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More Things in Heaven | null | null | A matter transmission machine seems to work properly when it sends things and people out. But when it brings them back, the astronauts have been changed unexpectedly. The machines might not be working properly. Or maybe they are working too well. it:Atterraggio proibito |
Caballero: A Historical Novel | null | null | The novel consists of a forward and thirty-six chapters. In chronological sequence, it interweaves both historical and fictional events that occurred near or in other ways impacted the Mexico-United States border in the late 1840s. The forward establishes the history of the Mendoza family's presence in Texas. This commences in 1748, when Don José Ramón de Mendoza y Robles, a Spanish explorer, receives permission from the viceroy in Mexico City to lead an expedition of wealthy landowners to the land between the Rio Grande and Nueces rivers. The land he claims for himself he names the Rancho La Palma de Cristo. Soon after, he marries the blonde and green-eyed Susanita Ulloa, who is his junior by many years, and they have one son who survives childhood, named Francisco. Francisco marries Amalia Soría, who bears him three children—Santiago, Dolores and Ramón—before she dies. Santiago, Dolores and Ramón are raised by their grandmother, Susanita, who instills in them their grandfather's greatness and the importance of upholding one's Catholic faith. Susanita, Francisco and Ramón have all died before the novel's proper beginning, leaving the Rancho La Palma completely under Don Santiago's care. Chapter One introduces us to Don Santiago, the uncontested patriarch of Rancho La Palma, and his family. He, like his father and grandfather before him, has also married a pureblooded Spanish woman, Doña María Petronilla, who is characterized by her simple and unprepossessing dresses. They have four children, all of whom are in their teenage years. Two of these are sons—Alvaro and Luis Gonzaga—and two are daughters—María de los Ángeles and Susanita. Susanita, like the grandmother whose name she shares, is blonde and green-eyed. She is described as Don Santiago's "dearest" child and as he watches her join the family for dinner, he glumly acknowledges that time has come to find her a husband. Dinner is interrupted by Don Gabriel del Lago, a friend of Don Santiago's and a neighboring Spanish-Mexican landowner, who brings news that Texas has been taken from Mexico by the Americans, and that American soldiers under the leadership of Zachary Taylor have infiltrated the territory and are busy establishing defensive outposts. Each of the characters responds differently to this turn of events: Don Santiago scoffs, refusing to consider Americans any threat to his way of life; Alvaro wants to know what military action can be undertaken to stave off the American forces; Luis Gonzaga contemplates whether or not Americans really are the uncultured hoodlums he has heard them to be; María de los Ángeles, under the assumption that Americans are not Catholic, assumes the invasion is punishment from God for Mexico's sins; and Susanita wonders what it would be like to dance with a tall white-skinned man. The narrative that unfolds tracks these characters, and others, as their suspicions about the invading forces are explored—sometimes confirmed, but more often reformed. A partial text version of Caballero is available at Google Books. |
Breathers: A Zombie's Lament | S. G. Browne | 2,009 | Andy Warner is a zombie, having reanimated after a fatal car wreck that killed his wife, orphaned his daughter, and left Andy disfigured and unintelligible. Reviled and discriminated against by a society that no longer considers him human, Andy is an outcast. He spends his new existence watching cable television in his parents’ wine cellar and attending Undead Anonymous meetings with other zombies, where he finds kindred souls in Rita and Jerry. After they meet Ray, a rogue zombie who introduces them to the joys of consuming human flesh, Andy embarks on a journey of self-discovery that leads to a media-driven, class-action lawsuit on behalf of the rights of zombies everywhere. |
Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection | Don Roff | 2,009 | A short prologue explains that the story, notes and images were those of Dr. Robert Twombly and were found in a remote cabin in the township of Churchill, Manitoba. The notes detail an individual account of survival and escape after a mass-scale (presumably global) zombie outbreak, referred to as a ‘Necrotic Infection’, beginning around January 7, 2012 and lasting for approximately one year. The purported importance of the journal comes from both Twombly’s artistry and his medical knowledge, which permitted him to document the zombie outbreak with a unique level of detail and candor. The author extensively utilizes a false document technique, mixing diary-style first person stream of consciousness narration, drawn and painted images detailing the world following an undead pandemic, as well as brief glimpses of ‘found’ objects such as newspaper clippings and official reports to generate the central narrative. Dr. Twombly, a haematology and oncology specialist in Seattle, Washington keeps a journal detailing events from January 5 until March 28, 2012. At first the diary appears to be used for sketches of birds, but an entry on January 12 describes a pandemic of unknown cause overwhelming the entire city and much of the world beyond. Before the internet shut down, headlines referring to a sudden, critical infection affecting thousands worldwide show the scale of the unfolding catastrophe, destroying commerce and limiting travel. His office is beleaguered by thousands, all showing identical symptoms of an unknown, seemingly undetectable pathogen. As the sick begin to die they quickly reanimate, walking slowly, attempting to devour those around them still alive, and – to varying extents – exhibiting some behavior of their previous existences (one bashes a vending machine as he did when he was alive, and later a married couple – now zombies – hold hands as they walk). While tests confirm that the reanimated ‘zombies’ are clinically-dead, Twombly talks at length about the limitations and strengths of the undead. Meeting other survivors, and after witnessing an infection and reanimation first-hand, Twombly makes his way northward. His initial suspicions relating to a new GM food additive made by chemical company Primodyne are explored, although evidence relating to its accumulated toxicity is inconclusive, although its sudden prevalence and bio-accumulative effect does provide a logical explanation for the speed of the global infection, as well as the infection occasionally affecting individuals who have not come into direct contact with the zombies. Twombly spends much time on a small, isolated bucolic inn called ‘the Farm’ with nineteen other survivors, although eventually he is forced to move even further northward after the Farm is overrun by zombies and burned down. Finally he finds the town of Churchill, Manitoba where nobody has had any interaction with the infected. His final entry indicates that the threat is apparently subsiding, with the town secure and partially fortified. The entry is, however, cut off mid-word with a slight spatter of blood. |
Snow White and the Giants | null | null | A married insurance salesman finds himself getting rooked when a beautiful brunette ("Snow White") dazzles him, and her retinue of male hangers-on (standing six foot ten) invade his peaceful little hamlet in England and alter his entire life. |
Tunnel Through Time | Lester del Rey | 1,966 | The novel tells the story of a boy named Bob Miller whose scientist father, Sam Miller, has invented a "time ring", a circular device that allows time travel. Bob, his friend and his friend's father ("Doc Tom", an archaeologist) travel through time in search of Bob's father, who has disappeared while traveling alone. Beginning in the Mesozoic Era (Sam's planned destination), the story depicts various adventures while the travelers jump from point to point in Earth's prehistory in search of the missing scientist. |
The Monster Men | Edgar Rice Burroughs | 1,929 | Cornell University professor Arthur Maxon, who has been experimenting in the creation of artificial life, travels with his daughter Virginia to one of the remote Pamarung Islands in the East Indies to pursue his project. Their departure is noted with interest by a young man, Townsend J. Harper, Jr., who is quite taken with Virginia and determines to find out where they are going. In Singapore Maxon commissions Dr. Carl von Horn to take them the remainder of the way to their destination in his yacht the Ithaca, and then to assist him in his experiments. On the island the group fights off a pirate attack and builds a fort. Maxon and von Horn begin their experiments, growing several living creatures in chemical vats, humanoid but mindless and ugly. Maxon hopes Experiment Number Thirteen will result in a perfect human being, and in his fanatic obsession plans to wed Virginia to this ultimate creation. Von Horn retains a more realistic viewpoint and hopes to marry her himself, leading to friction. Meanwhile, locals including Budadreen, one of von Horn’s crewmen, and Muda Saffir, leader of the pirates, conspire against the scientists, who they believe are hiding treasure. They are watched closely by Chinese cook Sing Lee, who recognizes the pirate. Experiment Number Thirteen indeed appears to result in a physically perfect man, but as soon as the scientists discover this an emergency distracts them. Experiment Number One has escaped and abducted Virginia. Maxon, von Horn and Sing Lee pursue the monster, only to find it dead at the hands of Number Thirteen, also escaped from the lab in the wake of the scientists’ departure. Thinking Virginia still in danger, von Horn attacks the creature and is nearly killed himself, but is spared by Thirteen when Virginia pleads for his life. Ignorant of the handsome stranger’s origin, the girl finds herself attracted to him. Maxon and von Horn return Thirteen to the lab and begin educating him. Von Horn privately discloses to Virginia Maxon's plan to wed her to one of his creatures, while concealing it is her rescuer to whom she is to be wed. Separately, he informs Thirteen of his artificial origin. Both recipients of his confidences are horrified. Thirteen, or Jack, as he is now called, is convinced that he is a soulless monster and that Maxon must be stopped. Von Horn absconds with Virginia while Jack goes to confront Maxon, while Budadreen and six crewmen steal a chest they believe holds Maxon’s wealth. Muda Saffir’s pirates attack the compound and appropriate the chest. Jack, reconsidering his rage, defends Maxon and Sing Lee against the pirates. Virginia rebuff’s von Horn’s advances and falls in with Budadreen, who takes her captive and sails off in von Horn’s yacht. Von Horn, since his effort to turn Jack against Maxon has failed, releases the other eleven monsters against them. Jack overawes the creatures and gains control of them, but Maxon, apparently regaining his sanity, turns on him and drives him away. The Ithaca is wrecked in a gale, and Budadreen and his men swept overboard; later the drifting hulk is boarded by headhunters. Jack and the eleven monsters search for Virginia and find the yacht in the harbor, when it is boarded by Muda Saffir's pirates, the monsters attack them. Saffir takes Virginia and flees the battle in his prahu; the monsters, capturing another prahu, pursue them. Having witnessed these events from hiding, von Horn returns to Maxon, who offers him his fortune and Virginia if he can save her. Jack and his monsters overtake and fight the pirates in Borneo, resulting in six monsters and many of the pirates killed, but Saffir, still holding Virginia, escapes up river in his boat. The monsters join with Barunda and a crew of captive Dyaks and resume pursuit. Meanwhile Saffir has bungled a rape attempt against Virginia and been shoved overboard by her; his lieutenant Ninaka assumes command. He stops at a native village, hides the chest and Virginia, and when Jack arrives conspires with Barunda to have the natives lead him astray. He then recovers his contraband and continues up river; Virginia ultimately escapes by diving off the boat. Meanwhile Von Horn, Maxon and Sing Lee sail to Borneo, encounter the Ithaca, and enlist the Dyaks to take them to Muda Saffir. The latter, having survived his dip in the drink, flags them down. He and von Horn make a secret deal and continue up river without Maxon, who is stricken with fever. Jack's band, lost, encounters an orangutan band after fighting off more Dyaks. Finding one of them has captured Virginia, they fight the apes. Von Horn, Muda Saffir and a group of native warriors happen on the battle and spirit off the unconscious Virginia; Sing Lee, following, sees all. Von Horn's group and Sing Lee go back to Maxon, who is recovering. Von Horn presses his suit with Virginia. Ninaka and Barunda fall out; Barunda is murdered, but this drives Ninaka ashore. Ninaka buries the chest lest it encumber his escape. Von Horn and a couple Dyaks, returned from delivering Virginia to her father, witness this. Afterwards von Horn kills his companions to keep the secret of the treasure to himself and flees back down river, narrowly missing Muda Saffir heading the other way with two war prahus; Saffir has again abducted Virginia. She escapes again and falls in with Jack and his surviving monsters; spotted by the pirates, they flee, one of the monsters dying to cover the retreat while Jack carries Virginia to safety. Making his stand in a small canyon, he casts boulders down on their pursuers until they retreat. He promises the girl he will take her back to her father, but soon after is stricken with a fever. She tends him in his delirium. Maxon, von Horn, and Sing Lee search for Virginia, and come across the two just as Jack's fever breaks. Von Horn shoots Jack, but Sing Lee disarms him, stopping him from finishing him off. Von Horn finally reveals to Virginia that Jack is Number Thirteen, but she decides she loves Jack regardless. Then Sing Lee declares Jack is not a monster after all, but an amnesiac he had found drifting in a lifeboat and substituted for Maxon's failed experiment. He then exposes the crimes of von Horn, who flees into the jungle. An American naval vessel arrives; it turns out to be seeking von Horn, a deserter, to arrest him. The pursuit finally ends at the site of the buried "treasure," which von Horn has dug up; his headless body is found next to the opened chest. It had contained books, not treasure, and von Horn's native accomplices were evidently upset. The Maxons and Jack leave Borneo on the navy ship, and Jack's memory returns. He is conveniently revealed as Townsend Harper, the wealthy (and single) young man who took an interest in Virginia at the beginning of the book. Wedding bells are plainly not far off. |
A Planet Called Utopia | null | null | Except for radio and television signals, which are tightly screened, it has been over sixty years since the last visitor was allowed into Utopia, a world where everyone was immortal. So that the world's population would not outrun available surface area, marriage has been outlawed (because couples start to want to have a child), lifelong romances discouraged (for pretty much the same reason), and temporary personal relationships favored. Diseases are nonexistent, and cures have been found for all of them. Life involves pleasure and adventure (skiing, scuba diving, parachuting, automobile racing) all day long. The population nevertheless needs an occasional birth, so couples are allowed to have children according to a lottery system, such that the number of births is exactly equal to the number of accidental deaths in a year. The protagonist, Hardy Cronyn, is the first off-worlder to be allowed onto the planet in sixty years. A lot of diplomatic arm wrestling led to the planet's agreement to let him land. He promised to stay out of trouble, be responsible, and not make waves. Above all, stay out of the newspaper headlines. If he has to convene press conferences, they should be scripted, and he should not say anything off the cuff, or vaguely likely to make a disturbance. But one step off the spaceship and onto the tarmac, he does the unthinkable, and the government is suddenly plunged into damage control mode before it's too late. |
Spirit Walker | Michelle Paver | 2,005 | The story takes place in Northern Europe, in an area inhabited by clans of humans named after different animals. These clans live a hunter-gatherer existence and adhere to a shamanic belief system. Six months after the events of Wolf Brother, Torak, the young male protagonist, is now living with the Raven Clan. One of the clan members, becomes sick and attempts to kill himself and his young nephew, but is stopped by the clan's leader. He is tied up and quarantined. Torak suspects that the sickness has been created by a group of renegade shamans known as the Soul-Eaters. Leaders from other Clans come to the Raven camp and tell them the sickness has been spreading through the forest. Torak realises that a small creature has been stalking him and trying to kill him, and when Oslak escapes and kills himself, Torak discovers that the creature was responsible. Torak sneaks out of the camp and goes into the forest seeking a cure. Wolf, Torak's companion from the previous novel, has been living with a pack in the High Mountains, but becomes unhappy with his life and he goes off to find Torak. Renn, the female protagonist, has encountered the creature at the Raven Camp and the clan's shaman, Sauenn, explains that a it is a Tokoroth: a child who has been stolen from their mother and abused by the Soul-Eaters until he or she does their bidding, the Soul-Eaters then put a demon inside the child. Renn sneaks out of the camp to find Torak and she and Wolf encounter each other. They then both go looking for him. At the seashore, Torak encounters and fights three boys from the Seal Clan: Bale, Detlan and Asrif, but is eventually overpowered. They believe that, by washing his hunting gear in the sea, he has dishonoured the Sea Mother and must be punished, so they take him by canoe to their home in the Seal Islands. Renn and Wolf meet up with some members of the Sea Eagle Clan, who take them both to the Seal Islands to help Torak. The Seal Clan's shaman, Tenris, initially wants to punish Torak until Torak informs him of the sickness. Tenris tells Torak that a cure can be made from a rare plant which grows at the top of a particular cliff: the plant must be gathered on midsummer night, which is only four days away. Torak quickly realises the Tokoroth has followed him to the island. He goes looking for it but is tricked into falling into a seal net, from which he is rescued by Wolf and Renn. They talk and establish that an orca has been killed, breaking a taboo. Only the teeth have been removed from the carcass. Renn informs Torak that she saw one of the Seal Clan near the orca's carcass, but she is unable to persuade Torak that any of the clan would break such a taboo. Torak goes with Bale, Detlan and Asrif to climb the cliff and gather the plant. Asrif climbs up but his climbing harness becomes snagged, and Torak follows him up. He has to unhook himself from his rope to rescue Deltan and to gather the plant. Unable to reach his harness, he realises that the only way back down is to dive into the sea. Under the water, he feels himself taking the form of a fish for a few moments and senses an angry orca approaching, before returning to his body. The boys rush into the water to save Torak as an orca attacks Detlan, causing him a crippling injury. When they return to the island, Torak talks with Tenris about the odd experience he had in the water. Tenris explains that Torak must be a Spirit Walker: a human with the rare ability to drift out of his own body and into the body of any other living creature. Renn is found by some of the Seal Clan and realises that Tenris was responsible for killing the orca, and that he must be a Soul-Eater. Tenris notices a scab on her hand and, mistaking it for a symptom of the sickness, tells Bale to lock her up so the sickness won't spread. On Midsummers night, Torak goes to the crag to make the cure with Tenris, but Tenris overpowers Torak with the help of two Tokoroth. Tenris admits that he is a Soul-Eater, and that he killed the orca. He reveals that he had created the rogue bear which killed Torak's father and, realizing that the bear's killer must be a powerful shaman, had sent the Tokoroth to poison the juniper berries of the forest, knowing that the epidemic will flush him out as he searches for a cure. Tenris intends to eat Torak's heart, in order to assimilate his powers and become the greatest Soul-Eater. Tenris also reveals that Torak's father was his own brother, and had been a Soul-Eater before seeing the error of his ways. Wolf appears and chases away the Tokoroth. Renn, who has persuades Bale to let her go, shoots Tenris through the hand with an arrow, giving Torak the opportunity to escape by diving off the crag. Tenris jumps after him, but the blood from his arrow-wound attracts an orca which has been seeking revenge for the killing of its mate. Before Tenris is killed by the orca, he tells Torak that his adopted father in the Raven Clan knows more about Torak's father. Torak swims to safety, and he, Renn, and Wolf, now armed with the information to save the Clans, return to the Forest. |
Probuditi! | Chris Van Allsburg | null | After seeing a show by magician Lomax the Magnificent, two friends, Calvin and Rodney, decide to use his hypnosis trick on Calvin's sister Trudy. The trick is achieved with a rotating spiral disc, and the spell is broken by saying "Probuditi!". It is Calvin's birthday and his mother asks him to watch his sister while she's away and when she returns she will make Calvin his favorite dinner, spaghetti. Calvin and Rodney are successful and Trudy soon believes she is a dog. Calvin and Rodney enjoy watching Trudy until they realize that Calvin's mom will come home soon, and they have forgotten the word to reverse the spell. They frantically try different methods to turn Trudy back to normal, but in the end it is Trudy who silently helps them to remember. |
Soul Eater | Michelle Paver | 2,006 | Wolf is kidnapped and Torak and Renn set out to find him. During their journey, Torak takes a spirit journey, in the form of a raven, and discovers that the Soul Eaters have captured Wolf. They follow Wolf's kidnappers to the Far North, where they encounter Inuktiluk, a member of the White Fox Clan. They go with him to the White Fox Clan's camp, where the clan's mage (shaman) tells them of a vision she has had, in which Torak is about to hit Wolf with an axe. They continue their search for Wolf. Torak secretly changes places with a boy who is serving as an acolyte to the Soul Eaters. Torak goes into the cave, where he has to help the Soul Eaters in order to maintain his disguise. Renn goes into the cave and hides. While in the cave, Torak kills an owl, then takes a spirit journey into a bear and finds out where Wolf is. Torak and Renn find Wolf, who is distracted by an injury to his tail and doesn't recognise them. They have to use Renn's axe to cut off Wolf's tail, fulfilling the mage prophecy. They free all the animals which the Soul Eaters have been holding captive, but the Soul Eaters release demons. Renn takes the Fire Opal, a religious artifact belonging to the Soul Eaters, and as they flee, Torak and Renn become separated when Renn floats away on a piece of river ice. Meanwhile, Torak becomes snow blind and is captured by the Soul Eaters. Renn eventually makes it to the riverbank, and discovers that the Fire Opal can be destroyed by being buried under stone while a life is sacrificed. She intends to kill herself to get rid of the Fire Opal, but before she can do so, Torak and the Soul Eaters arrive. Torak takes the form of a spirit bear and attacks the Soul Eaters. Renn is about to jump but at the last minute, the Bat Mage sacrifices herself to atone for the fact that Torak's father once saved her life. Torak, Renn and Wolf are rescued by Fin-Kedinn and Inuktiluk. They return to the forest together. |
One Day | David Nicholls | 2,009 | Dexter and Emma spend the night together following their graduation from Edinburgh University in 1988. They talk about how they will be once they are 40. While they do not become romantically involved completely, this is the beginning of their friendship. The novel visits their lives and their relationship on July 15 in successive years in each chapter for 20 years. Emma wants to improve the world and begins writing and performing plays, which remain unsuccessful, while Dexter travels through the world, drinking and hooking up with women. Eventually both move to London where Emma becomes a waitress in Kentish Town at a Tex-Mex restaurant, while Dexter becomes a successful television presenter. While there are various attempts from both sides to start a relationship, coincidences stop Emma and Dexter from getting together and while they have relationships with other people, they stay best friends, both secretly longing for the other. They are drawn together closer through a holiday together and the death of Dexter's mother. Emma breaks up with her boyfriend, Ian, after realising she is creating a life with someone she doesn't love. During this time Emma is able to find a job as a teacher, after various years of struggle, despite a "double-first degree". Dexter meanwhile develops a drinking and drug problem and watches his career collapse. The friendship between Emma and Dexter grows more and more difficult, after Emma is constantly hurt by Dexter who attempts to hide his feelings for her from both her and himself. After being treated rudely by Dexter at a restaurant, Emma breaks up the friendship. At the wedding of Emma's former roommate, Emma and Dexter meet again. Emma admits that she wants Dexter back. At this point of time she has just ended an affair with her headmaster, Dexter has fallen in love with another woman, Sylvie, who is pregnant. At this reunion, Dexter invites Emma, who is disappointed by the situation, to his wedding. Emma tries to overcome her problems and begins to write, while Dexter is unemployed and overwhelmed by his role as a father. After realizing this, he and Emma for the first time have sex. They do not get together and Emma leaves to go to Paris in the hope of writing a successful novel. When Dexter visits her in Paris, he learns that she met someone and likes him and for the first time admits his feelings to her. After talking about their relationship, Emma chooses Dexter. Emma and Dexter get married and are happy together, however Emma wants a child. The couple finds themselves frustrated by the failing attempts to have a child. Dexter however is able to open a deli-cafe and finds himself suddenly successful again. Emma gets her book published and becomes a successful children's author. On the anniversary of the day they met after graduation and the day they got together, Emma and Dexter have an appointment to see a house. While travelling there, Emma has a bike accident and dies. After her death, Dexter finds himself in despair. He starts to drink again and provokes people in bars in order to get beaten. He is comforted through his ex-wife Sylvie, his father and his daughter. The upcoming year he travels together with his daughter to Edinburgh where he and Emma met and they climb the same mountain together that Emma and Dexter climbed 19 years ago. The book ends with a memory of what happened after that first night together in 1988 and Emma's and Dexter's first kiss and promise to stay in touch and their goodbye. |
The Man Who Could Be Santa | null | null | The story is told from the point of view of six and ¾ year old Abby who insists she will believe in Santa Claus even when she is in “the hundredth grade.” She and her cousins form a “spy club” to find out if the man who lives down the street with the long white beard, a "belly that shakes like jelly" and a bunch of reindeer in his front yard is the same person who slides down their chimneys every Christmas. The three young detectives find other clues: a Christmas tree farm down the road, a ham radio that receives messages from the North Pole and remote control model air planes which deliver toys to children all over the world. |
Burning Chrome | William Gibson | 1,982 | "Burning Chrome" tells the story of two hackers who hack systems for profit. The two main characters are Bobby Quine who specializes in software and Automatic Jack whose field is hardware. A third character in the story is Rikki, a girl with whom Bobby becomes infatuated and for whom he wants to become wealthy. Automatic Jack acquires a piece of Russian hacking software that is very sophisticated and hard to trace. The rest of the story unfolds with Bobby deciding to break into the system of a notorious and vicious criminal called Chrome, who handles money transfers for organized crime, and Automatic Jack reluctantly agreeing to help. The break-in is ultimately successful, but Rikki decides to leave the group and go to Hollywood, to the grief of Quine and Jack who have grown to love her. |
Flight of the Intruder | Stephen Coonts | null | Flight of the Intruder begins with a night attack mission flown by Jake Grafton and his navigator Morgan “Morg” McPherson from the USN aircraft carrier, USS Shiloh, striking a target in North Vietnam. Although there are many militarily valuable targets in North Vietnam, Grafton and other aviators are instead routinely ordered to hit worthless targets—typically “suspected truck parks”. The pilots are barred from hitting the more valuable targets because of restrictive “rules of engagement” imposed on American forces. Despite the minimal damage even a successful strike will inflict on the enemy (whom the aviators derisively refer to as “Gomers”), North Vietnamese airspace is heavily defended, making the missions extremely dangerous for the aviators. Grafton and Morg elude most of the defenses, but a stray shot fired by a lone farmer on the ground fatally wounds Morg. Traumatized by the loss of his good friend, Grafton begins to question whether his efforts have been worth it. He is eventually paired up with Virgil 'Tiger' Cole as his new navigator. Cole, an aggressive veteran with experience over the most heavily defended areas of North Vietnam, becomes aware of Grafton’s frustrations, and the two begin to plan an unauthorized mission against a Communist Party center in Hanoi, which will be a serious violation of the restrictive rules of engagement. With the help of one of the Shiloh’s intelligence officers, Cole and Grafton locate and plan the mission. Flying the mission nearly proves fatal due to problems with the A-6’s weapons system. Once completed, they don't even know if they successfully hit anything. Grafton’s superiors soon learn of the unauthorized strike—there is no way to hide the fact that Grafton’s plane was shot at by Surface to Air Missiles, yet no SAM sites were positioned near the target they were supposed to hit. Both Grafton and Cole are prosecuted by the Navy, with a conviction being certain. The charges are dropped however, as the Richard Nixon administration is about to authorize a massive new air war campaign against Hanoi, “Linebacker II”. The Navy decides that they can’t prosecute pilots for flying a mission against Hanoi when the President is about to order an escalation along the same lines. The remainder of the novel follows Grafton’s exploits in what became known as The Christmas Bombings. He also romances Callie, his future wife. He is shot down during the offensive, and is forced to confront the horror of war on the ground, and the story closes with Grafton being rescued. |
