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The Shaggy Man of Oz | Jack Snow | 1,949 | Abbadiah and Zebbidiah Jones are twins from Buffalo, New York; they prefer to go by their nicknames, Twink and Tom. The twins enjoy watching cowboy serials on the family TV set, customized by their scientist father with its own wall-sized projection screen. While the twins are watching the TV one afternoon, the normal picture changes into a strangely beautiful scene with a castle in the background. They are confronted by a living toy clown, a duplicate of the familiar toy they have named Twoffle. This living version, who calls himself Twiffle, persuades them to walk into the screen before them; the two children find themselves magically transported into the scene. Twiffle explains that he is a third cousin of the twins' toy, Twoffle; the two have had long conversations about Twink and Tom while the children have slept. Twiffle serves a sorcerer named Conjo; they are on Conjo's island in the Nonestic Ocean, and are heading toward Conjo's castle. Meanwhile, a problem has arisen in the Emerald City in Oz; the love magnet (introduced by Baum in his fifth Oz book, The Road to Oz) had been hanging above the city's entrance gate, but has now fallen from its nail and broken in two. Princess Ozma consults with the Shaggy Man, who first brought the talisman to Oz; they determine that the magnet can be repaired only by the magician who created it — none other than Conjo. In the Magic Picture, they watch Twink and Tom approach Conjo's castle with Twiffle. Surprised at the presence of two human children, Ozma decides to send Shaggy there immediately to investigate. Ozma equips Shaggy with a magic compass that will return him to Oz whenever he chooses. (Ozma herself will be unavailable, sequestered with Glinda the Good as they work on deep magics.) Ozma transports Shaggy with her Magic Belt; he joins the children and Twiffle, much to their surprise. The four of them go to meet Conjo, who is short, fat, bald, and untrustworthy. Conjo agrees to repair the love magnet, though he wants Shaggy's magic compass in payment. The visitors stay the night; but Shaggy is awakened from sleep by a slight disturbance in his guest bedroom. He discovers that Conjo has repaired and surreptitiously returned the love magnet, but also has taken the magic compass. Twiffle insists that Conjo is not overtly evil, merely "selfish, lazy, and foolishly vain." Yet Conjo has lured the twins to his island to rob them of their memories and use them as his servants, which is malicious enough. Shaggy, Twink, Tom, and Twiffle escape from the island in Conjo's Airmobile. They reach a sky country called Hightown, and the Airmobile is inadvertently lost, stranding them. They learn they can leave Hightown merely by swimming and walking down through the air, since gravity does not function in the place's vicinity. They next find their way to the Valley of Romance, where they stumble into a nightmare of incompetent amateur theater. Shaggy and Twink are bewitched into serving as cast members in an inept stage play. Tom and Twoffle manage to free them and break the spell of the place, by showing the love magnet to the Valley's king, queen, and assembled lords and ladies. (In Snow's narrative, the magnet has to be displayed to have its effect.) Traveling again, the four encounter the King of the Fairy Beavers. The King agrees to help them reach Oz, if they invite him for a visit — and Shaggy is happy to oblige. The protagonists and their beaver companions make their way under the Deadly Desert through the Nome King's tunnel (see The Emerald City of Oz). They pass the barrier of invisibility that shields Oz from the outside world, and arrive in Oz — only to stumble into a crisis. Conjo has used the magic compass to reach Oz, where he grabs the Wizard's black bag of magic and locks himself in the Wizard's laboratory. Conjo wants to supplant the Wizard and gain control of Oz for himself. The Fairy Beaver King defeats Conjo with his water magic, squirting a jet of water from the Forbidden Fountain into Conjo's mouth. The now amnesiac Conjo is easy to manage and reform; he is returned to his island in Twiffle's care, for re-education. Twink and Tom enjoy a pleasant stay in Oz before Ozma sends them home once again. |
Lotte in Weimar: The Beloved Returns | Thomas Mann | 1,939 | The Beloved Returns is the story of one of Goethe's old romantic interests, a real historical figure by the name of Charlotte Kestner, who has come to Weimar to see him again after more than 40 years of separation. Goethe had romanced Charlotte when they were young, but she had already been engaged (and then married) to another man whom she truly loved. Ultimately, the romance ended unconsummated; afterwards, Goethe wrote a fictional depiction of these events, with some artistic changes, and published it under the title The Sorrows of Young Werther—a (still) famous/infamous German book, which brought early renown to Goethe. The real Charlotte became inadvertently and unwillingly famous, and remained so for the rest of her life to a certain degree. Her return in some ways is due to her need to settle the "wrongs" done to her by Goethe in his creation of Werther; one of the underlying motifs in the story is the question of what sacrifices both a "genius" and the people around him/her must make to promote his/her creations, and whether or not Goethe (as the resident genius of Weimar) is too demanding of his supporters. Most of the novel is written as dialogues between Charlotte and the other residents of Weimar, who give their own opinions on the issue of Goethe's genius. Only in the last third of the book, starting with the internal monologue in the seventh chapter, the reader is finally directly confronted with Goethe and what he himself thinks of the entire affair. "Lotte in Weimar" also echoes in subtle ways Mann's and the world's concerns with German military aggression and social oppression. |
Ark Angel | Anthony Horowitz | 2,005 | Following events of Scorpia, Alex Rider is in a hospital recovering from an assassination attempt. Four masked men come to the hospital attempting to kidnap Paul Drevin, the son of Russian billionaire Nikolei Drevin, who is financing a revolutionary space hotel named "Ark Angel". Alex fights the men, in an attempt to save Paul, he pretends to be Paul. He knocks all four of them out, but then a fifth man comes in to the hospital and overpowers Alex. Still weak, Alex faints and is kidnapped. Alex is taken to a flat in a building site, where he finds out the men belong to Force Three, an eco-terrorist group led by a man named Kaspar. Despite proving he is not Paul Drevin, Force Three lock Alex up and set fire to the apartment, but Alex escapes and Nikolei Drevin invites him to come and stay for two weeks in the lap of luxury for saving his son and see an Ark Angel rocket take off. While at Drevin's home, Alex starts to befriend Paul, but decides to leave him and his father once they arrive in New York in route to Flamingo Bay, mainly due to the fact that Nikolei Drevin nearly killed him in a go-kart race. On route to Flamingo Bay, Alex is taken with Paul and Nikolei Drevin to New York. At the airport, he is held up at customs and taken to the CIA. He is told that Nikolei Drevin could be "the biggest criminal in the world", and the CIA recruits him to gain information on Drevin. Upon his arrival at Flamingo Bay, Drevin learns of Alex's CIA connections and decides to have him killed while scuba diving. Alex becomes trapped in a sunken ship named the Mary Belle. With the help of Tamara Knight, an undercover CIA agent and who is Drevin's secretary, Alex escapes. Alex and Tamara hide on the island, but are both captured. Drevin ties Alex up and then tells Alex that his rocket Gabriel 7 contains a bomb that will destroy Ark Angel, causing it to fall to Earth and destroy Washington, D.C. This will eradicate the evidence against him the CIA have accumulated in the Pentagon, as well as letting him reclaim some of his money spent on the (now regretted) Ark Angel project. Alex escapes using a CIA gadget from Tamara, and sails away from the island. Drevin tries to get away in a seaplane, but Alex causes Drevin to crash by tying two canoes to the plane, and Drevin is killed. Drevin's rocket takes off before the CIA can stop it. Alex is then chosen to board a second rocket to move the bomb before it explodes, since he is the only one small enough to fit inside. When Alex arrives, he sees Kaspar and must fight him. Alex gains the upper hand when Kaspar is blinded by the sun's light, and then Kaspar is killed when he falls back on his own knife. Alex moves the bomb into the station's toilet and escapes. His escape capsule splashes down in the sea near Australia. The bomb explodes and the satellite falls harmlessly into the sea. |
The Killing Zone | James Howard Hatfield | 1,985 | The novel begins with the murder of Bill Tanner by Klaus Doberman, a German-South American drug lord. Enraged by his friend's death, Bond disobeys his official orders to get revenge. The synopsis of this book is as follows: "In this new high voltage spy thriller, Secret Agent 007 must "liquidate" ruthless billionaire kingpin Klaus Doberman. But James Bond has his hands full as he battles a luscious lady assassin who offers lethal love Russian style and a slit-eyed Oriental sadist who is an elusive and deadly Ninja. Aided by his confederate Lotta Head and his old CIA buddy Felix Leiter, 007 is pitted against Klaus Doberman in his heavily armed fortress high in the Mexican Sierra Madres... in the most bloodcurdling death duel in the great Bond saga." |
When the Wind Blows | Raymond Briggs | 1,982 | The book follows the story of the Bloggses, characters previously seen in the book Gentleman Jim. One afternoon the couple hears a message on the radio about an "outbreak of hostilities" in three day's time. Jim immediately starts construction of a fallout shelter (according to a protect and survive brochure), while the two reminisce about the Second World War. Their reminiscences are used both for comic effect and to show how the geopolitical situation has changed, but also how nostalgia has blotted out the horrors of war. A constant theme is Jim's optimistic outlook and his unshakeable belief that the government knows what's best and that it has the situation under full control, coupled with Hilda's attempts to carry on life as normal. The Bloggses soon hear of enemy missiles heading towards England, and they just make it into their shelter before a nuclear explosion. They stay in it for several days, misreading the advice given in governmental leaflets: they believe they have to stay in the shelter for two weeks instead of two days. They do briefly go outside to get some fresh air and rainwater, exposing themselves to a large amount of radioactive fallout. They also, unknowingly, smell the burning corpses of their neighbours. Jim and Hilda exhibit considerable confusion regarding the serious nature of what has happened after the nuclear attack; this generates gentle comedy as well as darker elements: amongst them, their obliviousness of the fact that they are probably the only people left of their acquaintance. As the novel progresses, their situation becomes steadily more hopeless as they begin to suffer the effects of radiation sickness. Hilda suffers the most, losing her hair, vomiting and has bleeding gums. Both of them come out in great purple blotches but mistake them for varicose veins. The book ends on an extremely bleak note, with them praying in their fallout shelter as almost certain death approaches. |
I, Lucifer | Peter O'Donnell | 1,967 | Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin are in Paris. Modesty is being wined and dined by René Vaubois, head of the French Deuxième Bureau (the French Intelligence Service), on a floating restaurant on the Seine. René asks Modesty for advice regarding a new protection racket. High-level people all over the world are receiving death threats, and those who don't pay end up dead. The really crazy thing is that most of the deaths are apparently natural deaths. Willie, waiting on the river bank for Modesty's return, encounters Chuli, a criminal whose specialty is planting bombs. René Vaubois' car has been wired with explosives. And when Modesty, Willie, René and Stephen Collier (making his first appearance) leave the scene they are followed by a car full of underworld killers, all bent on putting René down. This is the start of a rather strange story about Lucifer and a pair of elderly puppeteers, Seth and Regina. Seth and Regina have turned to crime after being unable to get work when the music halls closed down. Now Seth has created an incredible worldwide protection racket based on Lucifer's ability to accurately predict impending deaths. The action heats up when Modesty is taken prisoner and a radio-controlled cyanide capsule is surgically implanted under her skin. The final confrontation takes place on a remote island near Indonesia. First Modesty and Willie are forced to fight a duel to the death against each other. Later the machine guns are blazing in a major battle between the good guys and the bad guys, with Modesty risking everything to try to save Lucifer. |
The Magic Toyshop | Angela Carter | 1,967 | The novel starts with Melanie stealing her mother's wedding dress and venturing out in the night into her family's property. However, on her way home, she realizes she forgot the door key and is forced to climb up a tree to get back into her room, destroying the dress in the process. The next morning, Melanie learns of the unexpected deaths of her parents in a plane crash over the Grand Canyon, and she and her two siblings - Victoria and Jonathon - are moved to South London, to the care of her tyrannical uncle Philip, a bullish and eccentric maker of life-sized puppets and fantastical old fashioned toys. There, she meets her mute aunt Margaret, who is mistreated by and terrified of her husband and only converses through notes. She also meets Margaret's younger brothers Francie, a fiddler, and the rakish Finn. At first, Uncle Philip ignores Melanie and her siblings as they are introduced to his bizarre puppet shows and she is made to work selling toys in the toyshop. Meanwhile, Finn and Melanie grow closer until he takes her to a park, the remnants of the National Exhibition of 1852. There, after seeing a worn, fallen statue of Queen Victoria and walking across a chess board (only on the white squares), Finn kisses Melanie. She feels intruded by the gesture, imagining it only romantic as an observer from far away. This kiss, however, ignites Melanie's conflicted feelings of attraction towards Finn. After the kiss, at another puppet show, Finn fails to control his puppet perfectly and is thrown to the floor by Uncle Philip, who obviously despises him. Satisfied that Finn shall never be adept at working the puppets, Uncle Philip devises a new plan, drafting Melanie to perform with the puppets. Philip assigns Finn to assist Melanie in honing her acting skills for the future show. During this time, Melanie notices a difference in Finn's behavior. Whereas before he had been subtly rebellious, he now seems depleted of all resistance and resigned to Philip's control. Finn also becomes incredibly physically dirty. However, Finn's opposition returns when he refuses to make love to Melanie, as he considers this to be a fulfillment of Philip's machinations. Soon the day of the long awaited puppet show arrives. Melanie arrives on stage in a white dress. Philip has arranged for Melanie to play Leda being raped by Jove in the guise of a monstrous swan. The play, however, is not successful, as Melanie struggles to beat off the swan. As she scrambles to escape the swan, Finn calls for the end of the show. Philip comes to Melanie and slaps her, not satisfied with her performance. After the show, Uncle Philip travels with Jonathon, leaving the rest of the family alone at the house. Finn decides to destroy Philip's puppet swan, burying it in the park next to the fallen Queen Victoria. He returns home and crawls into bed with Melanie. She comforts him and arrives at the realization that they will someday marry and have children, leading a poor, constrained life together. Finn reaches a sort of epiphany when he decides to wash and not to tolerate Uncle Philip's hegemony anymore, a coup which is exemplified when Finn sits in Uncle Philip's seat at the dinner table. After a somewhat drunken evening, Melanie learns that Margaret and Francie have been having an incestuous relationship. Suddenly Uncle Philip returns, discovering the infidelity of his wife and the rebellion of his household. In a tremendous rage, he sets the house on fire. Margaret finally speaks as she urges Finn and Melanie to escape. They do so just in time, to land at the outside of the house and watch the floors of the house collapse in fire. They realize now that their old world is destroyed and, for better or worse, all they have left is each other. |
The Escaped Cock | D. H. Lawrence | null | The story is a recasting of the resurrection of Christ narrated in the New Testament. The man who survives his crucifixion comes to celebrate his bodily existence and sensuality. Lawrence himself summarized The Escaped Cock in a letter to Brewster: 'I wrote a story of the Resurrection, where Jesus gets up and feels very sick bout everything, and can't stand the old crowd any more - so cuts out - and as he heals up, he begins to find what an astonishing place the phenomenal world is, far more marvellous than any salvation or heaven - and thanks his stars he needn't have a mission any more.' * The Complete Short Novels, Edited by Keith Sagar and Melissa Partridge, Penguin English Library, 1982 |
The Three Bears | William Stobbs | 1,837 | In Southey's tale, three anthropomorphic bears – "a Little, Small, Wee Bear, a Middle-sized Bear, and a Great, Huge Bear" – live together in a house in the woods. Southey describes them as very good-natured, trusting, harmless, tidy, and hospitable. Each bear has his own porridge bowl, chair, and bed. One day they take a walk in the woods while their porridge cools. An old woman (who is described at various points in the story as impudent, bad, foul-mouthed, ugly, dirty and a vagrant deserving of a stint in the House of Correction) discovers the bears' dwelling. She looks through a window, peeps through the keyhole, and lifts the latch. Assured that no one is home, she walks in. The old woman eats the Wee Bear's porridge, then settles into his chair and breaks it. Prowling about, she finds the bears' beds and falls asleep in Wee Bear's bed. The climax of the tale is reached when the bears return. Wee Bear finds the old woman in his bed and cries, "Somebody has been lying in my bed, – and here she is!" The old woman starts up, jumps from the window, and runs away never to be seen again. |
Solar Lottery | Philip K. Dick | 1,955 | Solar Lottery takes place in a world dominated by logic and numbers. Loosely based on a numerical military strategy employed by U.S. and Soviet intelligence called minimax (part of game theory), the head of world government is chosen through a sophisticated, computerized lottery. This element of randomization in the society serves as a form of social control since nobody, in theory at least, has any more of an advantage over anybody else in becoming the next Quizmaster. Society is further entertained by a televised selection process in which an assassin is also allegedly chosen at random. By countering and putting down these threats to his life (using telepathic bodyguards as defense), the leader gains the respect of the people. If he loses his life a new Quizmaster, as well as another assassin, are again randomly selected. Quizmasters have historically held office for timespans ranging from a few minutes to several years. The average life expectancy is therefore on the order of a couple of weeks. The plot follows the story of Ted Benteley, an idealistic young worker unhappy with his position in life. Benteley attempts to get a job in the prestigious office of Quizmaster Reese Verrick. Reese has just been forced out of office, however, and Benteley gets tricked into swearing an unbreakable oath of personal fealty to the once and former world leader. Verrick then makes it clear that his organization's mission is to assassinate the new Quizmaster, Leon Cartwright, in the world's most anticipated "competition". In order to defeat the telepathic security web protecting Cartwright, Verrick and his team invent an android named Keith Pellig into which different volunteers' minds are alternately embedded for the purpose of breaking any kind of steady telepathic lock on the assassin. An action sequence centered on Pellig's assassination attempt proves to be the novel's most exciting and clever element. Cartwright ultimately kills Verrick, and Benteley, much to his own astonishment, becomes the next Quizmaster. A second plotline concerns a team of Leon Cartwright's followers travelling to the far reaches of the solar system in search of a mysterious cult figure named John Preston, who, 150 years after his disappearance, is thought to somehow still be alive on the legendary tenth planet known as the "Flame Disc". Although this particular sub-plot seems to have only a marginal connection with the main storyline, the recorded voice of a long-deceased John Preston ends the novel on a positive note by exhorting his audience to "...spread out, reach areas, experiences, comprehend and live in an evolving fashion....", to "push aside routine and repetition, to break out of mindless monotony and thrust forward....", to "keep moving on...". |
The Lost Girl | D. H. Lawrence | 1,920 | Alvina Houghton, the daughter of a widowed Midlands draper, comes of age just as her father’s business is failing. In a desperate attempt to regain his fortune and secure his daughter’s proper upbringing, James Houghton buys a theater. Among the traveling performers he employs is Ciccio, a sensual Italian who immediately captures Alvina’s attention. Fleeing with him to Naples, she leaves her safe world behind and enters one of sexual awakening, desire, and fleeting freedom. |
Little Fuzzy | H. Beam Piper | 1,962 | Jack Holloway, a sunstone miner, lives a solitary life in a wilderness area of planet Zarathustra. The planet is basically "owned" by the Chartered Zarathustra Corporation (under Victor Grego), which installed basic services and colonial outposts initially, and now reaps the benefits of new discoveries, such as the valuable sunstones. One day, Holloway returns to his little shack to discover a tiny humanoid, covered in golden fur. The little creature has armed itself with a chisel from his workbench, but is peaceful and mostly unafraid. The miner gives the "little fuzzy" (as he calls it) some Extee-Three, a kind of canned emergency ration cake, and the Fuzzy devours it greedily. It is soon apparent that the creature is highly intelligent, and he soon brings his family band to join "Pappy Jack" at the shack. Victor Grego soon tries to intervene, claiming that the Fuzzies are just animals, not sapients. If they were ruled sapient, the entire planet would be declared a protected aboriginal zone, and the Chartered Zarathustra Company would lose its exclusive rights to the resources there. Leonard Kellogg, one of Grego's staff, kills a Fuzzy and this leads to a court case which hinges on whether the Fuzzies are animals or sapients. After much discussion of what it means to be "sapient" (speech and fire use being one definition), the matter goes to court. In the midst of the proceedings, the Terran Navy commander reveals that his people have been studying Fuzzies, and that they can indeed speak. The tiny people use ultrasonic frequencies, which to human ears sound like "yeek." When processed with the proper electronics, the sounds are rendered as a complex language. The Navy experiments prove that Fuzzies have at least the mental capacity of a ten-year-old human, and are therefore protected under Terran law. Judge Pendarvis declares them to be aborigines, and the Charter of the Zarathustra Company is immediately invalidated. Kellogg has his worst fears confirmed; he killed a sapient being, not an animal. He commits suicide in his cell. The second book, Fuzzy Sapiens, deals with the new 'Charterless Zarathustra Company' and how it eventually begins to work with the new governor to ensure control over the planet. Victor Grego becomes the affiliate of a Fuzzy he names Diamond. It becomes clear that criminals are using the irregular status of the government and of the company to attack it and even to steal sunstones. The third book, Fuzzy Bones by William Tuning, suggests that the remarkable demand by all Fuzzies for the ration-pack 'Extraterrestrial Type Three' (aka 'ExTee 3' or 'estefee') does not fit with the composition of Zarathustran soil. A third significant Fuzzy character is developed called Starwatcher. Little Fuzzy, Diamond and Starwatcher become the clear leaders of the group in working with humans. Golden Dream fits with these three books in terms of the general plot and relationships. After these two official sequels, the original third book by Piper himself was found and of course this offers an alternative future. |
Slipback | Eric Saward | null | The Sixth Doctor and Peri arrive on a mysterious space liner, where intergalactic policemen are investigating art thefts, a computer is suffering from a split personality and the Captain's disease threatens every living thing on the ship… |
Top 10: The Forty-Niners | Alan Moore | null | In 1949, 16-year-old Steven Traynor is stateside after fighting the Axis forces in the skies over Europe. Joining him on his train ride is Leni Muller, a defector from the German Luftwaffe who fought Steven on her industrial broomstick as the Skywitch. Both are headed to the newly founded Neopolis, a city where the "science heroes," robots, mad scientists and other unique characters are being located to (out of the public's eye). After registering at town hall, Steven and Leni both head to their lodgings at Betty Doesgood's. Later that night at Scowling Joe's bar, Steven is introduced to the The Skysharks, fellow pilots that act as a private air force for Neopolis. Skyshark Wulf recommends Steven to be mechanic for the air field, an idea he happily accepts. After a near scuffle between local gangsters and Scowling Joe, Leni is introduced to several members of the police force, and decides to apply for a job. After meeting officers like armored scientist Steelgauntlet and toy inventor Major Lilliput, Leni is introduced to her partner, the Black Rider. Out on her first patrol, Leni and Black Rider arrest a hero and his sidekick for felony vigilante assault on a former archenemy. The partners then get a call to investigate a call from the Institute, the scientific research facility where many of the German refugee scientists are currently working. The body of Herr Panzer has been discovered, his body turned to ash and bones inside his armored suit. While Black Rider calls in for a forensics cleanup, Leni takes statements from her countrymen. At the Skysharks air field, Wulf and Steven relive the war through the eyes of the archived newsreels. The intimacy between Wulf and himself makes Steven a bit uneasy, and he buries himself in his work, rather than talk to Wulf about it. As Major Lilliput has his toy soldiers transport the remains of Herr Panzer, he mentions what he has read about the scientists' secretive Janon project, an energy experiment dealing with particles that "go both ways in time." When Muller meets up with Wulf and Steven at Scowling Joe's, the young pilot makes a show of strong affection for his female friend, then quickly escorts her back to their apartments, where he fumbles through an attempt at sex with Leni. Heading outside after his awkward encounter, Steven follows a police wagon to Scowling Joe's, where the Cosa Nosferatu (vampire mafia) have murdered the barkeep and local prostitute. After a tense and silent breakfast at Betty Doesgood's, Leni leaves to assist in a bust on a Nosferatu whorehouse. The raid leads to the arrest of the mayor's nephew, as well as a high-ranking enforcer being killed by the Maid. At the Skyshark air field, Wulf and Steve share an awkward moment, and the older pilot eventually admits to being gay and having an attraction to Steven, but his friend cannot find the courage to voice his emotions. Wulf says he will be around. Police captain Doctor Omega congratulates his officers on the raid, but warns about likely reprisals from the mafia. Leni and Black Rider are then informed of a lead at the Institute, where they learn that several of the scientists were secretly creating a time machine to re-write the outcome of the war, but Leni successfully halts their attempts. Doctor Omega tells Steelgauntlet he's putting him in charge of intercepting a Nosferatu replacement arriving at the subway station, saying Steel knows the reason why he is being given the responsibility. As Wulf and Steven leave work for the night, Steve admits to wanting to spend time with Wulf, and the two agree to head to Wulf's apartment. In the privacy of his office, John Sharkey, the squadron leader, draws plans for a bombing raid on Neopolis itself, with the key target being the shipyards, home to all of the robotic and automaton residents. Due to the bad press from the mayor's nephew being arrested, the subway arrest has to go off without incident, or the city might defer its security to martial law (such as Skysharks) within days. The preparations appear flawless, but the squad feels anxious when they discover that the one officer the vampires have a natural fear and weakness against, the Maid, is on special assignment out of town. Before the squad leaves on its assignment, Leni is stopped by Steven, who apologizes for his behavior earlier. He admits to being gay, and asks if she can still think of him as a friend. Leni is unable to decide then, and leaves to help in the arrest. At the station, Steelgauntlet has his suspicions about how easy the bust will be, but Doctor Omega assures him of the success of the mission, guaranteeing good press thanks to the reporters waiting outside to document the police's triumph. Just then, the sky is flooded with bats and vampires. As Steven makes it to the air field, he discovers Wulf on the floor, bleeding from gunshot wounds in the leg and shoulder. Lars and Sharkey stole their planes and flew off to complete the bombing run, in an attempt to stage a military coup. Steven despairs with the situation heard over the radio about the vampires in addition to the Skysharks, but Wulf encourages the young ace, and gives him a good luck kiss. Steven hops in his jet-propelled craft, Beauty, and pursues. Outside the train station, Doctor Omega orders Steelgauntlet to take the brunt of the vampire attack, while the other officers rally around fire hydrants. Leni is dismayed at the sight of Steel's armored body being torn to shreds, but Doctor Omega assures his survival. Standing on the edge of the city reservoir, the Maid blesses the water, allowing the police to unleash gallons of holy water on their attackers. Leni rushes to Steelgauntlet's side, only to be shocked at his electronic inner workings. Just as she is about to scour the air for any remaining bats, the robot district erupts in flames. Steven catches up to the Skysharks, managing to down Lars, but Sharkey begins to strafe Steven, until Leni swoops in and catches Sharkey off guard with a grenade launcher. After the fires are put out in the shipyards, Leni stands with Steelgauntlet, asking him to trust her with his secrets, so she can understand him. Frank Chambers, the identity Steelgauntlet had assumed, died burned beyond recognition. His creation lived on as the first true artificial intelligence. In the hospital, Steven visits Wulf, telling him he wants to live the rest of his life together. Wulf, however, scoffs at being anything more than a first love. The pair have about as much chance of lasting as the bizarre city of freaks in tights. "I give it six months." |
