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Arrows of the Queen | Mercedes Lackey | 1,987 | The first section describes the Choosing of Talia by the Companion Rolan, and subsequent journey to Haven, capital of Valdemar. Talia is a farm girl from the southern border of Valdemar. She lives with a clan of Holderkin, a socially and religiously strict group which believes in female submission and polygynous marriage. On her 13th birthday, she heretically rejects an offer of marriage, declaring her desire to be a Herald. She is in hiding from her family when she encounters a horse-like being -- a Companion, who Chooses her and takes her away from the Holderkin. Because she does not know anything about the Heralds, Rolan places a temporary block on her memory until he can get her to people who can explain everything. Talia and Rolan travel to Haven. Upon reaching Haven, Talia is introduced to Princess Elspeth (the Heir-presumptive and a spoiled brat), and Queen Selenay. She is delighted to find that she will be allowed to stay and become a Herald. She tours the Collegium, meets the rest of the trainees, and starts to attend classes at the Collegium. The second section details the torment to which Talia is subjected by a group of "Blues;" Collegium students not affiliated with the Healers, Bards or Heralds. The group of Blues intimidate Talia in both physical (including carefully timed trips and shoves) and psychologically, including the use of disappearing ink designed to make Talia question her sanity. The torment is quieted by the Midwinter holiday as well as Talia's blossoming friendship with Herald Jadus. However, the calm is not to last. The Blues ambush Talia and throw her into an ice-covered river, intending to drown her. Talia survives, though she is hospitalized for a few weeks with pneumonia, and the experience awakens her Gift of Empathy. Because of her Gift, Talia begins to take on the responsibilities of being the Queen's Own Herald, including the role of councilor to the Royal Family. The third section describes Talia's dealings with Princess Elspeth. Known as "The Brat" in the Heraldic Circle, the Heir-presumptive lives up to her nickname. Talia attempts to spend time with Elspeth in hopes of reforming her behavior; she is turned away a number of times by Hulda, the child's caretaker. With the help of Herald-trainee Skif (this has also been spelled 'Skiff'), a former thief and pickpocket, Talia learns that Hulda is acting on orders from a mysterious man who wants Elspeth to remain a brat so that she will never be Chosen as a Herald--and thus never take the throne. She passes the information on to Selenay, but Hulda is warned and flees before being captured by the authorities. Without Hulda's influence, Talia turns Elspeth from her bratty ways, and within a year the young Princess becomes the pet of the Collegium. The fourth and final section of the book deals with Talia learning to use her Gift. She attends a training class and also demonstrates the strength of her Gift and her bond with Rolan. She is exploring the range of her new senses when she empathically 'witnesses' the murder of Herald Ylsa several miles north of Haven. Ylsa was on assignment gathering information and was carrying several important documents. Talia saves Ylsa's life-mate, Herald Keren, from committing suicide, then psychically leads Herald Kris and Herald Dirk out to the murder site. Kris is able to See the place at a distance, while Dirk can Fetch the documents with his mind. After this ordeal, Talia feels she has finally earned the respect which had been given her. |
The Oaken Throne | Robin Jarvis | 1,993 | Set hundreds of years before the Deptford Mice Trilogy in the Middle Ages, the story tells the tale of the squirrel maiden Ysabelle, daughter of the ruler of the Hazel Realm, Lady Ninnia, and Vespertilio (or Vesper), a young bat. The story begins in a ruined tower in London where the Bats live, and they are readying themselves to go to war to fight the squirrels. They believe that the Starwife, ruler of the black squirrels, has stolen their birthright of insight and seeing into the future. In the midst of the preparations, Vesper longs to experience the battle for himself, but he is too young to go. Meanwhile, in the Hallowed Oak in Greenreach, the Starwife has been seriously ill. Unbeknownst to her, her trusted handmaiden Morwenna has been poisoning her. As the bat army launches an attack that will destroy her realm, the poison begins taking full effect on the Starwife and Morwenna reveals her treachery. But before she perishes, the Starwife summons a peregrine falcon who carries her symbol of office, a silver acorn necklace, away to safety. The next day, far away in the Hazel Realm, the celebration for the holiday of Aldertide has begun. Ysabelle is eager to join the festivities, much to the dismay of her field mouse nursemaid Griselda. Soon however, a group of bats who are pursuing the falcon bring an end to the day's happiness. The bats manage to kill the falcon and, to Ysabelle's horror, its body falls near her and the silver acorn drops into her palm. The bats swoop down and attack the squirrel maiden. She is saved by the stoat jester Wendel Maculatum, and most of the bats are soon defeated. One is taken as a prisoner. He verifies that the land of Greenreach has fallen, and says that others of his kind will soon return that night and destroy the Hazel Realm. But before they can get any more information out of him, the bat kills himself by running into one of the squirrels' blades. Left with no other choice, the Lady Ninnia must send her daughter to Greenreach, accompanied by the squirrel guards of the realm. Since she caught the silver acorn, she has automatically received the title of the Starwife. Ninnia and her husband Cyllinus know that they and many of the squirrels must stay in the Hazel Realm to face certain death. They say their painful goodbyes, knowing that they will never see Ysabelle again. As the squirrels march deeper into the forest, they encounter a bat, whom they soon discover is no more than a child. It is Vesper, who has secretly left his home to try to participate in the battle. The squirrels force him to march with them. Later that night, the group is attacked and Ysabelle, Vesper, and many of the squirrel guards are taken prisoner by Hobbers, a group of creatures who worship three evil rat gods called the Raith Sidhe, in particular the worst one, Hobb. It is soon realised that Ysabelle's silver acorn is gone from around her neck; it has been stolen by the high priest of Hobb. The squirrels and bat are led out to an area in the forest wherein a large amount of Hobbers are gathered. The high priest, dressed in a red silk costume, appears and calls for a squirrel to be taken to him. A wicked hedgehog named Pigwiggen unties the unfortunate squirrel, who is then led to the high priest. He is skinned alive in a sacrifice to Hobb. The high priest then lifts up the silver acorn and dips it in the squirrel's blood. Two more squirrels suffer this same fate before a group of Ysabelle's guards decide to recover the silver acorn while the Hobbers are distracted by the sacrificing. This goes as planned but unfortunately these squirrels die in the effort. Ysabelle and Vesper escape into the night, but along the way are confronted by the high priest, who curses them both. Vesper, he says, will die surrounded by the sound of bells. By dipping Ysabelle's silver acorn in blood, he is summoning Hobb to the world, and when the evil rat god arrives he will destroy Ysabelle. After saying this, the high priest disappears into the forest. Vesper is disheartened by his grim prophesy, but Ysabelle doesn't care and wants to continue her journey to Greenreach with him as her guide. He grudgingly agrees to help her, despite the fact that he doesn't really know the way himself. Later, to Vesper's horror, he hears the sound of bells approaching. He fears that this will be his doom, but it turns out that this sound is coming from bells on the lead of a shrew who from this is attached to a mole. The two introduce themselves as Tysle Symkin and Giraldus. Ysabelle and Vesper soon learn that Giraldus is leprous and nearly blind, and that Tysle is lame. The two are very friendly and invite the bat and squirrel to eat with them. Giraldus and Tysle say that they are on a pilgrimage to Greenreach, hoping that they will be cured when they arrive. Ysabelle realises that the two could accompany her on her journey since they are bound for the same place. Vesper is a bit hesitant at first, and Giraldus understands, knowing that it is probably because of his disease. Ysabelle doesn't care however, and insists that they come with her. The four of them travel to the Orchard of Duir, a place where in legend, the Green spirit (whom many of the woodland animals worship) planted seven trees before winter came. When they get there, however, Ysabelle, Vesper and Tysle see that the orchard is not the beautiful place it once was. Not wanting to disappoint Giraldus, they tell the blind mole that it still looks the same, though Ysabelle does not feel right lying to him. After the group goes to sleep in the limbs of one of the trees in the orchard, Ysabelle is awakened by a voice speaking to her. She looks up and sees two large green eyes staring at her. They are those of the Green. He informs her that the bats are not the true enemy of the squirrels, but have been misguided. He also tells her that one of her friends will betray her. Ysabelle, shocked, asks the Green which one of them it will be, but he disappears before giving her an answer. The four again meet up with Wendel Maculatum, who is astonished to see that Ysabelle is alive. He tells them that he was separated from the remaining Hazel Realm guards and has been travelling through the forest for many days. He says that in that time he has heard of a group of woodlanders who are resisting the Hobb cult. He doesn't know exactly where they are, however, but they are somewhere near a lake. Upon following a stream, Ysabelle, Vesper, Giraldus, Tysle and Wendel reach a lake, but its water is dark and polluted, and there are no signs of the woodlanders anywhere. Nevertheless, they decide to camp there. Much to Giraldus's dismay, Tysle is beginning to prefer the company of Wendel, watching eagerly as the stoat jester carves puppets out of wood. Later in the night, the ghosts of animals who had drowned in the lake rise up and try to drag the travellers down with them. The group manages to escape, and soon they find their way to a meadow filled with daffodils. It is here that they are captured by the very woodlanders they were searching for. These woodlanders are led by a mouse captain named Fenlyn Purfote. At first he acts friendly toward the five travellers, taking them to the woodlanders' headquarters, but his mood changes when he suddenly locks them up because he thinks they are Hobbers. Although they try to tell him that they most certainly are not, Fenlyn (or Fenny, as he is often called) will hear none of it. However, Fenny soon receives a message from a mysterious figure called The Ancient, who wishes to speak with Ysabelle and Vesper. Finally convinced that they are not Hobbers, Fenny leads them both down a dark passageway deep underground, where they come upon The Ancient—who is the messenger of the moon goddess, who came to earth in the form of a hare. He tells the bat and squirrel that the only way to prevent doom befalling the world is to convince their kinds to join together to battle the Hobbers. To Vesper's shock, The Ancient reveals that it was not the Starwife who took away the bats' power to see into the future, but their very own Warden of the Great Book, Hrethel. He also tells Ysabelle that because the high priest dipped the silver acorn into the blood of the squirrels that were sacrificed, Hobb has been summoned back into the world, and that even now he is rising from the Pit. In three days time he will appear to claim Ysabelle. What the squirrel maiden doesn't know, however, is that this very night is the third day. Vesper is given a bag of special herbs to be thrown into a fire, which will summon all of the bats. He believes that there is no way that he could ever convince them that the squirrels are not their enemy. After Ysabelle and Vesper return, their three friends are also released from their cell. Later that night, the woodlanders hold a celebration for their five guests to make up for the way they previously had treated them. Ysabelle and Vesper dance together, and begin to realise that they are falling in love. While Wendel is away from his jester's cart, Tysle takes the opportunity to look through his prop chests. He pulls out many amusing objects, but suddenly he sees a silken costume of some sort, which appears to imitate what a victim of a peeling would look like. A horrifying realisation hits Tysle; this is what the high priest of Hobb wears, and that is Wendel's true identity! Before he can run to tell Giraldus what he has discovered, Wendel appears and taunts the little shrew. Then he pulls out a peeling knife and kills him. Tysle's body is found soon after, much to everyone's shock. His being peeled is confirmation that a member of the Hobb cult is among their number. Before this fact can completely sink in, a guard rushes to tell Fenny that the Hobbers are on the move, heading toward their stronghold. Ysabelle and Vesper escape through a tunnel, though not before Wendel reveals his treachery. Mad with grief for his friend, Giraldus starts choking the stoat, but Wendel manages to free himself and strangle him. But before he dies, the mole starts a cave-in and Ysabelle and Vesper can only watch as the entire tunnel collapses on Giraldus, Wendel, and the Hobbers. The bat and squirrel finally arrive at Greenreach, but Vesper is wounded by Hobber crows who have pursued them. Morwenna approaches Ysabelle, and tells her that she wants to help her bring the silver acorn to the Starglass. The unknowing squirrel maiden follows her down below the Hallowed Oak, into a dark chamber. As the two talk, Ysabelle begins to piece everything together and figures out that Morwenna is the one who betrayed the Greenreach squirrels. Morwenna confirms this and reveals that she is the priestess of Mabb, the rat goddess consort of Hobb. She takes the acorn from Ysabelle and locks her in the chamber where her pet toads wait to devour the squirrel maiden. The remaining army of the Hazel Realm arrives in Greenreach and the battle begins. Feeling better, Vesper awakens and hears Ysabelle crying out and goes to rescue her. The two of them rush out of the oak and see the bats and squirrels fighting. Vesper decides that this is his chance to use the herbs that The Ancient gave him, and tosses them into a fire, sending up a beacon which distracts all of the bats, as well as the squirrels. They gather around and listen to his story. Most of them begin to believe what he is telling them; it seems to explain quite a bit. At that moment, the Hobbers arrive, surging up the hill towards them. Now the bats and squirrels are allied together, fighting their true enemy. Ysabelle races up the Hallowed Oak to face Morwenna, who still has the silver acorn. But as she approaches her, the amulet around Morwenna's neck becomes extremely hot, burning her fur. It is then that Ysabelle realises that Hobb has begun to break through the ground. Ysabelle stares in horror while Morwenna is jubilant—that is, until she sees the claws of the rat god reaching for her. The high priest merely cursed the wearer of the silver acorn, not Ysabelle in particular. Hobb blows fire onto Morwenna and she is killed. Vesper swoops down and grabs Ysabelle, just as Hobb kicks the Hallowed Oak and it topples to the ground. Ysabelle tells Vesper to take her down to the ground, where she snatches the silver acorn which had fallen. Then she hurries to the Starglass, now lying on the grass, and holds the pendant over it. A white light wells up and travels through her body; the powers channel through her, and this means that she is now truly the Starwife. Now she is faced with the task of defeating Hobb. She calls out to the rat god and he turns his attention to her. She says that since the acorn drew him back into the world, he will now have that which lured him. Using the forces within the amulet, she imprisons Hobb within an acorn, then faints, exhausted. Several weeks later, the wreckage of the Hallowed Oak had been removed, and the hill was cleaned up. On the day of Ysabelle's inauguration as the Starwife, Vesper arrives and asks to speak with her. When she approaches, he proclaims his love for her and asks her to relinquish her office and to run away with him. She refuses, believing her duty to be more important, and leaves him alone. Saddened, Vesper watches her leave, not knowing what to do. A cloaked figure approaches him and offers him a drink of a strange mixture. Vesper politely accepts, and as he sips it, the figure reveals himself to be the ghost of Wendel Maculatum. The drink was poison, and Vesper's curse was finally fulfilled. At the same time, Ysabelle is feeling guilty for the way she treated Vesper, and realises that she does love him. She runs outside, eager to tell Vesper this, but is heartbroken to find him lying dead, surrounded by bluebells. |
High Rhulain | Brian Jacques | 2,005 | The novel begins with Riggu Felis, wildcat warlord of Green Isle, and his two sons, Jeefra and Pitru, attempting to kill an osprey, later known to be Pandion Piketalon. Riggu scorns his sons' attempts to kill the osprey and jumps into the fray himself, attempting to scare it into submission. The osprey is not intimidated and sinks his talons into the cat's face, flying into the air with him. The wildcat drops to the ground with half of his face torn off. Because of this incident, the wildcat orders all birds on Green Isle to be slain. Tiria Wildlough is daughter of Banjon Wildlough, the Skipper of Otters at Redwall Abbey. One afternoon, she and a few friends go out into Mossflower Woods to gather some wood, and along the way they run into some trouble in the form of a small but ferocious vermin band terrorizing Pandion. Tiria and her friends manage to fight them off, but the vermin swear revenge. When Tiria returns to Redwall, she and her father have a discussion, where Tiria learns that otter law allows only male otters to be Skippers. This upsets Tiria greatly, and she is quick to listen when Martin the Warrior and High Queen Rhulain Wildlough appear to her in a dream, telling her the otters of Green Isle need her assistance and leadership. After deciphering and scouring the Abbey for many clues with Old Quelt, Sister Snowdrop, Abbess Lycian, Brinty, Tribsy, and Girry, Tiria learns through another dream that she has to leave on her own, so she heads to Log-a-Log Urfa's encampment along with her father and Brink Greyspoke. Soon after, however, Brinty is killed when the vermin band attacks Redwall, seeking vengeance. At the same time, a rogue otter named Leatho Shellhound leads the free otter clans in various attacks against the ruling wildcats in an attempt to free their enslaved friends. Many famous otter clans take part, including Galedeep (descended from Finnbarr Galedeep of The Bellmaker), Streambattle (descended from Rab of The Bellmaker), and Wavedog (descended from Kroova of Triss). However, Finnbarr and Kroova were sea otters, and Finnbarr had no known living kin. Log-a-Log Urfa takes Tiria to Cuthbert Blanedale Frunk, a Long Patrol hare in the service of Lord Mandoral Highpeak at Salamandastron, where she receives a sling from the Badger Lord made of shark skin and the breastplate of the High Rhulain. Along with the a number of hares of the Long Patrol, Tiria sails to Green Isle in Frunk's ship, the Purloined Petunia, and they meet up with Shellhound and his otter clans. At the abbey, the Redwallers continue to solve riddles from Sister Geminya, finding Corriam Wildlough's lance and the High Rhulain's coronet. Brantalis Skyfurrow, a visiting goose, flies the crown to Tiria at Green Isle. When Tiria reaches Green Isle, she finds the otter clans in a stand-off with Riggu. Leatho Shellhound is trapped in a burning tower, set afire by Riggu's mate, Lady Kaltag, who lost her mind after the loss of her son, Jeefra. The birds Pandion and Brantalis save Leatho, but Riggu shortly after slays Pandion, who had previously ripped off part of his face, forcing him to wear a mask. Tiria, seeing Pandion killed, hurls the barbed star that first injured Pandion at Riggu, and with amazing accuracy, she strikes and kills Riggu Felis. Meanwhile, Riggu’s other son Pitru had taken some forces and led them out of the burning fortress. Pitru establishes himself as the new warlord among the wildcats. Knowing the otters will now return back to where their families are hiding, Pitru builds a barricade square in the route that the otter clans have to take in order to rejoin their families. With the help of newly freed Leatho Shellhound, Lorgo Galedeep, Kolun Galedeep, and Banya Streamdog, Tiria routes the remaining vermin forces. Sadly, however, Cuthbert dies bringing down Nessie-type monster Slothunog, and Pitru with him. Recovering from this loss, Tiria is later proclaimed by all as the new High Rhulain of Green Isle. |
The Longest Journey | E. M. Forster | 1,907 | Rickie Elliot is a student at early 20th century Cambridge, a university that seems like paradise to him, amongst bright if cynical companions, when he receives a visit from two friends, an engaged young woman, Agnes Pembroke, and her older brother, Herbert. The Pembrokes are Rickie’s only friends from home. An orphan who grew up living with cousins, he was sent to a public (boarding) school where he was shunned and bullied because of his lame foot, an inherited weakness, and frail body. Agnes, as it happens, is engaged to Gerald, now in the army, who was one of the sturdy youths who bullied Rickie at school. Rickie is not brilliant at argument, but he is intensely responsive to poetry and art, and is accepted within a circle of philosophical and intellectual fellow-students led by a brilliant but especially cynical aspiring philosopher, Stuart Ansell, who refuses, when he is introduced to her, even to acknowledge that Agnes exists. When visiting the Pembrokes during his vacation Rickie has an epiphanic vision of the sexual bond between Gerald, who is coarse but handsome and athletic, and Agnes, a bond he cannot imagine for himself. He takes these lovers’ side in trying to speed their marriage, offering part of his own inheritance, an offer that insults Gerald. When Gerald is suddenly killed in a football match, Rickie finds a role consoling Agnes—he tells her she should “mind” what has happened, that is, that she should grieve—since her passion for Gerald has been the main event of her life. Rickie becomes Agnes’ chief consolation and support, though he is in every way Gerald’s opposite, and after a year or two, despite the failure of Rickie’s stories to find a publisher, he and Agnes become engaged to marry. The young couple pay a visit to Rickie’s Aunt Emily Failing, a wealthy eccentric, the widow of a well-known essayist. On this visit he meets Aunt Emily’s ward, Stephen, a quarrelsome and handsome semi-educated 19-year-old. For some reason—perhaps just to make malicious mischief—Aunt Emily wants Rickie and Stephen to get to know each other. The two young men do not take to each other at all, and quarrel. Yet it turns out that they are in fact half-brothers, a long-kept secret that Aunt Emily reveals to Rickie, mostly to shock him. Rickie assumes that Stephen is the illegitimate son of his father—a father he hated—who lived apart from Rickie’s mother during Rickie’s childhood. Illegitimacy in this period is still considered to be a blight on the child, as well as the family, and Agnes, who is essentially conventional, considers Stephen’s existence something to be deeply ashamed of and to be kept secret, and Stephen a person who deserves to be shunned. Her brother, Herbert, has received an offer to be the head of a dormitory at Sawston School, and can fill this post only if Agnes and Rickie marry quickly and join him, Agnes to be house mother, and Rickie to be a teacher of classics. Rickie’s ambition to be a writer, and his freedom of thought, are suppressed by the dreary regimen of teaching, and his moral sense is suffocated by the influence of his wife and brother-in-law. He becomes a petty tyrant in the classroom, and an insensitive enforcer of school rules, though a part of him still sees and understands what he has lost, both as a writer and a man of refinement and sensitivity, since Cambridge. He is “dead” to his former friend, Stuart Ansell, who refuses to answer Rickie’s letters. Ansell finally does pay a visit to Rickie, stopping at the house of another acquaintance, and by coincidence he meets Stephen, who (partly due to Agnes’s scheming to get Aunt Emily’s inheritance for Rickie and herself) has been expelled from Mrs. Failing’s house. Stephen has discovered his identity at last, and now knows that Rickie is his half-brother. He wants to meet him again and see whether they might get on better. Ansell falls under the spell of Stephen’s rustic honesty, physical vitality, and impulsiveness. Rickie, Agnes and Herbert assume Stephen has come to blackmail them and Agnes offers him money, but Stephen, who is in fact penniless, now wants nothing to do with them. In a horrifying blowout, in front of all the pupils, Ansell accuses Rickie and Agnes of wanting to deny Stephen’s existence. Ansell reveals to Rickie that Stephen is, in fact, his mother’s illegitimate child, not his father’s. Rickie faints at this revelation. Rickie’s marriage has become loveless, as Ansell assumed it would, and with his brother’s reappearance he realizes that he has fallen under his wife’s spell and denied his better nature. He leaves to find Stephen, dear to him now because he is the child of the same beloved mother, and he attempts unsuccessfully to assume the role of a brother, for example, to get him to stop drinking. The two of them go to Wiltshire to see his aunt. This brief period when they travel together restores to Rickie the sense of himself that has been lost ever since he fell under his wife’s influence, and, as well, restores his sense of joy and playful love of life. Rickie is unable, however, to control his mercurial half-brother, who gets drunk despite his promise not to. Like his mother, and like Gerald, Rickie dies suddenly: his legs are severed when he tries to pull a drunken Stephen off some railroad tracks. Stephen survives, marries, and in a brief epilogue stands up to Herbert Pembroke for his right to money that is due him with the publication of his half-brother’s book of stories, now valuable since, after his death, Frederick Elliot has become a noted author. The “longest journey” which is, of course, the span of one’s life, or, in another sense, the development into one’s true self, has concluded successfully for Rickie, who has regained his sense of integrity. Though his life is cut short, he receives his vindication by coming to moral clarity at last, rejecting conventional hypocrisy, and acknowledging his bond to his brother. His uniqueness and worth are confirmed as well by his posthumous success as an artist. |
The Drowning Pool | Ross Macdonald | 1,950 | Archer is hired by a woman to investigate a slanderous letter she received. The family lives in the house situated on the line between two Southern Californian towns, one an idyllic, oil-rich town, and the other the small, seedy town from which the oil comes, corrupt and destroyed by the industry. It is not long before Archer is more concerned with investigating murder instead of just blackmail. The book was the basis of the 1975 Paul Newman film of the same name, but the movie has radical departures from the plot of the novel, including moving the location to Louisiana. |
The Company of Women | Khushwant Singh | null | This Mohan Kumar as a student in the U.S., Mohan has "lost his virginity" at Princeton University to Jessica Brown, a beautiful black lady. Their relationship looked like a honeymoon without wedding. While still in the USA, Ms. Yasmeen, a Pakistani, revealed to Mohan Kumar the heady passion of a woman older than her male counterpart. After Mohan gets back to India and settles in married life, his passion for women continues undiminished. He feels highly relieved after being divorced by his "nagging and ill-tempered" wife. But Mohan was a unfaithful husband. His sex escapades, before the divorce and post divorce were unusual and varied, including his repeated relations with his ever-obliging maid, Dhanno, with her practiced charm on the bed. Another woman in Kumar’s life was Tamilian Marry Joseph, described by the author as “a dark, plump woman in her thirties.” She worked as a nurse to Kumar’s son. She has been described almost inviting Shakti Kumar tacitly with these words, “Saar, one life to live, not to waste it on a drunkard husband. You agree?” Kumar has agreed. The book describes Kumar's rendezvous with madam Sarojini Bhardwaj, a Professor of English. And, when it came to sex, the lady professor proved that she was stronger than many men. Another lady appearing in the sex life of Kumar was Molly Gomes, who was “not only as an incarnation of sensual impulse, but also as a mistress of sexuality.” Likewise, Susanthika, “the small wonderful bird”, from Sri Lanka was really active on bed. |
Homeward Bound | Harry Turtledove | 2,004 | The Admiral Peary travels at approximately one-third c and took a little over 30 years, instead of 24 (the Race's starship velocities were one-half c), to cross the twelve light years between Earth and Tau Ceti. The ship is named Admiral Peary for its role as a military exploration ship, after Adm. Robert Peary, who did the same in Arctic exploration. When the Admiral Peary arrives in orbit around Home, the Race's planet in the Tau Ceti system, it causes a crisis in the highest levels of the Race. The Race's Emperor Risson and Fleetlord Atvar (sent back to Home, with the dubious distinction of being the only Fleetlord not to conquer a planet) argue the merits and drawbacks of attempting to destroy mankind by massive nuclear strikes. Meanwhile, Researcher Ttomalss investigates reports of a major breakthrough by human scientists back on Earth. The Race inadvertently cause themselves a possible ecological disaster — similar to what they are causing on Earth with the Race's introduced species into the Earth's ecosystems — by letting the humans' caged rats loose on Home. The rats were used for food testing for the Humans. It comes as a great shock to the Race when a second human starship (the Commodore Perry) arrives in orbit around Home, having traveled the twelve light years in just five weeks. The faster-than-light drive (which appears to be based on the principle of folding space) allows the crew to return to Earth, which is familiar, yet different, from how they left it. Another pun is the ship's captain Nicole Nichols, inspired by Star Trek's Lieutenant Uhura but playing off the actress' real name. The ship is named Commodore Perry for its role in opening up the Race's empire to US access, after Cdre. Matthew C. Perry, who did the same with Japan, and the Race are fearful that other human nations will make their way to Home, especially a recovered Germany. |
The Far Pavilions | M. M. Kaye | 1,978 | Ashton Pelham-Martyn (Ash) is the son of a British botanical scientist traveling through India, who is born on the road shortly before the Sepoy uprising of 1857. His mother dies from childbed fever shortly after his birth and his father dies of cholera a few years later. He is entrusted to his Hindu ayah (nanny) Sita to be brought to his English relatives in the city of Mardan. After discovering that all English feringhis have been killed during the uprising, Sita adopts the dark-skinned Ash and takes him in search of safety. They eventually find refuge in the kingdom of Gulkote where Ashton, now going by the name Ashok, forgets his English parentage and grows up as a native Indian boy. While working as a servant for Lalji, the young yuveraj (crown prince) of Gulkote, Ashton befriends the neglected princess Anjuli, in addition to the master of stables, Koda Dad, and his son Zarin. At the age of 11, Ashton uncovers a murderous conspiracy against Lalji and learns he himself will be killed for interfering with the plot. Promising Anjuli he will return for her one day, he and Sita escape the palace with assistance from friends Sita and Ashok have made within the palace over the years, and flee from Gulkote. The ailing Sita dies en route, but not before revealing to Ash his true parentage and entrusting him with the letters and money his father gave her after his death. Ashok makes his way to the military division Sita instructed him about, and they recognize him; now known by his English name, Ashton is turned over to English authorities and sent to England for a formal education and military training. At age 19, Ashton returns to India as an officer in the Corps of Guides with Zarin on the Northern Frontier. He quickly finds that his sense of place is torn between his new-found status as Ashton, an English "Sahib", and Ashok, the native Indian boy he once believed he was. After going AWOL in Afghanistan, Ash is suspended from The Guides and sent to escort a royal wedding party across India. He discovers that the party is in fact from the former kingdom of Gulkote, now known as Karidkote after merging with a neighboring princedom, and that Anjuli, along with her sister Shushula, are the princesses to be married. Also in the wedding party is Anjuli's younger brother, the prince Jhoti. After revealing himself as Ashok to Anjuli, Ash falls in love with her, but is unable to act on his feelings as she is not only betrothed to another but belongs to what is now an alien culture, across a divide which they can no longer bridge. Over the months that follow, Ash thwarts a plot to murder Jhoti, and falls into increasing despair over his unrequited love for Anjuli. While caught in a dust-storm together, Anjuli reveals her love for Ash, but rebuffs his pleas to run away with him out of duty to her sister as a co-bride in an arranged marriage. Ash is forced to watch Anjuli be married off to the lecherous rana of Bhithor and return to his duties in the military. Two years later, Ash receives distressing news that the rana of Bhithor has died, and that his wives are to be burned alive in the Hindu ritual of suttee. Racing to Bhithor, Ash and his friends manage to rescue Anjuli and take her to safety; this rescue results in the death of not only Ash's beloved horse but also most of the human members of the party. He insists upon marrying Anjuli, despite the insistence of all other members of his group of acquaintances, including Anjuli, that this is not only unnecessary but against God's Law. Here the book's focus shifts from the relationship between Ash and Anjuli to England's and Russia's political wrangling in the regions north of what were the Indian Borders at the time. In England's desire to expand its territory into Afghanistan, Ash is sent into the country as a spy to relay information that will help England establish a permanent foothold in the area. What follows is an account of the first phase of the Second Afghan War, culminating in the September 1879 uprising that killed the English envoy in Kabul. This part of the story is told mostly from the perspective of Ash's best friend Walter "Wally" Hamilton. After the uprising in Kabul, Ash and Anjuli set out in search of a paradise in the Himalayas - "the far pavilions" - free of prejudice where they can live out their lives in peace. |
