is alive, and this seems to confirm her fears. Pete, who has been watching them, is gripped by a hallucination - instead of Phoebe, he sees Julie, and believes that she is about to cheat on him with Tommy. He is armed with a gun, which he intended to use to shoot Tommy, but instead takes aim at Phoebe. Meanwhile, back at the party, Karen advises Adam to tell Phoebe how he feels about her. He goes to find her and hears her screams. Following the sound, he sees Pete about to shoot. Without hesitation, he throws himself into the line of fire and is shot in the chest. Realizing what they've done, Stavis and Pete flee the scene. Pete is caught by Takayuki, who inflicts an injury on Pete's face similar to his own. The screams and gunshot alert the rest of the party-goers to the confrontation, and everyone emerges from the Haunted House and gathers around Adam while Phoebe cries out at them to help, though she knows that Adam is already dead. However, within minutes he returns from death, and is at first completely unaware that he was killed. He realizes something is wrong when he tries to talk and move as normal and finds he can't, and then Phoebe tells him what happened. He tries to tell her that he loves her, but manages only an incoherent gurgle. When the police and an ambulance finally arrive, Phoebe decides that she is going to do everything in her power to bring Adam back as much as possible. |
The Lost Fleet: Fearless | John G. Hemry | 2,007 | This is the second book in the Lost Fleet series that follows the adventures of Black Jack Geary. This novel begins with Jack and the fleet arriving in the Sutrah system. As their detection systems come on line, they detect two enemy warships. Disobeying orders, four of the ships of the Alliance Fleet break formation and charge after the Syndic ships, not knowing that a minefield trap had been laid. Despite Geary's attempt to recall them, the ships fly right into the mine field. During a meeting after the incident, Geary is indirectly accused of cowardice because of the incident by officers who resent his command of the fleet. As the Allied Fleet is planning to raid the system for resources, it is discovered that there is a prison colony on one of the planets containing Alliance prisoners of war. Upon liberating the POWs, it is discovered that among them is a former hero of the Alliance, Captain Falco, who believes he and not Geary should command the fleet, and who has secret allies among the officers under Geary's command. |
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw | Jeff Kinney | 2,009 | As a continuation of the second book, this novel rounds out the second semester of Greg's seventh grade school year. The book starts with New Year's Day. The follow-up is Greg's Christmas, which is similar to Christmas in the first book. Greg gets nothing he likes from anyone. Uncle Charlie gives Greg a "laundry hoop" and Greg's mother, inspired, starts making Greg do his own laundry. Due to Greg's laziness, he does not do his laundry and does not plan to either. This plays a significant role later in the story. Valentines Day is coming up, and Greg goes to the Valentines Dance. The dance was originally supposed to be at night, but they couldn't get enough chaperones, so they put it right in the middle of the school day instead. The music is lame, and their dancing would count for 30 percent of their Phys-Ed grades. He eventually finds Holly Hills, and slowly dances toward her, but Fregley had a sugar rush and ruins a moment between Greg and Holly. One day, his dad finds Manny's old blanket, Tingy, and throws it away. Manny gets revenge when he uses his dad's American Civil War battlefield as a play set. Then Manny walks up to Greg and says "Ploopy!" Greg doesn't know what it means, so he asks his mom, but she's talking on the phone. She says, "What is a ploopy?!" which was the exact thing Greg wanted to know. Then Manny starts calling Greg "ploopy" to get whatever he wants. On Easter Sunday, Greg gets in the car, accidentally sitting on Manny's chocolate Easter bunny. He gets out of the car with chocolate on the back of his pants. His Mom then says that the family cannot skip church. When Rodrick takes off his pants and says "He can wear MY pants," Mom gives Greg her Easter Jacket to tie around his waist. During Easter church service, he looks at Manny, who is playing with the things Mom and Dad brought to entertain him, and then thinks about the day when Manny threw a fit at preschool when his mom cut his sandwich in half, not in quarters the way he likes it. Mom had to drive all the way there to make the extra slice. Then he whispers in Manny's ear, "Ploopy!" Manny starts crying and Mom can't calm him down, so they have to go home. Afterwards, Greg is enrolled in soccer and dislikes it. His clothes are running out and it fails to toughen him up. Later, the Heffleys see Lenwood at a ticket booth with a crew cut, proper and incredibly