Robby Fights the World | null | null | As the battlefield on which so many adolescent wars are waged, high school can be hell. No one knows this better than Robby Meyers, who is forced to move to south Florida in the middle of his freshman year after his father’s dies in a motorcycle accident. His older brothers Pete and Gus have no trouble making new friends and carving out spots for themselves on various athletic teams. Robby, on the other hand, is small for his age and better known for picking fights than for finishing them. Not surprisingly, he quickly gets himself into trouble at his new school with teachers, bullies, and of course girls. But then Robby meets Danny Ramerez, and things begin to look up. Danny’s tough but fair, cool but loyal, and their friendship definitely improves Robby’s social status. He even garners the attention of several girls, including a bright, thoughtful young student named Lacy. But as time passes and the two boys become closer friends, Robby suspects that all is not as it seems with Danny. His parents, Danny tells him, are “not in the picture,” leaving him in the custody of his sinister uncle. When Danny hatches a plan to get out from under his uncle’s thumb, Robby must choose whether to risk his own neck to help him or to remain uninvolved. Robby Fights the World is a gripping coming-of-age novel about a boy who learns first-hand just how hard it can be to distinguish between right and wrong. As Robby struggles with friendship, honor, loss, and love, he is called on to make the hardest choice of his young life, the consequences of which will no doubt change him forever. Joel Christie’s young-adult novel offers a realistic (and surprisingly humorous) glimpse into the complex, gritty world of modern teens. |
Shimmer | null | null | Barnes has written the novel Shimmer (Unbridled Books, July 2009, ISBN 1-932961-67-4). A book about CEO Robbie Case, whose high tech company is built on a lie, Shimmer follows Robbie as he attempts to unwind the lie he has created. The fictional company, Core Communications, is a provider of high end networking services to mainframe computers. Along with his partner and cousin, Robbie has created an elaborate system that supposedly allows mainframe computers to communicate at impossibly fast speeds. However, the system does not work. It is actually built on a technical and financial Ponzi scheme that will fail if the company ever stops expanding. |
Shark Girl | null | null | Jane Arrowood, an aspiring high school artist, goes swimming at her local beach on June 21st. While in the water, she is attacked by a shark. Injuries due to this attack lead to doctors having to amputate her right arm. When she wakes from her coma, Jane sees her dreams of becoming a professional artist crushed. She spends nearly a month in the hospital, undergoing therapy, where she meets a young boy, Justin, who has had his leg amputated. The two become friends and Justin urges Jane to draw him a picture, though she declines. While she was attacked by the shark, a man took a video of her in the water. This video he then sold to the news, which gained her wide-spread attention. Flowers, cards, and "Pity Bears" arrive every day while she remains in the hospital. Her older brother, Michael, was credited with saving her life. He tied off her arm after he rescued her from the water. Finally, she gets out of the hospital. She returns home, struggling with the fact that she is to never use her right arm again. Jane also loved to cook, something she thinks she no longer can do. She also keeps on trying to draw, but never manages to have her left arm get the circles correct. The story goes on tell of her difficulties about fitting in, but by the end of the book, she accepts who she is. Also, around the end of the book, she finally manages to draw a face that "looks back" at her. These combined allow her to finally overcome her grief. |
City of Light | Lauren Belfer | 1,999 | The story is set in the city of Buffalo, New York in 1901, as the Pan-American Exposition's planning and construction is under way. The main character and narrator, Louisa Barrett, is headmistress of the Macaulay School for Girls, inspired by The Buffalo Seminary and is a very influential woman in a time of male predominance. The first major event in the book is the death of Karl Speyer, an engineering hero that designed the generators for the hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls. This causes a chain of events that leads Louisa to become involved in the struggle of the city's hierarchy for control of Niagara. It was revealed in the novel that Louisa Barrett was sexually abused by the former president Grover Cleveland. She couldn't speak up because she feared the same fate as Maria Halpin—who had been sent to an asylum. Thomas Sinclair realizes that Grace looks a lot like Louisa Barrett - Grace's godmother and real mother. Louisa's enthusiasm for Grace reinforces this idea - she loves Grace because she is her real mom. Bates as a radical - always cites God, Nature. He seems to think that electricity is only for the rich and prefers primitive gas lamps etc. Has dramatic flair. In the name of God, misapplication of cause. Susanah Riley cried after the Speech, she is a big fan of Bates. Ms Mary Talbert (mother of Millicent) - a black woman seems to be protesting against the Pan-Am Exposition, because they portray the old plantation as a happy place where black laborers worked to raise family. However, conditions in plantations were inhumane and black were subject to physical and verbal abuse, and many more undesirable actions (treated like animals etc.) Beloved by Toni Morison. Louisa dreams of starting a life with Franklin Fisk for a brief moment, but later on Grace reveals to her suspicion about her father wanting to court her - tom courting Louisa. Louisa is shocked but would love the possibility. Franklin Fiske is an undercover writer for the World News - his alibi is that he is a photographer (capturing the scenic sites of Niagara). He believes Speyer's death was an act of murder and wants to investigate the issue more. He asks Louisa whether she knows anything that might potentially help him determine the murderer. After the death of the second plant manager FMr. Fitshugh, Peter Fronzyk, brother of Maddie Fronzcyk replaces him. Tom asks Louisa whether she wants to get married - seems like the logical choice - to ask someone he already knew. She quickly shows signs of interest but keeps calm - is gradually being more comforted by the idea of marriage. She could finally interact with Grace in ways she could have not, such as hugging her etc., more affectionate forms of love. Another death - the chief manager (something like that of the Niagara plant) - Louisa has her suspicions that the 2 deaths - Karl's and this guys (Fitzhugh) were no accident, but instead a series of murders. She wants to find out the syndicates. Tom and Louisa develop a deeper relationship, kiss, Luisa lies down on Tom's chest. Tom explains his use of Peter but Frederick Krakaeur - another Morgan man, overheard their conversation. Tom says his dream is to generate so much electricity so that he can give electricity out for free. Morgan and Tom - clash of goals. Tom found out Franklin Fiske's secret - that he was an undercover writer for the World magazine. Frustrated he confronted Louisa, since she was the only one he told. Apparently, Tom found out through other means. Tom invited Franklin to a grand lunch - He told me a complex tale about the bribery of water inspectors. He corroborated information I've found elsewhere, although he offered non-concrete proof. (398) Franklin then admits he loves Louisa and gives her an invitation for marriage. Louisa, while attracted to Franklin, realizes that her only path was towards Grace, with Tom. Louisa tries to seek out the help of Grover Cleveland, the father of her child by visiting his house. Grover Cleveland turns out to be so much different from what Louisa pictured him to be at the night at the Iroquois hotel. Louisa asks Cleveland about protecting Grace, through his connections with Francis Lyde Stenson - the chief attorney of Morgan - the one behind threats to Grace. Cleveland concludes that no man would place threats on an innocent girl and is helpless. Louisa returns home, where she sees Bates and Susanah get sent to jail (for bombing the power plant), receives a letter from Francesca requesting her to go to the hospital/ asylum. There she sees Susanah, who informs Louisa she lied about the male nude paintings and reveals to Louisa that she was the one who killed Karl Speyer and James Fithugh, the replacement engineer. She apparently seduced both of them and led them to their watery deaths in the Niagara Falls. She claims to have a full assistant who helped her commit the murders and threatens to reveal the assistant. (who was revealed to be Grace, she stole his father's papers because Susannah said that she would be a heroine) Dexter Rumsey revealed that he and a couple of other friends - Wilcox, Miss Love, knew Louisa's secret. Mr. Rumsey was the only one who knew for sure since he visited New York when Louisa was supposedly there. Krauker left the city under the influence of Rumsey. Tom was also influenced by Rumsey to leave to the west to work on the Arizona river - create a dam. Grace dies in Goat island because she was twirled and fell to hit her head on a rock. Louisa dreams of what would Grace would have been like, claiming that it lightens her spirit. Franklin Fiske still tries to court Louisa, but Louisa knows she won't get married. |
Duncan and Dolores | null | null | Dolores, a loud, boisterous little girl, acquires a pet cat named Duncan, and proceeds to dote on him. Duncan is terrified of her. Unfortunately, Dolores continues to treat him without much gentleness or respect. Duncan hides from her and also seems to prefer the company of Dolores' older sister Faye, which of course makes Dolores jealous. Dolores ignores Duncan for a while. Duncan misses her attentions and in the end acknowledges their friendship (only to be driven back under the furniture by Dolores' stentorian rejoicing). |
The Million Cities | null | null | Sometime in the future when the Earth has become over-industrialized, and the entire surface has been covered with steel, it is on the verge of running out of natural resources. Nearly all of the Earth's resources have been used up; a single park in the Earth's equatorial region remains. The world's governments have built as far up and down as is possible. Billions upon billions of people live on the Earth, and the only place left to go is outer space. There is a society called Chartists that have the plans for building spaceships, and the maps of the heavens are in their sole custody. Gearing up for an all out massive development suitable an exodus, the government suddenly reverses itself, and issues an order to arrest all the Chartists, disassemble their ships and launchpads, and destroy all copies of the plans. |
Grunts! | null | null | The story follows a group of orcs who always find themselves on the front lines of battle against the carefully prepared and always triumphant forces of good. The orcs decided to organize themselves and fight back. As a satire of high fantasy the novel mocks most of the conventions of the genre from using traditional villainous races, orcs, as the protagonists, to having the noble characters have much less than noble motivations and secrets. The opening of the book plays up the orc warleader sent to reclaim a weapons cache in preparation for the 'Last Battle' between good and evil, which is well on its way. They are assisted by a pair of halflings whose cute demeanor is contrasted with extremely violent acts. The orcs uncover a dragon's hoard of modern military weaponry, which is endowed with a geas that transforms their minds into replicas of the stereotypical United States Marine Corps mindset, during the Vietnam War. Gentle continues the storyline through the Last Battle and the orcs' integration into society, along with a military threat that rivals the orcs themselves. |
Night Whispers | Erin Hunter | 2,010 | As Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Dovepaw continue to seek answers to the mysterious prophecy that binds them, they learn that another cat may play an essential role in defeating the Dark Forest. |
Dracula the Un-dead | null | null | Twenty-five years have passed since Dracula met his end at the hands of Jonathan Harker and Quincey Morris. Though they were victorious in their quest, the band of heroes has now become a broken shadow of its former self; Jack Seward has become a morphine addict obsessed with stamping out the undead, Arthur Holmwood hides behind his loveless marriage and Jonathan Harker drowns his sorrows and insecurities in alcohol and prostitutes over Mina's remaining taint from Dracula, which has caused her to retain her youth. The novel begins with Seward tracking down Elizabeth Bathory, whom he believes is a vampire. After seeing her bathe in a young woman's blood, he tracks her to a theater in Paris. Quincey Harker, son to Jonathan and Mina, is in Paris having been forced to attend law school instead of pursuing a career in theater. Quincey learns that Basarab, a Romanian actor who is taking Europe by storm, is in town to perform in Richard III, and vows to see his performance no matter how it enrages his father, whom he has grown to despise. To his surprise, he is summoned by Basarb to his dressing room, where they strike up an unlikely friendship. However they are disturbed when Bathory's vampiric attendants attempt to attack Basarab, although they are thwarted by Seward. As Seward chases the vampires, he is struck and killed by a carriage in which Bathory and the vampires escape. Abraham Van Helsing, now a sickly old man, returns to London after hearing of Seward's death. He believes that Dracula has returned. Quincey, through Basarab's urgings, becomes involved with the Lyceum Theater where Bram Stoker is currently trying to put together a stage performance of his failed novel. Quincey is shocked to find his parents are characters in the novel, as are their former friends. Quincey fervently reads the novel and researches Dracula, whom he finds was a real-life Romanian prince nicknamed Vlad the Impaler. After the actor playing Dracula quits, he approaches Basarab about playing the role; Basarab grows angry with the portrayal of Dracula as a monster, and decides to accept the role if only to right what he sees as slander to a national hero. Soon after, Quincey learns in the newspaper that his father was murdered in Piccadilly after being impaled on a large wooden stake. While Quincey travels home, Mina is brought into the coroner's office to identify Jonathan's body. The detective, Cotford, insinuates that Van Helsing had orchestrated both Jonathan and Seward's death. Years ago, Cotford worked the Jack the Ripper case and had nearly caught him; his top suspect was Abraham Van Helsing because of the gross mutilations he performed on corpses that caused him to lose his medical license. Mina returns home to prepare for Jonathan's funeral and finds Quincey there and enraged; he had smashed open his father's off-limits safe and found inside the journals that he and his friends kept while on their quest to hunt down Dracula as well as his mother's affair with the Count. Consumed with grief over the misplaced anger toward his father and the betrayal that caused his father to become a drunkard, Quincey vows to hunt Dracula down and kill him himself. After leaving his mother behind, Quincey is accosted by Van Helsing, who threatens the boy to give up his thirst for vengeance or suffer for it. Late that same night, Bathory sneaks into Mina's room and rapes her, although Mina at first thought it was the spirit of Jonathan or Dracula. Mina also consumed some of Bathory's blood, giving her visions of her horrible past as an abused 15-year-old wife of a depraved despot, and shunned by her family because of her homosexual tendencies. Quincey pays a visit to Arthur Holmwood, who initially rebuff's Quincey's plea for help. Arthur changes his mind after a terrifying dream in which a skeletal Lucy attacks him. Unable to find Quincey, Arthur turns to Mina to help locate the boy before Dracula can get to him; Mina senses he has gone back to the Lyceum Theater in order to hopefully get Basarab to help him destroy the Count. During a dress rehearsal, Bathory confronts Basarab and the two duel in a back room of the theater. Bathory outmaneuvers Basarab and smashes an oil lantern at his feet, catching him and the theater on fire. Quincey arrives to find the theater in flames, and despite his best efforts he cannot find his friend and is forced to escape the theater. Outside Arthur and Mina, who feared Quincey dead, are overjoyed to see him alive although Arthur is suspicious to see that he is completely unharmed. Cotford, who received a message that the key to the Ripper murders would be at the theater, tries to arrest Arthur, Mina and Quincey but Arthur and Quincey manage to escape, while Mina is arrested for the murder of one of Bathory's vampires. After eluding the police, Quincey and Arthur break into Seward's place and find that he was in correspondence with Basarab, which puzzles Quincey. Arthur receives a message from Van Helsing, saying he has been attacked, and to meet him at a hotel where he is staying under Renfield's name. Luckily, Quincey and Arthur manage to get into the hotel because of Arthur's social status and are taken to Van Helsing's room. Van Helsing reveals that it was he who gave their story to Bram Stoker as a sort of guide to future generations who may encounter the undead, and asks that the two "join us". Van Helsing then drops a bombshell; Dracula's true name is Vladimir Basarab, the same man Quincey saw as a mentor. Arthur furiously shoves the old man away, and Van Helsing reveals himself as a newly turned vampire. During the struggle, Van Helsing manages to shoot Arthur, who collapses. Van Helsing gives Quincey one last chance to join their side, which he refuses. As Van Helsing is about to drink Quincey's blood, Arthur manages to shoot Van Helsing with a crossbow and in a rage over their former mentor allying himself with Dracula, tackles Van Helsing out a window, where they both fall to their deaths. As Cotford and a handful of officers take Mina back for questioning, they are overcome by an eerie red fog and one by one officers are picked off by Bathory, who is in the form of a gargoyle. Realizing that Van Helsing's earlier rants about the supernatural were real, Cotford attempts to save Mina by getting her on one of London's underground trains. He tries to fight the monster, stabbing it in the leg with a broken sword; Cotford is killed when the gargoyle's tail decapitates him. Mina manages to get on a train, where she is attacked by Bathory; just as Bathory is set to kill Mina Dracula appears. It is revealed that by marriage Dracula and Bathory are cousins but while both became vampires, Dracula still saw himself as a soldier of God, while Bathory spurned God and all those who worshiped him. The two fight, in which Dracula is overpowered and nearly killed; only Mina's quick thinking saves him by having Bathory yanked from the train via a loose cable. The sword in her leg makes contact with the tracks, causing Bathory to burst into flame. At Dracula's insistence, Mina takes him to Carfax Abbey to make a final stand against Bathory; during the trip, we learn that the real reason Dracula came to London 25 years ago was to hunt down Bathory, who was slaughtering women under the guise of Jack the Ripper, and though Dracula admits the heroes' acts were noble and chivalrous, they were hunting the wrong monster (The deaths on the Demeter — the ship that brought Dracula to England — were actually caused by a virus among the crew; Dracula was forced to feed on Lucy after his arrival in England simply because of starving after so long without blood). Quincey also makes for Carfax, hoping to kill Dracula before he gets to his mother. Dracula appeals to Mina to let him turn her into a vampire, so that even if Bathory kills him, Mina will be able to destroy her in her weakened state. Mina initially refuses, believing Dracula is the one who viciously murdered Jonathan and Seward; Dracula denies this, saying that he would never hurt them for a reason unspecified. However, her fear for Quincey's life forces her to give in, and Dracula finally turns Mina into a vampire; shockingly, to Dracula, consuming the tainted blood he put into Mina years ago heals him and renews his strength. Quincey arrives at Carfax, and is heartbroken to see his mother dead in a coffin. However, she awakens when blood from Quincey's wounds falls on her face, and she nearly attacks her son. Overcome with grief, Quincey spurs what his mother has become, and, despite her pleas, chases off after Dracula. Bathory and Dracula engage in a bloody duel, in which Bathory nearly kills Dracula with the same kukri blade that Jonathan used against him 25 years ago. However Dracula, the more skilled swordsman, outmaneuvers Bathory and impales her with his broken sword, stabbing her in the chest with the kukri blade. Bathory collapses and crumples to dust as Quincey confronts Dracula, who refuses to defend himself. Dracula's compassion is revealed with a thunderous revelation: that Quincey is truly Dracula's son and not Jonathan's, and though he loved him dearly, he would never harm Quincey or those who raised him. Mina confirms this fact, and suddenly the true reason behind the disintegration of his family and their friendships was laid bare. Refusing to become the monster that his father became, Quincey leaves both behind. Dracula takes solace that his son is safe and succumbs to his wounds, falling off a cliff and bursting into flames as the sun rises. Mina, forsaken by her son and cursed to live eternally, follows Dracula off of the cliff to be reunited with her two loves (Jonathan and Dracula). Some time later, Quincey manages to board an ocean liner by bribing one of the workers to let him on, hoping for a better life in America, and to be as far away from his family's past as possible. Unknown to him, boxes labeled as property of Vladimir Basarab are also loaded on board. The ocean liner is later revealed to be the RMS Titanic. |
Handy Manny's Motorcycle Adventure | null | null | Manny and the tools are heading off to their family reunion, when Abuelito, Pepe, Chico and Lola drop by to collect the movie projecter, so they can show old movies at the reunion. Manny's motorcycle is broken, he drops off at Kelly's to get the spare part and Pat finds his "cousin" on the front of the hardware catalogue. They set off, but then realise that the gas tank is low of gas. They spot a gas-station and spot the gas pump is broken. Manny fixes it and fills up. A big hardware truck comes and fills up. Pat spots it has his "cousin" on the front. He, Flicker and Squeeze travel into the delivery van and try to find his "cousin". They stay in there too long and are soon found travelling along the road! Manny comes out of the gas-station shop with snacks. They realise that three tools are missing. Pops, the gas-station owner says that the truck is heading for Big Town Hardware. Manny tries to get to the truck and takes the back way, which is the quickest. They reach a farm and some cows are on the road. Manny trys to overtake them but hit a rock and has blown tyre. To pass the time, Manny decides to round up the cows and put them in their field. He fixes the fence, so they can't get out any more. A farmer comes along and Manny tells him about the blown tyre. The farmer introduces his family of animals and fixes the tyre. Manny thanks the farmer and drives off. Meanwhile, in the delivery truck Pat and the other look to see if Manny is coming. They are not. They are travelling along, when a bridge that has been destroyed stops them. They try to jump over the lagoon. Manny and the tools cross the lagoon safely. They are on the road again and spot Big Town Hardware, where Pat and the others are Manny thinks they are the truck, but they are not. Pat and the others are searching for Pat's "cousin" inside. They spot a cardboard drawing of him, but don't see him for real. They wait in the truck, but Manny and the tools are inside the building. When Pat, Flicker and Squeeze are in the truck, it drives off. Manny comes out of the building, just in time and spots Pat and the others. He chases the truck on his motorcycle. A van is in front and will not let Manny pass. A few minutes later, the van turns out into another road and Manny can go faster. They see the truck and take a shortcut to get there. Manny is behind the delivery truck and Pat and the others see them. Manny tries to overtake the truck, but a car passes. Stretch leaps on the windscreen of the truck and gets the driver to stop. The driver stops and Manny gets the tools out of the delivery van. He thanks the driver to stop and heads off to his family reunion. He meets Uncle Tito, Grandma Pedro, Aunt Sonia, Aunt Lupe and Uncle Igre. The episode ends with the family singing Family Reunion. |
Spin the Glass Web | null | null | An eminently successful screenwriter finds himself mixed up in a murder. The police want him. Can he prove his innocence? |
The Duplicated Man | null | null | At war with Venus for decades, the Earth's military authority stood its ground. Missiles kept raining down on Earth with unpredictable regularity. Nobody knew where the next missile would hit. But conventional wisdom dictated that every attack be met with a counter-attack. However, a pacifist peace party sought to have a truce declared with Venus. Paul Danton, a member of a subversive political party, who believed in peace so be his answer to make peace was considered. It was a peculiar stroke of luck that he found a human duplication machine. It was an old machine, and it didn't work reliably after the first five copies were made. But if he could just duplicate the right world leaders, essentially make extra copies of them, maybe he would have a chance bringing peace to Earth and Venus. |
The Miernik Dossier | Charles McCarry | 1,973 | The novel chiefly concerns several expatriates living in Geneva in 1959: American agent Paul Christopher, British agent Nigel Collins, Sudanese prince Kalash el Khatar, Hungarian concentration camp survivor Ilona Bentley, Polish UN official Tadeusz Miernik, as well as Miernik's sister Zofia, a Warsaw University student. When Miernik is reluctant to return to his native Poland despite orders to do so, Christopher suspects that Miernik may actually be a Communist spy working for the Soviets. Christopher is instructed to determine whether this is the case while he, Miernik, Collins, el Khatar, Bentley, and Zofia journey to Sudan to deliver a gift to el Khatar's powerful father, trying to avoid crossing paths with a rising Sudanese terrorist organization known as the Anointed Liberation Front (ALF) along the way. |
La Vendetta | Honoré de Balzac | 1,830 | La Vendetta is a short work relating the tragic fate of Ginevra Piombo, the daughter of proud Corsican immigrants, who has the misfortune of falling in love with another Corsican Luigi Porta. When it becomes known that Luigi is the sole survivor of a massacre in which the rest of his family were the victims of a bloody vendetta with Ginevra's family, Ginevra's father Bartolomeo is determined to complete the act of vengeance by having him killed. But Ginevra refuses to yield to her father's demands and she and Luigi are married. Over the following years the pair eke out a miserable existence, dogged by hunger and poverty, while Ginevra's wealthy father refuses to lift a hand to support her: it is as much as he can do to refrain from murdering Luigi. Ginevra gives birth to a child, but she and the child die on the very day that Monsieur Piombo finally relents and decides to assist the impoverished couple. Before he can act, however, Luigi visits him and gives him the tresses of his deceased daughter. "Dead! Our two families were doomed to exterminate each other. Here is all that remains of her," he says, laying Ginevra's long black hair upon the table. Ginevra's parents are shaken, as though a stroke of lightning has blasted them. Luigi departs. "He has spared me a shot, for he is dead," says Bartolomeo, slowly, gazing on the ground at his feet. |
The Tears of Autumn | Charles McCarry | 1,974 | In November 1963, American intelligence officer Paul Christopher investigates the assassination of US President John F Kennedy. Believing that the Kennedy White House was behind the assassination of Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, Christopher deduces that Vietnamese leaders had Kennedy assassinated as revenge. When one of Kennedy's former advisers threatens Christopher not to discuss the matter with anyone else, Christopher quits the Agency and heads to Vietnam to find the truth. |
Transit | null | null | The protagonist Richard Avery reaches down to touch an object, and is whisked 79 light years away from Earth where he finds himself and three other people in a battle-to-the-death situation against alien humanoids, the "Golden Ones", who have been deposited in the same place, and are equally confused why they are there. When the protagonist finally reaches the "Golden Ones", they are of the opinion that it is merely a game, with the killing of human beings the prime objective. In fact, the combat had been set up by transcendental elder aliens. Their objective was to pick the future rulers of the sector, by means of a small contest, sparing both races an inevitable long and bloody large scale war. Albeit the "Golden" seem stronger and swifter, the humans eventually prevail because they are able to show compassion. |
