Datasets:

richardg

/

plotify2_text

like 0

<|childrens|>Banford and March live on a farm together because it does not look like they will marry . Although they are only in their late twenties , in that era women who were still single at their age were generally considered to have foregone the prospect of marriage . Banford is thin and frail , in contrast to her companion who is physically masculine . However particular emphasis is given to March s face , which is feminine and expressive . The women are depicted as fearful of femininity and fertility . For example , they sell a heifer before it calves . The fox becomes a hindrance to Banford and March , but March finds she cannot hunt it , and rather , she becomes entranced by it . Shortly after this , Henry , a young man , comes to stay with the women , and a link is established between the fox and Henry . This intriguing novella explores gender roles , sexuality , femininity , and the pity of war , as do two other Lawrence novellas written at the same time , The Ladybird and The Captain s Doll .

<|fantasy|>The story begins sometime in the 29th century on the planet Wilson orbiting Arcturus with a young man named Giraut and his romantic , swashbuckling friends , who are all members of the Nou Occitan culture and residents in the Quartier de Jovents , a sort of playground for teens and twenty somethings who have not yet moved on to the more grown up lifestyle of their parents . Technologically safeguarded , these young adults have swordfights in the streets with neuroducer épées and frequent the taverns of the Quartier , living in an imaginative recreation of Occitan literature and the trobador tradition . However , Giraut is forced to grow up much more quickly than most of his friends , because one day his friend Aimeric , who was , before coming to Wilson and becoming a jovent , an economist in the Caledon culture of the nearest inhabited planet , Nansen orbiting Mufrid , is called upon by the government to return to his home planet on a mission to regulate the effects of the springer on Caledonian economy . The springer is a method of instantaneous transportation which is quickly reuniting humanity across known space . Giraut decides to leave when he catches his girlfriend getting into the Interstellar arts scene the art is called sadoporn which is an acting out against the exclusive values and code of honor valued by Giraut and his friends . Thus , Aimeric and Giraut advise the rational council of the Caledonians to adjust their economy to that of the rest of the universe so that the springer will have as few adverse effects as possible . When the Caledonians decide that Aimeric and Giraut , as well as the Interstellar government , are trying to usurp their power , they begin to try to seize back control of everything , and an urban conflict ensues . Giraut discovers among the strife who he really is and begins to see how fake his life back home was , and recognize faults in his home culture .

<|mystery|>Kidnappers violently take the Secret Service chief M from his house and almost capture James Bond , who is visiting . Intent on rescuing M , Bond follows the clues to Vrakonisi , one of the Aegean Islands . In the process , Bond discovers the complex military political plans of Colonel Sun of the Chinese People s Liberation Army . Sun had been sent to sabotage a Middle East détente conference which the Soviet Union is hosting . He intends to attack the conference venue and use M and Bond s bodies to blame Great Britain for the disaster , leading to a world war . Bond meets Soviet agents in Athens and they realise that not only is a third country behind the kidnap , but that there is a traitor in the organisation . An attack on the Soviet headquarters kills all the agents except Ariadne Alexandrou , a Greek Communist . As he is dying , the Soviet leader encourages Bond and Ariadne to work together to prevent an international incident . Ariadne persuades Litsas , a former WW2 resistance fighter and friend of her late father to help them by telling him about the involvement in the plot of former Nazi , Von Richter . Trying to find M and Colonel Sun , Bond is nearly captured by the Russians , but is saved by Litsas . Finally , Bond finds Sun s headquarters , but is knocked out by one of Sun s men Bond learns that Von Richter will use a mortar to destroy the conference venue and that Bond will be tortured by Sun , before his inevitable demise . Sun tortures him brutally , until one of the girls at the house is ordered by Sun to caress Bond fondly . In the process she cuts one of Bond s hands free and provides him with a knife . She tells Sun that Bond is dead when examined Bond stabs Sun . He then frees other captives who help Bond stop Von Richter . However Sun survives the stab wound and kills several of the other escapees . Bond tracks down Sun and kills him in the confrontation . The Soviets thank Bond for saving their conference , offering him a medal for his work , which he politely turns down .

<|fantasy|>In the early part of the novel , set in London , other members of the expedition are featured . They appear in more detail in The Golden Ocean , another O Brian novel about the Anson expedition . The expedition is beset by storms while rounding of Cape Horn , the Wager is shipwrecked off the coast of Chile as their position could not be determined . The crew reject the authority of their officers , once the ship was wrecked and leave the captain , some officers and some other crew on the island when they sail away in a boat built from the wreck . The marooned officers make their way to a Spanish settlement with the help of the native people . The novel is based on the accounts of the survivors . Survivors from the lower deck made their way back to Britain long before the officers . The novel describes the crew members asserting that the officers had no authority over them , once their ship was wrecked .

<|fantasy|>The book s protagonist is Andrew Horne nicknamed Bear , a Russian born U . S . scientist , who works at West Wing on Project Beta , a secret government mind control project , which aims to perfect the art of brainwashing until it is possible to completely re make a person s mind and soul . The Project operates on hopeless cases from psychiatric wards , and prison volunteers who would otherwise be executed . The Project s first Remake having failed disastrously , it is decided to base the second Remake on the mind of Horne himself . The prison volunteer chosen for the Remake is a Black soldier , referred to as prisvol 233 234 , who has killed an officer and been sentenced to death . The project first uses ultrasound to destroy his access to his old memories , and then , having washed the slate clean , exposes him to immersive movie reenactments of Horne s childhood , college days , war service , and entry into the Project . As this is performed , the reader discovers that Horne himself was on the receiving end of torture and brainwashing in the Korean War , which he fought against by creating a false self which he betrays to the enemy the Lieutenant Kijé defense . At the end of this process , 233 234 , now known as Black Bear , is , for all intents and purposes , Andrew Horne in a new body . However , when Security realizes that Black Bear also has all of Horne s secret knowledge , and considers him a security risk , this sets off a chain of events where their mirror image identities will lead both Black Bear and Horne to East Wing in Russia .

<|fantasy|>A team visits fictional planet Ireta to survey its mineral wealth . Several anomalies are discovered . Before all can be explained the Heavyworlder muscle people mutiny .

<|fantasy|>The beginning of the book establishes the framework in which a 17th century gentleman , mourning the death of his beloved , Lady Mirdath , is given a vision of a far distant future where their souls will be re united , and sees the world of that time through the eyes of a future incarnation . The language and style used are intended to resemble that of the 17th century , though the prose has features characteristic of no period whatsoever the almost complete lack of dialogue and proper names , for example . Once into the book , the 17th century framing is mostly inconsequential . Instead , the story focuses on the future . The Sun has gone out and the Earth is lit only by the glow of residual vulcanism . The last few millions of the human race are gathered together in a gigantic metal pyramid , the Last Redoubt , under siege from unknown forces and Powers outside in the dark . These are held back by a Circle of energy , known as the air clog , powered from a subterranean energy source called the Earth Current . For millennia , vast living shapes the Watchers have waited in the darkness near the pyramid . It is thought they are waiting for the inevitable time when the Circle s power finally weakens and dies . Other living things have been seen in the darkness beyond , some of unknown origins , and others that may once have been human . To leave the protection of the Circle means almost certain death , or worse an ultimate destruction of the soul . As the story commences , the narrator establishes mind contact with an inhabitant of another , forgotten Lesser Redoubt . First one expedition sets off to succour the inhabitants of the Lesser Redoubt , whose own Earth Current has been exhausted , only to meet with disaster . After that the narrator sets off alone into the darkness to find the girl he has made contact with , knowing now that she is the reincarnation of his past love . At the conclusion of the adventure , the narrative does not return to the framework story , instead ending with the happy homecoming of the couple and his inauguration into the ranks of their most honored heroes . The term Abhuman was used by Hodgson in The Night Land to name apparently several different species of intelligent beings evolved from humans who interbred with alien species or adapted to changed environmental conditions and were seen as decayed or malign by those living inside the Last Redoubt , who preserved artificially to an unspecified extent their human characteristics , though they were not fit for the new environmental conditions .

<|fantasy|>Dr . Barbara is a disgraced doctor who forms a small band of environmentalists to attempt to save the albatross from nuclear testing by the French government on the remote Pacific island of St . Esprit . Neil , a naïve 16 year old , joins the group and the story is told from his perspective . During an illegal landing on the island , Neil is caught on film being shot in the foot by a French soldier . The subsequent news coverage makes Neil , and their environmental campaign , media celebrities . This allows a return visit to the island with a larger and more eccentric group of campaigners . Whilst attempting to land , a French navy frigate collides with their boat . This event is broadcast live to the world by the cameraman who dies in the collision . The subsequent adverse news coverage causes the French to leave the campaigners unmolested on the island . The coverage also leads to a deluge of gifts from well wishers all over the world , a steady stream of visitors and a growing collection of endangered animals which are meant to use the island as sanctuary . Visitors include a representative from Club Med who investigates whether the island can be turned into a resort . These excesses cause Dr . Barbara to manipulate Neil and other residents to commit ever greater acts of sabotage to cut themselves off from the outside world . Gradually , the male residents of the island except Neil become ill and slowly die under the care of Dr . Barbara . As fewer able bodied residents are left , the endangered animals they are supposed to be saving are killed and eaten . Slowly , Neil realises that his role is to father as many children as possible from the female residents . As more visitors arrive on the island , the female members stay and the male members disappear . When another young man arrives on the island , Neils role as stud is in jeopardy and he too becomes ill whilst the new arrival is kept healthy . Slowly , over the course of the story , the environmentalists change from being the sane ones in an insane world into total insanity as Dr . Barbara s all female paradise is constructed . Neil and the remaining residents are rescued in the nick of time by the French navy after a couple who only just manages to escape alerts the authorities to what is really happening on the island .

<|fantasy|>The Empire of Nilfgaard attacks and overwhelms the Kingdom of Cintra . Queen Calanthe of Cintra commits suicide and her granddaughter , Cirilla , called Ciri , or Lion Cub of Cintra somehow flees from the burning capital city . Emhyr var Emreis , Emperor of Nilfgaard , sends his spies to find her . He knows that this young girl has great importance , not only because of her royal blood , but also because of her magical potential and elven blood in her veins . The girl is protected by Geralt of Rivia , a witcher a magically and genetically mutated monster slayer for hire , and also a man whose destiny is bound with that of Ciri . Aided by several others including the famous bard Dandilion and a powerful sorceress named Yennefer , Geralt quickly learns of a man named Rience who is hunting Ciri relentlessly , aided by some powerful and influential allies . As she learns the ways of both a witcher and a magic user , Ciri and those around her begin to realise that almost everybody wishes to either use her for her mysterious power or kill her so that such a power cannot become wielded by others .

<|childrens|>Everyone Poops is essentially plotless . The first sixteen pages contain various prompts regarding defecation in animals such as opposites An elephant makes a big poop and a mouse makes a tiny poop , comparisons that various species produce various sizes and shapes of poop and questions What does whale poop look like ? . On the seventeenth page , a nameless boy with black overalls and a red shirt is introduced , seen running into a bathroom . The book then goes on to explain how people of all ages , from adult to very young child , defecate , and how infants may use diapers . After that , there are only three more illustrations that lack the nameless overall clad boy . On the next page of the book , the child uses toilet paper and flushes the toilet . The final portion of the book explains that because every animal eats , it must therefore defecate , and the book ends with rear views of the boy and six different animals defecating and the words Everyone Poops .

<|fantasy|>After the cliffhanger ending of The Dragonbone Chair , we find that Simon , the scullion turned warrior , has wrested the legendary sword Thorn from the frozen lair of Igjarjuk , the ice dragon . The dragon s blood , scalding his face and turning some of his hair white , earns him the new name Simon Snowlock , but while his scars may brand him as a dragonslayer , he s much the same young man he was before . As Simon recovers from his wound , Binabik the troll and Sludig the Rimmersman are being tried for crimes against the Qanuc people . Sludig s crime is merely being a Rimmersman , a traditional enemy of the Qanuc , while Binabik is charged with abandoning his fiancée , Sisqi , before marriage . Jiriki , a Sithi prince who owes Simon several favors , isn t inclined to help Simon free his imprisoned friends . Eventually , Simon does manage to free Binabik and Sludig , where the friends head south to deliver Thorn to Prince Josua . Meanwhile , the exiled prince Josua and his ragged band of survivors flee from the ruins of Naglimund . They head for Aldheorte Forest , trying to escape the swords and arrows of their enemies , all the while trying to reach the Stone of Farewell , where the League of the Scroll believes they will be able to regroup and recuperate . Elsewhere , Josua s niece Miriamele is traveling undercover in the dubious company of the monk Cadrach , a drunken sot . Daughter of the evil King Elias , she is at constant risk of being discovered and captured . Duke Isgrimnur , also having gone undercover , hopes to find Miriamele and return her to her uncle Josua before she is harmed or captured , either by her father or by others . At the same time , Maegwin , the Hernystiri princess , teeters between desperation and insanity while searching deep in the earth for some salvation for her refugee people . After surviving many perils , Simon becomes the only mortal to enter Jao e Tinukai i , last refuge of the Sithi . The band led by Prince Josua , though betrayed by the chieftain of the nomadic Thrithings folk , eventually reaches the Stone of Farewell , where they wait for the arrival of Simon and the blade Thorn . As King Elias consolidates his power , the Storm King s blight brings permanent winter to most of Osten Ard , and the remaining defenders ready for a decisive battle at the Stone .