The Forbidden Territory | null | null | The Duc de Richleau receives a letter that is a code from his missing friend the young American Rex Van Ryn who, while hunting for treasure lost during the Soviet takeover of Russia, is now in prison somewhere in that vast country. He shares the letter with another young friend, Simon Aron, who agrees to accompany him to search for their friend. They travel to Moscow separately, and reunite one cold winter morning. Aron had met a famous Russian soprano in London and begins an affair with her in Moscow, much to the chagrin of her watcher, a Soviet official. Eventually, she obtains through her watcher the location of Rex, who is in a prison two days to the east of Moscow, in exchange for a guarantee that Simon will leave Moscow within the day. So they book a train for a seven-day transit far to the east, but the morning after they board Simon feigns illness. The Duc, who grew up in Russia and therefore speaks Russian, befriends the porter and the next morning persuades him to allow them to leave the train secretly just before it enters a station in order to save the rapidly ailing Simon's life. They are followed off the train, but they are armed as the Duc smuggled two pistols along with fifty Hoyo de Monterrey cigars into the country through the British embassy. They kill their pursuer and hide him in an old tool shed where they hope he will not be discovered until the spring thaw. By then, the train has gone and they enter the small town. Entering a café, they discover the train that goes to the north will take them only part of the way, as the town they want is in forbidden territory. The train leaves at lunch time, so they wait until the last minute before attempting to buy tickets, which they do successfully after paying three times the official price. As they arrive in the new town, dusk is approaching. They go to a hotel and ask about hiring a carriage to take them, but there are none available. They begin traveling to the town's other hotel but encounter another carriage which an official is just getting out of. "Please hire it to us", asks the Duc, but when he refuses, they take it by brute force and race out of town on the road north. They keep going until midnight when they find shelter in the hovel of a man who owns the boat to cross the river. Finally the next afternoon they arrive in the town where Rex is a prisoner. Finding shelter in a synagogue, they find Rex the next day. The only security during winter is that the prisoners have no boots and none are from the local town, so with the aid of his companions, Rex escapes that night in a horse and carriage that the Duke and Simon have stolen. They keep the carriage driver prisoner, but he escapes with the carriage when they are taking a rest, and so they are stranded. |
Heir of Sea and Fire | Patricia A. McKillip | 1,977 | In the second book of the series, the focus shifts from Morgon of Hed to Raederle of An. Raederle, the heir of sea and fire referred to in the title, was promised by her father to the man who won a riddle game with a ghost. In the previous book, this was revealed to be Morgon, but as this book opens, he has been missing for a year; since his power over the land of Hed has just passed to his heir, he is thought dead. Raederle sets out for Erlenstar Mountain, where Morgon was trying to reach when he died. Along the way, she is assisted by Lyra, the Morgul of Herun's heir, and by Tristan of Hed, Morgon's sister. The first half of the book chronicles their journey north. Along the way, Raederle grows to understand her own significant powers as a descendant of both shapechangers and witches. Her hidden ancestry makes her related to Morgon's enemies. Midway through the book, she discovers that Morgon is alive, while shapechangers and Ghisteslwchlohm, an ancient, evil wizard and traitor from ages past pursue him. Sensing a powerful, dangerous force in pursuit across her land, Raederle uses her abilities to confound it, thinking she is protecting Morgon; but discovers that the force she thought was Ghisteslwchlohm is Morgon himself, who has stolen much of Ghisteslwchlohm's power during his long captivity, while the helpless man he pursued was Deth, who betrayed him. Confronted with this, and realizing how he appears, Morgon forsakes his revenge and allows Deth to escape. |
More Than Human | Theodore Sturgeon | 1,953 | The first part of the novel, The Fabulous Idiot, narrates the birth of the gestalt. In the beginning, we are introduced to the world of Lone, referred to as the "Idiot", a 25-year-old male with a telepathic ability who lives on the street. He knows he can make people do what he wants them to, but has never experienced real human connection. One day he encounters Evelyn Kew, an innocent woman who has been completely sheltered by her domineering father. She is the first person he has mentally and physically connected with. Evelyn's father finds out about the relationship and kills Evelyn and himself. During this incident Lone barely escapes a beating from the father; bleeding and nearly dead, he is found and then adopted by the Prodds, a poor farming couple, and lives with them for about seven years. When Mrs. Prodd becomes pregnant, the couple are about to ask Lone to leave, but he makes his departure appear to be his own idea. Lone builds a shelter in the forest and is soon joined by three runaway children: Janie, an eight-year-old with a telekinetic gift, and the twins Bonnie and Beanie, who cannot speak but possess the ability to teleport. Lone returns to the farm to find Mrs. Prodd has died after giving birth to a "Mongoloid" baby. Lone adopts the baby, who has a phenomenal mental capacity and thinks almost like a computer. Together, Lone, Janie, the twins and Baby form what will be later called the homo gestalt. Prodd's old truck is always getting stuck in the mud, and when Lone asks Baby for a solution, Baby helps Lone build an anti-gravity generator. He installs it in Prodd's truck, only to find that Prodd has left for Pennsylvania. The second part of the novel is Baby is Three, which occurs several years after The Fabulous Idiot. Gerry Thompson, a street urchin who has grown up in abusive institutions, is possibly sociopathic. He consults a psychiatrist, trying to piece his memory back together. Gerry ran away from the institution and was taken in by Lone. Lone was killed in an accident and Gerry subsequently became the leader of the gestalt. Lone had instructed the kids to seek out Evelyn's sister, Alicia, after his death. They were educated and fed under her care. Soon, however, Gerry learned that domestication and normalization had weakened their gestalt. He killed Alicia, and the group returned to living alone in the woods. If anything, Gerry's telepathic abilities are stronger than Lone's. His amnesia was caused by Alicia's having accidentally transmitted her memories to his mind when they first met, triggered by her strong emotional reaction to hearing the words "Baby is three". He learned about her entire life, including her past relationship with Lone, in a split second. After being helped by the psychiatrist, Gerry erases the man's memory of him. The third and concluding part of the novel is Morality. Again, it occurs several years after the previous part. Lt. Hip (Hippocrates) Barrows is a gifted engineer who worked for the US Air Force until the incident which led to his incarceration, first in an insane asylum, then in jail. Janie, now an adult, befriends him and helps him regain his health. He slowly remembers what had happened. He discovered some odd effects on an anti-aircraft range. Practice shells fired in a certain area were all duds. Barrows does magnetic tests and finally discovers the anti-gravity machine, still on the rusted-out old truck on the nearby farm. Gerry knows of Hip's investigation and poses as a common soldier assisting Hip, then launching the anti-grav into space and stopping Hip from saving it. He then mentally attacks Hip to make him look insane, driving him to a mental breakdown and amnesia, Gerry does this because Baby has told him that if the anti-grav was discovered, it would lead either to a terrible war or to the complete collapse of the world economy. Gerry is determined to drive Hip permanently insane. Hip confronts Gerry, and becomes the last part of the gestalt, its conscience. |
Birds of Prey | David Drake | 1,984 | The novel relates an episode in the life of Aulus Perennius, a middle-aged operative of the Bureau of Imperial Affairs, an agency which has evolved into an intelligence service over the life of the Empire. He is accompanied by his protégé Gaius, a dashing young cavalry officer with an unfortunate tendency to act without thinking, and an odd figure named Calvus, tall, slim, bald, incredibly strong, and rather clueless. (The story hints that Gaius is Aulus' biological son, but never makes a clear statement on the matter.) At the beginning of the story Aulus' own mentor, head of the Bureau of Imperial Affairs, has summoned him back to Rome on a matter urgent enough to pull him out of a deep-cover operation just as it was coming to its critical phase. At the direct behest of the emperor the Bureau has been ordered to provide Calvus with any sort of support requested, and Calvus has asked only for the services of the Bureau's best agent — requesting Aulus by name. Invoking the authority of the Bureau, Aulus orders an ancient trireme out of dry-dock storage to be outfitted for a trip to Cilicia in southern Anatolia, technically a part of the Roman Empire but at that time under the control of Odenath, to provide some unspecified service for Calvus. En route they are beset by pirates and other parties; the story of the journey takes up the greater part of the book. Calvus, though taken for a male, is actually a female (of sorts) sent back from the far distant future to destroy the seed creche of monstrous aliens who, by her time, have multiplied into millions, emerged from their underground creches, and are in the process of destroying the human race. As a desperate measure a set of six mutually telepathic sisters, including Calvus, are specially bred to be sent on the mission together. (The book hints that the future human race has evolved to be somewhat different from ourselves, and that the six sterile drone-like sisters are uncommon only in their preparation for this particular mission.) Calvus is the only one of the siblings to arrive at the proper time in the past; there are strong hints that the presence of a handful of extinct creatures such as dinosaurs and sabre-toothed cats in Aulus' time are a side effect of the unintentional displacement of the other siblings into the far distant past. The time-travel technology did not allow Calvus to take any weapons or other gadgets along, so she herself serves as the weapon. She has a limited ability to influence the thoughts of humans other than her sisters — which is how she induced the emperor to issue orders for the Bureau's cooperation — and at the end of the story she destroys the creche by self-destructing as a nuclear or thermal bomb. Before then, through her association with Aulus and separation from her sisters, she learns to experience her humanity almost in the way ordinary humans do. |
Oh My Darling Daughter | null | null | This unforeseen event occurs at the beginning of summer, when Viola has just finished school. St. Winifred's, her "Alma mater", is an expensive public school which prides itself on turning out "ladies"—refined young women who are mostly "unemployable" and have certainly not been taught domestic subjects but who will nevertheless, it is believed, have no problem finding suitable husbands among their own social class. Secretly, Viola has already made her choice in this respect: She intends "to marry the Reverend Mr Chisholm and have ten children". Now she is waiting for Chisholm to respond to her subtle, ladylike advances. However, at the same time she is in charge of the household, tending to her father Harry, who writes articles on literature; her twelve-year-old sister Persephone ("Perse"), who also goes to St. Winifred's; and her five-year-old brother Nicholas Anthony ("Trubshaw"). Their large house, The Old Vicarage, has not been renovated in a long time, which has started to show in places and does not make life easier for them. (They have named the spare bedrooms after the problems that have befallen them: Dry Rot, Woodworm, the Mildew Room.) While they are slowly adjusting to their new life without Mother, Clementine Kemble occasionally informs them about her current whereabouts—they get cheery postcards from such faraway places as Marrakesh, Cairo, Istanbul, Samarkand, Kuala Lumpur, Eureka, California, Los Angeles, and Acapulco. When Harry Kemble thinks they cannot cope alone any longer he hires Gloria Perkins, a friend of his wife's, to keep house for them. However, Gloria turns out to be not only dim-witted but also spectacularly incompetent as a housekeeper—the only dish she can prepare is goulash—while at the same time she is a young unattached and very attractive woman. Gossip among the villagers that she might be Harry Kemble's "mistress" seems inevitable, especially when people find out about her loose morals. ("Gloria wouldn't recognize a moral principle if it was served up to her on a plate, with chestnut stuffing".) Even the Reverend Chisholm seems to be attracted to Gloria and succeeds in involving her in various church activities. Just as Viola starts becoming slightly suspicious of the two Chisholm, to her great and pleasant surprise, proposes to her, adding that the responsible thing to do will be to wait for a year or two for them to get married. Nevertheless in seventh heaven now, Viola discards any ideas of continuing her association with Johnnie Wrighton, a friendly young man who has obviously fallen in love with her but whom she considers definitely beneath her as he is the son of ordinary farmers. On Christmas Eve, six months after having bolted from Shepherd's Delight, Clementine Kemble makes a surprise appearance at The Old Vicarage. Looking out of the window, the Kembles see a beautiful woman clad in mink alighting from a London taxi, her baggage in tow. Only gradually does Harry Kemble accept it when his wife informs him that she has made up her mind to stay for good now. Immediately she takes over the regime again, having been used all her life to getting her way in all decisions big and small, whether they concern her own person or another family member. She gets rid of Gloria Perkins by inviting her husband's literary agent for the weekend and having her run off with him back to London without even doing so much as saying good-bye; she subtly prepares for the family's move from Derbyshire to the island of Sark, where she has just inherited a beautiful house but where no one except herself wants to go and live; and she vehemently forbids Viola to marry Chisholm. When Perse gets into trouble by sending poison pen letters to a number of villagers Clementine Kemble once more takes the initiative. In order to protect her girl from being found out she deliberately spreads the rumour that it was her husband who, allegedly in a temporary state of overwork and confusion, has written and dispatched them. Harry Kemble is furious when she tells him, but at the same time can do nothing about it except thinking about relocating to another part of the country—maybe Sark. The tragic aspect of Perse's bizarre adolescent prank is the ensuing suicide attempt of Agnes Buttle, a middle-aged spinster accused by Viola, herself the recipient of an anonymous letter ("Leave him alone or I'll kill you"), of writing the letters. However, as it soon turns out, Agnes Buttle has had other reasons for being desperate, first and foremost the Reverend Chisholm's abominable behaviour. To further his career in the Church, he made advances to Buttle, whose uncle was a bishop, although she is more than ten years his senior. When that uncle died, he dropped her. Chisholm has also fallen in love with Gloria Perkins and only proposed to Viola to avert attention from his association with Gloria. Viola considers it an important step in her journey from "green girl" to full-fledged adult when she breaks off her engagement and calls Chisholm a "poor little bastard". At the beginning of April, shortly before Viola's 18th birthday, the Kembles finally move to Sark. By now Viola has realized that she loves Johnnie Wrighton, but her mother already has other plans for her. Viola is to get a job in Berkshire as a receptionist for a distant uncle of hers who is a GP there. That way, Clementine Kemble assures her, she will meet lots of eligible young men to choose from. Only by means of a "ruse"—she tells her little sister that she got pregnant from a day tripper to the island—can she eventually convince her mother, who for an awful moment loses her poise and fears that it actually might be true, that they are now on the same footing. At the end of the novel Johnnie Wrighton proposes to Viola, and Clementine Kemble not only gives her consent but also surprises them by giving them The Old Vicarage as a wedding present. |
Phantom | Susan Kay | null | The Phantom is born as Erik in Boscherville, a small town not far from Rouen, in the summer of 1831. His father is a well-known stonemason and dies in a construction accident a few months before his son is born. His mother is the beautiful and talented daughter of an English woman and a French architect. A spoiled and vain woman, she scorns her deformed child from birth and cannot bring herself to name him. Instead, she instructs the elderly priest who baptises him to name the child after himself. Due to his mother's shame but also for his own safety, Erik is forced to spend his childhood locked in his home lest he or his mother become a target for the violent attentions of the very superstitious villagers of Boscherville. Much of the verbal and physical abuse Erik suffers from his mother is chronicled in the opening chapters of the novel. One such event occurs on his fifth birthday when he refused to wear the cloth mask to the dinner table. His mother drags him before the only mirror in the house in retaliation and upon seeing his visage, Erik mistakes his reflection for that of a horrible monster. He shatters the mirror, lacerating his hands and wrists, and his mother is unable to bring herself to tend to his wounds. A family friend, Marie Perrault, bandages the wounds and saves his life, but Erik is left forever physically and emotionally scarred from this event. After this, Erik becomes morbidly fascinated with mirrors and believes that they are capable of performing magic. This fascination turns into an obsession and Erik quickly becomes a master of illusion, able to make people see only what he wants them to see. Says Erik of his abilities, "I can make anything disappear, if I really want to. Anything except my face." From a young age, Erik exhibited a strong interest in architecture and was privately tutored by a well-respected professor. However, his strongest abilities lie in the subject of music and he is an incredibly talented composer and performer. However, his mother does not encourage his pursuit of singing, claiming that his supernaturally beautiful voice cannot be one created by God. When he was nine years old, Erik's mother begins to receive the attentions of the handsome, new town physician. This doctor makes it clear that he believes that a child such as Erik belongs in an institution for the mentally insane, and Erik begins to desperately try to win his mother's affections. He uses his rapidly developing skills of ventriloquism to create the illusion of a perfect home and family. His mother begins to surrender her links on sanity but is forced to awaken when an attack on her home by a superstitious mob of villagers leaves the family dog, Sasha, dead and Erik seriously injured. The doctor comes to Erik's aid and saves his life, but begs his mother to marry him and send her child to an institution. Experiencing a sudden change of heart and pangs of remorse, Erik's mother cannot bring herself to abandon her child and refuses the proposal. She resolves to make amends for her treatment of her child, but discovers the next morning that Erik had run away. It is not until much later in the novel that it is revealed that Erik left believing that she had accepted the proposal of the doctor and had hoped to free her so that she may live happily. After a week or so without food and still healing from the attack, Erik stumbles upon a Gypsy camp in the woods. He is discovered as a thief and is unmasked. Upon seeing his severely deformed face, a freak show showman named Javert decides to exhibit him as the "Living Corpse" and Erik is forced to spend the next several weeks locked in a cage. Eventually, he gains some personal freedoms such as his own tent as he develops his show to include the illusions that he had begun to master as a child in Boscherville. He travels around Europe with the Gypsies and masters their languages as well as their herbal remedies. His quick mind and inhuman abilities garner him the fear of many of the Gypsy tribe. He remains with the tribe until he is about 12 years old, leaving only after he is forced to murder his master in order to evade rape. Erik continues to join up with travelling fairs and while performing at a fair in Rome meets Giovanni, a master mason who would take the boy on as his apprentice. Erik quickly masters the aspects of the design and construction of buildings and stays with Giovanni until age 15. He spends a few happy years under the man's tutelage, but is forced to leave when he is inadvertently involved in the death of Luciana, Giovanni's youngest and favorite daughter. Erik's whereabouts are unknown for several years after this event, but it is assumed that he continued to travel throughout Europe and into Asia, occasionally performing with travelling fairs. Four years later, Erik is sought out by the Daroga of Mazanderan Court and becomes a court assassin, magician, and personal engineer to the Persian Shah. He becomes responsible for the entertainment of the Khanum, the Shah's mother, and builds sophisticated traps and torture devices for her amusement. In addition he is involved in the design and construction of a palace for the Shah, throughout that time becoming involved in political affairs which make him a target for a poisioning attempt from which he nearly dies. Much of these years are a personal hell for Erik, and he soon becomes an opium addict. Erik eventually stops using opium due to his fear that it will damage his voice and switches to morphine. After construction on the palace is finished, the Shah fears that Erik knows too many of his personal secrets and, with the influence of the Khanum, arranges to have him arrested and put to death. Nadir, the Daroga who has befriended him, helps him to escape the guards, and Erik eventually makes his way back to France. Since early childhood, Erik has wished to eventually become the designer for a Paris Opera House. Unfortunately for him, the contest for the position is over by the time he learns of it in his perusal of his mother's old newspapers after her death. He approaches the winner, Charles Garnier, and makes a deal with him wherein he may help design and build the Palais Garnier Opera House. Below the Opera House, an artificial lake is created during its construction using eight hydraulic pumps because of problems with the ground water level that keep rising. Without the knowledge of the other workers, Erik builds a maze of tunnels and corridors in the lower levels. Past the underground lake, he builds a lair for himself, where he may live protected from the public. Ensconced here, he rides out the strife and misery of the 1871 Paris Commune. Besides being a brilliant inventor and engineer, Erik is also a musical genius, and he is frequently involved in the affairs the opera house in order to listen to operas and interfere with the manager's bad taste. Because he cannot show his distorted face in public, he takes the disguise of a ghost, using violence in order to blackmail the opera managers and bind them to his will, exploiting the employees' superstitions to maintain his power and his knowledge about the building's secret passages for access to every part of the building without notice. With increasing amorality, he threatens those who refused his demands via letters and even kills some employees as warnings. However, he treats those who were loyal to him and obey his command, such as Madame Giry, very kindly. The rest of the book is largely based around the original Phantom of the Opera novel - though it differs on several points - following the relationship between Erik and the object of his desire, Christine Daae, and switching back and forth between their points of view. Christine, timid and frail, is frightened of Erik - it is revealed that she is indeed in love with him, but she is frightened of her feelings, and is unable to come completely to terms with his appearance. Because of this, she pursues a relationship with Raoul de Chagny, a young nobleman, while still frequently visiting Erik in his underground home. When Erik offers her a proposal of marriage, stating that it would be a temporary state of affairs (as he himself, owing to the prior poisoning attempt on his life in Persia, has begun to suffer extreme ill health and believes that he has roughly six months to live), Christine becomes agitated and returns to the world above. Considering his request to return to his home and give him an answer, whether it be "yes" or "no," Christine cannot bear the thought of hurting Erik by refusing him. She ultimately decides to flee with Raoul after her next performance, using it as her symbolic goodbye. Erik, however, has become aware of her plans and has been driven into a jealous, hurt frenzy; he kidnaps her during the performance and takes her to his home, while Nadir, who has been following Erik's activities, leads Raoul to the house underground in an attempt to free Christine. When Nadir and Raoul fall into Erik's torture chamber, a device created specifically to drive its occupants insane and ultimately suicidal, it is revealed that Erik plans to blow up the entire Opera House if Christine does not agree to marry him. Christine finally agrees, and an underground chamber stocked with gunpowder begins to fill with water in order to douse the danger; the water begins to fill up the torture chamber as well, threatening Nadir and Raoul with imminent death by drowning. Christine, who has at last fully realized her feelings for Erik, kisses him passionately on the mouth (a change from the original Leroux novel, in which she merely bestows a chaste kiss on his forehead); this act changes Erik, making him realize the futility of further violence. He stops the water in the chamber, and rescues Nadir and Raoul from their fates, allowing Raoul to leave with Christine and stating his wish for the two young people to marry; his only stipulation is that he would like for Christine to visit him one more time before his death. Raoul agrees in order to placate him, even though he has no intention of allowing such a thing; once their wedding-day draws near, however, Christine backlashes against Raoul's insistence that she never see Erik again and goes herself to visit him. When Raoul - who tells the remainder of the novel from his point of view - learns of Christine's return to Erik, he descends himself into the underground home to fetch her, but is detained by Nadir, who refuses to let him enter the room where Erik is dying. Christine emerges from this room some time later after Erik has died, and returns to the upper world with Raoul. They marry, and a few months later, Christine reveals that she is pregnant. Though both are overjoyed at the news, the pregnancy is very difficult for Christine, and she almost dies in childbirth. The doctor is forced to perform a Cesarean section in order to save her life and that of the child - Raoul is initially opposed to this, as he believes that the baby is premature and cannot possibly survive outside of its mother's womb - making the procedure an unnecessary risk on Christine's life - but the doctor assures him that the baby is full-term. This causes Raoul to realize, due to timing, that the child cannot possibly be his, and is in fact Erik's. Despite this, Raoul raises the child as his own, never mentioning to Christine that he knows about the child's parentage. The boy, named Charles, has escaped his father's fate and is physically perfect. Christine dies when Charles is sixteen, and Raoul goes on to raise him. The last line of the novel is "The cuckoo is a very beautiful bird!" which carries the implication of cuckolding, and refers to the cuckoo bird's habit of laying its eggs in other birds' nests, but also of the beauty of adoption and acceptance. |
The Club Dumas | Arturo Pérez-Reverte | 1,993 | Lucas Corso, a mercenary book-dealer, specializes in acquiring rare and valuable editions for anonymous buyers and other book dealers. Corso visits the narrator, Boris Balkan, to get his opinion on the authenticity of a manuscript he has acquired, apparently a previously unknown The Three Musketeers chapter called The Anjou Wine. Corso then meets with the owner of the manuscript, his occasional friend and fellow bibliophile, Flavio La Ponte. La Ponte was given the manuscript by its previous owner, Enrique Taillefer, immediately prior to his suicide. Corso and La Ponte talk about eccentric book-collector Varo Borja. In Madrid, Corso visits the beautiful widow of Taillefer, Liana Taillefer, who is intelligent and manipulative. She seems curious about The Anjou Wine and skeptical that Corso's possession of the manuscript is legitimate. On his way out, Corso sees a sinister man with a scar driving a Jaguar. Corso goes to Toledo to visit the very successful Varo Borja, who shows him a very rare book called The Book of the Nine Doors, which purportedly contains a formula for summoning the devil. The author, Aristide Torchia, printed it in 1666 and was subsequently burned at the stake by the Inquisition, along with most of the copies of the book. Borja's book is one of only three remaining copies in existence. Borja believes that only one copy is legitimate, and the other two (including his own copy) are elaborate forgeries. After showing him his vast collection of occult books, Borja then gives Corso an odd but very lucrative assignment: find the other two copies of The Book of the Nine Doors, and compare them. All Corso's expenses will be paid, and Corso is to acquire the copy he determines to be the original, no matter the cost and by any means necessary. Corso does a bit of research, and the reader is treated to a history of Dumas' private life, and of the sinister character Rochefort from The Three Musketeers, whom Corso compares to the man with the scar. Corso visits Balkan again, this time in a cafe where Balkan is giving a lecture, and they discuss the villains in The Three Musketeers, including Rochefort, Milady, and Richelieu. Corso meets La Ponte again, and in a bit of self-reference, they playfully pretend they are characters in a mystery novel. Lucas Corso visits the Ceniza Brothers, experts in book restoration and probable world-class book forgers, and they discuss methods of book forgery. Liana Taillefer visits Corso in his hotel room and attempts to seduce him in return for "The Anjou Wine"; he sleeps with her and sends her on her way without giving her the manuscript, making her an enemy for the rest of the story (this parallels D'Artagnan's liaison with Milady in The Three Musketeers). Corso takes a train to Lisbon and meets a young woman in her twenties with striking green eyes, who was also at the café listening to Balkan's lecture. A backpacker, she mysteriously identifies herself as "Irene Adler", the name of an antagonist in the Sherlock Holmes stories. They part in Lisbon as Corso visits the owner of a second copy of The Book of Nine Doors, Victor Fargas. Fargas is an aged and obsessive book collector who is the last of a prominent Sintra family. Now he lives alone in an empty mansion with no furniture, selling what is left of his famous library of rare antique books to pay for food and property taxes. Corso compares the two copies of The Book of Nine Doors and notices slight differences in a few of the illustrations. (Pérez-Reverte includes one set of all nine illustrations in the book.) While most plates are signed by Torchia, some of the variants feature the initials "L.F." in place of the artist's signature. On his way back to the village from Fargas' place, the man with the scar, whom Corso now refers to as "Rochefort", makes an appearance. After a brief appearance of "the Girl" (formerly known as Irene Adler), Corso meets a corrupt policeman named Amilcar Pinto to arrange a burglary of Fargas' home to acquire the book. That night the Girl calls Corso in his hotel with news that Fargas is dead. They visit Fargas' home, find The Book of Nine Doors has been burnt in the fireplace, and also find Fargas drowned in his own fountain. Corso and the girl then leave for Paris, the location of the third copy of the book. In Paris Corso meets with Achille Replinger, an antique book seller, who verifies the The Anjou Wine manuscript to be genuine and discourses on the history of Dumas' writing habits. As they walk they see La Ponte with Liana Taillefer. Corso returns to his hotel and meets with a concierge, Gruber, and asks him to find the hotel where Liana is staying. That night the Girl visits Corso in his room and they talk about Lucifer and the war in Heaven — at one point she implies that she is actually a witness to the events of the fall, possibly a fallen angel herself. The next day Corso visits Baroness Frida Ungern, a widow who controls the Ungern Foundation, which in turn owns the largest occult library in Europe, including the last copy of The Book of Nine Doors. Baroness Ungern and Corso flirt as they discuss the occult books she has written and the personal history of Torchia. The Girl calls Corso while he is in the library and alerts him to the presence of Rochefort outside. Baroness Ungern translates the captions of all the illustrations in The Book of Nine Doors for Corso, and Corso notes the differences in this third set of plates. Later Corso drinks in a restaurant and analyses the difference in the three sets of illustrations, discovering that the mismatched plates are the only ones signed "L.F." On the way back to his hotel he is assaulted by Rochefort, who is successfully repelled by the Girl. Corso takes the Girl back to the hotel and they make love. Gruber locates Liana Taillefer and his friend La Ponte, and Corso goes to their hotel and assaults La Ponte. Rochefort arrives and knocks Corso unconscious. Corso awakes to find that Borja's copy of the book is missing, along with The Anjou Wine. La Ponte realizes he has been used by Liana Taillefer so that she could obtain the Dumas manuscript. Soon afterward, they learn Baroness Ungern has been killed in a fire at her library. By assuming Liana is playing out her part as Milady and Rochefort as her henchman, Corso deduces Liana has escaped to Meung, a setting in The Three Musketeers. Corso, La Ponte, and the Girl confront Liana, who confirms she is indeed emulating Milady. Rochefort arrives and holds them at gunpoint. The unseen analog to Cardinal Richelieu summons Rochefort by phone, and Corso is taken to a castle appearing in The Three Musketeers. Richelieu's identity is revealed, and he describes the motives of Liana, Rochefort, and Liana's late husband Enrique. He then introduces Corso to The Club Dumas, a literary social group for very wealthy Dumas enthusiasts, who are all at the castle for an annual banquet. To Corso's chagrin, Richelieu knows nothing about the plot surrounding The Book of Nine Doors, as the two conspiracies are completely unrelated. Although invited to stay, Corso leaves the party confused. Corso, the Girl, and La Ponte drive back to Spain, where Corso knows he must confront Borja. On a hilltop overlooking Borja's mansion, the Girl explicitly tells Corso that she is a fallen angel who rebelled against God and has wandered the Earth ever since. Corso accepts this and his growing attachment to her. Corso arrives at Borja's home, realizing that his employer is the perpetrator behind the murders and arsons. Borja has apparently gone completely insane, having dismantled a great deal of his occult book collection in the name of "research", and so that none might follow after him, in an effort to summon the devil and "gain knowledge." Borja explains his methodology and the symbolism in the ritual before he executes it. The ritual goes awry, as one of the prints needed to properly complete it is a forgery made by the Ceniza Brothers. Borja appears to meet with an unhappy ending, each protagonist - Corso and Borja - getting the devil they deserve. |