De komst van Joachim Stiller | null | null | The main character in the novel is Freek Groenevelt, a 37-year-old journalist living in Antwerp. From a café, he witnesses four workers breaking up a street and then closing it up again, for no apparent reason. When he decides to write an article about the event, he is contacted by a member of the Antwerp city council, Mr. Keldermans. Mr. Keldermans explains to Groenevelt that things are happening which he does not understand and makes him afraid. Groenevelt is sceptical at first, but Keldermans seems honest and Groenevelt leaves in a state of confusion. He then receives a letter from Joachim Stiller, in which Stiller announces that the event he witnessed is a portent. To Groenevelt's confusion, the letter is stamped one and a half years before he was born. Later on, Groenevelt goes to visit the editors of a literary magazine, "Atomium", which has published a very critical article about him. One of the editors, Simone Marijnissen, explains that they have received a letter from, again, Joachim Stiller, asking them not to criticize Groenevelt. They thought that Groenevelt had written the letter himself and saw this as a reason to attack him. Over the next few days, Joachim Stiller continues to manifest himself. He writes another letter to Marijnissen, and Groenevelt finds a 16th-century book, written by a German theologian from Augsburg called Joachim Stiller. Groenevelt and Marijnissen (who are fast falling in love with each other) visit an art historian, who determines that the letter is thirty-eight years old: again, just one year older than Groenevelt. A graphologist determines that Stiller's handwriting is exactly what he would expect from a man "who doesn't exist at all, but could nonetheless write". Marijnissen spends the night in Groenevelt's apartment, and they are awakened by the sounds of a carillon, which nobody else seems to hear. Then, the telephone rings, and an unknown person promises: "One day I will free you from all your fears." Then, as persistent rumours announcing the end of the world start to run around the city, Groenevelt contacts Keldermans, who explains that these rumours have been spread by people unknown. He had detailed some police officers to keep things quiet, but these have disappeared without a trace. Groenevelt, now understandably nervous, visits a psychiatrist, but apart from high blood pressure, nothing seems to be wrong. He does remember an episode from his early youth, when he witnessed a rocket attack in the Second World War. An American soldier was mortally wounded in the attack, and suddenly Groenevelt remembers the GI's name: Major Joachim Stiller, Longwood, Massachusetts. When Groenevelt comes home, Marijnissen tells him she is expecting their child. Furthermore, a letter from Joachim Stiller has arrived, telling them that he will arrive on Friday evening. On Friday evening, Groenevelt and Marijnissen go to the train station, where they meet Keldermans. At half past nine, a man comes out of the station, whom Groenevelt recognises as the American soldier from his youth. The man smiles, and says: "I am Joachim Stiller", but immediately after that he is hit by a truck. Later, at the police station, it proves impossible to identify the man. Three days later, when Groenevelt and Marijnissen try to visit Stiller's body, it has disappeared. Keldermans's connection with Joachim Stiller is also revealed: his daughter has died in the same attack that Groenevelt has witnessed. |
Katherine | Anchee Min | null | Six years after the death of Mao, the People's Republic of China opens its doors to learn how to integrate into the larger world. The title character, a thirty-six year old English teacher in Shanghai, learns a great deal of Chinese culture from interacting with her students in and out of class. The narrator of the novel, twenty-nine year old Zebra Wong, is one of the students who eventually helps her adopt a Chinese girl, Little Rabbit. However, the principal of the school Katherine teaches at, Mr. Han, becomes suspicious of Katherine's after-class activities and, with the help of Katherine's student and spurned lover Lion Head, seizes upon her "corrupting Western influence" to call for her dismissal. Katherine appeals to the U.S. consul in Shanghai, but she is returned to America. She maintains contact with Zebra and tries to make arrangements for her and Little Rabbit to come to the United States as well. it:Katherine (Min) |
Hunters of Dune | Kevin J. Anderson | 2,006 | For three years, the no-ship (named the Ithaca by its passengers) has been in an alternate universe, carrying the gholas of Duncan Idaho and the famous military commander Miles Teg as well as the Bene Gesserit Sheeana, who has the mysterious power to control sandworms. Other passengers include the last Bene Tleilax Master Scytale, some Bene Gesserits, a group of Jews saved from Honored Matre oppression on the planet Gammu, seven small sandworms that can produce spice, and four captive Futars, fierce half-man/half-cat creatures bred to hunt Honored Matres. The mysterious Oracle of Time speaks to Duncan and brings the no-ship back into the 'regular' universe. However, it is soon discovered by the mysterious "old man and old woman", Daniel and Marty, first mentioned at the end of Chapterhouse Dune, who have unknown designs on the Ithaca and its passengers. The no-ship is nearly caught in their tachyon net, but escapes using the space-folding Holtzman engines. Meanwhile, Murbella is trying to prevent civil war on Chapterhouse, the only known source of melange left in the universe. She meets an emissary sent by the Spacing Guild, which is desperate for spice. Murbella refuses their requests due to the help the Guild gave to the Honored Matres, and demands the Guild's future loyalty, threatening to cut them off completely. Unbeknownst to the Guild delegation and the rest of the universe, the sandworms on Chapterhouse are not yet producing much melange; the Bene Gesserit are making it seem so, using their own stockpiles. Later, Murbella stops a brutal fight between some polarized Bene Gesserits and Honored Matres. Though the Honored Matres had destroyed all Bene Tleilax worlds, their descendants (the Lost Tleilaxu) have returned from The Scattering. Supposedly under their complete control are their improved Face Dancers, creatures who can mimic other humans exactly and go undetected by all known means. It is soon revealed that the Face Dancers have their own will and motives, as they kill the Tleilaxu Elder Burah and replace him with their own duplicate. They have now replaced all the Lost Tleilaxu Elders, as well as countless humans on various planets in the Old Empire. Their leader Khrone sends the scribe Uxtal (presumably the highest-ranking, if only, Lost Teliaxu left alive) to serve the renegade Honored Matre leader Hellica, who has proclaimed herself Matre Superior and now rules the conquered Bene Tleilax homeworld, Tleilax. The desperate Spacing Guild Administrators go to Ix to find an alternative to the use of their own Navigators (who require spice) for space travel. Unbeknownst to the Ixians or the Guild, Khrone and his Face Dancers have infiltrated Ix. While carefully executing his own plans for Face Dancer domination of the universe, Khrone is doing the bidding of Daniel and Marty by offering their advanced navigation technology to the Guild as if it were of Ixian design. The Guild agrees to the development of this technology if they have a monopoly on it. Uxtal has been forced to use Tleilaxu axlotl tank technology to produce the adrenaline-enhancing drug used by Honored Matres. Khrone also tasks Uxtal to make a ghola from recently-found cell samples, which turn out to be those of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. From the start, the young Baron is as sociopathic as the original. Later, Khrone obtains the blood of Paul Atreides from a religious relic on the Atreides homeworld once known as Caladan, and has Uxtal make a ghola of Paul. He plans to twist this Kwisatz Haderach ghola (using the Baron Harkonnen ghola) into a weapon for Daniel and Marty's conquest of the universe. Later, the Guild Navigator Edrik comes to Tleilax seeking Uxtal's knowledge of axlotl tanks; the Navigator fears his kind's obsolescence when the Ixian navigation technology becomes available. He seeks an alternate source of spice to break the Bene Gesserit monopoly, but even Uxtal believes that secret has died with the Tleilaxu Masters murdered by the Honored Matres. Eventually he is able to access the genetic material of deceased Master Waff, and through an accelerated process creates several (ultimately flawed) Waff gholas, hoping to unlock the secret of producing melange in the tanks. The entire universe is unaware that in the events of Chapterhouse Dune, Scytale had been forced to give the passengers of the Ithaca the secret, and it was in use on the no-ship as their primary source of spice. The Tleilaxu had always sustained their lives indefinitely through the use of gholas; his current body is slowly dying, and he does not have another to replace it. Needing to grow a new ghola of himself, he has only one secret to use as a bargaining tool: a hidden nullentropy capsule containing cells carefully and secretly collected by the Tleilaxu for millennia, including the cells of Tleilaxu Masters, Face Dancers, Paul Atreides, Duke Leto Atreides, Lady Jessica, Chani, Stilgar, Leto Atreides II, Gurney Halleck, Thufir Hawat, and even legendary figures dating back to the Butlerian Jihad, including Serena Butler and Xavier Harkonnen. The Bene Gesserit have a vicious debate over whether to create gholas of any of these historical figures. Sheeana believes they may prove useful, while others fear the return of such 'mistakes' as Leto II. Despite the controversy, gholas are created, a few at a time. Scytale is allowed to have his own once the first few have been born. On Chapterhouse, Murbella trains an elite strike force of Bene Gesserit using the combined skills of Bene Gesserits, Honored Matres, and 'lost' Swordmasters of the Ginaz. Her 'Valkyries' attack the rebel Honored Matre strongholds on other planets with success, in the process discovering that some of the Honored Matres are Face Dancers in disguise, undetectable until death. A former Honored Matre herself, Murbella eventually accesses the Other Memory from her Honored Matre ancestors, and learns their true origins. The core of the Honored Matres were vengeful Tleilaxu females, freed and assimilated by Fish Speakers and Bene Gesserits fleeing in The Scattering. The Tleilaxu women had been used as axlotl tanks by their males for millennia; though the current Honored Matres did not know their own origins, this explains to Murbella why they had been compelled to so mercilessly annihilate the Tleilaxu worlds in the Old Empire. Murbella also 'remembers' the attack by a renegade Honored Matre that first antagonized the Enemy. On the no-ship, an attempt by rebel Bene Gesserits to murder the Leto II ghola is foiled by the child himself, seemingly able to change into a sandworm at will. The Paul ghola wants to remember his past; with the help of the Chani ghola, he steals and consumes an overdose of spice. This fails to awaken his past memories, but instead he has a vision in which he has been stabbed by another, evil Paul Atreides. After being discovered by the Bene Gesserit, he concludes that it is prescience. Sheanna’s own visions bring a warning from the legendary Reverend Mother Ramallo of Arrakis about the use of the gholas. She stops the ghola program from continuing until she can make sense of it all. Daniel and Marty inform Khrone that they have no further need of his Baron Harkonnen and Paul Atreides gholas. They insist they have lured the Ithaca into a trap, and will soon have the Kwisatz Haderach they have calculated is on board. Khrone, however, continues to prepare the gholas. He finally manages to restore the Baron's memories, and instructs him to train the Paul ghola (named Paolo), who does not yet have his memories. To the Baron's disquiet, he finds the mocking voice of his granddaughter Alia in his thoughts soon after recovering his memories. She also later threatens him should he try to harm Paolo. Murbella contracts Ix's competitor Richese to provide as many armed ships, and as much weaponry, as possible, in preparation for the confrontation with the unknown enemy. Later, the Honored Matres destroy the entire planet of Richese to cripple the Sisterhood. In a final assault on Tleilax, the most powerful of the rebel Honored Matre strongholds, Murbella and her Valkyries are victorious. It is revealed that Matre Superior Hellica and several of her elite guard were, in fact, Face Dancers. Many of the surviving Honored Matres then join with Murbella. Uxtal and the sole remaining Waff ghola each attempt to escape during the chaos. A Tleilaxu farmer gleefully allows "Master" Uxtal to be devoured by hungry sligs, while Waff finds refuge with the Spacing Guild, offering Edrik something better than artificial melange — the genetic knowledge for the Guild to create their own, optimized sandworms. The Ithaca stumbles upon the homeworld of the Handlers, masters of the Futars. An exploratory party from the no-ship returns the man-beasts, and soon discovers that the seemingly bucolic Handlers are actually Face Dancers, tasked with their capture. Sheanna and her companions barely escape with their lives. Some Face Dancer ships manage to crash into the Ithaca before its escape, and potentially missing bodies in the wreckage have the no-ship's passengers wondering if the enemies are now among them. The emergency forces Miles Teg to reveal his hidden power of superhuman speed, unlocked in him during torture by Honored Matres in Heretics of Dune. He has kept this ability secret because the Bene Gesserit are suspicious of any males having any 'wild talents', lest another Kwisatz Haderach be created. To them, Paul Atreides and Leto II were disasters never to be repeated. Murbella, now in complete control of the Honored Matres and Bene Gesserit, prepares a defense against the forces of the Enemy, now identified by Other Memory to be thinking machines of Omnius, the machine overlord destroyed back in the ancient Butlerian Jihad. The Oracle of Time is then revealed to be the living consciousness of Norma Cenva, somehow also still in existence millennia after the Jihad. The story concludes with Daniel and Marty revealed to be Omnius and the independent robot, Erasmus. Before its destruction, the Omnius incarnation on Giedi Prime had launched 5,000 probes capable of constructing new machine colonies on any planets encountered. One of these probes eventually intercepted a signal transmitted by the last remaining Omnius on Corrin before it too was destroyed. Its forces and Synchronized Empire finally reassembled, the new version of the Evermind is on the way back to the Old Empire to destroy all humanity. |
Sandworms of Dune | Kevin J. Anderson | 2,007 | As Sandworms of Dune begins, the passengers of the no-ship Ithaca continue their nearly two-decade search for a new home world for the Bene Gesserit, while Duncan Idaho evades the tachyon net of the old couple Daniel and Marty, now known to be thinking machine leaders Omnius and Erasmus. Among the inhabitants of the Ithaca are young gholas of Paul Atreides, Lady Jessica, and others. Back in the Old Empire, Mother Commander Murbella of the New Sisterhood attempts to rally humankind for a last stand against the thinking machines. The new Face Dancers continue to infiltrate the main organizations of the Old Empire at all levels, having also sent their gholas of Paul Atreides (called Paolo) and the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen to the thinking machine capital, Synchrony. At the prompting of Face Dancer infiltrators, the Spacing Guild has begun replacing its Navigators with Ixian navigation devices and cutting off the Navigators' supply of melange. Navigator Edrik and his faction have commissioned Waff, the imperfectly awakened ghola rescued by the Guild from the Bene Gesserit attack on Bandalong, to create "advanced" sandworms able to produce the melange they so desperately require. He accomplishes this by altering the DNA of the sandtrout stage and creating an aquatic form of the worms, which are then released into the oceans of Buzzell. Adapting to their new environment, these "seaworms" quickly flourish, eventually producing a highly concentrated form of spice, dubbed "ultraspice." Meanwhile, Murbella commissions Ix to copy the destructive Honored Matre Obliterators for use on the fleet of warships she has ordered from the Guild. However, Ix is now secretly controlled by Face Dancer leader Khrone; previously acting as a minion of Omnius, he continues his own plot for Face Dancer domination of the universe. Omnius's forces have begun striking world after world, releasing a deadly virus and then pressing on to the new string of inhabited planets. The thinking machine plague arrives at Chapterhouse and cripples the Sisterhood, but they rally the unified humankind into one last great stand. Aboard the Ithaca, Sheeana restarts the ghola project. Gholas of Serena Butler, Gurney Halleck, and Xavier Harkonnen are about to be born when the axlotl tanks are poisoned, killing all three ghola babies and the tanks. Saboteurs are suspected, as many of the ship's systems have also been failing. Scytale, the last Tleilaxu Master, finally reawakens his own ghola's past memories, but only by dying in front of his younger self. The gholas of Wellington Yueh, Stilgar, and Liet-Kynes regain their memories through various traumatic experiences. Desperate to replenish their supplies, the Ithaca lands on the planet Qelso, a world slowly being terraformed into a desert planet by the introduction of sandworms years before by the Bene Gesserit. Stilgar and Liet-Kynes decide to remain behind to help the natives slow the encroaching desert and prepare them for the inevitable. Having successfully completed his attempts to create a new incarnation of sandworm, Waff begs Edrik to return him to the ruined planet of Rakis so that he can spend what little time to live he has left attempting to reintroduce the worms there as well. Unsuccessful, Waff resigns himself to failure and prepares to die; as the last of his sandworm specimens perishes, a dozen sandworms erupt from beneath the surface. Waff realizes that the pearl of Leto II's awareness that each sandworm carries had foreseen the Honored Matre attack on Rakis and buried themselves deep beneath the planet's surface. Knowing the planet has begun healing itself, Waff is consumed by a worm, rejoicing that his prophet has finally returned. Meanwhile, Edrik and the ultraspice are intercepted by Khrone, who seizes the spice and kills the Navigator. The saboteurs are eventually revealed to be the Rabbi and the ghola of Thufir Hawat, who had apparently been murdered and replaced with Face Dancers back on the planet of the Handlers during the events of Hunters of Dune. In the ensuing chaos that follows the discovery of the Face Dancers, the Ithaca is ensnared by the tachyon net. Miles Teg sacrifices his life in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent their capture. The Ithaca is brought to Synchrony. They are met by a party led by the ghola of Vladimir Harkonnen. Seeing the young ghola of Alia when he arrives, he immediately kills her; the original Alia had murdered his original self 5,000 years before. The Bene Gesserit gholas of Paul, Lady Jessica, Chani, and Yueh are then taken to see Omnius and Erasmus. Omnius explains that to complete his domination of humanity, he requires the superior Kwisatz Haderach of the two Paul gholas. Paolo and Paul are forced to duel, during which Paul is mortally wounded. Victorious, Paolo takes the ultraspice; overwhelmed by the rapid onset of perfect prescient vision, he slips into a coma. Paul, at the urging and efforts of Yueh, Chani, and Jessica, slowly regains his past memories and is able to repair the damage to his body using Bene Gesserit physiological control. Under the guise of aiding Paolo, Yueh takes his revenge by killing Baron Harkonnen, who had orchestrated the torture and death of Yueh's wife Wanna in their original incarnations. As this is happening, Murbella has all the new ships in place and is finally ready to launch her fleet against Omnius's oncoming armada. But the Obliterators and Ixian navigation devices all suddenly fail; Murbella realizes that they have been sabotaged. When it appears that defeat at the hands of the thinking machine forces is imminent, the Oracle of Time appears with a thousand ships piloted by Guild Navigators and begins to attack the machines. This assault leaves the machine fleet in pieces. The Oracle then tells Murbella that she is going to Synchrony to stop Omnius once and for all; she folds space, and a visual manifestation of the Oracle appears in the room where Paul and Paolo have been dueling. The Oracle then removes every aspect of Omnius and transports the Evermind away into another dimension forever. Sheeana and the young Leto II ghola free the sandworms from the Ithacas cargo hold, and the worms wreak havoc throughout Synchrony. Leto II regains his memories, and after the battle is finished, he tells Sheeana that he must now go back into the dreaming. Leto walks into the belly of the largest worm, Monarch, and the seven worms twist together and join into one worm before digging deep into the ground. Fresh from fighting the thinking machines outside on Synchrony with Sheeana, Duncan enters the chamber where a recovering Paul, his memories now restored, reveals that Duncan is the final Kwisatz Haderach, having evolved and perfected himself through thousands of years of ghola rebirth and altered DNA. Erasmus then explains that he was the mastermind behind the rebuilding of the Synchronized Worlds. A mutinous Khrone declares that the universe now belongs to his Face Dancers, as both humans and machines have been crippled. Amused by Khrone's attempt to seize power, Erasmus explains that a fail-safe system had been built into the Face Dancers. The independent robot kills Khrone and his party — and then all enhanced Face Dancers across the universe — with the simple flip of a mental switch. The immediate death of so many Face Dancers exposes how much they have infiltrated human society. Erasmus then offers Duncan a choice. With both humans and thinking machines battered and beaten, Duncan can choose either destruction for one side or recovery and healing for both. Choosing peace over victory, Duncan and Erasmus then merge minds. Erasmus imparts Duncan with all the codes required to run the Synchronized Worlds, as well as all of his knowledge. Duncan now stands as the bridge between humans and machines. With little left for him, Erasmus again expresses his desire to learn everything possible about what it is to be human — he asks for Duncan to help him die. As Duncan shuts Erasmus down, he shares one of the many deaths he experienced with the independent robot. Back in the Old Empire, Murbella's forces are preparing to attack Omnius's second wave when the machines suddenly stop. With the Oracle having taken Omnius, a Navigator brings Murbella to Synchrony. She and Duncan are reunited, and he explains his intent to end the divide between humans and thinking machines — the two will co-exist. Duncan gives Synchrony to Sheeana for her Orthodox Sisterhood, while he returns with Murbella to help lead the new human-machine mode of life. On Qelso, the gholas of Stilgar and Liet-Kynes continue to aid in the attempt to hold back the expanding desert, while simultaneously teaching the planet's occupants how to adapt to the changes that will inevitably come. Under Duncan's control, a thinking machine convoy lands on the planet; Duncan offers the gholas the aid of the thinking machines in holding back the desert. He tells Stilgar and Kynes that just as he has become both man and machine, Qelso will become both desert and forest. On Caladan, the gholas of Lady Jessica and Wellington Yueh have returned to the ancient Atreides castle. Having removed all traces of the Baron's occupancy, the two discuss how they will go forward with their lives. Accompanying them is the unawakened ten-year-old ghola of Leto I. Looking forward to the time when his memories will be restored, Lady Jessica finds solace in the fact that she will be reunited with her Duke. With the aid of the Tleilaxu Master Scytale, Sheeana and the Orthodox Sisterhood on Synchrony have reestablished the ancient Bene Gesserit breeding program, resolving to never again breed another Kwisatz Haderach. At her side, Sheeana has a young ghola of Serena Butler, heroine of the Butlerian Jihad. Along with gholas of the Tleilaxu Masters, Scytale has grown Tleilaxu females from newly discovered cells, vowing that they will never again be forced into becoming axlotl tanks, in the hopes that this will prevent the creation of a vengeful enemy such as the Honored Matres from ever occurring again, and also vowing to never again allow the Masters to corrupt the recovering Tleilaxu people. On the recovering planet Dune, the awakened gholas of Paul and Chani go about restoring the planet to its former glory. Now that Paul is able to devote all of his attention to her, Chani remarks that he has finally learned how to treat his wife. As the novel closes, Paul reaffirms his love for Chani, telling her he has loved her for over five-thousand years. |
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc | Mark Twain | 1,896 | The foreword is by fictional author Sieur Louis de Conte, writing from Domrémy, France to his great-great-grand nephews and nieces, in the year 1492. He relates his relationship to Joan as first a childhood friend, and later her page and secretary. He reminisces, “I was with her from the beginning until the end.” Book One begins with the birth of de Conte on January 6th, 1410, in Neufchâteau, France. He relates his early childhood as plagued with misery brought on by the English forces. For over seventy-five years, he states, France has felt the oppressive force of the English and Burgundian armies. With each battle lost, the despair of the French people grows. In 1415, following the death of his family by a Burgundian raiding party, de Conte is sent to Domrémy to live with the parish priest. Here he meets young Joan d’Arc, who lives a relatively quiet life in the small country village. Yet even in her early years, de Conte describes multiple incidents where Joan is shown to be the wisest and bravest child in Domrémy. For example, she defends the children’s friends (the fairies) against unfair banishment, convinces the townspeople to provide food and shelter for a wandering soldier, and peaceably stops a madman who threatens the village. In Chapter VI, the novel relates that, at fourteen years of age, Joan’s manner undergoes a change. Instead of being “the most light-hearted creature and the merriest in the village” de Conte says that “she had been mainly grave”. In the next chapter, a year and a half later, de Conte finds the reason behind her solemn behavior. On the 15th of May, 1428, Joan reveals that she has been visited frequently by saints and angels. On this particular day, she states that God has chosen her “to lead His armies, and win back France, and set the crown upon the head of His servant that is Dauphin and shall be King”. The book describes Joan as at first being hesitant; stating, “I am only a child; a child and ignorant – ignorant of everything that pertains to war.” Book Two’s final chapters, VII and VIII, relate the difficulties Joan faces to follow her mission, beginning when the governor of Vaucoleurs refuses her an escort of men-at-arms. Book Two begins with the elimination of Joan’s hindrances. de Conte relates that, with the advice of her Voices, Joan remains steadfast in her mission and on February 23rd begins her journey to the Dauphin, complete with escort. In Chapter VI, Joan arrives at the Castle of Chinon, prepared to fulfill her mission and speak with the future king. However, before allowing her entry, the Dauphin tests Joan by switching his royal clothes with those of a layman. Joan is unfazed by the test and identifies the true king-to-be. After receiving a further sign from Joan, the Dauphin is convinced that her mission is from God, and establishes her as General of the Armies of France. In Chapter X, Joan begins to organize her campaign, writing a letter to the English commanders at Orleans, demanding them to vacate France. She also instills order amongst her troops, banning prostitution, gambling, and requiring that “every man who joins my standard must confess before the priest…and all accepted recruits must be present at divine service twice a day.” Starting at Orleans, de Conte describes the army’s march across France, winning multiple victories. He states that throughout the campaign Joan’s Voices remain with her, guiding and encouraging her efforts. On one occasion, in Chapter XXI, Joan’s Voices reveal that on May 7th she will be shot by an arrow, between her neck and shoulder. The prophecy is fulfilled the next day in the exact manner prescribed. Two chapters later, following a victory at Tours, the novel states that Joan is given the Dauphin’s permission to march upon Rheims. Once again, each English stronghold standing in her path is reclaimed. de Conte marvels that for the first time in ninety-one years, the French have the upper hand in the Hundred Years’ War. On July 5th, the English forces at Rheims surrender, allowing the coronation of Charles to take place. Yet, even with this accomplishment, Joan refuses to halt her campaign. In Chapter XXVIII, Joan receives permission to march on Paris stating that, if successful, the move would cripple the English forces. However, with a victory at Paris in sight, the King declares the campaign ended. He instead makes a truce to leave Paris unthreatened and unmolested. De Conte bewails, “Joan of Arc, who had never been defeated by the enemy, was defeated by her own King.” In the final chapter, de Conte laments that on May 24th 1430, Joan is taken prisoner by the Burgundians while assailing a small force at Marguy. The third and final book opens with Joan d’Arc imprisonment at Marguy. For five and a half months, the Burgundians hold Joan while waiting for King Charles to provide a ransom of 61,125 francs. When no attempt is made, she is sold to the English. For two more months, Joan remains imprisoned while her enemies, led by Bishop Pierre Cauchon of Beauvais, prepare her trial. In an attempt to lessen her influence over the French people, it is decided that Joan must be tried by priests for crimes against religion. de Conte scoffs at the English’s methods of “raking and scraping everywhere for any odds and ends of evidence or suspicion or conjecture that might be made usable against Joan.” Beginning in Chapter IV, the novel provides a detailed account of Joan’s three month long trial starting on February 21st, 1431. de Conte, secretly serving as clerk to the chief recorder, describes the trial as unfair on multiple fronts. “Fifty experts against a novice,” he states, “and no one to help the novice!” de Conte also includes an official transcript that states, “They asked her profound questions…the questioners changed suddenly and passes to another subject to see if she would not contradict herself.” Yet, in spite of this, Joan is praised for boldly answering the questions put to her. de Conte states that many in the courtroom gaped in awe at the wisdom and prudence of her answers. Chapter VII recounts her most well-known answer after being asked by Beaupere, “Are you in a state of Grace.” de Conte states that with simple gravity she answers, “If I be not in a state of Grace, I pray God place me in it; if I be in it, I pray God keep me so.” Yet, in Chapter XX, after nearly three months of imprisonment, Joan finally submits to her captors. Unable to read it, Joan signs a document “confessing herself a sorceress, a dealer with devils, a liar, a blasphemer of God and His angels…and this signature of hers bound her to resume the dress of a woman." However, in Chapter XXII de Conte accuses the English of treachery, stating, “While Joan slept, in the early morning of Sunday, one of the guards stole her female apparel and put her male attire in its place…she saw that she could not save her life if she must fight for it against treacheries like this; so she put on the forbidden garments, knowing what the end would be.” For breaking the condition, Joan is sentenced to be burned at the stake on the following Wednesday, May 30th 1431. The final chapter, XXIV, recounts Joan’s last few hours before she is consumed in flames, but not the execution itself. In his writing, de Conte returns to the present year of 1492, where he is eighty-two years of age. He summarizes the lives and deaths of many of the characters including Joan’s family and King Charles the VII. He closes with a salute to the legacy of Joan, citing her impact on the country she loved so much. |
Mission of Gravity | Hal Clement | null | The native protagonist, Barlennan, captain of the Bree, is on a trading expedition to the equator, where the gravity is a tiny fraction of what his culture is used to. Prior to the story's opening, a human scientific probe has become stranded at one of the planet's poles, and team member Charles Lackland is dispatched to the equator where he has met Barlennan by chance. Lackland is barely able to survive (machine-aided) what to the captain is the incredibly light gravity, but has managed to teach the Mesklinites English, and enlist the Bree to journey to the pole and recover the probe, in return for information about the violent weather which often plagues such expeditions. Communication is achieved through an audio-visual radio built to function in a high-gravity environment, which is treated as magical by other intelligences encountered on the planet. Along the way to the pole, the ship encounters and overcomes a variety of obstacles, some of which the humans help with using their superior scientific knowledge, and some of which rely on the cunning of Barlennan and his crew. They are captured by various lifeforms similar to themselves, but who live in the lower-gravity areas and have developed projectile weapons and gliders. Gradually, with human help, they gain an understanding of these and manage to escape. Barlennan has been dissatisfied with the humans' efforts to seemingly avoid explanation of anything scientific, and almost withholds the probe when they finally reach it; but the humans convince them that a scientific background is needed to understand the advanced equipment in the probe, and a deal is reached whereby the humans will slowly educate the Mesklinites. The novel provides an exposition on how the weather, geology and atmosphere of the seas and the pole are affected by the local conditions, and sees the Mesklinites overcoming their fear of gravity as they learn to view it scientifically, eventually harnessing aerodynamics to make the Bree fly at the poles. |
Blue City | Ross Macdonald | null | Twenty-two year old Johnny Weather has returned from the army, having served in the European Theater in the Second World War, only to find his estranged father long dead. His father was a leading factor in the corruption of the town and an important person, but the police seem more than happy to let his murder remain 'unsolved', as does everyone Johnny encounters. As he tries to dig up the murderer, he fences with a motley list of strange characters and hustlers, everyone from the astonishingly cruel man who took over his father's night club, to his father's ex-wife, who's more than willing to seduce Johnny to keep him off the subject of his father. Although the book never names the state in which the fictional town is located, many references are made to the city being located in the Mid-West, apparently within an easy drive to Chicago. The entire book is set over a very short period of time, creating a frantic pace to the novel. |
Archangel | Sharon Shinn | 1,997 | Angels and mortals, who need one another but have a love-hate relation, inhabit the land of Samaria. The angels have wings and fly, and are taller and stronger than humans. Legends state that angels were made by Jovah to oversee Samaria under the guidance of the Archangel. The angels are supposed to protect humans, answer their petitions, solve their problems, and intercede to god for them by petitioning the god Jovah through song, especially for rain when the crops need it and the sun when it is stormy. In addition, the angels must sing to Jovah at the annual Gloria held on the Plain of Sharon, otherwise god would destroy the world. The Archangel and his consort, the Angelica, lead this mass in praise of Jovah. Archangels do not serve for life, but every twenty years Jovah selects a new Archangel. Samaria is divided into three regions, Gaza, Bethel and Jordana, separated by rivers. Each region has an angel hold or fortress that acts as the governing center for the region. However, god destroyed that of Jordana, at Windy Point. The citizens of Gaza, the Manadavvi, are highly cultured and wealthy. The Jansai, who are calculating and greedy merchants, and run the Edori slave trade inhabit Jordana. The Edori are the wanderers and frequently become enslaved by the Jansai. The Oracle has declared that the angel Gabriel is to be the next Archangel. However, Raphael, the current Archangel, who is corrupt and uses his position for himself, does not want to step down. Gabriel has an additional problem in that he procrastinated getting married. He tracks down the mortal that god has selected be his wife, but she has her own thoughts about the marriage and the expectations of her as the archangel’s consort, the Angelica. Rachel, an Edori slave, dislikes angels because of what they had done to her family when she was younger. Gabriel is faced with many trials having to contend with Raphael on the one hand, and his reluctant wife, who is a constant thorn-in-the-side. But the trials and tribulations confronting Gabriel and Rachel brings them close together and they finally realize that they love each other. The story ends with Gabriel and Rachael singing together at the Gloria, thus satisfying the wishes of god. * Archangel (Samaria book 1) (Ace Books, 1997) * Jovah's Angel (Samaria book 2) (Ace Books, 1998) * The Alleluia Files (Samaria book 3) (Ace Books, 1999) * Angelica (Samaria book 4) (Ace Books, 2003) Set before the first book Archangel. * Angel-Seeker (Samaria book 5) (Ace Books, 2004) |