<|fantasy|>The story begins with the forces of Prince Josua Lackhand rallied at the Stone of Farewell , where the icy hand of the Storm King Ineluki has yet to take a deathgrip on the land . The remaining members of the League of the Scroll have also gathered at the Stone in hopes of unraveling an ancient prophecy . If deciphered , it could reveal to Josua and his army the only means of striking down the unslayable Storm King . After Simon and Binabik have their reunion , they come to the realization that Memory one of the three Great Swords recognized as being key to defeating the Storm King is one and the same with Bright Nail , old King John s sword that was buried with him not three years previously . The trouble is , the grave of King John Presbyter lies in the shadow of the Hayholt , the stronghold of King Elias , and between the Stone of Farewell and Hayholt marches the army Elias has sent to besiege the defenders . Meanwhile , Miriamele , Elias s daughter who has joined Josua s cause , is an unhappy prisoner on the ship of a lascivious and ambitious lordling to whom which she has surrendered her virtue knowing only too late of his true nature . Another princess , Maegwin of Hernystir , falls deeper into madness , leading her people in a seemingly futile resistance against Elias s allies who have conquered her kingdom , and deep in the ancient forest of Aldheorte , the immortal Sithi are mustering for a final conflict . While Josua and his army must make a final stand to try to delay the forces of King Elias , Simon embarks upon a quest to Hayholt to try to obtain the last of the three legendary swords and use their hidden magics to defeat The Storm King Ineluki and restore peace to Osten Ard once and for all .

<|novel|>Annie Daisy Miller and Frederick Winterbourne first meet in Vevey , Switzerland , in a garden of the grand hotel where Winterbourne is vacationing from his alleged studies although an attachment to an older lady is rumoured . They are introduced by Randolph Miller , Daisy s 9 year old brother . Randolph considers their hometown of Schenectady , New York , to be absolutely superior to all of Europe . Daisy , however , is absolutely delighted with the continent , especially the high society which she wishes to enter . Winterbourne is at first confused by her attitude , although greatly impressed by her beauty , but soon determines that she is nothing more than a young flirt . He continues his pursuit of Daisy in spite of the disapproval of his aunt Mrs . Costello , who spurns any family with so close a relationship to their courier as the Millers have with their Eugenio . She also thinks Daisy is a shameless girl for agreeing to visit the Château de Chillon with Winterbourne after they have known each other for only half an hour . Winterbourne then informs Daisy that he must go to Geneva the next day . Daisy feels disappointment and chaffs him , eventually asking him to visit her in Rome later that year . In Rome , Winterbourne and Daisy meet unexpectedly in the parlor of Mrs . Walker , an American expatriate . Her moral values have become adapted to those of Italian society . Rumors about Daisy meeting with young Italian gentlemen make her socially exceptionable under these criteria . Winterbourne learns of Daisy s increasing intimacy with a young Italian of questionable society , Giovanelli , as well as the growing scandal caused by the pair s behavior . Daisy is undeterred by the open disapproval of the other Americans in Rome , and her mother seems quite unaware of the underlying tensions . Winterbourne and Mrs . Walker attempt to persuade Daisy to separate from Giovanelli , but she refuses any help that is offered . One night , Winterbourne takes a walk through the Colosseum and , at its center , sees a young couple sitting there . He realizes that they are Giovanelli and Daisy . Winterbourne , infuriated with Giovanelli , asks him how he could dare to take Daisy to a place where she runs the risk of Roman Fever . Daisy says she does not care and Winterbourne leaves them . Daisy falls ill , and dies a few days later .

<|fantasy|>The story takes place in 2048 , 51 years after scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory develop the ultimate weapon , a force field generating device they term a Bobbler . The bureaucracy running the Laboratory use it to enforce an end to conventional warfare triggering a brief war in the process , calling themselves the Peace Authority . The Bobbler creates a perfectly spherical , impenetrable , and persistent shield around or through anything , and is used to contain nuclear weapons , people , and occasionally entire cities or governments , separating them from the rest of the world and presumably killing everyone inside by eventual suffocation and lack of sunlight . In an effort to retain their monopoly on this weapon , they make technological progress illegal , and their power and fear of rebellion corrupts them . In this world , governments are weak , where they are permitted at all the Peace Authority is the true bearer of power and becomes a worldwide government . A group of rebels , the Tinkers , develop technology clandestinely far beyond what the Authority has while limited to riding horseback and other Authority mandated anachronisms , but still has no defense against the bobble . One of the original inventors of the bobble is part of the resistance , and he develops a more advanced version of the bobbler which does not require the huge electrical power sources available only to the Peace Authority . It is discovered by the Tinkers and much later by the Peace Authority that the bobbles are actually not force fields , but stasis fields within which time has stopped . So not only are the contents perfectly preserved , but they open spontaneously after a certain time period . The Tinkers use their knowledge and the Peacers ignorance of this effect to their advantage bobbling themselves for short time periods , for instance , and with the help of a young thief and mathematical genius , they lead a rebellion to try to bobble the power generators of the Peace Authority and thus neutralize its primary weapon .

<|novel|>During World War II , the Greek Mediterranean island of Crete was occupied by the Nazis . British officers Major Patrick Leigh Fermor DSO Dirk Bogarde and Captain Bill Stanley Moss MC David Oxley of the Special Operations Executive SOE land on the island . With the help of the local Cretan resistance in April 1944 , they kidnap German General Heinrich Kreipe Marius Goring , the commander of the island . They take Kreipe across rough country to a secluded cove on the far side of the island , where they are picked up and taken to Cairo , where British forces are stationed .

<|mystery|>The world of James Bond is introduced to the ruthless terrorist organization called The Union , whose brutal trademark is slashing the throat of those who cross them . Bond and his girlfriend Helena are attending a dinner party thrown by the Governor of The Bahamas . The Governor , who has a gambling debt with a member of The Union , has refused to pay up since he feels that he had been cheated , so there is much security detail at the event . However , the assassin disguises himself as one of the guards and kills the Governor , just as Bond realizes the danger . Bond almost catches the assassin but he commits suicide before he can be interrogated . A top secret British formula hidden in microfilm , codenamed Skin 17 , is stolen by traitors scientist Steven Harding and RAF officer Roland Marquis . The microdot is surgically implanted in the pacemaker of an unhealthy old man , who is a former Chinese intelligence agent . James Bond is sent in to recover it before the Union can sell the microfilm to a foreign power . Bond tracks Harding and the Chinese ex agent to Belgium , but the latter two slip away while Bond narrowly kills Harding s bodyguard Basil . MI6 tracks the Chinese man to Nepal . It turns out , however , that Harding planned to double cross the Union , by having the plane of the pacemaker s host hijacked . Le Gerrant , the blind leader of The Union , immediately deduces Harding s double cross and has him executed Harding s body later washes up on the beaches of Gibraltar . The plane containing the pacemaker s host crashed into the Himalayas , so a deadly race commences to recover Skin 17 . Bond , sexy mountaineer Hope Kendal , and Roland Marquis , also Bond s schoolboy days rival , lead one of the expeditions . Early on , they successfully destroy the Chinese base camp , forcing that team to withdraw . Not long after , however , everyone on the British expedition has been killed , save for Bond , Hope , and Marquis . The race climaxes with Bond battling Marquis atop the peak of Kangchenjunga . It turns out that Marquis had collaborated with Harding to steal Skin 17 , though they were not planning to sell it to The Union . After a physical high elevation fight , Bond trades oxygen to receive Skin 17 from a mortally wounded Marquis . As Bond and Hope return to base camp , they realize that it has been infiltrated by The Union as Paul Baack , having earlier faked his death while killing the rest of the team , demands Skin 17 . Bond and Hope manage to kill Baack and Skin 17 is returned to the British . Bond s now estranged girlfriend Helena reveals herself to be in the employ of The Union due to blackmail and threats of violence to her family . However , she is killed just before Bond can reach her . Locations where the book takes place include The Bahamas London , Buckinghamshire , Hampshire England Belgium Delhi , India Morocco Nepal Mt . Kangchenjunga Brighton , England

<|mystery|>DoubleShot , the second novel in Raymond Benson s Union trilogy , again sets James Bond , 007 against the evil terrorist organization called the Union . Still smarting from their last encounter with 007 when he foiled their plans to get Skin 17 in High Time to Kill , the Union has decided that Britain and James Bond are their new number one priority , and targets . Coming up with an elaborate plan to plunge Britain into war and destroy Bond s reputation in the process , the Union sets up their scheme . Domingo Espada , a Spanish Nationalist Gangster Ex Matador who wishes to see Gibraltar returned to Spain from Britain , is approached by Nadir Yassasin , the Union s master strategist , as the centrepiece to their plan . They plan to help Espada forcefully take control of Gibraltar , killing the British Prime Minister and the Governor of Gibraltar , and having a Bond Double do it , thus ruining Bond s career and life . But first , through an elaborate series of events , they convince Bond he is losing his mind , and force him to investigate these happenings on his own , without approval from M or SIS . Since Bond s return from the Himalayas , he begins experiencing terrible headaches , hallucinations , and black outs . This leads him to Dr . Kimberly Feare . She diagnoses a lesion on the back of Bond s skull that is causing these symptoms . After getting Dr . Feare in bed , Bond wakes up to find her murdered , her throat slit ear to ear , the Union s mark . This causes Bond to leave England . Bond s trek takes him from England to Tangier , where he encounters the Taunt twins , Heidi and Hedy , CIA agents asked by M to bring him back to London . Here Bond finds the connection between the Union and Espada , and that he has some part in the Union s plan . Convincing M and the Taunts to play out his hand , Bond goes to Spain . On arrival in Spain , he encounters Margareta Piel , Espada s female assassin and a member of the Union . Followed closely by the climax of Bond vs . his double in Espada s practice bullfighting ring , and the culmination of the Union s plot at the Gibraltar peace conference , Bond takes his double s place and along with the Taunt twins , prevent the assassinations , kills Espada , Piel , Jimmy Powers a high ranking American in the Union , and their number one expert in stealth and tailing , and captures Yassasin , foiling the Union s plans once again .

<|novel|>When a female agent in Mexico is killed before Helm can complete his mission to extract her , he finds himself teamed up with the woman s sister as he fights to save the lives of a number of scientists and Congressmen .

<|childrens|>Rudolf Dolf Hefting is a fourteen year old who volunteers for an experiment with a time machine . The experiment goes well , but through an accident Dolf is stranded in the 13th century . He saves the life of Leonardo Fibonacci , without realizing who he is , and teaches him Arabic numerals . Together they join the German Children s Crusade , and through his modern day knowledge , Rudolph manages to save a lot of children from horrible fates . However , his knowledge also leads to accusations of witchcraft . In the book , two slavers delude a group of children into coming with them with stories of how the innocent shall liberate Jerusalem . Their actual intent is to sell them for profit . With the aid of his twentieth century knowledge and skepticism , and the aid of a magical device or two such as a box of matches , the boy manages to keep most of the children alive and eventually gets them to safety .

<|crime|>Smilla Qaaviqaaq Jaspersen , 37 year old product of the stormy union of a female Inuit hunter and a rich urban Danish physician , is a loner who struggles to live with her fractured heritage . Living alone in a dreary apartment complex in Christianshavn , Copenhagen , she befriends Isaiah , the neglected son of her alcoholic neighbour , because he too is Greenlandic and not truly at home in Denmark . Smilla s friendship with Isaiah , recounted in the novel in flashback , gives some meaning to her otherwise lonely life . Isaiah s sudden death is explained officially as a fall from the roof whilst playing , but Smilla s understanding of the tracks the child left on the snowy roof convinces her that this is untrue . She complains to the police and quickly encounters obstruction and hostility from the authorities and other sources . Working with Peter , a mechanic neighbour who had also known and liked Isaiah , and with whom she begins an affair despite her fear of dependency , Smilla discovers that there is a conspiracy centred on Gela Alta , an isolated glaciated island off Greenland . Previous expeditions have found something there Isaiah s father was a diver who died on one of them , allegedly in an accident and now plans are afoot to return for it . Isaiah s death is linked to this conspiracy in some way . After a long journey of discovery in Copenhagen , during which she learns that the mechanic is not who he says he is , Smilla braves intimidation and threats and eventually gets on board the ship chartered for the mysterious expedition to Gela Alta , ostensibly as a stewardess . The final action takes place on the ship and the island . Smilla is held in deep suspicion by the ship s crew who turn out to be all in some way compromised and in the pay of the mysterious Tørk Hviid , who is the expedition s real leader . Despite repeated attempts on her life by crew members , who assume she is from the authorities , Smilla doggedly pursues the truth , even when she discovers that Peter has deceived and betrayed her . The secret of the island is revealed to be a meteorite embedded in the glacier , certainly uniquely valuable perhaps even alive in some way . However , the water surrounding it is infested with a lethal parasite related to the Guinea worm , which is what really killed Isaiah s father . Isaiah was forced off the roof because he had accompanied his father on the previous expedition and had evidence of the meteorite s location and the parasite itself was actually dormant in his body . When Smilla learns that Tørk Hviid had chased Isaiah off the roof to his death , she pursues him out onto the frozen sea . He tries to reach the ship and force it to sail away , but Smilla chases him , using her intuitive ice sense to head him off , out into isolation and danger . Here the novel ends .