polite. This causes Frank to decide to enroll Greg into military school, Spag Union, which takes place during Greg's summer vacation. Greg tries in vain to change his father's mind by doing Boy Scouts. However, it does not work. Finally, he settles for the sad fact he has to settle for Spag Union. But his summer won't be bad if he took some memories with him. He tries to make a good impression on Holly, but when she calls Greg "Fregley" his chances are ruined. Also mentioned earlier in the story, the Heffley's neighbors, the Snellas, are having a half-birthday for their youngest child Seth. During the party, the adults in the neighborhood have to perform silly acts and Mr. Snella sends the videotapes to America's Funniest Families, a spoof of America's Funniest Home Videos, to win the $10,000 grand prize. It is revealed that Frank hates the performing and will do anything to get out of it. On the day of the party, Manny throws Seth's present into a tree because he knows that Greg would snatch it away. It is a blue knit blanket, like Tingy in its early stages. When Greg goes and retrieves it, his pants, borrowed from Rodrick, fall down revealing Wonder Woman underwear, which he wore because it was one of the only clean undergarments he has left. Frank, who happens to be next in line to perform gets away as Mr. Snella points his camera to an embarrassed Greg. He repays Greg the next morning by not sending him to military academy, suggesting there are other ways that Greg can stay fit. While Greg enjoys his morning he goes to see Rowley and tells him he didn't have to go to Spag Union after all. Rowley had no idea Greg might have been sent away. The story ends abruptly as Rowley and Greg are sitting on the curb and meet a girl named Trista. Greg thinks Trista is cute and imagines that she and himself are in Rowley's country club in swimsuits with Rowley serving them drinks. |
Dances on the Snow | Sergey Lukyanenko | null | Tikkirey "Tiki" Frost lives on the planet Quarry, poorly adapted for human life and stricken with poverty. Due to the planet's high radioactivity, the inhabitants of Quarry are forced to live in a protective dome and pay for food and air, or "social support". Unemployment is a major problem on Quarry. In fact, one's ability to obtain a job depends on the quality of his or her neuroshunt implant, allowing direct mind-to-machine connection. Tikkirey's parents' neuroshunts have become obsolete and they have no money for an upgrade. His father has been unemployed for years, and his mother makes a pittance. Incapable of paying for their social support, Tikkirey's parents are forced to invoke their "constitutional right to commit suicide." For that, Tikkirey's social support is extended by 7 years, during which he can get education and find a job, as his neuroshunt is above the local standard. If his parents forgo their "constitutional right", the entire family will be evicted from the Dome. The life expectancy outside the Dome is 1-2 years. After losing his parents, Tikkirey decides to leave Quarry by any means necessary. As such, he signs up on an interstellar ore transport as a "calculation module" — a wetware computer used for complex calculations at faster-than-light speeds, as normal computers fail to work. A calculation module remains in hibernation, most of the time, while a stream of data is shunted through his brain. While this is a highly paid position, continuous misuse of the brain atrophies the frontal lobe, causing the person to lose his free will. After the expiration of the standard five-year contract, 97% of calculation modules are incapable of making their own decisions and continue flying for the rest of their lives. The other 3% manage to muster enough willpower to leave the ship (2%) or cancel the contract before time is up (1%); however, even they have to spend years relearning to make even the simplest decisions (e.g. a simple choice of soft drink is an extremely difficult process for them). After regaining consciousness on the beautiful and wealthy planet of New Kuwait, Tikkirey demands to cancel his contract and leave the ship. He immediately finds out that a clause in the contract prevents him from doing just that, as he must pay off his 150,000 credit insurance policy, which will require Tikkirey to serve another 1.5 years on the ship. The contract is specifically written to prevent calculation modules from using ships as free rides. Fortunately, Tikkirey finds out that the crew took pity on the boy and broke the law by not getting him an insurance policy. He receives his earned credits and leaves the ship. He then takes a taxi and gets a room at a cheap hotel. He then hits another snag: his money will only last him about a week. New Kuwait's laws require local permanent residency for employment, but the process of obtaining it takes at least six months. At the hotel, Tikkirey meets Lion, a boy his age, who was born and grew up on a space