The Unselfish Gene | Robert Douglas Burns | 2,008 | At the novel's beginning, Kristen Norman copes with an attack of clinical depression as she and a team of moon colonists await the start of a mission to return to plague-stricken Earth. The team's mission: to save the human race. All but a handful of Earth-bound humans have been killed or turned into zombie-like invalids by a mutated forms of bird flu known as Low-Path and High-Path. Isolated by politics and limited resources, the moon colony was spared infection, but the colonists have their own health problems. High levels of radiation have damaged the DNA of the limited gene pool. The same radiation has damaged Kristen's and others' minds as well, resulting in high instances of mental illness. The moon colony desperately needs resources to survive. The Earth, with nearly all the population dead or dying, is a large warehouse waiting to be raided. The moon needs genetic engineering equipment, pharmaceuticals, scientific equipment, seed stock, and, most of all, new human genetic material. They have been promised the later by a mysterious contact on Earth, one of the few surviving Earthbound humans, code-named "Deep Throat." Deep Throat, claims to have a large sperm and ova bank that she is willing to donate to the cause, but remains secretive as to his or her identity and extent of resource. The multiple levels of the name Deep Throat are not lost on the moon men and women. To get to the Earth and back, moon engineers have bankrupted the moon's resources to build a spaceship design resurrected from the 1950s , The Anita, an atomic-powered brute of a space ship. But the moon men have been too long in building the Anita. A rogue comet, named Kali, was recently discovered to be on a collision course with Earth. The planet-killing impact is less than two weeks away. The Anita's technology is unproven in a planetary atmosphere, and the ship was hastily completed in order to beat Kali to the punch. While Kristen copes with depression the old-fashioned way — with pharmaceuticals — her teammates Jimmy Olson, Jorge Blanca and Gayle Ring are also dealing with introspective mental states as they await the final stage of the Anita's approach to the Earth. All four are in currently in The Ark, a small tug-boat tender to the Anita, when the unthinkable happens. An explosion of mysterious origin depressurizes the Anita, killing nearly everyone aboard. With no time to re-staff the Anita, Jimmy, Kristen, Jorge and Gayle must conduct an abbreviated, hurried mission to Earth. The goal is to at least rescue the frozen sperm and ova and key genetic engineering and therapy equipment before Kali strikes. A rescue mission by Jimmy and Jorge finds only five aboard the Anita who survived the depressurization: Crystal Karen, Tisha Smith, Bobby Randel, Daniel Kaplan, and Abraham Badr. The Anita lands successfully, but as the mission on the surface proceeds it becomes obvious that explosion and the death of the crew was sabotage. Shortly before the Anita lands, Hannah Alman, seventeen years old and a survivor of the Low-Path plague, is taking refuge in the Dallas Zoo. Hannah is rebelling, out on her own, truant from a small commune of survivors living near Fair Park in the southern part of the city. She is not aware that her commune is about to be destroyed by the Anita's landing. |
The Secret Lovers | Charles McCarry | 1,977 | Shortly after delivering an important manuscript to American agent Paul Christopher, a European agent is killed mysteriously by a hit-and-run driver. The novel seesaws back and forth between Christopher's investigation of the agent's death and Christopher's relationship with his unfaithful wife, Cathy. The story takes place in 1960, after The Miernik Dossier but before The Tears of Autumn. |
The Dark Goddess | Marvin Albert | 1,978 | Archaeologist Moira Rhalles is kidnapped by the KGB while she is on a dig in France. Her historian husband and her ex-boyfriend team up to try to rescue her. The title refers to the dark earth-mother goddess, of which a paleolithic statuette was made. |
The Last Supper | Charles McCarry | null | The Last Supper fills a great deal of back story to the Paul Christopher saga. The first part of the novel details Christopher's parents' courtship and marriage in pre-WWII Germany, Christopher's childhood, and the mystery surrounding his mother's disappearance. The second part of the novel picks up right after The Tears of Autumn, with Christopher being imprisoned in China for espionage. |
Stargonauts | David S. Garnett | null | The novel takes place sometime in the future, when the Earth is dominated by several wealthy and lucrative businesspeople. William Ewart - owner of Ewart Communications - is one of these, and is completely obsessed with maintaining his position as the wealthiest man on Earth. After a hostile takeover by another rival leaves him powerless, Ewart leaves Earth along with his henchman Grawl to marry his fourth wife, a princess of Algol. Along with a dysfunctional group of mercenaries and missionaries, the group proceeds to the pleasure-planet Hideaway, where Ewart hopes to make a quick comeback after his humiliating downfall on Earth. |
Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex | Eoin Colfer | 2,010 | On Vatnajökull, a glacier in Iceland, Artemis unveils the Ice Cube, his invention to stop global warming (by shooting reflective nano wafers into the clouds, and having them rain down with the snow, and when they land, they reflect the suns light and insulate the icebergs), to Captain Holly Short, Foaly, and Wing Commander Vinyáya. During the presentation, Artemis counts his words, and Holly and Foaly conclude that he has Atlantis Complex, a psychological fairy disease with symptoms including OCD, paranoia, and split personality disorder. In the middle of the meeting, Artemis' scans pick up a UFO. Foaly confirms the scans, and Artemis suddenly mentally snaps, accusing Foaly of trying to steal his invention. Holly then tries mesmerising him, but they are attacked by a mysterious spacecraft that Foaly designed to search for life on Mars. The craft crash lands, hits a shuttle, and instantly kills Commander Vinyáya and all LEP backup, leaving Holly, Foaly and Artemis stranded on the glacier without communications, weapons, or Butler. Meanwhile, Artemis's bodyguard Butler is in Mexico. A paranoid Artemis tricked him into travelling to Cancun by telling him his sister Juliet, now a famous wrestler nicknamed "Jade Princess", was in danger. Coincidentally, Juliet and Butler barely escape a horde of zombie-like wrestling fans remotely mesmerised by Turnball Root, former commander Julius Root's reprobate brother. Despite losing his magic through committing crimes, Turnball restores his magic by eating a combination of mandrakes and rice wine. He escapes with several accomplices and reaches Leonor, his human wife. He kidnaps N°1 to reverse the ageing on his wife, but Orion, Artemis' alter ego who is not affected by the mind control, saves N°1 and Holly. When Leonor hears that Turnball has rigged a shuttle to explode Leonor decides that she does not want to be young again and that she wishes only to fly for one last time. Turnball can't bear the thought of life without her. She and Turnball ride deep into the ocean in the shuttle that then promptly explodes. In the epilogue, Artemis is his obsessive, compulsive self again and on a transport shuttle to the Argon clinic for therapy. Juliet is engaged in a wrestling match with a jumbo pixie guard, much to the entertainment of Mulch and the shuttle crew. Artemis and Foaly are teasing Holly about her recent date with Trouble Kelp. Butler calls Angeline Fowl, telling her that Artemis has a fairy disease similar to OCD. Angeline wants to visit him and is very worried and upset. |
Dhampire: Stillborn | null | null | All his life, young Nicholas Gaunt has been tormented by visions of blood and evil, driving him to sadistic and suicidal acts. But when he learns that these violent thoughts stem from an unnatural mingling of human and undead blood before his birth, he must confront his true nature as a half-vampire, or Dhampire. |
The Man in the Picture: A Ghost Story | Susan Hill | 2,007 | A oil-painting of masked revellers at a Venetian carnival hangs in the room of Oliver's old professor in Cambridge, its story is revealed to Oliver one cold winter's night by the ageing don. The picture having the power to entrap and destroy those who cross its path. |
The Infinite Man | Daniel F. Galouye | 1,973 | A research project, Project Genesis, searches for evidences confirming the Steady State Theory of continuous creation in the area within and surrounding an unnamed American Midwestern city, according to which, 125,000 "neoneutrons" (particles which decay into protons and neutrons) should be called into existence in an Earth-sized volume in a twenty-four-hour period. The monitored area is an equilateral triangle with thickness of and an area of which should, by a proportional estimate, register twenty-one neoneutronic creation signatures in that same period. Suddenly, not merely twenty-one, but millions of neoneutrons are called into existence in this monitoring area, fusing some of the sensor equipment. After replacing and refusing of the sensor elements, the locus of the phenomenon is traced to a rail-yard on the edge of the zone, and further, apparently emanating from a young drug-user and hobo, Milton Bradford. Five years later, Milton Bradford (or, "Brad" to his inner circle) has gone from drug-using poverty to the pinnacle of corporate power as the Chairman of Progress and Development Enterprises (P&D), a real-estate and industrial conglomerate who functioned as an important partner during the days of the Genesis Project. P&D was formerly headed by Gerstal B. Hedgemore, who had committed suicide in apparent shame when Bradford was confirmed as his illegitimate heir, consequently leaving him his worldly and corporate fortunes in his will. For the first two years of this time Bradford, now flush with wealth and time to spend it, lives the dream - even so far as to create a self-satirical rock group, Hocker's Mock Rockers, which is a wild success, providing even more income for P&D Enterprises. Five years in, however, Bradford is attempting to grow into his new role as powerful Chairman of a wealthy and powerful company. The reality is that P&D Enterprises, while a real company, is solely devoted to providing a safe and contented existence for Bradford. For, earlier on, psychological probing has revealed to Project Genesis' staff that the phenomenon that led them to Bradford is in fact the Creative Force that brought the Universe into being in the first place, and (while not immediately clear to the Project staff) the Creative Force has sought Bradford as a hiding place from a Universe that has become tiresomely overwhelmingly complex and the Destructive Force whom the Creative Force had originally brought into being a self-made opponent to stave off ennui. The Creative Force now seeks shelter amongst its favored beings. Hedgemore did not commit suicide, but willingly abdicated his top position and lives in cloistered seclusion within the P&D buildings, never meeting Bradford. In making a soft life for Bradford, the staff of P&D Enterprises hopes to keep the Creative Force somnolent, assuming that if the Force woke and was forced out of hiding physical laws would change to the point that the Universe might be annihilated. For those five years they were largely successful, however over this time Bradford has begun to put scattered parts together ... while P&D's work was very through, it was not complete, and at least clue that Hedgemore had been sterile for years before Bradford's birth eventually surfaces. Additionally, a cult worshipping Bradford has formed. Mixing elements of 1960s-style hippie movement, Buddhism, and rock and roll, it holds Bradford as the Messiah, the "Inverse Vessel" - instead of the Universe containing him, he contains the Universe. The sect, calling itself the Church of Topological Transformation, and led by a former member of a committee charged with oversight of Project Genesis, apply this reversal to everything they do, from dressing backwards as well as inside-out to reversing their names - the leader of the sect, Montague, is styled Eugatnom Tehporp - "Prophet Montague", reversed. Between the adoration of the cult, which its leader has increasing trouble restraining, and the staff of P&D, psychologically exhausted from years of maintaining the P&D fiction against the utter destruction of the Universe, the cracks in the cover story develop and widen, and the Creative Force arouses and begins to try to simplify the Universe in order to make it more manageable - though not uninhabitable for its chosen residents; from the original confirmatory nova of Proxima Centauri and destruction of Pluto, it deletes all quasars observable in the Universe; rationalizes pi at the 323rd decimal; halves the speed of light; and changes probability so that outcomes bracketing the mean become more likely than the mean itself. These revisions to physical reality typically happen after dreams; the quasars are seen in Bradford's dreams as "glowflies", as an example; and the halving of the speed of light is expressed as "half a sea". While these cause some upheaval in everyday life humanity still survives on Earth - until the final battle comes between the Creative Force, inhabiting Bradford, and the Destructive Force - who had, during all this time, been inhabiting and guiding Bradford's psychiatrist, Dr. Power, seeking to draw him out, and becoming his corporeal adversary in the end. |
Kay the Left-Handed | Leslie Barringer | 1,935 | The book is set in the area of York, England in the twelfth century, beginning with the 1189 massacre of the Jews in York, in which the protagonist, Kay FitzRomund, is a reluctant participant. Kay is an orphan seeking to better his lot, whose rise is aided by a glib facility with words and a prudent distrust of his fellow men and hampered by a soft heart and his own temper. Apprenticed to a scrivener, he loses his position through a tavern brawl; later, he fortuitously acquires a knowledge of buried treasure, whose location he trades to Prince John in return for preferment. He loses both his new status and his right hand when he kills Bertrand de Montfort, a personal enemy. Consigned to outlawry, he eventually succeeds in reestablishing his respectability under a new identity. |
Sleepwalking Land | Mia Couto | null | Set in a war-torn Mozambique during the end of the civil war when the tension between rival political parties was at its highest point, Tuahir, an older man, and Muidinga, a boy recovering from illness, met at the refugee camp and fled. Together, they travel down a road that had been abandoned and encounter many signs of the war including a burnt bus and many corpses along the side of the road. Next to one of these bodies they find a set of notebooks written by a person named Kindzu. Muidinga and Tuahir take the notebooks with them into the scorched remnants of the bus that they use as a shelter. The narration alternates the conversations between Tuahir and Muidinga with the entries of the notebooks being read aloud by the latter. Kindzu manages to narrate the birth of an independent Mozambique and the struggle to keep stability right before the civil war. He also gives us a glimpse of the importance of family relationships and finding an identity, both personal and national. |
The Ghost Belonged to Me | Richard Peck | 1,975 | 1913. Alexander Armsworth is a normal boy until he sees a ghost of a girl in his barn, warning him of an impending disaster. This leads to him to become a local hero, but when he explains that a ghost warned him. It unburies the story on how she came to rest on their property, far from her home in New Orleans, Louisiana. He takes it upon himself to take her body home to New Orleans. |
The Gangster of Love | null | null | "Jimi Hendrix died the year that ship that brought us from Manila docked in San Francisco..." So begins The Gangster of Love, with the arrival of Rocky Rivera, her brother Voltaire and their mother Milagros at San Francisco. Barely just teenagers upon their arrival, the years pass as Rocky and Voltaire begin growing up, finishing school and discovering San Francisco of the 1970s while their mother brings money into the house through several ways from flirtations with several different men, including Zeke, their landlord to the beginning of her catering business, Lumpia X-Press. Rocky has grown into a quiet young woman more comfortable with listening to music and writing in her journals (of which she has several, kept under her mattress) than socializing. One night, Voltaire brings home Elvis Chang, a Chinese-American guitarist, with whom Rocky falls in love and moves in with one week later. Wondering around San Francisco, Rocky meets Keiko Van Heller, an artist who becomes Rocky's friend for life. Soon, Rocky, Elvis and Keiko decide to move to New York City. The journey begins with a side trip to Los Angeles however, where they encounter Sly and Marlon, Rocky's uncle. Eventually, they make it to New York City where the band grows and through the years they gain more experience in matters of fame, sex, drugs, and life in general, while Rocky's family on the West Coast remains a constant presence over the phone. Rocky's failed pregnancy (she miscarries) acts as the beginning of the end for Rocky and Elvis, a situation exacerbated when Keiko sleeps Elvis. Rocky then moves on to Jake, a Cuban-American sound engineer with whom she has a baby: Venus Rivera Montano. At this time on the West Coast, Voltaire has returned to the Philippines after several stints in the hospital while Milagros, her sister and her brother-in-law have decided to pay New York City a visit, in time for Imelda Marcos's hearing. Soon after however, Milagros's health begins deteriorating and Rocky spends months commuting between her family in New York and at her mother's bedside in San Francisco. When her mother dies, Rocky decides to take a trip to the motherland where she is reunited with her family, including her brother, her sister and her dying father. The plot is cyclical: the story begins with Rocky and her family leaving Manila and arriving in San Francisco, the narration interspersed with various memories of her life in the Philippines. Upon moving to New York City, Rocky reminisces about her life in San Francisco throughout her daily life. Her recollections increase until she returns to San Francisco to take care of her mother. Her decision to go back to the Philippines is made once in San Francisco, a rather natural choice considering her mother's recent death and the fact that her long-suffering father was finally dying. The Gangster of Love refers to the name of the band formed by several characters in the novel, including Rocky. The name was inspired by a dream Rocky had after taking acid: "A choir of fat, menacing angels wearing yellow satin robes sang this song by Johnny Guitar Watson called "Gangster of Love."" While written in English, Hagedorn includes some Tagalog (Filipino words), particularly in the dialogue and goes so far as to use the Filipino as a distinctive characteristic that sets the more Filipino characters apart from the Filipino-Americans. Though Rocky acts as the first-person narrator for most of the novel, Hagedorn, writes certain portions omniscient narration, once in a while giving the points of view of other characters without the use of first person narration. There are moments in which she even uses the mention of a certain character to introduce said-character's own narration, for instance, when Rocky and Elvis visit her uncle in Los Angeles: “Marlon studied Elvis Chang – his niece's lover, boyfriend, whatever. Tall and maybe a little too skinny, but pretty enough with that gold hoop in his ear. Elvis Chang, Marlon thought to himself, amused. Elvis Chang in the home of Marlon Rivera. Fucking ridiculous.” Ever the avant-garde, Hagedorn explores the use of poetry, music and playwriting throughout the novel. Once in a while, she makes use of poetry to depict the life, the surroundings of her characters, for example, a description of a ride on the B Train and playwriting; there are two dream-like scenes featuring Rocky, Elvis and Jimi Hendrix. |
The Ghost-Seer | Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller | null | The work is narrated in the first person by the 'Graf von O**' (Count of O**). It describes the story of a German prince visiting Venice at carnival time. Very stressed at the start of the work, ---> <!-- ===The State Inquisitio he exorcis he story of the magicia he Bucentaur secre hilosophical conversatio he beautiful woma he conversion to Catholicism=== |
Fixer Chao | null | null | William Paulinha is a gay, Filipino hustler living in New York City. One night, he meets Shem C, a failed Jewish writer, in a bar. They become fast friends and Shem tells William his life story. Once upon a time, Shem had been married to the daughter of an acclaimed Jewish novelist. However, Shem’s wife Marianna realized he was cheating on her and left him. Furious with his present situation, Shem wants to take revenge on the New York elite that cast him out. He convinces William to help him carry out his revenge plot by posing as William Chao, a master of the ancient Chinese art of feng shui. Their first victim is Lindsay S, an aspiring poet. Bolstered by the ease with which they con her, William and Shem work their way up to bigger and better targets while word of mouth enhances their social status. William meets Cardie Kerchpoff, the Jewish daughter of a cardiologist. He finds her so irritating that he purposely fills her apartment with bad karma. William and Shem attend a dinner party hosted by Suzy Yamada, where many of their past and future clients mingle. Brian Q meets a girl named Norma and discovers after sleeping with her that she has given him herpes. William encounters Max Brill Carlton, author of Primitives, who informs him that Preciosa had no lines in the play. A later conversation with Shem reveals that Suzy was one of the women he had an affair when married and that she will be their last victim. Shem also informs William that Cardie’s husband left her after it was revealed he was having an affair. For the first time, William feels guilty about the purposefully bad feng shui work he did for her, the cause of her sudden misfortune. Rowley P takes William aside in confidence and asks him to help him avenge his second wife’s death. According to Rowley, Suzy stole his wife’s position and company and is thus responsible for her death. In arranging Suzy’s apartment, William enlists the help of his neighbor Preciosa X. She pretends to be a woman named Walung, re-enacting her part in Primitives, speaking in tongues and twirling about to distract from the fact that they are stealing. Several days later, Rowley P dies, leaving his apartment to William. Rowley’s family is not happy with this turn of events, so William agrees to relinquish all claims to the apartment. Kendo, who has been stalking William for a while now, takes him out to dinner. Afterwards, the two get drinks at a bar and discuss each other’s criminal activities. At the end of the evening, William is left wondering if Kendo plans on scamming him the way William scammed his mother, Suzy. Neil tries to get William to give him more money but William refuses, leaving a cash-strapped Neil with a grudge against him. William runs into Brian Q in a shoe store and learns that he has completely turned his life around, even founding a charity to raise money for AIDS patients. Suzy confronts William with her growing suspicions that Walung is responsible for stealing several valuable objects from her home. Suzy discovers the truth about William’s criminal past and his life begins to unravel. Suzy eventually persuades Preciosa to tell her everything. She hires Neil to murder William but they are interrupted by Kendo. Neil accidentally stabs Kendo and he dies. William discovers that even when he thought he was performing feng shui correctly, it was still all wrong. Several authors race to be the first to release a book on the “Master” Chao but Shem C publishes his first, thus realizing at long last his potential as an author. William moves to Los Angeles and finally begins pursuing his lifelong dream of becoming a writer. |
People of the Lakes | null | 1,995 | Clan fighting over a powerful totemic mask has brought the Mound Builder people of the Great Lakes region to the edge of destruction. It is up to Star Shell, daughter of a Hopewell chief, to rid her people of this curse. Along with her companions: Otter, a trader; Pearl, a runaway; and Green Spider, either prophet or madman, she braves the stormy waters of the lakes to reach the majestic waterfall known as Roaring Water. She is determined to banish the mask forever to a watery grave. But vengeful clan members are close on her heels, and they have a similar fate planned for her. <!-- |
Halt's Peril | John Flanagan | 2,010 | The book begins with Halt, Horace and Will discovering that Tennyson (the priest of the Outsider) and his followers have fled to Picta. The three follow their trail and discover that Tennyson is heading toward Araluen. Tennyson's plan is to travel to an outlying Araluen village where he has already established influence to reinvigorate his movement. Will and his companions are unaware of this however and continue to follow Tennyson through Picta, discovering and foiling some Pictan raiders en route. As the three catch up to Tennyson they engage with the remaining two Genovesans and Halt and Will successfully kill one, but the other injures Halt and escapes. After a while, the wound is discovered to be poisoned by a hallucinogen which is slowly killing Halt. In desperation Will decides to seek Malcolm - possibly the best healer in all of Araluen - and quickly brings him to help. Malcolm however explains that the poison has two possible sources with conflicting cures. Administrating the wrong cure will kill Halt. Will discovers the remaining Genovesan and forces the nature of the poison from him. The Genovesan is killed as he attempts to later escape. With Halt cured, the three along with Malcolm resume to trail Tennyson, who assumes that the three are now unimportant given that Halt is supposedly dead. Will and his companions discover Tennyson in Catacombs near a village where he is preaching to the followers of his religion. Halt successfully discredits him with Malcolm's help. However, during this attempt, Will has to use certain explosive devices developed by Malcolm which causes the cave system to collapse on top of the Outsiders (including Tennyson) and the villagers' gold. Halt, Will and Horace accompany Malcolm home where Trobar gifts to Will a puppy, Ebony. After separating from Malcolm, the three head home, with Will and Halt going to Redmont and reuniting with Pauline and Alyss while Horace heads to Castle Araluan. The book ends with Pauline thanking Will for saving Halt's life and telling him about the trust she has in him. |
Ten obcy | null | 1,961 | The book is about teen love problems and the challenges of growing up. Major characters are four friends: Ula, Pestka (Pip), Julek and Marian. The action takes place in a small village called Olszyny, which is located about 150 km from Warsaw. During the holidays children spent a lot of time on an island created after the spring floods. They create a hut and set the poles in order to make access to the island easier. One day on the island shows up a mysterious boy. It turns out that the boy is injured, so the group of friends decides to take care of him. At first the boy is a man of few words, but eventually begins to reveal his secrets. |