<|action|>The novel begins with the death of a nun , Sister Miriam , who apparently starved herself to death in a ruined tower , known as the Tower of Ivory , which adjoins the grounds of the Convent of the Blessed Eleanor , a nunnery and an all girls school . The tower has specific significance to the order , as it was the original convent building . The tower and the ancient history of the order are recorded in the Treasury of the Blessed Eleanor , a manuscript which is referenced throughout the story . Though it is never stated explicitly , Blessed Eleanor is presumed to be Eleanor of Aquitaine , the once Queen of England . Television reporter Jemima Shore is an old school friend of Sister Miriam , who was also known as Rosabelle Powerstock and was heiress to the Powers fortune , one of the largest fortunes in Britain . Jemima is invited back to the convent by Reverend Mother Ancilla , where she uncovers a number of mysteries , including the suggestion that Miriam , whose family owned the convent lands , may have written a second will bequeathing them away from the Order , and into the hands of another charity . The tension builds when the girls at the convent school tell Jemima that the Black Nun a malevolent faceless spectre reputed to appear whenever a death is about to take place within the grounds was seen just prior to Sister Miriam s death , and has been sighted again .

<|novel|>John Peerybingle , a carrier , lives with his young wife Dot , their baby boy and their nanny Tilly Slowboy . A cricket constantly chirps on the hearth and acts as a guardian angel to the family . One day a mysterious elderly stranger comes to visit and takes up lodging at Peerybingle s house for a few days . The life of the Peerybingles intersects with that of Caleb Plummer , a poor toymaker employed by the miser Mr . Tackleton . Caleb has a blind daughter Bertha , and a son Edward , who traveled to South America and was thought dead . The miser Tackleton is now on the eve of marrying Edward s sweetheart , May , but she does not love Tackleton . Tackleton reveals to John Peerybingle that his wife Dot has allegedly cheated on him and shows him a clandestine scene where Dot embraces the mysterious lodger who is in disguise , a man much younger than he actually seems . John is cut to the heart over this as he loves his wife dearly , but decides after some deliberations to relieve his wife of their marriage contract . In the end , the mysterious lodger is revealed to be none other than Edward who has returned home in disguise . Dot shows that she indeed has been faithful to John . Edward marries May hours before she is scheduled to marry Tackleton . However Tackleton s heart is melted by the Christmas season , like Ebenezer Scrooge , and he surrenders May to her true love .

<|childrens|>Michael Strogoff , a 30 year old native of Omsk , is a courier for Tsar Alexander II of Russia . The Tartar Khan , Feofar , incites a rebellion and separates the Russian Far East from the mainland , severing telegraph lines . Rebels encircle Irkutsk , where the local governor , brother of the Tsar , is making a last stand . Strogoff is sent to Irkutsk to warn the governor about the traitor Ivan Ogareff . Ogareff , a former colonel , was once demoted and exiled and now seeks revenge against the royal family . He intends to destroy Irkutsk by setting fire to the huge oil storage tanks on the banks of the Angara River . On his way to Irkutsk , Strogoff meets Nadia Fedor , daughter of an exiled political prisoner , Basil Fedor , who has been granted permission to join her father at his exile in Irkutsk , the English war correspondent Harry Blount of the Daily Telegraph and Alcide Jolivet , a Frenchman reporting for his cousin Madeleine . Blount and Jolivet tend to follow the same route as Michael , separating and meeting again all the way through Siberia . He is supposed to travel under a false identity , but he is discovered by the Tartars when he meets his mother in their home city of Omsk . Michael , his mother and Nadia are eventually taken prisoner by the Tartar forces . Ivan Ogareff alleges that Michael is a spy . After opening the Koran at random , Feofar decides that Michael will be blinded as punishment in the Tartar fashion , with a hot blade . For several chapters the reader is led to believe that Michael was indeed blinded , but it transpires in fact that he was saved from this fate his tears at his mother evaporated and saved his corneas and was only pretending . Eventually , Michael and Nadia escape , and travel to Irkutsk with a friendly peasant . They are delayed by fire and the frozen river . However , they eventually reach Irkutsk , and warn the Tsar s brother in time of Ivan Ogareff . Nadia s father , who has been appointed commander of a suicide battalion , and later pardoned , joins them and Michael and Nadia are married .

<|novel|>Seventeen year old Cécile spends her summer in a villa on the French Riviera with her father and his mistress . Her father , Raymond , is a seductive , worldly , amoral man who has had many affairs . His latest woman friend is Elsa Mackenbourg she and Cécile get on well . When Elsa comes to the villa to spend her summer with Raymond , it is clear that she is the latest of many women whom Cécile has seen enter the life of her father and exit fairly quickly young , superficial , and fashionable . Raymond excuses his philandering with an Oscar Wilde quote about sin Sin is the only note of vivid colour that persists in the modern world . Cécile says , I believed that I could base my life on it , and accepts their lifestyle as typical . Cécile , at 17 , is still somewhat naive and tries to disguise this by attempting to attract men of the same age as her father . Her love life is unsuccessful until she meets a younger man , Cyril , with whom she has a romantic but ultimately dissatisfying relationship . Raymond , Elsa and Cécile are spending an uneventful summer together until Anne Larsen arrives by way of an earlier invitation from Raymond . A friend of Cécile s late mother , Anne is very different from Raymond s other girlfriends . She is cultured , educated , principled , intelligent , and is his age . Raymond eventually leaves Elsa for Anne , and the next morning Anne and Raymond announce their impending marriage . At first , Cécile admires Anne , but soon a struggle begins between Cécile and Anne for Raymond s attentions . The plot begins to focus on the relationship between the two women . Realizing that Anne will do away with their carefree lifestyle , Cécile devises a plan to prevent the marriage . She arranges for Elsa and Cyril to pretend to be a couple , and to appear together at specific moments in the hopes of making Raymond jealous of Cyril so that if Raymond decides he wants Elsa back , he ll leave Anne . Cécile is jealous and desperate for Anne to recognize the life she and her father have shared , but she misjudges Anne s sensitivity with tragic results . When Raymond finally relents and goes into town to see Elsa , Anne leaves , only to drive her car off a cliff in an apparent suicide after she sees Elsa and Raymond in the woods together . It is later known that they were kissing . Cécile and her father return to the empty , desultory life they were living before Anne interrupted their summer .

<|fantasy|>The protagonist , Art Berry , has been sent to an insane asylum as a result of a complex conspiracy . The novel takes place in a world where online tribes form , where all members set their circadian rhythms to the same time zone even though members may be physically located throughout the world . He works in London as a consultant for the Greenwich 0 tribe though he and his associate Fede are in fact double agents for the Eastern Standard Tribe . Despite his talents as a human experience engineer , he delivers subtly flawed proposals to them in order to undermine them and enable his own tribe to get a coveted contract . He meets a girl , Linda , after he hits her with his car at 3am . Art has an idea for peer to peer music sharing between automobiles , and plans to give it to the EST taking a cut to himself . However , his girlfriend meets his coworker , Fede , and they plan to double cross the EST and sell the idea to another tribe . Knowing Art won t approve of the plan , they do it behind his back . Fede later claims he would have cut Art in on the deal afterwards . However , Art figures out what is going on , and as a result they have him committed to an insane asylum to protect their plot . The book alternates between two points of view Art meeting Linda in London , and Art in the asylum . The London plot culminates in his attack on Fede when he discovers his betrayal . The asylum plot takes place after his attack on Fede , and culminates in his escape from the asylum and founding of a new company to market health care products using his inside knowledge of psychiatric institutions .

<|fantasy|>The novel intertwines the discovery of the chemical structure of DNA with the musicality of Johann Sebastian Bach s harpsichord composition , the Goldberg Variations . A similar theme is explored by Douglas Hofstadter in his 1979 book Gödel , Escher , Bach an Eternal Golden Braid . The title also alludes to Edgar Allan Poe s 1843 short story The Gold Bug , which is also incorporated in the plot of the novel . The plot hinges on two love affairs the first , set in the 1950s , between two scientists intent on discovering the mysteries of DNA the second , in the 1980s , between two lovers who befriend the scientist featured in the novel s flashbacks .

<|fantasy|>The Earth is visited by large , enigmatic alien spheres , who take up residence in colonies on several prairies and deserts across the world . They make visits to cities , factories and other areas of human activity , seemingly to merely float and observe . All attempts at communication are unsuccessful and despite the best efforts of mankind , no one is able to decipher their intentions . Some , however , have come in to close encounter with the aliens , and emerged dramatically altered beings . These people , called humanity prime , and dubbed primeys , are highly intelligent , can bend matter to their will , but are also , by human standards , quite , quite mad . Algernon Hebster is a highly successful businessman , owing mostly to his dealings with primeys , who supply him with the knowledge for advanced technologies which he puts to use in commerce . The problem is that primeys are so dangerous that dealing with them is highly illegal and every attempt is made to confine them to the reservations around their perceived alien masters .

<|fantasy|>Travis was born in 1900 , yet he has not aged since 1919 , because he accidentally called up a demon from hell named Catch as his servant , presumably forever . Ever since then , Travis has been trying to get rid of Catch , but he is unable to do so because he has lost the repository of the necessary incantations . He traces their whereabouts to a fictional town called Pine Cove , along Big Sur coast , where he thinks the woman he gave them to may be residing . Interactions with the townspeople and with a djinn , who is pursuing Catch , create considerable complications . Several characters from this novel continue their lives in later novels by Moore in addition , the setting of Pine Cove itself is revisited for The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove and The Stupidest Angel . The fictional town of Pine Cove is described as being within easy driving distance of San Luis Obispo , California , and seems to be modeled after the town of Cambria , California .

<|romance|>The protagonist Yang Guo is the orphaned son of the first novel s antagonist Yang Kang . He is raised briefly by the couple Guo Jing and Huang Rong he is sent to the Quanzhen Sect for better guidance in moral values and orthodox martial arts . In Quanzhen , Yang Guo is often picked on and bullied by his fellow students and his master Zhao Zhijing is biased against him . Yang Guo flees and ventures unknowingly into the nearby Tomb of the Living Dead , where the Ancient Tomb Sect is housed . He is saved by Xiaolongnü , a mysterious maiden of unknown origin , and becomes her apprentice . They live together in the tomb for many years until Yang Guo grows up . After being attacked by Li Mochou , they leave the tomb and stay on the mountain . Xiaolongnü develops romantic feelings for Yang Guo and after a while , he too falls in love with her . However , their romance is forbidden by doctrines of the Confucianist society of that time . Throughout the story , their love meets with several tests , such as the misunderstandings that threaten to tear them apart and the encounter with Gongsun Zhi . Finally , after their reunion and marriage , Xiaolongnü leaves Yang Guo again , owing to her belief she cannot recover from a fatal poison , and promises to meet him again sixteen years later . While Yang Guo is wandering the jianghu alone , he meets several formidable martial artists and a giant condor . His adventures gradually mould him into a courageous pugilist , whose prowess matches the Greats of his age . Yang Guo serves his nation by helping the Han Chinese of Song defeat the Mongol invaders . At the end of the novel , he is reunited with Xiaolongnü and they are recognised as heroes of their time .

<|mystery|>There are three cases in this book . The first might be called The Double Murder at Dawn . The case describes the hazardous life of the traveling silk merchant and the murder which is committed to gain wealth . The second is The Strange Corpse which takes place in a small village , a crime of passion which proves hard to solve . The criminal is a very determined woman . The third case The Poisoned Bride contains the murder of the daughter of a local scholar who marries the son of the former administrator of the district . This case contains a surprising twist in its solution . All three cases are solved by Judge Dee , the district magistrate Detective , prosecutor , judge , and jury all wrapped up into one person .

<|novel|>Like most of Disraeli s novels , Endymion is a romance , although Disraeli took the unusual step of setting it between 1819 and 1859 . This meant that the hero of the novel ndash Endymion Ferrars ndash had to be a Whig , rather than a Tory . The time period that Disraeli chose was dominated by the Whig party there would have been little opportunity for a young , rising Tory . Given that , it seems likely that Disraeli chose the time period in order to move a final time in the world in which he grew up and began his ascent .

<|comedy|>The first part of the novel is laid out as an opera , with act and scene numbers as chapter titles and each of the characters being assigned a singing voice . Joseph quickly begins to suspect that Cynthia s entire family is engaging in incestuous behaviour , and that her mother , Mimi , is building a golem in the basement . The first part of the novel ends operatically in death . The second part is presented somewhat more conventionally , as Joseph attempts to recover from the events of the first part this half of the book follows the form of a 12 step program . The first section of the novel is printed in black ink , while the 12 step program is printed in dark red .