Exit, Voice, and Loyalty | Albert O. Hirschman | 1,970 | The basic concept is as follows: members of an organization, whether a business, a nation or any other form of human grouping, have essentially two possible responses when they perceive that the organization is demonstrating a decrease in quality or benefit to the member: they can exit (withdraw from the relationship); or, they can voice (attempt to repair or improve the relationship through communication of the complaint, grievance or proposal for change). For example, the citizens of a country may respond to increasing political repression in two ways: emigrate or protest. Similarly, employees can choose to quit their unpleasant job, or express their concerns in an effort to improve the situation. Disgruntled customers ask for the manager, or they choose to shop elsewhere. The implications of the above concept can be enormous and can allow for a new perspective on daily examples of social interaction. Exit and voice themselves represent a union between economical and political action. Exit is associated with Adam Smith's invisible hand, in which buyers and sellers are free to move silently through the market, constantly forming and destroying relationships. Voice, on the other hand, is by nature political and at times confrontational. While both exit and voice can be used to measure a decline in an organization, voice is by nature more informative in that it also provides reasons for the decline. Exit, taken alone, only provides the warning sign of decline. Exit and voice also interact in unique and sometimes unexpected ways; by providing greater opportunity for feedback and criticism, exit can be reduced; conversely, stifling of dissent leads to increased pressure for members of the organization to use the only other means available to express discontent, departure. The general principle, therefore, is that the greater the availability of exit, the less likely voice will be used. However, the interplay of loyalty can affect the cost-benefit analysis of whether to use exit or voice. Where there is loyalty to the organization (as evidenced by strong patriotism politically, or brand loyalty for consumers), exit may be reduced, especially where options to exit are not so appealing (small job market, political or financial hurdles to emigration or moving). By understanding the relationship between exit and voice, and the interplay that loyalty has with these choices, organizations can craft the means to better address their members' concerns and issues, and thereby effect improvement. Failure to understand these competing pressures can lead to organizational decline and possible failure. |
The Insulted and Humiliated | Fyodor Dostoyevsky | 1,861 | Natasha leaves her parents' home and runs away with Alyosha (prince Alexey) – the son of Prince Valkovsky who abuses her father. As a result of his pain, her father, Nikolai, curses her. The only friend that remains by Natasha's side is Ivan – her childhood friend who is deeply in love with her. Prince Valkovsky tries to destroy Alyosha's plans to marry Natasha, and wants to make him marry the rich princess Katerina. Alyosha is a childish young man who is easily manipulated by his father. Following his father's plan, Alyosha falls in love with Katerina. Eventually, Alyosha chooses Katerina over Natasha. In the meanwhile, Ivan picks up an orphan girl, Elena, and learns that her mother ran away from her father's (Smith) home with her sweetheart – Alyosha's father. Shortly after Elena was born, Prince Valkovsky abandoned her, took her money and the poor woman and her daughter came back to Smith asking for forgiveness. Elena's mother dies shortly before her father eventually agrees to forgive her. In attempt to make Nikolai (Natasha's father) forgive his daughter, Ivan persuades Nilokai and his wife to adopt Elena. By telling them her life story, Elena makes Nikolai's heart soften and he accepts Natasha. Shortly afterwards, Elena dies from epilepsy. Finally Natasha accepts Ivan's love. |
The Terminal Experiment | Robert J. Sawyer | 1,995 | Dr. Peter Hobson invents a machine that detects a brain pattern that leaves the body after death, a pattern many believe is a soul. In order to test their theories on immortality and life after death, Hobson and his friend Sarkar Muhammed create three electronic simulations of Hobson's own personality. When people Hobson had a grudge against begin to die, he and Sarkar must try to find out which is responsible. But all three, two modified, one a "control", escape Sarkar's computer, into the Internet and the World Wide Web. |
Rhapsody: Child of Blood | Elizabeth Haydon | 1,999 | Rhapsody: Child of Blood is a fantasy/adventure novel, though it opens with a strong romantic scene. The main story begins in Easton, when the protagonist Rhapsody finds herself in jeopardy, having refused the advances of Michael, the self-titled Wind of Death. In her attempt to get away, she falls in with two mysterious men named Grunthor and Achmed and soon finds herself the unwilling accomplice in their own escape. Though they run from their pasts, they eventually realize that no one can outrun their destinies. |
Arrow's Flight | Mercedes Lackey | 1,987 | Arrow's Flight opens with two major events: Herald Talia earns her Whites (the white uniform worn by full Heralds) and Princess Elspeth, the Heir-presumptive, is chosen by the Companion Gwena. Also in the opening section is a reminder of the distrust and animosity between Herald Talia and Lord Orthallen, a high-ranking councilor and advisor to Queen Selenay. Shortly after Elspeth's confirmation as Heir-in-right, news reaches Haven that the Herald on patrol in a northern sector is out of commission due to injury. Herald Kyril assigns the sector to Talia for her year-and-a-half Field internship with the handsome Herald Kris, who is Orthallen's nephew. Before they leave, Orthallen tells Kris that he is afraid Talia is misusing her Gift of Empathy (the ability to read and influence the emotions of others). Once they are on the road, Kris asks Talia about the rumor. She vigorously denies any use of her Gift to influence Elspeth or others, but the rumor nevertheless undermines her self-confidence. This, combined with a hitherto-unnoticed lapse in her training, results in a steady decline in her level of control over her Gift. She finds herself scarcely able to control how much emotion she is receiving or projecting, and she is afraid to ask Kris for help. Rolan, her Companion, assists her as much as he can. About three months into the internship, the two Heralds, their Companions, and their pack animals are trapped by a severe winter storm in a Waystation located in the Forest of Sorrows. Talia's Gift goes rogue in a spectacular manner, projecting feelings of intense rage at Kris and both Companions. After a startled moment, Kris realizes what has happened, and he begins teaching Talia how to properly shield and control her power. The winter storm traps them for almost a month, during which time Talia gets the basics of control back, and she and Kris become lovers. They are also confronted by the mysterious force which inhabits the Forest, which perceives Talia as a threat. The Heralds are soon met by a rescue party, and they resume the internship. Talia finds that the rumor that she misuses her Gift has reached this far, and she and Kris feel they must continue the circuit so that the Heralds won't lose face. As the book concludes, she has recovered mastery of her Gift, but she remains troubled by the ethics of using it. She is also worried about what effect her relationship with Kris will have on the relationship she wants to have with Kris' best friend, Herald Dirk. |
The Three-Arched Bridge | Ismail Kadare | null | The book describes the construction of an important bridge in Albanian territory at an ungiven time or age. Told by a catholic monk, Gjon (Gjon is a name used by Northern Albanians who were mostly catholic prior to Turkish invasions), the story of the bridge, as seen by Gjon is filled with prissy, unhappy bureaucrats, who take the events at face value without ever trying to understand the larger forces at work. Both the river Ujana e Keqe and the bridge itself are major characters in the book, and they undergo significant transformations. One of the startling events of the book is when a "volunteer" is immured inside the bridge in order to make a "sacrifice" to the river. The man's face is captured in the plaster that surrounds him, as unforgettable as it is horrifying. Though clearly a punishment for the crime of sabotage against the bridge, as Gjon recounts this event, it is less an act of vengeance than it is a true sacrifice. But more than that, it becomes a symbol for the ignorance of and squabbling among tiny Albanian principalities and their fight amongst one another, in front of a major threat. |
Mario and the Magician | Thomas Mann | 1,929 | During the first half of the story, the narrator describes a trip to Torre di Venere, Italy, which becomes unpleasant for him and his family. He feels the Italian people are too nationalistic. The second half of the story introduces the character Cipolla, a hypnotist who uses his mental powers in a "fascist" way to control his audience. Cipolla may well represent the mesmerizing power of authoritarian leaders in Europe at the time —he is autocratic, misuses power, and subjugates the masses in an attempt to counterbalance his inferiority complex by artificially boosting his self-confidence. Cipolla's assassination by Mario, a native of Torre di Venere, is not a tragedy but a liberation for the audience. |
Blood and Gold | Anne Rice | 2,001 | The book begins with an ancient vampire of Nordic descent awaking after being frozen in a block of ice for hundreds of years. The vampire, Thorne, meets Marius de Romanus and inquires about Marius' past. Marius then provides his life story. As a young Roman patrician, Marius was abducted by druids who were trying to find a replacement for their "god of the grove" - a vampire, kept locked inside a chamber underneath a tree, who took on the role of a god in a druidic religion. Marius does not want to receive the powers of the dying god, but is given them nonetheless. Unable to face a life imprisoned in a tree, Marius escapes from the druids (one of whom is Mael). He embarks on a trip to Egypt, where he learns of Akasha and Enkil, the Mother and Father or Those Who Must Be Kept - the progenitors of all vampire-kind. He takes them back to Rome with him after learning that if they die then every other vampire in the world will suffer the same fate. He falls in love with a mortal woman, Pandora, and turns her into a vampire. They live together happily for a long time, although they argue frequently. One day, their house is attacked by a group of vampires who want to know the secrets of Those Who Must Be Kept. Though they destroy these vampires, the attack leads to an argument between the two and Marius, filled with anger, leaves Pandora. Marius then returns to Rome, where he creates a life for himself as a socialite, fraternizing with mortals and practicing painting. It is here that he meets Mael and Avicus, the latter of which is a former god of the grove - a vampire older than Marius, but who does not seem to know his own power. There is still much enmity between Mael and Marius, and Marius asks them to leave. They do so, but remain in the city of Rome. Marius does not mind this, as they keep the city free from other blood-drinkers who may pry the secrets of Those Who Must Be Kept from his mind. Marius continues to live this way even as the Roman Empire splits, with its capital city moving to Constantinople. Eventually, Marius, Mael, and Avicus leave Rome when it is sacked by barbarians. They travel to Constantinople, taking with them the Mother and Father. There they meet a powerful vampire named Eudoxia, who wants Marius to put Those Who Must Be Kept into her care. After praying to Those Who Must Be Kept for an answer, he relents just far enough to allow Eudoxia to see them. After a series of violent conflicts, Marius angrily drags Eudoxia back down into the shrine and casts her at Akasha, who suddenly awakens to destroy her. Realizing that he cannot live with other vampires due to his custody of the Divine Parents, Marius elects to return to Italy. He becomes disheartened by the horrors of the Black Death and sleeps for hundreds of years. He awakes again during the Renaissance and travels all around Italy, visiting Venice and Florence, admiring the art and culture. In Rome he meets the vampire Santino, who claims that Marius is living in sin by not serving Satan. Marius threatens him and tells Santino to never come near him again. Marius decides to make his home in Venice, and he establishes himself as an amateur painter. His house is set up as a place where young boys can come and improve themselves, preparing to go to university or to become craftsmen. During this time, he also falls in love with the works of Botticelli, whom he briefly considers turning into a vampire. It is in Venice that Marius meets Amadeo (Armand), whom he discovers in a filthy cellar, waiting to become a prostitute in the city's brothels. He purchases the boy from the slave traders and takes him back to his house, where he bathes him and promises him a better life. As the years pass Marius happily continues his life, disappearing occasionally to attend to the Divine Parents. Amadeo grows up, and the two often share a bed. Marius is sorely tempted to give Amadeo the Dark Gift, making him into a vampire, but he stops himself from doing so. When Marius is away looking after the Divine Parents, his house is attacked by the Englishman Lord Harlech who became obsessed with Amadeo after sleeping with him. Amadeo manages to kill Harlech, but sustains several wounds from Harlech's poisoned blade. He slips into a fever. Marius arrives and is told that Amadeo will die as the poison is too strong. Marius turns Amadeo into a vampire in order to prevent the boy from dying. He teaches him to prey only on evildoers in order to save his conscience. Some time after Amadeo becomes a vampire, the house is attacked by a large mob of Satan-worshiping vampires under the leadership of Santino. Marius is burnt and almost killed, but manages to save his own life by jumping into a canal. Nonetheless, he is severely wounded and believes that Amadeo will be killed. He calls a woman named Bianca to his aid. The two have known each other for a number of years and have a close relationship. Marius is too weak to hunt, so he transforms Bianca into a vampire in order to have her help him to recover his strength. The two move to the shrine of Those Who Must Be Kept and live there for over a century, where Marius gradually recovers his strength by drinking from Akasha. After Amadeo had transformed, Marius had met with Raymond Gallant, a man from the Talamasca, a group of scholars who found out information about supernatural things, just for information. He hears from him that Pandora is being kept hostage by another vampire and moved around Europe and Russia; so Marius decides to move to Dresden to try meeting with Pandora, whom he still loves. He does not tell Bianca of this. Marius does indeed find Pandora there, but discovers that she does not want to live with him and Bianca and wants to stay with her traveling companion, who was not holding her hostage after all. Marius offers to leave Bianca for Pandora, but Pandora refuses this offer. When Marius sees Bianca the next day, she declares that she is leaving him because she overheard what he said to Pandora. 50 years later, as he is shifting to America, Marius discovers a letter from Pandora offering to live with him if he comes to collect her at a certain place, but it is too late and she is gone. Marius then shelters a young vampire named Lestat, who when playing a song for Akasha on his violin, wakes her up. She comes to him and they drink each other's blood. Enkil is furious and almost crushes Lestat when a shocked Marius saves him. Marius sends Lestat away, thinking that he can pose a danger, but is sad that it is the fourth time he is losing a love. Years later, Marius brings a television into Those Who Must Be Kept's Chapel, for their entertainment. On this they see news, songs, etc. and also The Vampire Lestat's rock guitar music. This, Marius feels, corrupts their minds, and Akasha awakens from her slumber with the evil idea of taking over the world. She destroys Enkil and buries Marius in the ruins of his house, where he lies, injured. Marius lies there trapped, for weeks, but with the Mind Gift informs Lestat that he is in danger, and also asks for help. He is soon found by Pandora, and Santino - whom he tries to kill, but realises that all force would be needed to stop Akasha from her evil deed of taking over the world, killing all males and having a female dominated world with her as the leader. A council is formed and the vampires try to convince Akasha, but she does not listen. Finally, Maharet's (who created Thorne) mute sister Mekare fights with Akasha and destroys her. That is the end of Marius's story through time. The story then moves back to the present day, where Marius and Thorne are at a jungle hideaway with other old and powerful vampires - Amadeo (now going by the name Armand), Santino, Maharet, Mekare, and Pandora. Marius wants justice against Santino for taking Armand away from him, but Maharet refuses to let Marius kill Santino, who is weak. Thorne does not want to accept her decision and so kills Santino himself with the Fire Gift. In penance for his deed, he gives over his eyes to Maharet. de:Blut und Gold es:Sangre y oro fr:Le Sang et l'Or it:Il vampiro Marius pl:Krew i złoto pt:Blood and Gold |
Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science | Martin Gardner | 1,952 | Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science starts with a brief survey of the spread of the ideas of "cranks" and "pseudo-scientists", attacking the credulity of the popular press and the irresponsibility of publishing houses in helping to propagate these ideas. Cranks often cite historical cases where ideas were rejected which are now accepted as right. Gardner acknowledges that such cases occurred, and describes some of them, but says that times have changed: "If anything, scientific journals err on the side of permitting questionable theses to be published". Gardner acknowledges that "among older scientists ... one may occasionally meet with irrational prejudice against a new point of view", but adds that "a certain degree of dogma ... is both necessary and desirable" because otherwise "science would be reduced to shambles by having to examine every new-fangled notion that came along." Gardner says that cranks have two common characteristics. The first "and most important" is that they work in almost total isolation from the scientific community. Gardner defines the community as an efficient network of communication within scientific fields, together with a co-operative process of testing new theories. This process allows for apparently bizarre theories to be published - such as Einstein's theory of relativity, which initially met with considerable opposition; it was never dismissed as the work of a crackpot, and it soon met with almost universal acceptance. But the crank 'stands entirely outside the closely integrated channels through which new ideas are introduced and evaluated. He does not send his findings to the recognized journals or, if he does, they are rejected for reasons which in the vast majority of cases are excellent'. The second characteristic of the crank (which also contributes to his or her isolation) is the tendency to paranoia. There are five ways in which this tendency is likely to be manifested. #The pseudo-scientist considers himself a genius. #He regards other researchers as stupid, dishonest or both. #He believes there is a campaign against his ideas, a campaign comparable to the persecution of Galileo or Pasteur. He may attribute his 'persecution' to a conspiracy by a scientific 'masonry' who are unwilling to admit anyone to their inner sanctum without appropriate initiation. #Instead of side-stepping the mainstream, the pseudo-scientist attacks it head-on: The most revered scientist is Einstein so Gardner writes that Einstein is the most likely establishment figure to be attacked. #He has a tendency to use complex jargon, often making up words and phrases. Gardner compares this to the way that schizophrenics talk in what psychiatrists call 'neologisms', "words which have meaning to the patient, but sound like Jabberwocky to everyone else." These psychological traits are in varying degrees demonstrated throughout the remaining chapters of the book, in which Gardner examines particular "fads" he labels pseudo-scientific. His writing became the source book from which many later studies of pseudo-science were taken (e.g. Encyclopedia of Pseudo-science). |
Trouble Follows Me | Ross Macdonald | null | It's 1945. Ensign Sam Drake attends a party on his last night stationed in Hawaii and meets the woman of his dreams. But before the night is out, her best friend is dead in an upstairs room at the party. It appears to be suicide. The next day Sam starts his leave before receiving a new post. He returns to his home town of Detroit, and decides to check into a connection there between the dead woman and a radical group of black activists. Another death quickly follows and Sam finds himself on a cross-country adventure, haunted by dangerous characters everywhere he turns. Trouble Follows Me was reprinted by Lion Paperbacks in 1950 and 1955 under the title of Night Train, with cover art that presented it as a "race novel" to capitalize on the wartime Detroit riots. The book, under both titles, is currently out of print. |
The Lonely Doll | Dare Wright | 1,957 | The Lonely Doll tells the story of a doll named Edith, who lives by herself until two teddy bears, called Mr. Bear and Little Bear, appear in her life. One day, Mr. Bear goes out for a walk leaving the two alone in the house; He returns to find they have rummaged in a closet for dress-up clothing, smeared themselves with makeup, and written "Mr. Bear is just a silly old thing" in lipstick on the mirror. Mr Bear proceeds to discipline both Little Bear and Edith, leaving Edith to worry that he will take Little Bear and leave. Mr. Bear assures her that he will never, ever, leave her. |
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin | Benjamin Franklin | 1,791 | Part One of the Autobiography is addressed to Franklin's son William, at that time (1771) Royal Governor of New Jersey. While in England at the estate of the Bishop of St Asaph in Twyford, Franklin, now 65 year old, begins by saying that it may be agreeable to his son to know some of the incidents of his father's life; so with a week's uninterrupted leisure, he is beginning to write them down for William. He starts with some anecdotes of his grandfather, uncles, father and mother. He deals with his childhood, his fondness for reading, and his service as an apprentice to his brother James Franklin, a Boston printer and the publisher of the New England Courant. After improving his writing skills through study of the Spectator by Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele, he writes an anonymous paper and slips it under the door of the printing house by night. Not knowing its author, James and his friends praise the paper and it is published in the Courant, which encourages Ben to produce more essays (the "Silence Dogood" essays) which are also published. When Ben reveals his authorship, James is angered, thinking the recognition of his papers will make Ben too vain. James and Ben have frequent disputes and Ben seeks for a way to escape from working under James. Eventually James gets in trouble with the colonial assembly, which jails him for a short time and then forbids him to continue publishing his paper. James and his friends come up with the stratagem that the Courant should hereafter be published under the name of Benjamin Franklin, although James will still actually be in control. James signs a discharge of Ben's apprenticeship papers but writes up new private indenture papers for Ben to sign which will secure Ben's service for the remainder of the agreed time. But when a fresh disagreement arises between the brothers, Ben chooses to leave James, correctly judging that James will not dare to produce the secret indenture papers. ("It was not fair in me to take this Advantage," Franklin comments, "and this I therefore reckon one of the first Errata of my life.") James does, however, make it impossible for Ben to get work anywhere else in Boston. Sneaking onto a ship without his father's or brother's knowledge, Ben heads for New York, but the printer William Bradford is unable to employ him; however, he tells Ben that his son Andrew, a Philadelphia printer, may be able to use him since one of his son's principal employees had just died. By the time Ben reaches Philadelphia, Andrew Bradford has already replaced his employee, but refers Ben to Samuel Keimer, another printer in the city, who is able to give him work. The Governor, Sir William Keith, takes notice of Franklin and offers to set him up in business for himself. On Keith's recommendation, Franklin goes to London for printing supplies, but when he arrives, he finds that Keith has not written the promised letter of recommendation for him, and that "no one who knew him had the smallest Dependence on him." Franklin finds work in London until an opportunity arises of returning to Philadelphia as an assistant to Thomas Denham, a Quaker merchant; but when Denham takes ill and dies, he returns to manage Keimer's shop. Keimer soon comes to feel that Franklin's wages are too high and provokes a quarrel which causes the latter to quit. At this point a fellow employee, Hugh Meredith, suggests that Franklin and he set up a partnership to start a printing shop of their own; this is subsidized by funds from Meredith's father, though most of the work is done by Franklin as Meredith is not much of a press worker and is given to drinking. They establish their business, and plan to start a newspaper, but when Keimer hears of this plan, he rushes out a paper of his own, the Pennsylvania Gazette. This publication limps along for three quarters of a year before Franklin buys the paper from Keimer and makes it "extremely profitable." (The Saturday Evening Post traces its lineage to Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette.) The partnership also receives an appointment as printer for the Pennsylvania assembly. When Hugh Meredith's father experiences financial setbacks and cannot continue backing the partnership, two friends separately offer to lend Franklin the money he needs to stay in business; the partnership amicably dissolves as Meredith goes to North Carolina, and Franklin takes from each friend half the needed sum, continuing his business in his own name. In 1730 he marries Deborah Read, and after this, with the help of the league of ordinary gentlemen,http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/philadelphia/aps.htm he draws up proposals for a "Subscription Library"—the first public library. At this point Part One breaks off, with a memo in Franklin's writing noting that "The Affairs of the Revolution occasion'd the Interruption". The second part begins with two letters Franklin received in the early 1780s while in Paris, encouraging him to continue the Autobiography, of which both correspondents have read Part One. (Although Franklin does not say so, there had been a breach with his son William after the writing of Part One, since the father had sided with the Revolutionaries and the son had remained loyal to the British Crown.) At Passy, a suburb of Paris, Franklin begins Part Two in 1784, giving a more detailed account of his public library plan. He then discusses his "bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection", listing thirteen virtues he wishes to perfect in himself. He creates a book with columns for each day of the week, in which he marks with black spots his offenses against each virtue.Of these virtues, he notices that Order is the hardest for him to keep. He eventually realizes that perfection is not to be attained, but feels himself better and happier because of his attempt. Beginning in August 1788 when Franklin had returned to Philadelphia, the author says he will not be able to utilize his papers as much as he had expected, since many were lost in the recent Revolutionary War. He has, however, found and quotes a couple of his writings from the 1730s that survived. One is the "Substance of an intended Creed" consisting of what he then considered to be the "Essentials" of all religions. He had intended this as a basis for a projected sect but, Franklin says, did not pursue the project. In 1732, Franklin first publishes his Poor Richard's Almanac, which becomes very successful. He also continues his profitable newspaper. In 1734, a preacher named Rev. Samuel Hemphill arrives from County Tyrone Ireland; Franklin supports him and writes pamphlets on his behalf. However, someone finds out that Hemphill has been plagiarizing portions of his sermons from others, although Franklin rationalizes this by saying he would rather hear good sermons taken from others than poor sermons of the man's own composition. Franklin studies languages, reconciles with his brother James, and loses a four-year-old son to smallpox. Franklin's club, the Junto, grows and breaks up into subordinate clubs. Franklin becomes Clerk of the General Assembly in 1736, and the following year becomes Comptroller to the Postmaster General, which makes it easier to get reports and fulfill subscriptions for his newspaper. He proposes improvements to the city' watch and fire prevention regulations. The famed preacher George Whitefield arrives in 1739, and despite significant differences in their religious beliefs, Franklin assists Whitefield by printing his sermons and journals and lodging him in his house. As Franklin continues to succeed, he provides the capital for several of his workers to start printing houses of their own in other colonies. He makes further proposals for the public good, including some for the defense of Pennsylvania, which cause him to contend with the pacifist position of the Quakers. In 1740 he invents the Franklin stove, refusing a patent on the device because it was for "the good of the people". He proposes an academy, which opens after money is raised by subscription for it and it expands so much that a new building has to be constructed for it. Franklin obtains other governmental positions (city councilman, alderman, burgess, justice of the peace) and helps negotiate a treaty with the Indians. After helping Dr. Thomas Bond establish a hospital, he helps pave the streets of Philadelphia and draws up a proposal for Dr. John Fothergill about doing the same in London. In 1753 Franklin becomes Deputy Postmaster General. The next year, as war with the French is expected, representatives of the several colonies, including Franklin, meet with the Indians to discuss defense; Franklin at this time draws up a proposal for the union of the colonies, but it is not adopted. General Braddock arrives with two regiments, and Franklin helps him secure wagons and horses, but the general refuses to take Ben's warning about danger from hostile Indians during Braddock's planned march to Frontenac (now Kingston, Ontario). When Braddock's troops are subsequently attacked, the general is mortally wounded and his forces abandon their supplies and flee. A militia is formed on the basis of a proposal by Benjamin Franklin, and the governor asks him to take command of the northwestern frontier. With his son as aide de camp, Franklin heads for Gnadenhut, raising men for the militia and building forts. Returning to Philadelphia, he is chosen colonel of the regiment; his officers honor him by personally escorting him out of town. This attention offends the proprietor of the colony (Thomas Penn, son of William Penn) when someone writes an account of it in a letter to him, whereupon the proprietor complains to the government in England about Franklin. Now the Autobiography discusses "the Rise and Progress of [Franklin's] Philosophical Reputation." He starts experiments with electricity and writes letters about them that are published in England as a book. Franklin's description of his experiments is translated into French, and Abbé Nollet, who is offended because this work calls into question his own theory of electricity, publishes his own book of letters attacking Franklin. Declining to respond on the grounds that anyone could duplicate and thus verify his experiments, Franklin sees another French author refute Nollet, and as Franklin's book is translated into other languages, its views are gradually accepted and Nollet's are discarded. Franklin is also voted an honorary member of the Royal Society. A new governor arrives, but disputes between the assembly and the governor continue. (Since the colonial governors are bound to fulfill the instructions issued by the colony's proprietor, there is a continuing struggle for power between the legislature and the governor and proprietor.) The assembly is on the verge of sending Franklin to England to petition the King against the governor and proprietor, but meanwhile Lord Loudoun arrives on behalf of the English government to mediate the differences. Franklin nevertheless goes to England accompanied by his son, after stopping at New York and making an unsuccessful attempt to be recompensed by Loudoun for his outlay of funds during his militia service. They arrive in England on July 27, 1757. Written sometime between November 1789 and Franklin's death on April 17, 1790, this section is very brief. After Franklin and his son arrive in London, the former is counselled by Dr. Fothergill on the best way to advocate his cause on behalf of the colonies. Franklin visits Lord Granville, president of the King's Privy Council, who asserts that the king is the legislator of the colonies. Franklin then meets the proprietaries (the switch to the plural is Franklin's, so apparently others besides Thomas Penn are involved). But the respective sides are far from any kind of agreement. The proprietaries ask Franklin to write a summary of the colonists' complaints; when he does so, their solicitor for reasons of personal enmity delays a response. Over a year later, the proprietaries finally respond to the assembly, regarding the summary to be a "flimsy Justification of their Conduct." During this delay the assembly has prevailed on the governor to pass a taxation act, and Franklin defends the act in English court so that it can receive royal assent. While the assembly thanks Franklin, the proprietaries, enraged at the governor, turn him out and threaten legal action against him; in the last sentence, Franklin tells us the governor "despis'd the Threats, and they were never put in Execution". It is apparent that Franklin intended to cover more ground, because an outline of the Autobiography written by him and copied by Henry ends with a reference to the Treaty of Paris, which Franklin helped negotiate, so the obvious inference is that Franklin's death prevented his proceeding further with the Autobiography. |