The Devil's Novice | Edith Pargeter | 1,983 | In mid September of 1140, Meriet Aspley, the younger son of Leoric Aspley, the lord of a manor about four miles south of Shrewsbury, petitions Shrewsbury Abbey to become a monk. When he is informed that a novice must traditionally wait a year before taking full vows and joining the Benedictines, he is agitated, asking whether he cannot speed up the process. Abbot Radulfus urges him to be patient. Meriet becomes an unsettling presence in the abbey. While he performs all his studies and assigned duties with ardour, his solitary manner makes the other novices reluctant to approach him. In October, he begins saying nonsense names in his sleep, waking the entire dortoir. The superstitious other novices whisper that he is possessed, and nickname him "The Devil's Novice." Meriet has no awareness of his disruptive sleep until others tell him. Brother Paul, in charge of the novices, counsels patience. In October, Canon Eluard, an emissary of Henry of Blois, the Bishop of Winchester, comes to the Abbey inquiring after the whereabouts of Peter Clemence, a young cleric and one of the Bishop's favorite proteges. Clemence had been sent on a diplomatic mission to Northern England, but has disappeared. Eluard questions Meriet in particular, since Clemence was last seen as a guest at Aspley Manor before setting out on his journey. Meriet tells the story of that evening and the next morning, of the unexpected visit of a kinsman of his late mother. Meriet had tended the guest's horse. His father had ridden the first mile out with his guest the next morning, on his way to Whitchurch for his next night's lodging. Sheriff Prestcote is travelling with King Stephen, leaving Cadfael's friend, Deputy Sherriff Hugh Beringar in charge of the shire. Henry of Blois had convened a council earlier in the fall, endeavouring to bring the two factions together, to no avail. His brother, King Stephen, needed to strengthen his alliances by visiting lords in the north, with his own entourage. In particular, they met with the Earl of Chester and his brother, William of Roumare, the Earl of Lincoln. Armed with the description of the fine horse from Meriet, Beringar quickly finds Clemence's horse and returns with it, in sight of the brothers of the Abbey. That night, Meriet again sleeps badly, whistling and calling out a name, Barbary. The next morning, Beringar called for Meriet to recognize the horse, which he did, even knowing its name, Barbary. At the same time, those whose sleep was again disturbed grow more afraid, and in one case, officious. Brother Jerome, Prior Robert's clerk and confessor for the novices, searches Meriet's bed to find a lock of a woman's hair tied in a ribbon. Declaring that personal belongings are forbidden in the Abbey, Jerome burns the memento in front of Meriet. Meriet launches himself at Jerome and nearly strangles him, before Cadfael restrains him. Meriet is punished by being whipped and then kept alone in a punishment cell. Abbot Radulfus asks Cadfael to visit the boy's father to learn more. Cadfael first tends Meriet's wounds from the scourging, having a probing yet fatherly talk with the still-determined novice. Cadfael visits Aspley Manor, with its two adjoining manors of the Linde and Foriet families. He meets Meriet's extended family one by one: his elder brother, Nigel, tall, handsome, and clearly the apple of his father's eye; Nigel's fiancee, Roswitha Linde, stunningly beautiful and flirtatious, whose hair colour matches the lock in Meriet's bed; Roswitha's twin brother Janyn, an easygoing man and Nigel's best friend; and finally, Leoric's ward Isouda Foriet, a young heiress to two neighboring manors. The five grew up together from children. Leoric is a stiff and upright man of rigid morals, and refuses to discuss Meriet's choice. He insists that if his son is determined to become a monk, Leoric will not have him back. Nor can he suggest any reason for Meriet's choice in the first place. As Cadfael leaves, he encounters Isouda Foriet, a girl on the verge of womanhood. She reveals to Cadfael that she loves Meriet, and will have him for her own. Her account of the visit back in September adds useful details. Cadfael asks whether Meriet was in love with Roswitha. Isouda agrees, but knows it is a passing fancy for him. Roswitha loves Nigel and the two will be married before Christmas, then live at the manor farther north near Newark that Leoric Aspley holds. Cadfael suggests to Radulfus that Meriet be assigned to help Cadfael's former assistant, Brother Mark, at the lazar house maintained by the Abbey at St. Giles, once his ten days of confinement were ended. As this would separate Meriet from the other novices, Radulfus agrees. Cadfael visits Meriet to salve his wounds, share the greetings of his brother, and in course of conversation, shares his own secret of being a father himself. Soon after, Cadfael and Hugh Beringar plumb the psychology of this boy, knowing now his standing with his parents as the unneeded second son, seeking attention by contrariness. On one of the appointed days for seeking firewood in early December, Brother Mark and Meriet lead an outing of the lepers at St. Giles to the forest. Meriet suggests that they go to a clearing he knows that was used for making charcoal. In one of the wood stacks, they discover a charred skeleton. The remnants of jewellery and clothing near the corpse identify it as Clemence's. The remains are carefully brought to the Abbey. Soon after, the Sheriff's men take a half-starved man living wild in the forest, in possession of an ornate dagger that belonged to Clemence. The man is Harald, a runaway villein farrier from a manor near Gretton to the south. He says he found the dagger in the forest, and swears he did not kill Clemence. Serving two purposes, Beringar lets it be known that Harald is taken for the murder of Clemence. When Meriet hears rumours that Harald will be condemned for murdering Clemence, he again has a troubled night. He walks in his sleep, taking a serious fall when Brother Mark calls his name. When he wakes, Meriet insists the man taken in the forest is not guilty and confesses to the killing. Brother Mark asks Meriet to confess to his priest, but Meriet refuses this. Brother Mark does not believe this admission of guilt; he may lie to man, but not to God. Meriet repeats his claims to Hugh Beringar that he shot Clemence with an arrow after he left Aspley, because Clemence tried to take advantage of Roswitha. His father discovered him trying to hide the corpse, and gave him a choice: either admit his guilt and be executed, or else give up the rest of his life for penance as a monk, thus saving Leoric's family honour. However, there is a problem over the time of the murder. Meriet says it was done in the afternoon, but the visitor left early from the manor and was found less than an hour's ride away. Near Christmas, Leoric Aspley comes to the Abbey for a stay of several days, as his son Nigel will marry Roswitha. In private, Cadfael confronts Leoric, who admits to finding Meriet with Clemence's body that afternoon, as he was out hunting with his pack of dogs. Leoric was outraged and assumed his younger son was guilty of the murder. After Meriet agreed to join Shrewsbury Abbey, Leoric and his household staff drove the horse away and burned Clemence's body in the woodstack. Cadfael points out that both Leoric and Meriet must be mistaken. Meriet is incapable of cold-blooded murder, but if he has confessed he must be shielding someone else. Leoric refuses to believe that Nigel could be the murderer. However, Cadfael reminds Leoric that both he and Meriet have overlooked a crucial point; they both believe Clemence was killed in the afternoon, yet his body was found only a few miles from Aspley. They still do not know who killed Clemence. Isouda visits Meriet at his room in St. Giles, where he is mending from his fall. She is dressed in finery, not the kind of tomboy clothing in which he last saw her. She makes the point of her friendship and times her visit well. She rejoins Cadfael to return to the Abbey, discussing how to reveal the true murderer, to undercut Meriet's false confession. "'Girl,' said Cadfael, breathing in deeply, 'you terrify me like an act of God. And I do believe you will pull down the thunderbolt.'" Isouda and Roswitha share a room in the Abbey guesthouse where both can dress for the wedding next day. Looking for the best adornments for the bride, Isouda chances on a brooch in Roswitha's possession. Roswitha disdains the unique but antique brooch. Isouda recalls where she saw it once before, when she took Clemence's cloak at Aspley Manor. She meets Cadfael to report her thunderbolt to him; he realizes the importance of the brooch being intact, unburned. She arranges for two horses to bring Brother Mark and Meriet discreetly to the Abbey, to witness his brother's marriage. Isouda plants the brooch on Roswitha's cloak. After the couple are married, they walk out into the gateway. Canon Eluard instantly recognizes the brooch on the bride's cloak as a gift from the Bishop to his late clerk. When he demands to know where Roswitha got it, she first claims that Meriet gave it to her, a lie that appalls both Nigel and Leoric. Caught in a falsehood, she admits that her brother Janyn gave it to her. Janyn has already fled the Abbey on one of Isouda's horses. As Beringar and his men prepare to pursue him, a messenger from King Stephen arrives, ordering the local knight-service to muster immediately; the two most powerful barons in the northern counties, the Earls of Chester and Lincoln have declared their independence from either side in the civil war and have set up their own kingdom in the north. Barely has the Abbey time to react to this news, when Cadfael sees that Nigel has also fled the grounds, taking Isouda's other horse. Beringar's sergeants pursue the two men, knowing now where they are headed. In the woods near Stafford, Nigel catches up with Janyn, whose horse has been lamed. Blame is traded back and forth, but Nigel says he will not abandon Janyn, and offers to carry them both on his horse. Janyn has another plan; he stabs Nigel and steals his horse. The Sheriff's men come upon Nigel ten minutes later and bring him back to the Abbey. Nigel confesses that he and Janyn were offered castles and commands by William of Rumare on their summer visit to the northern manor. Clemence erred in sharing his mission with these distant relations. Had Clemence gone to the North, he would have stumbled on a meeting of the Earls and their allies. Nigel proposed to delay Clemence, but Janyn shot him down in the forest. When he told Nigel what he had done, Nigel went to the forest to bury the body. Meriet discovered him, and heard their father's hounds approaching. He told his brother to run, knowing that Leoric would be heartbroken if Nigel were blamed, but scarcely bothered if Meriet was. Nigel repents of his treason. Once healed, he will make amends as he can. Beringar expects him to join the King's army, marching north to confront the rebels. Meriet and the villein Harald are both absolved of guilt. Harald is found a farrier job in town, where he is safe if he stays a year and a day without being taken by his brutal former master. Leoric is ashamed at having valued his handsome but weak older son over his younger son, seeing only now how similar the younger son is to himself. He confesses his sins to Abbot Radulfus, and asks him for two additional favours: first, that Leoric be allowed to sponsor Brother Mark, who has been a true friend to Meriet in his time at the Abbey, in his studies for the priesthood; and second, that the Abbott witness a new will he will draft, leaving his manor to Meriet. With Janyn gone, Nigel will inherit the Linde manor through his wife, if he makes his amends. Leoric also begs Meriet's forgiveness, and the two men reconcile. Meriet, for his part, is chagrined for having ever loved Roswitha, wanting whatever his brother had. Her lies broke her charm for him. Isouda's efforts to be noticed by Meriet as a grown woman are successful, as his childhood friend becomes a woman he might love, out in the world beyond the Benedictine monastery. He parts from Brother Cadfael by explaining how the term 'Brother' came hard to his lips in their conversations, as he wished to call him father. Cadfael accepted that of son Meriet. |
Machine Made | null | null | A young woman with a stunted intellect, being the victim of brain damage from birth, is hired on to perform basic menial labor (such as janitorial services) in a facility dedicated to the operation and programming of a mainframe computer. In her free time, she is curious whether the machine can add and subtract some basic numbers when she types them in. She has checked the results when she goes home, and sometimes spends days adding and subtracting the numbers to see if the results are correct. When she is at work, she has a long day walking alone through the thousands of square feet of the facility, checking on metal casings and consoles in this facility, and dusting them as needed. She knows that typing things into the computer is forbidden for non-scientists. Therefore she chooses her time well, and organizes her day so no one will know she is submitting questions to the computer. She sits down at a console when she knows there is nobody around, and the computer begins to recognize her style of typing. She hunts and pecks rather slowly. She has tried this four times before, and is surprised on the fifth time when the computer starts to talk to her by spooling out information in paper form. |
All in the Mind | Alastair Campbell | 2,008 | Set over a period of four days, the novel explores mental illness through its central character, Professor Martin Sturrock, described as ‘widely viewed as one of the best psychiatrists in the business’, and several of his patients. Among these are an alcoholic politician, a traumatised burns victim, a depressed manual worker, an adulterous barrister turned fitness fanatic and a Kosovan refugee who has been raped. Each patient tells his or her story in a consultation with Sturrock before they are later revisited in their individual subplots. Over the course of a weekend it becomes apparent that the brilliant but overworked Sturrock is as desperate for help as the people he is treating, and following an encounter in a seedy brothel the story ends tragically for the Professor on a busy London street. |
Devi Chaudhurani | Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay | 1,884 | The very first line is a hilarious dialog — "Pi! O Pi! O Pipi! O Prafulla! O Porarmukhi (monkey-face)!" — where the middle-age mother of Prafulla (nickname Pipi) is looking for her 20-something daughter. They are a two-person family in a small village of Bengal, hardly making ends meet by doing odd jobs. Prafulla is married but is shunned by her wealthy father-in-law, Haraballabh, because of a spat between him and her father on the day of her wedding. By Hindu custom prevalent at that time, a girl, once married, could not be divorced or remarried. Heartbroken at the fate of his only child, her father died after a few years, leaving the family in penury. As the story progresses, we get to know that Prafulla's mother still loves her very much, but endless misery and hunger leaves her often distraught and ill. She soon takes to bed and, in absence of medical care, dies. Prafulla's neighbors, more compassionate in death than in living, helps her cremate her mother. Grief-stricken Prafulla is given shelter by her neighbor. But she soon overhears that they are planning to sell her to a pimp. We learn that Prafulla is very beautiful, and the neighbor is expecting a good price. Scared by the looming fate, Prafulla takes the drastic step to flee in the middle of the night to find the house of her in-laws whom she has never known, without any money, with knowledge of only the name of the village and name of her father-in-law. Benevolent people, surprised to see her traveling alone, help her on the way. This is consistent with the custom in Bengal that all unknown women were to be treated as one's own mother. Now the neighbor is in a fix, as villagers know that Prafulla was in her custody. She frames a story that Prafulla's mother's ghost appeared at night and took her daughter away with her; she whispers it to her neighbor and warns her not to tell anyone. Obviously, very soon the entire village knew of the story. The superstitious ones believed it, and others who did not had hardly any concern for the orphan. The news also reached Haraballabh's house, who couldn't care less. Much has changed in the house of Haraballabh since Prafulla's wedding. Haraballabh, adamant at making his point against Prafulla's father, got his son, Brajeswar (Braja), a single child, married twice more. (The British rule at that time permitted polygamy.) The second wife is Nayantara, and third wife is Sagarmani — they live at Haraballabh's at their rightful places. One day, a sobbing destitute girl arrives at the front porch but doesn't speak. A maid takes her to the ladies of the house who grant her temporary shelter. When they ask her where she is from, she doesn't answer. The ladies and maids from the neighboring houses troop in to see the newcomer, until one among them recognizes her as Prafulla. After much debate and disbelief, it's finally determined that she is indeed Prafulla. Since a daughter-in-law has arrived — that, too, she has stepped in the house for the first time — she has to be greeted in style. As per her mother-in-law's orders, the maids clean her up, dress her in bridal saree, makeup and ornaments. Her mother-in-law receives her with all the traditional ritual and fanfare. Funnily, as per custom then, a mother-in-law is supposed to find a fault with the bride. She looks at Prafulla, sighs and says, "Way too beautiful." Obviously, she has taken a liking to Prafulla. Nayantara, who comes from a wealthy family but lacks beauty, is cross at her. She is afraid that Prafulla may get the enviable position of the eldest daughter-in-law. Sagarmani (Sagar), young, pretty and childishly playful, comes from a well-to-do family, though not so wealthy as of Nayantara's, likes Prafulla as a playmate. Prafulla is taken to her bridal bed in the night, and Braja is trying to make small talk, overwhelmed by her beauty. Sagar locks them in, after silently showing them the lock and key. Bankim Chandra takes a bold step of describing a kiss between Braja and Prafulla, apologizing profusely to the readers for "offending" their sensibilities. It also turns out that Braja is very much afraid of his dictatorial father, which was again a common thing. The next day when her husband is at lunch, Braja's mother, while fanning her husband as per custom, informs him about Prafulla. Haraballabh is taken aback at first, but then orders that she be thrown out, turning down repeated requests from Braja's mother to allow Prafulla to stay. Disappointed, she then asks a question that will come back to haunt Haraballabh later in the plot, "How will she make ends meet?" — an implicit request for an allowance for the poor young woman. Haraballabh nonchalantly replies, "Let her be a thief or a dacoit." Prafulla, in anticipation that things will come to this, had requested her mother-in-law previously to ask this question. But her mother-in-law never had the heart of relaying that reply back to Prafulla. It was Nayantara who happily took the initiative to do that. Prafulla leaves everything behind, including the expensive dresses and ornaments. She keeps only the ring that Braja had given her previous night. She wanders from place to place, then enters the jungle in the suicidal hope that some wild animal will kill her. But, deep in the jungle, she comes across a clearing where stood a two-storied palatial house, next to a clear pond, empty and desolate. She strolls into the house to find a dying old man, gasping for his last drop of water. She quickly fetches some water from the pond. The old man, in his dying breath, gives her secret location of his treasure buried in a ground-floor room. Next morning, Prafulla digs up the place, and finds large brass vessels full of gold coins. She takes one coin and sets out looking for a way to the nearest village to buy some grocery, but she loses her way in the jungle. All of a sudden, a tall handsome Brahmin comes out of nowhere to block her way. In a baritone voice, the man demands her identity and purpose. On learning that Prafulla wants to buy grocery, he reveals that he indeed has a store if she has money. Prafulla shows him the gold coin. "It's too much," the man says, "Do you have small change?" Prafulla says, "No. Gold coins only." The man, looking at her poor appearance, says in surprise and disbelief, "All gold coins?" Then the man reveals that he is Bhabani Pathak. Prafulla is shocked, she trembles in fear, for Bhabani Pathak is the most powerful dacoit of all. Bhabani takes her to his store, lets her pick whatever she wants, but refuses to take the coin. "I don't have enough change," he says, "Come back anytime to take whatever you need, pay me when you owe me the price of a gold coin." He even arranges for a porter from among his men, and accompanies Prafulla back to the house. Now comes a defining moment of the story. Bhabani looks at the hoard of coins, surprised. He then tells Prafulla, "I won't touch your money, but I have to ask you this. You are now very very wealthy. What do you intend to do with all this money?" Prafulla says she has no idea. Bhabani tells her, "There are two ways from here - you can either spend this money for good of the people, or you can spend this for your own enjoyment." Prafulla tries to fathom the gravity of the question - she asks, "What if I want it all for myself?" Bhabani replies, "Then I'll have to escort you out of this jungle, for your presence will ruin many men from my group. But also consider this, the money will be gone one day, so will be your youth and beauty. And with it, the men will be gone as well." Prafulla says, "What if I spend it for people?" Bhabani says, "Then that is even harder path." She now understands, and unhesitatingly, chooses ascetism over materialism. Bankim Chandra here reaffirms his faith in Indian value system. Bhabani is very pleased, but he also tells her that she needs to learn a lot and have to undergo a rigorous education course for five years. For these five years, she has to trust & obey Bhabani completely, cannot meet anyone unless Bhabani sanctions it, cannot go out of the jungle. She readily agrees. On learning that Prafulla is illiterate (women illiteracy was a common social malady in India at that time), Bhabani tells her that her education will begin there. Bhabani arranges for two soulmates for her — two young woman of her age — Diba and Nishi. Diba (The Day) is very fair and very learned, while Nishi (The Night) is very dark, skilled, and illiterate. Prafulla learns everything from her alphabets to maths, philosophy, politics, music, dance from Diba and from the steady stream of teachers whom Bhabani appointed. Prafulla always kept behind purdah while in front of male teachers, till one day Bhabani told her she has to learn martial arts. She tonsures her head and learns freehand fighting, weapons and military tactics from male instructors. Bhabani tells Prafulla of the oppression of the British. Here Bankim Chandra describes British tyranny in such graphic terms that was never written before. Bhabani tells how British carry out tortures on poor farmers and their women. "She is stripped in public and raped. She is tied up, naked, to a pole in the open, whipped, her breasts chopped off, insects inserted into her private parts." Bhabani subjects Prafulla to another learning as well. In one year, Prafulla spent in comfort like in a well-to-do family. In another year, she lived as a queen, treated and pampered royally including everything from her bed, to her clothes to her food. In another year, she lived as a mendicant, slept on floor, wore coarse clothes, survived on meager diets. Prafulla smilingly took it all, and preferred the ascetic life. However, Prafulla never revealed to Bhabani that she is married. At the end, Prafulla emerges as a leader of people, a queen yet a saint, almost a goddess in her air, benevolence and wrath. Hence Bhabani calls her "Devi Chaudhurani" — The Goddess Queen. With Bhabani as her minister and adviser, Devi claims right over a vast area of southern Bengal. She holds moving royal courts at regular schedules and places, which are well known to people of the land, but kept secret from the British. In these courts, Devi appears dressed as a queen, wearing jewels, seated on a throne, Diba and Nishi fanning her from both sides. She listens to the problems of the people, delivers justice, helps the poor with money. Such courts are also recruiting grounds for Bhabani building up an army of Barkandaz — Queen's Guards. The guards are led by Bhabani's right hand - Rangalal. Devi warns tyrant lords to stop their repression and attacks them if they don't pay heed, but she also avoids bloodbath as much as she can. Soon she builds a reputation that is fearsome to the lords, ray of hope to the people, serious headache for the British. Royal Army combs the jungles and rivers in search of her, but Bhabani's spies are always one step ahead, and the Queen's Guards know the jungles much better. In a strange twist of destiny, Prafulla has now become a dacoit, just as Haraballabh asked her to be. Many years pass by. Haraballabh ends up losing money in bad investments and is now in the risk of defaulting on the whopping tax on his estate that the British extract. If he does not pay up by sunset of a particular day, he will lose his estate instantly. And Devi gets the news. Frantic, Haraballabh sends Braja for help from first Nayantara's and then Sagarmani's fathers, but they both refuse to help. A disappointed Braja is in Sagar's room at her father's house, preparing to leave. Sagar pleads with him to stay, but Braja has lost his cool and badmouths her father. Upset herself, Sagar screams, "If I am my father's daughter, then, then, ..." She searches for words, when someone from behind prompted her, "you will massage my feet." Sagar, in a fit a rage, repeats it verbatim. Giving foot massage to wife was considered ignominious and effeminate. Naturally, such a challenge enrages Braja even more, and he storms out. Sagar cries a lot, and only after some amount of time, it occurs to her to find out who prompted her. And it turns out that it was Devi herself. Sagar is surprised to know that her playmate Prafulla is now the all-powerful Devi. Devi assures Sagar of getting her revenge and outlines a plan. A word is secretly sent to Braja that Devi is willing to loan him the money and is instructed to meet her at her yacht at a particular place and time in night. Braja is now desperate to save the estate and readily agrees. When he arrives at the place, the guards take him inside the yacht, which is extraordinarily decorated, fit for an empress. Behind silk curtains, reclining on inches thick cushions, is Devi. She is dressed as a queen but is wearing a veil. She asks Braja to sit down and starts asking questions. He wonders why she is intentionally speaking in a hoarse voice. After managing to scare him enough, Devi demands that he massages her feet. He hesitates but the loan from Devi is the only ray of hope for him, so he agrees. Devi sticks out her legs through the curtain. When Braja starts massaging, she giggles and laughs out loud. He is now even more surprised. He cried, 'Sagar!' and opened up the curtain to see that it's actually Sagar who has been talking to him all the time! Sagar's sweet revenge has finally been fulfilled. Sagar now reveals to Braja how she ended up in Devi's yacht, but without revealing Devi's true identity. He is only too happy to get the money. Devi sets the condition that the loan has to be paid back after 3 months, at a particular place and time. Braja gratefully accepts the condition. Haraballabh is stunned when Braja tells him the money has been arranged. He also reveals how and where the loan has to be paid off. As the loan due date approaches, Braja repeatedly pleads to his father to give him the money so that he can personally pay it off. Haraballabh listens to it all, but has other plans. A day before the loan, Haraballabh goes to the Royal Army headquarters and gives them the location of Devi. The British, ever suspicious of natives, demand that he accompanies the army. Haraballabh now has no choice but to accede. On the other hand, Braja is apologetic that he could not keep his word, and sets off for Devi's place in the hope of pleading for some more time. It was a night of full moon. At the given location on a jungle river, Devi is on the roof of her yacht, intently playing an instrument called Veena. The yacht is dark, save for a few lights. The place is desolate except for Diba and Nishi. Not even her guards can be seen anywhere. Presently, Rangalal, the leader of the guards, appears out of the jungle and requests to meet Devi. In the conversation, Rangalal informs Devi that a large British troop contingent is headed this way for arresting her. It turns out that Devi already knows that, she intends to surrender and hence had sent the her guards away on a different purpose. She is now angry that Bhabani Pathak is coming back with the guards to save her. The Royal Army and Queen's Guards reach the yacht's location at almost the same time and the battle begins. It seems that Devi has chosen her location well: It was a shallow river, with deep jungles on either side, difficult for a traditional troop deployment. The Royal Army soldiers has to wade it through, which places the Guards at an advantage as they are much more adept to fighting in such conditions. Devi is unhappy about grim prospect of potentially large loss of lives. Notably, she counts potential losses on both sides to determine that so many deaths are unnecessary. She is standing on the roof, watching the battle, when she notices a spot of dark clouds gathering at the horizon. She smiles and asks Rangalal to carry a retreat message to Bhabani with the assurance that she is not going to surrender. She then goes inside. Bhabani looks at the cloud when Rangalal reaches him with the message, and understands Devi's plan. On Devi's orders, Diba now brings out Braja, who had arrived much earlier and was kept in a room, sticks a white flag in his hand, and asks him to wave it from the roof of the yacht. Braja is surprised to see a battle raging around, and starts waving the flag. The fighting stops as per protocol. Rangalal was not expecting it; he comes back to the yacht and challenges Braja. It turns out that Braja was unaware of the white-flag protocol, but refuses to step down. Rangalal snatches and throws away the flag. But the fighting does not resume, as Queen's Guards have started melting away into the forest. Royal Army surrounds the yacht, and the Major boards it with a few soldiers. A few rowers sit on the decks quietly, offering no resistance. Only three women and two men are found in the yacht — they all are quietly waiting for him in the royal room. Major is stunned by the opulence, but is unable to determine who the Devi is, as all of them were in simple clothes. Devi suggests in a meek voice that he should get his detective. Major likes the idea and sends for the detective. The "detective" is Haraballabh, who has never seen Devi up close, and does not know her true identity. But Haraballabh is afraid to admit that and makes quite a mess of it after he arrives at the yacht. The Major, frustrated, determines Diba to be the Devi as she was wearing a more expensive cloth. In the meantime, the dark clouds have now covered the entire sky and the wind has started to blow. And the storm hits. Here the Royal Army turns out to be merely occupants of Bengal, without an understanding of the people or the environment. The ferocious tropical storm and blinding rain take them by surprise. The sailors were quietly waiting for this moment. In an instant, they loosen the sails and cut the anchoring ropes. The yacht spins out of control, sending the people inside head over heels. Haraballabh ends up in the lap of Nishi, Major in the lap of Diba and Braja in the lap of Rangalal. Only Devi was anticipating this moment and has managed to balance herself. The sailors are too familiar with the abilities of the yacht and has handled such storms many times before. They adroitly steer it and use the full blast of the storm to complete effect. The Royal Army protection ring has shattered and the soldiers fall apart in disarray. The yacht runs over the rest of them and swiftly vanishes into the maze-like branches and tributaries of the river. When the men and women in the room recover, they are surrounded by a group of Queen's Guards who were quietly waiting disguised as sailors. In a single brilliant move, Devi has won the battle, captured the enemy leader, secured both her husband and father-in-law, and managed to do it with minimum loss of lives. The Major and other soldiers captured along with him are kept locked in. Devi now reveals her true identity to Braja and Haraballabh. Haraballabh asks Devi, "Why did you become a dacoit?" Devi, true to her education in Indian values, does not confront her father-in-law. Instead, she asks for forgiveness and pleads him to take her back as his daughter-in-law. Haraballabh is too scared to spurn her. The Royal Army soldiers are released unharmed near a village, and Braja and Haraballabh are released in another location. Devi also gives them money for their travel. Devi meets Bhabani Pathak and hands over the responsibility of carrying the freedom movement forward. Back in Haraballabh's house, a fake fourth marriage of Braja is arranged, and Prafulla is welcomed again. She kept such a long veil that neighbours could not see her face. In the last scene, Sagar is asking Prafulla at Haraballabh's house, "Can a queen become a mere daughter-in-law, an obedient wife, and a simple home maker?" Prafulla replies, "Yes, she can. That's where a woman truly finds her fulfilment. This is a station that is more difficult than being a queen or an ascetic." |
The Heir of Redclyffe | Charlotte Mary Yonge | null | The Heir of Redclyffe tells the story of the Byronic Guy Morville, heir to the Redclyffe baronetcy, and his cousin Philip Morville, a conceited hypocrite who enjoys an unwarrantedly high reputation. When Guy raises money to secretly pay off the debts of his blackguard uncle, Philip spreads the rumour that Guy is a reckless gambler. As a result Guy's proposed marriage to his guardian's daughter Amy is called off and he is disowned by his guardian. Guy bears the situation with a new-found Christian fortitude until the uncle clears his character, enabling him to marry Amy after all. They honeymoon in Italy, finding Philip there suffering from a life-threatening fever. Guy nurses him back to health, but catches the fever himself and dies. Philip, transformed by contrition, inherits Redclyffe. |
Boys Against Girls | null | null | Caroline Malloy shivers happily when her on again, off again enemy Wally Hatford tells her that the remains of a strange animal known as the abaguchie have been spotted in their area. Wally swears Caroline to secrecy and warns her not to search by herself. But Caroline will do anything to find the secret of the bones and finds out the hard way that she should have listened. |