The Ticket That Exploded | William S. Burroughs | 1,962 | The Ticket That Exploded continues the adventures of Agent Lee in his mission to investigate and subvert the methods of mind control being used by The Nova Mob, a gang of intergalactic criminals intent on destroying Earth. From the book: The basic nova technique is very simple: Always create as many insoluble conflicts as possible and always aggravate existing conflicts-This is done by dumping on the same planet life forms with incompatible conditions of existence-There is of course nothing "wrong" about any given life form since "wrong" only has reference to conflicts with other life forms-The point is these life forms should not be on the same planet-Their conditions of life are basically incompatible in present time form and it is precisely the work of the nova mob to see that they remain in present time form, to create and aggravate the conflicts that lead to the explosion of a planet, that is to nova- ru:Билет, который лопнул |
The History of Sir Charles Grandison | Samuel Richardson | null | As with his previous novels, Richardson prefaced the novel by claiming to be merely the editor, saying, "How such remarkable collections of private letters fell into the editor's hand he hopes the reader will not think it very necessary to enquire". However, Richardson did not keep his authorship secret and, on the prompting of his friends like Samuel Johnson, dropped this framing device from the second edition. The novel begins with the character of Harriet Byron leaving the house of her uncle, George Selby, to visit Mr. and Mrs. Reeves, her cousins, in London. She is an orphan who was educated by her grandparents, and, though she lacks parents, she is heir to a fortune of fifteen thousand pounds, which causes many suitors to pursue her. In London, she is pursued by three suitors, Mr. Greville, Mr. Fenwick and Mr. Orme. This courtship is followed by more suitors: Mr. Fowler, Sir Rowland Meredith and Sir Hargrave Pollexfen. The final one, Pollexfen, pursues Byron vigorously, which causes her to criticize him over a lack of morals and decency of character. However, Pollexfen does not end his pursuits of Byron until she explains that she could never receive his visits again. Pollexfen, unwilling to be without Byron, decides to kidnap her while she attended a masquerade at the Haymarket. She is then imprisoned at Lisson Grove with the support of a widow and two daughters. While he keeps her prisoner, Pollexfen makes it clear to her that she shall be his wife, and that anyone who challenges that will die by his hand. Byron attempts to escape from the house, but this fails. In order to prevent her from trying to escape again, Pollexfen transports Byron to his home at Windsor. However, he is stopped at Hounslow Heath, where Charles Grandison hears Byron's pleas for help and immediately attacks Pollexfen. After this rescue, Grandison takes Byron to Colnebrook, the home of Grandison's brother-in-law, the "Earl of L." After Pollexfen recovers from the attack, he sets out to duel Grandison. However, Grandison refuses on the grounds that dueling is harmful to society. After explaining why obedience to God and society are important, Grandison wins Pollexfen over and obtains his apology to Byron for his actions. She accepts his apology, and he follows with a proposal to marriage. She declines because she, as she admits, is in love with Grandison. However, a new suitor, the Earl of D, appears, and it emerges that Grandison promised himself to an Italian woman, Signorina Clementina della Porretta. As Grandison explains, he was in Italy years before and rescued the Barone della Porretta and a relationship developed between himself and Clementina, the baron's only daughter. However, Grandison could not marry her, as she demanded that he, an Anglican Protestant, become a Catholic, and he was unwilling to do so. After he left, she grew ill out of despair, and the Porrettas were willing to accept his religion, if he would return and make Clementina happy once more. Grandison, feeling obligated to do what he can to restore Clementina's happiness, returns to Italy; however, Clementina determines she can never marry a "heretic", and so Grandison returns to England and Harriet who accepts him. They are married; and everyone is accorded their just deserts. In a "Concluding Note" to Grandison, Richardson writes: "It has been said, in behalf of many modern fictitious pieces, in which authors have given success (and happiness, as it is called) to their heroes of vicious if not profligate characters, that they have exhibted Human Nature as it is. Its corruption may, indeed, be exhibited in the faulty character; but need pictures of this be held out in books? Is not vice crowned with success, triumphant, and rewarded, and perhaps set off with wit and spirit, a dangerous representation?" In particular, Richardson is referring to novels of Fielding, his literary rival. This note was published with the final volume of Grandison in March 1754, a few months before Fielding left for Lisbon. Before Fielding died in Lisbon, he included a response to Richardson in his preface to Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon. |
An Option for Quebec | null | 1,968 | The essay opens with a foreword entitled The Moment of Choice signed by Roch Banville, Rosaire Beaule, Gérard Bélanger, Jean-Roch Boivin, Marc Brière, Pothier Ferland, Maurice Jobin, René Lévesque, Monique Marchand, Guy Pelletier and Réginald Savoie. The foreword is followed by a preface by historian Jean Blain. The substance of the essay consists of three parts and a short conclusion. The book ends with an epilogue by Quebec documentary film director Pierre Perrault. The first part (17 pages), is entitled A Country That Must be Made and contains six small chapters advancing the reasons for Quebecers to make the double choice of independence for Quebec and a new economic union with Canada. Chapter I ("Belonging") treats of the collective personality of Quebecers. Chapter II (The Acceleration of History) discuses the challenge that modernity poses to the preservation of the collective personality of the Quebec people and suggests that the only way to dissipate the danger of the assimilation of its francophone majority is "to face up to this trying and thoughtless age and make it accept us as we are". Chapter III (The Quiet Revolution) discuses the catch up and progress accomplished by the Quebec nation since the Quiet Revolution. In chapter IV (The Basic Minimums), Lévesque points out the limitations of the centenary Canadian federal framework (1867–1967) if Quebec is to enjoy the basic amount of internal autonomy it needs to continue on the way of progress as it has been doing since 1960. In chapter V (The Blind Alley), Lévesque remarks that the vital minimum for Quebec is a "frightening maximum, completely unacceptable" for English Canada which needs the central State of Canada "for its own security and progress as much as we need our own State of Quebec". Chapter VI (The Way of the Future) presents the alternative of René Lévesque to what he describes as the blind alley of maintaining or adapting the political status quo. He invites his readers to reject Canadian federalism entirely and proposes a sovereign Quebec ("complete liberty in Quebec") that would be associated to the rest of Canada as part of a new Canadian Union modelled on the precedents of the European Economic Community, Scandinavia or Benelux. The second part (25 pages), entitled A Country that Is "Feasible", is made of two chapters describing the "Option for Quebec" in more details. This part is introduced by a short text of Bernard Chenot (From Politics to Economics) treating of the economic organization of the State. The first chapter (The Association) presents the association that Quebec would propose to Canada, that is to say a monetary union and a common market. The monetary union would be carried out on the basis of an accord renewable every five years. The second chapter (The Transition Period) deals with the question of the steps Quebec would have to go through to reach the status of a sovereign State. It discuses the financing of the state and the means of retaining investments in Quebec. The third part (68 pages) consists of seven appendices which serve as documentation of the first two parts of the essay. Appendix 1 (Some Varieties of Special Status) cites authors who wrote on the special status which Quebec would in their opinion need to ensure the future of its development and the conservation of its particular collective personality within the framework of a reformed Canadian federalism. The works cited are Equality or Independence by Daniel Johnson, Sr. (published in 1965), Le Québec dans le Canada de demain (published in 1967) and comprising texts by Marcel Faribault, Jean-Guy Cardinal and Claude Ryan, as well as an excerpt of the report of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the Quebec Liberal Federation presided by Paul Gérin-Lajoie and prepared for the Congress of October 1967. Appendix 2 (Neo-Centralization) contains the point of view of senator Maurice Lamontagne, who, in two articles published in Le Devoir on September 23 and 25, 1967, rejected the special status thesis of Claude Ryan and proposed a "cooperative federalism" in which René Lévesque saw nothing but a way to re-centralize powers in Ottawa. Appendix 3 (Québec-Canada: A Blind Alley) reproduces a talk given by economist and former Premier of Quebec Jacques Parizeau in Banff, Alberta, on October 17, 1967. Appendix 4 (The Snare of Biculturalism) gives the statistics available at the time concerning the assimilation of out-of-Quebec francophone minorities and argues that it is not possible to reanimate the cultural life of these minority groups simply by offering them the status the Anglophone "minority" of Quebec enjoys, as proposed by the report of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. The report, in addition, does not propose an answer to the question of the integration of immigrants to Quebec society. The appendix reproduces a text by René Lévesque dated December 3, 1967 and an excerpt of an essay by Richard Arès published in the November issue of the Relations review. Appendix 5 (Association of Sovereign States) is a dossier on the functioning of the European Union and Scandinavia. The appendix includes an excerpt of the Treaty of Rome of March 25, 1957 which is at the origin of the Common Market of Europe. Appendix 6 (Other Testimony) reprints two texts: Sovereignty, Condition of Salvation by Jean-Marc Léger, initially published in Le Devoir on October 23, 24 and 25, 1967, and Quebec's Independence: Condition of Quebec's Salvation, Guarantee of Peace for Canada by Doris Lussier, excerpted from an interview he gave to Échos-Vedettes on November 11, 1967. Appendix 7 (Operation Panic) analyzes the flight of capital from Quebec which made the news soon after October 18, 1967, which is to say just after René Lévesque released the manifesto that forms the first part of An Option for Quebec. |
Charley's Aunt | Brandon Thomas | null | Jack Chesney and Charley Wyckeham are undergraduates at Oxford University in love, respectively, with Kitty Verdun and Amy Spettigue. Charley receives word that his aunt, Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez, a rich widow from Brazil whom he has never met, is coming to visit him. The boys invite Amy and Kitty to lunch to meet her, also intending to declare their love to the girls, who are being sent away to Scotland with Amy's uncle, Stephen Spettigue, who is also Kitty's guardian. They seek out another Oxford undergraduate, Lord Fancourt Babberly (known as "Babbs"), to distract Donna Lucia while they romance their girls. While they are out, Babbs breaks into Jack's room to steal all his champagne, but Jack and Charley intercept him and persuade him to stay for lunch. Babbs tells the boys about his own love, the daughter of an English officer called Delahey whom he met in Monte Carlo, although he does not remember her name. Babbs also uses Jack's room to try on his costume for an amateur play in which he is taking part. Amy and Kitty arrive to meet Jack and Charley, but Donna Lucia has not arrived yet, and so the girls leave to go shopping until she returns. Annoyed, Jack orders Charley to go to the railway station to wait for Donna Lucia. He soon receives an unexpected visit from his father, Sir Francis Chesney, a former colonel who served in India. Sir Francis informs Jack that he has inherited debts that have wiped out the family's fortunes; instead of going into politics as he had intended, Jack will have to accept a position in Bengal. Horrified, Jack suggests that Sir Francis should marry Donna Lucia, a widow and a millionaire, in order to clear the family debts. Sir Francis is hesitant but agrees to meet Donna Lucia before he makes a decision. Charley receives a telegram saying that Donna Lucia won't be arriving for a few days. The boys panic: the girls are coming, and they won't stay without a chaperone. Fortunately Babbs's costume happens to be that of an old lady. Jack and Charley introduce Babbs as Charley's aunt. His strange appearance and unchanged voice (he had never acted before) do not raise any suspicions. Babbs annoys the boys by accepting kisses from Amy and Kitty; the boys respond to his flirtations with violence. Sir Francis soon enters to meet Donna Lucia. He takes one look at Babbs and tries to leave, but Jack retrieves him. Spettigue arrives, angered that Kitty and Amy are lunching with the boys without his permission. However the penniless Spettigue soon learns that Charley's aunt is Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez, the celebrated millionaire. He decides to stay for lunch to attempt to woo "Donna Lucia". Outside Jack's rooms, in the grounds of St Olde's College, the boys are trying to get their girls alone so that they can confess their love. However, Babbs is in the way, charming the girls as Donna Lucia. Jack's father, Sir Francis, has decided to propose marriage to Donna Lucia, purely for money. Jack urgently corners Babbs and orders him to let his father down gently. Babbs does so, which Sir Francis finds to be a relief. Spettigue still wants to marry "Donna Lucia" for her money. Meanwhile, the real Donna Lucia, who turns out to be an attractive woman of middle age, arrives with her adopted niece, Miss Ela Delahay, an orphan. The money left to Ela by her father is enough to make her independent for life. Ela reveals that her father had won a lot of money at cards from Fancourt Babberly, for whom Ela still holds a great deal of affection. Donna Lucia recounts the story of a colonel named Frank who she once met over twenty years ago, of whom she was similarly fond. However, he was too shy to propose, and he left for India before he could tell her how he felt. Sir Francis enters, and Donna Lucia recognizes him, and the two rekindle their affection. However, before she can introduce herself, she discovers that someone is impersonating her. To investigate, she introduces herself as "Mrs Beverly-Smythe", a penniless widow. Jack and Charley finally make their declarations of love to their girls. However, they discover that they need Spettigue's consent to marry. The girls enlist Babbs to get the consent from the greedy Spettigue. Spettigue invites the entire party, including the real Donna Lucia and Ela, to his house, so that he can talk to "Donna Lucia" in private. Babbs, recognizing Ela as the girl he fell in love with in Monte Carlo, tries to escape, but he is caught by Spettigue. Babbs is upset by being in the same room as the girl he loves without being able to talk to her. Jack and Charley try to calm him down. Babbs spends time with the real Donna Lucia, Ela, Amy and Kitty, during which the real Donna Lucia embarrasses Babbs by showing how little he really knows about Donna Lucia. Ela takes a liking to the fake Donna Lucia, who sounds like the man she loves, and pours her heart out to Babbs, telling him of the anguish of losing her father and of the man who cared for him in his dying days, Lord Fancourt Babberly. She admits that she loves him and longs to see him again. Babbs tricks Spettigue into giving letter of consent for the marriages of Charley to Amy and Jack to Kitty by accepting marriage to Spettigue. (Kitty's father's will specified that if she marries without Spettigue's consent, Spettigue would inherit all of the money). Charley can no longer keep up the lie and admits that "Donna Lucia" is not really his aunt. Babbs, now dressed in a suit, confirms that he had been playing the part of Charley's aunt. As he is about to return to Spettigue the letter of consent, the real Donna Lucia reveals herself and takes the letter, stating that it "is addressed to and has been delivered to Donna Lucia d’Alvadorez". Spettigue storms off, threatening to dispute the letter. Amy is upset at everyone for making a fool of him. Donna Lucia reassures her and gives the girls the letter. Sir Francis and Donna Lucia are engaged (he made the proposal before he realized her identity; the young couples can marry; and Babbs confesses his feelings to Ela. |
Life Expectancy | Dean Koontz | 2,004 | James Tock was born on a stormy night in Snow County Hospital in Colorado...and at the exact moment his grandfather, Josef Tock, a pastry chef, dies of a stroke. Though crippled by a stroke earlier in the week, moments before his death, Josef recovers miraculously to impart on his son Rudy ten cryptic predictions: the boy would be born at 10:46 PM, weigh 8 pounds, 10 ounces, be 20 inches long and be born with syndactyly. Josef also predicts five terrible days to come in his grandson's life. He names each, though not why they are so terrible, and Rudy dutifully notes them on the back of a free circus pass given to him by a police officer friend. Coherent though bizarre his speech may be, Josef Tock does not recover from his event, but expires right when the baby is born. Earlier in the evening, Rudy Tock made the acquaintance of a strange man, Konrad Beezo. Beezo is a clown for the very circus Tock's pass is for, and is a fitful, spiteful, creepy, chain smoking individual half in his clown costume. His wife Natalie, a trapeze artist of some renown and born of a good family, is lying in childbirth, says he, and her relatives have virtually disowned her for marrying him. He speaks glowingly of his soon-to-be-born son, who is to be named "Punchinello", and will carry on the fine tradition of clowning. He speaks venomously of his father-in-law, using many colorful epithets. Tock is only too grateful to leave Beezo and attend to his father...however, the grief for his father's death was short-lived. Beezo, upon learning Natalie died in childbirth, goes insane ranting about her family sending assassins to kill her and begins shooting, killing a doctor and a nurse. Tock, in perhaps the one moment of heroism in his meek baker's life, convinces the mad clown his enemies have left, and momentarily quells his anger. Beezo leaves, his son Punchinello swaddled in his arms... but drops a cliffhanger: "I'll never forget you, Rudy Tock. Never." As his late grandfather predicted, Jimmy Tock is twenty inches long, 8 lb. 10 oz, and has syndactyly; a fusing of the digits at birth a problem that is corrected with minor surgery. Jimmy Tock writes the book, a loose autobiography of personal experience, reminisces, and second- or even third-hand accounts of events, transcribing it from a series of tapes on the eve of his fifth and final terrible day. The narrative is given in an often self-deprecating, comically understated manner. However, certain experiences stand out starkly, most noticeably blundering into a harrowing, yet almost surreal, bank robbery by a trio of plastique-wielding crazed history buff clowns led by none other than Punchinello Beezo--in which Jimmy gradually realizes he's falling for a comely fellow hostage (on the first predicted date)--and a dangerous game of chicken with a severely disturbed stalker on an icy road the night his wife Lorrie--the former fellow hostage--is about to deliver their first child (on the second predicted date). The man after the Tocks is none other than Konrad Beezo himself, looking for retribution for his imprisoned, and accidentally-gelded son. His mad obsession with the family frames both this terrible day (2) and the next predicted day (3)--for Beezo desires a male Tock child as his prize, a new son to raise in the fine clown tradition. The lunatic will do whatever he must to collect what he believes due him, including numerous facial reconstructive surgeries to assume new identities and escape the grasp of the law. Jimmy believes that everyone in the world is tenebrously yet inexorably connected to one another, just as his toes were at birth. This phenomenon is often called "Six degrees of separation".(4)--Punchinello, who is currently imprisoned, is asked by Jimmy and Lorrie, who aided in his conviction and sentencing, to donate one of his kidneys to help save the life of Annie Tock, the daughter of Jimmy and Lorrie. Punchinello only agrees to the donation in return for multiple favors that are frivolous by comparison to the precious kidney. As the deal is about to be complete, Punchinello asks that Jimmy kills Virgilio Vivacemente as one last favor. The ensuing chapter(s) are picked up by Lorrie, and as he prepares to face the last of his five labors, Jimmy reflects on the writing at the bottom of that thirty-year-old ticket on which his life was mapped out: "PREPARE TO BE ENCHANTED!", and all the meanings those four red words hold, with both hope and trepidation. As the prophecies are fulfilled one by one, and he survives each, Jimmy learns many things about himself--as well as Konrad, Natalie, Punchinello, and Konrad's father-in-law, Virgilio Vivacemente, the vain, sadistic patriarch of the world-famous acrobatic clan who casts his long shadow over the lives of both the Tocks and the Beezos. Some of Jimmy's revelations are beautiful; others fearsome; still others shake his meek, lumbering pastry chef's life to the foundation and cause him to reflect on the true meaning of syndactyly--as both an ailment and a life's philosophy. |
The Mummy | Anne Rice | 1,989 | Henry murders his uncle Lawrence with a poison found in the mummy's tomb. When Henry tries to poison Julie in the same manner, Ramses comes to life in attempt to kill Henry, but succeeds only in scaring him away. After his awakening, Julie and Ramses are instantly attracted to each other. Ramses quickly adopts a pseudonym, "Reginald Ramsey," and claims to be an Egyptologist to throw off the accusation made by the frightened Henry that a "bloody mummy" rose from the crypt to harm him. With superhuman intelligence and the ability to learn quickly, Ramses quickly learns the English language and, with the help of an eager Julie, is given a tour of modern London and new technology that had arisen during the past two thousand years. While Henry's accusations are passed off as the rantings of a drunkard, the elderly and ailing Elliott Savarell suspects that it may be the truth. He trails Ramses and comes to believe that he is who Henry claims him to be. During Ramses's reign as pharaoh, he had learned from a Hittite priestess the formula for an elixir that grants eternal life. The potion not only made him immortal, but also allows his body to regenerate from damage that would kill a normal human, such as multiple bullet wounds. He requires neither food nor drink nor sleep, and only the sun's rays to maintain his life. However, he still craves food and certain other physical pleasures, like sex, smoking, and alcohol. Ramses nurses a deep secret. Prior to the Roman conquest of Egypt, he had served as an immortal advisor to its kings and queens, and the last person to awake him for consultation had been Cleopatra, the last ruler of Egypt. Although he served as Cleopatra's counsel (and encouraged her to romance Julius Caesar in a bid to keep the country independent), he had also fallen in love with her, and had revealed to her the secrets of the elixir. Having fallen in love with Mark Antony in defiance of Ramses's advice, Cleopatra refuses the elixir and chooses suicide upon Antony's death. In his depression, Ramses had given himself the name "Ramses the Damned", and had Egyptian priests seal him away underground. With Julie's encouragement, Ramses begins to recover. While Henry is convinced that Ramses is an evil monster ready to kill the entire family, Elliott reads Lawrence's notes and chases after Ramses to learn the secret of the elixir of immortality. Eventually, Ramses and Julie decide to visit Egypt one last time so that Ramses can say good-bye to his past. Although Ramses appears to be coming to terms with his past, upon visiting the Cairo Museum, he unexpectedly recognizes an unidentified mummy as being that of Cleopatra. Breaking into the museum later at night simply to see her, he impulsively pours some of the elixir onto the dead body. Cleopatra is revived, but by Ramses not pouring the entire vial of elixir on her, the restoration is incomplete; she is a half-formed monstrosity, awake and conscious yet with parts of her face, hands, and torso still gone. Her incomplete brain restoration leaves her not totally coherent; though Ramses later repairs her body with more of the potion, she appears to be insane and kills a number of people, including Henry. Cleopatra unexpectedly falls in love with Elliot's son Alex though realizes a life with him cannot last because of his mortality and his innocence. Because Ramses would not give her long-ago love Mark Antony the elixir to save his life, Cleopatra holds a passionate hatred for him and seeks to even the score by killing his current love: Julie Stratford. Cleopatra ultimately falters before killing Julie, realizing that the girl should not be punished for Ramses's actions. She also comes to regret the other murders she has committed. In an attempt to escape Ramses, Cleopatra "dies" when her car is hit by a train and is consumed by a fiery explosion so hot that it "could kill even an immortal." Ramses later gives the elixir to Julie after she attempts suicide in her grief for her loss of him, and he promises to stay with her for eternity. To thank him for his help in covering up all the unusual events, Ramses also gives the elixir to a dying Elliott, who drinks it after serious consideration of the consequences: dying miserably, or living eternally even when wishing for nothing but oblivion. Cleopatra has secretly survived the crash, and awakens under the care of a British doctor in Sudan. She vows to find Ramses again someday for revenge. |
The Gift of Stones | Jim Crace | null | As a boy, the storyteller lost an arm and became an outcast to the villagers who rely heavily on their stonemasonry skills. The boy leaves the confines of the village, in order to seek a role for himself, and discovers his adeptness at telling stories. The storyteller returns to the village, but most of his time is spent acting as a protector for a widow and her child who had also been forced out of the village, and live two days' walk away. Periodically, he returns to the village charged with new stories to tell. The novel deals with the nature of truth and fiction. We are often presented with variations of the narrative and invited to judge which, if any, we accept as reality. It also deals with social change and the effects of revolutionary new technology and as such could be seen as sympathising with the victims of our modern post-industrial age. |
Poor White | Sherwood Anderson | 1,920 | It is the story of an inventor, Hugh McVey, who rises from poverty on the bank of the Mississippi River. The novel shows the influence of industrialism on the rural heartland of America. |