<|fantasy|>Wendell Floyd is an expatriate American living in an alternate version of 1950s Paris . In this world , the Nazi invasion of France failed , and Hitler was deposed by the German High Command . Without World War II , technology in this world has stagnated at 1930s levels , and Fascist political parties have gained power in France . Floyd is a part time jazz musician whose career has stalled since his ex girlfriend , Greta , left Paris to pursue a musical career touring with another jazz band . He and his band mate André Custine earn a supplemental income working as private detectives . When the novel opens , Floyd and Custine are hired by a concerned landlord to investigate the death of one of his tenants . Blanchard , the landlord , is certain that the death of Susan White , which the Parisian police have written off as an accident , is murder . Floyd is not so certain , but he s willing to investigate . In a scene seemingly from another novel , Verity Auger finds herself responsible when her archaeology dig beneath the frozen ruins of some far flung future Paris results in the death of one of her students . During her trial she is caught up in political infighting , and maneuvered into accepting a high risk assignment , without knowing what it entails . But when she is summoned on a mission to Mars by the top secret security agency Contingencies , Auger is more than relieved to be exempt from her tribunal and the years of prison that she would otherwise have to face . However , when she is taken to a secret underground base on the Martian moon Phobos containing an ancient alien relic that opens a portal to a distant part of the galaxy , and told that she is to go through it , she begins to have second thoughts about continuing with her mission . Things get even more bizarre when she finds out that at the other end of the portal is an alternate history version of Earth in the year 1959 almost 300 years behind the present time and that she is to retrieve a tin of documents that was left behind by Susan White , an earlier agent sent to Earth Two , who died under mysterious circumstances .

<|comedy|>The book takes place in different parts of Los Angeles , US . The date is never actually specified , but various clues suggest it is set in the near future . Mostly the story takes place in the centre of Hollywood . The book depicts the differences between different social groups in America , from rich people with guards like Bruce Delamitri to poorer people Wayne and Scout . The protagonist , Bruce Delamitiri , is an artist who works in the motion picture industry . Many people in the US think that , by making these movies , Bruce makes killing cool . Numerous characters throughout the book imply that he encourages everyone who s watching these movies to kill for fun . Bruce , on the other hand , defends himself by telling everyone that he doesn t think he encourages anyone to do anything . He says that there has always been violence but humans are not like robots , seeing something on the screen does not necessarily make us want to do it ourselves p . nbsp 13 people get up from the movie theatre or the TV and do what they just saw . He also claims that he is just showing existing violence . Unfortunately for Bruce , Wayne and Scout a pair of psychopaths known in the media as the mall murderers have formulated a plan to hold him hostage and have him publicly announce that his movies are responsible for their crimes so they can avoid the death penalty Wayne has a lengthy speech giving examples of how in America it is possible to be guilty and innocent at the same time . As the novel progresses , Bruce and a critically injured Brooke Daniels are joined inside his house by his wife and daughter and a TV camera crew . The siege reaches its climax as Wayne holds a ratings monitor and announces on live TV that he will spare the hostages if everyone stops watching the siege in the next few minutes however , this does not happen and he begins firing as the LAPD begin a frantic attempt to subdue him . Many of the characters die in the ensuing violence and the Epilogue of the story reveils grimly details how all of the survivors have found a way of escaping responsibility for the tragedy using varying routes from lawsuits and finding religion to making documentaries which explicitly blame everyone else . The book ends with the line No one has taken responsibility echoing an earlier rant by Bruce that we have created a blame free society in which any problem or shortcoming can be blamed on others rather than accepting responsibility for our own actions .

<|fantasy|>The book is set in the not so distant future , where humankind has all but succeeded in controlling all life on the planet and almost completely wiping out all insect life . The earth is divided into a Green Zone which humans totally dominate or so they believe and a diminishing Red Zone that is not yet conquered . The Green Brain of the title is an intelligent organism that embodies and arises from nature s resistance to human domination . It is able to command social insects to form humanoid shaped collective organisms which it uses to infiltrate the Green Zone . The book is about a small team sent in to the jungles of Brazil to investigate the problem , who find out that some of their assumptions were wrong . fr Le Cerveau vert he

<|novel|>At the beginning of the novel Peregrine is a young country gentleman . Rejected by his cruel mother , ignored by his indifferent father and hated by his degenerate brother , he is raised by Commodore Hawser Trunnion who is greatly attached to the boy . Peregrine s upbringing , education at Oxford , journey to France , his debauchery , bankruptcy , jailing at the Fleet , unexpected succeeding to the fortune of his father , his final repentance and marriage to his beloved Emilia all provide scope for Smollett s satire on human cruelty , stupidity and greed . The novel is written as a series of adventures , with every chapter typically describing a new adventure . There is also a very long independent story , The Memoirs of a Lady of Quality , inside the novel . Peregrine Pickle features several amusing characters , most notably Commodore Hawser Trunnion , an old seaman and misogynist who lives in a garrison of a house with his former shipmates . Possibly , Trunnion s lifestyle helped Dickens to create Wemmick of Great Expectations . Another interesting character is Cadwallader Crabtree , an old misanthrope and Peregrine s friend , who amuses himself by playing ingenious jokes on the naive and gullible human creatures . Smollett also caricatured many of his enemies in the novel , most notably Henry Fielding and the actor David Garrick . Fitzroy Henry Lee was supposedly the model for Hawser Trunnion .

<|fantasy|>A Night in the Lonesome October is narrated from the present tense point of view of Snuff , the dog who is Jack the Ripper s companion . The bulk of the story takes place in London and its environs , though at one point the story detours through the dream world described by Lovecraft in The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath . Though never explicitly stated , various contextual clues within the story the most obvious of which being the appearance of Sherlock Holmes or The Great Detective imply that it takes place during the late Victorian period in actuality , the year 1887 based upon Halloween full moon appearance dates for the London area as confirmed by the Royal Observatory . It is revealed as the story progresses that once every few decades , when the moon is full on the night of Halloween , the fabric of reality thins , and doors may be opened between this world and the realm of the Great Old Ones . When these conditions are right , men and women with occult knowledge may gather at a specific ritual site , to either hold the doors closed , or to help fling them open . Should the Closers win , then the world will remain as it is until the next turning . . . but should the Openers succeed , then the Great Old Ones will come to Earth , to remake the world in their own image enslaving or slaughtering the human race in the process . The Openers have never yet won . These meetings are often referred to as The Game or The Great Game by the participants , who try to keep the goings on secret from the mundane population . The various Players during the Game depicted in the book are archetypal characters from Victorian Era gothic fiction Jack the Ripper only ever referred to as Jack , Dracula The Count , Victor Frankenstein The Good Doctor , and the Wolf Man known as Larry Talbot , the film character s name all make appearances . In addition , there is a Witch Crazy Jill , a Clergyman Vicar Roberts , a Druid Owen , a Mad Monk Rastov clearly modelled after Rasputin , and Hermetic occultists Morris and McCab often mentioned as a reference to real life Hermetic of the time MacGregor Mathers . The most unusual aspect of the story is that each Player has a familiar an animal companion with near human intelligence which helps complete the numerous preparations required to be ready for the ritual on the final night . The vast majority of the story describes the interactions and discussions of these animals , all from Snuff s point of view . Throughout the book , the Players slowly take sides Opener or Closer , form alliances , make deals , oppose one another , and even kill off those who are part of the enemy camp . Events , slow moving at first , accelerate until the night of October 31st , when the ritual takes place and the fate of the world is decided . A similar theme of the conflict around the opening of a Gate to an older world also with references to Lovecraft s work can be seen in Zelazny s novel Madwand .

<|fantasy|>A reclusive novelist named Bill Gray works endlessly on a novel he chooses not to finish . He has chosen a lifestyle completely secluded from life to try to keep writing pure . He , along with his assistant Scott , believe that something is lost once a mass audience reads the work . Scott would prefer Bill didn t publish the book for fear that the mass production of the work will destroy the real Bill . Bill has a dalliance with Scott s partner Karen Janney , a former member of the Unification Church who is married to Kim Jo Pak in a Unification Church Blessing ceremony in the prologue of the book . Bill , who lives as a complete recluse , accedes to be photographed by a New York photographer named Brita who is documenting writers . In dialogue with Brita and others , Bill laments that novelists are quickly becoming obsolete in an age where terrorism has supplanted art as the raids on consciousness that jolt and transform culture at large . Gray disappears without a word and secretly decides to accept an opportunity from Charles to travel to London to publicly speak on the behalf of a Swiss writer held hostage in war torn Beirut . Meanhile Karen ends up living in Brita s NY apartment and spends most of her time in the homeless slums of Tompkins Square Park . In London , Bill is introduced to George Haddad , a representative of the Maoist group responsible for kidnapping the writer . Bill decides to go to Lebanon himself and negotiate the release of the writer . Cutting himself off from Charles , he flees to Cyprus where he awaits a ship that will take him to Lebanon . In Cyprus Bill is hit by a car and suffers a lacerated liver which , exacerbated by his heavy drinking , kills him in his sleep while en route to Beirut . In the epilogue , Brita goes to Beirut to photograph Abu Rashid , the terrorist responsible for the kidnapping . The fate of the hostage is never revealed , though the implication is grim . The plot unfolds with DeLillo s customary shifts of time , setting , and character .

<|childrens|>SAM Madison has always been totally ordinary . Apart from having two weird sisters , of course . But then she does something utterly out of ordinary she stops a crazy psycho from assassinating the American President . Now Sam s an instant , world famous celebrity . Dining at The White House is not easy for someone who lives on hamburgers and in combat boots . In fact there s only one compensation DAVID , the presidents son . . . . . . .

<|fantasy|>The novel revolves around the world of the Fugue , a magical world which lies woven within a rug . Many decades ago the Seerkind creatures of magical abilities decided to hide themselves through a spell or Rapture in a safe haven after being hunted down and eradicated by humans for centuries with humans most commonly depicting them as demons and fairies in their mythological tales as well as being decimated by a destructive being known as The Scourge . This creature s form is entirely unknown to the Seerkind , given that none of those assaulted by the Scourge survived to describe it . The Seerkind collect a number of beautiful places , hills , meadows and mountains , alongside their belongings and themselves and undergo a spell which encloses all of them in a rug . They also leave the wife of one of their kind , a non seerkind woman named Mimi Laschenski , outside in the human world with the purpose of keeping and guarding the rug and also unleashing the world of the Fugue someday when the world had become a safe place for them . Eight decades later , a sudden interest emerges for the rug at the time an elderly Mimi having recently gone through a stroke in her old age expires Calhoun Mooney , an ordinary young man , accidentally comes into contact with the rug and realises its magical nature Suzanna Parish , Mimi s granddaughter is given clues to the rug s existence from her grandmother who can no longer speak since the stroke and moves to uncover its secrets Immacolata , exiled by the Seerkind into the human world , wants to find the rug and destroy her race . Cal and Suzanna join forces against Immacolata , her dead sisters and a greedy human known as Shadwell . The second part of the book develops within the world of Fugue , unleashed from within the rug , and deals with the struggle of characters for the control of this world . The third part sees the Fugue destroyed , with the surviving Seerkind , Cal and Suzanna hiding in the forests of Scotland and facing the ultimate battle against the resurrected Scourge .

<|childrens|>The protagonist , Mariel Gullwhacker , was enslaved by Gabool the Wild when her father Joseph s ship , the Periwinkle , was captured . It had been carrying a bell to Lord Rawnblade Widestripe in Salamandastron , and that , too , was seized by Gabool . After attacking Gabool , the mouse was thrown into the sea and washed up on the shore , causing her to lose her memory . She took the name Storm Gullwhacker , and gave the name Gullwhacker to the rope she had used to fight off a seabird . Three members of the Long Patrol , Colonel Clary , Brigadier Thyme , and the Honorable Rosemary , escort Mariel to a squirrel named Pakatugg . He is given the task to lead Mariel to Redwall , where the woodlanders help her regain her memory . She befriends a young fieldmouse named Dandin , a hedgehog named Durry Quill , and a hare that carries an instrument called a harolina named Tarquin Longleap Woodsorrel , and together they journey to Gabool s island of Terramort to defeat him . Lord Rawnblade also joins the four comrades later on to help them defeat Gabool in his fortress of Bladegirt , where he commands a fleet of searat and corsair ships . The denizens of Redwall , meanwhile , defended the Abbey against Graypatch , a searat on the run from Gabool s army , and his horde . Clary and Thyme , along with Pakatugg , are killed freeing slaves from Graypatch s camp . Graypatch decides to return to his ship but is killed by Oak Tom , a squirrel allied with Redwall . Gabool , meanwhile , is slowly being driven insane . After capturing Mariel s father , who was transporting the bell to Salamandastron , he begins to hallucinate , believing to hear the bell ring when no one else is in the room . After a battle with the protagonists , Gabool is killed by his pet scorpion . The bell is eventually recovered from Gabool and given to Redwall Abbey as a gift . Named after its creator , it becomes the Joseph Bell .

<|mystery|>Aubrey , a young Englishman , meets Lord Ruthven , a man of mysterious origins who has entered London society . Aubrey accompanies Ruthven to Rome , but leaves him after Ruthven seduces the daughter of a mutual acquaintance . Aubrey travels to Greece , where he becomes attracted to Ianthe , an innkeeper s daughter . Ianthe tells Aubrey about the legends of the vampire . Ruthven arrives at the scene and shortly thereafter Ianthe is killed by a vampire . Aubrey does not connect Ruthven with the murder and rejoins him in his travels . The pair is attacked by bandits and Ruthven is mortally wounded . Before he dies , Ruthven makes Aubrey swear an oath that he will not mention his death or anything else he knows about Ruthven for a year and a day . Looking back , Aubrey realizes that everyone whom Ruthven met ended up suffering . Aubrey returns to London and is amazed when Ruthven appears shortly thereafter , alive and well . Ruthven reminds Aubrey of his oath to keep his death a secret . Ruthven then begins to seduce Aubrey s sister while Aubrey , helpless to protect his sister , has a nervous breakdown . Ruthven and Aubrey s sister are engaged to marry on the day the oath ends . Just before he dies , Aubrey writes a letter to his sister revealing Ruthven s history , but it does not arrive in time . Ruthven marries Aubrey s sister . On the wedding night , she is discovered dead , drained of her blood and Ruthven has vanished .