Nudge | null | 2,008 | One of the main justifications for Thaler's and Sunstein's endorsement of libertarian paternalism in Nudge draws on facts of human nature and psychology. The book is critical of the homo economicus view of human beings "that each of us thinks and chooses unfailingly well, and thus fits within the textbook picture of human beings offered by economists." They cite many examples of research which raise "serious questions about the rationality of many judgments and decisions that people make". They state that, unlike members of homo economicus, members of the species homo sapiens make predictable mistakes because of their use of heuristics, fallacies, and because of the way they are influenced by their social interactions. The book describes two systems that characterize human thought. Sunstein and Thaler refer to these as the "Reflective System" and the "Automatic System". The Automatic System is "rapid and is or feels instinctive, and it does not involve what we usually associate with the word thinking". Instances of the Automatic System at work include smiling upon seeing a puppy, getting nervous while experiencing air turbulence, and ducking when a ball is thrown at you. The other system of thought is the Reflective System. This system is deliberate and self-conscious. It is the one at work when people decide which college to attend, where to go on trips, and (under most circumstances) whether or not to get married. Because of these differences and conflicts between these systems, people are often subject to making mistakes that are the result of widely occurring biases, heuristics, and fallacies. These include: *Anchoring: a cognitive bias wherein one relies too heavily on one trait or piece of information. An example would be a resident of Chicago who is asked to guess the population of Milwaukee. Knowing that Milwaukee is a major city, but certainly not as large as Chicago, the person would take the population of Chicago (roughly 3 million) and divide it by, say, three (arriving at one million). A resident of Green Bay (which has a population of around 100,000) might know that Milwaukee is larger than Green Bay, and triple the population of their home city to arrive at a guess (of 300,000). The difference in guesses of people because of their geographical location is an instance of anchoring. The real population of Milwaukee is about 580,000. *Availability heuristic: when people predict the frequency of an event based on how easily an example can be brought to mind. The authors state that this could help explain why people think that homicides occur more than suicides, as examples of homicides are more readily available. The availability heuristic can have negative effects in business and politics, because people will overstate risks, resulting in people purchasing unnecessary insurance, or governments pursuing social goals at the expense of other more fruitful ones. *Representativeness heuristic: where people judge the probability or frequency of a hypothesis by considering how much the hypothesis resembles available data. An example would be perceiving meaningful patterns in information that is in fact random. These include false accounts of "cancer clusters" and the common belief in basketball that players can get "hot". Due to the number of shots taken, players are bound to have times when they score many shots in a row, but basketball fans wrongly believe that a player that has just made a series of shots is more likely to make their next shot. *Status quo bias: this is when people are very likely to continue a course of action since it has been traditionally the one pursued, even though this course of action may clearly not be in their best interest. An example of the status-quo bias at work would be when magazine companies offer trials of their magazines for free, but then, after the trial has ended, continue to send magazines and charge the customer until he or she actively ends the subscription. This leads to many people receiving and paying for magazines they do not read. *Herd mentality: people are heavily influenced by the actions of others. Sunstein and Thaler cite a famous study by Solomon Asch where people, due to peer pressure, answer certain questions in a way that was clearly false (such as saying that two lines are the same length, when they clearly are not). Libertarian paternalism is the union of two political notions that are commonly viewed as being at odds (to the point of oxymoron) libertarianism and paternalism. Sunstein and Thaler state that "the libertarian aspect of our strategies lies in the straightforward insistence that, in general, people should be free to do what they like-and to opt out of undesirable arrangements if they want to do so". The paternalistic portion of the term "lies in the claim that it is legitimate for choice architects to try to influence people's behavior in order to make their lives longer, healthier, and better". Choice architecture describes the way in which decisions are influenced by how the choices are presented. It is in arranging the choice architecture in a certain way that individuals can be nudged in a certain way without taking away their freedom of choice. A simple example of a nudge would be placing healthy foods in a school cafeteria at eye level, while putting less healthy junk food in harder to reach places. Individuals are not prevented from eating whatever they want, but the arranging of the food choices in that way has the effect of decreasing consumption of junk food and increasing consumption of healthier foods. In theories of choice architecture however, it is not readily obvious the extent to which such "nudges" can influence behavior and still be considered libertarian. For example, if the government only allows junk food to be sold on the top of mountains, to what extent can such a policy truly be considered libertarian? The difference between only making junk food available on mountains and only making junk food available on shelves below eye level seems to be more a difference of degree rather than kind. Thaler and Sunstein discuss these issues in some portions of their book. At some point, this thing which does not seem like coercion, becomes a clear case of coercion. When the power used to gently nudge is absolute, no matter how slight the suggestion, its victim remains intimidated by the knowledge of the unlimited power behind it. Thus, because government necessarily sits in a position of almost unlimited power over the individual, any lifestyle suggestions they make are not compatible with Libertarian ideals. Sunstein and Thaler use their notions of nudges within the context of choice architecture to propose policy recommendations that they believe are in the spirit of libertarian paternalism. They have recommendations in the areas of finance, health, the environment, schools, and marriage. They believe these problems can at least be partially addressed by improving the choice architecture. Thaler and Sunstein point out that many Americans are not saving enough for retirement. They state that "in 2005 the personal savings rate for Americans was negative for the first time since 1932 and 1933 - the Great Depression years". One change they offer is creating better default plans for employees. Employees would be able to adopt any plan they like, but, if no action is taken, they would automatically be enrolled in an expertly designed program [such as social security]. They also propose what they refer to as the "Save More Tomorrow" plan. This is to address the issue of people having the desire to save more, yet procrastinating on actually doing so. This program would invite "participants to commit themselves, in advance, to a series of contribution increases timed to coincide with pay raises". The book contains an analysis of the Bush administration program Medicare Part D. Thaler and Sunstein state that "on some dimensions Bush was on the right track" with the plan, but that, "as a piece of choice architecture...it suffered from a cumbersome design that impeded good decision making". Specifically, they think that default choices for programs should not have been random, and that beneficiaries of the program were not given adequate resources to deal with the number of choices they were faced with. They think that seniors who did not sign up for a program should have one assigned to them, and that, yearly, they should be mailed an itemized list of all drugs they had used and all of the fees they incurred. This information would be freely available online, where beneficiaries could easily compare their programs with other similar ones. Sunstein and Thaler also propose a way to increase organ donation rates in the United States. They argue that a mandated choice program should be put in place, where, in order for someone to renew their drivers license, they must say whether or not they would like to be an organ donor. They also advocate the creation of websites which would suggest that the wide community supports organ donation in order to nudge people into becoming organ donors themselves. |
A Flight of Pigeons | Ruskin Bond | 2,003 | The Novel starts with the death of the father of Ruth Labadoor in front of her eyes in a church. This murder is committed by the Indian rebels who are a part of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and who have decided to kill all the Britishers of the small town Shahjahanpur. It is then that Mariam Labadoor, who is the mother of the narrator, Ruth Labadoor comes into action. She takes their entire family of 6 to their trusted friend Lala Ramjimal who keeps them at his home and gives them the maximum security and shelter he can give. The Pathan leader Javed Khan comes to know that there are a few foreigners living in Lala's home and he suddenly comes into their house and forcefully takes away Ruth and Mariam Labadoor to his home. The rest of the book is followed by the various happening in the Labadoor family, who are very warmly welcomed by different family members of Javed Khan. But, Javed Khan himself is a cunning man and he pleads to marry Ruth Labadoor. Mariam saves her daughter many times as she does not want her to marry Javed Khan. She keeps a condition that if the British are able to take on the country once again, then she would not let him marry her daughter and if they lose from the rebels, then she would give her daughter to him. The British are able to take the hold of the country and Javed Khan is killed in one of the fights with the Britishers. With lots of help and support, the Labadoor family finally reach their relatives. |
The Road to Memphis | Mildred Taylor | 1,992 | The novel, like its predecessors is narrated by a now 17-year-old African American girl named Cassie Logan, growing up in Mississippi in the year 1941. When her older brother Stacey comes home with his friends Little Willie and Moe in a used car, things seem good. That is until they come across Stacey's friend Clarence fighting with his girlfriend Sissy about him joining the army, and encounter Charlie Simms, a hateful old white man who forces Stacey and his friends to help him and his son get their truck out of a ditch using Stacey's brand new car. Later on, Cassie goes coon hunting, with Stacey, Christopher-John and Little Man, also her brothers, along with Little Willie, Harris, also Sissy's twin brother, Clarence, and Harris's dog. While going through the woods to find his dog, Cassie and Harris encounter Statler, Leon, and Troy Aames along with Jeremy who are also out hunting. The Aames brothers cause trouble with Harris, talking about his weight and how he would make a good "coon". Jeremy, who has a reputation of being nice to Stacey as well as with most of the people of color in the community, doesn't join in at first, but does later having been pressured by his cousins. The Aames's dogs chase Harris up a tree, and the tree, not being able to hold up his weight, collapses, bringing Harris down with it. Harris suffers a broken leg and is out unconscious. The brothers try to apologize, saying that it wasn't really their fault and leave while Jeremy remains. Cassie goes and gets her brothers, Little Willie, and Clarence and they rush over to help Harris. Later, Harris is struggling to hold on to life. Jeremy comes over to the Logan house and tries to apologize, but Stacey does not forgive him, thinking that Jeremy has changed just like his father and uncle have warned. Cassie leaves soon after to Jackson with Stacey and his friends, to the high school she attends there and things get back to normal. Then, in November, when they come back home for their preacher's funeral, along with their cousin Oliver, Little Man and Christopher-John inform them with the news that Sissy, Clarence's girlfriend is pregnant. Neither Sissy, nor Clarence want to own up that its Clarence's baby, Clarence because he is not ready to be a father and Sissy so that Clarence will feel bad and marry her. This is what Sissy tells Cassie not to tell anyone else because she doesn't want Clarence to be forced into marrying her. Cassie, who has just learned Moe has lost his job, feels that Sissy is just causing trouble. After she tries to explain this to her as she walks her home, Cassie is forced to walk back to the church alone. The Aames brothers pass by her on the road and start messing with her. Just in the nick of time, Cassie's father, David, rescues her from the white boys and walks with her a little while then turns back to go home. Cassie tells Clarence about Sissy's plan even though Sissy told her not to. Cassie tells Clarence before he goes over to Sissy's house not to tell Sissy. After they've said their goodbyes, Cassie, Oliver, Stacey, and his friends go to pick Clarence up and find him and Sissy arguing again. Despite what Cassie told him to do, Clarence tells Sissy about what Cassie told him and Sissy starts screaming at both her and Clarence. As they drive away, Clarence says how he has a headache, foreshadowing other events to come as the story progresses. Because of his headache, Clarence tells Stacey that he has to stop in the neighboring town of Strawberry to get some BC Powder for his head. Stacey has to go make his car payments to Wade Jamison anyways and they drive into town. As they do, Stacy notices that the left tire of his car seems low so Willie volunteers to go and get it fixed up for him. Clarence tells Willie to wait for him so he can get the medicine for his head and Moe goes with him. As they go into the store, the Aames brothers and Jeremy come out of the store. After Stacey goes into Mr. Jamison's office to pay for his car, Little Willie, Cassie and Oliver see Clarence coming out of the store without Moe. Statler Aames asks Clarence if he's forgotten his manners because of the soldier suit he's wearing and he says no and that he's sorry he hasn't greeted them. Statler, tells him that he should take off his cap when he's talking to him and as Clarence does Statler tells him to step over to where he is to see if he has a "big head". The old men who are on the steps and Statler's brothers are laughing. Jeremy is not and he leaves. Statler orders Clarence to bend his head so he can feel it and tells everyone else to do it too because it "brings good luck". Despite the humiliation, Clarence knows he can't do anything about it and takes it—that is until Moe comes out of the store and tells Clarence to go, oblivious to what is happening. Statler and the other men aren't very happy about being interrupted, and almost start something with Moe, when Mr. Jamison calls the two young men over. Saved, they go over to "talk" with the lawyer and Clarence ends up going into the office with Stacey. Moe tells Cassie, Oliver, and Little Willie they'll be out in a while, and they head over to the garage. At the garage, they see Harris's old truck coming down the road with Christopher-John, Little Man, Sissy and Harris inside. Sissy demands to know where Clarence is but before she is able to find out where, another truck comes toward the garage with Statler and his brothers in it. Harris, recognizing them as the men who had hurt him gets nervous and urges Sissy they need to leave. Statler and his brothers come over to them from Jeremy's truck and starts things with Moe saying he was "the boy who messed with our getting ourselves some good luck with that soldier boy". Statler orders Moe to too take his hat off and rubs his head as well. Statler keeps on saying Moe is mighty lucky to be courting someone like Cassie, which is what he infers from his constant looking back at her. All of Moe's anger is unleashed when Statler says by rubbing Moe's head he can get lucky with Cassie himself. Moe hauls off and hits Statler and his brothers with the crowbar he had in his hands, knocking them all to the ground. Moe, shocked by what he has just done, looks for somewhere to hide as they hear someone coming. Moe turns to Harris's truck, but Harris refuses and drives away, saying they'll get him just like that night they went hunting, leaving Sissy, Christopher-John, and Little Man. Moe gets the signal from Jeremy, who is just across the way to get into his truck just before the owner of the garage and Mr. Simms come over to see what has happened. Statler tells his uncle and the garage owner that it was Moe who had done this to him and that Harris had driven him away in his truck. While all this is going on, the sheriff comes, as well as Stacey and Clarence. Cassie tells them about what has happened, and they tell Jeremy to drop Moe off in Jackson. Jeremy is hesitant at first, but then decides to do it to make up for the going along with his cousins after Harris. When Cassie, her brother, Stacey, Clarence, Little Willie and Oliver get back to Jackson, they are surprised to find that neither Jeremy nor Moe is there. They get worried that Jeremy has turned him into the authorities. Stacey tells Cassie to stay to study at the local restaurant while he, Clarence, Willie and Oliver go look for Moe. As Cassie studies in the office of the restaurant, a man comes in looking for Jasper, the owner. Cassie recognizes him as the man who has come in with a woman in green. They get into a discussion about books, school, and Cassie's love life. Cassie finds herself attracted to this man who introduces himself as Solomon Bradley. He leaves soon after and Cassie goes out of the office to find her brother and his friends are back with no word about Moe. She decides to go with them to try and find Moe, leaving Clarence and Oliver behind. They find Moe with Jeremy and after they do, go to Mr. Jamison's house to find out what to do about Moe and his dire situation. He tells them he would probably be charged with criminal offenses and that's when they decide Moe has to leave Mississippi if he wants to survive. They decide to drive him to Memphis, Tennessee and make him catch a train to Chicago once they get him there. They pick up some food from Oliver and money and they are off to Memphis. On the way they encounter many obstacles. They get in trouble with white men at a rest stop and Cassie's pride is damaged when she tries to use the white only indoor restroom and is caught. She is pushed down by the rest stop owner and kicked at, as well as losing her purse in the process. They all speed away after the men talk about how uppity Stacey is with his nice car and all. They roll into the forest and their car breaks down. Stacey decides after they wait there in the darkness for a while to go see if the men are out there. He pulls out a gun and goes and finds out. When he comes back and reports he has seen nothing, they decide they should get some rest. While Cassie is trying to sleep, she feels queasy, jumps out the car and throws up. Stacey tells Moe to watch out for Cassie in the back, and then she falls asleep. When she wakes up, Stacey is mad about the damage done to his car that was caused by the men back at the rest stop. The car also is not starting up, so Stacey goes with Willie to try and find somewhere to get a part for the car. Cassie and Moe are left alone with sleeping Clarence. They decide to eat and as they do Moe kisses Cassie. Just as Moe is about to say something that he says he has been wanting to say for a while, men come and ask them what happened to their car. The men tell them they have parts after Cassie explains the situation and Moe goes with them to get them. Stacey and Willie come back and Cassie tells them where Moe went. Moe comes back with the piece and they are able to fix the car. Not long after, Clarence starts screaming about how much his head hurts and that its killing him. He knocks himself unconscious and after they fix the car they try to get Clarence admitted into the white hospital. They are refused but get some medicine from a black janitor. She directs them to a woman named Ma Dessie's place who gives them food and gives Clarence something for his head. She insists they leave. Before they do, Clarence tells Cassie he started writing the letter Cassie had told him to write to Sissy. They finish off their trip to Memphis and it is there that they learn what has happened at Pearl Harbor : the Japanese have bombed it. Unable to get a train for Moe to Chicago, and with the car acting up again, they go find the place of the man that Oliver told them about before they left which just happened to be the man who Cassie had met back in Mississippi. The man, who works for a newspaper, helps Stacey out by telling him about a place where he can get his car fixed. Cassie, who's embarrassed by her appearance, takes a bath and notices all the pictures of women Solomon has in his apartment. She helps Solomon out by proofreading an article for the newspaper and then she falls asleep. The next day after she takes another bath, Solomon comes in and dances with Cassie and kisses her. Moe sees and Cassie feels bad about it. She finds out the car got fixed and they have a ticket for Moe and they leave. At the station, Moe tells Cassie what he never got to tell her back in the woods: that he has loved her for a long time and he wanted to marry her after he got a better education. He kisses her again and then he's off to Chicago. They make their way back to pick up Clarence and when they get there, they find out he is dead. The woman gives them the letter that Clarence had written to Sissy saying that he wanted to marry her. They go back to Mississippi broken-hearted only to find more trouble. Harris is going to jail from the belief that he knows where Moe is. Jeremy knows he took Moe but doesn't say anything at first. Eventually, he does and Harris is let go. His father gets mad and hits him. He says he is dead to him and that he doesn't know why he is a "nigger lover". Later, they all try to tell Sissy that Clarence is dead but she doesn't believe them. When she finally does she screams and cries. Still later, Stacey and Cassie go home. Jeremy comes over and tells Stacey he's sorry about the time he chased Harris in the woods and that he's leaving Mississippi and joining the army. The next day, Stacey goes back to Jackson. The story closes with the fact that they never see Jeremy again. |
A Mighty Fortress | David Weber | 2,010 | Following Charis' conquest of Corisande, the people of Corisande are becoming increasingly restive under the occupation (despite the fact that Charis is governing both wisely and compassionately) and 2 major resistance movements begin to coalesce - one in the capital city of Manchyr and one in the Northern aristocratic estates. Both conspiracies enjoin "Temple Loyalists", who view the Church of Charis as an abomination that must be destroyed, with secular leaders, who want to take back their nation from the foreign occupation and both seem to be getting very well organized. While Merlin uses his advanced technology to maintain a constant watch over these groups, he, Emperor Cayleb and Empress Sharleyan (who is now pregnant with her first child) decide not to move against them now and wait until they can crush all opposition in a single stroke. Meanwhile, in Talkyra - the capital city of Delferahk, where the surviving children of Corisandian Prince Hektor are now in exile - the Earl of Coris is summoned to Zion to consult with the church leadership. While Coris is loath to leave Princess Iris and Prince Daivyn alone and despite his suspicions regarding the Inquisition's involvement in their father's death, Coris has little choice but to comply with the Temple's demands. As Sharleyan's pregnancy progresses, Merlin takes her to Nimue's Cave under the Mountains of Light (taking her into space as part of the "scenic route" and impressing her with all the marvels in the cave) so that she can be examined by the medical computer there. He's forced to come clean about the fact that he injected both them and several other people with the nanotech designed to fight diseases and help heal injuries faster and explains that he was determined not to lose any of them to some germ. In Dohlar, the Earl of Thirsk is once again put in a naval command when it becomes clear to his superiors that his reports about the Charisians' ships were accurate. Yet he is still forced to contend with court politics since his former, incompetent predecessor had all too many allies who did not enjoy being proven wrong. Nonetheless, Thirsk turns out to be a shrewd operator, as he manages to get his crews trained very well while changing the general practices of the Dohlaran Fleet (such as forbidding the use of the lash for discipline and asking that sailors and their families be paid by the church on a monthly basis) which earns him even more enemies in Dohlar and in the Temple. In Tellesberg, Archbishop Staynair is preparing for his journey to Corisande and reluctantly tells Baron Wave Thunder about the trunkloads of reports Adorai Dynnys handed to him about corruption within the temple. While Wave Thunder is angry at him for not sharing such intelligence with him, Staynair states that it was given to him under the seal of the confessional so as to protect the source who has already risked her life to get it to them and Wave Thunder relents. In Corisande, Father Tymahn Hahskans begins to draw attention to himself in his sermons on the corruption within the church that he has noticed for a long time yet was forbidden from speaking of. His sermons begin to pose a threat to the Temple Loyalists who are attempting to encourage public unrest and civil disobedience in the capital. As a result, Hahskans is abducted from his home and then brutally tortured to death and left in a public place upon the orders of the former Intendent of Corisande (the representative of the Inquisition). Merlin, who is notified about the abduction by OWL too late to save Hahskans, moves against the conspiracy in Manchyr, sending an anonymous message to Sir Koryn Gahrvai the son of Earl of Anvil Rock, who proceeds to arrest the conspirators, among whom they find the former Intendent. He is later defroked from his post by the Church of Charis and tried for murder and conspiracy and consequently executed along with most of his fellow conspirators in Manchyr. Coris arrives at the temple in the dead of winter and meets with Traynair and Clyntahn to discuss possible ways to encourage a popular revolt in his homeland. Unbeknown to Coris, Clyntahn has managed to move a spy near him to report on his activities, and who gives a detailed report to his deputy, Rayno. In Chisholm, Prince Nahrmahn and his wife Olyvya are brought fully into the truth about Merlin, a revelation they manage to handle quite well, and both are issued communicators and given access to OWL. Merlin takes the opportunity of Sharleyan and Cayleb's stay in the palace during winter to go on another mission to Zion, where he disguises himself as a Silkiahan merchant by the name of Ahbraim Zhevons and makes contact with Madam Ahnzhelyk, The Circle's most prominent ally. He notifies her that Adorai Dynnys arrived safely at Charis and that it's time for her to pack up and leave. She in turn, arranges the smuggling out of over 200 people related to the circle as well as the families of several vicars, the Archbishop of Glacierheart and several other bishops, just as the Inquisition moves against The Circle. Rather than be taken alive, Hawuerd Wylsyn (one of The Circle's leaders), kills his brother Samyl and then fights the Inquisition's guards until he himself is killed. All told, Clyntahn arrests over 2000 people, including over 30 vicars (a tenth of the entire Council of Vicars), dozens of bishops and archbishops, along with all their families and associates, most of whom are brutally questioned and later executed with the full rigor of the "Punishment of Schueler". Earl Coris leaves Zion with extreme haste just as this happens. Vicar Duchairn, while horrified at Clyntahn's actions, is helpless to stop it, yet feels that he must do something to mitigate the damage caused by the High Inquisitor's reign of terror. He notifies Trynair that while he refuses to support Clyntahn's actions and will take no part in them, he will not oppose him, either. Rather, he will fund all the charitable orders so as to present a more gentle face for mother church to help those who will be hurt in the Holy War that has just been declared and Trynair agrees to support Duchairn's decision. Meanwhile, in Corisande, Maikel Staynair makes a pastoral visit accompanied by Merlin and in his own unique way, buys the hearts and minds of the Corisandians. Merlin, in turn, notifies the regency council about the Northern Conspiracy and how the Emperor and Empress have known about for some time, waiting for them to organize so as to decapitate the resistance in one fell swoop and snare the treasonous Grand Duke of Zebediah along with them. He also tells them that they and Viceroy Chermyn will be given the necessary information to move upon the conspirators by a network of "seijin" like himself who have been watching the princedom for some time and who are experts at unobtrusively collecting critical information. Soon afterwards, a traitor in the Imperial Charisian Army sends modern rifles to Corisande through Grand Duke Zebediah and the Regency Council moves in on the traitors, arresting them and the former bishop-executor of the Church in Corisande along with them. In Charis, Master Howsmyn and his researchers begin developing an exploding shell for the navies new iron cannons, while Earl Grey Harbor opens clandestine negotiations with King Gorjah of Tarot. Earl Lock Island uses additional units of the navy to apply even greater preassure on Gorjah, while Merlin, disguised yet again as Zhevons, infiltrates Gorjah bedchamber and convinces him (at dagger point) to agree to join the Charisian Empire. Sharleyan and Cayleb return to Charis just before she gives birth to the Crown Princess Alanah with Merlin supervising in disguise as a brother of the Order of Pasquale. In Dohlar, Earl Thirsk manages to force the Charisians to retreat from their forward base, inflicting serious losses on several of their units (though most manage to escape). This defeat, motivates Thirsk to plan an offensive against the Charisian empire. The Temple, having declared Holy War against Charis and with its new fleet ready, orders the ships to move out and join ships from other mainland fleets in Dohlar. Cayleb and Sharleyan, decide to meet the bulk of the Church's fleet with over 60 ships of their own, however, they discover too late, that the Church had managed to deceive them, sending their ships to the Desnairian Empire instead, by way of the Tarot Channel (as a reminder to Gorjah that they are still in charge). Caught with their most of their fleet badly out of position and unable to do anything about the Church's move on Tarot, Cayleb and Sharleyan decide to send Earl Lock Island (who has also been admitted into the Inner Circle of those who know the truth) and his 25 ships against over 120 galleons (though only 90 are armed at all). However, Howsmyn manages to complete his trials on the new shells and manages to provide some of Lock Islands ships with the new guns and a small amount of the new shells. Lock Island then leads a daring nighttime ambush against the Church's fleet and manages to catch it completely surprised, eliminating an entire column of ships before they can respond. Once his ships penetrate the Church's formation, Lock Island sends a signal flare into the air and the ships equipped with the new guns fire the new shells. The sudden destructiveness of the new weapons overwhelms the Church's fleet, shattering its cohesiveness and morale. Nearly half the ships surrender to the Charisians while only 9 manage to escape, with all the others sunk or burned. The cost to Charisians is high, as nearly half of their own galleons are destroyed. Emperor Cayleb's cousin, Bryahn Lock Island, is also killed in the battle. As Cayleb mourns his cousin's death, Merlin comforts him as best as he can, telling him that Bryahn only did his duty, as Cayleb would've done in his place. Privately, Merlin reflects that the church is likely to rebuild its fleet and try to destroy Charis again, despite this staggering loss, since it has no other choice. |