The Red Pony | John Steinbeck | 1,933 | The book's action begins when Mr. Tiflin gives his son Jody a red pony colt. Overjoyed, Jody quickly agrees to all of the conditions his father places on the gift (to feed the pony, to clean his stall, etc.). Jody is so awed at the pony's magnificence that he decides to name him Gabilan, after the majestic Gabilan Mountains. After several weeks of training and getting to know Gabilan, Jody is told by his father that he will be allowed to ride the horse by Thanksgiving. Though the ranch hand Billy Buck assures him there would be no rain, the pony is caught in a downpour and catches what appears to be a cold after being left out to corral. Billy tries to cure the horse of its illness to no avail and finally diagnoses the illness as strangles, placing a steaming wet bag over the pony's muzzle and entrusting Jody to watch the pony. In the night, Jody becomes sleepy in spite of his constant worry and drifts off to sleep, forgetting about the open barn door. By the time he awakens, the pony has wandered out of the barn. When Billy arrives, he deems it necessary to cut a hole in the horse's windpipe so he can breathe. Jody stays by his side, constantly swabbing out the mucus that clogged the windpipe. After falling asleep, Jody dreams of increasingly powerful winds and wakes up to see that the pony is gone again. Following the pony's trail he then notices a cloud of buzzards circling over a nearby spot. Unable to reach the horse in time, he arrives while a buzzard is eating the horse's eye. In his rage, Jody wrestles with the bird and beats it repeatedly, not stopping until he is pulled off by Billy Buck and his father, though the bird had long since died. The story overall deals with ideas regarding the infallibilities of adults and the entrance into manhood. "The Gift" was first published in the November 1933 issue of North American Review. Jody gets bored. He looks with longing at the great mountains, wishing he could explore them. Suddenly, an old Mexican man named Gitano appears, claiming he was born on the ranch. Gitano requests to stay on the farm until he dies. Carl Tiflin refuses, although he does allow him to stay the night, noting that the old man is very similar to his useless old horse, Easter. That night, Jody secretly visits Gitano. He is polishing his old rapier. Jody asks if he has ever been to the great mountains, and Gitano says he has but remembers little. The next morning Gitano is gone, as is the old horse Easter. Jody searches the old man's things, but is disappointed to find no trace of the sharp sword. A neighbor reports seeing Gitano riding the missing horse into the mountains with something in his hand. The adults assume that this is a gun but, as Jody seems to know, it is most likely the rapier. Jody's father wonders why the man has gone into the mountains and jokes that he has been saved the trouble of burying the old horse. The story ends with Jody filled with longing and sorrow at thoughts of the old man, the rapier, and the mountains. "The Great Mountains" was first published in the December 1933 issue of North American Review. Jody's father Carl thinks it is time for Jody to learn more responsibility, so he arranges for Jody to take the mare Nellie to be serviced at a neighbor's farm. The stud fee is five dollars and Jody works hard all summer to satisfy the five dollar credit his father held over him. After a few months, Billy Buck determines Nellie is pregnant. While Jody and Billy take care of the mare, Billy states that his mother died in childbirth and he was raised on mares' milk. That's why Billy is supposed to be so good with horses. Jody dreams often about his coming foal. Billy explains that mares are more delicate than cattle and sometimes the foal has to be torn to pieces and removed to save the mare's life. This worries Jody. He thinks of his pony Gabilan, who died of strangles. Billy failed to cure the pony, and now Jody worries something will happen to Nellie. This doubt also assails Billy, who is insistent on not failing the boy again, both for Jody and his own pride. Jody wakes up in the middle of the night. He dreams of all the possible things that could go wrong with Nellie’ pregnancy, hoping none of them would come true. Then, “he [slips] his clothes on” and sneaks out to the barn to check on Nellie. When Jody catches sight of Nellie, “She [does] not stop her swaying nor look around." and that he “can’t turn [the colt].” A horrible sound comes from the barn as Nellie’s life ends, and the colt’s is saved. "The Promise" was first published in the October 1937 issue of Harper's Monthly. Jody's grandfather comes to visit. Carl complains about how his father-in-law is constantly re-telling the same stories about leading a wagon train across the plains. Mrs. Tiflin and Billy, however, believe he's earned the right to tell of his adventures, and Jody is delighted to hear them no matter how many times. The morning after his arrival, Carl complains about Grandfather's stories at the breakfast table: "Why can't he forget it, now it's done?...He came across the plains. All right! Now it's finished. Nobody wants to hear about it over and over." At that moment Grandfather walks into the room. Afterwards Jody's grandfather becomes melancholic. He acknowledges that his stories may be tiresome, but explains: Jody, attempting to console his weary, nostalgic, and heartbroken grandfather, tells him that he wants to be a leader as well. The story ends with Jody preparing a lemonade for his grandfather, allowed to do so by his mother after she realizes he is acting out of genuine sympathy, not in an effort to win himself a treat. "The Leader of the People" was first published in the August 1936 issue of Argosy. The short story concerns a man named Junius Maltby, who, dissatisfied with his life as an accountant in San Francisco, finally breaks with that life on the advice of his doctor, who recommends drier weather for his respiratory illness. Junius, in fairer climate, takes boarding with a widow and her children in his convalescence. After some time, with the townsfolk beginning to talk about the single man living so long with the widow, Junius promptly marries his landlord and becomes the head of the well-kept, profitable ranch/farm. The widow releases her working man and tries to put Junius to work on the farmstead, but Junius, having become accustomed to a life of leisure, ignores his duties. Eventually the farm falls into disrepair, the family goes broke and without enough food or clothes, and the widow and her own children succumb to disease. Only Junius and his lone son by the widow survive. Junius, with his barefoot child and a hired servant as lazy as he, spends his time reading books and having fanciful discussions with his companions, never actually working. Because of this, his son is raised in rags, though well trained to independent thought and flights of the imagination. Despite his appearance and the intentions of the other children to torment him, the child is well received at school and indeed becomes a leader of the children. So influenced by him are they, the other children begin to spurn their shoes and tear holes in their clothes. Except for the teacher, who finds the man and his son to be romantically dignified, the rest of the community has nothing but scorn for Junius and sympathy for his child. The story ends with members of the school board attempting to give the child some shoes and new clothes as a present. Upon realizing the regard in which he is held by society, he loses the last of his innocence and becomes ashamed, realizing for the first time that he is poor. The last scene has the sympathetic teacher see Junius and his son, cleaned and well dressed though painfully so, on their way back to San Francisco where Junius will go back to dull work and ill-health in order to provide for his unwilling son. |
Ladysmith | Giles Foden | 1,999 | The time is November 1899 through February 1900; the place is Ladysmith, a small railway town in the British Colony of Natal near ths border with the Boer Republics. The Boers have surprised the world with initial victories over the British Army and have now laid siege to Ladysmith. As they shell the town from surrounding hills, people die, disease is rampant, structures collapse, starvation looms, there is panic about enemy agents and yet the British muddle through. The setting of Giles Foden’s novel is historically accurate, and a number of historical figures appear as characters; for example, the Boers arrest a young reporter named Winston Churchill as he struggles to reach the besieged town, and an Indian lawyer-turned-medical volunteer named Mohandas K. Gandhi becomes more committed to his philosophy of active non-violence. The core of Ladysmith is a fictionalised version of a love story that Giles Foden found in the letters of his great-grandfather, who was a British soldier at Ladysmith. Bella, the Irish hotelkeeper's daughter, falls in love, first, with a British soldier; and later with a Portuguese barber, thus defying convention and rebelling against her father. |
The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story | Richard Preston | 2,002 | *Section 1, “Something in the Air”, begins with a day-by-day account of the anthrax letter attacks in Florida and Washington, DC, for the period 2 to 15 October 2001. Robert Stevens, a photo retoucher for the tabloid The Sun was a victim and US Senator Tom Daschle was an intended victim. The reactions of the FBI, the CDC and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) are detailed. *Section 2, “The Dreaming Demon”, looks back to an outbreak of smallpox at St Walburga Hospital in Meschede, Germany. The successful efforts organized by local public health authorities and the WHO -- including a textbook example of ring vaccination containment -- are described. *Section 3, “To Bhola Island”, describes the variety and evolution of poxviruses and the history of smallpox in particular. The story of the SEP (Smallpox Eradication Program, referred to throughout as “the Eradication”), led by DA Henderson and others is recounted. The more personal story of physician, counterculture figure, and future virtual community pioneer Lawrence Brilliant is told as his Indian guru, Neem Karoli Baba exhorts him in 1970 to join the SEP and “go eradicate smallpox”. (Brilliant ended up fighting the outbreak at the Tatanagar Railway Station in Bihar. Finally, the Maximum Containment Facility (MCF) of the CDC in Atlanta is described. *Section 4, “The Other Side of the Moon”, begins with an account of the 1989 defection to the UK of Vladimir Pasechnik, the first Soviet bioweaponeer to flee to the West. Pasechnik described Biopreparat, the Soviet biological weapons program, to MI6, including their genetically modified, antibiotic resistant plague and their smallpox program at the site known as Vector. The fact that the Russians had armed ICBMs with both plague and smallpox is revealed. Various biological weapon facilities in Russia and Iraq are described. Finally, the history and work of the Ad Hoc Committee on Orthopox Infections is related. This group of the WHO has hotly debated since 1980 over the fate of the remaining samples of smallpox in the last two official repositories. DA Henderson has been in favor of destruction, while US Army scientist Peter Jahrling has been against it on the basis that further research is needed since smallpox almost certainly exists (he believes) outside of the repositories. *Section 5, “A Woman with a Peaceful Life”, tells the story of USAMRIID microbiologist and epidemiologist Dr Lisa E. Hensley who was originally recruited to do Ebola work. A January 2000 accident in the AA4 “Hot Suite” that Hensley experienced, along with the protocols that followed it, is described. The efforts of USAMRIID scientists to get approval to do smallpox research on animals is described including the FDA’s “Animal Efficacy Rule” and the WHO General Assembly’s provisional permission to do research for three years (1999–2002). A “Monkey Cabinet” is designed at USAMRIID and CDC for use in the possible investigation of the question of whether animals can be infected with smallpox. The development of a lethal, genetically engineered mousepox virus (the Jackson-Ramshaw virus) and its implications for bioterrorism are described. Finally, the “awakening” of the smallpox at the CDC’s MCF West in 2001 by US Army investigators to induce smallpox disease in monkeys for the first time is dramatically recounted. *Section 6, “The Demon’s Eyes”, continues the story of the induction of smallpox disease in monkeys at the CDC in 2001. It was determined that the Harper strain of smallpox kills monkeys slowly while the India strain kills them quickly. This was the first time that smallpox had ever been shown capable of infecting non-humans. Of eight monkeys infected, seven died—six of hemorrhagic smallpox and one of the classic pustular type. There follows a discussion of the need and justification for animal-use smallpox experiments. The emergency evacuation of the Army workers in the MCF West on 9/11 is described. *Section 7, “The Anthrax Skulls”, relates the atmosphere at the Department of Health and Human Services and their actions at the time of the 9/11 attacks. The story of the Amerithrax investigations is picked up again in day-by-day detail for the period 16 to 25 October 2001. The response by the FBI, HHS, DOJ, CIA and the White House are detailed. Actions at USAMRIID and USAMRMC are also described. (USAMRIID became the FBI’s reference lab for forensic evidence related to the bioterror incident.) The events leading to Dr Steven Hatfill becoming a DOJ “person of interest” are related. Finally, the indignation of Alfred Sommer, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health at the news of the Army animal smallpox experiments is described as well as a reiteration of DA Henderson’s opposition to the same. *Section 8, “Superpox”, the last section, begins with a description of an attempt at replication of the Jackson-Ramshaw virus at a lab at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine by Mark Buller working for USAMRIID. The potential for a similarly engineered “super-smallpox” virus for use by a terrorist is examined. The procedure for the transfection of an interleukin-4 gene into a mousepox virus is described. Finally, an unusual artifact – the preserved arm of a 3 or 4 year old child with classic smallpox lesions, discovered in 1999 and now housed at USAMRIID—is described. This leads the author to muse that “the dream of the total eradication had failed”, because although we could eradicate smallpox from nature, “we could not uproot the virus from the human heart”. |
The Last King of Scotland | Giles Foden | 1,998 | The protagonist is a fictional character named Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scottish doctor who goes to work in Uganda out of a sense of idealism and adventure. He relates how he came to be the personal physician and confidant of Amin, the president of Uganda from his coup d'état in 1971 until his deposition in 1979. The novel focuses on Garrigan's relationship and fascination with the president, who soon grows into a brutal and ruthless dictator. Garrigan acts repeatedly against his better judgment, remaining in Amin's employment until he is far past the point of easy escape physically or morally. He is gradually drawn into the corruption and paranoia of Amin's rule, including the expulsion of the Asians, with disastrous results for those around him. Drawing on his twenty years of living in Africa and his background as a journalist, Foden researched the events surrounding Amin's rise to power and downfall. He interviewed many of those who watched and participated in the Ugandan ruler's eight-year reign. The author evokes the form of a memoir by inserting fictional newspaper articles and journal entries, along with actual events. In a 1998 interview with the online magazine Boldtype, Foden said he based parts of Garrigan's character on an associate of Amin named Bob Astles. As a British soldier who worked his way into Amin's favour, Astles was much more "proactive" than Garrigan, according to Foden. He paid the price by spending six and a half years in a Ugandan jail after the fall of his protector. Astles compromised himself by his direct association with Amin's security forces. While Amin was in power, Astles was alternately either favoured or punished; he was imprisoned and tortured on at least one occasion. Amin's personal physician was, in fact, a Ugandan doctor called Paul D'Arbela. The title of the book refers to Amin declaring himself as the King of Scotland. |
The Rising Force | Dave Wolverton | null | Obi-Wan Kenobi is trying hard to become Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn's apprentice. However, when he fails to gain a master, he is assigned to the Jedi Agricultural Corps on the planet Bandomeer. He finds out Qui-Gon is on a mission on Bandomeer, also. The two must dodge Whiphids and Hutts on a mining ship, which is eventually hijacked by Offworld Corporation, a rival faction to the group Obi-Wan is joining. Offworld holds the ship's stash of dactyl, a mineral required for most of the creatures on the ship. The mining ship is soon attacked by pirates, which causes them to launch an emergency landing on a moon close to Bandomeer. The Jedi, Offworld, and Offworld's rival faction must work together to fight against predators and other threats. Offworld's uprising is also stopped during this truce, and once the ship is repaired, the factions travel together to Bandomeer. Most importantly, Qui-Gon catches glimpses of Obi-Wan's potential, and starts to reconsider. |
The Dark Rival | Judy Blundell | null | Qui-Gon Jinn must face his past: his former apprentice, Xanatos, who has turned to the dark side of the Force, returns to fight Qui-Gon and lead Offworld Corporation as the major mining faction on Bandomeer. The Jedi Master must request the help of the boy he refused to have as his Padawan, the young Obi-Wan Kenobi. During their fight against Xanatos and Offworld, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon become close allies. However, Obi-Wan is soon captured by Offworld miners and forced to work as a slave on a deep sea mining facility, where Obi-Wan meets a Phindian named Guerra. After some near misses, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan reunite in a showdown against Xanatos. Xanatos escapes after nearly trapping Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon in a mining shaft. However, the mission brings Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan even closer. Finally, Obi-Wan is accepted as Qui-Gon's padawan learner. |
The Hidden Past | Judy Blundell | null | Young Obi-Wan Kenobi is now the Padawan of the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. While preparing for their next mission, Obi-Wan celebrates his thirteenth birthday. Qui-Gon provides his apprentice with a special rock that has Force-sensitive powers. Meanwhile, Yoda assigns them to the planet of Gala, where they must oversee elections between Prince Beju and two other candidates. However, along the way to Gala, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are hijacked by Guerra's brother, Paxxi and forced to land on the planet of Phindar, which is controlled by The Syndicat crime organization. Although hesitant to help eradicate the Syndicat at first, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are forced to cooperate with Guerra and his friends when they realize that none other than Gala's Prince Beju is in league with the crime faction. Beju plans on using the Syndicat's power to cut bacta supply, allowing him to control Gala and, hopefully, the entire sector. At the Syndicat's headquarters, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon discover that the storages are empty, giving them a lead that Beju is indeed in on the plot. Later, Obi-Wan is captured and nearly brainwashed by the Syndicat, though he uses the Force to endure it along with the Force-sensitive rock. As a result, Obi-Wan is able to sneak aboard Beju's ship and incriminate the Syndicat organization. With the Syndicat defeated, Beju is forced to return to Gala and operate his plans alone. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi brace themselves on their next mission. |
The Wars | Timothy Findley | 1,977 | A man named Robert Ross is introduced as squatting in a tattered Canadian military uniform, with his hands between his legs while holding a pistol. A nearby building is on fire, and a train is stopped. There is evidence of war, and Ross is shown to be in the company of a black horse and a dog. Robert, the horse, and the dog seem to have been together for a while, as they understand each other. He decides to free a herd of horses from the train, and the prologue ends with the horses, rider, and dog all running as a herd. Robert Ross has enlisted in the army after the death of his sister which he feels guilty about. His sister, Rowena, has recently died from falling out of her wheelchair in their barn while playing with her rabbits. Robert feels guilty because he was unable to save her since he was making love to his pillows in his locked room. He then joins the army to distance himself from the pain. Rowena was in a wheelchair and Robert watched over her. She had rabbits and loved to play with them. When she died, Robert's mother wanted him to kill the rabbits but Robert refused. Instead, Mr. Ross called someone else to kill the rabbits. In an attempt to stop the rabbit-killing by Teddy Budge, Robert was beaten up, covered in bruises. Robert's mother came to talk to him as he soaked his bruises in the bathtub. She was drunk and smoking a cigarette when she confronted him, and said there was nothing she could do to stop him from going to war. He meets Eugene Taffler, a war hero while in training. Eugene Taffler is very big and strong. Robert's first encounter with him occurs while he is looking for some lost horses. He then goes with his soldiers-in-training to a brothel named Wet Goods and when the prostitute (Ella) finds that he has ejaculated in his pants, she shows him a way to see into the next room. This is where he sees his hero, Taffler, having sex with the large man from reception. Upon seeing this, he starts throwing stones at the bottles and scares Ella in an imitation of the violence he has just witnessed. While on the S.S. Massanabie to England, Ross has to kill a horse that broke its leg during a storm. Robert struggles a lot trying to kill the horse, firing and missing many times before landing his shots. Robert is now in France and in charge of a convoy. He went ahead in the fog. He falls into a muddy sinkhole and nearly drowns. After 'saving himself' he is met by Poole and Levitt, two of his men. Robert eventually reaches the dugout with Levitt. Devlin, Bonnycastle, and Rodwell are there. Rodwell cares for injured animals he finds and has birds, rabbits, toads, and hedgehogs. The rabbits remind Robert painfully of Rowena, because she loved to play with her own rabbits back at home. Robert builds a bond with Rodwell, and begins to love him. Rodwell is the only other civil soldier who cares and respects animals. Harris dies two days before Robert was scheduled to leave for France. Trying to figure out what to do with Harris and wanting a proper funeral by the army for his friend, Robert discovers when he goes back that Harris is already cremated. Disappointed by the way his friend is buried Robert says to Taffler "This is not a military funeral. This is just a burial at sea. May we take off our caps?" pg. 107. Feb 28th - the Germans set of a string of land mines, strategically placed along the St.Eloi Salient. The whole country side goes up in flames. This was the second half of the battle the Canadians thought was already over. 30,000 men would die and not a inch of land would be won. Robert is now experiencing trench warfare at its worst. Following a shelling of the dugout, his fellow soldier Levitt loses his mind, and Robert finds himself close to the brink. Ordered to place guns in a location sure to be a deathtrap, Robert and his men find themselves on the wrong end of a gas attack in the middle of a freezing cold winter. Robert is instructed to place the guns in a crater that is formed by the shelling attacks because these provide the best strategical advantage. As he approaches the crater Robert tells the rest of the men to stay back while he tests it to see if it is safe. He begins climbing across the slide of the crater when he slips down but smashes his knees on a rifle sticking out of the wall of the crater. The rifle has at least stopped his fall but has injured Robert's knees pretty badly. As the rest of the men start climbing down and landing on the rifle to set up the guns there is a gas attack. The bottom of the crater is full of freezing water and many begin jumping into it. Robert takes control with his pistol and instructs the men what to do. He saves the men by telling them to urinate on clothes and hold them over their faces. One man is scared to urinate and Robert must do it for him. After pretending to be dead for hours, Robert finds that they are being watched by an enemy German soldier. Rather than shooting the soldiers, the German allows all of Robert's men to leave the area. Just as Robert is leaving, however, the German makes a quick motion, and Robert turns around and shoots the German. Robert thinks that the German was reaching for his rifle when he was actually reaching for a pair of binoculars to look at the bird flying overhead, and is even more horrified to see that the German has a sniper rifle right beside him, meaning he could have killed Robert and the rest of the soldiers if he had wanted to. Robert hears a bird chirping above him and is then haunted by the sound of the bird from then on. Robert receives an invitation to Barbara d'Orsey's home. The majority of this section is told through transcripts via Juliet d'Orsey. Juliet relays through diary entries when she is with them. What she does not tell Robert is that Taffler had both his arms cut off in the war and is just laying on a bed in a room. When Robert sees this he is devastated. Juliet also tells of Eugene Taffler's attempted suicide. One day she decides to pick some flowers and bring them to Taffler. As she walks in she is faced with a man head first into the floor and bloody streaks all over the walls. Taffler had rubbed his raw stumps where his arms had been against the walls so he could bleed to death. But since Juliet walks in on him she screams and people come and end up saving Taffler. Juliet has told Robert that the room he had been given had a ghost (Lady Sorrel) who came to it every night to light the candles. And one night Juliet sees Barbara sneak into Robert's room without even knocking. So she thinks it would be a neat prank to dress up as Lady Sorrel carrying a candle and walk into Robert's room to light the candles and leave. As Juliet puts on her costume and walks up to the door she opens a crack and accidentally sees Barbara and Robert Ross make love prior to leaving, which she at first thinks is Robert hurting Barbara. By the end of the chapter, Juliet gives Robert a candle and a box of matches. Robert leaves Barbara d'Orsey's home and heads back to battle on a small train. He gets hopelessly lost on the way and loses his pack, after many weeks of travelling in circles he arrives at Désolé, a mental institution. Shortly after reaching the bath house, he is brutally raped by an unknown number of his fellow soldiers. When he returns to his room, he finally receives his lost pack, and burns his picture of Rowena as an act of charity, reasoning that it would be horrible for something so innocent to exist in such a messed up world. Robert then moves back out to the front. The Germans begin firing shells that set everything ablaze. Robert goes to speak to Captain Leather to request that the horses be let out of the barn because if the barn is hit they will all die. Captain Leather refuses Robert's request. Once back at the barn Robert asks his friend Devlin if he would help him release the horses. Devlin contemplates whether or not he should let all the horses die or face the wrath of Captain Leather. Devlin decides to help Robert and runs out to open the gate for the horses. At that moment Captain Leather gets up from hiding beneath a table and looks out the window to see Devlin disobeying his orders. He runs out screaming at him to stop, and calls treason and traitor. Leather pulls out his gun and fires at Devlin killing him. Then he sees Robert and takes aim at him and starts firing but misses because Robert hides between the horses as they are running out. At that moment three shells land and set the barn ablaze, the building where the Captain was and other soldiers were still in, and the field where all the horses had run to ablaze. And soon everything is burning around Robert, even the horses are slowly burning alive. Robert sees Captain Leather struggling to get him, walks over and shoots him in between the eyes. Robert runs away as he knows he will be court-martialed for disobeying orders. He finds a black horse and a black dog beside it, as he is about to ride the horse down the track he realizes there are horses in the abandoned train and frees a hundred and thirty horses and flees the area. As Robert is riding with all the horses a soldier stops him and tries to force him to return the horses, Robert pulls out his Webley and shoots him. He is a fugitive for some time before finally being caught in a barn with the horses. The soldiers surrounding Robert set the barn on fire in order to force him out. But because it had not rained for days the roof of the barn was extremely dry and lit up in seconds. Before Robert could open the barn doors the roof collapsed on him and the horses, setting them all on fire. Robert is saved but badly burned, and all the horses and the dog are killed. Robert turns down an offer of euthanasia from a nurse before being sent to England and tried in absentia. Since he could not be kept in prison, he was given leave to stay in St. Aubyn's for longterm treatment. Juliet d'Orsey rarely left Robert's side until his death in 1922. Mr. Ross was the only member of his family to come see Robert buried. |
Batman: The Man Who Falls | Dennis O'Neil | null | "The Man Who Falls" consists of a series of concentrated retellings of previously published Batman stories, including Detective Comics #33, which includes Gardner Fox and Bob Kane's first version of Batman's origin. O'Neil's story begins with a young Bruce Wayne falling down a hole on the grounds of Wayne Manor. Bats begin to swarm towards him and out the hole. Bruce's father, Dr. Thomas Wayne, rescues Bruce but chastises him for his carelessness, while Bruce's mother, Martha Wayne, comforts him. When Bruce asks if he was in Hell, she reassures him it "was just some old cave." The story then cuts to the murder of Bruce's parents and him kneeling at their dead bodies. The layouts of this version of the Waynes' murder is designed to resemble Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. At the age of 14, Bruce leaves Gotham City to explore and obtain skills in martial arts and forensics. Scenes of his early training as a teenager are depicted, including failed attempts at college, and a disillusioning experience in working with the FBI upon turning 20. He realizes that to achieve justice the way he sees fit, he cannot work "within a system." The story next turns to Bruce's foreign travels, one extended scene depicts Bruce's time training at a monastery, hidden in a mountainous region of Korea. After nearly a year of training, Master Kirigi tells Bruce he has exceptional intelligence and physique, but his traumatic past has made him self-destructive. Bruce Wayne leaves Korea and heads to France, where O'Neil summarizes events from Sam Hamm's Batman: Blind Justice. Bruce trains with a bounty hunter named Henri Ducard, who shows him "the uses of brutality, deception [and] cunning." When Ducard kills a fugitive he had been tracking one night, Bruce abandons his training, disgusted. The narration explains that Bruce meets and learns from every great detective in the world, when he approaches Willie Doggett. Summarizing events from O'Neil's own Legends of the Dark Knight story, "Shaman," Bruce (now 23) and Doggett track down a man named Tom Woodley to a mountain ledge, where Woodley shoots and kills Doggett. Woodley himself falls from a precipice. Bruce, without food or warmth, wanders the snowy mountains. After falling unconscious, he is rescued by a Native American shaman. When Bruce awakens, the old man tells Bruce he has the mark of the bat, an animal sacred in his tribe. Bruce returns to Gotham to begin his crime-fighting career. O'Neil again recounts events from Year One: Bruce's first night out, fighting street thugs while still uncostumed, is deemed a failure. While brooding in the library of Wayne Manor that night, a bat crashes through the study window. Modeling himself after the recurring images of bats, Bruce creates his costumed identity: the Batman. |
Message in a Bottle | Nicholas Sparks | 1,998 | Divorced and disillusioned about romantic relationships, Theresa Osborne is jogging when she finds a bottle on the beach. Inside is a letter of love and longing to "Catherine," signed simply "Garrett." Challenged by the mystery and pulled by emotions she doesn't fully understand, Theresa begins a search for this man that will change her life. What happens to her is unexpected, perhaps miraculous-an encounter that embraces all our hopes for finding someone special, for having a true and strong love that is timeless and everlasting. In a conference Nicholas Sparks held in a school, he said that this story was inspired by his parents. |