station. The next day, Tikkirey encounters and befriends a mysterious man named Captain Stas, who turns out to be a phage from the planet Avalon. Phages are knight-like members of an organization whose goal is to rid the Empire of its enemies. Unlike the rational humans around them, phages are encouraged to listen with their hearts. A phage is genetically engineered to be stronger and faster than any normal human. He is capable of using something called an "imperative voice", causing most humans to follow his instructions without question (similar to the Voice from Frank Herbert's novel Dune). A phage's weapon of choice is a multi-functional semi-intelligent plasma whip, chosen not for its deadliness but for its psychological effect. The phages' mission, abilities, and moral code have earned them the nickname "jedi", which they tend to dislike, as it trivializes the phages' purpose. Stas is on a mission to investigate the suspicious activity on New Kuwait of agents from the planet Iney ("frost" in Russian). Iney has already "peacefully" allied with several other Imperial worlds and is gaining in strength, threatening the stability of the Empire. Before Stas or Tikkirey can do anything, most of the population of New Kuwait suddenly falls asleep. Tikkirey and Stas are one of the few still awake. Stas takes the boy and, at Tikkirey's request, the unconscious Lion with him on his ship. They are able to launch before the population awakes and announces its allegiance with Iney. With some quick thinking, Tikkirey connects Lion's brain to the datastream of the ship, temporarily turning him into a calculation module. The plan works, and Lion awakes shortly after. However, his free will is gone. Stas takes the boys to his homeplanet of Avalon, where the phages' headquarters are located. Tikkirey is hired by the phages to work in support role, while he takes care of Lion. Basically, Tikkirey is forced to tell Lion to do almost everything, hoping that he may one day get better. He also makes friends with his neighbors, a brother and a sister of a slightly younger age. One day, Tikkirey is asked by his supervisor to destroy a faulty plasma whip, which refuses to bond with any phage. To Tikkirey's surprise, the whip bonds to him, and he refuses to destroy the semi-living device. That same day, his neighbors invite him and Lion to go camping at a nearby lake. Since it is wintertime in that part of Avalon, the lake is frozen over. The teenagers (except for Lion) begin to ice skate, but ice cracks under Tikkirey, and he falls into the water. He attempts to get out by using the whip but to no avail. Surprisingly, Lion snaps out of his daze and saves Tikkirey. Stas arrives with paramedics and explains that the whip was a test of loyalty, which Tikkirey has failed. Tikkirey shows that the whip bonded to him, which surprises the phage, as this has never happened before. Tikkirey and Lion are taken to the phage headquarters, where Lion is given a clean bill of health by a psychiatrist. Lion explains that, during the time he was asleep, he has lived an entire lifetime as a citizen of Iney. The boys find out that the phages are planning on sending them back to New Kuwait to conduct an investigation as to how Iney is controlling the population. Tikkirey and Lion are dropped in a pod made of a special form of ice, which melts on landing, leaving no trace. However, the boys are quickly captured by a team of girls armed with crossbows. They are escorted to their base camp, where Tikkirey encounters a disabled old man he met while escaping from New Kuwait. The girls are members of a former hip hop dancing troupe who have become guerrilla fighters. They help the boys sneak into the city, where Lion is reunited with his family, who all behave like a stereotypical perfect TV family. Tikkirey and Lion are sent to a boarding school "to learn to serve the society better." Everything appears to be going well, except that the boys know they are under surveillance. One night, the old man's daughter Natasha sneaks into their room and informs them that Iney counter-intelligence is following their every move. They decide to escape and hide in a school located in a poor district. They are able, for a time, to remain undetected by the Iney. Once, however, Natasha introduces Tikkirey to another girl, who claims to also be an agent for the phages. She informs Tikkirey that a wealthy Imperial industrialist has arrived on New Kuwait and that he is secretly working with Iney against the Empire. The girl orders Tikkirey to execute the industrialist and his teenage daughter. While morally disagreeing with the girl, Tikkirey decides to go through with it. Tikkirey, Lion, and Natasha sneak into the villa where the industrialist is being treated as an honored guest. However, upon attempting to ambush the man and his daughter, Tikkirey is surprised to learn that the industrialist is, in fact, Stas in disguise. His "daughter" is a young