Confessions of a Teenage Baboon | Paul Zindel | 1,977 | Chris Boyd, at fifteen, is an only child. The story is told from Chris' point of view as the son of Helen, his mother who works as a live-in practical nurse. His father left the family (by saying he was going out to buy a newspaper) when Chris was a young child, moving to Mexico and then dying there a short time later. Helen and Chris move into the Dipardi residence for Helen's most recent assignment, to care for Carmelita Dipardi, the mother of Lloyd Dipardi. Lloyd is described by Chris to be "about thirty years old with enough muscles to beat up anyone within a ten mile radius". There's also "Pops", Lloyd's father, who appears to suffer from dementia. Lloyd has hired Helen to care for his mother. Chris has held on to a relic of the past, a chesterfield trench coat that once belonged to his father, and which he hopes to someday grow into. Helen has her own issues, such as making Chris urinate in a milk bottle on assignments where they don't have their own private bathroom. Helen also takes household items and other goods from clients for her own use, often without asking, and this soon manifests in one of many confrontations between the hard-drinking and partying Lloyd and the more introverted Chris. Chris also befriends Harold, a boy about his own age with a physique similar to Lloyd's. Harold serves as a buffer between the rather tense relationship between Chris and Lloyd. Harold understands Chris' insecurities as a peer, but also defends Lloyd, as Lloyd has helped him develop his own body and become the picture of health he later became, as well as his confidence. Over the course of the assignment, Chris and Lloyd begin to learn from each other, and Lloyd helps Chris develop a workout regimen, and even helps him become confident enough to smash the milk bottle and stand up to his mother. The assignment ends with the death of Carmelita, and Chris and Helen move on. Then while on a bus, Chris learns that Helen has intentionally left behind his father's trench coat. Chris immediately runs off the bus and back to the Dipardi house to retrieve it, believing that Lloyd has shredded it for Helen literally cleaning them out. What Chris finds is nothing at all what he expected. He sympathizes with Lloyd's sadness over the loss of his mother. Likewise, Lloyd sympathizes with Chris, aware of his difficult home life. Nonetheless, both share a common bond...a difficult relationship with their mothers, that no matter what challenges exist, they will always cherish. It's a turning point in Chris' life. He returns to his mother, but leaves the coat behind, no longer feeling the need to have it. |
The King of the Sea | Emilio Salgari | null | Malaysia, 1868. A mysterious figure has armed the Dyaks and led them into battle against Tremal-Naik. Yanez races to the rescue but soon learns that Sandokan and his Tigers are also under threat. Despite eleven years of peace, the new Rajah of Sarawak, James Brooke’s nephew, has ordered the pirates to leave their island home or face all out war. Is this the end for the Tigers of Mompracem? |
Floating Down to Camelot | null | null | When Bill, an impoverished Cambridge student, is even unable to pay for his mother's funeral, his thoughts turn to crime. However, a friend warns him that "To have no money is to join the aristocracy, Bill. When the day comes for you to have it, you will have left the aristocracy, never to return." Another central character, Helen, an undergraduate reading English literature, lacks stability in her life and finds her main solace in poetry and particularly in the romantic medieval work of Tennyson. Her obsession with The Lady of Shalott, and her identification with the lady of the poem, bring her to a fatal ending. Helen has been seduced by the medieval romances of the Victorian era but does not wish to be seduced by Bill. Lance, a scientist, hopes to save the world, but the effect of his experiments on Helen is less positive. Meanwhile, 'the Cambridge rapist' is at large. "This is the world of bedsitter girls, of Auden and Betjeman and Brian Patten." By buying a Donald Duck mask for bank robbing purposes, Bill unwittingly identifies himself with the rapist. In the course of a week during the University's Michaelmas term, the tensions and interplay between the leading characters lead not only to bank robbery, but also to ritual castration, transvestism, and a fatal car crash. "From the Whipple Museum to the University Arms Hotel, intellectuals and tourists turned pale. What could have caused it, this catastrophic sound?" The novel includes many quotations, not only from Tennyson but also from Thomas Hood, William Thackeray, and W. H. Auden. |
The Case for God | Karen Armstrong | 2,009 | In the Introduction, Armstrong presents two forms of knowledge, mythos and logos. Since the 16th and 17th century, she says logos governed civilization, resulting in two phenomena: fundamentalism and atheism. Armstrong says that the "new" atheists have made some valid criticisms of religion but that they focused on fundamentalism. She says they "aren't radical enough" and finds their work "disappointingly shallow". Her study of religion during the prior twenty years gave her this book and something fresh to [bring to] the table". |
Dead Babies | null | null | Amis's second novel—a parody of Agatha Christie's country-house mysteries—takes place over a single weekend at a manor called Appleseed Rectory. |
Reef of Death | null | 1,998 | In the story, 17-year-old Peter Collins McPhee (nicknamed P.C. because he loves playing computer games) is called by his Uncle Cliff to solve a mystery in Australia. The brother of a young Aboriginal girl named Maruul has gone suddenly missing while searching for their tribe's treasure, told of in a riddle. She says there was a terrible screeching sound, and a boat came near just as her brother disappeared. but P.C. finds that there is a killer creature living in the depths of the reef. The creature attacks and kills his uncle. The two kids go to Wally Wallygong, an Aboriginal fishing shop owner, who explains the riddle. Afterwards, they all go to the reef location of the creature and pretend to be attacked by snakes. The strange ship that has been passing by takes them on board. They attempt to escape and are almost killed. They find out that the captain of the ship, a geologist, has had the treasure—an encarved opal wall—all along, and was making the screeching noise mechanically, which signaled the creature to attack. She also plans to destroy the treasure. P.C. tricks the creature into eating the captain, and Maruul returns to her village with the treasure. The village buys long-needed resources with the treasure. |
Tentacles | Roland Smith | 2,009 | Tentacles begins as the protagonists from Cryptid Hunters board the Coelacanth, a presumably haunted ship, on a voyage led by Dr. Wolfe to capture a giant squid alive. During the voyage, there are Mokele-mbembe eggs (which Marty and Grace had found in the Congo in Cryptid Hunters) incubating in a laboratory restricted to most of the crew. Unbeknownst to Wolfe, Blackwood's thug, Butch is on board, planning on stealing the eggs and Grace for his boss. The book culminates in a showdown between Blackwood and Wolfe, ending in Ted Bronson, Wolfe's partner's, successful capture of a squid, though Blackwood, thinking Wolfe and the rest of the crew to be dead, escapes with the hatchlings, and Grace. Unbeknownst to Wolfe, Grace tricked Blackwood into taking her, with the dragonspy hidden on her, allowing her to be one step ahead of Blackwood. |
The Land of Little Rain | Mary Hunter Austin | 1,903 | The Land of Little Rain is a collection of short stories and essays detailing the landscape and inhabitants of the American Southwest. A message of environmental conservation and a philosophy of cultural and sociopolitical regionalism loosely links the stories together. ;"The Land of Little Rain" The opening essay describes the "Country of Lost Borders," an area of land between Death Valley and the High Sierras. The image created of the land at the beginning of the story is one of almost unbearable heat and dryness, punctuated by violent storms. Despite the description of how inhospitable the landscape is, at the end Austin proposes that the costs the land imposes upon a man are worth it because it provides man with peace of mind and body that cannot be achieved any other way. ;"Water Trails of the Ceriso" The section's title refers to the trails made by wild animals moving towards sources of water. The essay provides descriptions of the many animals that travel along the trails, including coyotes, rabbits, and quails. Their ability to find water where there seems to be none is extolled by Austin, a skill which she believes no human is able to match. ;"The Scavengers" This essay describes the various animals that live in the desert that feed upon carrion—most notably, the buzzards and the carrion crows. This scavenging is portrayed as a natural part of the desert, with a multitude of the scavengers working together to find food. The end of the story criticizes the actions of man with regard to the desert. The unnatural trash he leaves cannot used by the scavengers in the story, and as such serves as a stark contrast to the desert's natural processes for recycling waste. ;"The Pocket Hunter" A pocket hunter is a type of miner who hunts for pockets of ore deposits. In the story, the pocket hunter described by Mary Austin lives off of the land with minimal interactions with the civilized world. This harmony with nature, Austin argues, is essential to the pocket hunter's simple happiness. Despite Austin's muted praise, the pocket hunter wants to strike it rich in order to move to Europe and mingle with the landed elite, a goal he accomplishes. However, by the end of the story, the pocket hunter returns to the desert since it is his "destiny". ;"Shoshone Land" "Shoshone Land" narrates the experiences of Winnenap', an American Indian medicine man originally from Shoshone Land who was captured by the Paiute tribe. The story initially revolves around Winnenap', but quickly changes to a detailed description of the environment and wildlife of Shoshone Land to form an intimate tie between Winnenap' and the land he formerly inhabited. ;"Jimville—a Bret Harte Town" In the beginning of the section, Jimville is touted as a better source of inspiration for Bret Harte than he found during his own travels. Jimville's inhabitants are likened to the fictional characters that were present in some of Harte's short stories. Austin portrays Jimville as a small town set in a harsh environment and inhabited by simple yet endearing toughs. Although the inhabitants endure many hardships, Austin claims that there is an almost unexplainable pull which keeps them in town and encourages new travelers to stay. ;"My Neighbor's Field" The story is about a plot of land which changes hands many times—Austin characterizes this plot of land as an ideal field. She criticizes the owners of the field, the Indians and shepherds, because their habits and lifestyle scar the land. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that the field is destined to develop into an urban area. Austin claims that while the field may at that point serve a greater human use, it will not be better for the land and all life. ;"The Mesa Trail" This section describes one of the trails that runs through the American Southwest. It contains several passages detailing the damage human activity has done to the land. She criticizes the "unsightly scars" left by the Paiute Indians in the form of abandoned campoodies and the damaged plant life left by domesticated animals such as sheep. ;"The Basket Maker" This story follows the life of Seyavi, a Paiute Indian who loses her mate, lives alone with her child, and sells baskets she weaves in order to survive. Austin claims that the Paiutes make the land itself their home, with the natural ridges of mountains as walls and the wild almond bloom as their furnishings. It is because of this that Austin argues that the Paiutes will always be homesick when in homes built by man, as man cannot replicate nature's walls and furnishings. ;"The Streets of the Mountains" This essay consists of long description of mountains and their respective trails. The section characterizes the beauty of the mountains and their inhabitants. The story also contains critiques people who dwell in man-made houses. The comfort provided by such houses, Austin argues, results in people not being able to truly understand the beauty and divinity of the mountains. ;"Water Borders" The essay revolves around the streams and lakes that can be found in the mountains, generally formed from the melting snow higher in the mountains. The particular mountain in the story is Oppapago, a mountain within the Sierras in a forest reserve. Austin contrasts the mountain landscape to a meadow outside a forest reserve, which lacks color and beauty because it is damaged by the grazing of sheep. ;"Other Water Borders" "Other Water Borders" is centered more on the plants affected by the water from the mountains, both wild and cultivated. The story begins with a depiction of a squabble between several locals over an irrigation ditch filled by water from the mountains. This is followed by a series of descriptions of the variety of plants that the irrigation ditch allows to thrive. Found within these depictions of plant life is Austin's lament of the complexities of civilization. Austin implies that with the advent of cities and manufactured objects people have lost an innate ability to know what natural remedies may be beneficial or detrimental to one's health. ;"Nurslings of the Sky" The "nurslings of the sky" are storms, formed in the hills and given almost human characteristics by Austin. The beginning of the story contains an account of the destruction of a town by floods and snow. The blame for the events is not placed on nature, but rather the people whose poorly placed town was destroyed. The story continues with descriptions of storms and their effects upon the wildlife of the area, pausing to explain how the land teaches people things. The story uses the example of a group of Native Americans who learn the use of smoke signals by observing the dust pillars formed by desert winds at the edges of mesas. The end of the story expresses Austin's discontent at how people have dealt with the weather by determining the best seasons to plant crops rather than by musing about the "eternal meanings of the skies". ;"The Little Town of the Grape Vines" "The Little Town of Grape Vines," or El Pueblo de Las Uvas, tells a story of a simple people living in peace with their environment. With houses made of mud, homemade wine, and gardens to provide the fruits, vegetables, and herbs, the townspeople live a simple life without the complex notions of wealth and class that Austin feels have corrupted much of society. Austin describes the lives of the people living in the town, lives which consist of little more than planting, harvesting, eating, making music, raising children, and dancing. The end of the story is a call back to the simple life exemplified in "The Little Town of the Grape Vines," criticizing those people who are overly obsessed with their own perceived importance in a world where their actions truly matter little. |
Mention My Name in Atlantis | John Jakes | null | The story is told by the unreliable narrator Hoptor the Vintner, a fast-talking operator with all the right contacts who is convinced in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary that he can smooth over anything. "Mention my name" is his tagline, meant to assure his auditors that dropping it in various quarters is their ticket to getting whatever they want. |
Barbarian Princess | null | 1,982 | Correus Appius Julianus is the slave born son of retired Roman general Flavius Appius Julianus who is currently posted as a centurion to the Legio II Augusta in Western Britain under the command of provincial governor Sextus Julius Frontinus. The novel opens with Correus returning from a spying expedition to some of the local British tribes, one of which, the Silures, will provide the main antagonist in the person of their king Bendigeid. Upon returning to his legion, Correus loses his German mistress Freita to the knife of a Briton trying to kill the governor. He is subsequently involved in a battle against the tribe that killed his Freita and must also find time to rescue his half-brother Flavius Appius Julianus, his father's heir with whom he has an uneasy and somewhat adversarial relationship, from the Silures' allies. And Correus also must come to grips with his increasing interest in the governor's hostage - a young British princess named Ygerna who has been given into his care to Romanize. In the meantime, the tribes of western Britain try to survive the governor's attempt to tie them up into the Roman Empire. |
Strange Fruit | null | null | Strange Fruit takes place in a Georgia town in the 1920s and focuses on the relationship between Tracy Deen, son of some prominent white townspeople, and Nonnie, a beautiful and intelligent young black woman that he once rescued from being attacked by a group of white boys. The two had been holding a secret affair, with Nonnie becoming pregnant with Tracy's child, only for Tracy to at one point plan for her to marry 'Big Henry', a man she despises. Tracy himself had originally planned to marry another white townsperson, but changed his mind after a conversation with one of the local preachers and intends on making his relationship with Nonnie public. He instead goes to Nonnie's house and tells her of his original intent to have her wed to Big Henry, having paid him money to do so. Despite this change of heart, Nonnie's brother overhears Big Henry telling of Tracy's payment and Big Henry's impending wedding to Nonnie and why. This prompts Nonnie's brother to go after Tracy and when Tracy's body is discovered later by Big Henry, Big Henry is accused of murdering a white man and is lynched. |
Fever Dream | Lincoln Child | 2,010 | Special Agent Pendergast teams up with Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta to reveal the mystery surrounding his wife's murder. The wife was after a painting that turned out to be highly relevant to a neurological disease. With the help of her brother, she recruited a team of pharmaceuticals to study this disease, but when the secret project began to cut corners, she tried to back out. She was then killed for trying to expose the project to the general public. Pendergast tracks down most of the members involved. |
Jesus Video | Andreas Eschbach | null | During an archaeological dig in Israel, American college student Stephen Cornelius Foxx discovers the remains of a man who seemingly died about two thousand years ago. Among the dead man's belongings is a small linen bag that holds the user manual for a digital video camera. Foxx and his mentor, Professor Wilford-Smith, later find out that this particular model will not be released by its producer, Sony, for another three years. Soon they begin to speculate that the dead man may have been a time traveller from the future, who went back in time to film a significant event two millennia ago -- and of course, the most significant thing to film during that era was Jesus Christ. Media magnate John Kaun, the financier of the dig, initiates a search for the camera, which seems to be hidden at an unknown location. Stephen, however, wants to find it on his own, with help from fellow student Judith Menez and her brother, Yehoshuah. A race for the Jesus Video begins, and soon becomes more dangerous than anyone imagined, as the Roman Catholic Church is doing all in its power to keep the video from going public. Stephen and Judith eventually find the camera, which they discover has been guarded by a secret order of monks for centuries, but are unable to access its memory because the batteries are empty. As the military and the Vatican's agents follow them, they flee into the desert, where they eventually succumb to the heat. The two young people are saved by John Kaun and Professor Wilford-Smith, who treat them and reactivate the camera. However, at that moment Father Scarfaro and other agents of the Church show up, take the camera, and destroy it. Scarfaro explains that if Jesus had lived today, he would only have been a troublemaker, as he was in his own time, and it would be the Church allegedly founded on his teachings who would try him. Three years pass. Stephen gets a call from a video company that gets him very excited; he goes to meet with Professor Wilford-Smith and finally learns the truth: Wilford-Smith discovered two strange video cassettes back in 1947, but had no means to watch the footage on them as the technology had not been invented yet. Once enough time had passed for him to realize what they were, he began looking for the camera. Now, he has gotten his hands on a new Sony video player that can play the footage. Just then, an armed commando unit enters Wilford-Smith's home and demands the cassette. The professor has no problem with them taking it, as he has already distributed hundreds of copies all over the world. The video spreads, but reactions vary greatly: for some people, the humble man in the footage, and his message of love, are deeply touching, inspiring them to completely re-think their life and their values, while others only see a blurry video of a plain, uninteresting rabbi. Still, it sires a new sect of Christianity based on what its followers believe to be Christ's original teachings. Another two and a half years later: Stephen and Judith, who are now in a committed relationship, manage a motel together. They meet with Peter Eisenhardt, an author who was also part of John Kaun's team, and who, unlike them, still believes the video to be a fake. At this point, a young man named John enters in on the discussion. Before getting on his bus to the airport, he tells them that he will be going on a tourist trip to Israel -- and shows them his brand new Sony MR-01 digital video camera. |
How to Ditch Your Fairy | Justine Larbalestier | 2,008 | How to Ditch Your Fairy is set in a world where a lot of people have their own personal fairy. These fairies bestow certain kinds of luck on the possessor: there are loose-change-finding fairies, good-hair fairies, clothes-shopping fairies, all-boys-will-like-you fairies, parking fairies, etc. Charlie (short for Charlotte) has a parking fairy; if she is in a car, a perfect parking spot is found on the first try. But Charlie is only 14 and she does not drive and hates exhaust, so she thinks she has been cursed. She wants a fairy like her best friend Rochelle has, a clothes-shopping fairy that makes everything look perfect on her, or like her frenemy Fiorenze has, an every-boy-will-like-you fairy. Charlie's attempts to starve her fairy away by walking everywhere collects her demerits for lateness at her school, New Avalon Sports High, where the focus is on sports. The water polo star, Danders Anders, virtually kidnaps her in his car for his illegal purposes and which drastically halts her attempt to remove the fairy. And when the pulchritudinous new boy, Steffi, on whom she has a crush appears to fall for Fiorenze, Charlie gets drastic. She and Fiorenze, who actually hates her fairy, join forces, with Charlie discovering that Fiorenze is not a bad person, and they hatch a plan to switch their fairies, and she learns to be careful about what she wishes for and how the grass is always greener. With the every-boy-will-like-you fairy, girls turn on Charlie, and she wonders whether Steffi likes her or if he is just responding to her fairy. The story is about Charlie’s quest to get rid of her fairy, get her first boyfriend, stay out of trouble at school, and get a new even better fairy to replace the old one. |
Lothair | Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield | 1,870 | Lothair, a wealthy young orphaned Scottish nobleman (loosely based on the 3rd Marquess of Bute) has been brought up in the legal guardianship of his Presbyterian uncle Lord Culloden and of a Catholic convert, Cardinal Grandison (based on H. E. Manning). When he comes of age Lothair finds himself the centre of attention of three fascinating women, Lady Corisande, Clare Arundel, and Theodora Campion, representing the Church of England, the Roman Catholic church, and the Radical cause respectively. Wavering in his allegiances, he unsuccessfully proposes marriage to Lady Corisande, almost joins the Catholic church, and finally joins Theodora in Italy as a volunteer in the army of Garibaldi, which is fighting to take the Papal States for Italy. Theodora is killed at Viterbo, and Lothair is seriously wounded at the Battle of Mentana, but is nursed back to health by Clare Arundel, who tries to persuade him that he was saved by an apparition of the Virgin Mary. He takes refuge with the bohemian dandy Mr. Phoebus (a thinly disguised Frederic Leighton), who takes him to Syria, which, as the cradle of Christianity, seems the ideal place to reflect on the roots of the Faith. In Jerusalem he meets Paraclete, a mystic who teaches him that there is truth in many religions. Lothair decides in favour of the Church of England, resisting the attempts of Cardinal Grandison and other prelates, including Mgr Catesby (a thinly disguised Thomas Capel) to convert him to Catholicism, and returns to England where he marries Lady Corisande. |
Montmorency | Eleanor Updale | 2,004 | London, England, 1875. The story begins with a man falling through a glass roof while fleeing from the police, onto a grinding machine below. He would have died if not for the intervention of Doctor Robert Farcett. Farcett hopes to prove himself an accomplished doctor by working on the criminal's complex wounds, and continues to work on the thief after he is imprisoned and given the temporary name "Prisoner 493". He soon takes the name "Montmorency" because he was sentenced under the name "Montmorency" in the criminal record. This is due to the fact that the name "Montmorency" was on the bag he had with him when he fell through the glass roof. During his sentence Montmorency becomes a chief exhibit at the Scientific Society (as its name suggests, the Society was a place for medical and scientific gatherings). It is at one of these gatherings that Montmorency comes across Sir Joseph Bazalgette, who is the planner and supervisor of the ongoing London sewer project. From that moment on, this new system would make a drastic change in Montmorency's life. Montmorency realizes that the sewers are the perfect escape route for his daring robberies. However, Montmorency also has high hopes for living as a gentlemen, mainly by selling the expensive items he could steal via the sewers. Since rich people do not normally smell like sewer water or go about in ratty clothes, he finds himself in need of an accomplice—a fellow thief with knowledge, capability, and secrecy to accomplish any given tasks. He formulates a genius idea of having two different yet coequal identities—Scarper and Montmorency. That way no one will discover the true identity of the thief. Scarper, the thief, will pose as a servant to the extravagant and wealthy Montmorency. After three long years of waiting in prison, Montmorency is released from jail. It is notable at this point that all communications between Dr. Farcett and Montmorency ceases after his release from jail. Scarper accomplishes many robberies under the name 'Scarper' (including burgling Doctor Farcett), and is never caught. During this time, Scarper rents a room in the slums to stash the particularly valuable goods. The place he stays is run by Vi Evans (who later becomes one of Montmorency's close friends). Meanwhile, Montmorency rents a room out at the Marimion Hotel for his wealthier self. The robberies committed by Scarper make the papers. Eventually the police pick up a man named "Freakshow", a friend of Montmorency's from his prison days, and pin Scarper's thievery on him. He is hanged for Scarper's crimes, a great source of guilt for Montmorency from then on. Montmorency saves a man by the name of Fox-Selwyn from a carriage accident outside the Marimion. He and Fox-Selwyn hit it off immediately and they become friends, and after a bet forces him to put all of his criminal skills to good use breaking into the Mauramanian Embassy to spy for information - "I bet you I could get in!" Turning it into a gambling matter had finally gotten his companion's attention., Fox-Selwyn gives Montmorency a job as a spy for the British government. His first assignment is to break into the Mauramanian embassy and listen for information that could prevent European war, which earns him a permanent position in the British government. Eventually he frees himself from Scarper and returns all the stolen goods that remain in his possession, resolving to be an honest man. |
The Wicker Man | Robin Hardy | 1,978 | The Wicker Man novelisation follows the plot of the film closely, but also expands upon the original story, incorporating additional backstory and new material that would have been unable to fit in the film. Some of the novel's scenes were originally shot for the film, but were cut to reduce running time and have not been seen since the loss of the film negative. For example, the character of Lord Summerisle's gillie is restored, and the reader learns of Howie's interest in bird-watching. The novelisation reveals that Sergeant Neil Howie had originally attempted to become a priest, but that he was daunted by the prospect of preaching the minority faith of Episcopalianism in the staunchly Presbyterian Scottish Highlands. Howie's relationship with his fiancée, Mary Bannock, is explored in greater detail. Allan Brown writes that Howie's arguments with Lord Summerisle have more impact in the novel than they did in the film, as the casting of Christopher Lee, who is associated with many villainous roles, made it difficult for the film's audience to trust Lord Summerisle or consider his arguments seriously. In the novel, "the battle is more ambivalent, more unsettling – and, in the end, perhaps more in keeping with the treacherous moral landscape Shaffer initially envisioned." The novel expands upon the film's ending. The film ended with Howie being burnt to death as a sacrificial offering inside the Wicker Man; while the novel does include this scene, it also features an additional epilogue where Howie's seaplane is spotted on May Day, suggesting that he may have survived somehow. |