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | Ken Kesey | null | The story, narrated by the gigantic but docile half-Native American inmate "Chief" Bromden, focuses on the antics of the rebellious Randle Patrick McMurphy (ES, PL, RO, RU), who faked insanity to serve out his prison sentence, for statutory rape, in the hospital. The head administrative nurse, Mildred Ratched, rules the ward with a mailed fist and with little medical oversight. She is assisted by her three black day-shift orderlies, and her assistant doctors. McMurphy constantly antagonizes Nurse Ratched and upsets the routines, leading to constant power struggles between the inmate and the nurse. He runs a card table, captains the ward's basketball team, comments on Nurse Ratched's figure, incites the other patients on the ward to conduct a vote on watching the World Series on television, and organizes an unsupervised deep sea fishing trip. His reaction after failing to lift a heavy shower room control panel (which he had claimed to be able to) – "But at least I tried." – gives the men incentive to try to stand up for themselves, to do their best instead of allowing Nurse Ratched to take control of everything they do. The Chief opens up to McMurphy and reveals late one night that he can speak and hear. A disturbance after the fishing trip results in McMurphy and the Chief being sent for electroshock therapy sessions, but even this experience does little to tamp down McMurphy's rambunctious behavior. One night, after bribing the night orderly, McMurphy breaks into the pharmacy and smuggles bottles of liquor and two prostitute girlfriends onto the ward. McMurphy persuades one of the women to seduce Billy Bibbit, a timid, boyish patient, with a terrible stutter and little experience with women, so that he can lose his virginity. Although McMurphy plans to escape before the morning shift arrives, he and the other patients fall asleep instead without cleaning up the mess and the staff finds the ward in complete disarray. Nurse Ratched finds Billy and the prostitute in each other's arms, partially dressed, and admonishes him. Billy asserts himself for the first time, answering Nurse Ratched without stuttering. Ratched calmly threatens to tell Billy's mother what she has seen. Billy has an emotional breakdown and, once left alone in the doctor's office, commits suicide by cutting his throat. Nurse Ratched blames McMurphy for the loss of Billy's life. Enraged at what she has done to Billy, McMurphy attacks her and attempts to strangle her to death and tears off her uniform, revealing her breasts to the patients and aides watching. He has to be dragged away from her and is moved to the Disturbed ward. Nurse Ratched misses a week of work due to her injuries, during which time many of the patients either transfer to other wards or check out of the hospital forever. When she returns, she cannot speak and is thus deprived of her most potent tool to keep the men in line. Most of the patients leave shortly after this event. Later, after Bromden, Martini, and Scanlon are the only original patients left on the ward, McMurphy is brought back in. He has received a lobotomy and is now in a vegetative state, silent and motionless. The Chief later smothers McMurphy with a pillow during the night in an act of mercy, before throwing the shower room control panel, the same one McMurphy could not lift earlier, through a window, and escaping the hospital. |
Cause for Alarm | Eric Ambler | null | Nicholas Marlow, an English engineer engaged to a young doctor, one day, out of the blue, loses his well-paid job. After several months of sheer desperation, he responds to an advert by an English engineering company, the Spartacus Machine Tool Company of Wolverhamption. He is offered the post of the firm's representative in Italy. Although the firm does not itself make weapons, its main sales are of the "Spartacus Type S2 automatic" boring machine, which is used for shell production. Able to speak some Italian, Marlow gladly accepts, secretly deciding that he will quit the job again as soon as possible to go back to England and get married. On arrival in Milan, he realizes that there is a huge backlog at his office, and that both Bellinetti, his personal assistant (male), and his secretary (female) are highly inefficient co-workers. What is more, a lot of his time is diverted by the Italian authorities, to whom he has to report on a regular basis and who eventually inform him that they have misplaced his passport so that he is temporarily unable to leave the country. There is growing uneasiness on Marlow's part when he happens to notice that his private correspondence with his fiancée has been steamed open. When he makes friends with Andreas Zaleshoff, an American businessman of Russian descent whose office is in the same building, he learns from the latter that Bellinetti is an agent for the OVRA and watching each and every step Marlow takes, and that his predecessor's accident—he was run over by a car in a dark and foggy street of Milan—was in fact cold-blooded politically motivated murder. On top of all that, Marlow is contacted by a General Vagas who informs him that he has no choice but to work as a Yugoslav spy. There is no way Marlow could legally leave Italy, especially after an arrest warrant has been issued for him by the authorities. Assisted by Zaleshoff, he succeeds in making his escape from Milan. Together, the two men embark on a several day long odyssey through the North of Italy—by train and on foot—until they finally, in the midst of a snowbound forest, reach the Yugoslav border. (Their flight takes up more than one third of the novel.) From Zagreb, Marlow can safely travel home to England. The final episode before the escape is a particularly excoriating attack on the repressive behaviour of the Mussolini State. This novel, together with Uncommon Danger/Background to Danger and The Mask of Dimitrios/A Coffin for Dimitrios comes from Ambler's 'Popular front' period when he was plainly sympathetic to the Left and the USSR. One of Marlow's English work colleagues, an obviously decent and intelligent sort, is sympathetically identified as a 'socialist'. Marlow escapes capture on one occasion thanks to the selfless intervention of a former Communist railwayman, who has been cunningly identified as a one-time Comrade by Andreas Zaleshoff. |
The Trigger | Arthur C. Clarke | 1,999 | The Trigger starts in the early to mid 21st century. A group of scientists invent, by accident, a device that detonates all nitrate-based explosive in its vicinity, thus providing good protection against most known modern conventional weapons. The first half of the book explores the reactions of society, government and the scientists themselves as the latter attempt to ensure that their invention will only be used for peaceful ends. It also traces the scientists' slow progress in understanding the science behind their invention. The second half of the book begins when the science is sufficiently well-understood that a second device can be built - one that does not detonate explosives, but merely renders them permanently harmless. cs:Spoušť (kniha) |
The Mark of the Crown | Judy Blundell | null | The Queen of Gala is dying. Her son, Prince Beju, wants to take the control of the whole planet no matter the consequences. Young Jedi apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi and his master, Qui-Gon Jinn, must find another heir to the throne to avoid a war. They must use a special device known as the "Mark of the Crown" to prove that Beju is not the rightful heir. The mission ends with successful elections, though Beju nearly compromises the Jedi's mission, as he almost did on Phindar. |
The Defenders of the Dead | Judy Blundell | null | Immediately after the Gala incident, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn are ordered to the planet of Melida/Daan, where they are to rescue the Jedi Knight Tahl. There is a millennia-long war on Melida/Daan, with two bands fighting each other. Both bands have forgotten the Young, an organization made up of orphaned children and teenagers who fight for peace. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are not supposed to get involved, but the young apprentice feels that he must fight beside the Young, against his master's wishes. After the Jedi successfully rescue Tahl with the help of the Young, Obi-Wan decides to stay behind and help the Young bring peace between the Melida and Daan factions. Consequently, Qui-Gon quietly leaves with Tahl, having lost another apprentice. |
The Uncertain Path | Judy Blundell | null | Obi-Wan Kenobi has left the Jedi Order because of a civil war on the planet of Melida/Daan. He's now part of the Young and he is content with the decision. But soon everything goes wrong; once the Young unite the two factions, they start to fight amongst themselves. In the crossfire, Obi-Wan's close friend, Cerasi, is killed, and Obi-Wan feels alone. Meanwhile, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan's former Jedi master, discovers a plot to destroy the Jedi Temple. While investigating, he receives notice that Obi-Wan wishes to rejoin the order. Qui-Gon knows that Obi-Wan would be an asset to the investigation at the temple, so he decides to return and bring his ex-apprentice back to the Jedi Order. The Young cease their internal struggle, and they succeed in uniting the Melida and the Daan under one government. With his task completed, Obi-Wan returns to the Jedi upon Qui-Gon's return. However, he is not immediately welcomed with open arms, for the Temple plot thickens when an assassination attempt is made on Yoda. |
The Captive Temple | Judy Blundell | null | Obi-Wan Kenobi is back in the Jedi Order. But now everything is different: his master Qui-Gon Jinn is sure he will become a great Jedi Knight, but he is not sure that Obi-Wan should still be his Padawan. Now they must unite forces to investigate the recent attacks on the Jedi Temple, including a failed assassination attempt on Yoda. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon team up with Bant and the recently rescued Tahl. They soon learn that Xanatos is the mastermind behind the recent Temple attacks, and that he has converted Obi-Wan's former rival, Bruck Chun, to his cause. Furthermore, it is uncovered that Xanatos is planning more attacks, namely on the reactor core of the Jedi Temple. Bruck Chun also kidnaps Bant. In order to continue funding Offworld Corporation, Xanatos demands vast supplies of Vertex, an expensive crystal worth high monetary value, in exchange for the temple's freedom and the release of Bant. Qui-Gon locates Xanatos and duels with him, while Obi-Wan hunts down Bruck. Xanatos escapes, but not before setting the Temple on a course for destruction. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan and Bruck fight in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, where Bant is being held. During the duel, Bruck slips, and ignores Obi-Wan's offer of forgiveness by choosing to fall to his death. Bant is rescued, and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon soon locate the source of Xanatos' time bomb: the Fire Crystals locked in the reactor core. Although the Temple is free, Xanatos is once again at large. Qui-Gon has only one lead: Xanatos could be on his home planet, Telos. Obi-Wan decides to join Qui-Gon on his quest, even though the two are not master and padawan anymore. |
The Day of Reckoning | Judy Blundell | null | Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi go to the planet of Telos on an unofficial mission to apprehend Xanatos, the Dark Jedi who had tried to destroy the Jedi Temple. Upon their arrival, they are surprised to find that Xanatos wields significant financial and political power on Telos. They soon discover that Xanatos and the government of Telos have been distracting the populace with a new form of gambling called Katharsis. In the meantime, the company UniFy, a subsidiary of the massive Offworld Corporation headed by Xanatos, has been mining the planet's resources despite the importance the native Telosians place on their environment. Pursued by Xanatos' men, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are forced to trust Denetrus ("Den"), a con man associated with POWER, an outlawed political party dedicated to preserving the Telosian environment. The three infiltrate the UniFy headquarters, looking for evidence to prove that Offworld is mishandling the planet's resources. However, the two Jedi are arrested, and Xanatos personally informs them they have been sentenced to death. The Jedi manage to escape the public execution with the help of Andra, a member of the POWER party. Obi-Wan and Andra infiltrate the Sacred Pools of Telos and discover that the site is indeed being used for mining operations. The two are detected by surveillance droids, but are able to escape and record evidence that Offworld is connected with UniFy. Meanwhile, Den and Qui-Gon have rigged the Katharsis lottery so that Den will win. When Den does win and Xanatos presents the prize to him, the recorded images are played for all the Telosians to see. However, Xanatos deceives the crowd and the Jedi are captured once more. But Den, addressing the crowd, tells the people how the lottery was rigged and how the Telosians were robbed of their money. Xanatos then makes his get-away, but Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan chase him back to the Sacred Pools site. After a lightsaber battle amid the black acid pools, the two Jedi finally corner the Dark Jedi. But Xanatos, not willing to be defeated, commits suicide by throwing himself into the acid pools. |
The Fight for Truth | Judy Blundell | null | Qui-Gon Jinn and Adi Gallia are sent with their young padawans to the planet of Kegan. They must pick up O-Lana - a Force-sensitive baby - and take her to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant without interfering with the customs and isolationist-centered ideology of the planet. However, the nature of this culture ends up compromising the original mission when Siri Tachi and Obi-Wan Kenobi are mistaken for orphaned children, captured, and put in a school known as the Learning Circle. This school is a brainwashing camp, where Keganite children are preached the ideals of V-Tan and O-Vieve, the Benevolent Guides who are the cause of Kegan's isolationism. While at the school, Siri and Obi-Wan meet several Keganite children and discuss the reality of the situation. Meanwhile, the apprentices try to talk sense into O-Bin, their "teacher". This attempt fails, and the duo is sent to the "Relearning Circle", where drastic actions are taken to try and brainwash them. Fortunately for the Jedi, O-Lana is also located within this Relearning Circle, and Qui-Gon and Adi are able to rescue their padawans and the baby at the same time. After this incident, the truth behind the Learning Circle is revealed, which creates an uproar against the Benevolent Guides. Kegan is eventually introduced to the ways of the Galactic Republic. |
The Shattered Peace | Judy Blundell | null | For a hundred generations the worlds of Rutan and Senali have temporarily exchanged their heirs to the throne as a cultural learning experience. Now, one of the heirs does not want to come back to his planet and a war is going to happen. Only Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and his master Qui-Gon Jinn can assist the planet. While trying to balance the peace between the two factions, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are nearly killed by a terrorist group, doublecrossed multiple times, and imprisoned by the people they are trying to assist. In the end, the peace between Rutan and Senali is re-established. |
The Deadly Hunter | Judy Blundell | null | When a murderer tries to kill Didi, a friend of Qui-Gon Jinn, he and his fourteen-year-old apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi must stop the murderer. But they fail and the murderer, a bounty hunter by the name of Ona Nobis, starts going after them. After several days of investigations, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon learn that Ona Nobis will stop at nothing, and Didi must be sent away from Coruscant. Unfortunately, Didi is attacked at his sanctuary, and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are forced to fight Ona Nobis. Qui-Gon is captured by the bounty hunter, and it quickly becomes clear that it was all a plot to capture him, not Didi. |
The Evil Experiment | Judy Blundell | null | Jenna Zan Arbor is a mad woman. She kidnaps Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, using him to investigate the Force. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Astri Oddo look for a cure, while also searching for Qui-Gon. Along the way, they meet other characters, such as Cholly, Weez and Tup, and a bounty hunter named Ona Nobis. Obi-Wan uses clues from Uta S'orn's son to track them from Nobis' home planet of Sorrus to Simpla-12, where he finds Cholly, Weez and Tup. He also finds the bounty hunter Ona Nobis, who easily matches the young apprentice's strength. At Simpla-12, Obi-Wan teams up with Adi Gallia and Siri Tachi before preparing to break into Zan Arbor's hideout and rescue Qui-Gon. However, it will not be an easy task, for Zan Arbor's laboratory is nearly impregnable. |
Gaia Gear | null | null | Gaia Gear is a story set in the future of the Universal Century timeline of the Mobile Suit Gundam anime universe, specifically in UC 0203. Once more, the governments of Earth and its space colonies are at odds and resolve their differences with mecha, now named "Man-Machines". This time the resistance group Metatron fights against the Man Hunting Attachment police force of the corrupt Earth Federation. To have better chances Metatron creates a memory clone of the legendary Char Aznable called Affranchi Char ('affranchi' being a French word for a 'freed slave'), who commands the troops of Metatron and pilots the Gaia Gear Alpha. Two hundred years have passed since people floated the islands called space colonies into outer space. During this time, several wars have occurred. It was a battle in order to protect the Earth. Amongst the twinkling of the stars, man hated one another, got hurt, and collapsed, yet did not forget love. Much blood was shed, and grief brought forth. The souls of the dead wander the silence of the universe become light and melt into the Milky Way. The immeasurable universe swallows the feelings of everyone, continuing with no change. When the Earth loses its radiance, changing the people’s prayer to sighs of grief, one soul crosses time. Perhaps that person was the harbinger who awoke for that. Affranchi Char is a 19-year-old man who was raised on an island in the Pacific Ocean. The "cell chips" inside his brain contain strange memories and information. Affranchi was raised by a man named Gaba Suu, one of the island's elders. On his deathbed, Gaba Suu tells Affranchi to go into space, but his lover Everly Key is strongly opposed. One day, a giant humanoid machine washes up on the island's shore, and Affranchi makes up his mind to leave. One stormy night, Affranchi sneaks away in a canoe, intending to catch a ship for Hong Kong and go from there into space. While he is waiting for the ship, he meets and quarrels with a bigoted stranger who tells Affranchi that the white man is humanity's elite, destined to rule over the lesser races. After Affranchi boards the ship, it is hijacked by pirates. Everly, who has followed Affranchi aboard, is taken hostage. Affranchi displays an uncanny prowess in the martial arts and defeats the hijackers. Upon their arrival in Hong Kong, Affranchi and Everly are met by a waiting limousine. They are taken to meet the mysterious Berm Segen and his secretary Miranda Howe, who give Affranchi the antique "Man Machine" (Mobile Suit), the Zorin Soul. Suddenly, strangers burst in and kill Berm Segen, and our heroes flee in the Zorin Soul. Affranchi operates the machine with unnatural skill, returning Everly to her home island and then heading to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, Affranchi battles the forces of Maha, the Federation government's dreaded "Man-Hunting Agency." Formally known as the 13th Special Investigative Section of the Earth Federation Government Police Agency, this group is responsible for discovering illegal Earth residents and deporting them to the space colonies. Affranchi is able to fight off the Maha forces and, with the help of Miranda Howe, he hijacks a space shuttle and loads the Zorin Soul on board. Miranda tells the shuttle pilot to set course for the Side 4 shoal zone. Here they rendezvous with the waiting transport ship Spacious, whose crew greet Affranchi as "Your Excellency Char Aznable." Among the crew is a beautiful young woman named Krishna Pandent. The Spacious heads for the Side 2 colony Hellas, hiding Affranchi and Miranda in order to smuggle them into the colony. The ship makes its way through the colony to the factory block at the other end, along the way rescuing a young hang-glider named Ul Urian. The Spacious reaches the factory block and drops Ul Urian off, but the timing of his chance encounter with the Spacious strikes the crew as very suspicious. Affranchi, Miranda, and Krishna board an electric car and drive through the colony. They enter the Grenze district, which is a colossal slum, and a sudden attack by Maha's Minox craft forces them to flee into the tunnels in search of shelter. Affranchi is separated from his comrades and captured by the police. After clashing with his cellmates, Affranchi befriends one of them, a giant named Todd Goering. Affranchi is then released, but the Maha agent Ul Urian has planted a transmitter in his stomach in order to track him. Ul Urian submits a report to his commander Bijan Dargol, and then goes to meet Krishna for a "date" with the intention of taking her prisoner. Affranchi wanders the streets and encounters a gang of delinquents led by a man named Messer Mett, who turns out to be another friend of Todd Goering. Affranchi then runs into Miranda Howe and another Spacious crewmember named Joe Suren, who feed him a big dose of laxatives so he can get rid of the transmitter. Meanwhile, Ul Urian meets Krishna at a French restaurant and begins quizzing her about the "Z Organization" for which she works and the whereabouts of its secret base "314." Krishna attempts to escape but is abducted by Ul Urian. Affranchi and friends begin pursuit, and Ul Urian summons his Minox, bringing Krishna aboard with him. The Z Organization dispatches the Gaia Gear, operated by a pilot named Keran Mead, to engage the Minox. But since Krishna is aboard the Minox, the Gaia Gear is helpless to fight it. Fortunately, the Gaia Gear is protected by its barrier, and the Minox ends up losing control and crashing thanks to the shockwaves caused by its own attacks. Two Gussa man machines appear, and Keran's Gaia Gear knocks one to the ground, allowing Affranchi to board it and defeat the second enemy machine. Affranchi, Keran, and their comrades escape the colony and board the Z Organization's warship "Thirty-One Square." Overruling the ship's captain, Affranchi orders the crew to rescue the captive Krishna. While he's at it, he renames the Z Organization "Metatron" and rechristens the Thirty-One Square as "Mother Metatron." The Mother Metatron heads for Hellas, demanding that the colony government turn over its political prisoners. The Maha commander Bijan Dargol, meanwhile, readies his own military response. The Mother Metatron approaches Hellas, with Affranchi leading the charge in his Gaia Gear. Affranchi, impatient with the stalling of the colony government, orders the Mother Metatron to fire on the colony's agricultural blocks. Using this as a pretext, Bijan Dargol launches a preemptive attack on the Metatron forces. Ul Urian launches from the Maha flagship Maha Gayjisu to lead the attack, piloting the new man machine Bromb Texter and carrying Krishna as a hostage. But just before he enters battle, Ul Urian sets Krishna adrift in space, with the intention of picking her up later. Affranchi easily defeats Ul Urian and then, sensing Krishna's whereabouts, goes to rescue her. Having recovered Krishna and collected the colony's other political prisoners, the Mother Metatron heads for the secret base "Thirty-One Cubed." Among the released prisoners are the delinquent Messer Mett and his lackeys Rey Seias, Reyzam Stack, and Saez Konsoon, who decide to remain with Metatron and become combat pilots. However, they get along poorly with the rest of the crew and begin considering desertion. Metatron learns that the Maha fleet is preparing to descend to Earth, an act of "reverse immigration" by which Maha will establish its own nation on Earth. The Mother Metatron likewise sets course for Earth in order to intercept the enemy fleet. The Metatron forces deploy the shuttles Air Force 1 and Air Force 2, escorted by Affranchi's Gaia Gear. Ul Urian's Bromb Texter attempts to intercept the Gaia Gear, but Messer Mett and his comrades unexpectedly join the battle and attack the Bromb Texter. Reyzam's man machine Dochadi is shot down in the ensuing combat. The fighting continues as both sides enter the atmosphere. Affranchi rams into Ul Urian's Bromb Texter, forcing the enemy pilot to retreat. The Maha Gayjisu deploys its Gussa forces, the Metatron shuttles launch their own man machines, and the Metatron forces are ultimately forced to withdraw. Messer and his two surviving henchmen desert during the battle. Air Force 1 and Air Force 2 land in Hamar, Norway, where the Metatron members join forces with the local resistance. Messer and his comrades go to ground in Ireland, where they learn from a news broadcast that the main Maha fleet has arrived in Nouveau Paris. They decide to surrender to Maha, offering their man machines as gifts. As they approach Nouveau Paris, Messer and his friends encounter a Federation Forces truck convoy. They begin negotiating their surrender, only to discover that their old comrade Todd Goering is among the prisoners being transported in the convoy. Instead of surrendering, they decide to rescue Todd and escape, but a Gussa team from Nouveau Paris is now in hot pursuit. Picking up Messer's distress signal, Air Force 1 and Affranchi's Gaia Gear launch to meet them, and an aerial battle begins over Denmark. Affranchi leads the Metatron forces to victory, repulsing Ul Urian's man machine team and successfully recovering Messer and friends. However, during the battle Krishna falls out of Air Force 1, and the Metatron forces have no time to search for her before they withdraw. Back at Hamar, Todd tells Affranchi and the others what he learned about Maha's plans while toiling as a forced laborer. It appears that Maha intends to establish a "Gaia Empire" on Earth, governed by a chosen elite. For sentimental reasons, the Maha commander Bijan Dargol has chosen Bavaria as the heart of his new empire. Krishna, meanwhile, has once again been picked up by Ul Urian, who has now been demoted to command of the support vehicle Bushing Nugg. Having used hypnotic interrogation to find out everything she knows about Metatron, Ul Urian is now keeping her around for his own amusement. Accepting her situation, Krishna decides to throw in her lot with Maha. The two sides soon clash again at Liege, Belgium. After a gun battle in the city, the Metatron and Maha pilots run for their machines. Rey Seias, Saez Konsoon, and Keran Mead enter battle in Dochadis, but Saez and Keran are shot down by Ul Urian's Bromb Texter, and Rey's damaged machine crashes in the forest. Air Force 1 attacks the Bushing Nugg, but is shot down by Krishna's anti-air fire, and the crew are forced to escape. Air Force 2 and Affranchi's Gaia Gear finally arrive, driving the Maha forces away. Rey and the Air Force 1 crew are rescued, but the Metatron forces have taken heavy losses and they are shocked by Krishna's betrayal. The Mother Metatron begins bombarding Nouveau Paris with missiles, and Miranda Howe arrives with reinforcements in the form of Air Force 3. The Mother Metatron's bombardment inflicts considerable damage on the Maha forces, and the Maha Gayjisu withdraws from the city. The Metatron forces gather in Besançon, France, to establish a frontline base. Even as Affranchi and his comrades battle Maha's ground forces in Besançon, they learn that a Maha fleet from Hong Kong is now approaching the Adriatic Sea. The Metatron forces engage the Hong Kong Maha fleet, but are overwhelmed by the performance of the new enemy machine Gids Geese. Affranchi returns to Besançon to find that Todd Goering has devised a new plan for their man machine forces. The Gaia Gear will now be entrusted to Messer, while Affranchi stands by at Besançon. Messer sorties in the Gaia Gear to intercept an approaching Bromb Texter, and returns with Ul Urian as his prisoner. From the Bromb Texter's flight data, they determine that the Maha forces are gathering at Munich, and Metatron begins preparations for an attack. As the attack preparations are underway, the Metatron member Joe Suren takes off in the Zorin Soul in order to look for Krishna. He is detected by Maha, and the attack on Munich is aborted. The Hong Kong Maha launch another attack, but this time they are outnumbered by Affranchi's Gaia Gear, Messer's captured Bromb Texter, and a third wave of reinforcements dropped from the Mother Metatron. Meanwhile, Krishna is wandering in the woods near the battlefield, and is rescued by a mysterious young woman. Joe Suren finally locates Krishna, and in the process he retrieves a flopy disk from a crashed man machine. According to this floppy disk, Benoit Rojak, the leader of the new Metatron reinforcements, has been given secret orders to assassinate Affranchi after Maha has been eliminated. As for the mysterious young woman who rescued Krishna, she turns out to be Affranchi's former lover, Everly Key. Affranchi and his comrades relocate to Monfalcone, Italy, to prepare for the final confrontation with Maha. Benoit Rojak and her Gaiyas team are already on the scene. Affranchi proposes that they make it look as if Metatron is attacking Munich and Neuschwanstein Castle, splitting the Maha forces so they can ambush Bijan Dargol himself. Joe, Krishna, and Everly rush to Monfalcone to warn Affranchi of Benoit's treachery, but they are detected en route by Ul Urian, who has returned to Maha and received a new Gids Geese man machine. Joe drops off Krishna and Everly, then attempts to draw Ul Urian's attention away from them, but his Zorin Soul is swiftly shot down. Ul Urian finds the women and takes Everly captive, leaving Krishna behind. Just before the Metatron forces begin their attack, Todd discovers Krishna in the nearby woods, and she tells Affranchi of Benoit's treachery and Everly's predicament. Affranchi continues the operation regardless, and joins battle with the enemy flagship Maha Gayjisu. Ul Urian enters the battle in his Gids Geese, carrying Everly as a hostage, and uses his knowledge of the Bromb Texter's characteristics and weaknesses to shoot down Messer's captured machine. The battle continues. Bijan Dargol attempts to defend Neuschwanstein Castle from Affranchi's forces. Benoit Rojak ambushes and destroys the Maha Gayjisu, and the ensuing explosion consumes many nearby man machines, including Benoit's own. Metatron begins mopping up the remaining Maha forces, and Rey Seias is hit by Ul Urian, forcing her to make an emergency landing at the castle. Affranchi confronts Ul Urian and, sensing that Everly isn't aboard the enemy machine, shoots him down. Rey and Affranchi enter the castle, where they find Everly. Affranchi and Everly embrace as Rey succumbs to her injuries, then board the Gaia Gear and fly away to an island in the Atlantic Ocean to live happily ever after. |
Dersu Uzala | V. K. Arsenʹev | 1,996 | Arsenyev's book tells of his travels in the Ussuri basin in the Russian Far East. Dersu was the name of a Nanai hunter (who lived c. 1850–1908) who acted as a guide for Arsenyev's surveying crew from 1902 to 1907, and saved them from starvation and cold. Arsenyev portrays him as a great man, an animist who sees animals and plants as equal to man. From 1907, Arsenyev invited Dersu to live in his house in Khabarovsk as Dersu's failing sight hampered his ability to live as a hunter. In the spring of 1908, Dersu bade farewell to Arsenyev and walked back to his home in the Primorsky Krai, where he was killed. According to Arsenyev's book, Dersu Uzala was murdered near the town of Korfovskiy and buried in an unmarked grave in the taiga. |
Paddle-to-the-Sea | Holling C. Holling | 1,941 | At Lake Nipigon, Canada, a native boy carves a wooden model of an Indian in a canoe and sets it free to travel the Great Lakes to the Atlantic ocean. The story follows the progress of the little wooden Indian on its journey through all five Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, finally arriving at the Atlantic Ocean. Each movement of the canoe is celebrated by a short chapter, suitable for reading aloud to a child and decorated with black-and-white sketches and at least one full-page watercolor. The sketches accompany the larger story and tell smaller narrative stories of their own: for example, one sketch demonstrates how a sawmill works by visually outlining the progress of a log of timber towards a mechanical saw. |