<|fantasy|>Boy in Darkness is an episode in the Gormenghast series when Titus Groan , referred to mostly as the Boy in the story , is a young teenager placing it during the period covered by the second novel in the series , Gormenghast . Yearning for freedom from his ceaseless duties as 77th Earl of Gormenghast , he escapes the ancient castle and encounters the nightmare world outside .

<|action|>FBI Special Agent Aloysius X . L . Pendergast and Sergeant Vincent D Agosta , now working for the Southampton Police Department , investigate a series of unusual deaths mdash deaths that appear to be the work of Lucifer in return for pacts entered in with him by his victims . Their investigation takes them from the New York City area , site of the first two deaths , to Florence , Italy where they uncover the motive and method of the killers behind the strange and gruesome deaths . During the course of unraveling the mystery , the truth behind a priceless , missing Stradivarius violin is revealed and a potentially apocalyptic riot with Messianic Christians is averted . Pendergast also reveals details of his insane brother Diogenes , whom he believes is planning something horrible .

<|crime|>The story follows Titus journey in the world outside Gormenghast Castle , having left his home at the end of the second book . He bumbles through a desert for a time , then uses a canoe to row down the river , where the reader gets a surprise although Gormenghast is a crumbling , medieval castle , Titus finds himself in a modern city . Skyscrapers tower , and the river itself is covered in pipes , canals , and fishermen . As he slips the painter on the canoe , he has his first encounter with two faceless , silent persons , ostensibly police officers . Later , Titus befriends a man named Muzzlehatch , who runs a zoo and drives a shark shaped car . He meets and has an affair with Muzzlehatch s former lover , Juno . Titus walks down a crumbling highway , where he has an unpleasant encounter with a beggar that eats money . He even spends some time wandering around the Under river , an underground city filled with outcasts , runaways , and derelicts . There in yet another contrast to the antiquity of previous novels someone informs us that Molusk has just circled the moon , probably a kind of metal plated satellite . Titus eventually is found in a state of fever by a woman named Cheeta , who is the daughter of a scientist who runs a light bulb equipped factory filled with mysterious bad smells and who talks to his workers through a giant television set . Cheeta is described as a modern girl with a new kind of beauty , who drives a helicopter . Titus lusts for her because he has spent all his life in a tight laced Medieval castle , and Cheeta lives like science incarnate . Although Titus lusts for her body , he also tells her several times that he hates her and tells her to go home to your horde of vestal virgins and forget me as I shall forget you . Cheeta is shocked because other men would give anything for her favor . She contrives an elaborate plan to lure him into the Black House , to see a hundred bright inventions , and end their relationship on a high note . There , she attempts to recreate Gormenghast horrendously , but is foiled by Muzzlehatch , who dies in the effort . Muzzlehatch also manages to blow up Cheeta s father s factory as revenge for the murder of his animals . Titus flees and spends months wandering a wasteland alone , until he comes across a large rock that he knew from his childhood . Hearing the guns of Gormenghast saluting the missing Earl , he is confirmed in his knowledge that he is not insane and that the Castle exists . Tempted to return to his duties , he nevertheless confirms his desire for independence and once again strikes off alone , this time in a different direction .

<|novel|>The novel is the story of an English gay man , Edward Manners , who , disaffected with life , moves to a town in Flanders where he teaches two students English . One , Marcel , is good but ugly while the other , Luc , is bad but , to the protagonist , deeply beautiful . The novel also deals with Manners emerging relationship with Marcel s father who curates a museum of symbolist paintings by Edgard Orst modelled on Fernand Khnopff and James Ensor . Edward has an affair with a young foreigner named Cherif who falls deeply in love with him , but as Cherif is ordinary looking , Edward can never really return his affection . We see the same pattern in the novel s recounting of Edward s youthful affair years earlier when he was even younger than Luc with Dawn , a handsome but not particularly beautiful youth who later dies tragically . Edward soon became bored with him , and even now he can only gin up much feeling about Dawn by giving his past affair and the subsequent death of his old love a high literary treatment modeled after the tradition of the pastoral elegy . Like his forerunner von Aschenbach in Thomas Mann s Death in Venice who obsesses over the beautiful Tadzio , and the artist Orst , Edward is a lover of beauty , not a lover of people , and people s beauty is fleeting . Thus the disappearance of Jane Byron , Orst s beautiful model , and later of Luc , Edward s version of Tadzio , represents how cruel life can be to those who worship at Beauty s altar . Many of the characters Manners , Orst , Marcel s father , Luc are marked by obsession with others . The past continually intrudes into the twilight world Hollinghurst evokes , dragging Manners back to England for a time . Two major characters , both objects of romantic obsession , mysteriously disappear . The long lost Jane Byron , beloved model for Orst , had swum out to sea at Ostend , Belgium , decades ago and was never seen again , leaving the artist with a lifelong obsession for painting her image . The beautiful youth Luc , obsessive love interest of the protagonist Manners , also disappears . In the book s enigmatic conclusion , Luc is last seen looking out from one of many photographs of missing children on a salt spattered bulletin board at the beach in Ostend . Thus , like Byron , he ultimately ends up existing only within a frame , and his disappearance is poetically linked to the shiftless North Sea waves at the famous beach .

<|novel|>Art Bechstein is the son of a mob money launderer , who wants him to succeed in a legitimate career . When Art graduates from college , he has only a vague hope for a summer of adventure before he commits to the rest of his life . Bechstein almost immediately meets a charming young gay man , Arthur Lecomte , and his friend , a highly literate biker , Cleveland Arning , who become his partners in many summer adventures . Art begins a relationship with an insecure young woman named Phlox Lombardi . As Art s attraction to Arthur grows , it destabilizes both relationships and reveals he may be bisexual . Art is also troubled when Cleveland begins moving deeper into the city s organized crime families , drawing him closer to his father s dangerous Mafia connections . Art s relationships with his family , friends , and lovers become more and more entangled , causing a series of fallings out and unforeseen consequences .

<|novel|>The basic plot of The Reivers takes place in the first decade of the 20th century . It involves a young boy named Lucius Priest a distant cousin of the McCaslin Edmonds family Faulkner wrote about in Go Down , Moses who accompanies a family friend named Boon Hogganbeck to Memphis , where Boon hopes to woo a prostitute called Miss Corrie . Since Boon has no way to get to Memphis , he steals reives , thereby becoming a reiver Lucius s grandfather s car , the first car in Yoknapatawpha County . They discover that Ned McCaslin , a black man who works with Boon at Lucius s grandfather s horse stables , has stowed away with them Ned is also a blood cousin of the Priests . When they reach Memphis , Boon and Lucius stay in the brothel while Ned disappears into the black part of town . Soon Ned returns , having traded the car for a racehorse . The remainder of the story involves Ned s attempts to race the horse in order to win enough money to help out his relative , and Boon s courtship with Miss Corrie who is actually called Everbe Corinthia . Lucius , a young , wealthy , and sheltered boy , comes of age in Memphis . He comes into contact for the first time with the underside of society . Much of the novel involves Lucius trying to reconcile his genteel and idealized vision of life with the reality he is faced with on this trip . He meets Corrie s nephew , a boy a few years older than Lucius who acts as his foil and embodies many of the worst aspects of humanity . He degrades women , respects no one , blackmails the brothel owner , steals , and curses . Eventually Lucius , ever the white knight , fights him to defend Corrie s honor . She is so touched at his willingness to stand up for her that she determines to become an honest woman . The climax comes when Lucius rides the horse named Coppermine , but called Lightning by Ned in an illicit race . Coppermine is a fast horse , but he likes to run just behind the other horses so he can see them at all times . Ned convinces him to make a final burst to win the race by bribing him with what may be a sardine . After they win the race , Lucius s grandfather shows up . This time Ned does not do the sardine trick , and Coppermine loses . Ned has bet against Coppermine in this race , and the poor black stable hand is able to get the better of the rich white grandfather . The story ends with the news that Boon and Miss Corrie have married and named their first child after Lucius .

<|childrens|>The central character is Kay Harker who , on returning from boarding school , finds himself mixed up in a battle to possess a magical box , which allows the owner to go small shrink and go swift fly , experience magical wonders contained within the box and go into the past . The owner of the box is an old Punch and Judy man called Cole Hawlings , whom Kay meets at a railway station . They develop an instant rapport , and this leads Cole to confide that he is being chased by a man called Abner Brown and his gang . For safety , Cole entrusts the box to Kay , who then goes on to have many adventures .

<|crime|>Marlon Conrad , a spoiled rich kid , enters the political arena in a career carefully managed by his wealthy father . He becomes the lieutenant governor of Florida , a plush job he can exploit mercilessly . When the elected governor dies in a plane crash , however , Marlon automatically assumes the office . Marlon is apathetic and corrupt , riding in the pockets of special interest groups . During his tenure , he is suddenly recruited into active duty during the Kosovo War and a bureaucratic tangle prevents him from ducking his responsibility as expected . His experiences in the military change his outlook , his fundamental character , and even his political views . He returns to Florida , determined to make a difference in the state . But first , Marlon faces a reelection battle against dim witted Democratic candidate Gomer Tatum , the state House Speaker . Serge Storms , Dorsey s main character , appears in Orange Crush , but in a relatively small part compared to the other novels in the series .

<|mystery|>Simon Templar , alias The Saint , is enjoying a pleasure cruise along the French coast aboard his yacht , the Corsair when he is awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of gunfire and shouting from another vessel the Falkenberg anchored nearby . The source of the commotion is a group of men pursuing a young woman who is swimming frantically away from the other ship . Templar rescues the woman who , after some considerable hesitation , identifies herself as Loretta Page , a private detective who is investigating the mysterious disappearance of sunken treasure from the Atlantic . When she learns her rescuer is The Saint , she enlists his help in tracking down a group of modern day pirates . These pirates , led by Kurt Vogel , are using newly developed bathyscape technology to reach the sea floor and scour recent shipwrecks for gold and other booty before officially sanctioned salvage operations arrive . And Vogel is not against committing cold blooded murder to keep his operation going . Hampered by Loretta s detective firm superior , who harbors a deep distrust of Templar , as well as Simon s growing love for Loretta , The Saint sets out to stop Vogel s operation . In the process he reunites with some of his colleagues from previous adventures Roger Conway and Peter Quentin . Orace , Templar s longtime manservant , makes his first major appearance since the very first Saint novel , Meet The Tiger ! . And it is Orace who complicates Templar s mission when he accidentally kills one of Vogel s men , which leads to Vogel forcing Templar on pain of Loretta s possible death to take the dead man s place on a salvage operation in the Channel Islands . Aside from the return of Peter Quentin , Roger Conway and Orace , this book also features the first reference to Templar s other partner , Hoppy Uniatz since The Saint Goes On although Uniatz is not involved in the plot . This is also the first Saint book to suggest a serious relationship between Templar and a woman other than his longtime girlfriend Patricia Holm , who is not mentioned once in this book she returns in subsequent volumes , however . In the previous novel The Saint in New York Templar expresses affection for Fay Edwards while She Was a Lady has Templar partnering with a female thief named Jill Trelawney , however in both cases Templar indicates that he is not available due to his relationship with Holm no such reference is made in Saint Overboard . Some editions contain an introduction by Charteris in which he discusses the diving technology used in the book . The 1963 reprint by Fiction Publishing Company includes a modified version of this introduction in which Charteris apologizes for the outdated technology . This is one of the few Saint books to include a map showing the locations of the major events in the book .

<|fantasy|>After more than three years in exile on Grayson , several of Honor s old political enemies decide to try to kill two birds with one stone . Klaus Hauptmann is able to have Honor appointed as commander of HMAMC Wayfarer , a prototype Q ship . He believes that Honor will either deal with the piracy problems that are causing him losses in the Silesian Confederacy or die trying . Wayfarer includes space for carrying a squadron of Light Attack Craft LACs , a large number of missile pods that can be quickly deployed through the ship s rear cargo doors , and unusually heavy energy weaponry for the ship s size and intended role , but it is essentially still a merchant ship , much slower than a regular navy vessel and with lighter defenses . Honor s orders are to lead a squadron of four Q ships to fight piracy in the Silesian Confederacy . Although piracy is a chronic problem in Silesia , the Royal Navy managed to keep it somewhat in check until the war began with the fleet needed elsewhere piracy has gone completely out of control and the powerful Manticoran merchant cartels demand that the Navy do something . There are other considerations Silesia is something of a disputed territory between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Andermani Empire . While Honor leads her crew in battles against various pirates , the Havenites are also conducting covert commerce raiding in Silesia , in an attempt to destabilize Manticoran trade in the region and present themselves in a more favorable light to the Andermani . The Havenite light cruiser PNS Vaubon , under Citizen Commander Warner Caslet , had been pursuing a particularly loathsome group of raiders whose actions were repugnant to most of the Havenite officers involved . When Caslet sees some of these raiders attacking what he thinks is a Manticore merchant ship he decides to attack the raiders , despite being outnumbered . The Wayfarer destroys the raiders and Caslet is forced to surrender Vaubon to the superior vessel . With the additional intelligence gathered by the Havenites , Honor takes the fight the pirates led by the terrorist Andre Warnecke and with a hostage gambit liberates the planet Sidemore , which had been occupied by the pirates . After her defeat of the pirates Honor goes looking for the Havenite commerce raiders . This leads to a larger scale conflict with Havenite forces . Klaus Hauptmann has traveled on the liner Artemis to see the piracy situation first hand in Silesea , and Honor encounters them just as the Havenites are closing in on the Artemis . In the ensuing battle Wayfarer is able to destroy two Havenite battlecruisers but is itself ultimately destroyed . The few surviving members of Honor s crew , along with several Havenite prisoners , are rescued and return to Andermani space . Because of Honor s bravery in saving Hauptmann s life during the battle the two are reconciled .