The Evolutionary Void | Peter F. Hamilton | 2,010 | Exposed as the Second Dreamer, Araminta has become the target of a galaxy-wide search by government agent Paula Myo and the psychopath known as the Cat, along with others equally determined to prevent, or facilitate, the pilgrimage of the Living Dream cult into the heart of the Void. An indestructible microuniverse, the Void may contain paradise, as the cultists believe, but it is also a deadly threat. For the miraculous reality that exists inside its boundaries demands energy, energy drawn from everything outside those boundaries: from planets, stars, galaxies . . . from everything that lives, for the Pilgrimage will trigger a super-massive expansion of the Void. Meanwhile, the parallel story of Edeard, the Waterwalker, as told through a series of dreams communicated to the gaiafield via Inigo, the First Dreamer, continues to unfold. But the inspirational tale of this idealistic young man takes a darker and more troubling turn as he finds himself faced with powerful new enemies, and temptations more powerful still, to reach fulfillment in the end. Named a Silfen Friend like her ancestress Mellanie, Araminta chooses to face her unwanted responsibilities, with no guarantee of success or survival. She takes on the role of Second Dreamer to lead the first wave of Living Dream, 24 million people, into the Void, leaving everyone confused and lost by her actions. However, in actuality, she is playing a double game. Using her original body to lead the Living Dream as a diversion, she borrows one of her fiance's (Mr. Bovey) bodies to set out to destroy the Void. She is able to connect with a Skylord and travel the Silfen Paths. With time running out, a repentant Inigo decides to release Edeard's final dream: a dream whose message is scarcely less dangerous than the pilgrimage promises to be, where perfection is achieved, so that nothing else is left to strive for and the human race in the Void has started to devolve. He goes to the Spike to meet Ozzie and stays there to meet with Araminta, who is using one of her fiance's bodies, and Oscar. Third Dreamer Gore has a plan to reason with the Heart, the core of the Void. He secures the help of Delivery Man and travels to the Anomine homeworld to retrieve the mechanism that allowed them to go post-physical. He is able to connect with Justine, his daughter, who is currently in the Void, by way of Dreams. The monomaniacal Ilanthe, leader of the breakaway Accelerator Faction, seeks dominion in the Void. It is not Fusion with the Void to attain post-physical status that she wants, but to have control over everything. She has the ship, the most powerful starship ever built. Using Dark Fortress technology, she sets up a barrier around the Sol system which leaves ANA and the deterrence fleet trapped inside. It is this technology which she has equipped the ships traveling to the Void with, the ability to create a forcefield which the warrior Raiel cannot penetrate. |
The Emperor's Games | null | 1,984 | Correus Appius Julianus is the slave born son of retired Roman general Flavius Appius Julianus who is currently posted as a senior centurion to the Roman naval base of Misenum in modern-day Naples near Pompeii. The novel opens with Correus frustrated at serving in a peacetime establishment and requesting transfer to a more active post. After overseeing the new emperor Titus's games, including a naval fight, Correus' wish is granted as he is sent off to destroy some pirates while his young wife Ygerna has to remain behind to give birth to her baby. She also has to try to assert her authority as a stepmother over Correus' five-year old son, which provokes a family war with Correus' half-sister Julia, who has raised the boy for the past five years. Upon returning from his successful mission to destroy the pirates, Correus is caught up in the new emperor Domitian's determination to win a triumph at the expense of Correus' old adversaries on the German border. This is complicated by Correus' own off-again, on-again friendship with the German chief and his half-brother Flavius' romance with the widow of that same former chieftain. There is also a complicated subplot involving a truly nasty Senator who is attempting to orchestrate a plot to depose the emperor - a plot that the Julianus family ends up being intimately involved in through the actions of their brother-in-law Paulinus. The fast-paced conclusion ends with the defeat of the Germans, and the transfer of Correus to a new post in the Roman province of Dacia. |
Sostiene Pereira | Antonio Tabucchi | 1,994 | The novel is set in Portugal in the summer of 1938, during Salazar's dictatorship. Pereira, an old journalist of a Portoguese newspaper - the Lisboa - who loves literature and pratically spends all his life for it, reads an essay written by a young man about death. He calls the young man, whose name is Monteiro Rossi, to ask him to write "advanced obituaries" about great writers who could die at any moment. Not having ever been much concerned with politics, Pereira's world is turned upside down when he begins to get to know the distracted and leftist youth. The articles he receives from Monteiro Rossi (and pays him for) have a definite leftist slant and are completely unpublishable, but something continues to attract Pereira to him, perhaps the fact that his wife died before he could have children of his own. His visit to a clinic to help his ailing heart puts him in contact with a doctor, with whom he becomes close friends and discusses the doubts he is beginning to have about his isolated and apolitical life. In the end fascist police visit Pereira and beat to death Monteiro Rossi. With the help of a phone call from his doctor friend, Pereira manages to slip an article about the murder and condemning the regime into the newspaper he works for. |
The Efficiency Expert | Edgar Rice Burroughs | 1,921 | Jimmy Torrance, football player, boxer, socialite, athlete and all-around Big Man On Campus, is nearly kicked out of university, but upon pleading for a second chance, he is granted one and successfully graduates. Spurning an offer from his father to come work for the family business, he determines to make something of himself first, and repairs to Chicago. However, nothing comes of his many attempts to find work, and he despairs. Friendship with a pickpocket known as "The Lizard" cheers him up and he reapplies himself, finally finding work in a department store. He also makes the acquaintance of a young lady of quality, one Elizabeth Compton. Torrance gains (and loses) a number of jobs in rapid succession, including ladies' hosiery clerk, waiter, boxer, and milkman, chancing to meet Elizabeth and her friend Harriet Holden in most of these occupations. During his stint as a waiter, he also wins the friendship of a prostitute with a heart of gold named Edith (Little Eva). Elizabeth's father runs a factory and is worried that he is losing money. He advertises for an "efficiency expert" to come help him turn things around. Edith sees the ad and encourages Torrance to apply, writing him fraudulent letters of recommendation to assist him. Torrance does indeed get the job, where he immediately begins to improve things while simultaneously beginning to suspect that someone at the factory is stealing. Elizabeth's fiancé Harold Bince, the factory's assistant manager – who is himself the embezzler in question, due to large gambling debts – tries to get Torrance fired, an effort in which Elizabeth herself eagerly assists. Torrance figures out the truth and has Mr. Compton engage an outside firm of accountants to prove his case, not wanting to deliver the bad news himself. In desperation, Bince tries to get rid of Torrance, leading up to a violent climax in which Elizabeth's father is murdered and Torrance is framed. The Lizard and Little Eva work to get him off, an effort that finally succeeds when The Lizard takes the stand and proves Torrance could not have committed the murder. Bince, who has persuaded Elizabeth to marry him, is exposed and commits suicide. A sadder and wiser Elizabeth asks Torrance to take over as manager of the factory. |
Book A Novel | null | null | The story follows English professor Adam Snell as he realizes that someone is trying to kill both him and his book, Sovrana Sostrata, a book about truth. As a metafiction work the novel parodies literary forms—each chapter is told in a different style ranging from traditional linear drama, to newspaper reports, to a playwright’s script, to a carefully annotated scholarly work from the 19th century—to the point where the novel’s footnotes come alive and literally try to take over the narrative. |
The Sunless City | J.E. Preston Muddock | 1,905 | The story centres on the lead character, a prospector named Professor Josiah Flintabbaty Flonatin. Flonatin travels by submarine through a bottomless lake in the Rocky Mountains. While exploring the bottom of the (bottomless) lake he discovers a strange city. Within the city the local currency is tin, the streets are paved with gold, and the city is ruled by women. Flonatin, who is a bachelor, decides to escape the city, and does so by climbing out of a crater, which is actually an extinct volcano. |
The Life of Josiah Henson | Josiah Henson | 1,849 | This slave narrative, begins with an ‘Advertisement.’ In the case of this book, the use of the word Advertisement is not to introduce a paid announcement to publicize a type of good or enterprise. Instead, its function is that of a notice to the readers to the fact that the work is the authentic work of Josiah Henson. The advertisement discusses the fact that the memoir was written from a dictation given by Josiah Henson, and so, the substance of the work is his own while “little more than the structure of the sentences belongs to another.” Through the paragraph long passage, to further authenticate the work, it expressly says that the work is “not fiction, but fact.” (Henson, 1) The narrative begins with a description of Henson’s life growing up. He was born June 15, 1789 in Charles County, Maryland, on a farm belonging to Mr. Francis N. He was the youngest of six children. His mother was the property of Dr. Josiah McP., but was hired routinely to Mr. N, who owned his father. His earliest known memory was of his father bloody and beaten. Henson eventually found out that his father had been beaten because he had beaten a white man for assaulting Henson’s mother, which was punishable by Maryland law. His father’s right ear was cut off and he had received a hundred lashes as punishment. His father, from that point afterward became a “different man” and the Mr. N. Eventually sold him. Dr. McP stopped hiring out his mother afterward, but Josiah went to live with her for two or three years. He expresses that his time on Dr. McP’s plantation was some of his happiest. During this time he learned about God from his mother, who frequently recited the Lord's prayer. Not long after, Dr. McP died after falling from a horse and drowning. As a consequence, the doctor’s property, which included Henson and his family, was divided throughout the country. On the day this was happening after watching her other five children get sold off, his mother was bought by Mr. R. (Isaac Riley). At seeing that Henson would not be bought also, she went to Mr. R and begged at his feet. He kicked her away and ignored her. Henson was then sold to another master, but after seeing that Henson had falling sick, he was sold to Mr. Riley. As Henson was still young when he arrived at the plantation of Mr. R, he was initially responsible for small tasks, like taking the men at work buckets of water. Eventually, when he was “older and taller”, Henson went to work in the fields. Henson proceeds to describe the every day life of a slave: Meals were given twice a day and they consisted of items like corn meal and salt herrings, or vegetables that one might raise by themselves. Breakfast was served at 12 noon after laboring from daylight, and dinner when the work day was over. A single piece of coarse cloth was given to children, while the older individuals had a pair of pants or a gown, a hat once in two or three years, and possibly a jacket. They slept in log huts that could “not protect them from the dampness and cold, nor permit the existence of the common decencies of life.” By the age of 15, Henson states that he was a strong and athletic youth, filled with spirit and energy. He found that he could “run faster and father, wrestle longer, and jump higher” than anyone around him. He was also found to be smart and clever. Because of his obedience, loyalty and usefulness, when Henson asked Mr. R if he could attend a sermon he mother had suggested to him, he was allowed to go. While he was there he a learned a text that would change his life: Hebrews ii. 9; “The he, by the grace of God, should taste of death for every man.”Henson was incredibly impressed by the fact that Jesus cared about every man, including a slave like himself, as this was the first time he had ever heard anything of this sort. Henson also learned that Christ died for the salvation of the entire world, even the poor, even the enslaved. Henson looks back and remembers that day as his “Awakening to a new life.” After this, Henson shares an anecdote about his masters involvement in more secular affairs. His master, Mr. R, was routinely involved in drinking and gambling on Saturday and Sunday evenings. When he went, Mr. R. (as well as the other men in attendance) would usually bring a slave with them to help in the event that a fight broke out, or to get home because they were frequently too drunk to make it back or even get on their horses. On one such night, Mr. R fought with his brother’s overseer. Henson, in doing his duty grabbed him master and took him home. Mr. L (the overseer) found that Henson had been to rough with him, and on a day that followed, he ambushed Henson. Mr. L, along with two other slaves beat him (although with some difficulty, due to Henson’s youth and athleticism). As the fight carried on, Henson eventually lost the fight as well as full functioning in of his arms (Henson would never recover full range of movement). Henson’s master prosecuted Mr. L for beating and maiming his property, but Mr. L in response said that he was assaulted first and his master had to pay all of the costs of court. Henson worked as an overseer throughout the rest of his time on the plantation. As an overseer, the slaves he worked with received better food and treatment, while his master made a profit off of Henson’s skills. At age 22, he married a woman who was very “efficient and well-taught.” She belonged to a neighboring family. In the narrative, Henson expresses that in the 40 years they had been married they had twelve children, and he never had any reason to regret the union. Soon after in 1825, Mr. R fell on to economic hardship and was sued by a brother in law. Desperate, he begged Henson (with tears in his eyes) to promise to help him. Duty bound, Henson agreed. Mr. R then told him that he needed to take his 18 slaves to his brother in Kentucky by foot. During the trip, he and his companions stopped through the state of Ohio, which was a free state at the time. The people he encountered told him that he and those with him could be free if they wanted to be. Henson narrates that he never even though of running away because the only way that he believed was right for him to get his freedom would be to buy himself from his master. He reports that he had a sense of honor about the subject and that he would not violate this honor even for freedom. They arrived at Daviess Kentucky in the middle of April, 1825 at the plantation of Mr. Amos Riley. Henson was 36 at this time. The new plantation was larger, with 80 to 100 slaves, had an abundance of food, and more opportunities for Henson to attend religious events. From the years 1825 to 1828 he studied and eventually was made a preacher by a Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1828, his master decided to sell all of the slaves but Henson and his family. Not much later, in the summer of 1828, Henson met a Methodist preacher. The preacher found that Henson had too much capacity to remain a slave and came up with a way for Henson to gain the means to buy his freedom. The preacher instructed Henson to get permission to travel back to his master in Maryland, and that he would “try to put you in a way by which I think you may succeed in buying yourself.” So, in September 1828, Henson set out to return to Maryland. On the way he gave various lectures, for which he was paid. By the time he got back, he had 275 dollars, a good horse and clothes that were of better quality that than of his master in Maryland. After returning he began to set in motion his plans for freedom. He began by going to meet with Mr. Frank. Mr. Frank was the brother of his mistress in Maryland. The two had become good friends while Henson worked on Maryland plantation as an overseer. Often, Henson reports, Mr. Frank wouldn’t have enough food to eat and would eat at Hensons. Mr. Frank agreed to negotiate for Henson’s freedom. Eventually Mr. R agreed to give Henson his freedom papers for $450, with $350 in cash and the remainder in a note. Henson had enough to produce the cash, so all that was left was to pay the $100 note. On March 9, 1829, Henson received his papers and began to prepare to return to Kentucky. Upon leaving, his master stopped him. Mr. R asked Henson what he would do with the certificate and if he would show it if he were stopped on the road. Henson replied yes, for that was the entire point of the certificate. Mr. R replied by telling him that he may meet some “ruffian slave-purchaser” on the way who will steal the paper and destroy it, then thrown him into prison and then back into slavery somewhere else. Instead, Mr. R suggested that Henson travel on the pass given to him by Mr. Amos (which gave him permission to travel), and the freedom papers would be sent off to Mr. Amos. Taking the advice, Henson traveled on his pass. Upon arriving in Kentucky, Henson was made aware of his mistake of trusting his former master. Originally Henson only needed to pay an extra $100 by note. Mr. R, however, added an extra zero to the paper and changed the fee to $1000. Henson had been tricked and the only other person who could help, Mr. Frank, was miles away. He narrated that the trick had turned him into a “savage, morose, dangerous slave.” Instead of freedom, Henson continued to labor and was later taken on a work trip with Mr. Amos, in which he thought he would be killed or sold. While on the trip, Henson had the opportunity to kill Mr. Amos in his sleep with an axe. At the last moment, when he raised the axe up to strike, he stopped. A sudden thought came to him: “What! Commit murder! Are you a Christian?” Henson never committed the crime, and was arranged to be sold as he suspected. Just before the day he was to be sold would begin, Mr. Amos woke up sick and it soon became evident that he had river fever. While sick, he begged for Henson to help him, which Henson did. Henson attended to all of the tasks asked of him. Mr. Amos became so sick that Henson had to nurse him over the next twelve days it took to return home to Kentucky. Amos was unable to speak or even move throughout the entire ordeal. Eventually, Mr. Amos began to recover at home. As soon as he was able to speak, he told his family about how good Henson had been to him, and that if he had sold Henson, he would have died. He was acknowledged by the family for the work he had done, but Henson believed that they would still try to sell him again. Henson, as a result began to plot again to gain freedom for himself and his family. He was determined to escape to Canada. While it took convincing, eventually his wife agreed to the plans Henson had created to escape. He had her make a large knapsack that was big enough to hold the two smallest children on his back. In the days prior he would walk around with them on his back so that they could adjust to being in the sack and he could adjust to it. He planned for his wife to lead the second to oldest boy, and the oldest boy, Tom, to walk on his own as well as help him carry the necessary food. In the middle of September by 9pm they were ready and headed out together. A slave took them across the river to the India shore. Once they reached they traveled at night for a fortnight until they reached Cincinnati. Once there they were “kindly received and entertained for several days” and then headed north again. Low on provisions and in an unfamiliar, they continued on, traveling by night. While walking, they were confronted with a group of Native Americans. The Native Americans took one look at them and then ran away. Henson surmised that they had never met a black person. They came back with their chief. After the chief realized that the group were indeed human, they were received warmly- if not with some curiosity. They were given food resources and allowed them a wigwam to rest in. With the help of the Native Americans, they were able to find the rest of their way north through the woods. Before long they encountered a vessel with men working to load corn into. After being received by them, Henson spoke to the captain who received him warmly and agreed to take to Buffalo, which is where they were headed. Once in Buffalo, that captain who was a Scotsman paid for their ferry boat to Waterloo. On October 28, 1830 they reached Canada. Upon reaching the shore, Henson threw himself on the ground and rolled around in excitement. A man from the neighborhood thought that he was having a fit (probably a seizure) and, concerned, asked what was wrong. Henson jumped up and said that he was Free! Soon, he set about to find lodging and a way to live. Henson was pointed in the direction of Mr. Hibbard, who hired him and leased to him a shabby two story place that some pigs had taken to live in. After expelling the pigs, he spent the day cleaning it as best as he could. At the end of the day he brought the rest of his family to the house. “Though there was nothing but walls and floors we were all in a state of great delight, and my old woman laughed and acknowledged that it was worth while.” Over the next three years, they fell into a comfortable life in which Hibbard was happy with his labor and Mrs. Hibbard and Mrs. Henson became friends. Mr Hibbard gave Tom, the eldest son schooling, and the schoolmaster added more quarters out of kindness, so Tom lead to read and write well. Once Henson got back into the habit of preaching, he would enlist Toms to read him verses in private and at the pulpit. At one instance Tom asked Henson a question that Henson could not answer, and realized that his father could not read. So, Tom resolved to teach him. Within time, Henson began the efforts for which he became known for. He and some associates decided that they wanted to create a colony of sorts in which they would raise their own crops and food. Towards the head of Lake Erie, a piece of government land was found and it was decided that they would stay there. The land was owned by a Mr. McCormick, who had not complied with the conditions of his grant for the land. They decided to buy it from him and the government. Over the next six years blacks continued to move from the States. |
Wolf Captured | Jane Lindskold | 2,004 | Firekeeper, Blind Seer and Darrien Carter are kidnapped by Baron Endbrook and brought to a southern country called Liglim. It was previously unknown to the majority of northerners in Hawk Haven and their neighboring countries. In Liglim the people worship five deities based on natural elements - Fire, Water, Air, Earth and Magic. They build elaborate temples to their deities and are aware of the existence of Royal animals, counting on the sentient creatures to help guide their religious lives. Firekeeper is highly valued by the citizens of Liglim because she can communicate with the Royal animals and they want Firekeeper to teach them this skill. However, Firekeeper is hesitant. She meets Truth, a Royal Jaguar seer who begins to shape Firekeeper's journey in the land of Liglim. Darrien Carter, meanwhile, meets and falls in love with a native woman of Liglim. She suspects Darrien has the power to transform into an animal, as old legends tell. He also begins to spend time with Royal Horses that live alongside common horses. Barren Endbrook works to create a trade agreement between Liglim and the north that will benefit himself. Firekeeper and Blind Seer travel to a large set of islands off Liglim's shores. The islands are Royal animal territory and humans only have a small settlement on the edge of the land. Firekeeper and Blind Seer travel deep into the heart of the islands and discover new Royal Wolf packs with unusual traditions that give Firekeeper hope that she could one day lead her own pack. Firekeeper also finds herself being courted by another male wolf, which threatens Blind Seer. Also on the islands is an ancient set of ruined towers that acts as the secret home to the survivors of blood magic. They are called the maimalodalum - humans who tried to acquire the power of shapeshifting into animals. But the unwilling animals fought back and the results were grotesque animal-human hybrids. One of the hybrids traveled north years ago and met and befriended the Hawk Haven settlers that Firekeeper was amongst as a child. After the fire destroyed the settlement and killed all but Firekeeper, he was responsible for the Royal Wolves adopting her. There is an attack on the towers and Firekeeper and other Royal animals defend the maimalodalum, but there are casualties. In the end of the book, Firekeeper, Blind Seer and Darrien Carter remain in Liglim for the time being. |
Wolf Hunting | Jane Lindskold | 2,006 | Here, ancient magics reveal themselves. The whole group is smitten with querinalo, and Truth the jaguar comes out a little worse for the wear. At the end, they venture into a portal to the unknown. |
Wolf's Blood | Jane Lindskold | 2,007 | It is revealed here that Blind Seer is a Once Dead sorcerer himself, which explains his blue eyes. One of the twins is executed for treason, and The Meddler is rebuffed once and for all. |
The Dead Father | Donald Barthelme | null | The "Dead Father" is being hauled with a cable by some of his children, across lands and under all weather conditions, towards a goal of an emancipatory nature but that is left mysterious throughout most of the story, to be revealed, at the end of the novel, to be his burial spot. The story, in a genre typical of the author, does not follow a conventional plot structure, but evolves through a series of revelations, seemingly-unrelated stories, anecdotes, dialogues,descriptive figments, surreal snapshots of reality, personal rendering of the characters' impressions or recordings. The whole of chapter 22 is a stream of bizarre, deconstructed sentences, as if muttered by a narrator too imbued by the urgency of his thoughts to give attention to proper grammar, giving the impression of a deep penetration in the character's consciousness. The plot is thus, more than in other novels, a support for the themes explored. The text is also noted for its word play, irony, absurdist humor, that are abundant in the author's short stories. |
The Magician's Elephant | Kate DiCamillo | 2,009 | The young orphan Peter Augustus Duchene has many questions, but there is one he wishes most answered: "Is his sister still alive? And if so, how can he find her?" The answer he finds from the fortuneteller in the market square of the city of Baltese is one he has to learn to believe. "An elephant! An elephant will lead him there!" |
STAR Academy | null | 2,009 | In her dull hometown of Downview, 11-year-old super-genius Amanda Forsythe is underestimated by teachers and classmates, considered an eccentric because of her advanced scientific theories. As the story begins, Amanda loses a science fair competition at her school because her photon sail spaceship exhibit is too complex for the dimwitted judges (her principal and home room teacher) to comprehend. They make fun of it and instead award the prize to two lame exhibits, one that tries to pass off a thinly disguised vacuum cleaner as a robot, and another that suggests solving the world’s hunger problem by re-engineering the genes of Third World children so that they can eat sticks, grass and dirt. Fortunately for Amanda, scouts from the new and prestigious Superior Thinking and Advanced Research (STAR) Academy, are in the audience. They recognize Amanda’s brilliance and give her a scholarship to live in residence amongst the 200 most intellectually “ultra-gifted” children on planet Earth. There, they are groomed to become Earth’s top scientists of the future, charged with solving humanity’s most pressing problems. Given unlimited funding by “anonymous philanthropists” and run by the enigmatic Headmistress Oppenheimer and Professor Leitspied, as well as George, a flighty but staggeringly intelligent engineer, the Academy is the perfect place in which a young super-genius can flourish. Amanda and her classmates, most of them former social outcasts because of their high intelligence, forge friendships with each other and, for the first time in their lives, are truly happy, recognized and appreciated by both faculty and peers. In addition to being able to do unlimited research on their own pet projects, the students are divided into intramural teams, then given identical research challenges, supposedly to encourage friendly competition to accelerate their scientific advancements. Chosen to head one of the intramural teams, Amanda distinguishes herself by leading her group to victory in their first assignment, to devise an electronic means to block bad memories. It isn’t a completely idyllic life for Amanda. She misses her family, and has drawn the ire of fellow student Eugenia Snootman, the vain and manipulative leader of the competing intramural team, and daughter of software magnate Bill Snootman, the richest man on Earth. Eugenia is terribly jealous of Amanda’s success, and one night, threatens to scuttle Amanda’s future career if she doesn’t hand over her scientific secrets for the next intramural assignment: how to transmit electricity through the air to remote underprivileged villages. Still, nothing can seriously detract from Amanda’s enjoyment of life at the Academy. That is, until the night Amanda and her three closest friends – Derek Murphy, Evelyn Chiu, and Sanjay Dosanjh - make a terrifying discovery: that the Academy is not what it seems. Their teachers are actually aliens from another planet, who were sent as goodwill ambassadors to Earth, but who, with the exception of George, have become drunk on power and want to take over the world. In their natural form, the aliens are hideous spider-like creatures with highly developed brains and strong, exoskeletal bodies. Amanda and her friends learn that Oppenheimer and Leitspied have been using them, that the technologies they have been developing in their intramural competitions are actually components of a larger mechanism the aliens have been devising. Their plan is to beam a signal to every human on earth to block their brain synapses, turning them into mindless slaves. Cut off from outside help, it’s up to Amanda, Derek, Evelyn, and Sanjay to outwit the aliens and save the planet. |