phage-in-training dressed as a girl. The real industrialist has been detained by the Imperial forces, and the phages have been sent in their stead. Stas immediately realizes that the girl who gave the execution order is an Iney agent, which means that their cover is blown. He decides to attempt to smuggle Tikkirey, Lion, and Natasha from New Kuwait in suitcases. There is one problem, however — due to a quirk of nature, FTL travel is lethal to human females (the reasoning behind this is not explained, although it is mentioned that a Y-chromosome is necessary to survive an FTL jump). As such, Natasha must be placed into a cryogenic pod. Due to the shortage of space on the luxury transport, the dock workers decide to leave Tikkirey's suitcase in storage to be sent with the next ship. An old female dockworker decides to look inside and finds the boy. Instead of reporting him, however, the old lady feeds him and asks him to tell her what is happening. After hearing his story, Tikkirey asks her to contact Stas and tell him to freeze Natasha. When she comes back, the lady begins to explain certain unknown facts to Tikkirey. She explains that the president of Iney, a woman by the name of Inna Snow, is, in fact, a clone. At one point in time, a genetic genius named Edward Garlitsky has decided to fundamentally alter humanity for the better. For this purpose, he cloned himself into a woman named Ada Snezhinskaya, but their views on the means of achieving the change were radically different: Edward wanted to act behind-the-scenes (according to the novel Genome, he became the father of specification), while Ada wanted to directly alter the current social and political structure of the Empire. For that purpose, Ada created thousands of clones of herself and of Edward and spread them throughout the Empire (at that time, it was common practice for parents to buy fetuses). The first names of the female clones were always four letters long with a double consonant in the middle, while the last name was in some way related to snow (e.g. Inna Snow, Anna Neige). Sooner or later, most of the clones were tracked down and offered to have the collective memory of the clones imprinted on them. Most agreed. They all began to set themselves up in certain key political positions. Eventually, Inna Snow discovered a way of using neuroshunts to slowly download a dormant program into people's brains. A certain signal would then trigger the program, which would allow the affected people to live out entire lifetimes in their heads. While each person's "dream life" was different, several constants remained the same: Inna Snow and Iney are good, the Empire and the Emperor are bad. The medium for implanting the program was chosen to be the many TV series produced on Iney and watched throughout the Empire. After hearing this, Tikkirey realizes that the old lady is Ada Snezhinskaya, who reveals that Tikkirey Frost is himself a clone of Edward Garlitsky. Despite this realization, Tikkirey attempts to kill Ada with a whip, but he only wounds her and gets captured by Iney forces. Finding himself in a prison cell with Stas, the phage-in-training, Lion, Natasha, and her grandfather, Tikkirey questions Stas and finds out that Stas knew about him being a clone. The group is then taken to a factory to meet Ada and Inna, where, after a verbal joust, Stas reveals that the Empire has begun a massive invasion of all Iney-occupied worlds, using a modified version of Inna Snow's program to remove Iney's propaganda from the affected people's minds. In a last-ditch effort to save herself and her plan, Ada uses the imperative voice to order Tikkirey and Natasha to jump off the catwalk into a pool of strong solvent. Natasha's grandfather sacrifices himself to save his granddaughter and push both Ada and Inna off the catwalk. Stas uses his own imperative voice to override Ada's order and frees the teenagers. With the threat of Iney gone and the clones in custody, Stas offers to take Tikkirey back to Avalon. However, Tikkirey first makes a stop at Quarry to get two of his friends off that rock. As a side note, he mentions that a genetic cure has been found to allow women to safely traverse FTL hyperchannels without the use of cryogenics. ru:Танцы на снегу (роман) zh:雪舞者 |
Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior | Chris Bradford | 2,008 | Jack Fletcher, a 12-year-old English boy, is sailing with his father and his crew in search of the legendary Japanese islands. The group are shipwrecked off the coast of Japan in 1611 in a village named Toba, whereupon the crew are attacked by a ninja (which they believe at the time to be wokou, Japanese pirates). Only Jack survives and his father leaves him with his prized possession, a rutter (a precursor to the modern navigation chart). Jack is rescued by legendary samurai swordsman Masamoto Takeshi who decides to adopt him until he is old enough (16), which makes Masamoto's son Yamato envious. Jack discovers that the leader of the ninja was known as Dokugan Ryu (Dragon Eye) through Masamoto following Jack's description of his distinctive solitary green eye. Yamato and Jack engage in heated sparring with their bokken After defeating a ninja in another attack, Masamoto enrolls him in his samurai school in Kyoto, the Niten Ichi-ryu to train as a samurai. Jack develops a strong relationship with a girl, Date Akiko. At the same time, Jack is singled out by Oda Kazuki and his friends who bully him on the basis of being a gaijin (a derogatory term for a foreigner). Jack is generally disliked until he wins a taryu-jiai tournament against a rival school, which earns him Yamato's respect. During a festival, Jack, Akiko and Yamato discover Dokugan Ryu attempting to assassinate Takatomi Hideaki, daimyo of Kyoto province. They manage to make him flee and are rewarded by Takatomi and Masamoto. |
Resistance | Jeanne Kalogridis | 2,007 | Picard must rebuild his crew after the death of Data and departure of Capt. William Riker and Counselor Troi. Picard selects newly promoted, and acting first officer, Commander Worf as permanent first officer. A Vulcan, T'Lana, is granted commission as the Enterprise's new counselor. The captain is looking forward to putting the devastation of war behind him, shaping his new crew, building his relationship with Dr. Beverly Crusher and returning at last to being an explorer. However, Worf refuses the promotion and Picard senses his new counselor does not approve of Worf. Quickly after being assigned a simple shakedown mission for the restored U.S.S. Enterprise-E, Picard once again begins hearing the voice of the Borg Collective. After reporting this to Starfleet, Admiral Janeway feels the Borg are decimated and are no longer a threat. Picard knows she is wrong and believes they are regrouping in the Alpha Quadrant for an annihilation-style attack on the Federation and all of the Alpha Quadrant's inhabitants. |
Commonwealth | Joey Goebel | 2,008 | Somewhere in the middle of America dwells Blue Gene Mapother, a trashy, mullet-headed Wal-Mart stockboy-turned-flea marketer who staunchly supports any American war effort without question. Besides patriotism, little enlivens him besides pro wrestling, cigarette breaks, and any instance in which he thinks his masculinity is at stake. Curiously, he is also a member of one of the wealthiest families in the country. His mother, the fanatical Christian socialite Elizabeth Mapother, has a prophetic dream in which she sees Blue Gene’s older brother, the handsome but nervous John Hurstbourne Mapother, becoming an apocalyptic world savior. In order to fulfill his mother’s prophecy—not to mention his father Henry’s lifelong desire for his bloodline to ascend to Washington—John is running for Congress. John soon finds that as a corporate executive he is not popular with his largely working-class constituents, many of whom work for him and his father. Now, after years of estrangement, the Mapothers need Blue Gene’s common man touch in order to cast their family name in a more favorable light with the voters. The Mapothers no longer shun Blue Gene for his embarrassing, low-class ways; they embrace him as political gold. Will Blue Gene allow himself to be used? His family has ignored him the last four years and has only invited him back into the fold as campaign time looms near. But then again, even though the superrich John Hurstbourne Mapother clearly represents the interests of big business, man, he sure does have all the right values. Through dark humor and cinematic story-telling, this small-town epic goes from a flea market to mansions to abandoned Wal-Mart buildings, dramatizing the deranged, absurd relationship between the high and low class of America. |
Dark Mirror | null | 1,994 | In Dark Mirror, the Mirror-Spock left the Enterprise and rose through the ranks and spearheaded an effort to reform the Empire. However, the Mirror-Kirk framed him for treason, which resulted in Spock's execution. Soon afterwards Mirror-Sarek was assassinated by another Vulcan seeking his job. As a result, Spock's attempted reforms died with him and the Empire is still alive and powerful. The Klingons are a conquered race who were forced into slavery by the Empire after their defeat. The Romulan Empire has also been defeated by the Empire, but committed suicide en masse rather than submit to Terran rule. Dark Mirror tells how Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D are forced to deal with their counterparts. Like the Original Series episode Mirror, Mirror, their counterparts are brutal and savage. For example, the Mirror-Captain Picard had murdered the Mirror-Jack Crusher so as to claim his wife, Beverly Crusher, for himself. Crusher is further forced to build biologically-based weaponry. The Mirror-Deanna Troi is a security officer who freely uses torture. The missions of the crew of the Mirror-Enterprise-D's