Cry, The Beloved Country | Alan Paton | 1,948 | The novel opens in a small village in Ixopo Ndotsheni, where the black pastor Stephen Kumalo receives a letter from the priest Theophilus Msimangu in Johannesburg. Msimangu urges Kumalo to come to the city to help his sister Gertrude, because she is ill. It is a long journey to Johannesburg and Kumalo sees the wonders of the modern world for the first time. Kumalo goes to Johannesburg to help Gertrude and to find his son Absalom, who had gone to the city to look for Gertrude but never came home. When he gets to the city, Kumalo learns that Gertrude has taken up a life of prostitution and beer brewing, and is now drinking heavily. She agrees to return to the village with her young son. Assured by these developments, Kumalo embarks on the search for his son, first seeing his brother John, a carpenter who has become involved in the politics of South Africa. Kumalo and Msimangu follow Absalom's trail only to learn that Absalom has been in a reformatory and will have a child with a young woman. Shortly thereafter, Kumalo learns that his son has been arrested for murder. The victim is Arthur Jarvis, who was killed during a burglary. Arthur was an engineer and a white activist for racial justice, and he happens to be the son of Kumalo's neighbour James Jarvis. Jarvis learns of his son's death and comes with his family to Johannesburg. Jarvis and his son had been distant, and now the father begins to know his son through his writings. Through reading his son's essays, Jarvis decides to take up his son's work on behalf of South Africa's black population. Absalom is sentenced to death for the murder of Arthur Jarvis. Before his father returns to Ndotsheni, Absalom marries the girl who is carrying his child, and she joins Kumalo's family. Kumalo returns to his village with his daughter-in-law and nephew, having found that Gertrude ran away on the night before their departure. Back in Ixopo, Kumalo makes a futile visit to the tribe's chief in order to discuss changes that must be made to help the barren village. Help arrives, however, when James Jarvis becomes involved in the work. He arranges to have a dam built and hires a native agricultural demonstrator to implement new farming methods. The novel ends at dawn on the morning of Absalom's execution. The fathers of the two children are now devastated that both of their son's are now dead. |
The Angel | Hans Christian Andersen | 1,843 | When the tale opens, a child has died, and an angel is escorting him to Heaven. They wander over the earth for a while, visiting well-known places. Along the way they gather flowers to transplant into the gardens of Heaven. The angel takes the child to a poverty-stricken area where a dead field lily lies in a trash heap. The angel salvages the flower explaining that it had cheered a crippled boy before he died. The angel then reveals he was the boy. |
Kallocain | null | null | The plot centers on Leo Kall, written in diary form. Leo Kall is a scientist who is incredibly loyal to the government and develops the drug, Kallocain, which is a truth drug. It has the effect that anyone who takes it will reveal anything, even things they were not consciously aware of. Major themes include the notion of the self in a totalitarian state, the meaning of life, and the power of love. |
The War of the Flowers | Tad Williams | 2,003 | Theo Vilmos is a thirty-year old musician who plays in a band consisting mostly of much younger players, who fears that he may have wasted his youth with nothing to show for it. The incredible charisma he once possessed has faded. After Theo's girlfriend Catherine ("Cat") has a miscarriage and dumps him while recovering in the hospital, his life goes from bad to worse and he learns that his mother is dying of pancreatic cancer. He watches his mother wither away and die from the cancer and slips further into depression. After his mother's death, he discovers a book written by his great-uncle, Eamonn Albert Dowd, among his inheritance. Theo assumes the book is a work of fiction as it describes a character who travels the world and eventually discovers an ancient passage into another world full of fairies and other mythical creatures. He quickly discovers the true nature of his uncle's book as he is rescued from the clutches of an ancient disease-spirit known as an irrha by a small fairy named Applecore. Theo finds himself in the magical world described in his uncle's book. He quickly discovers the world to be unfamiliar and dangerous. Fairies come in a range of humanoid and nonhumanoid forms. The more powerful fairies (who look like extremely beautiful humans with elvish features and, unlike fairy commoners, lack wings) are known as Flowers and are divided into several influential families, each named after a different type of flower. Seven great family houses rule over the rest of the houses: Thornapple, Hellebore, Violet, Lily, Daffodil, Hollyhock and Primrose, but the Violets are now extinct, having been wiped out by an alliance of the other six great houses in the last War of the Flowers. Other prominent families include Daisy and Foxglove. The families are divided into three factions, those who believe that the fairies should coexist with humans, called Creepers, those who believe that humans should be eradicated, called Chokeweeds, and those who are uncertain what to do, called Coextensives. Passage between the worlds is restricted by the Clover Effect. Each person, human or fairy, has one exemption from the effect; in other words they can only travel once to the other world and then back to their own. Applecore brings Theo to Count Tansy, a Daisy relative, the fairy who had arranged for Theo's rescue, where he learns that he is to be sent to one of the Flower families in the City but quickly discovers that his escort has been murdered. Tansy sends Theo with an incompetent cousin of his instead. When this cousin is murdered in the train station, Applecore takes it on herself to get Theo to the City safely. She goes against Tansy's orders and rather than escorting Theo to the Foxgloves, she takes him to the Daffodils. Theo learns that political tension is high among the families and discovers that he himself is not actually human but also a fairy, a changeling left on Earth, though none of his new friends and acquaintances know who his real parents were. In a meeting of the families, the Chokeweeds declare war on the Creepers and make a preemptive strike, attacking and killing the leaders of the Creeper Flower houses (Hollyhock, Daffodil and Lily) with a dragon. Fortunately, Theo did not go to the Foxgloves, as they have joined the Chokeweed faction. Count Tansy is a traitor. Theo escapes both the burning wreckage from the dragon attack and the irrha, which is still pursuing him, with a fairy servant from Daffodil House, Cumber Sedge, but believes Applecore to have died in the attack. They make their way to a refugee camp where they meet a highly educated goblin named Mud Bug Button who is attempting to start a revolution with the unhappy common fairy populace against the unfair rule of the Flower families. At the camp, Theo meets Caradenus Primrose, now head of Primrose House after his father's death in the attack, and learns of the wrongs that his "great-uncle" Dowd (actually the great-uncle of the child Theo was switched with) inflicted on Caradenus' sister Erephine during Dowd's visit to their world. He also again meets with Poppaea "Poppy" Thornapple, the daughter of a Chokeweed but also one who is responsible for previously saving his life, and is no longer able to deny his feelings for her. Theo and Cumber agree to help Button with a task but refuse to outright join his revolution. While completing the task, Theo learns that Applecore is alive and is being held prisoner by Lord Nidrus Hellebore, the leader of the Chokeweeds and the mastermind of the attack on the Creepers. Theo realized that he has no choice but to try to rescue Applecore, or die in the attempt. On Button's advice, he decides to go ask the Remover of Inconvenient Obstacles, an ancient and powerful but highly selfish fairy, for help. Unbeknownst to Theo, the Remover has been employed by the Creepers to help capture Theo and is responsible for the summoning the irrha, which is now pursuing him. Theo and Cumber travel to the Remover of Inconvenient Obstacles but are quickly captured and restrained by him. The Remover reveals that he is actually Eamonn Dowd, Theo's "great-uncle". Dowd had made a deal with the previous Remover to replace a human baby with a fairy baby in the mortal realm, giving the human baby to the Remover in exchange for the ability to return to the Fairy world. Dowd stole his own niece's child and replaced him with Theo, who is actually Septimus Violet, the sole survivor of the Violet Flower family. The human baby was given to Lord Hellebore and turned into a Terrible Child. Dowd was betrayed resulting in his soul being separated from his body. Dowd fought with the previous Remover, stealing his body and becoming the new Remover of Inconvenient Obstacles. Dowd wants to use Theo for his own ambitions of power but is interrupted by Hellebore's minions. Having infiltrated and bugged the Remover's lair, Hellebore launches a surprise attack, kidnapping Theo while killing the Remover and burning the lair down. Theo is transported to Hellebore house, where he is reunited with Applecore. He is then transported to Midnight, the heart of the Fairy world, while Button's revolution bears down in full force outside, accomplished by destroying the artifact bearing the physical contract made between fairies and goblins. Theo learns that the Terrible Child is to be used to unleash the horror of Old Night on the mortal realm, ruining it and giving Lord Hellebore untold power. Theo is to be used as the key to open the portal to accomplish this, using the special authority he inherited as the lord of Violet House. Per an old agreement, the key to Old Night can only be used by Violet and Hellebore together. Theo attempts to resist the Terrible Child draining him of his power but fails. In the midst of his failure the irrha appears again, only interested in destroying Theo. Theo sacrifices himself to the water nymphs, causing the irrha to attack the Terrible Child—now the closest living thing resembling Theo's essence. The Terrible Child is destroyed and Hellebore is killed in the resulting calamity, saving the mortal realm and ending the war. Theo's freedom from the water nymphs is bought at a high price by Caradenus Primrose. Theo is reunited with Poppy and learns that Applecore and Cumber are now involved. Button is sentenced to death by goblin law for breaking the goblin oath but dies a hero and leaves behind a world of fairies free from the power of the Flower families. Dowd visits Theo, revealing that he stole the body of a Hellebore guard in the confrontation with Hellebore's minions and escapes again, threatening to simply continue stealing bodies if he is pursued. Theo finally decides to remain in the fairy world with his new found friends and life, not to mention his love Poppy, rather than returning to the mortal realm as he had been struggling to do (and later he realizes that he couldn't have "returned" anyway, as his one exemption from the Clover Effect was already used up when he returned to the world of his birth, Faerie). With this decision Theo finally finds happiness. |
The Snow Queen | Joan D. Vinge | 1,980 | The residents of Tiamat are split into two clans: "Winters" who advocate technological progress and trade with offworlders, and "Summers" who depend on their folk traditions and rigid social distinctions to survive on this marginal planet. Every 150 years, the sun's orbit around a black hole dramatically impacts the planetary ecology and to keep the uneasy peace, the government switches from Winter rule to Summer rule under a matriarchal monarch. Interstellar travel between Tiamat and the Hegemony is only possible during the 150 years of Winter rule, and a single woman rules the entire planet: a "Snow Queen" in Winter, a "Summer Queen" in Summer. The Hegemony's interest in Tiamat has to do with the "mers," sentient sea-dwelling creatures whose blood provides the "water of life," a virus that restores physical youth. Mers are hunted as frequently as possible during the Winter years, to the brink of extinction. This also allows a single Snow Queen to reign for the entire 150-year season, and it is with the Snow Queen, Arienrhod, that the story begins. She has secretly implanted several Summer women with embryos, clones of herself, in the hopes of extending her rule past her ritual execution at the end of Winter. The novel follows Moon, the only one of these clones to survive to adolescence. She and her cousin Sparks are lovers, and both are "merry-begots", conceived during the planetary festivals held every 20 years to remind Tiamat of the cycle of power. Moon becomes a sibyl, a position of high status among the Summer people, since they are keepers of knowledge freely available to anyone who asks. Sibyls enter a trance and by mysterious means, can answer questions. Sparks, unable to join her among the sibyl mystics and curious about his offworld heritage, travels to Carbuncle, Tiamat's capital, where he is immediately caught up by Arienrhod and eventually becomes the "Starbuck": her consort and commander of the mer hunts. Moon receives a message, apparently from Sparks, urging her to come to Carbuncle, though the city is barred to sibyls. On her way, she becomes entangled with smugglers and is taken off-world – a one-way trip for a Tiamatan citizen, as the Hegemony forbids Tiamat full access to their worlds. She is taken to the capital planet, Kharemough, and discovers that the Winters' prejudice against sibyls is a political tool used by the Hegemony to preserve its control of technology on Tiamat. Sibyls are highly respected throughout the other planets of the Hegemony; only on Tiamat, due to a careful reinforcement of superstitions during the reign of Winter, are they considered dangerous and mentally unstable. Eventually, despite the waning window of safe travel offered by Tiamat's orbit, she negotiates a return after finding out from a trance that Sparks is in danger. After a crash landing and short sojourn as a captive by an outback tribe of Winter fugitives in the north, Moon returns to Carbuncle and confronts Arienrhod for the fate of her beloved Sparks. Here she discovers the truth of her heritage and that Arienrhod considers her a failure; she wanted a clone in spirit, not just in body, a clone who would keep the Summers from rejecting technology – throwing all imported devices into the sea – at The Change. Moon proves her wrong by participating in the ritual competition for the Summer Throne, and winning. The Change will proceed, and Winter will end—but with an enlightened queen, preparing Tiamat to face the Hegemony as a peer when the 150 years of summer end and interstellar travel is again possible through the black hole. |
Cakes and Ale | W. Somerset Maugham | 1,930 | The story is told by a first-person narrator and well-to-do author, William Ashenden, who, at the beginning of the novel is suddenly and unexpectedly contacted by Alroy Kear, a busy-body literary figure in London who has been asked by the second Mrs. Driffield to write the biography of her deceased husband, Edward Driffield. Driffield, once scorned for his realist representation of late-Victorian, working-class characters, had in his later years become lionised by scholars of English letters. The second Mrs. Driffield, a nurse to the ailing Edward after his first wife left him, is known for her propriety and interest in augmenting and cementing her husband's literary reputation. Her only identity is that as caretaker to her husband in life and to his reputation in death. It is well known, however, that Driffield wrote his best novels while married to his first wife/muse, Rosie. Amy Driffield requests that Alroy Kear write the biography of her late husband. Kear, who is trying to prove his own literary worth, jumps at the opportunity to ride the coat-tails of the great Edward Driffield. It is Kear, knowing that William Ashenden had a long acquaintanceship with the Driffields as a young man and as a young writer, who contacts Ashenden to get privy information about Edward's past — including information about his first wife who has been oddly erased from the official narrative of Edward's genius. The plot revolves around how much information the narrator will divulge to Driffield's second wife and Kear (while exposing it all to the reader), who ostensibly wants a "complete" picture of the famous author, but who routinely glosses over the untoward stories that might upset Driffield's surviving wife. It is William Ashenden who holds the key to the deep mystery of love, and the act of love, in the life of each character as he recounts a fascinating literary history of creativity, infidelity and literary memory. |
The Trumpet of the Swan | E. B. White | 1,970 | In Canada in the spring of 1968, the cob, the name for an adult male swan, and the pen, the name for an adult female swan, both members of the swan species Trumpeter Swan build their summer nest on a small island in a pond. Sam Beaver, an 11-year-old boy on a camping trip, observes them, and saves the female from being attacked by a fox. The swans begin to trust him, and Sam gets to see their five eggs hatch. All of the cygnets chirp at Sam in greeting, except for the youngest, who can make no sound and pulls his shoelace instead. The cygnets' parents are increasingly concerned about their youngest son, Louis, who turns out to be mute. They worry that when he grows up, he will not be able to find a mate if he cannot trumpet like all the other swans. Louis's father promises to find a way for him to communicate. At the end of summer, the swan family flies to the winter refuge, Red Rock Lakes in Montana. Louis decides he should learn to read and write in order to communicate, and flies away from the refuge. Because Sam Beaver lives nearby, he happily takes his swan friend to school with him the next morning. Louis turns out to be a natural at reading and writing, and Sam buys him a portable blackboard and chalk so he can communicate. Unfortunately, because the other swans cannot read, Louis is still lonely when he returns to the Red Rock Lakes. He falls in love with a young swan, Serena, but cannot attract her attention. Louis's father flies to a music store in Billings, Montana, crashes through the window, and steals a brass trumpet on a cord to give to his son. Louis feels guilty about his father's theft, but accepts the instrument. Serena has migrated north, so Louis returns to Sam's ranch. Sam suggests that Louis get a job so he can pay the store for the trumpet and the damaged window, and Louis finds a position as camp bugler at Camp Kookooskoos, the boys' camp Sam attends. Louis plays taps, reveille, and mess call, and composes a love song for Serena. He convinces Sam to split one of his webbed feet with a razor blade, making "fingers," so he can play more notes. He also rescues Applegate Skinner, an unpopular camper who nearly drowns. At the end of summer, Louis receives the Lifesaving Medal, a waterproof moneybag, and $100. Sam suggests that Louis get a job with the Swan Boats in Boston. He flies across country and becomes an instant success, with a salary of $100 per week. He even stays in the Ritz Hotel. A Philadelphia nightclub offers Louis a higher salary, $500 per week. He leaves Boston and takes up residence at the Philadelphia Zoo. The zookeeper promises that Louis will not be pinioned (have a wing tip cut off to prevent escape) like all the other swans at the zoo. One windy night, Serena, blown off course, falls into Bird Lake. Louis serenades her with his trumpet, and she finally notices him. But when the zookeepers spot Serena, they try to clip her wings, and Louis attacks them. He convinces the Head Man to postpone the operation for a short while, and sends a telegram to Sam, asking for help. Sam goes to Philadelphia and strikes a deal with the Head Man: in every litter of cygnets there is always one that needs special care and protection, and if Louis is willing to donate an occasional cygnet to the zoo, the Head Man will let Louis and Serena go free. Louis and Serena fly back to the Red Rock Lakes. Louis writes an apology on his slate and gives it and the moneybag to his father, who flies back to the music store in Billings. Afraid that the swan will destroy another window, the storekeeper shoots the old cob in the shoulder. The cob recovers and flies back to the Red Rock Lakes. In the country, when Sam is about 20 years old, he is again camping in Canada, and hears Louis playing taps to his children. He writes in his journal: Tonight I heard Louis's horn. My father heard it, too. The wind was right, and I could hear the notes of taps, just as darkness fell. There is nothing in all the world I like better than the trumpet of the swan. |
Invitation to the Game | Monica Hughes | 1,990 | Lisse and her 8 friends are unemployed after graduating from a respected private school, despite their intelligence. They are assigned to their Designated Area (or DA), and allowed to live as a group in an abandoned warehouse. They discover that by day, the area they live in is a dreary, dirty place. By night, however, the unemployed folks go out to party and otherwise spend care-free evenings. The thought police quickly step in to quell any large problems or disputes. For their own safety, they study karate and develop a security system designed to discourage criminals with electric shocks. During a trip out to experience the nightlife, the group learns of The Game, a kind of entertainment that some people are very desperate to become involved in. They are later invited to try out The Game via a suspicious envelope placed within their warehouse (despite their security measures). After learning how to navigate the subways, they arrive at a secret entrance to a government facility. Inside they have their first taste of The Game, which is actually a very sophisticated simulation of an Africa-like area. They cannot take anything from the real world inside this simulation and nothing from The Game can come back with them. Having little else to look forward to in their lives, the group focuses on training and information gathering during their time between Game sessions. They develop a schedule of regular exercise (consisting of jogging and weight-training), search for information in the local library, and discuss their experiences and motivations. As they progress in The Game, they find that they have needs (for a doctor and someone with agricultural knowledge). The government swiftly moves people they knew from school into their lives, filling those needs. After a year of such training, the game session changes—they are placed in an area much like the one they visited, except this time, they are not awakened if they are in danger of hurting themselves. Eventually, it is revealed that The Game is a kind of training meant to prepare the group for an off-world colony project. This project is designed to halt the massive overpopulation the world is suffering. It is hinted that part of the reason such a group of people were unemployable out of school was to help in the colonization of other worlds, since each seed group would need a variety of talents. Indeed, an early portion of the book reinforces this supposition, as it explains that the prestigious school from which Lisse and her friends graduated once had a 90% job-placement rate, which is now a mere 10%—meaning that the most qualified workers are being placed within the Game system rather than the workforce. |
The Source of Magic | Piers Anthony | 1,979 | On his way to Queen Iris's masquerade ball in honor of Trent's accession to the throne one year before, Bink is attacked by a floating sword, which he deflects using his talent of protection against magical harm. At the ball, he is attacked again by an unseen enemy. Finally, Bink confides in King Trent, who decides to remove Bink from harm's way by sending him out on a mission to find the source of magic of Xanth. To help him, King Trent sends Chester the Centaur and the soldier Crombie. Crombie is turned into a griffin by King Trent, whose magical talent is the ability to transform living things. First, the party heads to the Good Magician Humfrey's castle, to ask his advice about their quest. When they tell him they are attempting to discover Xanth's source of magic, Humfrey decides he wants to come as well. They come across Beauregard the Demon who tells them they should abandon their quest, as it could result in the destruction of all magic in Xanth. At this time they also find Grundy the Golem, whose talent is understanding any language. This is particularly useful because Crombie in griffin form can only speak in squawks, which Grundy is able to translate. On their quest, they meet many obstacles, including a Siren, a Gorgon whose face turns men to stone, madness itself, a dragon, tangle trees, and an ogre. Bink narrowly escapes all enemies through a series of seemingly circumstantial events, due to his talent. Eventually they find the source of magic - a demon named X(A/N)th imprisoned deep below the surface. Bink is faced with a moral dilemma, to let it be free and destroy all magic in Xanth and act against the Brain Coral, or to keep it against its will. He eventually lets the magic go by freeing the demon, but is convinced by Cherie Centaur to go back and look for the demon again, hoping to convince it to stay. After some negotiation, the demon agrees under the condition that the magic shield which separated Xanth from Mundania will protect him from foolish intruders. Upon Bink's return home, he discovers his son Dor possesses a magician calibre talent - he can talk to inanimate objects. pl:Źródła magii |
Castle Roogna | Piers Anthony | 1,979 | Dor, son of Bink, is a 12 year old magician and next in line to inherit the throne of Xanth. To teach him the skills he will need to rule the kingdom, King Trent sends him through the tapestry on a mission 800 years into Xanth's past to find the ancient and mysterious Zombie Master. Dor travels to the past via the magic tapestry of Castle Roogna and inhabits the body of an invading mundane barbarian. While in the past Dor is accompanied by a (not normally) giant spider named Jumper, who had been drawn into the tapestry with him, and meets his current governess Millie the ghost, a short time before her unfortunate demise. Dor must use his magic and every other resource he possesses to help beat back an invading wave of mundanes and find a way to restore Millie's zombie lover to life back in the present.Turns out the Zombie Master is Millies zombie lover and ends up providing the cure for his own curse. |
Night Mare | Piers Anthony | 1,983 | Night Mare centers around Mare Imbrium, one of the night mares charged with delivering bad dreams to the people of Xanth. Imbri carries half a soul, her fee for carrying Chem Centaur out of the void in the previous book. She is unwilling to relinquish her soul, though the conscience that comes with it impedes her ability to deliver bad dreams. The Night Stallion, ruler of the gourd realm, makes Imbri the liaison to the day and night world and sends her to meet Trent, King of Xanth, with the ominous message, "Beware the Horseman". Imbri leaves the gourd realm and journeys to the day world, at first flinching from the touch of sunlight but realizing it would not harm her, though it nullified her ability to turn invisible and intangible. She sets out for Castle Roogna, determined to deliver the Stallion's message to King Trent. Along the way she meets a white stallion (wearing a "thin brass band about his left foreleg, at ankle height"), which is rare in Xanth, because the offspring of most of the horses are half-breed animals like centaurs, created by the inbreeding most commonly induced by love springs. The "Day Horse" as she refers to him, is scared by her attempt at contact via a brief daydream, and runs away. She also meets an intelligent man wearing a brass bracelet, similar to that of the Day Horse, on his left arm. He asks her if she has seen the horse and says that he is wearing a bracelet like the one on his own arm. He convinces her to allow him to ride so they can track the Day Horse, but when she becomes confused by his verbal commands, she allows him to insert a bit into her mouth. Realizing she dislikes the bit, she asks him to remove it. When he refuses, she orders him off her, and to suborn her will to his, he uses spurs on her, and captures her. Imbri asks the man who he is, and he says "I am the Horseman". He then corrals her at his camp and builds a large bonfire to shine light on her and prevent her from turning intangible during the night. As the Horseman and his henchmen sleep, the Day horse approaches and courts her. She tells him of her plight and he affirms that he is terrified of the Horseman. The Day Horse, assists her anyway, and urinates on the fire, enabling her to escape. Imbri escapes and makes her way to Castle Roogna. When she arrives, the castle is preparing for the wedding of Prince Dor and King Trent's daughter, Princess Irene. Upon becoming acquainted with Chameleon, the wife of Bink and mother of Prince Dor, she is led to find King Trent, only to discover that he has been ensorcelled, staring blankly into space. Prince Dor, next in line to the crown and newly wed to Princess Irene, assumes the throne. He informs Imbri and others that the Nextwave Invasion is occurring; an army of barbarians from the neighboring, nonmagical land of Mundania has just entered Xanth. King Dor orders Imbri and Chameleon to seek advice from the Good Magician Humphrey. Imbri and Chameleon travel to Humphrey's castle and navigate through the standard three challenges, gaining access to the inside. Humphrey's wife, the fearsome Gorgon, leads the pair to the Magician. The old man casually repeats the Night Stallion's warning, "Beware the Horseman" and adds another cryptic instruction: "Break the chain." After battling with the Mundanes with King Trent's army from A Spell For Chameleon, Dor had fallen to the same ensorcellement as King Trent, and is now catatonic. Since the law of Xanth requires that a Magician sit on the throne, the Zombie Master (Jonathon) becomes the new king. Jonathan's magic talent is to reanimate the deceased, and he rallies his zombies to form an army to fight the Punic invasion from Mundania. Jonathan falls to the same bewitchment as Trent and Dor. Humphrey assumes the throne, and prepares himself for battle against the Punic horde and its leader Hasbinbad. He informs Imbri, much to the chagrin of the Gorgon, that he is not destined to be the savior of Xanth, and that he expects to make a tragic mistake in battle. Before departing to the battle, Humphrey identified his successor: Dor's father Bink, whom everybody assumed had no magic talent. Humphrey revealed to Queen Iris that Bink's talent was immunity from magical harm, and its nature had been hidden so his enemies would not revert to using nonmagical means to harm him. It was hoped that Bink would be immune from the effects of the Horseman's spell. Imbri was sent north to the border of Mundania, where Bink and the centaur scholar Arnolde were traveling. Imbri brought news to Bink and Arnolde of the invasion, and informed Bink that he was slated to become King of Xanth upon Humphrey's demise. Bink agreed to accompany Imbri back to the castle and instructed Arnolde to follow, for Arnolde would be king after Bink fell. Bink and Imbri traveled to the baobab tree and find Humphrey, taken by the power of the enemy. He has a bottle in his hand, and when Bink uncorks it, Humphrey's voice emits from it, with one word: "Horseman". Bink surmises that Humphrey's voice was identifying his assailant, and that they now knew who was ensorcelling the kings. Bink and Imbri prepare for battle alone, armed with Humphrey's numerous spells and potions. They set aside a box marked "Pandora". He and Imbri are victorious but are separated in the battle. When Imbri tracks down Bink, she finds that he has killed the Punic leader Hasbinbad, but has been taken with the Horseman's power nonetheless. Imbri returns to Castle Roogna to inform Arnolde the Centaur that he is now King of Xanth. Arnolde begins laying plans for his successor, and he interprets Xanthian law to his advantage. The law states that the king must be a Magician but had no precedence on whether the king had to be human or what sex. Arnolde states that a Sorceress is simply a female Magician, and that the law does not prohibit a woman from becoming king. He selects Queen Iris to be his successor, and he proclaims her daughter Irene to be a full Sorceress, thus establishing who would be the seventh and eights kings after him. Arnolde then instructs Imbri to report to the Night Stallion with an update. King Arnolde, realizing that the previous king's condition is similar to that of a person trapped by the hypno gourd, sends Imbri through, to the Night Stallion's dimension, to see if the missing Kings are within. Upon arrival, Imbri is amazed to learn that all five of the bewitched kings are present in the gourd. They surmise that the Horseman's magic talent is to connect a person's line of sight to another object, and that he has used this ability to make them all see into a hypnogourd, trapping their souls inside. Imbri brings this news to Castle Roogna, and eventually brings Princess Irene to the gourd to visit her new husband Dor, taken from her after their nuptials. Shortly after the pair return to Castle Roogna, Arnolde is taken by the Horseman, and Queen Iris becomes King Iris, the first female king. Iris uses her talent of illusion to inflict massive casualties on the Punic horde, who are now marching on Castle Roogna under the command of the Horseman. She briefly forms an image of her own face in front of the Horseman to mock him, whereupon he simply uses his talent to enscroll her. Princess Irene becomes king of Xanth next, and she identifies Chameleon as the next king, stating that, although Chameleon does not have Magician-Caliber talent, she would be the best option for king because she is in her ugly, but extremely intelligent phase. The Horseman expends nearly the rest of his forces in reaching Castle Roogna. Chameleon, realizing that the Day Horse and the Horseman are one and the same, lures him into the castle, and once he is inside, Irene uses her talent of accelerated plant growth to wrap the castle in a tight cocoon of plants, trapping him inside. Enraged, he uses his magic to ensnare her, whereupon Chameleon becomes king of Xanth and informs him that he will fail. He takes Chameleon with his power, too, and Xanth is left without a king. Imbri, having been previously named the Tenth King by Chameleon, because she is a creature of the Gourd, and can not enter the world via the peep hole, and therefore can not be forced into it, returns to castle Roogna. Imbri enters Roogna at night, so she is able to slip by the plants, and confronts the Horseman. He is now sitting on the throne, having proclaimed himself the new king of Xanth. As Imbri approaches, he shifts into his alternate form, and Imbri is stricken; she is in season, and he is a male horse. She is unable to act under his dominating power, but when the barbarians break into the castle and call out for their leader, he shifts back to his human form to answer. Imbri attacks and kills him, but the nine catatonic kings do not revive. Imbri realizes that the Horseman's magic talent was shape-shifting, and that the bands he wore around his wrists were magical bands that allowed him to perform his ensorcellment. Devastated, and with nothing to lose, she destroys the box marked PANDORA, and is surrounded by a pink smoke, and feels suddenly hopeful. She removes the band but does not destroy it, because that might not accomplish the goal of releasing the kings. She decides to travel to the Void, an area in the Elemental region of Xanth, from which nothing can escape. She takes the band there and throws it in, but is trapped by the gravitational pull of the Void. Terrified, her physical body is destroyed by the Void. The nine kings revive as the magical band is destroyed, and Imbri returns as a day mare, thanks to Humfrey, and is now charged with bringing pleasant daydreams instead of nightmares to the people of Xanth. King Trent and Queen Iris retire, leaving the throne to their new son-in-law, King Dor. pl:Nocna mara |