Sidney Sheldon's Mistress of the Game | Sidney Sheldon | null | The novel opens with the wedding of Lexi Templeton, Kate Blackwell's great-granddaughter. Despite it being her wedding night, Lexi is obviously troubled and expecting the police to show up any moment. The story is told in a flashback similar to Master of the Game. The plot starts on the funeral day of Kate Blackwell, who has died at the age of ninety-two. During the funeral, while a pregnant Alexandra (Kate's granddaughter, Lexi's mother) is weeping with her husband Peter and son Robert "Robbie" Templeton, her twin sister Eve is secretly happy of her grandmother's death, as it was her powerful grandmother who has always protected the Templetons. It is implied that her husband, mousy plastic surgeon Keith Webster, hasn't fixed her grotesque face and is constantly aware of the photographers hiding outside to take a photo of her pregnant with a marred face. She plans to get rid of the Templetons and making her child the next heir of Kruger-Brent Limited. Later on, Alexandra gives birth before Eve but dies in childbirth. Peter and Robbie are in despair but Peter notes that the baby looks like Alexandra and names her Alexandra as well, but simply calls her "Lexi". A few days later, despite Keith's worries about Eve's pregnancy (Since Alexandra died of child birth, which is the same way Alexandra and Eve's mother Marianne died due to genetic heart problems), Eve lives to give birth to a boy, whom she names Max because she feels like that name means power. She believes that Max will be the one to take over the empire, not his cousins. Max grows in a different environment compared to Lexi. While she has a family that adores her, Eve channels her hatred and obsession to her son. Eve, furious that Keith marred her face so that she would never leave him, convinces her son to secretly loathe his father as well, and in the process, hate the Templetons as he grows up. Peter's life is in shambles. He left his job as a psychiatrist to join Kruger-Brent under Kate's implying that this is his job as Alexandra's husband. Robbie comes out as a homosexual after failing to become aroused when a classmate tries to seduce him for his money while offering him drugs and nearly getting arrested, causing a rift between the two. He nearly kills his kids with a gun but shoots the nanny's arm instead, causing him to have an epiphany and seek help. The nanny is paid to keep quiet and Peter and Robbie reconcile. However, eight-year old Lexi is taken by an unknown man (implied to be someone who knew the Blackwell twins long before Alexandra died) who plans to sell her to a human trafficker. Lexi is raped and kept hidden for many days in the USA, but she is managed to be located but it is a few seconds too late as a bomb goes off, causing her to lose her sense of hearing. Somewhere in Max's childhood, Eve wants to get rid of Keith, who is nothing more but a nuisance to her. Throughout Max's life, she is a bigger influence to Max than Keith is, but when it came to Max's classmates, she allowed him to have birthday parties, but stayed hidden. Max was annoyed by this, and in result, hated his friends because he assumed they all called his mother a monster. She convinces Max to go on a hiking expedition alone with Keith and push him off a part of the mountain that is known to have been accident-prone. Max pushes his father off, making it look like an accident. Eve is proud of him, but Max secretly begins having nightmares. Years pass, and Lexi is noted to have transformed from the innocent daughter of Alexandra Templeton to becoming a sex kitten, due to her puberty. However, she experiences social problems because she cannot act like a normal teenager because she always requires a person to translate for her, since she can read lips and speak, but cannot hear. Max, on the other hand, has become a playboy who feels power when he breaks their hearts. Peter and Eve grudgingly coordinate Lexi and Max's birthday in Cedar Hill, Kate's mansion, since they both have near birthdays. The event is star studded with both Lexi's friends, Max's friends, and the Kruger-Brent board members. Max is charismatic but mysterious, but more are interested in Lexi. Eve is jealous that, being Alexandra's twin, Lexi is an almost spitting image of Eve. Lexi attempts to have sex with a boy she likes during the party but her childhood trauma ceases her from enjoying it. Max tells her that she "smells like sex" and has no chance to rule the company, thus revealing his hatred for her family. Years pass, and despite Lexi never experiencing a normal life due to her hearing, she is still very determined to become a part of the company. Robbie, a piano prodigy since childhood, does not want to sell his soul to the company like his father and signs his share over to Lexi and becomes a famous gay pianist. Because Lexi, Robbie, and Max get a 1/3 share each, Lexi gets 2/3 of the company by the time she turns 25, making her the dominant owner. Eve tells Max that the best way to stop Lexi from taking over is to ruin Lexi's reputation in the company. Max seduces Lexi (an incestous relationship, as they are both first cousins) and they begin a not-so-secret relationship that not many approve of. Lexi makes her downfall when she reveals to Max the code to her safe. He steals a memory card from the safe which has wild, provocative, and almost naked pictures of her from her college years and exposes it to the public. The Kruger-Brent board believes that her reputation is ruined as a professional and demands that she resign from the board. She dramatically resigns, promising to return. The second part first focuses on Gabriel McGregor, a very distant cousin of Lexi. Lexi's great-great-grandfather, (Kate's father) Jaime McGregor, founder of Kruger-Brent, had a brother in the beginning of "Master of the Game" who sneered at Jaime's dreams to go to Africa to find diamonds. Jaime became famous and only sent money to his mother (the only one who supported his dream by secretly giving him her savings to travel), and when she died, didn't bother sending anything else to his family. The brother became bitter and thought Jaime as ungrateful, even though he was not supporting Jaime in the first place. His embitterment of Jaime's side of the McGregors passed down generations until it reached Gabriel McGregor, who, unlike his ancestors who complained, decided to create his own fortune in Africa. His story is quite similar to Jaime's: He arrived with little money, got scammed out of a good business (but ended up getting arrested because he was tricked to do an illegal business until he could clear his name), and with the help of an African friend, he managed to start his own company, Phoenix. He marries a doctor doing charity work, giving shelter and medicine to girls who became victims to rape and HIV. (In the book, she mentions that the natives believe that intercourse with a virgin cures HIV, and they also believe that "the younger, the better".) Lexi, five years after resigning, has a business called Templeton. Because Max showed her a doctor who could cure her deafness before he exposed her pictures, she continued therapy and manages to hear and speak properly again. She is a leader in American business, even ahead of Kruger-Brent. Eve is angry that Max is following Lexi's strategy like other companies instead of being one step ahead. She forces him to marry a woman of her choice and have kids. Meanwhile, Eve is growing old and demented and constantly sees hallucinations of Kate, Alexandra, and the rest of the dead people she hated trying to kill her. On the other hand, Max's nightmares of his fathers starts shortly after the birth of his first son. He also misses Lexi and regrets betraying her. Lexi decides to set up a business in Africa. She is considered competition by Gabriel and meets her and tells her that they are related. She notices he is very lively and loves his wife, but is not interested in destroying their marriage. However, a native who believes Gabriel's wife's charity work is a scam holds her and their kids hostage while Gabriel is out, but is sliced, along with the kids, to death. Gabriel goes into a depression, but Lexi helps him out and they eventually fall in love. After years, Lexi finally has a scheme to take back Kruger-Brent. Despite telling Gabriel that she is over losing the company, she secretly takes the money from his charities to fund her scheme. She buys all the loose businesses of Kruger-Brent through another person, and in the process pushing Kruger-Brent out of the stock market and making them bankrupt while gaining a new company called Cedar International. Max is so depressed about his mother's anger and the company's failing that he kills himself. Lexi buys back Kruger-Brent and gets her old reputation back, with the media claiming "all of us were like her in college". Meanwhile, she finds out she is pregnant with Gabriel's child and wants to have an abortion. Gabriel finds out about where she got the money and is furious with her. They have a falling out, resulting in them breaking up. However, she pays him back and sends him a note that she plans to abort their baby. Gabriel realizes that he still loves her no matter what and makes it to the abortion clinic just in time to convince her to keep the baby and to marry him. They marry after the birth of their daughter Maxine, however, her happiness is short lived. As Eve is about to die (which she claims she sees a healthy Kate suffocating her with a pillow), she makes a note to Lexi telling her that she knows how she took over Kruger-Brent and has sent the same copy to the police. Lexi sees the police by the gate and stalls before letting them in. The police arrive during the party, half-doubting Eve's letter but takes Lexi to the police station. However, Lexi manages to escape the station and leaves the country with Gabriel, Maxine, and the help of two of her trusted employees. She evades the FBI and Interpol to go to a private home in Maldives. She re-reads the letter and finally thinks to herself: "I haven't won the game. Not yet. But I'm still here. Still playing." |
Danger Along the Ohio | Patricia Willis | null | Traveling down the Ohio River in May 1793, thirteen-year-old Amos and his younger siblings Clara and Jonathan and their cow Queen Anne are separated from their father during a raid by the Shawnee Indians. The three children and their cow are swept down the river, and decide that they must make their way back through the wilderness in the direction of the Marietta, Ohio settlement, hoping to find their father there. They find an Indian in the Ohio River. They call him Red Moccasin. Red Moccasin mistrusts them and his condition slows them down, but Amos refuses to leave him behind to die. The children and they're cow continue their dangerous journey towards the Marietta Settlement on their own, but they get captured by Red Moccasin's grandfather. Amos is thinking about the Indian Chef Blue Jacket about how he got captured by Indians to stay if they left his siblings go. They finally get to Marietta, and they find their father there. [see notes] |
A Sport of Nature | Nadine Gordimer | 1,987 | While still a secondary school student, Kim Capran decides to rename herself "Hillela". Hillela joins the ANC, she marries a black man from the congress and has a child with him. She travels to Dar es Salaam, Nairobi before returning to South Africa as one of the wives of a fictitious first President of South Africa. |
The David Beckham Experiment | Grant Wahl | 2,009 | In January 2007, 31-year-old Beckham, one of the world's most famous soccer players, at the time playing with Real Madrid, shocked the sports world by signing a five year contract with MLS team LA Galaxy, effective from the end of La Liga 2006-07 season, which was in progress when the announcement was made. In addition to playing football, under the advisement of talent manager Simon Fuller and his company 19 Entertainment, Beckham set out to conquer the U.S. celebrity scene. At this time, Grant Wahl was given unprecedented access to the English player, his inner circle, and team to promote his arrival to the league. To 19 Management's dismay, Wahl would not relinquish control of his articles or methods of procuring information. As a result, Wahl was able to give a behind-the-scenes account of Beckham's impact on LA Galaxy. Initially, Beckham had a great financial impact on LA Galaxy drawing sold out crowds, additional owners, additional sponsors, and an increase in sold merchandise. Behind the scenes, Beckham's management was seeking control over the team and league. Beckham's designated player status as well as his overall stature and celebrity enabled him to seek preferential treatment including the captaincy, his own parking spot right next to the dressing room, and his own hotel room on road trips. This preferential treatment along with Beckham's salary (much higher than that of his teammates) greatly affected the team. Ripping the captaincy out of Donovan's hands had heavy consequences. Both years when Beckham was captain, the team failed to make it to the MLS playoffs. The book also delves into larger issues such as the MLS's failing structure. |
The Maze Runner | James Dashner | 2,009 | Thomas, the main character, wakes up in a metal box with the memory of his past life wiped. He is welcomed into a large, concrete area called the Glade, populated by a group of sixty or so teenage boys called "Gladers". The Glade is surrounded by massive concrete walls, beyond which lie an enormous maze. All Gladers have arrived the same way as Thomas: one every month, with concrete memories wiped. The first Glader arrived approximately two years ago. Every week, essential supplies are delivered to the Glade. Thomas meets several Gladers including Alby (leader), Newt (second-in-command), Minho (head of group called the Runners that explore and chart the Maze daily), Gally (Thomas's rival), and Chuck (Thomas's good friend). Newt explains to Thomas that the large openings into the Maze on each wall close at night and the walls to the Maze shift during that time. If a Runner is trapped in there, they are most likely to be stung by Grievers, the Maze's half-animal, half-machine inhabitants. If a Runner is found stung, they must be injected with a serum that causes them to go through an extremely painful process called the Changing, where you temporarily regain memories of your past life. Those stung and injected by the Serum are still certain to survive. Victims of the Changing including Gally and a boy called Ben, both of whom claim they have seen Thomas in their memory as someone "bad". Despite the horrors of the Maze, Thomas feels a strange urge to be a Runner. The day after Thomas' arrival, a girl named Teresa is delivered to the Glade in the Box and questions her surroundings before falling into a deep coma. A message is found implying she is the last person to arrive at the Glade. Soon after, in the forest section of the Glade, Ben attacks Thomas and Alby comes to his rescue, firing an arrow at Ben's cheek and banishing him into the Maze at night when he survives. Due to an unfortunate series of events, Alby gets stung by a Griever in the Maze, and he and Minho cannot make it back to the Glade in time. Thomas impetuously breaks a rule and bolts out in the Maze just before the Doors close. Miraculously, he and Minho survive the night and figure out where the Grievers come from - an seemingly empty space off the edge of a cliff. They return with Alby the following morning, who is immediately taken in by Med-jacks - the closest things the Gladers have to doctors. However, since Thomas broke the Number One Rule and deliberately trapped himself in the Maze during night, The Glade leaders/Keepers have a meeting regarding Thomas' possible punishment or praise, Newt replacing Alby as leader because Alby is being treated by the Med-jacks. During the meeting, Newt points out that many out-of-the-ordinary events recently have started with Thomas or are centred on Thomas. Gally thinks that he is a spy from the Creators and he should hold a severe punishment. Minho surprises Thomas, nominating him to replace him as Keeper of the Runners. Minho and Gally get into an argument where Minho physically torments Gally, resulting in Gally storming out of the meeting and his thoughts of Thomas' wickedness resulting in him disappearing from the Glade. The leaders/Keepers come to the conclusion that Thomas should spend one day in the Slammer, their makeshift prison, but Thomas will begin his training as a Runner after his day in the Slammer. After the meeting, Thomas is called to speak to a sick Alby, who wishes to see him. Alby also claims he saw Thomas during the Changing, before going into a physical spasm. Afterwards, Thomas is asked by Newt to sit down next the girl, who is still in a coma, and see if he feels any memories regarding her lingering. The girl, revealing her name to be Teresa, speaks to him through telepathy and briefly explains that she and Thomas are the last Gladers and that they have to pass the Trials. She also says that "they" sent her as a trigger and that everything's going to change. Thomas panicks and bolts out of the room and into the Maze, eventually coming to his senses and re-entering the Glade. After his day in the Slammer, Minho begins training Thomas to become a Runner. Thomas is given a digital watch and a pair of running shoes and Minho shows him around to various rooms that hold objects essential to the Maze. First Thomas is shown a secret room where all weapons are kept. He is then shown the Map Room, where Runners keep maps of each section of the Maze to keep track of patterns. There are eight sections with a Runner to explore each section. After Thomas learns the basics, he and Minho venture out into the Maze for Minho to demonstrate a daily exploration. While they are out in the Maze, Thomas notices a sign that reads “World In Catastrophe: Killzone Experiment Department”. This is later revealed to be an organization that monitors the Glade through small insect-like robots called "beetle-blades." Thomas observes that each bettle-blade had "WICKED" stamped on their torso. The pair continue running all day and Thomas hears Teresa say telepathically to Tom, "I just triggered the Ending". The following morning, the Gladers wake up to find the sky is a dull grey, sunless and unchanging. They also discover that there are no weekly supplies from the Box and that Teresa is fully awake. She sends Thomas a telepathic message simply saying that the Maze is a code. A short while later, Teresa meets Thomas in the forest section of the Glade and explains what little she remembers from her coma. She shows him some writing that she jotted down on her arm that says "WICKED is good". This was one of her memories that she was afraid she might lose, therefore she jotted it down on her arm. That night, the Maze Doors don't close at night and Alby has Teresa dumped in the Slammer because they are all at risk of being attacked by Grievers in the night. Everyone boards up the doors and windows of the Homestead - the wooden living building in a top corner of the Glade - and Thomas has the Runners go to the Map Room to study the maps before nightfall. The Grievers then attack in the night and Gally makes an abrupt return, saying that the Grievers will take the life of one person each night until they all die. Gally then throws himself to a Griever, the monsters then retreating back into the Maze. It is later discovered that in the night all of the maps were burned. In the morning it is revealed that the maps that were burned were decoys, and they still have the original maps in place. Thomas then decodes the maze by tracing maps of each section of the Maze onto wax paper and layering the shapes on top of each other to form six words that make no sense to anyone, such as FLOAT, CATCH and BLEED. The six words make no sense to anyone so Thomas deliberately gets stung by a Griever the following night in order to regain his memory. After Thomas has recovered from the Changing, Thomas calls a Gathering and explains to the leaders/Keepers that they are supposedly more intelligent than most human beings and were given random nicknames to outline this (e.g. Thomas=Thomas Edison; Alby=Albert Einstein). He explains that WICKED placed them in the Maze to study their brain patterns and that he, Teresa, and two others were forced to help build the Maze and that the only way out is through the Griever Hole. Beyond the Griever hole lies a computer where they must type in the six code words, shutting down the Grievers and unconvering an exit out of the Maze. The majority of the Gladers agree to the plan and they head out into the Maze. Alby, however, decides he does not want to return to the world outside because he has memories of a disease called the Flare and a place that is far worse than the Glade. Alby then sacrifices himself to the Grievers, not only because he didn't want to return to the outside world but to give the others a chance to escape from the Grievers patrolling the area. When they reach the Cliff, Thomas, Teresa, and Chuck fight their way through a group of waiting Grievers, jump into the Griever hole, and type in the passwords. Minho enters afterwards and tells them that about half of the Gladers died fighting. When all the survivors come into the Hole, they head down a hallway, down a slide and find the Creators - the people who monitored them in the Maze - standing behind a glass wall in a lab. A lady then walks in with Gally, who actually survived, and was taken away to perform a final experiment. Gally tries to tell Thomas that they are controlling him before hurling a dagger at Thomas. Chuck leaps in front of Thomas and takes the dagger and dies in the hands of Thomas, who then attacks Gally before being pulled away. After this, a group of civilians enter, shoot down the woman and the Creators with guns and take the surviving Gladers in a bus where they why all these events have been occuring. Not long ago, there were massive sun flares that attacked earth, burned satellites and killed millions instantly, starting the terrible disease Alby implied called the Flare. The ecosystems on Earth fell apart and countless miles became wastelands. The woman explaining the events tells them they are a group fighting against WICKED, who takes innocent children and makes them suffer at their hands. Two hours later, the bus stops and they enter a large safe house in the form of a dormitory. The surviving Gladers, which now include Newt, Minho, Thomas, Frypan (the Gladers' previous cook), and Teresa all settle down into bed and Thomas has a casual telepathic discussion with her (as she is placed in a different room). The epilogue is a memo from a WICKED worker revealing that the rescue was staged and that another Maze exists. |
Dr. Sleep | Stephen King | 2,013 | With Doctor Sleep, Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his previous novels, The Shining. The novel features the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the twelve-year-old girl, Abra Stone, that he must save from The True Knot. The True Knot are a group of almost immortal RV travelers who cross the country feeding off of children with the gift of "the shining." Dan drifted for decades in an attempt to escape his father's legacy, but eventually settled in a New Hampshire town and works in a nursing home, where his remnant mental abilities provide comfort to the dying. With the aid of a cat that can foresee the future, Dan becomes "Doctor Sleep." After meeting Abra Stone, an epic war between good and evil ensues. |
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls | Steve Hockensmith | 2,010 | Set five years before the events described in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the novel takes place in an alternative universe version of Regency-era England where zombies are a well-known menace spawned by an event known as The Troubles. After attending a funeral in which a zombie rises from his coffin, Mr. Bennet decides that he must finally keep an old promise to train his five daughters in the art of zombie-killing. To this end, he turns the family's greenhouse into a dojo and hires young martial-arts expert Master Hawksworth to teach the girls. Meanwhile, a scientist named Dr. Keckilpenny arrives in the area with the dream of domesticating the zombies. As the zombie plague continues to spread across England, Hawksworth and Keckilpenny vie for Elizabeth's affections while Mrs. Bennet plots to find suitably wealthy suitors for both Elizabeth and her older sister Jane. In a bid to get reinforcements against the plague, Jane becomes the bodyguard of Lord Lumpley, a fat nobleman with low moral standards. Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Keckilpenny capture a zombie for further research. Eventually, Hawksworth's incompetence as a warrior becomes obvious, as he never fights any zombies. When the zombies besiege Lord Lumpley's estate, Hawksworth feigns an injured knee, leaving the fighting to everyone else present. Soon, Master Hawksworth escapes the zombies by himself (with his usual grace, and without even drawing his katana), even leaving a young officer to be ripped to shreds. Keckilpenny gets bitten by his research subject, "Mr. Smith", and Elizabeth is forced to behead him. In the end, Captain Cannon, Lieutenant Tindall, Dr. Keckilpenny, and Ensign Pratt are all dead, but the others are saved by the reinforcements that Hawksworth managed to summon, despite his cowardice. |
Spirit Bound | Richelle Mead | 2,010 | The book starts off with Rose reading the last in a series of love letters/death threats from Dimitri. The final exams are set to start in short time and she resolves to stay focused and pass them to the best of her abilities and hope it will be enough for her to get assigned to Lissa. The teachers test her by having her trapped on a swinging bridge with Strigoi approaching on both sides, which she passes by cutting the bridge, then "killing" the opponents on her end. After Abe's network relayed a message from Victor Dashkov that there was nothing he could be bribed with while he was behind bars, Rose plots with Lissa and Eddie to break him out of his high security vampire prison. They successfully do so by disguising themselves as guardians bringing new feeders and relying heavily on Lissa's compulsion abilities. Victor agrees to lead them to his brother, Robert, a reclusive spirit user who is rumored to have once returned a strigoi to their original state. They travel to Las Vegas, where Adrian tracks Rose's credit cards and follows them. While not very pleased with Rose's continued endeavors to help Dimitri, he stays with them. Robert tells them that the Spirit user must infuse a stake with Spirit and kill the Strigoi on its own, but escapes when they are attacked by Dimitri and other Strigoi. They manage to escape and upon their arrival at court Eddie and Rose are punished for endangering the Moroi and sent to do physical labor. While they are occupied, Lissa and Christian are kidnapped by Dimitri as bait for Rose. Decided to kill him for good and eliminate a threat to Lissa, Rose leads a group of guardians to his hiding place. She fights her way over to him and is about to kill him when Christian encircles him in a ring of fire, effectively cutting all movement while Lissa stakes him. Dimitri is restored as a Dhampir and taken into custody. Traumatized and crushed by guilt, he pushes Rose away, saying that he is no longer able to love. Rose turns to Adrian for comfort. They have a very romantic moment and almost have sex, but neither of them has any protection. Instead, Rose offers her neck to Adrian who hesitates for a moment before biting her. The next morning at breakfast, Rose and Dimitri run into each other. Dimitri sees the bite marks and knows who they come from, he knew Rose is going to move on. In the middle of the discussion, a group of Guardians surround Rose and Dimitri instinctively fights to protect her, but she calms him down. The Guardians announce her that Queen Tatiana has been found murdered with Rose's stake and as such she is to come with them. At the ensuing hearing, it is decided that Rose must face an official hearing. If she is guilty, she will be sentenced to death. On the way to wait for the impending trial, Ambrose delivers a note to her from Tatiana saying that Lissa needs to have her voice heard in the Council and that there is a second living Dragomir, necessary for Lissa to have her quorum. |
Vision in White | Nora Roberts | 2,009 | Childhood friends Parker, Emma, Laurel and Mac are the founders of Vows, one of Connecticut's premier wedding planning companies. Mackensie "Mac" Elliot is a single and happy photographer with a less than stellar family life while growing up. She meets Carter Maguire, a bride-to-be's brother, and all around nice guy and finds with the help of her friends that happily ever after is attainable. |
Rides a Dread Legion | Raymond E. Feist | null | Ten years after the cataclysmic events of Wrath of a Mad God, Midkemia now faces a new danger thought buried in myth and antiquity. A lost race of elves, the taredhel or 'people of the stars', have found a way across the universe to reach Midkemia. On their current home world, these elves are hard pressed by a ravaging demon horde, and what was once a huge empire has been reduced to a handful of survivors. The cornerstone of taredhel lore is the tale of their lost origins in the world they call simply 'Home', a place lost in the mists of time. Now they are convinced that Midkemia is that place, and they are coming to reclaim it. Ruthless and arrogant, the taredhel intend to let nothing stand in their way; but before long, Pug and the Conclave realise that it's not necessarily the elves, but the demon horde pursuing them where the true danger lies. And hanging over Pug always is the prophecy that he will be doomed to watch everyone he loves die before him. |
The Master and His Emissary | Iain McGilchrist | 2,009 | The 608 page book is divided into an introduction, two parts and a conclusion. In the introduction, McGilchrist states that "there is, literally, a world of difference between the [brain] hemispheres. Understanding quite what that is has involved a journey through many apparently unrelated areas: not just neurology and psychology, but philosophy, literature and the arts, and even, to some extent, archaeology and anthropology." In the first part, "The Divided Brain", McGilchrist describes the functioning of the left and right hemispheres of the brain and their respective and at times conflicting "world views". One of the core themes of the book is the importance of differentiation and integration, and of the integration of the two. In the second part, "How the Brain Has Shaped Our World", the author describes the evolution of Western culture, as influenced by hemispheric brain functioning, from the ancient world, through the Renaissance and Reformation; the Enlightenment; Romanticism and Industrial Revolution; to the modern and postmodern worlds which, to our detriment, are becoming increasingly dominated by the left brain. |
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