are filled with brutality and even genocidal activities. Interestingly, personal communicators are intentionally not used in the mirror Starfleet; due to the prevalence of assassinations, they make crewmembers too easy to track down and kill. When the Enterprise-D crew meet with their alternates, they discover that the Empire is planning to cross into and invade the Federation's universe. The first step of the plan is to capture that universe's Enterprise, kill the crew, and use the vessel as an infiltrator. However, the crew of the Enterprise is able to foil their plans, and find a means to prevent the Empire from invading the Federation. Captain Picard found that the Mirror Universe Empire had almost reached the limits of what it was presently capable of expanding to. Picard comes to believe they plan to invade the 'main' universe, simply because they have no other choice. He also finds that the seeds of the Mirror Universe's brutality lie in Khan Noonien Singh winning the Eugenics Wars. Toward the book's end, Picard speaks to Mirror-Worf and explains that soon the Empire will be too far spread to maintain control over the worlds it controls that it will collapse, and Worf should inform his people so they can be ready when this day comes. |
Show Boat | Edna Ferber | 1,926 | The time is the late nineteenth century. Captain Andy Hawks is a former riverboat owner with a shrewish wife, Parthy Ann, and a ten-year-old daughter, Magnolia. He buys the new show boat Cotton Blossom. Among the actors are Julie Dozier and her husband Steve Baker, and Ellie Chipley and her husband, affectionately known as "Schultzy". Other members of the crew are Pete, the engineer of the towboat Mollie Able, which propels the show boat; Frank the utility man, and Windy McClain, the pilot. Steve and Julie are close, and Julie becomes Magnolia's best friend, showing motherly affection toward her. For a time, all is well, but soon Pete begins making unwanted advances toward Julie. He gets into a fist fight with Steve, is soundly beaten, and swears revenge. He implies knowing some dark secret concerning Julie. When the troupe arrives at Lemoyne, Mississippi, Pete steals Julie's picture from the box office and takes it to the local sheriff. Julie claims she does not feel well enough to perform, and Parthy observes that Julie fell sick the year before in the same town. When they hear what Pete has done, Steve takes out a pocket knife, makes a cut on Julie's hand, and sucks blood from it. The sheriff arrives and announces that there is a miscegenation case on board: since Julie is black and Steve is white, their marriage is illegal. Julie admits that she is half-black. Ellie, who has been very close to Julie, becomes upset at the revelation and hysterically denounces her friend. Steve says he has "negro blood" in him, and the rest of the company backs him up. The sheriff, not realizing that Steve's claim is based only on his having sucked some blood from Julie's hand (this refers to social conventions classifying as black anyone with known African ancestry), believes he cannot arrest the couple and leaves. He tells Steve and Julie to leave the boat, which they do, after Julie sorrowfully says goodbye to the girl Magnolia. Years later we return to the boat, where Magnolia is now eighteen and the newest leading lady. She has no leading man. After Gaylord Ravenal, a handsome riverboat gambler, is hired, he and Magnolia promptly fall in love and elope. Months later, Magnolia has had a baby daughter, whom she names Kim (because she was born at the moment when the Cotton Blossom was at the convergence on the Mississippi of the states of Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri). Shortly after, Captain Andy falls overboard during a storm and drowns. Rather than live with the stern Parthy, Magnolia and Ravenal leave for Chicago with Kim. In the big city, the couple is alternately rich and poor, depending on Ravenal's gambling winnings (he does not try to find regular work, and cheats on Magnolia with prostitutes). Finally, after about ten years, Parthy announces she is coming to visit; the destitute Ravenal, desperate for money, borrows some from Hetty Chilson, the local whorehouse madam. He returns to Magnolia at their boarding house but is drunk. As he sleeps off his stupor, she returns the money to Hetty, and discovers the madam's secretary is Julie Dozier. Julie is devastated that Magnolia has found her working in the whorehouse. (The fate of Steve goes unmentioned in the novel.) When Magnolia returns to the boarding house, she finds Ravenal gone, leaving nothing but a farewell note. She never sees him again. She goes out to get work and is hired at a local nightclub called Joppers. The story moves forward to 1926, when show boats are becoming scarce on the Mississippi River. Kim has married and become a successful actress on Broadway in New York City. Her father Ravenal has been dead for several years. One night, Magnolia receives a telegram announcing the death of her mother Parthy, from whom she has been long estranged. She returns to the show boat, which she decides to keep and manage, rather than to scrap. She gives all of her inheritance from Parthy, a fortune, to her daughter Kim. Joining Magnolia is Ellie, a widow since her husband Schultzy has died. |