<|fantasy|>After the scandal caused by killing Pavel Young in a duel , Honor retreats to Grayson until things settle down on Manticore . She intends to oversee the development of her Steading , and overcome the death of Paul Tankersley . Honor struggles with the survivor s guilt her many battles have left her with , but soon finds that she cannot afford to dwell on her emotions . With the war between Manticore and Haven still raging , the fast expanding but still inexperienced Grayson Space Navy needs someone to put it in fighting shape . Honor is eventually given the rank of Admiral in the Grayson navy and command of a superdreadnought squadron . She conducts her squadron and the rest of her adoptive nation s fleet through several battle exercises to improve them . Meanwhile , Haven stages a new operation capturing two planets deep in Alliance territory . A Manticore task force and half the Grayson Navy leave to liberate these planets , but Haven was banking on this and now are sending another task force to destroy Grayson s orbital infrastructure and arm Masada with modern weapons . The events surrounding her last adventure on Grayson see The Honor of the Queen have caused political turmoil on the reactionary planet . Even though she has the support of Protector Benjamin Mayhew IX and the Grayson government and the respect and gratitude of the people of Grayson , several of her fellow Steadholders refuse to accept her and plot to bring down Mayhew s reforms by resorting to terrorism . They sabotage a dome which was being built and financed by Honor . The dome collapses mid construction and kills dozens of young children . When it appears that the government discovered their conspiracy , they attempt to assassinate Honor but this fails as well . Eventually the conspiracy is revealed to the public and Honor herself , acting in her official capacity as Protector Benjamin s Champion , kills its leader . Shortly thereafter the Havenite task force arrives to destroy Grayson s orbital infrastructure , but not realizing the size of the Grayson Navy , are defeated by Honor and the ships under her command .

<|fantasy|>After being called back to her childhood home of Toronto for a retrospective show of her art , Elaine reminisces about her childhood . At the age of eight she becomes friends with Carol and Grace , and , through their eyes , realises that her atypical background of constant travel with her entomologist father and independent mother has left her ill equipped for conventional expectations of femininity . When Cordelia joins the group , Elaine is bullied by the three girls , her best friends . The bullying escalates that winter when the girls abandon Elaine in a ravine half frozen , she sees a vision of the Virgin Mary , who guides her to safety . Afterward , realising she had allowed herself to be a victim , Elaine makes new friends . The narrative then follows Elaine through her teenage years and her early adulthood as an art student and a Feminist artist . However , throughout this time , she is haunted by her childhood and has difficulties forming relationships with other women . Towards the end of the novel , owing to her retrospective exhibition and her return to Toronto , she eventually faces her past and gets closure .

<|novel|>The book is divided into four sections , each organized year by year to describe a key period of Leo Africanus s life , and each named after the city that played the major role in his life at the time Granada , Fez , Cairo , and Rome . While filled with biographical hypotheses and historical unlikelihoods , the book offers a vivid description of the Renaissance world , with the decline of the traditional Muslim kingdoms and the hope inspired by the Ottoman Empire , as it grew to threaten Europe and restore Muslim unity . The book is based on true life experiences which took Leo Africanus almost everywhere in the Islamic Mediterranean , from southern Morocco to Arabia , and across the Sahara .

<|fantasy|>Immediately following The Short Victorious War , Honor returns to Manticore as a hero following the victory at Hancock Station , her ship ungoing much needed repairs . Captain Pavel Young , Honor s bitterest enemy , is about to face a court martial for cowardice before the enemy , punishable by death . Under threat from Young s father , Earl North Hollow , Young is instead demoted and dishonorably discharged from the Navy . Despite the reprieve , North Hollow suffers a stroke and Young becomes the new Earl of North Hollow , and The Star Kingdom officially declares war on the People s Republic of Haven . Seeking revenge on Honor , Pavel Young first tries to discredit her and then hires a professional duelist , former marine Denver Summervale , to challenge Honor s lover Paul Tankersley to a duel . Paul is killed by Summervale while Honor is on Grayson overseeing her Steading and formally being appointed Steadholder . Paul s death is a severe blow to Honor , and she determines to kill Summervale no matter the cost to herself . Several of Honor s friends and comrades track down Summervale to a hidden retreat where they force him to confess to being hired to kill Paul , though this immediately guarantees his immunity to prosecution given the way the confession is extracted . Honor confronts Summervale and goads him into challenging her by calling him a paid assassin before witnessess , and slaughters him in the following duel . Honor then proclaims to the assembled media that Summervale was hired to kill Paul Tankersley and herself by Pavel Young . Young goes into hiding , to prevent Honor from an opportunity to challenge him , planning to wait until repairs on the Nike are completed and Honor is shipped back to the front . Despite being ordered by Earl White Haven to not pursue Young , Honor uses a technicality of the House of Lords chamber rules to demand that she be formally seated with them , and uses the opportunity to denounce Young publicly and challenge him to a duel . Risking total loss of face and political strength , Young is forced to agree . In the duel , Young panics and turns , shooting Honor in the back , before being cut down by Honor before the Master of the field can even react . The outraged aristocracy removes Honor from the House of Lords and political pressure forces the navy to remove Honor from command and place her on half pay , with no active assignment . Honor decides to return to Grayson until the crises subsides .

<|fantasy|>As the story begins , Honor returns to her Steading on Grayson , having just been promoted to Commodore for her actions in Honor Among Enemies . During a party celebrating her promotion , she engages in a heated debate with Earl White Haven , her superior , and the two realize they have mutual unspoken romantic feelings for each other . In an attempt to escape her own feelings , Honor goes with Alistair McKeon on a convoy escort mission to the Adler system , which has been captured by Citizen Rear Admiral Lester Tourville of the DuQuesne base , under the orders of Thomas Theisman , in order to capture or destroy a large chunk of Manticoran shipping . Spotting the ambush and after salvaging what she can of her convoy from Havenite attack , Honor orders McKeon to surrender . After learning of Honor s capture Cordelia Ransom , the People s Republic s Secretary for Public Information , demands that the Manticorans be surrendered to her for propaganda uses . Unable to deny Ransom and her StateSec enforcers , Admiral Theisman capitulates . The crew are transferred to the Havenite battlecruiser PNS Tepes , Ransom s personal flagship , bound for the Havenite prison planet of Hades , where Ransom intends to execute Honor for a death sentence handed down by the prior government . Ransom gives any crew member serving under Harrington a chance to defect and Senior Chief Petty Officer Harkness takes up the offer claiming that Manticore have never really done anything for him . Unbeknownst to StateSec , Harkness has no intention of truly defecting , and after fooling his assigned watchdogs , hacks into the security and communication systems , eventually disabling them and causing massive explosions in the boat bays . Freeing the rest of the crew , they manage to destroy the Tepes and land on Cerberus B 2 , facing a well provided for prison camp and unknown amounts of space forces .

<|novel|>Blankets chronicles Craig Thompson s adolescence and young adulthood , his childhood relationship with his younger brother , and the conflicts he experiences regarding his Christianity and his first love . Though written chronologically , Thompson uses flashbacks as a literary and artistic device in order to parallel young adult experience with past childhood experience . Major themes of the work include first love , child and adult sexuality , spirituality , sibling relationships , and coming of age . Thompson begins by describing his relationship with his brother during their childhoods in Wisconsin . Though their relationship is marked by typical sibling conflict , they are also very close , and their rapport helps them deal with verbal and physical abuse from their overly religious parents , and sexual harassment and abuse from bullies at school . During his preteen years , Thompson finds himself a misfit because of his physical appearance and home life . Through his teen years , he continues to find it hard to fit in with his peers , but at a Bible camp one winter , he comes to associate with a group of teens he feels he will fit in with , which includes Raina , a beautiful and interesting girl who captivates him . The two become inseparable and arrange to spend two weeks together at Raina s home in Michigan . He meets Raina s family , consisting of her separated parents , her adopted siblings Ben and Laura , her biological sister , and her infant niece Sarah . Because Laura is mentally retarded and Sarah is often ignored by her own parents , Raina feels the responsibility to take care of the both of them . Although she is extremely close to Craig while he s staying with her , she feels she can t handle one more person dependent on her and breaks up with him soon after he leaves . He then destroys everything Raina had ever given to him , and every memento of their relationship , except for the quilt she had made for him . He stores it and other possessions in the attic in the house , and moves out to start his own life elsewhere . Thompson comes to terms with his religion and spiritual identity while away from his family . He returns to his childhood home after several years , seemingly a different person . He rekindles his old familial relationships , and the bonds between the family become stronger . The story ends with his finding peace with those he loves and himself .

<|fantasy|>As the story begins , Honor is apparently dead , her execution being broadcast on holo disc . State funerals are held on both Grayson and Manticore and an empty coffin is buried in the Royal Cathedral . While the Manticorans are shocked by the news of Honor s death , the Graysons are completely outraged . However , the footage was faked because Honor is still alive and plotting her return . Having survived the destruction of Cordelia Ransom s ship in the previous book , Honor and her allies hide on the surface of Hades , monitoring StateSec s communications and linking with other prisoners held on the planet . Eventually they launch a surprise attack , defeating the local Havenite garrison and taking control of Hell . Meanwhile , the Havenite Navy , under the new and aggressive leadership of Admiral Esther McQueen , goes on the offensive and launches a series of simultaneous and devastating attacks on Manticore and her allies , even hitting Manticoran territory for the first time in the war . The Manticorans , however , are testing some new weapon systems which may definitively shift the balance in their favor . Back on Hell and now in control of the State Security facilities , Honor s party travels across the inhospitable planet and helps the prisoners escape from Camp Charon . When news of the offensive led by McQueen reach Hades , they realize that they cannot count on a Manticoran rescue mission . Still needing to escape from the planet , Honor and her allies hatch a plan to capture as many Havenite ships as possible . With a sizable fleet of captured enemy vessels the so called Elysian Space Navy under her leadership , the former prisoners defeat a StateSec armada and evacuate the prison planet . After two years , Honor finally returns home , along with half a million former political prisoners and POWs .

<|fantasy|>The eponymous protagonist saves the life of the heroine by directing energy remotely at an approaching avalanche . As the novel goes on , he describes the technological wonders of the modern world , frequently using the phrase As you know . . . The hero finally rescues the heroine by travelling into space on his own space flyer to rescue her from the villain s clutches .

<|novel|>Amsterdam is the story of a strange euthanasia pact between two friends , a composer and a newspaper editor , whose relationship spins into disaster .

<|fantasy|>Fifteen years have passed since the end of the Red Ship War with the terrifying Outislanders . Since then , Fitz has wandered the world accompanied only by his wolf and Wit partner , Nighteyes , finally settling in a tiny cottage as isolated from the Farseers and Buckkeep politics as possible . Starling finds him soon after he settles down in the cottage and visits him often . On one of her visits she brings him a young orphaned boy , named Hap , that Fitz raises as well as he is able . The Fool finds him and convinces him that he is needed . The young prince Dutiful has gone missing just before his crucial diplomatic wedding to an Outislander princess . Fitz s assignment to fetch Dutiful back in time for the ceremony seems very much like a fool s errand , but the dangers ahead could signal the end of the Farseer reign .

<|fantasy|>Fitz has succeeded in rescuing Prince Dutiful from the clutches of the Piebald rebels . But once again the cost of protecting the Farseer line has been dear Nighteyes is dead . Fitz , though bitter and grieving after the death of his beloved wit partner , the wolf Nighteyes , reluctantly takes the post of Skillmaster to teach prince Dutiful the Skill . He feels he must since he is almost Dutiful s father . Dutiful , the heir to the throne , was conceived by Verity using Fitz s body fifteen years earlier with the use of the skill , and because of this is both Skilled and Witted . Fitz is not a great teacher and barely has control of his own Skill , but he is the only one left that has been actually taught how to use it . He knows that Dutiful must be protected from the addictive qualities of the Skill , as well as the dangerous temptations of the Wit and the political machinations surrounding both as the Piebalds threaten to throw the Six Duchies into civil war . At the urging of his old mentor the Master Assassin Chade , now Queen Kettricken s Lord Councillor , he also attempts to seek new Skill users as companions for Dutiful . Maintaining a pose as the servant Tom Badgerlock to the Fool s own pose as the decadent noble Lord Golden , he stays in the castle and teaches his new Skill coterie , including the overeager Chade . His search leads him to a most unlikely candidate a mentally challenged young man named Thick , suspicious after years of mistreatment but stronger in the Skill than anyone Fitz has ever encountered . At the same time , the Six Duchies also faces what may be its salvation in a long term peace , or a new threat to the fragile peace that has existed since the end of the Red Ship War . Queen Kettricken plans to betrothe Dutiful to the Outislander Narcheska Princess Elliania , to forge a lasting alliance between the two lands as her marriage to Verity once did . The task is less simple than it appears , and Fitz becomes aware of wheels within wheels , as different interests war with each other with the stakes higher than anyone has imagined . These finally come to a head as Elliania declares she will not wed Dutiful without his undertaking a quest to slay Icefyre , one of the last true dragons .