The Dangerous Rescue | Judy Blundell | null | Obi-Wan Kenobi is joined by Jedi Master Adi Gallia and her Padawan Siri Tachi at Jenna Zan Arbor's secret laboratory on Simpla-12. Zan Arbor, who has been conducting experiments in an attempt to break the Force into its constituent parts, is holding captive Qui-Gon Jinn and the elderly Jedi Master Noor R'aya. The three rescuers attempt to smuggle themselves into the laboratory; however, despite the fact that Qui-Gon has managed to free himself, Zan Arbor escapes with the unconscious Noor. Later, Obi-Wan receives a message informing him that his companion Astri Oddo, who went to pursue the bounty hunter Ona Nobis, is injured on the planet of Sorrus. Qui-Gon and Adi send their Padawans to Sorrus to bring Astri home, but Obi-Wan learns that this was merely a trap set by Ona Nobis, and wisely chooses to run away from a fight. He and Siri are ordered to return to the Jedi Temple, but he convinces Siri that they should look for Astri since she's on Sorrus. They are transported to the far desert and investigate a cave where they find Astri and her three companions tied up. However, the cave collapses — another trap set by Ona Nobis. The party are eventually rescued by a member of a tribe that Astri once helped. The two Padawans learn that Ona Nobis is headed to Belasco, the homeworld of Senator Uta S'orn, Jenna Zan Arbor's only friend. On Belasco, the Jedi discover that the population is suffering unusually severely from bacteria that recur in the drinking supply every seven years. They find Senator S'orn caring for sick children, but she wants nothing to do with the Jedi. Eventually, they discover that S'orn has altered Galactic Senate transcripts for Zan Arbor, and that Zan Arbor is likely on the planet. Suspecting that Zan Arbor has bioengineered the bacteria in order to make a profit selling a cure, the four Jedi infiltrate the water purification plant, obtaining dated water samples as evidence. Obi-Wan and Siri then follow Uta S'orn as she delivers dinner to patients at the royal grounds, in the hope that she will lead them to the hiding place of Zan Arbor and Ona Nobis. After seeing Ona Nobis eat dinner, they report back to their Masters, who confront the Leader of Belasco and ask that S'orn's quarters be searched. There, the Jedi find Jenna Zan Arbor, along with the captive Noor R'aya. Zan Arbor is quickly captured, but Obi-Wan notices that Siri has left the room, and he goes to search for her. He finds her cornered by Ona Nobis on the palace roof, and the two Padawans manage to hold off the wily bounty hunter. Ona Nobis then tries to escape, but she falls to her death when Siri slashes through her whip. |
The Death of Hope | Judy Blundell | null | Everything is a confusion in the New Apsolon mission. The Jedi Knight Tahl, partner of Qui-Gon Jinn, has been trapped. The Jedi Master soon forgets his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi and goes after his beloved Tahl. No one can be trusted and Tahl is dying. When Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon discover Tahl, she is severely maimed. After returning to the capital, Tahl perishes, which sends Qui-Gon over the edge. Qui-Gon now begins his call to vengeance, which is targeted at the leader of the rogue faction that caused the entire catastrophe. |
The Call to Vengeance | Judy Blundell | null | Qui-Gon Jinn is nearing the dark side of the Force. He's looking for vengeance and he has left alone his Padawan, forgetting everything except vengeance. Now Obi-Wan Kenobi is afraid about his master and he asks for help from Jedi Master Mace Windu and his close friend, Bant. However, Qui-Gon's leads are solid, and the Jedi have a difficult time keeping him at bay. Eventually, Qui-Gon pins down the leader of the rogue faction. Although his revenge is almost complete, Qui-Gon backs down when he sees his apprentice, Obi-Wan, staring at him passively. Qui-Gon lays down his grief and accepts the fact that the rebels on New Apsolon must be tried and brought to justice, not slaughtered. Peace is temporarily restored to New Apsolon, but Qui-Gon is still bitter over the death of his loved one, Tahl. |
The Only Witness | Judy Blundell | null | A witness asks for escort and protection from the Jedi Order. She wants to testify against her family - the Cobral group - who control the planet of Frego much like the Syndicat controlled Phindar. An older Obi-Wan Kenobi and his master, Qui-Gon Jinn, have to protect her, but they suspect that she is hiding something. The Cobral family stop at nothing to ensure that the witness does not testify, but they eventually fail. She is escorted to Coruscant, where she successfully testifies. |
The Threat Within | Judy Blundell | null | Obi-Wan Kenobi is almost an adult and his Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, is very proud of him. Now they have to investigate and solve an odd terrorist threat between two work-obsessed planets. Eventually, it is discovered that a new culture is rising within the planet, which has a goal of stopping the planet's excessive relationship with work. The mission, while somewhat routine, sees Obi-Wan acting independently during several scenes. When a major building is nearly destroyed, Obi-Wan acts calmly, which impresses his master. Despite working somewhat separately on this mission, the master and apprentice find themselves closer. |
The Prestige | Christopher Priest | 1,995 | The events of the past are revealed primarily through the diaries of magicians Rupert Angier and Alfred Borden. The diaries are read by their grandchildren and chapters of present day are interspersed throughout the novel. The two fledgling magicians begin a feud when Borden breaks up a fake seance being put on by Angier and his wife for one of Borden's relatives. During the scuffle, Angier's wife is thrown to the ground and results in a miscarriage. The two magicians begin to go back and forth for many years as they rise to become world-renowned stage magicians. Borden develops a teleportation act called The Transported Man, and an improved version named The New Transported Man, which appears to move him from one closed cabinet to another in the blink of an eye without appearing to pass through the intervening space. The act seems to defy physics and puts all previous acts to shame. Over the course of the diaries we learn Alfred Borden is the name used by identical twin brothers, Albert and Frederick. Both men are living the life of Alfred, committed to maintaining their secret to ensure their professional success with The New Transported Man. Angier suspects that Borden uses a double, but dismisses the idea when he cannot find evidence to prove it. Unable to discern the method that Borden uses, Angier desperately tries to equal him, and with the help of the acclaimed physicist Nikola Tesla, develops an act named In A Flash, which has a similar result, though a starkly different method. For Angier's trick, Tesla successfully creates a device capable of teleporting a being from one place to another, but which has a surprising side-effect. As well as recreating the subject wherever is designed by the device, the original, now lifeless, body of the subject is also left behind in its original position, forcing Angier to devise a way to conceal it to preserve the illusion. Angier, with bitter humour refers to these shells as 'prestiges'. Angier's new act is equal to Borden's. Borden, in retaliation, attempts to discover how In A Flash is performed. During one performance he breaks into the backstage area and turns off the power to Angier's device during the act itself. As a result, the teleportation is incomplete, and both the new Angier and the old, 'prestige' Angier continue to live, though the old feels constantly weak while the new seems to lack physical substance. The real Angier fakes the death of his magic act alter-ego and returns to his family estate, where he becomes terminally ill. The clone Angier, alienated from the world by his ghostly form and discovering Borden's secret, attacks one of the twins before a performance. However, Borden's apparent poor health and Angier's sense of morality intervene and Angier does not go through with the murder. It is implied that this particular Borden dies a few days later, and the incorporeal Angier travels to meet the corporeal Angier, now living as Lord Colderdale. They obtain Borden's diary and publish it without revealing the twins' secret. Shortly afterwards, the corporeal Angier dies and his ghostly clone uses the device to teleport himself into the body, hoping that either he will return it back to life and be one person again, or kill himself instantly. It is revealed in the final chapter that some form of Angier has continued to survive to the present day. |
The Odessa File | Frederick Forsyth | 1,972 | In November 1963, shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Peter Miller, a German freelance crime reporter, follows an ambulance to the apartment of Salomon Tauber, a Jewish Holocaust-survivor who has committed suicide. The next day, Miller is given the dead man's diary by a friend in the police. After reading Tauber's life story and learning that Tauber had been in Riga Ghetto commanded by Eduard Roschmann, "The Butcher of Riga", Miller resolves to search for Roschmann. Miller's attention is especially drawn to one diary passage in which Tauber describes having seen Roschmann shoot a German Army Captain who was wearing an unusual military decoration. Miller pursues the story and visits the State Attorney General's office and other offices where he learns that no one is prepared to search for or prosecute former Nazis. But his investigations take him to the famed war-criminal investigator Simon Wiesenthal, who tells him about the society "ODESSA". Miller is approached by a group of Mossad agents who have vowed to search for German war criminals and kill them and have been attempting to infiltrate Odessa. Miller is asked to infiltrate ODESSA and agrees. A former SS member who is working with the team of Israeli agents trains him to pass for a former SS sergeant. Miller visits a lawyer working for ODESSA and after passing a severe scrutiny is sent to meet a passport forger who supplies those members who wish to escape. Slowly Miller unravels the entire system. But Miller's identity has been compromised, in part by his ill-advised decision to use his own car; the impoverished SS man he is impersonating would not have been able to afford a sports car, and ODESSA sets its top hit man on Miller's trail. Miller escapes one trap by sheer luck; the hit man then installs a bomb in Miller's car, but because the sports car has a very stiff suspension the bomb is not triggered while Miller is driving it. Eventually Miller confronts Roschmann at gunpoint and forces him to read from Tauber's diary. Roschmann admits to killing the German Army captain, now revealed to have been Miller's father, and attempts to justify his actions. Miller tells Roschmann that he doesn't care about Roschmann's Jewish victims; he is there to avenge the death of his father. Miller, momentarily off guard, is disarmed and knocked unconscious by another ODESSA man who leaves in Miller's car but is killed when he drives over a snow-covered pole and detonates the bomb. Roschmann manages to escape, eventually flying to Argentina. The hit man who has been sent to kill Miller is instead killed by an Israeli agent. While Miller is recovering in hospital, he is told what happened while he was unconscious. Josef, his contact, warns him not to tell anyone the story. He does disclose that with Roschmann (code-named "Vulkan") in Argentina, West German authorities (at the urging of the Israelis) will close Roschmann's radio factory where a rocket guidance system is being secretly developed for the Egyptian army. ODESSA's plan to obliterate the State of Israel by combining German technological know-how with Egyptian biological weapons has been thwarted. Josef, in reality Uri ben Shaul, an Israeli army officer, returns to Israel to be debriefed, and performs one final duty. He has taken Tauber's diary with him and per the last request in the diary, Uri visits Yad Vashem and says Kaddish for the soul of Salomon Tauber. |
The Prime Minister | Anthony Trollope | 1,876 | When neither the Whigs nor the Tories are able to form a government on their own, a fragile compromise coalition government is formed, with Plantagenet Palliser, the wealthy and hard-working Duke of Omnium, installed as Prime Minister. The Duchess, formerly Lady Glencora Palliser, attempts to support her husband by hosting lavish parties at Gatherum Castle in Barsetshire, a family residence barely used until now. Palliser is initially unsure that he is fit to lead, then grows to enjoy the high office, and finally becomes increasingly distressed when his government proves to be too weak and divided to accomplish anything. His own inflexible nature does not help. A significant sub-plot centres on Ferdinand Lopez, a financially overextended City adventurer of undisclosed parentage and doubtful ethnicity (possibly Jewish), who wins the favour of Emily Wharton. She marries Lopez despite her father's objections in preference to Arthur Fletcher who has always been in love with her. As in Trollope's earlier Palliser novel Can You Forgive Her?, in which also the heroine has to choose between two suitors, the enticing and charismatic suitor is revealed to have many unpleasant traits (here Lopez' ethnic background is also presented as a factor against him); and Emily soon has cause to regret her choice. Lopez meets the Duchess at one of her parties and Glencora unwisely encourages him to stand for Parliament. He campaigns against Arthur Fletcher, the popular former suitor of Emily's, as well as a local tradesman, and withdraws from the contest when he sees he has no chance. He then insists that the Duke reimburse him for the election expenses, since the Duchess had led him to believe that he would have the Duke's endorsement. The Duke is furious with Glencora, who has disobeyed his explicit order not to interfere in the election, but his strong sense of personal honour forces him to give in to Lopez's shameless and desperate demands. This causes a minor political scandal when it becomes known, for it appears to many people that Palliser has used his great influence and wealth to buy a seat in Parliament for a supporter. This causes the Duke great unhappiness, though he is spiritedly defended in the House of Commons by old colleague Phineas Finn, eponymous hero of Phineas Finn and Phineas Redux, two earlier books in the Palliser sequence. Lopez's high-risk gambles lead to financial ruin and, after trying to persuade the comparatively wealthy Lizzie Eustace (protagonist of The Eustace Diamonds) to run away with him to Guatemala, a proposition she somewhat contemptuously rejects, he takes his own life by throwing himself in front of a train at Tenway Junction, partly out fear of disgrace and partly to spare Emily whom he has genuinely loved, though he treated her badly. After a period of mourning, Emily is persuaded, without too much difficulty, to marry Arthur Fletcher. Eventually the coalition government breaks apart and the Duke resigns, to both his regret and relief, and withdraws into private life, hoping to be of use to his party again one day. |
Time's Arrow | Martin Amis | 1,991 | The novel recounts the life of a German Holocaust doctor in a disorienting reverse chronology. The narrator, together with the reader, experiences time passing in reverse, as the main character becomes younger and younger during the course of the novel. The narrator is not exactly the protagonist himself but a secondary consciousness apparently living within him, feeling his feelings but with no access to his thoughts and no control over events. Some passages may be interpreted as hinting that this narrator may in some way be the conscience, but this is not clear. The narrator may alternatively be considered merely a necessary device to narrate a reverse story. Amis engages in several forms of reverse discourse including reverse dialogue, reverse narrative, and reverse explanation. Amis's use of these techniques is aimed to create an unsettling and irrational aura for the reader; indeed, one of the recurrent themes in the novel is the narrator's persistent misinterpretation of events. For example, he simply accepts that people wait for an hour in a physician's waiting room after being examined, although at some points he has doubts about this tradition. Relationships are portrayed with stormy beginnings that slowly fade into pleasant romances. Although the narrator accepts all this, he is puzzled and feels that the world does not really make sense. The reverse narrative begins in America, where the doctor is first living in retirement and then practising medicine. He is always fearful of something and does not want to be too conspicuous. Later he changes his identity and moves to New York. (Considering the story forward, he escaped Europe after the war and succeeded in settling in America, with the assistance of a Reverend Nicholas Kreditor who apparently assists war criminals in hiding.) In 1948 he travels (in reverse) to Portugal, from where he makes his way to Auschwitz. The doctor, Odilo Unverdorben, assists "Uncle Pepi" (modelled on Josef Mengele) in his torture and murder of Jews. While at Auschwitz, the reverse chronology means that he creates life and heals the sick, rather than the opposite. What tells me that this is right? What tells me that all the rest was wrong? Certainly not my aesthetic sense. I would never claim that Auschwitz-Birkenau-Monowitz was good to look at. Or to listen to, or to smell, or to taste, or to touch. There was, among my colleagues there, a general though desultory quest for greater elegance. I can understand that word, and all its yearning: elegant. Not for its elegance did I come to love the evening sky above the Vistula, hellish red with the gathering souls. Creation is easy. Also ugly. Hier ist kein warum. Here there is no why. Here there is no when, no how, no where. Our preternatural purpose? To dream a race. To make a people from the weather. From thunder and from lightning. With gas, with electricity, with shit, with fire. (p119-120, Vintage edition, 1992) In the reversed version of reality, not only is simple chronology reversed (people become younger, and eventually become children, then babies, and then re-enter their mothers' wombs, where they finally cease to exist) but so is morality. Blows heal injuries, doctors cause them. Theft becomes donation, and vice versa. In a passage about prostitutes, doctors harm them while pimps give them money and heal them. When the protagonist reaches Auschwitz, however, the world starts to make sense. A whole new race is created. |
Tablet of Destinies | Traci Harding | 2,001 | The second book in The Celestial Triad takes Tory and Maelgwyn into the realms of the Devachan, the Fourth Dimension. They and their clan have had many peaceful years on the planet of Kila until Tory's new twin babies, only a few days after their birth, are switched with changelings ... the babies now exhibit all the characteristics of fairy folk and, as with all deva infants, are neither male nor female. Tory seeks the counsel of the Tablet of Destinies and is told that the changelings are the first of the Devachan to venture into human existence, and that her twins are the first humans to choose to experience the world of the Devachan ... and all the babies are psychically linked. To reclaim their children, Tory and Maelgwyn must journey into the fourth dimension. |
Flux | Stephen Baxter | 1,993 | As the novel begins, a glitch—an instability of the magnetic field inside the star caused by changes in the star's rotation—is about to destroy a net made up of ropes, where a group of 50 humans live. During this several of the older humans are killed, and importantly the humans lose their main food, a herd of "air pigs", animals indigenous to the star. To find more food, Dura, together with her young brother Farr, Adda (the eldest of the Humans and one of the novel's main characters), Philas (wife of a man killed during the glitch; this man was also seeing Dura), and 6 other adults travel high into the top of the mantle of the star to find food in the forest. Whilst there Adda is injured by a pregnant sow air pig. Just after, the humans encounter Toba Mixxax, a human from Parz City. Parz is a massive wooden city where other star humans live, with a functioning economy and upper and nether classes etc. As becomes apparent, the ancestors of Dura's group did originally live in Parz, but left when their belief that the Xeelee should ultimately be accepted as being for the good of humanity was not accepted by the rulers of Parz. A hospital, "The Hospital of the Common Good" in the heart of Parz City is Adda's only chance for survival. While in Parz, we meet several other characters: Muub, the head physician and advisor to Hork, the administrator of Parz. To pay for Adda's treatment, Dura's labor is sold to a "mantle farm" (where trees are harvested for use as fuel or as building blocks for the city), and Farr is sold to work in the underbelly of the city. Farr makes two friends whiles here: Toba Mixxax's son Criss and Byza, a fellow miner. Criss teaches Farr to board (using a specially constructed plate to "surf" along the flux lines), an ability which allows him to escape from the eventual attack by the Xeelee. After various plot points, the characters realise the instabilities are actually being caused by the attack of the Xeelee, and the next instability could destroy both Parz and possibly the star itself. Hork calls a combination of Muub, Dura (called due to her experience as a star human), Adda, Farr and a scientist to go down into the inhabitable centre of the star and try and retrieve ancient weapons, supposedly left by the humans who originally created the star human race. |
Dance of the Yellow-Breasted Luddites | William Shunn | 2,000 | The story takes place in a wildlife reserve on a mostly barren planet named Sutter's Mill. Rescue Star operative Hannah Specter is overseeing the introduction of a new alien animal species into the reserve and must unravel the mystery of the species' seemingly suicidal behavior. |
The Halloween Tree | Ray Bradbury | null | A group of eight boys set out to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, only to discover that a ninth friend, Pipkin, has been whisked away on a journey that could determine whether he lives or dies. Through the help of a mysterious character named Moundshroud, they pursue their friend across time and space through Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Greek, and Roman cultures, Celtic Druidism, Notre Dame Cathedral in Medieval Paris, and The Day of the Dead in Mexico. Along the way, they learn the origins of the holiday that they celebrate, and the role that the fear of death, spooks, and the haunts has played in shaping civilization. The Halloween Tree itself, with its many branches laden with jack-o'-lanterns, serves as a metaphor for the historical confluence of these traditions. |
Julie of the Wolves | Jean Craighead George | 1,972 | The story has three parts, from her present situation (Amaroq, the Wolf), then a flashback (Miyax, the Girl), and finally back to the present (Kapugen, the Hunter). |
The Runaway in Oz | John R. Neill | 1,995 | On the eve of an important ceremony in the Emerald City, Scraps the Patchwork Girl has been making more of a nuisance of herself than usual. After confrontations with Jellia Jamb and Jenny Jump, Scraps decides to run away on her spoolicle (a bicycle made of thread spools). She visits Jinjur's Munchkin Country farm; but Jinjur wants to put Scraps to work, so Scraps leaves quickly. At Prof. Wogglebug's Royal Athletic College, Scraps falls in with a 12-year-old prodigy named Alexample. They marvel at the air castle the Professor has dreamed into existence for his coming vacation, as it hovers above the college. Through unfortunate clumsiness, Scraps knocks the mooring line loose and the air castle floats away, with Alexample hanging onto the tethering rope. Scraps flees from the pursuit of the irate Wogglebug. Scraps meets a Repairman who magically fixes the damage and staining she's endured in her recent actions. The exasperated Scraps longs to run away from Oz entirely, but doesn't know how to cross the Deadly Desert. The Repairman informs her of a Weather Witch who lives on the highest mountain in Oz; she makes weather for the entire Earth from her windmill there. Scraps decides to get the Weather Witch to blow her across the Desert with wind, and sets out for the mountain. On the way, Scraps meets Popla, "the one and only power plant...the most powerful plant in the world." (Popla looks like a large shrub, with the face of a beautiful young woman.) Popla longs for release from her bleak and stationary existence, and eagerly transfers herself into a flowerpot to join with Scraps; Popla's strength and resourcefulness prove to be important advantages in their coming adventures. Despite tempestuous winds, the two intrepid travelers reach the top of the mountain. Fanny the Weather Witch agrees to blast them across the Deadly Desert; but additional clumsiness gets them stuck on one of the windmill's blades, which hurls them high into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, Prof. Wogglebug stomps toward the Emerald City to complain about Scraps to the Wizard. He encounters Jenny Jump and Jack Pumpkinhead, who have set out in search for the missing Scraps. The Wogglebug decides to join up with them, as the most direct approach to recovering his air castle. (The later chapters of the book alternate between the two plots: the runaway Scraps and her companions, and the searchers pursuing her.) Scraps and Popla land on a friendly cloud, who takes them to a nearby star. The star is a kind of semi-mechanical conveyance, commanded by Captain Batt, who is built of wires and electric components. Predictably, Scraps gets into a fight with him; she punches him in his button nose, which proves to be his on-off button. With Captain Batt shut down, they meet the Twinkler, the star's maintenance man (he looks like Cap'n Bill). Popla tries piloting the star — and crashes into the missing air castle. They find Alexample there, and endure a few peaceful days in its palatial environs. They get to know the inhabitants of the upper air, who include sky fairies and air sprites, and cloud sheep herded by cloud-pushers and sky-sweepers. Scraps and company also repel an attack from sky pirates. Things go badly for the searchers below; they are caught in a storm, in which Jack loses his pumpkin head. Jenny and the Professor have to lead or drag his headless stick-body along with them. They wander into an enchanted orchard, where they confront an army of rebellious quinces. By this time, the week of the Wogglebug's planned vacation has expired, and the air castle's time is up: it melts, cracks, dissolves, shatters, and otherwise falls apart around its occupants. They come tumbling down upon the enchanted orchard, and the search party, and the quince army. In a final confrontation, the quince soldiers commit mass suicide by shooting their sooty stems at Scraps. She is so blackened by the soot that she tries to hide from the world. The others convince Scraps to return to the Emerald City, where she can be magically repaired. Scraps agrees, but she hides herself under a sheet as she walks through the city streets (like Ojo in The Patchwork Girl of Oz); she causes a panic when she is mistaken for a ghost. Yet Ozma has no trouble in restoring Scraps to normal (if that term applies) with her Magic Belt. Popla and Alexample are welcomed into the ever-growing circle of Ozma's followers. |
Pinball, 1973 | Haruki Murakami | 1,980 | The plot centers on the narrator's brief but intense obsession with pinball, his life as a freelance translator, and his later efforts to reunite with the old pinball machine that he used to play. He describes living with a pair of identical unnamed female twins, who mysteriously appear in his apartment one morning, and disappear at the end of the book. Interspersed with the narrative are his memories of the Japanese student movement, and of his old girlfriend Naoko, who hanged herself, like the character of the same name in Murakami's later novel Norwegian Wood. The plot alternates between describing the life of narrator and that of his friend, The Rat. Many familiar elements from Murakami's later novels are present. Wells, which are mentioned often in Murakami's novels and play a prominent role in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, occur several times in Pinball. There is also a brief discussion of the abuse of a cat, a plot element which recurs elsewhere in Murakami's fiction, especially Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (in which the search for a missing cat is an important plotline). Rain and the sea are also prominent motifs. |
The Pothunters | P. G. Wodehouse | 1,902 | The novel follows the lives of several of the schoolboys as they study, take part in their school sports (particularly boxing and running), and enjoy tea in their studies. After the school's sports trophies ('pots' in contemporary slang) are stolen in a burglary, the boys, their masters, and the police join in the hunt for the 'pots'. |
Descent into the Depths of the Earth | Gary Gygax | 1,981 | The plot of the original modules Descent Into the Depths of the Earth and Shrine of the Kuo-Toa place a party of player characters (PCs) on the trail of the drow priestess Eclavdra through the Underdark, battling various creatures on their journey. In the last module in the preceding G-series, Hall of the Fire Giant King, the PCs were supposed to have discovered that the drow had instigated the alliance between the races of giants and their attacks on neighboring humans. The drow that survived the party's incursion have fled into tunnels leading deep into the earth. The adventurers will have arrived at the bottom of the dungeon below the cave-castle of King Snurre. In D1 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth, the PCs seek the home of the drow by traveling through an underground world of caves and passages. In the tunnels, the adventurers first fight a tough drow patrol, and the next major fight is with a raiding party of mind flayers and wererats, who have halted their patrol long enough to torture their drow prisoner. The characters also find a grand cavern containing drow soldiers, purple worms, a lich, a clutch of undead, a giant slug, sphinxes, trolls, bugbears, troglodytes, wyverns, and fungi. D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa picks up with the party continuing to pursue the drow. The party encounters a kuo-toan rogue monitor who helps them cross a large river for a fee. A party of Svirfneblin (or deep gnomes) approaches the player characters on the other side, and the party has a chance to convince them to help them fight against the drow. As the party travels, signs of the drow are all around; the drow are allowed to pass through these subterranean areas, even though they are hated and feared by the other local intelligent races. The party then moves through kuo-toa territory, ruled by the Priest-Prince Va-Guulgh. If the PCs appease the kuo-toa and respect their customs, the evil kuo-toa are not openly hostile to the party, but will attack if the party gives them a reason. The party learns that the drow and kuo-toa trade with each other openly, but the kuo-toa hate and fear the drow, resulting in frequent skirmishes between the two peoples. D3 Vault of the Drow is set in Erelhei-Cinlu, an underground stronghold of the drow, and the Fane of Lolth, their evil spider-goddess. After traveling for league after league into the Underdark, the adventurers come upon Erelhei-Cinlu, the vast subterranean city of the drow. The adventure is written in a very open-ended fashion, giving the Dungeon Master (DM) free rein to script any number of mini-campaigns or adventures taking place inside the drow capital. An extensive overview of the drow power structure is given for just this purpose. Eventually, the players may discover an astral gate leading to the plane of the Abyss, leading into the Q1 module. |
Extension du domaine de la lutte | null | null | The protagonist (Harel), known only as "Our Hero" during the entirety of the story, lives a solitary life, and has not had sex for over two years. Within most of the book and film versions of Extension du domaine de la lutte, Our Hero draws on recollections of Schopenhauer and Kant to lambaste the commodification of human contact, punctuating his inner monologue with bouts of nausea and onanism. He is wracked by the implications of decisions that would seem minor to the average person, such as disclosing his lack of a sex life through the purchase of a single bed. He is teamed up with a disturbing, desperate 28-year-old virgin, Raphael Tisserand, to deliver a series of seminars on the use of IT. Raphael looks up to Our Hero for ever having been able to hold down a relationship, and listens to his musings on love with tragic, but ultimately inspirational consequences. |