Question Quest | Piers Anthony | 1,991 | The book begins with Lacuna, one of the mischievous Castle Zombie twins, seeking a way to fix her "dull" life. To do so she comes to ask Grey, Ivy's betrothed and pro-tem magician of knowledge, for the answer. However, Grey doesn't want to answer her question because he knows that something terrible will come of it. Lacuna decides to make a deal that even Grey can't refuse, a way to outwit Com-Pewter. Lacuna plans to use her ability to change prints and write new ones to help Grey. Seeing no other choice, Grey decides to help her, but he realizes that he can't fathom what the book of knowledge is trying to say. Therefore, he sends her to the anteroom of hell to talk to Magician Humfrey. When Lacuna arrives to the anteroom, she finds Humfrey sleeping. After waking Humfrey up, she found out that he is waiting to talk to the Demon X(A/N)th to free his wife Rose. Humfrey tells her to write down his life story (and most of Xanth's history in the process), on the walls, so that he can get the demon's attention. It turns out that Humfrey has five wives. Humfrey manages to save his wives from the pits of hell (sort of) and Lacuna changes her life. pl:W poszukiwaniu odpowiedzi |
The Color of Her Panties | Piers Anthony | 1,992 | Mela, like all merpeople, is able to turn into a full human so that she can walk on land. To follow "landbound custom", she finds clothing and shoes (conveniently growing on trees, as is common on Xanth). Of particular concern is which panties to choose - after all, there is significant interest in the color of her panties. After trying on dozens of pairs, Mela finally decides on plaid (the color she would choose was the subject of an Impossible Question that the Deamon X(A/N)th asked the Good Magician Humprey in Question Quest). Gwenny has to prove her courage to become leader of Goblin Mountain. Her task is to steal an egg from the Roc's nest. The two storylines are brought together when Mela has to help save Gwenny from a Roc and a hard place. pl:Barwa jej bielizny |
Yon Ill Wind | Piers Anthony | 1,996 | Hurricane Happy Bottom is causing problems in Mundania and Xanth. The Mundane Baldwin family is blown into Xanth by a Yon Ill Wind. Also, Demon X(A/N)th has made a deal with Demon JU(P/I)ter that he could get one Xanthian to shed a tear. The demons change up by making X(A/N)th into a dragon ass and is only able to talk once explaining to a Xanthian what the quest is. As Nimby, Demon X(A/N)th meets Chlorine and makes her beautiful and talented. Together with the Baldwin family, they must banish Happy Bottom From Xanth. |
Zombie Lover | Piers Anthony | 1,998 | Breanna, a beautiful young newcomer to the enchanted land of Xanth, must deal with a distressing dilemma. She has unwittingly attracted the affections of King Xeth, ruler of Xanth's Zombies, who yearns to make her Queen of the Undead! Her quest to preserve her innocence, and find her destiny, takes her on an exhilarating excursion packed with perils, puzzles, and piles of puns. |
J.B. | Archibald MacLeish | null | The play opens in "a corner inside an enormous circus tent." Two vendors, Mr. Zuss and Nickles, begin the play-within-a-play by assuming the roles of God and Satan, respectively. They watch J.B., a wealthy banker, describe his prosperity as a just reward for his faithfulness to God. Scorning, Nickles challenges Zuss that J.B. will curse God if his life is ruined. The two observe as J.B.'s children and property are destroyed in horrible accidents and the former millionaire takes to the streets. J.B. is visited by three Comforters (representing History, Science, and Religion) who offer contradicting explanations for his plight. He declines to believe any of them, instead calling out to God to show him the just cause for his punishment. When finally confronted by the circus vendors, J.B. refuses to accept Nickles' urging toward suicide to spite God or Zuss' offer of his old life in exchange for quiet obedience to religion. Instead, he takes solace in his wife Sarah and the new life they will create together. |
Atonement | Ian McEwan | 2,001 | Briony Tallis, a 13-year-old English girl with a talent for writing, lives at her family's country estate with her parents. Her older sister Cecilia attends University of Cambridge with Robbie Turner, the son of the Tallis family housekeeper and a childhood friend of Cecilia's. In the summer of 1935, Briony's maternal cousins, twins Jackson and Pierrot and Lola, come to visit the family. On this day Briony witnesses a moment of sexual tension between Cecilia and Robbie from afar. Briony misconstrues the situation and thinks that Robbie is acting aggressively toward Cecilia. Robbie, meanwhile, realizes he is attracted to Cecilia, whom he has not seen in some time, and writes several drafts of a love letter to her, giving a copy to Briony to deliver. By accident he gives her a version he had meant to discard, which contains lewd and vulgar references ("cunt"). Briony reads the letter and becomes disturbed as to Robbie's intentions. Later she walks in on Robbie and Cecilia making love in the library. Briony misinterprets the sexual act as rape and believes Robbie to be a "maniac". Later on at a family dinner party attended by Briony's brother Leon and his friend Paul Marshall, it is discovered that the twins have run away and the dinner party breaks into teams to search for them. In the darkness, Briony discovers her cousin Lola, apparently being raped by an assailant she cannot clearly see. Lola is unable or unwilling to identify the attacker, but Briony decides to accuse Robbie and identifies him to the police as the rapist, claiming she has seen Robbie's face in the dark. Robbie is taken away to prison, with only Cecilia and his mother believing his protestations of innocence. By the time World War II has started, Robbie has spent 2–3 years in prison. He is then released on the condition of enlistment in the army to fight in war. Cecilia has trained and become a nurse. She cuts off all contact with her family because of the part they took in sending Robbie to jail. Robbie and Cecilia have only been in contact by letter, since she was not allowed to visit him in prison. Before Robbie has to go to war in France, they meet once for half an hour during Cecilia's lunch break. Their reunion starts awkwardly, but they share a kiss before leaving each other. In France, the war is going badly and the army is retreating to Dunkirk. As the injured Robbie goes to the safe haven, he thinks about Cecilia and past events like teaching Briony how to swim and reflecting on Briony's possible reasons for accusing him. His single meeting with Cecilia is the memory that keeps him walking, his only aim is seeing her again. At the end of part two, Robbie falls asleep in Dunkirk, one day before the evacuation. Remorseful Briony has refused her place at Cambridge and instead is a trainee nurse in London. She has realized the full extent of her mistake, and decides it was Paul Marshall, Leon's friend, whom she saw raping Lola. Briony still writes, although she does not pursue it with the same recklessness as she did as a child. Briony is called to the bedside of Luc, a young, fatally wounded French soldier. She consoles him in his last moments by speaking with him in her school French, and he mistakes her for an English girl whom his mother wanted him to marry. Just before his death, Luc asks "Do you love me?", to which Briony answers "Yes," not only because "no other answer was possible" but also because "for the moment, she did. He was a lovely boy far away from his family and about to die." Afterward, Briony daydreams about the life she might have had if she had married Luc and gone to live with him and his family. Briony attends the wedding of her cousin Lola and Paul Marshall before finally visiting Cecilia. Robbie is on leave from the army and Briony meets him unexpectedly at her sister's. They both refuse to forgive Briony, who nonetheless tells them she will try and put things right. She promises to begin the legal procedures needed to exonerate Robbie, even though Paul Marshall will never be held responsible for his (supposed) crime because of his marriage to Lola, the victim. The fourth section, titled "London 1999", is written from Briony's perspective. She is a successful novelist at the age of 77 and dying of vascular dementia. It is revealed that Briony is the author of the preceding sections of the novel. Although Cecilia and Robbie are reunited in Briony's novel, they were not in reality. It is suggested that Robbie Turner may have died of septicaemia, caused by his injury, on the beaches of Dunkirk and Cecilia may have been killed by the bomb that destroyed the gas and water mains above Balham Underground station. Cecilia and Robbie may have never seen each other again. Although the detail concerning Lola's marriage to Paul Marshall is true, Briony never visited Cecilia to make amends. Briony explains why she decided to change real events and unite Cecilia and Robbie in her novel, although it was not her intention in her many previous drafts. She did not see what purpose it would serve if she gave the readers a pitiless ending. She reasons that they could not draw any sense of hope or satisfaction from it. But above all, she wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia their happiness by being together. Since they could not have the time together they so much longed for in reality, Briony wanted to give it to them at least in her novel. |
The Way Some People Die | Ross Macdonald | 1,951 | Mrs. Samuel Lawrence gives Lew Archer 50 dollars for one day of his time to find her daughter Galatea (a.k.a. Galley). Archer soon discovers she was married to a small-time mobster named Joe Tarantine. And shortly after that, a big-time mobster offers him five thousand to find Tarantine. The investigation quickly gains a body count and Lew is constantly drawn from Los Angeles to Pacific Point, Palm Springs, San Francisco, and back again, trying to tie together details that seem as random as they are violent. |
The Tower Treasure | Franklin W. Dixon | 1,927 | The story begins with Frank and Joe Hardy barely avoiding being hit by a speeding driver whom they notice has bright red hair. Later, this same red-haired driver attempts a ferryboat ticket office robbery and successfully steals a yellow jalopy called Queen from the Hardys' friend, Chet Morton. Due to one witness reporting that the villain had dark hair, the Hardys assume he is using a red wig. It is learned that the thief returned to Chet's home to steal a tire, helping Frank and Joe to find Queen abandoned in a public wooded area. The excitement of finding Queen is quickly gone when it is reported that there has been a robbery of forty thousand dollars in securities and jewels from the Tower Mansion owned by siblings Hurd and Adelia Applegate. Hurd Applegate is convinced that the Tower's caretaker, Henry Robinson, is the guilty party. The Hardys are especially concerned by this accusation because Henry's son, Perry, is a friend of theirs who will have to quit school to work since his father can no longer get a job as a result of Applegate's accusation. The only 'proof' of Henry Robinson's guilt is that he was suddenly able to pay off a debt, and refused to reveal where he got the money to pay off the debt. The Hardys suspect that the red-haired man may be involved with the Tower robbery and search the place where Queen was found, finding the red wig. The Hardys' dad, detective Fenton Hardy, learns that the wig was manufactured in New York City. The three Hardys go to New York and learn of a criminal named John "Red" Jackley who is fond of using disguises. Soon, Jackley is injured in a train accident causing him to be hospitalized. About to die, Jackley confesses that he committed the Tower Mansion robbery and put the loot "in the old tower…" Jackley dies before he is able to explain further. After searches inside and outside of the Tower Mansion the stolen loot is still not found. Frank and Joe decide to go to the railroad where Jackley used to work to find out more information. While investigating, they see two water towers nearby. The Hardys realize that Jackley was referring to the old water tower and not the Tower Mansion. Inside the water tower they find the stolen items but are locked in the tower by a man calling himself Hobo Johnny. Johnny feels that anything in the tower belongs to him. Frank and Joe broke out of the water tower and return the securities and jewelry. Then they are rewarded a thousand dollars for returning the missing jewels. In the original version of the book Henry admits that a man who owed him money repaid a debt to him, but he was not allowed to tell anyone in case the man's other debtors found out. This was revised in the 1959 version such that Adelia reveals that she loaned Henry Robinson the money to pay off his debt. Following the revelations and with the stolen loot returned, Hurd re-hires Henry with an increase in salary and Hurd builds a greenhouse for Henry. |
The Man Who Tasted Shapes | Richard Cytowic | 2,003 | The book is divided into two parts. In the first part, Cytowic describes his chance encounter during a dinner party on February 10, 1980 with MW, the "Man Who Tasted Shapes." Cytowic describes how his host reported that "There aren't enough points on the chicken!" and how this chance comment led to Cytowic's investigations of the neurological phenomenon of synesthesia. Early chapters include background information on how the brain is organized, drawn mainly from Paul D. MacLean's Triune Brain theory. Cytowic describes MW's synesthesia, noting the consistency of his reports, that such experiences are "generic" and consistent over time. Chapters dealing with more scientific theories, data and experimentation are alternated with autobiographical and more personal chapters describing the historical details of Cytowic's investigations into synesthesia. In order to explore the biological basis of synesthesia, Cytowic describes experiments in which he tested how MW's synesthesia was reduced by MW's daily routine of stimulants such as nicotine and caffeine and depressants such as alcohol. In more intensive investigations of the effects of different psychoactive substances, Cytowic notes that stimulants, including a dose of amphetamine decreased the strength of MW's synesthesia, while amyl nitrite increased the strength of MW's synesthesia. For example, MW reports that mint feels like a cool glass column, but that amyl nitrite led him to feel as if he were placing his hand among many glass columns. Cytowic also summarizes work done with functional neuroimaging which showed unusually low cortical activation in MW. Based on these results, Cytowic proposes a theory in which synesthesia is a result of unusual processing in the limbic system and an overall decrease in cortical activation. In later chapters, Cytowic reports on his efforts to make synesthesia more widely known, on the experiences of many other synesthetes who have contacted him, and how synesthesia affects their lives. Cytowic describes how an article about his work on synesthesia in the tabloid The National Enquirer, which are "not known to help one's career" led to his first contacts with synesthetes beyond MW These personal accounts of synesthesia, described here in more autobiographical style, also form the basis of Cytowic's more detailed scientific book, Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses. Additionally, Cytowic discusses the links between synesthesia and memory, as first noted in Alexander Luria's book The Mind of Mnemonist about Solomon Shereshevskii, a Russian mnemonist who also experienced fivefold synesthesia. In the second part of the book, entitled "Essays on the Primacy of Emotion", Cytowic presents a number of his reflections on what the phenomenon of synesthesia means for traditional neuroscientific and neurological practice, how anomalous findings can lead to major scientific discoveries, and the role that emotion plays in our understanding of the world around us. |
The Owl and the Pussycat | John Keir Cross | null | "The Owl and the Pussycat" features four anthropomorphic animals – an owl, a cat, a pig, and a turkey – and tells the story of the love between the title characters who marry in the land "where the Bong-tree grows". The Owl and the Pussycat set out to sea in a pea green boat with honey and "plenty of money" wrapped in a five pound note. The Owl serenades the Pussycat while gazing at the stars and strumming on a small guitar. He describes her as beautiful. The Pussycat responds by describing the Owl as an "elegant fowl" and compliments him on his singing. She urges they marry but they don't have a ring. They sail away for a year and a day to a land where Bong-trees grow and discover a pig with a ring in his nose in a wood. They buy the ring for a shilling and are married the next day by a turkey. They dine on mince and quince using a runcible spoon, then dance hand-in-hand on the sand in the moonlight. Portions of an unfinished sequel, "The Children of the Owl and the Pussycat", were first published posthumously in 1938. |
Dido, Queen of Carthage | Thomas Nashe | 1,594 | Jupiter is fondling Ganymede, who says that Jupiter's wife Juno has been mistreating him because of her jealousy. Venus enters, and complains that Jupiter is neglecting her son Aeneas, who has left Troy with survivors of the defeated city. He was on his way to Italy, but is now lost in a storm. Jupiter tells her not to worry; he will quiet the storm. Venus travels to Libya, where she disguises herself as a mortal and meets Aeneas, who has arrived, lost, on the coast. He and a few followers have become separated from their comrades. He recognises her, but she denies her identity. She helps him meet up with Illioneus, Sergestus and Cloanthes, other surviving Trojans who have already received generous hospitality from the local ruler Dido, Queen of Carthage. Dido meets Aeneas and promises to supply his ships. She asks him to give her the true story of the fall of Troy, which he does in detail, describing the death of Priam, the loss of his own wife and his escape with his son Ascanius and other survivors. Dido's suitor, Iarbas, presses her to agree to marry him. She seems to favour him, but Venus has other plans. She disguises Cupid as Aeneas's son Ascanius, so that he can get close to Dido and touch her with his arrow. He does so; Dido immediately falls in love with Aeneas and rejects Iarbas out of hand, to his horror and confusion. Dido's sister Anna, who is in love with Iarbas, encourages Dido to pursue Aeneas. She and Aeneas meet at a cave, where Dido declares her love. They enter the cave to make love. Iarbas swears he will get revenge. Venus and Juno appear, arguing over Aeneas. Venus believes that Juno wants to harm her son, but Juno denies it, saying she has important plans for him. Aeneas's followers say they must leave Libya, to fulfil their destiny in Italy. Aeneas seems to agree, and prepares to depart. Dido sends Anna to find out what is happening. She brings Aeneas back, who denies he intended to leave. Dido forgives him, but as a precaution removes all the sails and tackle from his ships. She also places Ascanius in the custody of the Nurse, believing that Aeneas will not leave without him. However, "Ascanius" is really the disguised Cupid. Dido says that Aeneas will be king of Carthage and anyone who objects will be executed. Aeneas agrees and plans to build a new city to rival Troy and strike back at the Greeks. Mercury appears with the real Ascanius and informs Aeneas that his destiny is in Italy and that he must leave on the orders of Jupiter. Aeneas reluctantly accepts the divine command. Iarbas sees the opportunity to be rid of his rival and agrees to supply Aeneas with the missing tackle. Aeneas tells Dido he must leave. She pleads with him to ignore Jupiter's command, but he refuses to do so. He departs, leaving Dido in despair. The Nurse says that "Ascanius" has disappeared. Dido orders her to be imprisoned. She tells Iarbas and Anna that she intends to make a funeral pyre on which she will burn everything that reminds her of Aeneas. After cursing Aeneas' progeny, she throws herself into the fire. Iarbas, horrified, kills himself too. Anna, seeing Iarbas dead, kills herself. |
Foreign Affairs | Alison Lurie | 1,984 | Unmarried fifty-four-year-old Virginia Miner (Vinnie), a professor at Corinth University who specializes in children's literature, is off to London for another research trip. She loves England and likes to feel that she fits in well there. She is hoping to produce an important new book about playground rhymes. However, she finds that her work has been trashed by a critic, L. D. Zimmern of Columbia, for whom she imagines monstrous dooms. The author makes a point of telling us that Vinnie is not beautiful — perhaps rather homely — but that she has had her share of affairs nevertheless, and a brief marriage. Although she enjoys these flings, she has stopped believing that falling or being in love is a good thing. A 'pro' at long flights, her serenity is ruffled by her seatmate, a garrulous married man from Tulsa, Chuck Mumpson. She puts him off by giving him Little Lord Fauntleroy to read. But smoking, drinking, loudly American Chuck is persistent, and ends up contacting her in London. He has been inspired by Little Lord Fauntleroy to want to trace his own family history. Vinnie slowly becomes involved with his project, and then with him. Meanwhile, her young colleague Fred Turner has left his wife, Roo, at home for his own sabbatical in London, where he is researching John Gay. Fred and Roo have quarreled and he fears the marriage is over. He consoles himself with the affections of a beautiful TV actress, Lady Rosemary Radley, who gives him the entree into London high life. The exquisite but not so young Rosemary has never managed to have a really successful love relationship—though she is not resigned to this, as Vinnie is. Although Fred is very much in love with her, he cannot give her the commitment she wants, since he must return to Corinth to teach summer school. Quite by accident and with the encouragement of Chuck, Vinnie becomes an emissary for Fred's estranged wife in an improbable midnight walk on Hampstead Heath. What makes this favor more challenging for Vinnie is that Roo's father is the nefarious critic L. D. Zimmern. Just as she begins to think Chuck's affections have cooled, because of his silence of several days duration, Vinnie is visited by his daughter who describes his sudden death while climbing the stairs of a small town hall. When an English friend speaks condescendingly of Chuck, Vinnie realizes with surprise that he loved her and she loved him. She returns to her life in Corinth, solitary and unloved, but altered for having loved and been loved. |
Rabbit At Rest | John Updike | 1,990 | The novel is part of a series that follows the exploits of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom from 1960–1990. Rabbit at Rest focuses on the years 1988-1989. It finds Harry nearly forty years after his glory days as a high school basketball star in a mid-sized Pennsylvania city. Harry and his wife of 33 years, Janice, have retired to sunny Florida during the cold months, where Harry is depressed, bored, and dangerously overweight. Unable to stop nibbling corn chips, macadamia nuts and other junk food, Rabbit finds himself near death after a heart attack while sunfishing with his nine-year-old granddaughter Judy. In a "redemption" of the drowning death of his infant daughter Rebecca in the earlier novel Rabbit, Run, he saves Judy from drowning during this incident. He is distracted from his health worries by the acts of his drug-addicted son, Nelson, to whom Janice has very unwisely given control of the family business, a Pennsylvania Toyota dealership. The discovery that Nelson has been stealing from the company to support his drug habit leads to Harry losing the family business. Despite his problems and growing unhappiness, he manages to take some comfort in Judy, who has turned out to be beautiful and attractive, a reminder of himself in his high-school glory days. He is less attached to his four-year-old grandson Roy, who seems wary and fearful of Rabbit, much like Nelson. While recuperating from heart surgery, Rabbit recognizes one of the nurses, Annabelle Byer, as the young woman he believes is his illegitimate daughter by his old girlfriend Ruth. He becomes friendly with her but decides not to identify himself as her possible father. Around this time, his long-term mistress Thelma Harrison (wife of his high-school nemesis Ron) dies of lupus. Ron angrily confronts Harry at the funeral, but the men later reconcile while playing golf. Harry also sees Cindy Murkett at the funeral, a woman he had sexually obsessed over ten years ago, and is saddened to see she has become an obese and bitter divorcee. After Nelson comes back from rehab, and Janice begins work as a real estate agent, the family finds out that Harry has had a one-night stand with Pru, Nelson's wife, on the night after he was released from the hospital. Janice's anger over this betrayal prompts Harry to escape to Florida. While in hiding, Harry has a heart attack shortly after winning a one-on-one basketball game with a local youth (echoing the opening of Rabbit, Run in which Harry impulsively joins a group of teenagers playing basketball). Nelson and Janice manage to get to his bedside while Harry is still alive; his wife forgives him, and he reconciles with his son. |
Rabbit Is Rich | John Updike | 1,981 | This third novel of Updike's Rabbit series examines the life of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, a one-time high school basketball star, who has reached a paunchy middle-age without relocating from Brewer, Pennsylvania, the poor, fictional city of his birth. Harry and Janice, his wife of twenty-two years, live comfortably, having inherited her late father's Toyota dealership. He is indeed rich, but Harry's persistent problems — his wife's drinking, his troubled son's schemes, his libido, and spectres from his past — complicate life. Having achieved a lifestyle that would have embarrassed his working-class parents, Harry is not greedy, but neither is he ever quite satisfied. Harry has become somewhat enamored of a country-club friend's young wife. He also has to deal with the indecision and irresponsibility of Nelson, his son, who is a student at Kent State University. Throughout the book, Harry wonders about his former lover Ruth, and whether she had ever given birth to their child. |
House Made of Dawn | N. Scott Momaday | 1,968 | House Made of Dawn begins with the protagonist, Abel, returning to his reservation in New Mexico after fighting in World War II. The war has left him emotionally devastated and he arrives too drunk to recognize his grandfather, Francisco. Now an old man with a lame leg, Francisco had earlier been a respected hunter and participant in the village's religious ceremonies. He raised Abel after the death of Abel's mother and older brother, Vidal. Francisco instilled in Abel a sense of native traditions and values, but the war and other events severed Abel's connections to that world of spiritual and physical wholeness and connectedness to the land and its people, a world known as a "house made of dawn." After arriving in the village, Abel attains a job through Father Olguin chopping wood for Angela St. John, a rich white woman who is visiting the area to bathe in the mineral waters. Angela seduces Abel to distract herself from her own unhappiness, but also because she senses an animal-like quality in Abel. She promises to help him leave the reservation to find better means of employment. Possibly as a result of this affair, Abel realizes that his return to the reservation has been unsuccessful. He no longer feels at home and he is confused. His turmoil becomes clearer when he is beaten in a game of horsemanship by a local albino Indian named Juan Reyes, described as "the white man." Deciding Juan is a witch, Abel stabs him to death outside of a bar. Abel is then found guilty of murder and sent to jail. Part II takes place in Los Angeles, California six and a half years later. Abel has been released from prison and unites with a local group of Indians. The leader of the group, Reverend John Big Bluff Tosamah, Priest of the Sun, teases Abel as a "longhair" who is unable to assimilate to the demands of the modern world. However, Abel befriends a man named Ben Benally from a reservation in New Mexico and develops an intimate relationship with Milly, a kind, blonde social worker. However, his overall situation has not improved and Abel ends up drunk on the beach with his hands, head, and upper body beaten and broken. Memories run through his mind of the reservation, the war, jail, and Milly. Abel eventually finds the strength to pick himself up and he stumbles across town to the apartment he shares with Ben. Ben puts Abel on a train back to the reservation and narrates what has happened to Abel in Los Angeles. Life had not been easy for Abel in the city. First, he was ridiculed by Reverend Tosamah during a poker game with the Indian group. Abel is too drunk to fight back. He remains drunk for the next two days and misses work. When he returns to his job, the boss harasses him and Abel quits. A downward spiral begins and Abel continues to get drunk every day, borrow money from Ben and Milly, and laze around the apartment. Fed up with Abel's behavior, Ben throws him out of the apartment. Abel then seeks revenge on Martinez, a corrupt policeman who robbed Ben one night and hit Abel across the knuckles with his nightstick. Abel finds Martinez and is almost beaten to death. While Abel is in the hospital recovering, Ben calls Angela who visits him and revives his spirit, just as he helped revive her spirit years ago, by reciting a story about a bear and a maiden which incidentally matches an old Navajo myth. Abel returns to the reservation in New Mexico to take care of his grandfather, who is dying. His grandfather tells him the stories from his youth and stresses the importance of staying connected to his people's traditions. When the time comes, Abel dresses his grandfather for burial and smears his own body with ashes. As the dawn breaks, Abel begins to run. He is participating in a ritual his grandfather told him about—the race of the dead. As he runs, Abel begins to sing for himself and Francisco. He is coming back to his people and his place in the world. |
Storm Boy | Colin Thiele | null | Storm Boy likes to wander alone along the fierce deserted coast among the dunes that face out into the Southern Ocean. After a pelican mother is shot, Storm Boy rescues the three chicks, and nurses them back to health. He names them Mr Proud, Mr Ponder and Mr Percival. After he releases them, his favourite, Mr Percival, returns. The story then concentrates on the conflict between his lifestyle and the externally imposed requirement for him to attend a school, and the fate of the pelican. |
The Scions of Shannara | Terry Brooks | 1,990 | The Scions of Shannara is set in a land ruled by the military and cruel order called the Federation. The Elves have vanished from the face of the land, while the dwarves are imprisoned for having fought the Federation in the past. The Dwarves are sent to dig in mines, and will soon be extinct because of the Federation's wickedness. Magic is forbidden and those that practice it are eventually found and brought to their fate. It is a cruel land in which the tale begins. Par Ohmsford and his brother Coll start the story in Varfleet, telling legends and important histories of the past about the adventures of the Ohmsfords and the druids in a tavern through the use of Par's magic, the wishsong. The wishsong is but an illusion seen when Par sings what he wants to create. However, what Par and Coll are doing is illegal under the law of the Federation because magic is supposedly the cause for various problems that are occurring in the Four Lands. On one night, Rimmer Dall, first Seeker for the Federation, bursts in to the tavern, having found out about Par and Coll, and tries to arrest them. Par and Coll are rescued by a mysterious man, who claims to be a leader of the rebel group (or the Movement). The man does not give them his name, though he does hand Par a ring with a hawk insignia. He tells them that when they need help they can go to a certain forge, show the ring, and they will be led to the Movement's base. Thus, the two brothers escape and after much debate decide to travel to Leah to meet up with their friend, Morgan Leah. Upon their way, they are attacked by a frightening woods hag who is a Shadowen, a beast of legend and of great power. Yet they are saved by an old man, Cogline, who was once a Druid, and is now a messenger for the Shade of Allanon. He informs them that they must travel to the Hadeshorn in order to meet with the ancient Druid, Allanon. The fate of the Four Lands lies upon them and the other scions of Shannara: Wren in the Westland and Walker Boh who lives somewhere in the Eastland, and to whom Cogline is to deliver the message also. The Shadowen threaten to overcome all the Races. After arguing the matter over, the two brothers, and later Walker Boh and Wren, travel to the Hadeshorn through much toil and perils. All the scions meet at the Valley of Shale and receive tasks from the shade of Allanon. Wren is charged to return the missing Elves, Walker is charged with returning Paranor and the Druids, and Par is charged with finding the lost Sword of Shannara. Both Wren and Walker see their charges as impossible (Walker even goes as far to say that he would rather lose his hand then recover lost Paranor and restore the druid order) and leave, but Par is determined to fulfill his task. Par heads to the forge, hoping that the Movement will know more of the Four Land in order to find the Sword. He comes to the city of Varfleet with his companions, Morgan Leah, Coll Ohmsford, Steff, and Teel to request for help from an outlaw ally. Upon reaching their meeting point, however, they are pursued by Federation. Hirehone, one of the outlaws, hides them in an underground basement before taking them to the Parma Key, base of the Movement. The company meets the mysterious leader who then tells them that he is Padishar Creel. He says he knows where the Sword is, leaving the Dwarves behind, Creel, Morgan, Coll, a group of outlaws, and Par set out for Tyrsis, the last known place of the Sword of Shannara. Once in Tyrsis, Creel leads them to a hiding place. Padishar Creel goes out to show Par about the truth. They meet with a girl, Damson Rhee. The three of them go for a walk and Creel explains that the Bridge of Sendric and People's Park in Tyrsis where the Sword was said to be placed many years before were destroyed. The ancient Bridge and Park were covered up in the Pit, a place guarded and unseen, and that fake ones were built in their place. They devise a plan so that Morgan, Par, Coll, Padishar, and some of the other outlaws venture into the Pit, where the Sword of Shannara was last seen. Then at night, the group go into out to the pit. They lower a ladder into the Pit, but unfortunately the Federation guards managed to see them. The rebels and Par, Coll, and Morgan are captured and are told that someone of the outlaws had betrayed them. On the way to prison, Par uses the Wishsong to distract the guards so he could escape. He meets with Damson, and together they make a plan to free their companions. They do just that, and after hiding in another place, they make a plan to go into the Pit again. The second time the company, excluding Damson, makes it to the bottom of the Pit safely. There Par finds out that he can use another kind of magic that can find things that he wants, and he sees through this that the Sword is indeed there. However, they are confronted by Shadowen. Creel and Morgan make a stand in order for Par and Coll to escape. Par and Coll flee and are hidden by Damson, thinking that their friends are dead. Par insists on them to venture into the Pit a last time, and Damson knows a creature that might know another way into it. She leads them to the Mole, who agrees to help them, and escorts them through a series of tunnels and into the Pit. Damson and the Mole stay outside, while Par and Coll go in. This time Par does find the Vault, where the Sword is placed, and goes in, leaving Coll to stand guard outside (Coll wanted to). Par finds the Sword, and meets Rimmer Dall there, who shows him that he is a Shadowen and asks Par to join him. Par does not agree, and Rimmer Dall leaves, saying that once Par comes out of the Vault something precious will be lost. Par takes the Sword and runs out of the Vault to find that while he was gone Coll was possessed by Shadowen and that his brother has become one himself. Par kills him to escape and runs away from the Pit. He finds Damson and they hide in the underground tunnels that The Mole live in. Par, depressed and confused, becomes sick and Damson slowly but surely nurtures him back to health before vowing to get revenge for what happened to his brother. Meanwhile, Padishar and Morgan are actually not dead, and have fled from the city of Tyrsis, having survived using Morgan's magical Sword of Leah. But the Sword of Leah is broken in the act of breaking free from the Pit and Morgan turns ill because of this. The two of them run to Parma Key, and are closely pursued by an army of the Federation who want to put an end to the Movement once and for all, having found out the base of the rebels from a traitor. The companions come to Parma Key and prepare to battle away the Federation with the Movement. A long battle takes place, in which Morgan finds out who the traitor is - it being Teel the Dwarf, who is now a Shadowen, who is on her way to opening a passageway into Parma Key for the Federation to breach. Creel and Morgan fight her, and both are wounded in the act, while Steff, her lover, is killed by Teel. However, the passageway was opened, since they were too late, and so Morgan and Creel head back. The Movement then escapes using another secret tunnel and are free for the time. The battle ends thus, with the escape of the Movement. Walker Boh believes it is impossible for him to recover lost Paranor and the Druids, until Cogline brings him an old Druid History. Then Walker learns that he must first find the Black Elfstone from the Hall of Kings and with it accomplish his task. He goes to the Hall of Kings, which is an ancient place of great trouble and evil. There he goes and upon coming there goes to the location of the Black Elfstone. Using his magic he had been born with and had mastered, he senses where the black elfstone. He goes to where he feels something and there he encounters an Asphinx, a snake that turns everything it poisons to stone before becoming rock itself, instead of the black elfstone. The Asphinx bites him and Walker finds that his hand has turned to stone, effectively trapping him. Walker also knows that he is doomed because the poison of the Asphinx will spread until he has been completely turned to stone. |