<|fantasy|>The book opens with Vampire , Inc . cleaning out a nest of vampires , introducing the main characters and setting the tone for the book . The team has some difficulty collecting their payment for dispatching said vampires , but ultimately collects their fee and hosts a wild party at a local motel where all of the team and some townsfolk engage in epic level drinking and carrying on . The party is interrupted by a master vampire who essentially slaughters everyone at the party with the exception of Jack Crow and his second in command Cherry Cat Catlin . The shaken Jack Crow begins to plan the formation of a new team , aided by Father Adam , a knowledgeable young priest sent to him by the Vatican . Events at the motel slaughter lead Jack to realize that silver , particularly blessed silver from a cross , can be used as a weapon against vampires . He has his weaponsmith Carl begin creating silver bullets and he recruits a skilled gunman named Felix , that Jack met while working as a government agent in Mexico . Felix proves to be as deadly with a pistol as Jack hoped and they seem to have a new and powerful resource to use against the vampires . In addition to the silver bullets , Carl also develops a vampire detector for use by the team , which proves to be a useful tool against the vampires which are portrayed as fantastically fast and powerful compared to humans , particularly the master vampires . A series of battles ensues , using these silver bullets against the vampires , but key members of Jack s team are killed by the vampires , including Annabelle , the office manager of the team s residence , and the aging weaponsmith Carl . Jack , depressed and beaten , suicidally returns to a known favorite hotel where the vampires are sure to find him . Felix , Cat and Father Adam stage a rescue attempt but it ends with Father Adam dead and Jack spirited away by the vampire . The novel closes with Felix taking a leadership role within Vampire Inc . , after thwarting an attempt by the now a vampire Jack Crow to attack the Pope .

<|romance|>Jennifer Merrick is the feisty daughter of a Scottish laird . Royce Westmoreland , the Black Wolf , is sent by the King of England to wage war against Scotland . When Royce s brother , Stefan Westmoreland , kidnaps Jennifer and her stepsister , Brenna , and brings them to Royce s camp , the lives of the two become intertwined . Royce and Jennifer must marry by order of the King of England and the King of Scotland after they consummate their keeper prisoner relationship . Forced to accept the marriage , Jennifer s family try to make the marriage fail by intending to sent her to become a nun in a convent after the wedding reception . Royce beats the family plan by kidnapping her first and takes her to his home . The King of England orders the two families to settle their score in a tournament where Jennifer must choose which family her loyalty lies with .

<|action|>Dr . Judd Stevens , M . D . , is a caring and successful Manhattan psychoanalyst who must face a horrific prospect someone is trying to kill him . First , John Hanson , a patient trying overcome his homosexuality , is brutally murdered , perhaps because he was mistaken for Stevens . Not long after , Carol Roberts , Stevens secretary , is also found murdered . The police , partly due to anger with Stevens testimony in a previous case , are quick to treat Stevens as the prime suspect . To prove his innocence and track down the real killer , Stevens hires a private investigator by the name of Norman Z . Moody . Before the case is done , Stevens will have to risk life and limb , psychoanalize possible suspects and fall in love with a mysterious patient named Annie DeMarco .

<|fantasy|>Having the courage to find a better path is having the courage to risk making new mistakes . Once assassin to the king , Fitz is now Skillmaster to Prince Dutiful s small band , sailing towards a future as uncertain as the waters that separate the Six Duchies from the distant Out Island of Aslevjal . His duty is to help the Prince fulfil the Narcheska Elliania s challenge Bring her the head of the dragon , Icefyre , whom legends say is buried deep beneath the ice . Only after this task is complete will they be married and bring an end to war between their kingdoms . It is not a happy ship the serving boy , Thick Who had down syndrome , and was named in a way consistent with the universe in which the story is set , is constantly ill sea sick , and his random but powerful Skilling takes on a dark and menacing tone , causing the sailors to regard him as a Jonah . Fitz , his Skill dreams plagued by female voices and the beating of gigantic wings , is unhappy at leaving the Fool behind but is determined to keep the White Prophet from his fate on the isle of the black dragon and Chade s fascination with the Skill is growing to the point of obsession . There are other currents flowing in the Out Islands , for not everyone welcomes the idea of a foreign prince slaying the Aslevjal legend . So why is the Narcheska so intent on the dragon s death ? A reduced party finally arrives on the frozen island to be greeted by a familiar yet changed figure . What role does he have to play in the success or failure of the quest ? His intentions are certainly at odds with Chade , who is determined to slay the dragon to secure peace , whatever the cost . The tale of Fitz and the Fool , begun in Assassin s Apprentice , reaches its spectacular conclusion in Fool s Fate , in which kingdoms must stand or fall on the beat of a dragon s wings , or a Fool s heart .

<|fantasy|>The novel continues the events that happened on From the Highlands , and is set over the background of the fight against genetic slavery . The story begins after the truce between Manticore and Haven . Captain Zilwicki , his adopted daughter Berry , Princess Ruth Winton and the slave turned professor W . E . B . Du Havel are sent as Queen Elizabeth III s not the Manticoran government s official representatives to the funeral of a notorious Solarian anti slavery activist , which will take place in Erewhon , a disgruntled member of the Manticoran Alliance . Erewhon s location between Manticore , Haven and the Solarian League makes it a place where agents from the different star nations can play the intelligence game . From the first moment , Zilwicki , Berry and Ruth get entangled in a complex situation involving Havenite agents , ambitious Solarian Navy officers , violent Masadan mercenaries , the Audubon Ballroom and the powerful Mesan corporation Manpower Incorporated . Each faction has interests of its own , which collide with those of the others the Manticorans want to salvage their relation with Erewhon and upset the Prime Minister who allowed that relationship to sour . The Havenites intend to show support for the anti slavery cause and improve their own relationship with Erewhon , with the unstated goal of breaking Erewhon away from Manticore . The Erewhonese want someone nbsp anyone nbsp to help them deal with a Mesan owned planet which is a threat to their security . The Solarian officers work to further the interests of a powerful political patron who believes that the League is on the verge of collapse and wants to be prepared for that event . The Mesans want to stay out of the limelight and prevent all the other factions from attacking their major industry slave trading , while the Audubon Ballroom simply wants to hit Mesa anywhere they can . And even the Masadan mercenaries employed by the Mesans have their own agenda to force Manticore to free several of their imprisoned companions . The clash of interests comes to a head with an attempted kidnapping on Berry Zilwicki and Ruth Winton who happens to be the sister of the leader of the Masadan mercenaries aboard The Wages of Sin , Erewhon s main civilian space station . After Manpower s involvement is discovered , a haphazard alliance between the Manticorans , Solarians , Havenites and the Ballroom is organized to launch an attack on the Mesan owned planet Verdant Vista , popularly known as Congo . The planet is taken from Manpower s hands , and it is decided to transform it into an independent nation of its own for escaped slaves , so that the conflict against Mesa may have a nation sponsoring it . The novel ends with Berry Zilwicki being crowned as Berry I , Queen of the new Kingdom of Torch .

<|novel|>The story follows Elías Contreras , a Zapatista investigation commission , and Héctor Belascorán , a private detective from Mexico City and recurring character of Taibo s , as they try to unravel the mystery of a dead man leaving messages on answering phones , find out who Morales is , and generally investigate Bad and the Evil . Belascorán is Taibo s main protagonist Contreras is Marcos s . During the book , and especially during the chapters written by Marcos , the reader is introduced to many characters , some of whom only appear for a very short time . The book looks at the politics of Mexico and at neo liberalism .

<|fantasy|>The series is set in a stereotypical space opera world of the late XXI century . In Alisa s time people learned how to travel in space faster than light . Robots and aliens are common . Time travel is possible , but reserved only for scientific purposes . The society is a communist utopia there s no need in money , environment is strictly protected and everything is done for the benefit of men . Alisa is a teenage Russian schoolgirl . Her father , Professor Seleznev , is a space biologist and director of Moscow CosmoZoo . The heroine is a curious fidget , she s interested in any sort of mystery , either scientistic or detective . In the stories , Alice , her friends , and occasionally her father , travel in space and time , explore distant planets , deal with aliens , fight space pirates and make scientistic discoveries . Many of the stories have ecological subtext . Alisa s family is modelled after that of the author he actually had a daughter named Alisa , and heroine s parents are named after Bulychov himself and his wife .

<|novel|>Witold , a Polish writer , embarks on an ocean voyage only to have the war break out while he is visiting Argentina . Finding himself penniless and stranded after the Nazis take over his country , he is taken in by the local Polish emigre community . A fantastical series of twists and turns follow in which the young man finds himself , after a debauched night of drinking , involved as a second in a duel . Witold is constantly confronted with the exasperating contrasts between his love of country and his status as a forced expatriate and the shallow nationalism of his fellow Poles .

<|mystery|>A group of people gather at a remote snowbound lodge in the wilds of northern New England . A seance is held in order to reach the dead husband of the medium . Remarried , the medium s husband wants permission from the dead man to open a tract of land to logging . During the seance it appears that the spirit of the dead man returns to possess one of the group , using him as an instrument to murder another of the group . The hero , Rogan Kincaid , is an adventurer who takes it upon himself with help from a Czech refugee , the daughter of the dead man , and others , to solve the mystery before the police are brought in . As impossibilities pile up including a locked room murder , footprints that begin and end in the middle of an expanse of snow , and a murderer who seems to be able to fly after being taken over by a Windigo , it looks like the only explanation is a supernatural one .

<|fantasy|>The few thousand humans survive in a nebula of relatively breathable air , existing in divided communities . The society is highly stratified , with the elite living on the Raft the remains of the starship that contains almost all the high technology , workers miners living on various Belt worlds where they mine burned out star kernels , and the Boneys , a nomadic band of unmentionables who live on worlds created out of corpses . It is unknown exactly how the humans came to the universe , but hints within the story indicate that the Raft ship came through a rift in our universe into this alternate reality though whether intentionally or unintentionally is never specified . A glimpse of the high gravity universe is seen in the book Ring , implying that the humans in Raft came from the main universe of the Xeelee Sequence , although during which time period they escaped is not clear . The alternate universe the humans live in follows same laws as our universe , except that it has a gravitational constant which is orders of magnitude larger than our own universe . The physics of the alternate universe has slowly turned the nebula into an increasingly hostile environment and the humans , along with the bizarre native species , are suffering the effects of environmental collapse .

<|action|>Jennifer is an Assistant District Attorney for the State of New York , New York County . A beautiful , inexperienced , criminal defense attorney , she foils a plot by Michael Moretti , the rising star of one of the most powerful organized crime families in America . Manhattan District Attorney Robert Di Silva , believing that Jennifer is truly responsible , fires her and vows to destroy her for her part in the fiasco with Michael Moretti . Di Silva arranges for the young lawyer Adam Warner to meet Parker in an attempt to persuade him that she is truly responsible for the bribe . Upon meeting her Adam falls for Jennifer and realizes that she isn t guilty at all . With Adam s help Jennifer begins to rise again , meanwhile Moretti , inspired by her determination to succeed , decides he would like to induct her as the Family consigliere a mafia lawyer . Adam Warner , despite being married and groomed for the United States Senate , and with the possibility of a White House destination , can not help falling in love with Jennifer . When Adam tells Jennifer that his wife has asked for a divorce , Jennifer meets with Warner s wife , Mary Beth . Being so close to the Senate election , the two women decide it is best for Adam to wait until after the election . Mary Beth however sleeps with Adam one last time , in the process tricking him into impregnating her . Adam learns that his wife is pregnant , wins the election , and tells Jennifer that he truly loves her but they must end their affair . Jennifer having previously discovered that she too is pregnant and not wanting to hurt Adam , accepts , but doesn t reveal to him that she is carrying his child . Jennifer gives birth to her son and names him Joshua Adam Parker . She keeps the birth a secret , allowing only Ken Bailey , her assistant , to become aware of her son . She then returns to her practice and soon makes headlines as a successful lawyer . Meanwhile , Michael constantly tries to spark friendship with Jennifer , which she rebuffs at every attempt , reminding him of his earlier tricks . Nevertheless , when her son is kidnapped by a criminal Jennifer is defending , she , in desperation , turns to Michael Moretti for help . After helping her , he seduces her and Jennifer becomes the Family consigliere .