Against the Giants | Gary Gygax | 1,981 | Each of the original three modules is a dungeon crawl. The player characters focus on battling hill giants, frost giants, and fire giants, three of the original evil giant types used in Dungeons & Dragons. The module begins with a prologue explaining that giants of different types have been raiding lands occupied by humans. Angered by this, the human rulers hire a group of adventurers (the player characters) to "punish the miscreant giants." The players' party is informed that they must defeat the giants, or have their heads placed on the chopping block. The human nobles equip the party with weapons and horses, along with a guide and a map that shows the location of the hill giants. The players are informed that the hill giants are led by Nosnra, a sly hill giant chieftain who loves to set up ambushes; there is an unknown force binding together different giant groups. The player characters are informed that they may keep any spoils they find, but must return at once if they determine what "sinister hand" is behind the alliance. The bulk of the adventure takes place in two locations: the upper level fortress of the hill giants' lair, and the dungeon level beneath it. This module starts in one of two ways. If the players have finished Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, they have been transported to the glacial rift via the magic chain. They will know that they are searching for some force behind the giant alliance. If the players are starting with Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, then they have been hired by nobles to destroy the frost giants. Either way, a safe, hidden cave is easily found for a base of operations. As in Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, the bulk of this adventure takes place in two locations: an upper area consisting of caves and the rift floor, and a lower area consisting of natural caverns. In the upper area there are ice caves, barracks, and a dome of ice. These are inhabited by yeti, frost giants, ogres, and winter wolves. The dome of ice houses a remorhaz. In the lower area there are caverns that house the servants, serve as a prison, and contain the Jarl Grugnur and emissaries who have come to meet with him. The main inhabitants are frost giants and ogres. The prison contains an attractive storm giantess. There are also polar bears; pets of the jarl. After defeating the jarl, the adventurers have a chance to pull an iron lever which will transport them near to Snurre's hall from Hall of the Fire Giant King. If it is played as a continuation of the first two modules, the players know that they are searching for the force behind the giant's alliance, otherwise they have been hired by nobles to destroy the fire giants. This module is twice as long as the previous two: sixteen pages instead of eight. Unlike the two previous modules where the giant's complex consists of two levels, the fire giant hall contains three levels. The giants live in a hot, smoky barren area made of rock; as in the previous module, the party is able to find a safe location for forays against the giants. The leader of the fire giants is King Snurre Iron Belly, and his hall is made of obsidian and natural caverns. The first (top) level includes the queen's rooms, barracks, and kennels. Creatures encountered here include fire giants, gnolls, and in the kennels, hell hounds. The second level is also made of obsidian rocks and natural caverns. It houses chambers of spiritual interest to the fire giants. There is a hall that houses the dead fire giant kings, and rooms for worship. There are also rooms that contain drow clerics. This is where the party learns that the drow are behind the giant alliance, led by Eclavdra, a high level drow fighter/cleric. The third level consists of natural caverns and contains a great treasure guarded by a red dragon. There are also more fire giants and drow; to exterminate the fire giants, the adventurers must penetrate deep into the active volcano where they live. If the DM wishes, there is a tunnel that leads deep into the earth; to the home of the drow. This allows the adventure to be continued in Descent into the Depths of the Earth. |
Winston's War | Michael Dobbs | 2,003 | The story starts with Chamberlain’s 1938 triumphant return to 10 Downing Street, a public hero after the signing of the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler, declaring "peace in our time." The story ends with the fall of the Chamberlain Government, and the appointment of Churchill as Prime Minister. Churchill, relegated to the periphery of British politics by the late Thirties, lashes out against appeasement despite having almost no support from fellow parliamentarians or the British press. The novel includes many of the momentous historical personages of the day: Chamberlain, the ailing and pacifist Prime Minister; Churchill, the political outcast, whose pugnacity created opprobrium in the public eye; Joseph Kennedy, the U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's; Guy Burgess, an alcoholic BBC journalist of later Cold War infamy; the machiavellian newspaper mogul, Max Aitken, (Lord Beaverbrook), and the stuttering and insecure King George VI, who personally detests Churchill and tries to persuade his good friend, Lord Halifax, to take the reins of leadership. Winston's War is the first in a series of novels by Dobbs about Churchill's wartime leadership. The sequel Never Surrender continues the storyline over the first few weeks of Churchill's premiership. |
Rainbow Fish | null | null | The story tells of a fish with shiny, multi-colored scales named Rainbow Fish. He is always fond of his scales. But one day, a small fish asks him if he could have one. Rainbow Fish refuses in a very rude way. The other fish are really upset about his behavior and don't want to play with him anymore. Feeling upset, his only friend left, the starfish, tells him to go visit the mysterious octopus for advice. Rainbow Fish finds the octopus and asks what he should do. The octopus tells him that he should share the beauty of his scales with his friends. When he encounters the small fish a second time, the Rainbow Fish gives him one of his precious scales and, seeing the joy of this little fish, feels immediately much better. Very soon Rainbow Fish is surrounded by other fish requesting scales and he gives to each of them one of his shiny scales. The author about his book: "Rainbow Fish has no political message. The story shows us the joy of sharing. We all enjoy making presents for Christmas or birthdays and we are feeling good doing so. I want to show to our children the positive aspect of sharing: To share does not only mean to give away something (which is quite hard for a child), but above all to make happy someone else - and itself." |
Castle Amber | Tom Moldvay | null | The player characters explore the haunted mansion of the Amber family, and encounter new monsters such as the brain collector. During their night's rest on their way to Glantri, the player characters are unexpectedly drawn into a large castle surrounded by an impenetrable, deadly mist. This is the result of a curse the wizard-noble Stephen Amber (Etienne d'Amberville) put on his treacherous relatives for murdering him. The only way to escape Castle Amber (or Château d'Amberville) is to explore the castle, putting up with the demented and at times insane members of the d'Amberville family and the other, often hostile, denizens, and open a hidden portal to the wilderness of the world of Averoigne, where the party can find the means to reach the inter-dimensional tomb in which Stephen Amber rests, in order to break the curse and return home. In this world, magic is frowned upon, and spellcasters may come to the attention of the Inquisition. |
Players | Don DeLillo | 1,977 | Lyle works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and spends evenings seated close to the television, rapidly flipping channels, while his wife Pammy works at a "grief management firm" in the World Trade Center. While their marriage is free of problems and they have many friends, a cloud of ennui hangs over their domestic life. Pammy joins her friends Ethan and Jack on a trip to Maine, where they come to the realization that their collective nostalgia for simpler times and rural life is largely invented. Pammy begins a sexual relationship with Jack, who is in a homosexual relationship with Ethan, which ultimately ends in Jack's inexplicable self-immolation at a nearby junkyard. Meanwhile, in a divergent and concurrent storyline, Lyle witnesses the shooting death of one of his acquaintances, George Sedbauer, on the floor of the exchange. Through this event, Lyle becomes privy to a vague conspiracy of violent terrorists targeting Wall Street, and his curiosity draws him into their fold. His recruitment and participation are equally inexplicable, a function of the draw of revolutionary activity and respite from the boredom of his ordinary life. His engagement with the radicals, themselves devoid of any morality or particular ideology, becomes more absurd when he attempts to inform on them to equally ill-defined government agents, and begins having sexual relationships with two other conspirators. Lyle discovers that J. Kinnear, one of the shadow key figures in the terrorist network, is a double-agent himself and the web of essentially meaningless conspiracies appears to be endless and be the end in itself; pursued not for chaotic ends, but for the sake of imposing structural order on what the "players" view to be chaos. |
Matilda | Mary Shelley | null | Narrating from her deathbed, Matilda tells the story of her unnamed father's confession of incestuous love for her, followed by his suicide by drowning; her relationship with a gifted young poet called Woodville fails to reverse Matilda's emotional withdrawal or prevent her lonely death. |
A Stranger in the Mirror | Sidney Sheldon | 1,976 | A Stranger in the Mirror The love story between Josephine Czinski (Jill Castle) and Toby Temple is told through a flashback. The Templehaus are German immigrants coming to the USA. Freida Templehaus is the plump wife of a poet who would rather write poetry than work in the meat shop. Angered and faced with reality that her husband is weak, she controls the meat shop and rules the family home. She decides to have a child and they have a son named Tobias, who is noted to be born with an extremely large member. Throughout his childhood, Toby has always strived to earn his busy mother's affections, and has learned to gain it through comedy. However, in his teens, Toby has gained a large libido and after sleeping with many women, impregnates a classmate. To avoid her son marrying what she calls "a nobody", she packs up his bags and sends him to the city to become famous, hoping he would send for her soon. She lies to Eileen's father, the chief of police, that Toby ran away. Years later, the Czinski Family, a family of Polish Immigrants, are expecting their first born daughter. Their baby was born not breathing, causing the father to die of shock. However, the baby was indeed alive but has head trauma that would later cause her bad headaches. The mother named her Josephine. Mrs. Czinski moved to Odessa, Texas, and became a devout Catholic who believes her daughter's head aches to be the demon's attempt to possess her. Josephine grew up as a beautiful child, to the point that the "Oil People", the upper-class members of Odessa, would love having their children hanging out with her. Josephine is smitten with David Kenyon, the son of the wealthy Kenyons. However, on her thirteenth birthday, she embarrasses herself when she gets her menstruation in a swimming party and is scorned by the Oil Children, except for David, who shows sympathy. Soon after, Josephine stops her friendship with the Oil Children and hangs out with the other middle-class residents like her. She grows into a beautiful woman, and meets David once more after his long period away in college. David and Josephine start a relationship and it climaxes when she and David consummate their love and David proposes. However, as David tells his aging mother about his plans, she insults him about his choice and persuades him to marry Cissy Topping, a fellow Oil Child and former friend of Josephine. David makes a deal with Cissy that he will marry her only until Mama Kenyon dies so he can fulfill her wishes, but unknowingly, Cissy and Mama Kenyon have already planned for this and has no intention of leaving him. Unfortunately, Cissy asks Mrs. Czinski to do the wedding dress, and before David can tell Josephine, she finds out from her mother and, distraught, leaves for Hollywood under the name Jill Castle. Toby's career has a rocky start, and Toby goes into a depression when he finds out that his mother has died of a heart attack, yet he cannot attend her funeral due to Eileen's father on the lookout for him. He decides to join the army and along the way meets Clifton Lawrence, a prominent PR in Hollywood. After the war, he continues his career without Clifton's help due to many scammers using his story that Clifton's assistant does not tell him about Toby. Toby gets his big break when all the better comedians are unavailable to perform for the president of the United States. He gains fame soon after, and in the process catches Clifton's attention and Toby hires him. Toby begins his womanizing but unknowingly sleeps with Millie, the mistress of Al, a mafioso. Al tells Toby that Millie loves him and wants to marry him and threatens to kill him if he will not. Toby marries Millie, and avoids women to please Al. He impregnates her, but Millie dies in a birthing accident, but is not there to witness it due to Al allowing him to perform in South Korea. With no obligation, Toby begins womanizing once more. He gets a notorious reputation for ruining people for the slightest reasons. However, secretly, he is lonely as more people come that he fires people who have other engagements other than working for The Toby Temple Show and forces Clifton to drop his other clients so that he would be totally dependent on Toby. Meanwhile, nobody wants to hire someone like Jill. All the people willing to screen her only want her for sex. She lives in a rundown building with other actors like her, and starts a relationship with Alan, who is later revealed to be an adult film actor. He convinces her with the help of liquor and drugs to do a film with her, and at the end he writes her birth name on the credits. She only gets minimal small roles, but nothing that makes her recognizable. She realizes that she has to try earning fame their way—by using her body. She is brutally ravaged by a director for a small spot in a major movie, and finally begins her climb to the top. She sleeps with everyone to get jobs, until she makes it to the Toby Temple Show. Toby is infatuated with her, and goes crazy when she acts indifferently to his charm and wealth. He falls in love with her when he realizes that he doesn't feel alone with her around, and they marry despite Clifton's warnings. Those who have slept with Jill are too scared to admit they have in fear that Toby will ruin them. Meanwhile, Jill is now plotting revenge against those who have used her. One by one, she gets Toby to destroy the lives of those who have used her without necessarily admitting that she had sex with them all. Her final act is when she convinces Toby to get rid of Clifton (who ignored Jill in her early days and, when she convinced Toby to get her a role, called her a bad actress), as she would be his new manager. Clifton knew she would do that sooner or later, and tries to get on Jill's good side but fails. Jill becomes the new manager of Toby. In an act of revenge, he learns about Jill's adult film and bribes a technician to copy the film for him. However, it is too late as she has already fired him. Jill begins acting like his mother. She pushes him to go to all parties and attend all events to the point that Toby receives a stroke. Jill, still in love with Toby, forces him to recope, and he miraculously gets better. It is now Jill who has become the more popular of the two, and in the process meets David once again. David has a listless marriage to Cissy and his attempts to leave her has caused her to attempt suicide. However, she finally leaves him when she meets another man who is not as rich as David but looks like him and loves Cissy. Jill remains friends with him but starts to have feelings for him when she remembers their history. Toby relapses into a stroke, ruining his looks and ultimately paralyzing him. Jill has no will power to regain his ability, and accidentally says out loud that she wishes he would just die due to his gargoyle-like face, which Toby hears. She begins having nightmares of Toby trying to kill her, and the head aches come back after a long time. She decides kill Toby since his expected life span is more than twenty years, and leaving him would ruin her reputation as a heroine. She stages his death and makes it look like an accident while attempting to cure him, but Clifton is the only one who sees past the trick. He finds out that she killed him to be with David, who married her two months later in a cruise ship. However, Clifton uses his last resort and forces David to watch Jill's adult film. David is revealed to be an extreme racist, especially to Mexicans. It explains why David showed disdain at Jill's co-worker when he met her after college as well as the reason why he left to go to college: He caught his older sister having sex with the Mexican gardener and killed him with a letter-opener; his mother quietly paid Odessa's jail to make it look like he raped her daughter and committed suicide in jail and sent her deranged daughter to a mental hospital. It is revealed why Mama Kenyon forced him to marry Cissy, due to his bad choices. David breaks up with Jill and leaves on a helicopter. Clifton reveals himself to Jill. Jill, depressed, hallucinates and sees Toby's face in the water, and she jumps off the boat to be with him and dies. The captain of the boat resigns, starts a bistro, and tells Jill's story to others. |
Asterix and the Cauldron | null | null | Whosemoralsarelastix, the chief of a neighboring Gaulish village, is a mean and greedy man who often does business with the Romans. When the Romans levy new taxes, Whosemoralsarelastix asks the people of Asterix's village to guard a cauldron full of money, his village's treasures, claiming that he is trying to keep the money away from the imminent visit of the Roman tax collectors. Asterix is left in charge of the cauldron full of sestertii, which is promptly stolen during the night. The strict laws of the Gauls demand that Asterix be banished until he has atoned for his negligence. Obelix immediately “banishes” himself to stay with his friend. In order to regain his honor, Asterix, with Obelix's help, must find money to refill the cauldron and repay Whosemoralsarelastix. Asterix and Obelix engage in many futile attempts to earn back the money. This includes questioning the Romans at Compendium (only to trigger a riot when the Romans know nothing about the theft and assume that the Gauls are there to get them to pay for being in the legions), trashing the pirates in the belief that they stole the money (although the pirates were for once trying to engage in an honest profession by turning their ship into a restaurant), selling boars (only to sell them at a ridiculously low price), prize fighting (only to win worthless statuettes), acting (Obelix insults the audience and ruins the company), gambling (only to lose their money when the tip doesn't pay off) and even trying to rob a bank (which is empty of money due to the recent tax increases by the Romans). With little else to gain or lose they take the cauldron back to Whosemoralsarelastix's village, Asterix hoping that he will be able to save the village's honour by clarifying that he alone is responsible for the loss. As they approach the village's area, they stumble upon and rob a Roman tax collector at the last minute. They beat up his escort and Asterix steals the money the taxman has obtained. But as they set off to take the money to Whosemoralsarelastix, Asterix catches a suspicious smell on the coins. The cauldron had previously been used for cooking onion soup — and the coins, fresh from the collector's coffers, smell of onion soup as well. Asterix and Obelix go to Whosemoralsarelastix's village, which lies on a high cliff at the coast. Asterix confronts Whosemoralsarelastix with the onion soup-smelling money, having correctly guessed that Whosemoralsarelastix stole back his own money and paid his taxes to the Romans to retain their favor, knowing that Asterix would go to any lengths necessary to get the money back and make up for his debt; essentially, Asterix was to pay Whosemoralsarelastix's taxes for him. A fight between Obelix and the villagers — although Obelix fails to fully understand why they are fighting — and Asterix versus the treacherous chief ensues. Asterix and Whosemoralsarelastix duel with their swords due to Asterix having exhausted his potion, but Whosemoralsarelastix is the better swordsman. Just as he is about to strike Asterix down, however, a section of the cliff suddenly gives way, the cauldron of money falling towards the sea while Whosemoralsarelastix barely manages to hold on to the side. Asterix rescues the treacherous chief and he and Obelix return to their own village while Whosemoralsarelastix cries his heart out over the loss of his money. The money itself, however, falls right into the ship and the lap of the pirates, who for once conclude an adventure on a happy note for themselves. Back at Asterix's village a celebration is held for the return of the two heroes and the recovery of their honour, though Obelix, still a little confused over matters, asks why the cauldron was used to contain money instead of onion soup in the first place. |
The Abominable Man | Per Wahlöö | 1,971 | A senior policeman known for brutality is violently knifed while in his hospital bed. Within a 24 hour period, Martin Beck searches through the policeman's many enemies for the killer, for whom the murder was only a precursor to a Charles Whitman-style attack on Stockholm. |
Blott on the Landscape | Tom Sharpe | null | The story revolves around the proposed construction of a motorway (M101 in the book and the M399 in the film) through Cleene Gorge in rural South Worfordshire (a fictional gorge in a fictional English county). At one end of the gorge is Handyman Hall, home to politician Sir Giles Lynchwood and his wife Lady Maud Lynchwood. Sir Giles is secretly in favour of ensuring the motorway passes through the Cleene Gorge as it will mean he will be paid the compensation for the destruction of Handyman Hall, which is under a covenant preventing its sale. While superficially pretending to be supportive he takes steps to undermine the inquiry and prevent alternatives being adopted, to ensure the new road travels through the Gorge. By contrast, Lady Maud's family has lived in the gorge for over 500 years, and she is fiercely defensive of her heritage and expects Giles to support her. Matters are further complicated by their on-going marital problems, including Sir Giles's fetishist infidelity and Lady Maud's wish for children to continue her line (to which Sir Giles is opposed), and the actions of Maud's gardener, Blott, a former German prisoner of war (it is a common misconception that Blott is Italian, however he was brought up in a Dresden Orphanage (where he learnt his skill in impersonation)), he does not know his parents (whom he believes might be Jewish) and served in the German Army. However the Army got fed up with Blott and so the High Command decided to get rid of him by assigning him to an Italian bomber on a raid to England. Blott, who served as navigator (and who wasn't very good at it), got completely lost and was forced to bale out, whereupon he was captured, and he is strongly patriotic towards his new home nation and home. Maud's and Giles's marriage settlement leaves Giles with Handyman Hall in the event of a no-fault divorce but not in the event of death or infidelity, a situation he also seeks to provoke by refusing to co-operate in his marital duties and which Maud sees as a potential solution. With his military training, and some leftovers of the war found beneath the hall, Blott begins a covert campaign including blackmail and wire tapping to scrutinize Sir Giles's activities on Maud's behalf and to undermine the construction of the motorway. He also discovers and aims to foil Giles's plans. In the course of the fight for the Gorge, the picturesque village is destroyed by Blott using a demolition crane to whip up popular opposition for the works. Giles is discovered seeing a prostitute and is blackmailed, as is Dundridge, the official in charge of the works, and the Hall is quickly converted into a wildlife park in an attempt to prevent the removal of its occupants. Giles himself is finally killed by lions when he is discovered by Blott and Maud trying to burn down the Hall. As a final resort, Blott concretes himself into his home, located in the entrance archway to the estate, preventing works progress. Dundridge, frustrated, demands the SAS are called in to remove Blott. Blott secretly launches an attack on his own archway for which the SAS are blamed, finally compelling enough public attention to cause the plans to be dropped. Dundridge is imprisoned for his part in the 'attack', and Maud and Blott (who have fallen in love by this time) marry and state their intention to add to the Handyman family. |
Green Shadows, White Whale | Ray Bradbury | null | The narrator, an unnamed writer, is sent to Dublin, Ireland to coproduce a film adaptation of Moby Dick with a director whose first name is given as "John". While there, he hears of the many strange and surreal stories of the boyos in Flinn's pub that make up the bulk of the novel, along with other adventures in the land of Ireland, including a "hunt wedding" and a house that has a mind of its own. The last chapter of the novel is devoted to the successful completion of the screenplay and the narrator's resulting ascent to fame. |
A Prefect's Uncle | P. G. Wodehouse | 1,903 | The action of the novel takes place at the fictional "Beckford College", a private school for boys; the title alludes to the arrival at the school of a mischievous young boy called Reginald Farnie, who turns out to be the uncle of the older "Bishop" Gethryn, a prefect, cricketer and popular figure in the school. His arrival, along with that of another youngster, Wilson, who becomes fag to Gethryn, leads to much excitement and scandal in the school, and the disruption of some important cricket matches. Early editions are highly prized by collectors, and first printings regularly sell for over $5,000. The novel was reprinted on June 17, 2004 by R A Kessinger Publishing. It contains approximately 128 pages and has been assigned the ISBN 1-4191-0286-9. The text was released under Project Gutenburg in 2004. |
The Sign of the Twisted Candles | Carolyn Keene | 1,933 | In the course of solving the mystery of an old man's disappearing fortune, Nancy both starts and ends a family feud and reveals the identity of an orphan of unknown parentage. The second of three novels by ghostwriter Walter Karig, this story focuses on Nancy's encounter with a 100-year-old man at "The Sign of the Twisted Candles," a roadside inn and restaurant. Nancy, Bess and George take afternoon tea there while waiting out a storm; Nancy's roadster was blocked by a fallen tree. They encounter Asa Sidney, celebrating his 100th birthday, and the pathetic maid/waitress, Carol Wipple, mistreated by her adoptive parents, Frank and Emma Jemmit. Nancy discovers that Mr. Sidney is an elderly relative of Bess and George, and her willingness to communicate with him launches a family feud upon his death a few days later, and leaves her chumless, as the cousins refuse to associate with Nancy. Carol is named as the major benefactress, and Nancy must prove that Frank and Emma Jemmit have misappropriated property. Relatives of Mr. Sidney and his wife from the Sidney and Boonton families fight over the money. Nancy also must discover why Asa was interested in the young woman. While investigating, Nancy is reunited with her friends, and later, in the climax, is nearly killed when she is pushed while climbing a ladder against a tower window (illustrated as internal art in the original 1933 edition; this illustration and two others were dropped in 1936). Carol is discovered to be the great-niece of Asa Sidney, and thus owns the rights to a number of inventions awaiting patent from Sidney, in addition to securities. The family feud is resolved due to Nancy's discoveries. |
Philoctetes | Sophocles | null | Sophocles' Philoctetes begins with their arrival on the island. Odysseus explains to Neoptolemus that he must perform a shameful action in order to garner future glory - to take Philoctetes by tricking him with a false story while Odysseus hides. Neoptolemus is portrayed as an honorable boy, and so it takes some persuading in order for him to play this part. In order to gain Philoctetes's trust, Neoptolemus tricks Philoctetes into thinking he hates Odysseus as well. Neoptolemus does this by telling Philoctetes that Odysseus has his father's (Achilles) armor. He tells Philoctetes that this armor was his right by birth, and Odysseus would not give it up to him. After gaining Philoctetes' trust and offering him a ride home, Neoptolemus is allowed to look at the bow of Heracles. Neoptolemus holds the bow while Philoctetes is going into an unbearable fit of pain in his foot. Feeling ashamed, Neoptolemus debates giving it back to him. Odysseus appears, and a series of arguments ensue. Eventually Neoptolemus's conscience gains the upper hand, and he returns the bow. After many threats made on both sides, Odysseus flees. Neoptolemus then tries to talk Philoctetes into coming to Troy by his own free will, but Philoctetes will not agree. In the end Neoptolemus consents to take Philoctetes back to Greece, even though that means that he will be exposed to the anger of the army. This appears to be the conclusion of the play; however, as they are leaving, Heracles (now a deity) appears above them and tells Philoctetes that if he goes to Troy then he will be cured and the Greeks will win. Philoctetes willingly obeys him. The play ends here. When Philoctetes later fights in Troy, his foot is healed, and he wins glory, killing many Trojans (including Paris). |
The End of the Road | John Barth | 1,958 | Jacob (or "Jake") Horner, the first-person author of this confession, suffers from "cosmopsis"—an inability to choose from among all possible choices he can imagine. His cosmopsis completely paralyzes him in the Pennsylvania Railroad Station in Baltimore just after his 28th birthday, having abandoned his graduate studies at John Hopkins University. He is taken in by a nameless African-American doctor who claims to specialize in such conditions. At the doctor's private therapy center called the Remobilization Farm, Jake is given "mythotherapy", instructed to read Sartre, and to assign "masks" to himself and abolish the ego. Horner would thus get over his paralysis by inducing action through taking on symbolic roles. As part of his schedule of therapies, Jake takes a job teaching at Wicomico State Teachers College, where he becomes friends with the history teacher Joe Morgan and his wife Rennie. Joe and Jake enjoy intellectually sparring, participating in a "duel of articulations". The philosophical Morgans have a marriage in which all must be articulated, and in which "the parties involved be able to take each other seriously". While Joe is busy working at his Ph.D. dissertation, he encourages Rennie to teach Jake horseback riding. She does, and the two talk at length about the Morgans' unusual relationship. After returning from one of their outings, Jake encourages a resistant Rennie to spy on her husband. She is convinced that "real people" like Joe are not "any different when they are alone. No mask. What you see of them is authentic." What she sees of him is disorients her and her vison of the reality of Joe. When Joe discovers that Jake and Rennie have committed adultery, he insists they maintain the affair, in an effort to discover the reasons for his wife's unfaithfulness. Rennie discovers she is pregnant, but cannot be sure whether Joe or Jake is the father. The Morgans visit Jake, Joe with Colt .45 in hand. Rennie insists on having an abortion, or she will commit suicide. Jake hunts for an abortionist under an assumed name, but is unable to find a doctor who will agree to the procedure, and thus turns to the Doctor. The abortion is botched, resulting in Rennie's death. Jake does not know what to feel, and "crave[s] responsibility". His relativist "cosmopsis" confirmed, he reverts to his paralysis. Two years later, as part of his Scriptotherapy on the Remobilization Farm, he writes his story of what happened in Wicomico. |
Pennington's Seventeenth Summer | null | null | Penn is a troublemaker and is generally disliked by all but two of his teachers, especially Mr Marsh (or ‘Soggy’), who has had it in for him for years. Penn has very little faith in himself or those around him. He habitually causes trouble for himself, due largely to his defensiveness and inability to consider the consequences of his actions. He has already had a number of brushes with the law. Only the games master, Mr Matthews, and his piano teacher, Mr Crocker, see any potential in him. In this book he discovers that his musical ability is much more extraordinary than he had thought and that he may actually enjoy playing the piano. However, his temper and rash behaviour are likely to lead him to jail before he has a chance to see where his talent can take him. |