The Tail of Emily Windsnap | Liz Kessler | 2,003 | Emily Windsnap is a girl who lives on the boat The King of the Sea with her mother Mary Penelope. She requests swimming lessons repeatedly until her mother, who is afraid of the water, allows it. After a few shocking incidents, Emily discovers she is half mermaid, half human. Her legs become a tail when she is immersed in water and become legs again when she leaves it. She meets another mermaid whose name is Shona, and they quickly become best friends. Together they discover that Emily's father is currently in the mer prison for marrying a human and that Mary is under a spell which makes her forget everything. The girls plan to save Emily's father, but do not know how. Later, Emily finds a chance to carry out her "daydream" plan and manages to drive their houseboat near the prison. Her mother follows and regains her memories of Jake Windsnap, her husband (Emily's father). They are caught by Neptune and brought to trial, where Emily manages to convince Neptune for the sake of their family's mutual love to let them go. Neptune releases the entire Windsnap family on one condition: they must live on a deserted island! |
Darkest Hour | Meg Cabot | 2,001 | Suze Simon is forced to work a summer job by her stepfather, Andy, a first in her life. So her stepbrother Jake (Sleepy) gets her a pretty decent job as a hotel babysitter at the Pebble Beach Hotel and Golf Resort. The pay is good, the job is relatively easy, and there's plenty of eye candy—like Paul Slater, the big brother of her usual charge, Jack, a particularly weird looking and whiny eight-year-old boy. While she finds Paul really interesting, she feels like she's cheating on Jesse because her true feelings were for him, not Paul. Suze soon realizes that Jack's misery is mainly caused because he could see dead people; in other words, he is also a mediator. As Suze helps Jack Slater realize ghosts do not mean to do any harm and just want help to go to the afterlife, he becomes more confident and reassured. Soon, he is becoming more like the average eight-year-old boy in America. Paul is surprised by this and asks Suze to join them for dinner. Suze politely declines and avoids talking to Paul the rest of the day. Suze's dry routine for the summer is interrupted when her stepfather and stepbrother—trying to install a hot tub—dig up something in the backyard—letters from a person named Maria de Silva to her fiance, Hector de Silva. Suze soon realizes that these letters belonged to Jesse. Problems start as Suze is threatened by Maria's ghost, who does not want them to find the letters. In her attempts to maintain her role in society, Maria starts harassing Suze's family, such as turning the juice in the refrigerator to bugs. Suze fears that if she finds Jesse's remains in the backyard, Jesse will move on to the next world and leave her alone. Despite her fear, Suze attempts to give those letters to the Historical Center, where the conservator Dr. Clive Clemmings thinks Jesse did not die from murder, but ran away from his wedding because he was too frightened. She notices Maria's picture and a small portrait of Jesse in the museum, and after listening to Dr. Clemming's speculation of the de Silva's history, becomes very upset. The following day, Suze is confronted by the police, who inform her that the conservator is dead and Hector de Silva's portrait is missing. Paul stops them from inquiring her further, saying that he can "attract more flies with honey rather than vinegar", and she finally concedes to go out on a date with him. As Suze returns home from the date, Brad (Dopey) and Andy unearthed Jesse's remains in the backyard. Suze throws up her dinner and assures herself, when she could not find Jesse, that he was only away for a time. Jesse had promised not to disappear if his remains were found and she believes him. The hours drag on as Suze waits for Jesse to return. Jack Slater then calls her to inform her of his successful exorcism of the "ghost who was bothering Suze" for a long time. According to Jack, a pretty Maria ghost had told him how to exorcise a ghost, and he succeeded without sweat. Suze is horrified. She is attacked by Maria de Silva and Felix Diego, her late husband, who helped kill Jesse in the past. They try to kill her, but only give her a concussion by throwing her in the dug-up hole Andy and Brad had been working on. The next day, Suze marches up to Jack and orders him to exorcise her. She believes that if she ended up in the same place as Jesse, she would be able to bring him back. Before she