A Maggot | John Fowles | 1,985 | The book opens with an objective narration about a group of five travellers traveling through Exmoor in rural England. They arrive at an inn in a small village, and soon it becomes clear that they are not who they seem to be. The "maid" Louise casually rebuffs the sexual advances of the servant, Dick Thurlow, but then goes to his master's room and undresses before them both. Bartholomew calls his supposed uncle "Lacy" and they discuss Bartholomew's refusal to disclose his journey's secret purpose, as well as fate versus free will. Eventually the narration stops and is followed by letters, interview transcripts, and snatches of more third-person narration, interspersed by facsimile pages from contemporary issues of The Gentleman's Magazine. We learn from a fictional news story that a man has been found hanged near the place where the travellers were staying. The subsequent interviews are conducted by Henry Ayscough, a lawyer employed by Bartholomew's father, who is a Duke. The interviews reveal that Bartholomew had hired the party to travel with him but deceived them about the purpose of his journey. Variations of his story are (1) he was on his way to elope against the wishes of family; (2) he was visiting a wealthy, aged aunt to secure an inheritance from her; (3) he was seeking a cure for impotence; (4) he was pursuing some scientific or occult knowledge, possibly concerning knowledge of the future. He takes Rebecca and Dick to a cave in a remote area. Rebecca's initial tale, retold by Jones, is that he there performed a satanic ritual, and Rebecca herself was raped by Satan and forced to view a panorama of human suffering and cruelty. Rebecca's own testimony admits this was a deception to quiet Jones. She says that she actually saw Bartholomew meet a noble lady who took them all inside a strange floating craft (which she calls "the maggot"). In this craft she sees what she describes as a divine revelation of heaven ("June Eternal") and the Shaker Trinity (Father, Son, and female Holy Spirit or "Mother Wisdom"). She also sees a vision of human suffering and cruelty in this version of her story. Modern readers may interpret her visions as films and her overall experience as a contact with time travellers or extraterrestrials. Rebecca then loses consciousness; she wakes, finds Jones outside the cave, and they leave together. She then tells Jones the satanic version of her experience. Meanwhile, Jones has seen Dick leave the cave in terror, presumably to go hang himself. Rebecca later finds herself pregnant. She returns to her Quaker parents but then converts to Shakerism, marries a blacksmith named John Lee, and gives birth to Ann Lee, the future leader of the American Shakers. The mystery of Bartholomew's disappearance is never solved, and Ayscough surmises that he committed suicide out of guilt from his disobedience to his father in the matter of an arranged marriage. |
Bag of Bones | Stephen King | 2,008 | The narrator, Mike Noonan, a bestselling novelist, suffers severe writer's block after his pregnant wife Jo suddenly dies in an accident. Four years later, Mike, still grieving, is plagued by nightmares set at his summer house in TR-90, Maine. He decides to confront his fears and moves to the lakeside house, known as Sara Laughs. On his first day, he meets Kyra, a 3-year-old girl and her young widowed mother, 21-year-old Mattie Devore. Mattie's father-in-law is Max Devore, an elderly rich man who will do anything to gain custody of his granddaughter, Kyra. Drawn to Kyra and Mattie, Mike hires John Storrow, a custody lawyer, for Mattie, and things start looking up. Mike begins to write again, and realizes that Jo's ghost is helping him to solve the mystery of Sara Tidwell, a blues singer whose ghost haunts the house. He also learns that Jo frequently returned to the town in the year before her death, without telling him. Mike begins having recurring, disturbing dreams and visions, and realizes he shares a psychic connection with Kyra. Max and his personal assistant, Rogette, try to drown Mike but he survives with the help of his wife's spirit. Max unexpectedly commits suicide that same night. Mike sees a pattern when he sees that local inhabitants have names that begin with "K" or "C" and learns how relatives of townspeople have drowned in childhood. While Storrow and the private detective he hired are celebrating the end of the custody battle, Mattie attempts to seduce Mike. As they are embracing, Mattie's trailer is subjected to a drive-by shooting, injuring Storrow and the detective and killing Mattie. The detective is able to kill the driver and incapacitate the shooter with Mike's help. Mike then grabs Kyra and drives back to his home. The shooter's buddies try to stop them, but refuse to follow him to Sara Laughs. Under the influence of Sara's ghost, Mike is tormented to drown Kyra and commit suicide himself. Jo's ghost prevents him and calls his attention to the novel he has begun to write. In the pages there are clues that lead Mike to discover documents Jo had hidden, among them a genealogy showing Mike's blood relationship to one of the town families. Several families whose origin lay within the town had firstborn children with "K" names who were all murdered—Kyra, as a descendant of Max Devore, is scheduled to be the next to die. The genealogy also shows that Mike and Jo's child would have been the next firstborn child with a "K" name in the family line. Mike realizes this must be Sara Tidwell's curse for something that had been done to her. He leaves and searches for Sara's grave, stopped by the ghosts of several members of the old families. He learns in a vision that these men had viciously raped and killed Sara, and drowned her son Kito in the lake; all the "K" children who died were descendants of those men. Mike reaches Sara's grave and succeeds in destroying her bones, ending the curse. Upon returning to the house, Mike discovers that Rogette has kidnapped Kyra. He follows them to the lake, where Mattie's ghost appears and knocks Rogette into the water. Rogette tries to pull Mike in with her, but is impaled by wreckage from the dock. Mattie's ghost says her goodbyes to Mike and Kyra. The novel ends with an epilogue, revealing that Mike has retired from writing and is attempting to adopt Kyra. His status as a single, unrelated male complicates things, and the adoption has taken longer than anticipated. The outcome of the adoption is left unresolved at the end, but the reader is given hope that it will be positive. |
The Colorado Kid | Stephen King | 2,005 | Opening in medias res as the news staff of The Weekly Islander pays for lunch at a restaurant, editor Dave Bowie and founder Vince Teague test young intern Stephanie McCann's powers of deduction regarding their tipping procedure. The friendly assessment becomes more intense as the elderly island natives and Stephanie return to the office, and she asks if the veteran reporters have "ever come across a real unexplained mystery". Dave and Vince take turns recounting a strange incident and investigation, with intermittent breaks for our narrators to crack open a fresh soda. On April 24, 1980, two teenagers stumbled across a body, early in the morning. Slumped against a trash can, and carrying no identification, the body bore no clear indicators of foul play. Cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation, as a large chunk of flesh was extracted from the victim's throat. Every potential clue leads to small revelations, but bigger mysteries. Though the investigation is lightly bungled, everything seems inexplicable, from how the fish-dinner stomach contents could line up with his ferry boat crossing, to the single Russian coin in his pocket. More than a year later, thanks to a sharp-eyed rookie spotting an out-of-state cigarette tax stamp, the John Doe becomes known as The Colorado Kid. Eventually the man's identity is traced, and he is identified as James Cogan of Nederland, Colorado. Everyone involved with the case is at a loss as to how or why the man could have gotten to a beach on a Maine island in the five hours since he had last been seen alive in Colorado. In the Weekly Islander offices, the three friends, old and new, ferret out all the answers they can from the facts of the 25-year-old investigation, then speculate on what might have happened, and meditate on the nature of true mysteries. Vince and Dave tell Stephanie that while they were "the last people alive who know the whole thing", having heard the tale of The Colorado Kid, "Now there's you, Steffi." The warm proclamation seems to signal the young woman's final approval by the old guard of the Islander. |
Bring the Jubilee | Ward Moore | 1,953 | The narrator of the novel is Hodgins "Hodge" McCormick Backmaker, who writes a diary of his life in our timeline in the year 1877. Hodge was born in 1921 in the alternate timeline of his story, in the town of Wappinger Falls. At age 17 he travels to New York City, the largest city of the United States (and yet a backwater compared to some Confederate cities), in a desperate attempt to gain admittance to a college or university. After being robbed of his few possessions, he comes into contact with the "Grand Army," a nationalistic organization working to restore the United States to its former glory through acts of sabotage and terrorism. One of the Grand Army's operations involves counterfeiting Spanish currency, with the goal of provoking war between the Confederacy and the German Union in Spanish territories, sparing the U.S. from becoming the two superpowers' battlefield. Despite remaining critical of the organization's activities, Hodge accepts work and lodging with a Grand Army member working from a bookshop. Content to work for food and the opportunity to read at every waking hour, Hodge stays in the bookshop for six years before leaving New York for Pennsylvania. Hodge's aspirations of becoming a historian researching the war between North and South become reality when he joins a self-sufficient collective of scholars and intellectuals called Haggershaven. Here he meets a research scientist on the verge of developing time travel. In 1952, Hodge takes the opportunity to finally see the Battle of Gettysburg in person. Wearing a special watch to keep track of the differences in time, he travels back in time to 1863, where he then inadvertently causes the death of the Confederate officer who occupied Little Round Top during the battle. In Hodge's timeline, the Confederates hold the hill and win the Battle of Gettysburg, paving the way for their victory over the Union in Philadelphia a year later; in this timeline, however, Colonel Strong Vincent's brigade and the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment commanded by Joshua Chamberlain occupy the hill early on and successfully repel Confederate advances. In the novel, Hodge asserts that Little Round Top is the key to the battle, and thus the war. Hodge's actions effectively give the hill to the Union, where events play out as they did in this timeline and the South loses the battle. With history changed, Hodge discovers he is unable to return to the future and is stranded in this timeline. The story concludes as Hodge explains why he felt his story had to be written down, and wonders if by destroying the future he was born in, he destroyed the only dimension where time travel was possible. An "editorial note" following the story relates how one Frederick Winter Thammis had found Hodge's diary while remodeling his house in 1953. Thammis' father had known Hodge as a child, and had grown up on his stories of an alternate world, but had not thought him fully sane. Thammis notes that he had found a watch of unique design with the manuscript, and quotes a contemporary history book which states that the Confederates' failure to occupy Little Round Top was "an error with momentous consequences." |
Divine Right's Trip | Gurney Norman | 1,972 | The plot is set in the 1960s, which chronicles the awakening of the hippie stoner Divine Right (Davenport) as he travels with his patient and introspective VW Bus, Urge. Initially, he travels with his 'lady' Estelle and they meet up with characters such as 'The Lone Outdoorsman' (a curiously warm hearted right-wing reactionary character) and 'The Greek'. Eventually, Divine Right finds himself travelling alone back to his Appalachian roots. |
Unintended Consequences | null | null | The novel's protagonist, Henry Bowman, shows an early proficiency with firearms, practicing whenever he can find the time. Encouraged by his father, he gathers an impressive firearms collection and gains extensive experience in piloting small aircraft. During college, Bowman is robbed, beaten, and sodomized by a rural gang. The incident nearly destroys him and causes him to become an alcoholic for a period. While at a gun show in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, with friend Allen Kane, Bowman publicly embarrasses an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Wilson Blair. One of Blair's men was trying to trick and entrap a fellow firearms dealer. Blair takes the offense personally, and with the support of the ATF's director, begins to plan revenge. Several years later, Blair and subordinate agents of the ATF plan to frame Henry and his friends as terrorists, smugglers, and counterfeiters. They plan to plant "evidence" when the men are away on vacation. Unbeknownst to Blair, Bowman delays his departure at the last minute due to a work commitment, and is on a friends' property when the agents arrive. Bowman assumes the agents are burglars and engages in a gun battle with them, killing or capturing all and in the process discovering the truth about the raid. Bowman realizes that his life has been irrevocably changed. He makes Blair record a video taped confession of his illegal actions, then kills Blair and disposes of all forensic evidence of the agents' presence. Afterwards, he hunts down and kills Blair's remaining subordinates. Bowman and his closest friends begin to systematically kill ATF agents around the nation - whom Bowman views as supporting the infringement of citizen's constitutional rights, and abusing government powers - as well as politicians who had supported unconstitutional gun control legislation. Simultaneously Bowman releases the video tape of Blair to CNN, which claims that Blair and his companions have had a change of heart, realize what they are doing is wrong, and are now dedicated to killing other ATF agents. Amidst the national search for Blair and company, Bowman continues to rack up the body count. Eventually, as the ATF and FBI are unable to effectively track down those responsible for the killings, the President of the United States is forced to give an address to the nation relating his intent to repeal the unconstitutional laws including the National Firearms Act of 1934 and Gun Control Act of 1968. |
Creature Tech | null | null | The book tells of the adventures of Dr. Michael Ong, a paranormal scientist and former seminarian, who is given a head researcher's position at an Area 51-esque laboratory in Turlock, California called Research Technical Institute. In exchange for granting the government the lease to build the facility, the City of Turlock demanded that it be staffed primarily by locals. Ong's task is to open, catalog, and classify each of the hundreds of crates in the facility's warehouse. Many of the artifacts found inside are proven to be highly dangerous and thoroughly insane...Russian teleporter technology, aliens, mutants, even a were-pig. During what is apparently just another day at the office, the ghost of the evil Dr. Jameson looses a slug-beast from its stasis capsule. Jameson was killed a century prior, after making a deal with a demon named Hellcat in exchange for the power to bring a "giant space eel" to Earth. Jameson succeeds a little too thoroughly, and he is crushed when the eel crash-lands into gold-rush-era Turlock. The ghost of Dr. Jameson, generations later, seeks an artifact in one of the crates at Creature Tech, the authentic Shroud of Turin. Jameson released a slug-beast in order to distract the facility staff and abscond with the shroud. During the ensuing battle, Ong is stabbed through the heart by a parasite attached to the slug-beast. The parasite detaches itself from the beast and attaches to Ong, replacing his heart, but creating a permanent symbiosis. Using the Shroud, Jameson resurrects his old body and begins a search for the remains of the space eel that killed him. In the meantime, he unleashes an army of demonically-possessed cats upon Turlock. It's a race against time as Ong, the parasite, and all the human/monster residents of Turlock defend their town against the demon onslaught and attempt to stop Jameson from resurrecting the space eel. |
Stray | Rachel Vincent | 1,987 | A cat named "Pufftail" (he says that he truly has no name) tells his life story to his daughter Tabitha and his grandson. He tells of his life on the streets, in a pet shop, at a convent, with a kind grandmother, and with the cruel "June and Jim," among others and says that he has three tragic parts in his life. In chronological order, the most important events of Pufftail's life are: # Being born # Separated from his mum with his brother # Being taken to a pet shop # Being taken in by Grandma Harris, until she dies # Being taken in by June and Jim Harbottle # The death of his brother # Being taken in by a convent of nuns # Joining the gang called "The Commune" # Being used to test a shampoo # Meeting his "wife" # The birth of his children # The death of his "wife" # Meeting his daughter, Tabitha # The birth of his grandchildren |
London Fields | Martin Amis | 1,989 | London Fields is set in London in 1999 against a backdrop of environmental, social and moral degradation, and the looming threat of world instability and nuclear war (referred to as "The Crisis"). The novel opens with Samson explaining how grateful he is to have found this story, already formed, already happening, waiting to be written down. This is the story of a murder. It hasn't happened yet. But it will. (It had better.) I know the murderer, I know the murderee. I know the time, I know the place. I know the motive (her motive) and I know the means. I know who will be the foil, the fool, the poor foal, also utterly destroyed. I couldn't stop them, I don't think, even if I wanted to. The girl will die. It's what she always wanted. You can't stop people, once they start. You can't stop people, once they start creating. What a gift. This page is briefly stained by my tears of gratitude. Novelists don't usually have it so good, do they, when something real happens (something unified, dramatic, and pretty saleable), and they just write it down? The characters have few, if any, redeeming features. Samson Young (Sam), the unreliable narrator of the novel, is an American, a failed non-fiction writer with decades-long writer's block, and is slowly dying of some sort of terminal disease. Recently arrived in London, he immediately meets Keith Talent, a cheat (small-time criminal) and aspiring professional darts player, at Heathrow Airport where Keith is posing as a minicab driver. Keith gives Sam an extortionately priced ride into town. The two converse in Keith's car, and Keith invites Sam to the Black Cross, a pub on the Portobello Road, Keith's main hangout. At the Black Cross, Sam meets Guy Clinch, a rich upper-class banker who is bored with life, with his terrifyingly snobbish American wife, Hope, and his out-of-control toddler, Marmaduke. Shortly after, the two both meet the anti-heroine, Nicola Six, a 34 year old local resident, of uncertain nationality, who has entered the pub after attending a funeral, a hobby of hers. Later that the same day, Sam sees Nicola dramatically dumping what turn out to be her diaries in a litter bin outside the flat where he is staying (it belongs to Mark Asprey, a wildly successful English writer). The diaries tell Sam that Nicola believes she can somehow see her own future, and, bored with life and fearing the aging process, is plotting her own murder for midnight on November 5, her 35th birthday. Sam, who considers that he lacks the imagination and courage to write fiction, realises he can simply document the progress towards the murder to create a plausible, lucrative, story. He assumes that Keith, the bad guy, will be the murderer. Sam enters into a strange relationship with Nicola where he regularly interviews her and is updated on the "plot". The novel proceeds on the basis that Keith Talent, the known criminal, will kill Nicola Six, with Guy Clinch as the fall guy necessary to provoke him into doing it (and, incidentally, to provide funds to help Talent avoid being beaten up by loan sharks, and to further his darts career so he can appear in the Sparrow Masters darts final the day before the planned murder). But there is an unexpected twist at the finale. Amis hints at a false ending, in one of Samson Young's terrifying dreams, simply to confuse the reader. |
The Bride of Lammermoor | Walter Scott | 1,819 | The story recounts the tragic love of Lucy Ashton, and Edgar, Master of Ravenswood. Edgar's father was stripped of the title for supporting the deposed King James II. Lucy's ambitious father, Sir William Ashton(fiction = Dalrymple) then bought the Ravenswood estate (fiction = Rutherford estate). Edgar hates Sir William for this usurpation of his family's heritage, but on meeting Lucy, falls in love with her, and renounces his plans for vengeance. Sir William's haughty and manipulative wife, Lady Ashton, is the villainess of the story. She is determined to end the initial happy engagement of Edgar and Lucy, and force Lucy into a politically advantageous arranged marriage. Lady Ashton intercepts Edgar's letters to Lucy and persuades Lucy that Edgar has forgotten her. Edgar leaves Scotland for France, to continue his political activities. While he is away, Lady Ashton continues her campaign. She gets Captain Westenho, a wandering soldier of fortune, to tell everyone that Edgar is about to get married in France. She even recruits "wise woman" Ailsie Gourlay (a witch in all but name) to show Lucy omens and tokens of Edgar's unfaithfulness. Lucy still clings to her troth, asking for word from Edgar that he has broken off with her; she writes to him. Lady Ashton suppresses Lucy's letter, and brings the Reverend Bide-the-bent to apply religious persuasion to Lucy. However, Bide-the-bent instead helps Lucy send a new letter. But there is no answer. Lady Ashton finally bullies Lucy into marrying Francis, Laird of Bucklaw. But on the day before the wedding, Edgar returns. Seeing that Lucy has signed the betrothal papers with Bucklaw, he repudiates Lucy, who can barely speak. The wedding takes place the next day, followed by a celebration at Ravenswood. While the guests are dancing, Lucy stabs Bucklaw in the bridal chamber, severely wounding him. She descends quickly into insanity and dies. Bucklaw recovers, but refuses to say what had happened. Edgar reappears at Lucy's funeral. Lucy's older brother, blaming him for her death, insists that they meet in a duel. Edgar, in despair, reluctantly agrees. But on the way to the meeting, Edgar falls into quicksand and dies. In the story, Caleb Balderstone, an eccentric old Ravenswood family retainer, provides some comic relief. |
Ourika | Claire de Duras | null | Ourika, a Senegalese infant, is "saved" from the slave trade by the governor of Senegal, and brought back to Paris as a gift for Madame de B. She is raised well, according to the standards for white Parisian girls of high society; she is accomplished in many areas and is even a débutante. After Ourika's society outing, things begin to go awry. She overhears a conversation between her benefactress and a Marquise as they discuss her future, or lack thereof. The Marquise's famous line is: "Ourika ... has been placed into Society without its consent; Society will avenge this indiscretion." Ourika is then struck by the realization of her color, and undergoes a psychological reaction akin to Frantz Fanon's account of racial awareness in Peau Noire, Masques Blancs (Black Skin, White Masks). She sinks into profound melancholy and is physically affected by it to the point where her life is endangered. |
The Call of Earth | Orson Scott Card | null | The book focuses on several key events that happen after Nafai, Elemak, Issib, Mebbekew, Zdorab and the father Volemak leave for the desert. Elemak has a dream from the Oversoul, foretelling Volemak's sons going back to the city of Basilica to get wives. The sons proceed to Nafai's and Issib's mother, Rasa, who is attempting to keep order within the city. However Hushidh, a raveler under Rasa's care, makes the disastrous mistake of severing the ties between Rashgallivak and his men, leading to widespread riots across the city. At the same time, General Moozh, leader of the "Wetheads" nation (Gorayni), is attempting to conquer cities around Basilica. He sees a strategic chance, and taking only 1000 soldiers, marches across the desert to conquer the city. He arrives in time to help the local city guard quell the uprising, and slowly begins taking control of its affairs. The remainder of the book deals with Nafai and his brothers' (Elemak and Mebbekew, who had come) attempts at finding wives. In the end, they are all forced into a house arrest along with Rasa, where Elemak takes Eiadh as his wife, Mebbekew takes Dol, Nafai takes Luet, the waterseer, with Rasa and Hushidh deciding to come as wives for Volemak and Issib, respectively. Shedemei (a Basilican geneticist) is dragged along with enough plants and animals to populate the future earth with new species, also as a wife to Zdorab. The ending comes when Moozh decides to marry Hushidh to politically tie himself with the city. Hushidh's original mother arrives to stop the ceremony, since Hushidh is actually the daughter of Moozh. Nafai's party is escorted out of the city with the women and supplies for the camp. Moozh ends up conquering the "Wetheads" he had been working for, while his Basilican second-in-command defends the city against the rival nation, Potokgavan. In the end he is killed during an invasion and Basilica falls, scattering the citizens to various other nations and cities on Harmony. Earlier in the book, the Oversoul had revealed the purpose of this dispersal was to force people with a strong connection to it to breed with people who had a weak connection, and so delay the eventual time when the Oversoul loses control of the people of Harmony. |
The Talisman | Walter Scott | 1,825 | During a truce between the Christian armies taking part in the third Crusade, and the infidel forces under Sultan Saladin, Sir Kenneth, on his way to Syria, encountered a Saracen Emir, whom he unhorsed, and they then rode together, discoursing on love and necromancy, towards the cave of the hermit Theodoric of Engaddi. This hermit was in correspondence with the pope, and the knight was charged to communicate secret information. Having provided the travellers with refreshment, the anchorite, as soon as the Saracen slept, conducted his companion to a chapel, where he witnessed a procession, and was recognised by the Lady Edith, to whom he had devoted his heart and sword. He was then startled by the sudden appearance of the dwarfs, and, having reached his couch again, watched the hermit scourging himself until he fell asleep. About the same time Richard Coeur de Lion had succumbed to an attack of fever, and as he lay in his gorgeous tent at Ascalon, Sir Kenneth arrived accompanied by a Moorish physician, who had cured his squire, and who offered to restore the king to health. After a long consultation, and eliciting from Sir Kenneth his visit to the chapel, the physician was admitted to the royal presence; and, having swallowed a draught which he prepared from a silken bag or talisman, Richard sank back on his cushions. While he slept Conrade of Montserrat secretly avowed to the wily Grand-master of the Templars his ambition to be King of Jerusalem; and, with the object of injuring Richard's reputation, incited Leopold of Austria to plant his banner by the side of that of England in the centre of the camp. When the king woke the fever had left him, and Conrade entered to announce what the archduke had done. Springing from his couch, Richard rushed to the spot and defiantly tore down and trampled on the Teuton pennon. Philip of France at length persuaded him to refer the matter to the council, and Sir Kenneth was charged to watch the English standard until daybreak, with a favourite hound as his only companion. Soon after midnight, however, the dwarf Necbatanus approached him with Lady Edith's ring, as a token that his attendance was required to decide a wager she had with the queen; and during his absence from his post the banner was carried off, and his dog severely wounded. Overcome with shame and grief, he was accosted by the physician, who dressed the animal's wound, and, having entrusted Sir Kenneth with Saladin's desire to marry the Lady Edith, proposed that he should seek the Saracen ruler's protection against the wrath of Richard. The valiant Scot, however, resolved to confront the king and reveal the Sultan's purpose; but it availed him not, and he was sentenced to death, in spite of the intercessions of the queen and his lady-love; when the hermit, and then the physician, arrived, and Richard having yielded to their entreaties, Sir Kenneth was simply forbidden to appear before him again. Having, by a bold speech, revived the drooping hopes of his brother Crusaders, and reproved the queen and his kinswoman for tampering with the Scot, Richard received him, disguised as a Nubian slave, as a present from Saladin, with whom he had been induced to spend several days. Shortly afterwards, as the king was reposing in his pavilion, the "slave" saved his life from the dagger of an assassin secretly employed by the grand-master, and intimated that he could discover the purloiner of the standard. A procession of the Christian armies and their leaders had already been arranged in token of amity to Richard; and as they marched past him, seated on horseback, with the slave holding the hound among his attendants, the dog suddenly sprang at the Marquis Conrade, who was thus convicted of having injured the animal, and betrayed his guilt by exclaiming, "I never touched the banner." Not being permitted to fight the Teuton himself, the king undertook to provide a champion, and Saladin to make all needful preparations for the combat. Accompanied by Queen Berengaria and Lady Edith, Richard was met by the Saracen with a brilliant retinue, and discovered, in the person of his entertainer, the physician who had cured his fever, and saved Sir Kenneth, whom he found prepared to do battle for him on the morrow, with the hermit as his confessor. The encounter took place soon after sunrise, in the presence of the assembled hosts, and Conrade, who was wounded and unhorsed, was tended by the Sultan in the grand-master's tent, while the victorious knight was unarmed by the royal ladies, and made known by Richard as the Prince Royal of Scotland. At noon the Sultan welcomed his guests to a banquet, but, as the grand-master was raising a goblet to his lips, Necbatanus uttered the words accipe hoc, and Saladin decapitated the templar with his sabre; on which the dwarf explained that, hidden behind a curtain, he had seen him stab his accomplice the Marquis of Montserrat, obviously to prevent him from revealing their infamous plots, while he answered his appeal for mercy in the words he had repeated. The next day the young prince was married to Lady Edith, and presented by the Sultan with his talisman, the Crusade was abandoned, and Richard, on his way homewards, was imprisoned by the Austrians in the Tyrol. |
The Talisman | Stephen King | 1,984 | Jack Sawyer, twelve years old, sets out from Arcadia Beach, New Hampshire in a bid to save his mother, who is dying from cancer, by finding a crystal called "the Talisman." Jack's journey takes him simultaneously through the American heartland and "the Territories", a strange fantasy land which is set in a universe parallel to that of Jack's America. Individuals in the Territories have "twinners," or parallel individuals, in our world. Twinners' births, deaths, and (it is intimated) other major life events are usually paralleled. Twinners can also "flip" or migrate to the other world, but only share the body of their alternate universe's analogue. In rare instances (such as Jack's), a person may die in one world but not the other, making the survivor "single-natured" with the ability to switch back and forth, body and mind, between the two worlds. Jack is taught how to flip by a mysterious figure known as Speedy Parker, who is the twinner of a gunslinger named Parkus in the Territories. In Parkus's world, the beloved Queen Laura DeLoessian, the twinner of Jack's mother (a movie actress known as the "Queen of the B Movies") is also dying. Various people help or hinder Jack in his quest. Of particular importance are the werewolves, known simply as Wolfs, who inhabit the Territories. These are not the savage killers of tradition: they serve as royal herdsmen or bodyguards, and can sometimes under stress voluntarily change to wolf form. A sixteen-year-old Wolf, simply named Wolf, is accidentally pulled into America by Jack Sawyer and adopts Jack as his herd, serving as his companion. Wolf is extremely likeable, kind, loyal and friendly, much like a dog, though his wolf nature shows through on occasion. On the other hand, some Wolfs have joined the malevolent faction which is trying to stop Jack. As the story goes back and forth between the Territories and the familiar United States, or "American Territories" as Jack comes to call them, Jack escapes from one life-threatening situation after another. Accompanied by Wolf and later by his childhood friend Richard, Jack must retrieve the Talisman before it falls into the hands of evil schemer Morgan Sloat, Richard's father, who, we later learn, was Jack's father's business partner before arranging to have the latter murdered. He wants to seize their business from Jack's mother. Morgan Sloat's twinner, Morgan of Orris, also plans to seize the Territories in the event of Queen Laura's death. |