Detective | Arthur Hailey | null | Detective is the story of Miami Police detective Malcolm Ainslie, who had previously trained to be a Catholic priest. A serial killer breaks free in Miami. He is a religious freak and he starts killing people feeling that he is the avenger of God. He leaves certain things at the murder scenes that are symbols from the Book of Revelation. Miami Police Detective Sergeant Malcolm Ainslie and his team start to investigate the murders. They eventually find the killer and arrest him. The murderer is nicknamed The Animal because he kills in such a barbaric manner. Now, when this man is about to be executed for the serial killings he did, he calls for Malcolm. 30 minutes before his execution he confesses to Malcolm that he did all the serial killings he is accused of except one, which was not done by him. It was the killing of mayor of the city commissioner and his wife. Malcolm, at first, refuses to believe him because The Animal has a reputation of being a liar. But as he goes deep into the history of cases and studies all the killings he discovers that there are two killings in separate cities, unsolved murders which were confessed by The Animal. When he carefully studies all the killings done by him, he finds out that the killings of city commissioner and his wife were attempted by someone else, a copy cat killer, and these murders were made to look as if done by the same killer. Thanks to his priestly training, he notices that the pattern of the symbols left by the Animal at scenes of all the other murders is derived from the Book of Revelation, but that the symbols left at the murder of the Mayor do not fit this pattern. Malcolm suddenly finds himself facing a situation where a copy cat killer is roaming around free. And when the killings are of a city commissioner and his wife the matter became more complicated. His team starts to investigate and finds important people involved in the killings and a famous novelist is also involved. Malcolm AinslieCynthia ErnstRuby |
Five Weeks in a Balloon | Jules Verne | 1,863 | A scholar and explorer, Dr. Samuel Fergusson, accompanied by his manservant Joe and his friend professional hunter Richard "Dick" Kennedy, sets out to travel across the African continent — still not fully explored — with the help of a hot-air balloon filled with hydrogen. He has invented a mechanism that, by eliminating the need to release gas or throw ballast overboard to control his altitude, allows very long trips to be taken. This voyage is meant to link together the voyages of Sir Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke in East Africa with those of Heinrich Barth in the regions of the Sahara and Chad. The trip begins in Zanzibar on the east coast, and passes across Lake Victoria, Lake Chad, Agadez, Timbuktu, Djenné and Ségou to St Louis in modern day Senegal on the west coast. The book describes the unknown interior of Africa near modern day Central African Republic as a desert, when it is actually savanna. A good deal of the initial exploration is to focus on the finding of the source of the Nile, an event that occurs in chapter 18 (out of 43). The second leg is to link up the other explorers. There are numerous scenes of adventure, composed of either a conflict with a native or a conflict with the environment. Some examples include: * Rescuing of a missionary from a tribe that was preparing to sacrifice him. * Running out of water while stranded, windless, over the Sahara. * An attack on the balloon by condors, leading to a dramatic action as Joe leaps out of the balloon. * The actions taken to rescue Joe later. * Narrowly escaping the remnants of a militant army as the balloon dwindles to nothingness with the loss of hydrogen. In all these adventures, the protagonists overcome by continued perseverance more than anything else. The novel is filled with coincidental moments where trouble is avoided because wind catches up at just the right time, or the characters look in just the right direction. There are frequent references to a higher power watching out for them. The balloon itself ultimately fails before the end, but makes it far enough across to get the protagonists to friendly lands, and eventually back to England, therefore succeeding in the expedition. The story abruptly ends after the African trip, with only a brief synopsis of what follows. |
The Widow's Broom | Chris Van Allsburg | 1,992 | The story involves a widow named Minna Shaw. One evening, a witch falls from her broom when it loses the ability to fly and lands in the garden near Minna Shaw's house. Minna Shaw takes her in until she recovers, and when she does, the witch calls a friend to "drive" her home, leaving her own broom behind. Minna Shaw discovers the broom is still in her house and leaves it alone but is startled, and more than a little afraid, when it comes to life later that evening. She discovers that the broom is harmless, as all it does is sweep, but she teaches it how to feed the chickens, chop wood, and play the piano. While most of the neighbor women and children are comfortable with the broom, the men are concerned that it had been a witch's broom. Shortly afterwards, two boys begin to harass it. The broom, apparently angered, beats them and flings their dog over the forest. The boys' parents demand that the broom be burned at the stake. Minna Shaw surprisingly agrees, and the broom is burned. Things appear normal until the broom's phantom-white ghost begins stalking the Spiveys' house. The Spiveys are so terrified that they pack up and leave the house. Minna Shaw can now be alone and listen to the broom play the piano; she'd given the Spiveys her own ordinary household broom to burn and cooked up the plan for the magical broom (which was just painted white), to scare her neighbors away. She painted it white to make it look like the "ghost" broom. |
The Hungry Tide | Amitav Ghosh | 2,005 | The Hungry Tide tells a very contemporary story of adventure and unlikely love, identity and history, set in one of the most fascinating regions on the earth. Off the easternmost coast of India, in the Bay of Bengal, lies the immense labyrinth of tiny islands known as the Sundarbans. For settlers here, life is extremely precarious. Attacks by deadly tigers are common. Unrest and eviction are constant threats. Without warning, at any time, tidal floods rise and surge over the land, leaving devastation in their wake. In this place of vengeful beauty, the lives of three people from different worlds collide. Piyali Roy is a young marine biologist, of Indian descent but stubbornly American, in search of a rare, endangered river dolphin, Orcaella brevirostris. Her journey begins with a disaster, when she is thrown from a boat into crocodile-infested waters. Rescue comes in the form of a young, illiterate fisherman, Fokir. Although they have no language between them, Piya and Fokir are powerfully drawn to each other, sharing an uncanny instinct for the ways of the sea. Piya engages Fokir to help with her research and finds a translator in Kanai Dutt, a businessman from Delhi whose idealistic aunt and uncle are longtime settlers in the Sundarbans. As the three of them launch into the elaborate backwaters, they are drawn unawares into the hidden undercurrents of this isolated world, where political turmoil exacts a personal toll that is every bit as powerful as the ravaging tide. Already an international success, The Hungry Tide is a prophetic novel of remarkable insight, beauty, and humanity. The Morichjhanpi massacre incident of 1978-79, when government of West Bengal forcibly evicted thousands of Bengali refugees who had settled on the island, forms a background for some parts of the novel. The novel explores topics like humanism and environmentalism, especially when they come into a conflict of interest with each other. |
I Heard the Owl Call My Name | Margaret Craven | null | Mark Brian, a young vicar, is sent to a Native Indian village called Kingcome in British Columbia, where the Kwakwala language is spoken. His bishop sends him, knowing that Mark is suffering from an unnamed, fatal disease, in order to learn life's hard lessons in the time left to him. Mark is unaware of his terminal illness and his bishop does not tell him. Through various experiences and inter-relationships, Mark learns from the villagers and they from him. By the time he has spent one year there, he considers the small village his home and family, and they consider him part of their tribe. The title of the book derives from a Kwakiutl belief that when one hears the owl call one's name, death is imminent. |
Setting Free the Bears | John Irving | 1,968 | The book’s central plot concerns a plan to liberate all the animals from the Vienna Zoo, as happened just after the conclusion of World War II. Irving’s two protagonists—Graff, a young Austrian college student, and Siggy, an eccentric motorcycle mechanic-cum-philosopher—meet and embark on an adventure-filled motorcycle tour of Austria before the novel’s climax: "the great zoo bust". Towards the middle of the book the two protagonists go their separate ways and a large section of the novel is given over to “The Notebook”—a chronicle of the Siggy character’s family from pre-WWII, through the occupation of the Soviets, to the late 1960s. Siggy is killed in a motorcycle accident, the grief-stricken Graff then continues with their plan to free the inhabitants of the Vienna Zoo with Siggy's voice echoing in his head. This ends in catastrophic results. de:Laßt die Bären los! fr:Liberté pour les ours ! pl:Uwolnić niedźwiedzie |
The Shattered Chain | Marion Zimmer Bradley | 1,976 | In the first section, Lady Rohana Ardais, a Comyn woman of young middle-age - nobility by birth and possessing the psychic powers of laran, or telepathy in Rohana's case - travels with a band of Renunciates to the city Shainsa to free her kinswoman Melora who had been kidnapped ten years before. Rohana chooses to cut her hair and travel with the women as a Renunciate, into the desert heart of the Dry Towns where women are literally kept in chains by the men who own them. While the women manage to free the heavily pregnant Melora and her twelve year old daughter Jaelle, born in Shainsa to her kidnapper-husband, Melora dies giving birth to her son Valentine in the desert, leaving Jaelle in the care of her childhood friend Rohana. The young Jaelle chooses to stay with the Renunciate Kindra, rather than be fostered by Rohana, and the section ends with the child's request: "Foster-mother, will you cut my hair?" and we are left with the very clear impression that Rohana's experiences with the Renunciates and in the Dry Towns have profoundly changed her self-perception as a woman, and of the relationship between the sexes. In the second section of Shattered Chain, twelve years later the Terran agent Magda Lorne assumes Renunciate garb and haircut under the direction of Rohana, now nearing the end of middle-age. Just as Rohana's journey to rescue Melora was prompted by her male kin's refusal to jeopardise the Domans' political relationship with the Dry Towns by rescuing a woman, Magda is travelling into the Hellers to ransom her kidnapped ex-husband Peter, whom her employers and people - the Terrans - have refused to rescue, again for political reasons. Magda, however, travels alone, yet coincidentally - or fatefully - comes across a band of real Renunciates led by the now-adult Jaelle, who has chosen the life of the Renunciate, forgoing the privilege, power and cloistered life of a comyn lady. Magda's deceit is uncovered, and the traditional punishment for a woman who takes the guise of a Renunciate without taking their oath - to make the lie truth - is meted out to Magda by Jaelle and her Renunciate sisters. Magda chooses to travel with Jaelle alone to the Nevarsin Guild House to begin training as a Renunciate, though she plans secretly to escape her responsibility and continue on to rescue Peter. Shortly after the other Renunciates part ways with them, Magda and Jaelle are attacked by bandits and Jaelle is seriously injured. Magda must choose whether to abandon Jaelle and hold true to her responsibility to her ex-husband, or to uphold her oath to the Renunciates and to the injured Jaelle. Magda chooses to do both, taking Jaelle with her into the mountains, rescuing Peter, and then travelling with both to the Ardais estate. Magda's conflict and eventual decision to abide by her oath to Jaelle and to the Renunciates echoes Rohana's earlier inner conflict in choosing whether to leave her life for the Renunciates or to continue in her life as comyn nobility. Whereas Rohana chooses to continue as a noblewoman, yet takes advantages of her high social position as head of a domain, taking her ill husband's place in the comyn council and running her estate and domain, Magda eventually chooses to pursue the life of a Renunciate. In the third and final section of the book, Jaelle, Magda and Peter shelter the winter at the mountain estate of Ardais, home to Rohana, her husband and children, including the aggressive and intimidating Kyril Ardais, for whom the bandits originally mistook Peter when kidnapping him. In this section, Jaelle chooses to become freemate to Peter, and questions both her choice to become a Renunciate at a young age, and her decision to ignore her developing laran. By the end of this section, the two women and Peter return to Thendara, where Jaelle is forced to face her responsibility as an heir to a comyn domain with powerful and untrained laran, and Magda must choose whether she honours her oath to the Renunciates and to her now-dear friend Jaelle or returns to the Terran zone to continue her work as translator and agent. By the end of the novel, Jaelle has chosen to live with Peter as freemates in the Terran zone in Thendara, fulfilling Magda's role as translator and honouring her responsibility to her employers. Magda has chosen to seek out her Renunciate training at the Thendara Guildhouse, to remain cloistered in a house-bound year where she must learn what it means to renounce the traditional place of a woman in Darkovan society. |
To Have and to Hold | Mary Johnston | null | To Have and to Hold is the story of an English soldier, Ralph Percy, turned Virginian explorer in colonial Jamestown. Ralph buys a wife for himself - a girl named Jocelyn Leigh - little knowing that she is the escaping ward of King James I, fleeing a forced marriage to Lord Carnal. Jocelyn hardly loves Ralph - indeed, she seems to abhor him. Carnal, Jocelyn's husband-to-be eventually comes to Jamestown, not knowing that Ralph Percy and Jocelyn Leigh are man and wife. Lord Carnal attempts to kidnap Jocelyn several times and eventually follows Ralph, Jocelyn, and their two companions - Jeremy Sparrow, the Separatist minister, and Diccon, Ralph's servant - as they escape from the King's orders to arrest Ralph and carry Jocelyn back to England. The boat that they are in, however, crashes on a desert island, but they are accosted by pirates, who, after a short struggle, agree to take Ralph as their captain, after he pretends to be the pirate "Kirby". The pirates gleefully play on with Ralph's masquerade, until he refuses to allow them to rape and pillage those on board Spanish ships. The play is up when the pirates see an English ship off the coast of Florida. Ralph refuses to fire upon it, knowing that it carries the new Virginian governor, Sir Francis Wyatt, but the pirates open fire, and Jeremy Sparrow, before the English ship can be destroyed, purposefully crashes the ship into a reef. The pirates are all killed, but the Englishmen (and woman) are rescued by the Governor's ship. Ralph is put on trial on board the ship as a pirate, after Lord Carnal tells the Governor that he ordered the destruction of the ship, but Jocelyn, having come to love Ralph, speaks for him. Her words are so persuasive that the Governor believes her and frees Ralph. They return to Virginia, though Ralph is forced to remain in a gaol - King's orders. Ralph is lured into a trap, though, by Lord Carnal and is subsequently captured by Indians - but not before putting up a fight and seeing Lord Carnal terribly wounded. The brother of Pocahontas, the Indian Nantauquas, rescues him and Diccon, but only to inform them that all the Virginian Indians plan to massacre the Jamestown settlers. As they are on their way back to Jamestown, Diccon is shot and killed by a hostile Indian, and Ralph is left alone to brave his way back. Returning to the colony, he gives his information, only to be told that Jocelyn had made her way to the forest in search of him after his absence was noticed, with Jeremy Sparrow, and that they had not been found. It is also discovered that Lord Carnal has taken poison and will die within a week. Jamestown is saved, thanks to Ralph's almost-too-late warning, and after things are stabilized, Ralph goes in search of Jocelyn and the minister. After a long and seemingly fruitless search, Nantauquas himself, though he had turned traitor, leads Ralph to where Jocelyn is staying. The two are reunited, and at the end of the story intend to go to England, where Jocelyn's lands have been restored to her and they can finally live in peace. To Have and to Hold was revised and edited by Josh and Sarah Wean for the four-hundredth anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. It is sold in this edition by the Christian company, Vision Forum Inc. |
The Historian | Elizabeth Kostova | 2,005 | The Historian interweaves the history and folklore of Vlad Ţepeş, a 15th-century prince of Wallachia known as "Vlad the Impaler", and his fictional equivalent Count Dracula together with the story of Paul, a professor; his 16-year-old daughter; and their quest for Vlad's tomb. The novel ties together three separate narratives using letters and oral accounts: that of Paul's mentor in the 1930s, that of Paul in the 1950s, and that of the narrator herself in the 1970s. The tale is told primarily from the perspective of Paul's daughter, who is never named. Part I opens in 1972 Amsterdam. The narrator finds an old vellum-bound book with a woodcut of a dragon in the center associated with Dracula. When she asks her father Paul about it, he tells her how he found the handmade book in his study carrel when he was a graduate student in the 1950s. Paul took the book to his mentor, Professor Bartholomew Rossi, and was shocked to find that Rossi had found a similar handmade book when he was a graduate student in the 1930s. As a result, Rossi researched Ţepeş, the Dracula myth surrounding him, and the mysterious book. Rossi traveled as far as Istanbul; however, the appearance of curious characters and unexplained events caused him to drop his investigation and return to his graduate work. Rossi gives Paul his research notes and informs him that he believes Dracula is still alive. The bulk of the novel focuses on the 1950s timeline, which follows Paul's adventures. After meeting with Paul, Rossi disappears; smears of blood on his desk and the ceiling of his office are the only traces that remain. Certain that something unfortunate has befallen his advisor, Paul begins to investigate Dracula. While in the university library he meets a young, dark-haired woman reading a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula. She is Helen Rossi, the daughter of Bartholomew Rossi, and she has become an expert on Dracula. Paul attempts to convince her that one of the librarians is trying to prevent their research into Dracula, but she is unpersuaded. Later, the librarian attacks and bites Helen. Paul intervenes and overpowers him, but he wriggles free. The librarian is then run over by a car in front of the library and apparently killed. Upon hearing her father's story, the narrator becomes interested in the mystery and begins researching Dracula as she and her father travel across Europe during the 1970s. Although he eventually sends her home, she does not remain there. After finding letters addressed to her that reveal he has left on a quest to find her mother (previously believed to be dead), she sets out to find him. As is slowly made clear in the novel, Helen is the narrator's mother. The letters continue the story her father has been telling her. The narrator decides to travel to a monastery where she believes her father might be. Part II begins as the narrator reads descriptions of her father and Helen's travels through Eastern Europe during the 1950s. While on their travels, Helen and Paul conclude that Rossi might have been taken by Dracula to his tomb. They travel to Istanbul to find the archives of Sultan Mehmed II, which Paul believes contain information regarding the location of the tomb. They fortuitously meet Professor Turgut Bora from Istanbul University, who has also discovered a book similar to Paul's and Rossi's. He has access to Mehmed's archive, and together they unearth several important documents. They also see the librarian who was supposedly killed in the United States – he has survived because he is a vampire and he has continued following Helen and Paul. Helen shoots the vampire librarian but misses his heart and consequently, he does not die. From Istanbul, Paul and Helen travel to Budapest, Hungary, to further investigate the location of Dracula's tomb and to meet with Helen's mother, who they believe may have knowledge of Rossi – the two had met during his travels to Romania in the 1930s. For the first time Helen hears of her mother and Rossi's torrid love affair. Paul and Helen learn much, for example that Helen's mother, and therefore Helen herself and the narrator, are descendants of Vlad Ţepeş. Part III begins with a revelation by Turgut Bora that leads the search for Dracula's tomb to Bulgaria. He also reveals that he is part of an organization formed by Sultan Mehmed II from the elite of the Janissaries to fight the Order of the Dragon, an evil consortium later associated with Dracula. In Bulgaria, Helen and Paul seek the assistance of a scholar named Anton Stoichev. Through information gained from Stoichev, Helen and Paul discover that Dracula is most likely buried in the Bulgarian monastery of Sveti Georgi. After many difficulties Paul and Helen discover the whereabouts of Sveti Georgi. Upon reaching the monastery they find Rossi's interred body in the crypt and are forced to drive a silver dagger through his heart to prevent his full transformation into a vampire. Before he dies, he reveals that Dracula is a scholar and has a secret library. Rossi has written an account of his imprisonment in this library and hidden it there. Paul and Helen are pursued to the monastery by political officials and by the vampire librarian – all of them are seeking Dracula's tomb, but it is empty when they arrive. Paul and Helen move to the United States, marry, and Helen gives birth to the narrator. However, she becomes depressed a few months afterwards. She later confesses that she feared the taint of the vampiric bite that she acquired earlier would infect her child. The family travels to Europe in an attempt to cheer her up. When they visit the monastery Saint-Matthieu-des-Pyrénées-Orientales, Helen feels Dracula's presence and is compelled to jump off a cliff. Landing on grass, she survives and decides to hunt him down and kill him in order to rid herself of his threat and her fears. When the narrator arrives at Saint-Matthieu-des-Pyrénées-Orientales, she finds her father. Individuals mentioned throughout the 1970s timeline converge in a final attempt to defeat Dracula. He is seemingly killed by a silver bullet fired into his heart by Helen. In the epilogue, which takes place in 2008, the narrator attends a conference of medievalists in Philadelphia, and stops at a library with an extensive collection of material related to Dracula. She accidentally leaves her notes and the attendant rushes out and returns them to her, as well as a book with a dragon printed in the center, revealing that either Dracula is still alive or one of his minions is imitating the master. |
The Shadow of the Torturer | Gene Wolfe | 1,980 | Severian, an apprentice in the torturers' guild, barely survives a swim in the River Gyoll. On his way back to the Citadel Severian and several other apprentices sneak into a necropolis where Severian first encounters Vodalus, the legendary revolutionary. Vodalus, along with two others, including a woman named Thea, are robbing a grave. Vodalus and his companions are confronted by volunteer guards. Severian saves Vodalus's life, earning his trust and the reward of a single "gold" coin. Shortly after Severian is elevated to journeyman he encounters and falls in love with Thecla, a beautiful aristocratic prisoner. Thecla's crime is never made clear, though it is ultimately implied that she is imprisoned for political reasons. Thecla's sister is Thea, Vodalus's lover, and the Autarch (ruler of the Commonwealth) wishes to use Thecla to capture Vodalus. When finally Thecla is put to torture, Severian takes pity on her and helps her commit suicide, by smuggling a knife into her cell, thus breaking his oath to the guild. Though Severian expects to be tortured and executed, instead the head of the guild is uncharacteristically forgiving and dispatches Severian to Thrax, a distant city which has need of an executioner. Master Palaemon gives Severian a letter of introduction to the archon of the city and Terminus Est, a magnificent executioner's sword. He departs the guild headquarters, traveling through the decaying city of Nessus. He finally comes upon an inn, where he forces the innkeeper to take him in despite being full and is asked to share a room with other boarders. This is where he first meets Baldanders and Dr. Talos, travelling as mountebanks, who invite Severian to join them in a play to be performed the same day. During breakfast, Dr. Talos manages to recruit the waitress for his play and they set out into the streets. Not intending to participate, Severian parts with the group and stops at a rag shop to purchase a mantle to hide his fuligin cloak (the uniform of his guild, which inspires terror in common folk). The shop is owned by a twin brother and sister, and the brother immediately takes interest in Terminus Est. Severian refuses to sell the sword, shortly after which a masked and armoured hipparch enters the shop and challenges Severian to a duel. Severian is forced to accept, and he departs with the sister, Agia, to secure an avern, a deadly plant that is used for dueling. While on their way, urged by Agia's bet to a passing fiacre, their driver crashes into and destroys the altar of a religious order, where Agia is accused of stealing a precious artifact. After Agia is searched and released, they continue their journey to the Botanic Gardens, a large landmark of Nessus created by the mysterious Father Inire, right hand to the Autarch. Inside the gardens, Severian falls into a lake used to inter the dead, and while pulling himself out he finds a young woman named Dorcas to have come up from the lake as well. Dazed and confused, the woman follows Severian and Agia. Severian secures the avern and the group proceeds to an inn near the dueling grounds. While eating dinner, Severian receives a mysterious note warning about one of the women. After dinner, Severian meets with his challenger, and though stabbed by the avern he miraculously survives and finds that his challenger was the male owner of the rag shop, Agia's brother. When Severian wakes again, he finds himself to be in a lazaret. After finding Dorcas and identifying himself, he is requested to perform an execution as a carnifex. The prisoner turns out to be his challenger, Agia's brother, whom he executes. Severian and Dorcas return to their travels and while searching his belongings, Severian finds the Claw of the Conciliator. Apparently Agia stole the Claw from the altar they destroyed and placed it in Severian's belongings knowing that she would be searched. Eventually Severian and Dorcas encounter Dr. Talos and Baldanders, who are almost ready to perform the play they had invited Severian to that morning. Severian assists in the play, and the next day the group sets out toward the great gate leading out of Nessus. When they are at the gate, there is suddenly a commotion and the narration abruptly ends. |
The Claw of the Conciliator | Gene Wolfe | 1,981 | The book continues shortly after the previous installment left off, skipping only Severian's journey from the gate of Nessus to the nearby town of Saltus. Having been separated from the rest of the group he was traveling with, Severian pauses his search for them here as he is given an opportunity to practice his art (in this case, execution) on two people. The first was found to be a servant of Vodalus, a revolutionary and traitor to the commonwealth. As the man is dragged out of his home by a mob, Severian glimpses Agia in the crowd, a woman who with her twin brother had tried to swindle and then kill Severian to get his priceless executioner's sword. Severian executed the brother at the request of the local authorities. Severian searches for her at the town fair but instead has a conversation with a man whose skin is green, held prisoner in a tent as a sideshow attraction. The green man tells Severian he is from the future. Severian takes pity on him and gives him a piece of his whetstone so that he can free himself by grinding through his chains, thus recalling his mercy to Thecla, another prisoner, in the first book. He does not find Agia and instead returns to town where he later executes a woman accused of being a witch. Eating dinner with his friend Jonas (whom he met at the gate at Nessus) that evening, he finds a letter from Thecla asking him to meet her at a nearby cave. In the cave, Severian encounters and barely escapes a group of man-apes. The light from the Claw (a relic he accidentally had come into the possession of, which had previously been held by a religious order) stops the man-apes' attack, but it also seems to wake an unknown creature somewhere in the cave, who is only heard and not seen. Severian has little time to ponder this as he escapes, only to be attacked by Agia and her assassins outside the cave. One of the attackers is killed by one of the man-apes, who had its hand cut off in the battle. When Severian brings out the Claw its wound is healed. Severian lets Agia go and returns to Saltus, where he and Jonas are taken by Vodalus. Vodalus recalls that Severian saved his life and allows Severian to enter his service. Severian and Jonas attend a dinner with Vodalus where they consume the dead Thecla's flesh, which, when combined with an alien substance, allows Thecla's memories to live within Severian. Given the task to deliver a message to a servant in the House Absolute, the Autarch's seat of power, Severian and Jonas set off to the north. They are attacked by a flying creature who feeds on the heat and life force of living beings, and barely escape. A nearby soldier patrolling the area is killed by the creature (now divided into three separate individuals after being cut by Severian's sword), but is then revived by the claw. They are then captured by guards of the House Absolute and thrown into an antechamber designed to hold prisoners indefinitely. Severian's claw heals a wound Jonas receives during the night they spend there; then the pair escape some unknown horror using a pass phrase to open a secret door—Severian remembers the phrase using Thecla's memory within him. Walking the corridors of House Absolute, Jonas is revealed to be a robot who once crash landed on earth and is now partly covered by human flesh, and steps into a mirror and disappears, promising to return for Jolenta when he is healed. Severian is lost and eventually encounters the Autarch himself, to whom he swears service, upon being shown a portal to another universe. Stumbling into the gardens of the House Absolute, Severian is reunited with Dorcas, Dr. Talos, and Baldanders, who are preparing to once again perform the play they put on in Nessus in the first book. Severian participates again, but the play is cut short as Baldanders flies into a rage and attacks the audience, revealing that aliens are among them. The band is scattered and Severian finds them a ways away the next morning, heading north. Talos and Baldanders part ways with Severian and Dorcas at a crossroad, Severian heading toward Thrax and the giant and his physician headed toward Lake Diaturna. The waitress Jolenta tries to have Talos take her with him, but he has no more use for her now that the plays were no longer necessary, and Severian is forced to take her. As they head north, Jolenta is attacked by a "blood bat" and becomes ill. It is revealed that she had been scientifically altered by Dr. Talos to be gorgeous and desirable, but is quickly becoming sickly and unattractive. Soon the trio meets an old farmer who tells them they must pass through an enigmatic stone city to get to Thrax. Upon arriving at the ruinous city, Severian sees a pair of witches initiate a dream-like event in which ghostly dancers of the stone town's past fill the area and engage with the witch's' servant, who is actually Vodalus's lieutenant Hildegrin. The book ends with Dorcas and Severian emerging from a stupor in the stone town, Jolenta dead and the witches and Hildegrin gone. |
Subsets and Splits
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