could do so, however, Father Dominic, who realizes her plan, intervenes and prevents the whole process from occurring. Father Dom agrees on doing a "proper exorcism" in the Mission, mainly because he believes Suze will not stop at any account on saving Jesse. He warns her against persuading Jesse with her female attributes, however, or keeping Jesse against his will. She has thirty minutes to go find him and come back, or she will die. Jack arrives in the last minute with the rope to tie around her waist and help her get back. Suze finds Jesse on the "other side". At first, Jesse was hurt because he thought Suze had exorcised him herself. When he was reassured that it was not her, however, he becomes furious with her safety and tries to lead her back to their world. It turns out that Maria had cut Suze's rope while she was trying to find Jesse, so Suze and Jesse were lost. Paul—who turns out to be a mediator as well—appears and taunts them. Suze realizes that Paul had been working with Maria and Felix, distracting Suze from saving Jesse from being exorcised. Jesse, furious with Paul's selfish outlook on the mediator "gift", punches him. They barely make it back to the Mission, only to find Maria and Felix Diego attacking Father Dominic. Suze finally manages to exorcize Maria de Silva and Felix Diego, and Jesse decides to stay in the living world. The Slaters leave the hotel, leaving Suze a huge tip and some cryptic letters. As Suze goes up, she finds Jesse wanting to talk. She says she does not want to talk, for fear of confessing her feelings, but Jesse finally kisses her. pt:Darkest Hour (livro) |
Monty: His Part in My Victory | null | 1,976 | With the fall of Tunis in 1943, the Nazis surrender in Africa. Milligan has varied impressions: :"Dead soldiers in grotesque ballet positions, Arab families emerging from hiding, baffled and frightened, and the children, always the children, more baffled and frightened than the rest." An odd atmosphere pervades where enemy soldiers are found chatting together on the streets; a group of Italian soldiers tries to surrender to Milligan and his friends: they tell the Italians that they are British Army prisoners (i.e., to go away). The regiment's lieutenant asks two German officers drinking coffee in a cafe what they are doing: "Ve are vaiting to be took prisoners old poy." There is time on leave, in celebration parades, and in performing shows; the most traumatic experience is the transfer of Major Chater Jack — leaving the battery now without two of their favorite officers. Major "Jumbo" Jenkins, a humorless, unpleasant martinet is the replacement, with consequences for Milligan in the next volume. They move to various locations, some flat and barren. During one war game exercise, Milligan asks if they can "kill" themselves so they can play cards. The lieutenant suggests lunch, first. A referee rides up, and marks them with chalk — they are casualties. Remounting his motorcycle, he breaks his leg; Milligan marks him with the chalk. In a camp where Milligan builds an elaborate tent, a friend bets Milligan and Edgington he can get them out in two minutes; he sets an armored vehicle toward their tent, unpiloted. Milligan and Edgington move the tent, still inside. Writes Milligan, "We were all bloody mad." While Milligan points out to the reader that shows cannot be described, one must be there, he describes at length a series of musical activities and successful shows, culminating in one directed by Kenneth Carter, later a British producer and director. (The playbill is reproduced.) With the invasion of Sicily, the idyllic days are over. Milligan thinks about rewriting his will, since the last one was about getting killed in the Africa landings, not the Italian ones. He concludes the book on the ship HMS Boxer: :"'I wonder why we're waiting?'... :'We're waiting for the tide,' says Kidgell. :'That's the best news I've had.' :'Why?' :'The Med's tideless.'" Milligan does not know the gravity of the situation at Salerno until reading General Alexander's biography, twenty years later. The fighting starts in the next volume soon after they have landed. |
Madame Doubtfire | Anne Fine | 1,987 | Daniel and Miranda Hilliard are separated, and Miranda, a successful businesswoman, severely limits the amount of time her husband, an impractical, out-of-work actor, is allowed to spend with their three children. When Miranda decides to hire a nanny, however, Daniel disguises himself as a woman and gets the job. The two eldest children immediately know who "Madame Doubtfire" is, but the youngest and Miranda are fooled. Daniel uses his disguise to spend time with his children. Miranda comments that the house has never been run better. After Miranda discovers Daniel's secret — and after one more terrible fight — both parents admit to mistakes and make arrangements for Daniel to see his children more often. |
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