The Good Apprentice | Iris Murdoch | null | Edward Baltram, a college student living in London, gives his best friend Mark a sandwich laced with a hallucinogenic drug for a joke. After Mark, still high, falls to his death from a window, Edward is wracked with guilt and depression — worsened by daily letters from Mark's mother cursing him as a murderer. In search of his father, Jesse, Edward sets off for Seegard, the family home, away from the harsh reality of London. As Edward progresses through the novel, he revives somewhat, thanks to the love of his eccentric father and his extended family of supportive women. He eventually finds, however, that he must come to terms with Mark's death. Meanwhile, Edward's stepbrother Stuart Cuno decides to give up his studies and goes in search of the "pure" life of an aesthete, to his family's bewilderment. Stuart has 'sexual feelings' for thirteen-year-old Meredith, the son of Thomas and Midge McCaskerville. While Edward seeks redemption and Stuart salvation, Midge is having an affair with her husband's best friend, Harry Cuno - stepfather to Edward and father to Stuart. Her passionate love affair comes to a head after two years when she is disgraced publicly and falls unexpectedly in love with Stuart. Left with a difficult decision, Midge turns to Edward for support. |
The Ring of Charon | Roger MacBride Allen | 1,990 | - ==Charonian Life Cycle==--> it:L'anello di Caronte |
Faith of the Fallen | Terry Goodkind | 2,000 | Faith of the Fallen begins right where Soul of the Fire leaves off. Richard is taking Cara and an injured Kahlan to the high mountains of his homeland, Westland. At the end of the Soul of the Fire Richard realizes that he cannot win against Emperor Jagang until the people themselves want to fight for freedom. Because of this mindset Richard isolates himself in the woods, to allow Kahlan time to heal, and refuses to give orders to the D'Haran army. He insists that the fight against the Imperial Order is a doomed cause and further resistance can only result in the loss of more lives. After Kahlan has made a significant recovery, the trio is reintroduced to Nicci, an impassive Sister of the Dark who was one of Richard’s instructors at the Palace of the Prophets in Stone of Tears. She provides great insight into the goals of the Order and about the Dreamwalker, Jagang himself. Nicci believes fully in the goal of the Order: to have everyone live in equality with no one person attaining more "gifts" than another. Nicci achieves her goal in capturing Richard, something that she accomplishes using the rare and difficult maternity spell linking herself to Kahlan and enabling Nicci to kill Kahlan at any time. Anything that happens to Nicci now happens to Kahlan. Faced with a hopeless situation, Richard chooses the life of Kahlan over his own and is forced to go with Nicci into the Old World. Leaving Kahlan, Cara, and the Sword of Truth to rejoin the D'Haran army. Kahlan and Cara, despite knowing Richard's objections, leave the Upper Ven in search of help from Zedd and Sister Verna. Seeing the plight of her troops fighting against the Order, Kahlan takes command of the combined armies of D'Hara and the Midlands in a desperate attempt to halt the Order's advance into the New World. While Kahlan and Richard's friends do battle in the New World, Richard is put to work in the Old World capital of Altur'Rang, first as a delivery man of steel and timber for construction, and then as a sculptor at the new palace being built. Nicci is stringent on her teachings of the poor and needy in the Old World, and frequently informs Richard that it is his duty to ensure all are provided for. She expects Richard to not only see the pains of the poor, but feel the pains as well. Hoping, in the end, that he will be moved to the side of the Order. Ever so slowly, the opposite effect emerges. Nicci begins to see the Order for what it really is, slavery. She sees that Richard freely helps others and shows that one can take pride in his work, himself, and his surroundings. The people around him begin to take notice of his efforts and soon find their own purposes in life. Purposes, they can build upon and work for themselves. They find that it is only they who can make their life better. Soon, the people around Richard change their lives and their outlook for the better. Richard is commanded to erect a sculpture for the center of the New Palace as a punishment. Brother Narev, a self proclaimed leader of the Order, gives him the statue he is to carve. It is a hideous depiction of human existence showing the full pains of humanity. When Richard sees this he is repulsed to a point where a light fizzles out in his eyes. After sleeping on the idea, he wakes up the next day with a new idea. He will carve a statue, but it will be one of his own choosing. Richard works tirelessly to create his own depiction of Life. He carves in deep white marble the very nature of humanity and finally reveals the statue for all to see in a grand ceremony. Grown men and women fell to their knees in absolute awe-inspired wonder at the two individuals so proud in their humanity that they step forward into the hearts of the masses. "LIFE" is inscribed as the title. Shock and amazement draw record crowds as everyone wishes to glimpse on the beauty of true humanity. Brother Narev, when he finally arrives to see the statue, orders Richard to destroy the statue. Richard takes up the hammer and points to the crowd, telling them that the Order only wishes to destroy beauty, only wishes to enslave humanity under the doctrine of faith unsupported by the true value of life. He swings the hammer and shatters the statue in one blast. The people are in outraged shock, looking at a pile of rubble where once stood the most glorious object they have ever seen. Immediately they revolt, proclaiming that the Order will not enslave them any longer. They attack the Imperial Order, and Altur'Rang falls to the hands of the rebels. After fighting many battles against the Imperial Order, overseeing the wedding of Verna to the Wizard Warren, the subsequent death of Warren, and a major blow to the ranks of the Order, Kahlan and Cara leave to find Richard. They enter Altur'Rang in time to see the statue's absolute perfection, and watch as Richard shatters that perfection in one blow. As the rebellion begins Richard enters the palace to find brother Narev. He immediately finds and kills another brother and uses that brother's robes as a disguise. While working his way through the dark corridors he encounters Kahlan, the Sword of Truth over her shoulder. He runs towards her with a sword he claimed off a fallen Order soldier and forces Kahlan into immediate combat, although it's dark enough that she has no idea who she's fighting. Playing on the very moves he taught her earlier in the book, he forces Kahlan into giving him a death blow, and only then does she realize Richard is the one she's stabbed. Richard had realized that this was the only way to force Nicci to choose - to heal him and save him from the wound (which would require severing the link to Kahlan), or to continue to live in slavery. Nicci has seen the absolute glory and beauty of "Life," and long before seeing Richard injured has already pledged herself to her new doctrine: to live her life for herself. She had already vowed to undo the wrong she had done, and pledge loyalty to the man that returned her life to her. Nicci removes the maternity bond to Kahlan and heals Richard just in time. Altur'Rang is free, for a time, from the grasp of the Order, and the people have found a determination not to serve the system as slaves. |
The Three Roads | Ross Macdonald | null | Lieutenant Bret Taylor married his wife after knowing her only over a single overnight drinking binge while on shore leave during the war. His ship is bombed out of the water and he returns home to find his wife freshly murdered in the home he bought but had never seen. The shock of the two events sends him into a mental lapse, and he's in an asylum. The woman who loves him, a successful screenwriter, calls in a specialist who jogs his memory—and his sense of duty. Taylor hits the streets of Los Angeles, digging through his wife's lies and lovers in an attempt to avenge her murder. The book is a psychological thriller, with the main action being the unraveling of the story within Taylor's mind. The reader is denied information that other major characters obviously have throughout the whole novel, and is meanwhile treated to long passages of theories from the main character. The limited number of characters keeps the possible solutions to a minimum and the book is perhaps more straightforward than what makes a good mystery. Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., who functioned as an editing publisher, asked for revisions in what he considered a slow-paced novel. Macdonald cut '10,000 good words' and concentrated the action into four days. The 1985 movie Deadly Companion (or Double Negative) was based on this novel. |
Incompetence | Rob Grant | 2,003 | The story is around him trying to find out who murdered his mentor, Klingferm, before they had a chance to meet. (In their organisation, members only meet face to face if an extremely serious situation is at hand, such as imminent nuclear war). Klingferm was killed after riding a sabotaged elevator which shot him out through the roof. Harry follows clues left by Klingferm, in the process earning the suspicions of the local police, led by the irate Captain Zuccho. A clue left by Klingferm instructs him to go to Vienna. Along the way, his investigation leads him through numerous facets of Europe's incompetent new society. Harry is eventually arrested and placed in jail, but soon manages to get himself released. He is being followed by Klingferm's killer, who plants false evidence on him linking him to the murder of a senior politician, but the police destroy all this evidence themselves. Against all odds, however, Harry finally meets up with Twinkle, an extremely old bunny girl (who happens to be male), who tells him a locker number, which he has forgotten and gives Harry many variants. Afterwards, Harry is attacked by hired thug Wolfie and taken to the murderer, who turns out to be Klingferm himself. Klingferm is an undercover American agent attempting to stop the United States of Europe from ever becoming a potent global force. Klingferm traps Harry in a sabotaged roller coaster, but Harry is able to fatally shoot Klingferm before it activates. Captain Zuccho, having tracked Harry for most of the book, arrives and rescues him. The story ends with Harry, as it began, being subjected to poor piloting of an aeroplane. |
The Man in the Brown Suit | Agatha Christie | null | Orphan Anne Beddingfeld, in search of adventure, follows note from murder victim's pocket, from London, aboard ship, to Africa, finally a lost island, tracking stolen diamonds. |
The Village of Stepanchikovo | Fyodor Dostoyevsky | null | Sergey Aleksandrovich (Сергей Александрович), the narrator, is summoned from Saint Petersburg to the estate of his uncle, Colonel Yegor Ilich Rostanev (Егор Ильич Ростанев), and finds that a middle-aged charlatan named Foma Fomich Opiskin (Фома Фомич Опискин) has swindled the nobles around him into believing that he is virtuous despite behavior that is passive aggressive, selfish, and spiteful. Foma obliges the servants to learn French, and gets furious when they are caught dancing the kamarinskaya. Uncle Yegor asks Serguey to marry the poor young girl Nastasha. It turns out Uncle Yegor is in love with her himself, but Foma wants him to marry the wealthy but mentally retarded Tatyana Ivanova instead. This Tatyana has several other suitors, including Mizinchikov, who confides in Sergey about his plans to elope with her. The next morning Tatyana has eloped, not with Mizinchikov but by Obnoskin, who acted under the influence of his mother. After a pursuit Tatyana returns voluntarily. At Stepantchikovo Foma Fomitsj is furious because Uncle Yegor has been caught red-handed during a date in the garden with Nastasha. Foma leaves, but falls into a ditch. The inhabitants beg him to come back. A general reconciliation follows after Foma, manipulating as ever, gives his blessing to a marriage between Uncle Yegor and Nastasha. |
Something Rotten | Jasper Fforde | 2,004 | The story opens with Thursday still in the world of fiction in her job as the Bellman, head of the literary police force Jurisfiction. She is still hunting the Minotaur that escaped in the last book; she is tiring of fiction, however, and longs to return to her own world and get back her husband Landen, who was removed from time by the evil Goliath Corporation in 1947. Despite Landen's non-existence, Thursday still has her son (Friday Next) who is now two years old. Thursday and Friday return to her mother (Wednesday) in Swindon, with Hamlet who is accompanying them on an excursion to the "Outland" to find out what people in the real world think of him. Her mother, whose main functions appear to be to make tea and to provide Battenburg cake, has some curious house guests: Emma Hamilton, Otto von Bismarck, and a family of dodos. Both humans are apparently staying for a rest, while Thursday's father (who has now been re-admitted to the time-travelling ChronoGuard) sorts out various parts of history for them. Despite her earlier transgressions that caused her to flee to the Bookworld in the first place, Thursday gets her job back at SpecOps-27 as a Literary Detective and catches up with her old colleagues. She learns that in her absence, Yorrick Kaine has joined forces with Goliath Corporation and plans to oust the aging English President George Formby. As Prime Minister, Kaine wields some mysterious persuasive influence over Parliament and the people, and has used it to pass some bizarre laws and to stir up hatred of Denmark. Yorrick has also taken out a hit on her: he has hired an assassin known as "The Windowmaker", who is actually Cindy Stoker, the wife of Thursday's longtime friend, Spike. Thursday's father warns her that Kaine's ambitions may cause nuclear armageddon and that it is up to her to stop him. On top of this, she is visited by tearful agents from the Bookworld (Mrs Tiggy-Winkle and Emperor Zhark) who tell her that all sorts of things are going wrong without her leadership'; for starters, without its titular character, the play Hamlet has merged with The Merry Wives of Windsor creating a new play called "The Merry Wives of Elsinore", which is not nearly as good as either original play (in the words of Emperor Zhark, "it takes a long time to get funny, and, when it finally does, everyone dies"). Meanwhile, her most pressing problem is finding reliable childcare for Friday. Goliath Corporation have decided to become the new world religion to avoid a prophecy (the prophecy states that the Goliath Corporation will fall; Goliath believes that converting itself into a religion will exempt it from destruction, as the prophecy specifies a business). Thursday meets the CEO -- at their headquarters in the Isle of Man -- and gets a promise that they will un-eradicate Landen in exchange for her forgiveness. Thursday feels duped when she finds that, through some form of mind control, she has formally forgiven them, even though there is no sign of her husband. Then suddenly he is back, but takes a while to stabilize. Thursday must wait patiently for his un-eradication to "stick". In the meantime, she embarks on several seemingly impossible tasks, which include smuggling ten truckloads of banned Danish literature into Wales, tracking down an illegal clone of William Shakespeare, and teaching Friday to speak properly. On top of all of this, Thursday still has to help the Swindon Mallets win the 1988 Croquet Superhoop final in order to thwart Kaine and Goliath and avoid the impending end of the world (as foretold by the aforementioned prophecy). She succeeds but not without a near-death experience and a visit to the gateway to the Underworld (which turns out to be a planned-but-never-built service station on the M4 motorway). The final chapters contain some curious time paradoxes in which Thursday finds that she has met herself at several other stages in her own lifespan, including one character which had seemed to be an independent character. |
A Thousand Acres | Jane Smiley | 1,991 | Larry Cook is an aging farmer who decides to incorporate his farm, handing complete and joint ownership to his three daughters, Ginny, Rose, and Caroline. When the youngest daughter objects, she is removed from the agreement. This sets off a chain of events that brings dark truths to light and explodes long-suppressed emotions, as the story eventually reveals the long-term sexual abuse of the two eldest daughters that was committed by their father. The plot also focuses on Ginny's troubled marriage, her difficulties in bearing a child and her relationship with her family. |
Redburn | Herman Melville | null | Unable to find employment at home and deciding to go to sea, young Wellingborough Redburn signs on the Highlander, a merchantman out of New York City and bound for Liverpool, England. Representing himself as the "son of a gentleman" and expecting comparable treatment as such, he very soon discovers that he is just a green hand, a "boy", the lowest rank on the ship, assigned all the duties no other sailor wants (like cleaning out the "pig-pen", a longboat serving as a shipboard sty). The first mate promptly nicknames him "Buttons" for the shiny rows of them that adorn his impractical, unseamanlike jacket. As his education at sea commences, he begins to understand the brutal workings of ship politics. As a common seaman he can have no intercourse "behind the mast" where the officers command the ship. Before the mast, where the common seaman work and live, there is a man named Jackson, the best seaman aboard, and a bully who is feared by all. Uneducated yet cunning, with broken nose and squinting eye, he is described as "a Cain afloat, branded on his yellow brow with some inscrutable curse and going about corrupting and searing every heart that beat near him." With an iron fist, Jackson rules "before the mast". Redburn soon experiences all the trials of a greenhorn: seasickness, scrubbing decks, climbing masts in the dead of night to unfurl sails; life in the forecastle with its cramped quarters and bad food. They eventually land in Liverpool where he is given liberty ashore. He rents a room and every day walks the city. One day in a street called Launcelott's Hey he stumbles on a sight that will haunt him for the rest of the voyage. From a cellar beneath an old warehouse he hears "a feeble wail" and looking into it sees "the figure of what had been a woman. Her blue arms folded to her livid bosom two shrunken things like children, that leaned toward her, one on each side. At first I knew not whether they were alive or dead. They made no sign; they did not move or stir; but from the vault came that soul-sickening wail." He notices the child lift its head and then the mother looks at him for a moment. A woman and two girls "with hearts which, though they did not bound with blood, yet beat with a dull, dead ache that was their life." He runs for help but everywhere is met with indifference. A ragpicker, a porter, his landlady, even a policeman who tells him to mind his own business. He returns with some bread and cheese and drops them into the vault; but they are too weak to even lift it to their mouths. The mother whispers "water" so he runs and fills his tarpaulin hat at an open hydrant. The girls drink and revive enough to nibble some cheese. Something compels him and he clasps the mother's arms and pulls them aside to see the most haunting image of all: "a meager babe, the lower part of its body thrust into an old bonnet. Its face was dazzlingly white, even in its squalor; but the closed eyes looked like balls of indigo. It must have been dead for some hours." Judging them too far gone for any medicine to help he returns to his room. A few days later he revisits the street and finds the vault empty. "In place of the woman and children, a heap of quick-lime was glistening." On the docks he meets Harry Boulton, a sailor looking for a job, and Redburn helps him procure a birth on the Highlander for the return voyage. They become fast friends and make a trip to London where they visit a male brothel. The ship soon departs for New York where Bolton's deficits as sailor become apparent. He is persecuted and tormented by the crew. Jackson has been ill, not leaving his bed for four weeks. His first day of active duty he climbs to the topsail yard but suddenly vomits "a torrent of blood from his lungs," and falls head first into the sea never to resurface. The crew never speak his name again. His death is their deliverance. At port Redburn and Bolton go their separate ways, the former to his home and the latter to ship aboard a whaler. Redburn later hears that Bolton, far out in the Pacific, had fallen over the side and was drowned. |
Ham on Rye | Charles Bukowski | 1,982 | The novel centers around the protagonist Henry Chinaski. The start of the novel are his first memories. Then as the novel progresses we follow him all the way through school and into adulthood. We start in elementary school and he tells us his experiences. We learn that he has an abusive father, and a mother that lets it happen. He isn't very good at sports, but he wants to be and he tries hard. Football is hard for him, but he likes the violence that comes with it. Baseball, the other playground sport, is the sport he is better at. He hits hard, but hardly ever hits. As we progress into grammar school the focus of Henry's attention, and the other boys, is on sports, violence and girls, as it has been. Then going into high school his father, who pretends they are rich, makes Henry go to a private school where he fits in even less. However, he develops horrible acne, bad enough that he has to get painful treatments from the doctor. Then we follow him to college, and eventually his attempt to get a job. |
Asterix the Gladiator | René Goscinny | null | Prefect Odius Asparagus wants one of the indomitable Gauls as a present for Julius Caesar, so his men capture Cacofonix the bard. By the time the other Gauls know he is gone, he is on his way to Rome. But Asterix and Obelix are hot on his heels, taking ship with Ekonomikrisis the Phoenician merchant. Highly unimpressed by his present, Caesar decides to throw the bard to the lions. Asterix and Obelix enlist as gladiators in order to rescue him, and, in the course of their training, teach their colleagues some interesting tricks. The next Games in Circus Maximus turn out to be the most unusual yet... This book is noteworthy in the Asterix series as the first in which Obelix says his famous catchphrase "These Romans Are Crazy"! An audiobook of Asterix the Gladiator adapted by Anthea Bell and narrated by Willie Rushton was released on EMI Records Listen for Pleasure label in 1988. |
Prisoners of Power | Boris Strugatsky | null | The story describes the adventures of Maxim Kammerer. Kammerer is an amateur space explorer from Earth. This occupation is not considered serious and Kammerer is regarded as a failure by his friends and relatives. The novel starts when Kammerer accidentally discovers an unexplored planet Saraksh inhabited by a humanoid race. The level of technological development on the planet is similar to mid-20th century Earth. Recently, the planet had a nuclear and conventional war and the predicament of the population is dire. When Kammerer lands, the natives mistake his spaceship for a weapon and destroy it. At first, Kammerer does not take his situation seriously. He imagines himself a Robinson Crusoe stranded on an island inhabited by primitive but friendly natives. He is looking forward to establishing contact and befriending the population of the planet. However, the reality turns out to be far from glamorous. Kammerer finds himself in the capital of a totalitarian state, perpetually at war with its neighbors. The population is governed by the oligarchy of Unknown Fathers through brutal police and military repression. The city is grim and polluted. Ordinary populace leads the life of privation and misery. What goes on around Kammerer does not make sense to him, since his own society is free from war, crime and material shortages. Eventually, it is revealed that to maintain the loyalty of the population, the Fathers employ mind control broadcasts. The broadcast towers pepper the landscape of the country. The mind-altering capabilities of the towers are kept secret, they are disguised as ballistic missile defense installations. Constant broadcasts suppress the ability to evaluate information critically, hence making the omnipresent regime propaganda much more effective. In addition, twice a day, intense broadcasts relieve mental stress caused by the disconnect between the propaganda and the observed reality by inducing an outburst of blinding enthusiasm. The authors give a masterful description of this process at work, describing the thoughts of one of the characters as he switches from the state of peeved boredom and disdain for his superiors to the rapturous adoration of people around him and life in general. A minority of the population are not susceptible to the broadcasts. In these people, the intense daily broadcasts induce horrible headache and seizures. The Unknown Fathers — the ruling oligarchs are in this minority. They pay for the power to control the people by intense personal suffering during the daily broadcasts. The people outside the power elite that are not susceptible to the broadcasts are branded degenerates or degens by the state. They are actively persecuted. When captured they are either executed or sent to prison. The renegade degens organized an underground resistance movement and try to fight back by destroying the broadcast towers. The resistance does not have any political or military program and the fighters are united mostly by their suffering and their hatred of the towers. However, the rank-and-file of the underground is unaware of the main purpose of the towers. Apparently, the underground leadership wants to capture the broadcast network and use it to seize the power in the state for themselves. Kammerer, still not quite aware of the situation, gets enlisted in the military. He is required to execute captured "degens", one of them a woman. When he refuses, he is shot. Kammerer survives, joins the underground and participates in a futile attack on a broadcast tower. Captured, tried and sent to a concentration camp in the South, the same one where he made his landing, he's finally revealed the truth about the broadcast system by a fellow prisoner member of underground. Astonished and appalled by the revelation, Kammerer makes it his mission to rid the planet of the mind control broadcast system. Several of his schemes fail because the cure may be worse than the disease. He tries to organize an invasion by barbarian tribes from the inhospitable desert in the South. He then tries to contact the state's neighbor — the Island Empire. He abandons this plan after finding documents on a destroyed Empire submarine that describe mass killings and other atrocities that the Empire military perpetrates. He now focuses on trying to find and destroy the Control Center where the mind control broadcasts originate. Kammerer gets captured and is consigned to a penal battalion that is supposed to lead the invasion of the North. In this abortive action, most of his friends perish while Kammerer himself barely escapes annihilation in retaliatory nuclear blasts. It turns out that Kammerer is not affected by the broadcasts in any way. A Father known as Smart realizes that and plots to use Kammerer to stage a coup and take over the power in the state. His plan is for Kammerer to capture the Control Center and use the mind control broadcasts to incapacitate the rivals and control the population. The Center is protected by intense local broadcasts that make it impossible for anyone but Kammerer to penetrate it. Initially, Kammerer plays along. However, after gaining access to the Center, instead of using it to gain power, Kammerer destroys it. In the end of the novel it is revealed that one of the Fathers — Strannik (literally "Wanderer") - is a human progressor Rudolf Sikorski. Strannik was carefully preparing the operation to gradually improve the lot of the people of Saraksh. His plan was ruined by Kammerer's actions. Strannik catches Kammerer and lambastes him for his interference. Strannik describes the unanticipated consequences of Kammerer's rash actions: up to 20% of the people may die due to the withdrawal of the mind control transmissions on which they have become dependent; Saraksh faces famine, anarchy and invasion from the North. Strannik tells Kammerer to leave the planet. However, Kammerer refuses and stays to help Strannik stabilize the situation. Despite the upheavals that Saraksh has to go through, Kammerer is still glad he destroyed the Control Center because now the people are in charge of their own destiny. |
The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas | Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis | 1,881 | The novel is narrated by the dead protagonist Brás Cubas, who tells his own life story from beyond the grave, noting his mistakes and failed romances. The fact of being already deceased allows Brás Cubas to sharply criticize the Brazilian society and reflect on his own disillusionment, with no sign of remorse or fear of retaliation. Brás Cubas dedicates his book to the first worm that gnawed his cold body: "To the worm who first gnawed on the cold flesh of my corpse, I dedicate with fond remembrance these Posthumous Memoirs." (in Portuguese: Ao verme que primeiro roeu as frias carnes do meu cadáver dedico com saudosa lembrança estas Memórias Póstumas.) Cubas decides to tell his story starting from the end (the passage of his death, ironically caused by pneumonia after inventing the "Emplasto Brás Cubas", a supposedly revolutionary medicine), then taking "the greatest leap in this story", proceeding to tell the story of his life since his childhood. The novel is also connected to another Machado de Assis work, Quincas Borba, which features a character from the Memoirs (as a secondary character, despite the novel's name). It's a novel recalled as a major influence by many post-modern writers, such as John Barth or Donald Barthelme, not to mention just about every Brazilian writer in the 20th century. |
Drowned Ammet | Diana Wynne Jones | 1,977 | The book begins with the birth of Alhammit Alhammitson, or Mitt, in South Dalemark, near a seaport called Holand. When Mitt is a young child, his family are evicted from their farm when the rent is doubled by Earl Hadd, the cruel and tyrannical ruler of South Dalemark. The entire family is forced to move to an unpleasant tenement in the city of Holand, where Mitt's father joins the Free Holanders, a resistance against Earl Hadd. However, after a raid on a warehouse which goes fatally wrong, Mitt's father disappears, most likely killed by the soldiers. Mitt and his mother Milda are convinced that three of the elder Free Holanders, Siriol, Dideo and Ham, betrayed the younger members to the Earls soldiers because they were scared of the consequences of raiding the warehouse. Mitt is determined to take revenge on them for causing his father's death, and to do this, he joins the Free Holanders, hoping to bring them down from within. He ends up working on a fishing boat with Siriol out of Holand harbor. Milda, meanwhile, marries Hobin, a well-off gunsmith. Mitt plans to take revenge on the Free Holanders by assassinating Earl Hadd with a homemade bomb during the annual Sea Festival, then letting himself be caught and, in turn, betraying the Free Holanders. Mitt's attempt fails miserably, when the Earl's youngest son, Navis, kicks away the bomb that Mitt planted at the Earl's feet, but the Earl is killed anyway by a sniper with a long-range gun, shooting from one of the many boats in the harbor. Watching the festival are Navis's children, Ynen and Hildrida (Hildy). Hildy is furious with her father, since he had allowed her to be betrothed to Lithar, Lord of the Holy Islands, whom she has never met. After the assassination, she asks the new Earl, Harl, to break off her engagement, but he refuses. To get back at them, she and Ynen decide to make it look as if they'd run away and gone for a sail on her new boat, the Wind's Road. Having been seen and recognized during the Earl's assassination, Mitt is forced to flee for his life. He hides on a magnificent boat—the very same one that Ynen and Hildy are running away on. They take the ship out of Holand harbor, with Mitt stowing away beneath deck, and when they are sufficiently far out to sea, Mitt shows himself, and demands that they take him to the North, where he can hide from the Earl's soldiers. Although the two are initially uncooperative, Mitt does his best to convince them that he is a rough, tough freedom fighter who will shoot them if he gets the chance; he partially succeeds, and Hildy and Ynen agree to take him North, if only because he has a gun, given to him by Hobin. On the way North the three find, floating in the sea, the wheat figure of Poor Old Ammet, which was thrown in the sea during the Festival. This is considered good luck, and so they take him on board, lashing him to the prow as a figurehead. As well as this, Mitt has a small wax figure of Poor Old Ammet's consort, Libby Beer, which they attach to the stern. That night they weather a dreadful autumn storm with the help the two demigods, Poor Old Ammet and Libby Beer. After the storm has passed, they come across a lifeboat, with one sailor aboard. After a few hours in the man's company, Mitt realizes that not only is the sailor the man who shot Earl Hadd from the harbor, he is also Mitt's own long-lost father. Mitt's father, who turns out to be the actual betrayer of the Freedom Fighters and a truly bad person, forces them to take him to the Holy Islands. He plans to deliver Hildy to her would-be fiance, the Lord of the Holy Islands, the man she ran away from home to avoid marrying. Hildy is determined to stop this, but before they can do anything, they arrive in the Holy Islands. Upon being told the name of the Wind's Road, the Holy Islanders say that a great one "will come on the wind's road with a great one before him and behind." Hildy and Ynen are taken prisoner, but Al forces Lithar, who is a childish imbecile, to have Mitt killed. The Holy Islanders refuse to harm him, so they maroon him on the uninhabited Holy Island. Hildy, meanwhile, meets with Libby Beer herself. Libby tells her that, if she wishes to return to the Holy Islands, she must trust Mitt. Hildy reluctantly agrees. On Holy Island, Mitt encounters the two demigods in person and learns their secret names. When invoked in dire danger, the secret names produce cataclysmic effects that explain the folk names by which the two demigods are called on Holy Islands: the Earth Shaker for Poor Old Ammet and She Who Raised the Islands for Libby Beer. Meanwhile, Hildy and Ynen are re-united with Navis, who tells them that they were lucky to escape Holand alive, as Harl had been planning to kill them. Al is about to shoot all of them when Mitt arrives. He invokes the lesser name of Poor Old Ammet, causing a great storm, during which they manage to escape. From the Holy Islanders they acquire a boat to take them North. Before leaving, Mitt promises Poor Old Ammet that he will return to Holy Islands as a friend, not as a conqueror. |
Danny, the Champion of the World | Roald Dahl | null | Danny was only four months old when his mother died and lived with his widowed father William in a Gypsy caravan, where William operates a filling station and garage. When Mr. Victor Hazell threatens Danny without cause, William refuses to serve him; whereafter several inspectors visit the station, presumably at Mr. Hazell's direction. When Danny was only nine years old, he discovers that William has habitually taken part in poaching pheasants from Mr. Hazell's estate. William reveals methods of poaching by placing a raisin inside a "Sticky Hat" so that the pheasant cannot flee. Having a horse's tail hair threaded through a raisin causes the raisin to become lodged in the pheasant's throat. This in turn causes the pheasant to become preoccupied with trying to swallow the raisin, so that a poacher can easily catch it. On one occasion, Danny, waking up at around 2:10 a.m., discovers William's absence, and fearing that some misfortune has befallen him, drives an Austin Seven motor car to Hazell's Wood, where Danny eventually finds William in a pit-trap, disabled by a broken ankle, and brings him home. William is treated by Doc Spencer, who is a friend of William and Danny. While William is recovering from his injury, he and Danny find out that Mr. Hazell's annual pheasant-shooting party is approaching, which he hosts to curry favor and prestige among the gentry, and decide to humiliate him by capturing all the pheasants from the forest, so there will be no pheasants to shoot. Danny suggests that he and William should put the contents of sleeping tablets prescribed by Doc Spencer inside raisins which the pheasants will then eat; and William dubs this new method the "Sleeping Beauty". Having poached 120 pheasants from Hazell's Wood, William and Danny hide the drugged pheasants at the local vicar's house, while they take a taxicab home. The next day, the vicar's wife delivers the sleeping pheasants in a specially-built oversized baby carriage. As she is walking toward them, the sleeping pills wear off and many of the pheasants attempt to escape, however being quite dopey from the drug they all land and sit around the pump station, just as Mr. Hazell himself arrives. A shouting match ensues, and with their help of Sgt. Samways, the local constable, William and Danny herd the groggy birds onto Mr. Hazell's Rolls Royce, where the birds scratch the paintwork and defecate on his car. When the pheasants have woken completely, they depart, and Mr. Hazell drives off in disgrace, his fancy car and shooting party ruined. The book ends when Danny is hailed as "the champion of the world" by William, Doc Spencer, and Sgt. Samways, of whom most acquire six pheasants who had died because they had eaten too many sleeping pill raisins. William and Danny walk off towards town, intending to buy their new oven for cooking their pheasants. As he and William go, Danny dwells in his narration on William's imagination and vivacity. |
The Violent Bear It Away | Flannery O'Connor | 1,960 | The novel begins when old Mason Tarwater dies. Prior to his death, he had asked his great-nephew, the teen-aged protagonist, Francis Tarwater, to give him a proper Christian burial, with a cross marking the grave so that his body would be resurrected on Judgment Day. Young Tarwater starts to dig the grave but suddenly hears a "Voice" in his head telling to him to forget about the old man. Tarwater obeys and gets drunk instead. When he returns from drinking, he sets the house that he and his uncle had lived in on fire, with his great-uncle's body still inside. He leaves for the city and gets a ride from a salesman, who drops him off at his uncle Rayber's door. Rayber is amazed to see young Tarwater, who he had given up on a long time ago after the young boy had had essentially been "kidnapped" by the boy's great uncle to live in the country and be brought up a Christian. Tarwater is also greeted at the door by Rayber's young son Bishop, who (it is implied) has Down's syndrome. Old Mason Tarwater (the great uncle) had commissioned the young Tarwater to baptize Bishop at some point, in order to save the little boy's soul. Tarwater is immediately put on edge when confronted with Bishop, but decides to stay with Uncle Rayber anyway. He doesn't think of Bishop as a human being and is revolted by him. The three begin to live together as a family for a while, and Rayber is excited to have his nephew back in order to raise him like a normal, educated boy. But Tarwater resists his uncle's attempts at secular reform very much the same way he resisted his great uncle's attempts at religious reform. Rayber understands what Tarwater is going through. When he (Rayber) was only seven years old, old Mason Tarwater kidnapped him in order to baptize him, but Rayber's father rescued him before the old man could fully corrupt him. After many attempts by Rayber to "civilize" Tarwater, and many attempts by Tarwater to figure out his true destiny (be it as a prophet, which was his great uncle's wish, or as an enlightened, educated modern man, which is his Uncle Rayber's wish), Rayber devises a plan to take Tarwater back to the country where the damage had been done in hopes that confronting his past will allow him to leave it. Under the guise of taking the two boys out to the country to a lodge to go fishing, Rayber finally confronts Tarwater and tells him that he must change and must leave the crazy, superstitious Christian upbringing that his great uncle corrupted him with. Tarwater, however, is not so easily convinced. While at the lodge, he meets up again with the "Voice" (the devil) who tells Tarwater to forsake his great uncle's command to baptize little Bishop and instead, drown the boy. One evening, Tarwater takes Bishop out on a boat to the middle of the lake, with Rayber's reluctant blessing. Rayber cannot see them on the lake but can still hear the voices faintly. Tarwater ends up drowning Bishop while at the same time baptizing the boy, thereby fulfilling both destinies simultaneously. Rayber realizes what has happened and faints, not out of fear for his son's life, but because he feels nothing at his son's death. Tarwater runs away into the woods in order to go back to his great uncle's house to confront his demons once and for all. He eventually hitches a ride with another man, who entices Tarwater to get drunk. Tarwater takes the man's offer and passes out, eventually waking up naked against a tree, his clothes neatly folded beside him. Tarwater finally makes his way back to the old farm of his great uncle's, where the house has been burned to the ground. Tarwater had assumed that his great uncle had been burned up with it, but Buford, a black man who lived in the area, had actually rescued old Mason Tarwater's body from the house at the beginning of the novel when Tarwater had gone off to get drunk and given the old man a proper Christian burial, just as the old man had requested that Tarwater do. Tarwater realizes that his great uncle's two main requests (that he be given a proper burial and that the little boy Bishop be baptized) have been realized, which convinces Tarwater that he can no longer run away from his calling to be a prophet. The story ends with Tarwater heading toward the city to "Go warn the children of God of the terrible speed of mercy." |
Silverthorn | Raymond E. Feist | 1,985 | A year after his brother Lyam's coronation as king, Arutha returns to his city as the new Prince of Krondor, to begin plans for his wedding. Jimmy the Hand, a young thief, foils an assassination attempt on the prince by a fellow thief, and feeling loyalty toward the prince from previously aiding his escape from the city with Princess Anita (in Magician), he chooses to warn the prince of the attempt on his life instead of reporting the traitor to the Mockers, Krondor's powerful and highly organized guild of thieves. Arutha seeks the Mockers' cooperation to obtain more information on the assassins, and at their request, makes Jimmy a squire of his court. Setting a trap, they capture two agents, who are revealed to be operating out of the temple of Lims-Kragma, Goddess of Death, one of whom is a moredhel whose appearance has been altered. During interrogation, both prisoners will themselves to death rather than divulge their plans. As the High Priestess of Lims-Kragma seeks the truth by bringing them back from beyond the grave, one of the prisoners rises by the power of an unknown enemy, and attacks his captors, slaughtering many royal guards, and addressing Arutha as "Lord of the West" before being destroyed by Father Nathan, a priest of Sung. Injured in the attack, the High Priestess warns Arutha that the forces which opposed him were so powerful that they held the gods in contempt. Arutha leads a strike on the assassins' hideout in Krondor, but even as the assault appears to be going in their favor, the assassins begin rising from the dead and renewing their attack. Many of Arutha's men are slain, and the Black Slayers are only defeated when the entire building is burned to the ground. Believing the threat to be over for the time being, Arutha proceeds with his wedding. Just before the ceremony, Jimmy senses something is wrong, and finds the same assassin from the first attempt on Arutha's life hiding on the roof. He manages to disrupt the assassin just as he is firing at Arutha, but the poisoned bolt strikes Anita instead. The assassin is interrogated, and reveals the enemy to be Murmandamus, a moredhel chieftain and powerful sorcerer. According to a prophecy, Arutha is the only force that stands in the way of Murmandamus's total destruction of the Kingdom and domination over the realm. The assassin also reveals that the poison was given to him by a moredhel agent, who called it "silverthorn". Pug is able to keep Anita under a spell that slows the passage of time, giving Arutha time to search for an antidote. With scant clues, he secretly leads a party to the one place most likely to have the answer to any question, the great library at Sarth Abbey. All along his journey, he is tracked by Murad, one of Murmandamus's top generals. They manage to reach the abbey, but their enemies strike again with powerful sorcery, both attacks barely repulsed by the mighty defenses of Sarth Abbey and its priests. From information gathered at the abbey, Arutha's quest turns to the elves of Elvandar for more information. Meanwhile, Pug returns to Stardock to seek the aid of a scryer, whose vision of the future reveals a dark force behind Murmandamus, a powerful enemy speaking in ancient Tsurani, who is even capable of perceiving the scryer past the barriers of time and probability. Believing the threat therefore to be a danger to both worlds, Pug seeks more information from the Tsurani Assembly of magicians, and with the help of research from the books of Macros, creates a new rift to Kelewan and returns to his old estate with two companions, posing as priests. In Elvandar, Arutha is told that the silverthorn plant can also serve as the cure, and grows only around the lake Moraelin, in moredhel-held territory, surrounded by a barrier the elves are unable to pass. He and his band set out for Moraelin. In Kelewan, Pug arrives to find himself removed from the Assembly and declared an outlaw. His old friend and fellow Great One Hochopepa is willing to aid him, but they are captured by a Great One loyal to the current Warlord, who seeks to gain control of the Empire. Tortured by the Warlord and his inquisitors, and with his Greater Path magic neutralized, Pug turns to the Lesser Path, becoming the second magician ever to master both paths after Macros the Black. He is able to overcome his captors, and explains his reasons for returning to the Emperor, who grants him reprieve to continue his search in the Assembly's vast libraries. He arrives at the conclusion that the ancient Tsurani enemy has returned, posing a grave threat to both worlds. Pug is reinstated by the Assembly, and following a clue, travels to the northern polar wastelands of Kelewan, discovering a lost race of elves living in a forest under the ice, twin to Elvandar on Midkemia. Their leader, Acaila, offers to instruct Pug in magic over the course of the following year, in order to better face the coming trials. Meanwhile, Arutha and his band manage to sneak past the moredhel sentries, and discover several silverthorn shrubs in the lake, and make their escape back towards Elvandar. Just as they are about to reach the safety of the Elven forest, they are overtaken by Murad and a band of black slayers. With the help of Tomas, they manage to defeat their enemies and return safely to Elvandar. With the antidote made by the elven Spellweavers, Anita is saved, and Arutha's enemies set back by the death of one of their generals. But Murmandamus vows to regather his armies the next year, and the long-awaited invasion into the Kingdom will commence. fr:Silverthorn nl:Zilverdoorn pl:Srebrzysty cierń |
A Darkness at Sethanon | Raymond E. Feist | 1,986 | Arutha, Prince of Krondor, uses an attempted assassination as a ruse to fake his own death so that he may travel north to confront Murmandamus. In his travels to the Northlands, Arutha finds his father's former enemy, Guy du Bas-Tyra, as the Protector of the city Armengar, the first location to be invaded by the dark army under Murmandamus. In an attempt to destroy a majority of the army, Guy orders the evacuation of the city, and ignites the naphtha mines below the city. Unfortunately, Murmandamus escapes unscathed, and the army marches towards the border of the Kingdom of the Isles. Meanwhile Pug and Tomas begin searching the world, and eventually beyond, for the famed sorcerer Macros the Black, thought killed when he helped to destroy the rift (at the end of Magician). Macros reveals that he had put into motion a grand plot to instill Tomas with the powers of the Valheru, Ashen-Shugar, in order to turn the tides of the coming battle in their favour. Murmandamus, having successfully overrun the border city of Highcastle, marches towards his final objective: the town of Sethanon, which lies above an ancient ruins containing an artifact of power known as the Lifestone. Murmandamus lays siege to Sethanon, causing wholesale slaughter regardless of his own soldiers, in order to draw his necromantic power from their deaths. Steeped in power, he descends into the chamber of the Lifestone, and is confronted by Arutha, where they begin to duel. A rift begins to form within the chamber, held closed only by the magical efforts of Pug and Macros. Arutha manages to kill Murmandamus, revealing his true form as a Pantathian impersonating a moredhel. With his death, the escaped magical energy causes the rift to open briefly, releasing a Valheru, and a life-stealing Dreadlord. Tomas, now fully embracing his Valheru heritage, battles his ancient kin, while his dragon mount fights the Dreadlord. At the climax of the battle, Tomas stabs his sword through his enemy, and into the Lifestone, inadvertently releasing the spirits of all other Dragonlords. Their combined might, however, is no match for the Lifestone, the nexus of all life on Midkemia. They are drawn into the Lifestone and trapped for all eternity. The invasion is over. Afterwards, Macros entrusts the guardianship of the world to Pug and Tomas, saying that his task to protect Midkemia is finished, and disappears. fr:Ténèbres sur Sethanon nl:Duisternis over Sethanon pl:Mrok w Sethanon |
A Happy Death | Albert Camus | 1,971 | The novel has just over 100 pages and consists of two parts. Part 1, titled "Natural death", describes the monotone and empty life of Patrice Mersault with his boring office job and a meaningless relationship with his girlfriend. Mersault gets to know the rich invalid Roland Zagreus (Zagreus is a character of Greek mythology) who shows Mersault a way out: "Only it takes time to be happy. A lot of time. Happiness, too, is a long patience. And in almost every case, we use up our lives making money, when we should be using our money to gain time." Mersault decides to kill Zagreus in order to create his happiness with the rich man's money. Part 2, titled "Conscious death", follows Mersault's subsequent trip to Europe. Traveling by train from city to city, he is unable to find peace and decides to return to Algiers, to live in a house high above the sea with three young female friends. Everybody here has only one goal: the pursuit of happiness. Yet Mersault needs solitude. He marries a pleasant woman he does not love, buys a house in a village by the sea, and moves in alone. "At this hour of night, his life seemed so remote to him, he was so solitary and indifferent to everything and to himself as well, that Mersault felt he had at last attained what he was seeking, that the peace which filled him now was born of that patient self-abandonment he had pursued and achieved with the help of this warm world so willing to deny him without anger." Severely ill, he dies a happy death: "And stone among the stones, he returned in the joy of his heart to the truth of the motionless worlds." |
The True Story of Ah Q | Lu Xun | 1,921 | The story traces the "adventures" of Ah Q, a man from the rural peasant class with little education and no definite occupation. Ah Q is famous for "spiritual victories", Lu Xun's euphemism for self-talk and self-deception even when faced with extreme defeat or humiliation. Ah Q is a bully to the less fortunate but fearful of those who are above him in rank, strength, or power. He persuades himself mentally that he is spiritually "superior" to his oppressors even as he succumbs to their tyranny and suppression. Lu Xun exposes Ah Q's extreme faults as symptomatic of the Chinese national character of his time. The ending of the piece – when Ah Q is carted off to execution for a minor crime – is equally poignant and satirical. |
Gundam Sentinel | null | null | Earth Federation Space Force (EFSF) officers stationed at the asteroid fortress Pezun rebel against the Federation leadership, which has allied with the Anti-Earth Union Group (AEUG). The so-called "New Desides" swear to uphold the Titans' ideology of Earthnoid supremacy. The Federation assembles Task Force Alpha, a small force of EFSF, AEUG, and Karaba veterans equipped with the most advanced mobile suits, and sends them to Pezun to suppress the rebellion before it gets out of hand. The most powerful of them, the MSA-0011 Superior Gundam, is equipped with an artificial intelligence named ALICE (Advanced Logistic and Inconsequence Cognizing Equipment). Task Force Alpha, consisting of four Salamis Kai cruisers ships and the flagship Pegasus III, arrives at Pezun and prepares to attack. In the midst of the action, the rebels launch a volley of guided missiles that destroys two cruisers. A week after the encounter, the Earth Federation sends the Tenth Divisional Fleet to reinforce TF Alpha. However, fleet commander Brian Aeno - who was approached by a New Desides representative days before - announces that his force will side with the rebels. Task Force Alpha and a Federation fleet from the Moon attacks the asteroid, forcing most of the rebels to pull out and head for the city, with a small contingent on Pezun providing cover fire and wiring the base to self-destruct with a nuclear weapon. Task Force Alpha realizes the deception and escape just before the asteroid explodes. Task Force Alpha begins to probe Ayers City with units of Neros which are quickly defeated by the Gundam Mk V piloted by New Desides leader Brave Cod. The New Desides - which finally meets Aeno's forces after they arrive - launches a powerful counterattack just as Task Force Alpha drops mobile suits into the area. They also use a logic bomb that paralyzes Alpha's mobile suits after spies crack their operating systems' software. The EFSF counters the programming, but orders a retreat because of the high casualties and sends reinforcements, designated Task Force Beta. Task Forces Alpha and Beta launch Operation Eagle Falls, an all-out assault on Ayers City. The New Desides, which wanted to use the Moon as a base to establish a new independent nation, fails to rally nearby other lunar cities to their cause. The fighting is spread out over 11 days. Cod also goes on a rampage, destroying Task Force Alpha's three-man FAZZ squad, but is killed by EFSF pilot Ryu Roots and his Extraordinary-Superior Gundam. As the city's forces surrender to the Federation, Ayers Mayor Kaiser Pinefield commits suicide after learning of Cod's death while the Neo Zeon arrive to extract the remaining New Desides forces. The New Desides troops that safely escape Ayers rendezvous with the remnants of Aeno's fleet. Master strategist Tosh Cray assumes control of the group, which he formally disbands over issues on whether it should side with the Neo Zeon. He plans to hijack the relay station Penta and use it as a staging area for raiding the Federation Senate at Dakar. To boost the New Desides survivors' chances of success, the Neo Zeon supplies them with the massive Zodiac mobile armor, which is capable of atmospheric reentry and will be used to bombard the Federation base in the city. The Pegasus III is deployed to pursue the New Desides at Penta. Arriving at the station, the Pegasus III and its remaining mobile suits confront Cray and the Zodiac. The New Desides' remaining members head for Earth in three shuttles after Aeno surrenders. The Superior Gundam launches with Roots and pilots Shin Crypt and Tex West aboard with two Zeta Plus units in support. One Zeta Plus mobile suit is destroyed in the chase and the other, having run out of ammunition destroying one shuttle, safely enters the atmosphere. The Zodiac separates into two halves called Zoans. One Zoan piloted by First Sides explodes because of an overheating mega-particle beam cannon and Josh Offshore tries to stop Roots from intercepting the second. Cray ejects from the Zoan and reboards one of the shuttles before he falls into the atmosphere. Realizing the desperate situation, ALICE, the S Gundam's AI, ejects its Core Fighter with Ryu, Crypt, and West inside. The now-self-aware mobile suit chases and destroys the New Desides survivors during the orbital descent, but breaks up under the blistering heat. |
The Serial: A Year in the Life of Marin County | null | null | The Serial is divided into 52 short chapters. It chronicles the lives of a group of residents of Marin County, mostly in their mid-to-late 30s and early 40s. The plot revolves around Harvey and Kate Holroyd, a couple in the midst of the mid-1970s Marin County lifestyle who are undergoing marital problems, with many other characters introduced in the book. |
The Disciples | V. C. Andrews | null | From the bookjacket "After a recruiter for the National Security Agency goes AWOL, NSA information analyst T.C. Steele must track her down." |
It Happened to Nancy: By an Anonymous Teenager | Beatrice Sparks | 1,994 | Nancy is a fourteen-year-old girl who just wants to have fun while at a Garth Brooks concert with her friends. While there she has an asthma attack and an eighteen-year old boy named Collin helps her. He takes her outside and tells her to relax. From that day on she starts talking to him every day after school. One night, she invites him to her house when her mother is not home, and he rapes her in her mother's bed. After that night, when she begins to look for Collin, it turns out that he does not study in the college he told her. She begins feeling sick later on, and easily exhausted. Then one day, when her mother takes her to the doctor, she has blood samples taken. She then learns that she has HIV and doesn't know what to do; she just wants to die and feels that she doesn't have anything on earth for her. She decides she wants to find Collin and have him go to jail for raping her. She describes his appearance to the police. Her closest friends do not know what is wrong with her, thinking her father is sick and that she has gone to Arizona because of it. She does not want to tell them that she was raped by a boy who she thought was the love of her life. While at school most of her fellow students do not know that she has HIV, but her friends support her the whole way. Nancy and her parents become closer even though her parents are divorced. Later she dies and wishes for her diary to be published so that other young teenagers like her can know the real truth. |
The Island of the Day Before | Umberto Eco | 1,995 | It is the story of a 17th century Italian nobleman, Roberto della Griva, who is the only survivor of a shipwreck during a fierce storm. He finds himself washed up on an abandoned ship in a harbour through which, he convinces himself, runs the International Date Line. Although he can see land, his inability to swim leaves him marooned and he begins to reminisce about his life and his love. He becomes obsessed about his allegedly evil twin brother, who is split from his own persona through a process reminiscent of the doppelganger effect, and thus accusing him of all the bad things that happened in his life. The brother takes blame mainly for his bad choices and is present to sweeten the disappointments of life. Through this reminiscence he becomes convinced that all his troubles will end, if only he can reach the land. The story is told from the point of view of a modern editor who has sorted through the man's papers. Exactly how the papers were preserved and eventually handed down to the editor remains a point of conjecture. bg:Островът от предишния ден cs:Ostrov včerejšího dne de:Die Insel des vorigen Tages es:La isla del día de antes fr:L'Île du jour d'avant it:L'isola del giorno prima he:האי של יום האתמול hu:A tegnap szigete nl:Het eiland van de vorige dag pl:Wyspa dnia poprzedniego pt:L'isola del giorno prima ro:Insula din ziua de ieri ru:Остров накануне sk:Ostrov včerajšieho dňa fi:Edellisen päivän saari tr:Önceki Günün Adası uk:Острів попереднього дня |
The Slaves of the Mastery | William Nicholson | 2,005 | At the beginning of the book, the city of Aramanth is greatly changed since events in The Wind Singer. The walls have been torn down, and the poorer districts abandoned. No longer is it run by the strict system of exams; in fact, everyone is pleasant and docile. The change occurred because the city had been released from the grip of an evil force known as the Morah. This new freedom, however, has also severely weakened the city. News of this reaches as far as a distant country known as the Mastery. The country sends an army of a thousand, commanded by young Marius Semeon Ortiz, to destroy the city and take its entire population as slaves. They do so, killing many of the city's residents, enslaving yet more, and leaving no survivors, except for Kestrel Hath. She vows to have revenge on the unknown Mastery, and on Ortiz himself, and begins to follow the trail led by the returning army. The Manth people are brought to the Mastery, a beautiful country built up entirely on slave labor. They are branded and given jobs. Though some of the people begin to actually enjoy work, as they discover that every single person in the Mastery is a slave (except for the Master, ruler of the land, himself). Hanno Hath, father of Kestrel, signs up to be a librarian, while his son Bowman decides to become a night watchman, in order to listen for his approaching sister. Kestrel, meanwhile, faints with exhaustion on her journey. She is rescued by the beautiful Sirharasi (Sisi), Johdila of Gang. As one of the few people who has seen Sisi unveiled, Kestrel becomes her servant and mutual friend. She discovers that Sisi is also travelling to the Mastery to marry Ortiz, the man who led the attack on Aramanth. Kestrel decides to try to use the considerable might of Gang's army, the Johjan Guards, to overthrow the Mastery, and she convinces Zohon, the Guards' conceited leader, that Sisi loves him, and that she will give him a sign to show this. While on a night watch, Bowman is approached by an ancient, one-eyed hermit known as "Dogface", who tells Bowman that, as the son of the prophet (Bowman's mother, Ira Hath, is descended from the ancient prophet, Ira Manth), he has great powers that belong to the Singer people. Bowman tests these new powers by speaking with a cow, moving a stick without touching it, and later speaking to a cat, Mist, that Dogface leaves behind. Mist's ambition is to learn how to fly, but as Bowman's powers are initially limited and untested, he doesn't and can't teach Mist. Meanwhile, Mumpo, another Manth slave, joins the Manaxa. The Manaxa is a fight where two competitors attempt to stab each other with spiked armor until either one dies or is driven out of the arena, and is considered a great honor to compete in in the Mastery. He shows considerable talent at this and at the wedding kills the reigning champion and heavy favorite. At the wedding Sisi and Ortiz both fall for people other than those intended, Sisi for Bowman and Ortiz for Kestrel, and chaos ensues. Zohan, believing he is rescuing Sisi from the Mastery, instigates a battle against Ortiz and his men; however the entire population of the Mastery, bound by the Master's will, attacks and outnumbers Zohon's army. Mumpo begins searching for Kestrel to try to save her in the chaos, killing anyone he encounters whether they be Mastery Citizens or in the Johjan Guards. Bowman, using his mind powers, engages in a mind duel with the Master. Kestrel and Ortiz come in. Bowman is temporarily distracted and the Master exploits this and commands Ortiz to kill Kestrel. Despite his love for her, he is unable to resist the Master's will and obeys. With the sword centimeters from her heart, Bowman kills the Master and Ortiz is released from his will. Mumpo enters the room and sees Ortiz with his arms around Kestrel, and gets the wrong idea. Mumpo smashes Ortiz's head and breaks his neck. Released from his power, the Master's army dissipates and sets about destroying the city in a frenzy, and Zohon seizes control. Finally free to leave, Ira Hath asserts that they must seek out the homeland, as "the wind is rising". Though many of the Manth people choose to stay behind and make a life for themselves where they are, a small group resolve to trust in Ira's prophecy, and together along with Sisi and her servant Lunki, they set out in search of the homeland. |
Firesong | William Nicholson | 2,002 | Firesong begins with the Manth people deliberating over what action to take, now that the Mastery is in ruins. After the defeat of the Master, alone and displaced, they seek a new homeland but have no real destination and very little food. Ira Hath, descendant of Ira Manth, and a great prophetess who is also Kestrel and Bowman's mother, has a vision of the Manth people's true homeland. Throughout the book the Manth people travel with only Ira's guidance, and she becomes weaker as they go, knowing she will eventually die of prophecy. Bowman eagerly awaits a summons from Sirene, and must prepare to sacrifice himself to save his people and the world. Before he is ready for this, however, he must be trained by the great Albard, the Master of the ruined Mastery. The journey is long, and his preparation is tough, especially in the hands of a strange teacher. Jumper, the man-woman Singer who can change forms and personalities to please people, has come for Bowman. Jumper agrees to let Kestrel, Bowman's sister, come along as well. In the end it is revealed that Kestrel is the one who is destined to give her life, having picked up Albard's teachings along the way. Bowman is in fact the Meeting place- the point at which the great evil and the great kindness of the world will annihilate one another. This is because he was once one of the Zars, the army of the Morah (the "spirit" of all evil), and is one of the Singer people too, as he has been trained in their ways. Upon reaching the homeland, Ira's life ends, her destiny fulfilled. Kestrel, too, ends her life with all the other Singers, singing the firesong to destroy the Morah, give humanity a fresh start, and allow the Manth people to finally reach the homeland. The epilogue, set some 8 years later, finds the Manth people established in their new home, with various people married and with young families. Amongst them are Bowman and Sisi (the princess of Gang, and Kestrel's best friend), who are now rulers of Gang due to Sisi's birthright. The ending sees Pinto and Mumpo betrothed, and the Manth people happy at last. |
Dying Inside | Robert Silverberg | 1,972 | The novel's main character, David Selig, is an undistinguished man living in New York City. David was born with a telepathic gift allowing him to read minds. Rather than use his ability for any greater good, however, Selig squanders his power, using it only for his own convenience. At the beginning of the novel, David earns a living by reading the minds of college students so that he can better plagiarize reports and essays on their behalf. As the novel progresses, Selig's power becomes continually weaker, working sporadically and sometimes not at all, and Selig struggles to maintain his grip on reality as he begins to lose an ability on which he has long since grown dependent. The book contains a number of memorable elements, such as David's relationship with a fellow telepath he meets as a young adult, or his strained interaction with his estranged younger sister (who has long distrusted him because of his ability), or his obsession, during one section of the novel, with proving that his girlfriend, a woman named Kitty, is also telepathic after he discovers that he can't read her mind. There's also an interesting moment where David's power causes him to vicariously experience his girlfriend's acid trip, and a bravura sequence in which the adolescent Selig, during a visit to a farm, enters the minds of, variously, a fish swimming in a stream, a hen laying an egg, and a young couple in the midst of passionate sex. |
Salammbô | Gustave Flaubert | null | After the First Punic War, Carthage is unable to fulfil promises made to its army of mercenaries, and finds itself under attack. The fictional title character, a priestess and the daughter of Hamilcar Barca, an aristocratic Carthaginian general, is the object of the obsessive lust of Matho, a leader of the mercenaries. With the help of the scheming freed slave, Spendius, Matho steals the sacred veil of Carthage, the Zaïmph, prompting Salammbô to enter the mercenaries' camp in an attempt to steal it back. The Zaïmph is an ornate bejewelled veil draped about the statue of the goddess Tanit in the sanctum sanctorum of her temple: the veil is the city's guardian and touching it will bring death to the perpetrator. *Chapter 1. The Feast. During a victory banquet, the mercenaries destroy Hamilcar's garden for sport in his absence. Hamilcar's daughter Salammbô tries to quell the riot. Matho falls in love with her. The slave Spendius is released, and he tries to persuade Matho to take Carthage for the mercenaries. *Chapter 2. At Sicca. The mercenaries leave the city unpaid and travel to Sicca. Later, Hanno comes and speaks to the mercenaries about delays in recompensing them, but he is driven off when Zarxas arrives and tells them of a treacherous massacre of 300 slingers who had stayed behind. *Chapter 3. Salammbô. Hamilcar's daughter prays and is instructed by Schahabarim. *Chapter 4. Beneath the Walls of Carthage. The mercenaries besiege Carthage; Matho and Spendius penetrate via the aqueduct. *Chapter 5. Tanit. Matho and Spendius steal the Zaïmph. Because Matho is caught while breaking into Salammbô's bedroom to see her again, she falls under suspicion of complicity. *Chapter 6. Hanno. The mercenaries leave Carthage and split into two groups, attacking Utica and Hippo-Zarytus. Hanno surprises Spendius at Utica, and occupies the city, but flees when Matho arrives and routs his troops. *Chapter 7. Hamilcar Barca. The hero returns and an attempt is made to blame him for Hanno's losses. He defends himself before the Council and defends the mercenaries, but turns against the barbarians when he sees the damage they have done to his property. *Chapter 8. The Battle of the Macar. Hamilcar defeats Spendius at the bridge of the Macar, three miles from Utica. *Chapter 9. In the Field. Hamilcar's troops are trapped by the mercenaries. *Chapter 10. The Serpent. Schahabarim sends Salammbô in disguise to retrieve the Zaïmph. *Chapter 11. In the Tent. Salammbô reaches Matho in his tent at the encampment. Believing each other to be divine apparitions, they make love. The mercenaries are attacked and dispersed by Hamilcar's troops. She takes away the Zaïmph, and on meeting her father, Hamilcar has her betrothed to Narr' Havas, a mercenary who has changed sides. *Chapter 12. The Aqueduct. The Carthaginians return to their city with the mercenaries in pursuit. Spendius cuts off the water supply to Carthage. *Chapter 13. Moloch. Carthaginian children are sacrificed to Moloch. Hamilcar disguises a slave-child as his son Hannibal and sends him to die in his son's place. *Chapter 14. The Defile of the Axe. The drought is broken and aid comes. Hamilcar drives the mercenaries away from their encampments. Later, thousands of mercenaries are trapped in a defile and slowly starve (the Battle of "The Saw"). Deaths of Hanno and Spendius, both by crucifixion. *Chapter 15. Matho. Victory celebrations at Carthage. Matho is tortured before his execution; Salammbô, witnessing this, dies of shock. The Zaïmph has brought death upon those who touched it. |
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