<|fantasy|>The story focuses on Nicole Gunther Perrin , a young lawyer in late 20th Century Los Angeles who is dissatisfied with her hectic life , which includes balancing her career with being a mother and dealing with her deadbeat ex husband and sexist coworkers . Believing the past was a better time , one evening , after a particularly distressing day , she makes a wish before a plaque of two Roman gods , Liber and Libera . The next morning , she finds herself waking up in the body of one of her ancient ancestors running a tavern in 2nd century Carnuntum , in what is now Austria . In general , she finds out the hard way that life in the past was not quite what she thought it would be slavery is taken for granted , there are no women s rights , no effective medicine or clean medical practices , little entertainment , and no tampons . Over the course of a year and a half , she is forced to revise many of her long held modern prejudices , including those against alcohol and corporal punishment . She survives epidemic disease the Antonine Plague and a Germanic invasion that is part of the Marcomannic Wars . She finds that early Christianity was uncomfortably zealous and apocalyptic and , after a brutal rape by a Roman soldier , discusses the role of government and its duties to abused citizens with Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius . Eventually Liber and Libera fulfil her desire to return home . She wakes from a six day coma to discover that she can improve both her working and family life . Not only have her hard won skills given her more empathy and self confidence , but she now has greater appreciation for the life that modern conveniences allow . With this new perspective , she can more easily and successfully deal with the stress and difficulties of her existence .

<|fantasy|>A million years prior to the dawn of Homo sapiens , two immortal , shapeshifting aliens roam the Earth with little memory of their origin or their purpose . Later in the year 2019 , an artifact is discovered off the coast of Samoa , buried deep beneath the ocean floor . The mysterious find brings two alien beings the changeling and the chameleon together again , to ponder the meaning of the object and its relationship to each of them . Both immortals try to seek each other out and use the artifact to find their origins , one harbouring good intentions while the other is extremely hostile .

<|fantasy|>Lisa Kelly manages an isolated BDSM resort called The Club that offers its high end clients an exclusive setting in which they can experience the life of a Master or Mistress . Prospective sex slaves , paid at the end of their term at Eden which varies from six months to two years , are presented at auctions by the most respected Trainers from across the world . As Head Female Trainer and co founder Lisa gets first pick of the new slaves , and chooses Elliot Slater with whom she shares an immediate and undeniable chemistry that intensifies throughout their time together , eventually resulting in love .

<|fantasy|>The novel presents the story from the perspective of Desiderio , a bureau member in the main city currently under the attack of Doctor Hoffman s desire machines . With these machines , Doctor Hoffman expands the dimensions of time and space , allowing ever changing mirages to inhabit the same dimension as the living . Desiderio , though indifferent to the haunting apparitions , finds himself visited nightly by a glass woman , the manifestation of Albertina , Hoffman s daughter and Desiderio s lover to be . Unlike Desiderio , many people go crazy in response to the apparitions , and the city , severed from communication with the outside world , becomes a place of rampant insanity and crime , thereby prompting a state of emergency . Under the command of the Minister of Determination , Desiderio embarks on an undercover journey to find and assassinate Doctor Hoffman . On his way to the first stop on his journey , Desiderio encounters Doctor Hoffman s former physics professor who now works as blind peep show proprietor . During the story , Desiderio visits the sexualized exhibits of the peep show a number of times to find that they bear uncanny resemblance to the events that occur within his own life . Upon reaching his first destination , the Mayor s Office of town S . , Desiderio finds that the Mayor has disappeared . Thereupon he visits the Mayor s home where he has sex with the Mayor s somnambulist daughter , Mary Anne , while she remains unconscious . When Mary Anne turns up dead , dirty members of the Determination Police charge Desiderio , but he escapes . From there on , Desiderio finds himself involved in a number of wild adventures in which the novel features many graphic scenes of eroticism that include sexual taboos . On these adventures , Albertina secretly accompanies Desiderio . Desiderio spends time living with the river people , Amerindian families that live on barges . He later joins a traveling carnival in which he becomes enthralled with the mind boggling performance of the Acrobats of Desire . Following a tragic event , a Lithuanian count , in flight from the wrath of a black pimp , takes Desiderio into his company . With the count , Desiderio narrowly escapes becoming the victim of cannibalism on the African coast before Albertina reveals herself and leads Desiderio through the landscape of Nebulous Time where a community of centaurs adopts the two . However , the couple s lives become endangered yet again and they must flee to Hoffman s castle , where Doctor Hoffman explains his plans to reduce the world into its most basic constituents with the help of Desiderio and Albertina . While Desiderio loves Albertina , he ultimately chooses reality over the fulfillment of desire when he kills both Doctor Hoffman and his daughter . As a result , Desiderio becomes the proclaimed hero of the Great War . Nevertheless , he continues to long for his dead lover .

<|fantasy|>The novel opens as an experimental star ship tests a deadly weapon on an uninhabited world , devastating the surface . From here the story essentially follows the two main characters as they are recruited by the Sutherlin Alliance in their bid to overthrow the Alcon Empire . The junior of the two opens the story as a pilot in the Empire s prestigious Devil Squadron . The senior recruit had also once served in this fighter group only to resign years early and take up the life of a mercenary and bounty hunter . With these two skilled men added to their backbone of ex Imperial soldiers and raw youth from around the galaxy the Alliance takes the fight to the Empire . With the threat of the Alliance growing the Empire learns of their location and decides to unleash the power of their world killing star ship . The two recruited men learn of the ship s existence and its target just days before its use and develop a plan of attack to cripple both the ship and the sizable force escorting it . One of the themes that is expressed throughout the story is attachment and the human need to belong both main characters fight with these needs in their own ways . The elder of the two battles the desire with his own wishes to stay separate from the needs of the others while the younger fights to keep his distance , not wanting to feel the loss of war .

<|fantasy|>Simulacron 3 is the story of a virtual city total environment simulator for marketing research , developed by a scientist to reduce the need for opinion polls . The computer generated city simulation is so well programmed , that , although the inhabitants have their own consciousness , they are unaware , except for one , that they are only electronic impulses in a computer . The simulator s lead scientist , Hannon Fuller , dies mysteriously , and a co worker , Morton Lynch , vanishes . The protagonist , Douglas Hall , is with Lynch when he vanishes , and Hall subsequently struggles to suppress his inchoate madness . As time and events unwind , he progressively grasps that his own world is probably not real and might be only a computer generated simulation . Symbolically , the title term Simulacron 3 refers to the just built virtual reality simulator and ostensibly references a third attempt at simulectronics the reality simulating technology , however , the 3 also refers to the novel s three levels of reality , or three levels of computer simulation if the final , real world is simulated . Moreover , simulacron is closely derivative of simulacrum , a superficial image representing a non existent original .

<|fantasy|>Memories of Ice takes place simultaneously with the events of Deadhouse Gates , beginning about four months after the events of Gardens of the Moon . On the continent of Genabackis , the Malazan 2nd Army under High Fist Dujek Onearm has turned renegade and is now known as Onearm s Host . Fearing the advance of a powerful new empire in the south east of Genabackis , the Pannion Domin , Dujek and his second in command , Whiskeyjack , forge an alliance with their former enemies Anomander Rake and the Tiste Andii of Moon s Spawn , and the warlord Caladan Brood . They also seek the aid of the White Face Barghast tribes . Meanwhile , the former Claw agent Toc the Younger and the T lan Imass Tool find themselves lost in the southern wilds of Genabackis and must undertake a daring journey through Pannion territory , whilst the famed Grey Swords of Elingarth must defend the city of Capustan against a vast , overwhelming Pannion army .

<|fantasy|>House of Chains takes place immediately after the events of Deadhouse Gates on the subcontinent of Seven Cities . The Chain of Dogs the evacuation of 50 , 000 Malazan civilians across 1 , 500 miles of hostile territory has ended in the tragic loss of the entire 7th army and its heroic commander , Coltaine . However , with their sacrifice was bought the lives of nearly 30 , 000 refugees . Meanwhile , the Chain of Dogs has become a legend spreading across Seven Cities , cowing even those responsible for its destruction . Now Adjunct Tavore Paran has arrived at the head of the 14th Army , largely consisting of untried recruits . Their mission is to advance into the heart of the Holy Desert Raraku , the very heart of the rebellion known as the Whirlwind , and destroy Sha ik and her forces once and for all . The rebels outnumber the Malazans vastly . However , all is not well in Sha ik s camp and internal conflicts threatens to destroy her army before the Malazans can . Meanwhile , a mighty warrior named Karsa Orlong descends from his mountain fastness on Genabackis , beginning a journey that will live in legend , and the thief Crokus and assassin Apsalar find themselves drawn into a desperate struggle for control of the Throne of Shadow . Finally , a warrior named Trull Sengar is rescued from certain death with news of a terrible new foe arising to trouble all the world . . .

<|fantasy|>The Bonehunters begins two months after the events of House of Chains . The Malazan Fourteenth Army has destroyed the army of the Whirlwind , and Adjunct Tavore Paran has executed Sha ik . The Fourteenth is now pressing westward , pursuing the remnants of the Whirlwind rebellion under Leoman of the Flails , as it seeks refuge in the fortress city of Y Ghatan , where the Malazan Empire had previously faced its greatest defeat . Meanwhile , Onearm s Host , restored to the favour of Empress Laseen , has landed on Seven Cities north coast to complete the task of subduing the rebellion , but a deadly plague has been unleashed . Ganoes Paran , the new Master of the Deck of Dragons , arrives from Genabackis to help deal with the chaos . Elsewhere , the balance of power is shifting in the Malazan Imperial Court , and strange black ships have been sighted in the waters surrounding Quon Tali and Seven Cities . The quest of the expeditionary force of the Letherii Empire to find warriors worthy of facing Emperor Rhulad Sengar in battle is about to be answered twice over .

<|fantasy|>In Darujhistan , the saying goes that Love and Death shall arrive together , dancing . . . It is summer and the heat is oppressive , yet the discomfiture of the small rotund man in the faded red waistcoat is not entirely due to the sun . Dire portents plague his nights and haunt the city s streets like fiends of shadow . Assassins skulk in alleyways but it seems the hunters have become the hunted . Hidden hands pluck the strings of tyranny like a fell chorus . Strangers have arrived , and while the bards sing their tragic tales , somewhere in the distance can be heard the baying of hounds . All is palpably not well . And in Black Coral too , ruled over by Anomander Rake , Son of Darkness , something is afoot memories of ancient crimes surface , clamouring for revenge , so it would seem that Love and Death are indeed about to make their entrance .

<|fantasy|>Challenger sends telegrams asking his three companions from The Lost World Edward Malone , Lord John Roxton , and Professor Summerlee to join him at his home outside of London . The cryptic telegrams also instruct each of them to bring a tank of oxygen . When they arrive they are ushered into a sealed room , along with Challenger and his wife . In the course of his research , Challenger has predicted that the Earth is about to come into contact with a belt of poisonous ether , which will , based on its effect on the people of Sumatra earlier in the day , cause the end of humanity . Challenger seals them in the room with the cylinders of oxygen , which he correctly believes will counter the effect of the ether . The sealing is not to keep the ether out it permeates everything but to keep the oxygen in . The five of them wait out the Earth s passage through the band as they watch the world outside die , and machines run amok . In an interesting display of Victorian values or , at least , Doyle s take on them Challenger does not even consider including his servants they are left outside the room to die , and continue to perform their duties until the ether overtakes them . Finally , the last of their oxygen cylinders runs dry , and they open a window , ready to face death . To their surprise , they do not die , and they wander through the dead countryside in Challenger s car , eventually making it to London . They encounter only one survivor , who is an elderly , bed ridden woman prescribed oxygen for her health . After going to London and back , they make plans for the fate of the world at their hands when suddenly , people start to wake up again . The effect of the ether turns out to be temporary , and the world wakes up again after a little over a day in a coma , with no knowledge that they have lost any time at all . Eventually Challenger and his companions manage to convince the world what happened a task made easier by the tremendous amount of death and destruction caused by runaway machines and fires that took place while the world was asleep and humanity is shocked into placing a higher value on life , and how well we spend what little time we are given .

<|fantasy|>The novel s protagonist , Rennie , is a travel reporter . After surviving breast cancer , she vacations on the fictional Caribbean island St . Antoine . The island , however , is on the brink of revolution . Rennie tries to stay away from politics , but is drawn into events through her romance with Paul , a key player in the uprising .

<|fantasy|>The novel s protagonist , Joan Foster , is a romance novelist who has spent her life running away from difficult situations . The novel alternates between flashbacks from the past and scenes from the present . Through flashbacks , the reader sees her first as an overweight child whose mother constantly criticizes her , and later , hiding her career , her past as the mistress of a Polish count , and her affair with a performance artist called The Royal Porcupine from her bipolar husband Arthur . In the present , she has recently published a volume of feminist poetry which becomes a breakthrough success and is overwhelmed by the pressures of sudden fame . Joan panics after receiving a blackmail attempt from someone who has found out about her secrets . With the help of two acquaintances , she fakes her own suicide and then flees to Italy .

<|novel|>The hero of The Good Shepherd is Commander Krause , the captain of a US Navy destroyer in World War II . Krause is in overall command of an escort force protecting an Atlantic convoy in the Battle of the Atlantic . He finds himself in a difficult position . The voyage in question occurs early in 1942 , shortly after America s entry into the war . Although he is an experienced officer , with many years of seniority , this is Krause s first wartime mission . The captains of the other escort vessels are junior to him , and much younger , but they have been at war for over two years . His relative inexperience troubles him . The hero broods over his career his wife left him partly because of his strict devotion to duty . He is troubled when the press of duty forces him to neglect his prayers . Unlike most of Forester s other heroes , Krause is devout . And he is troubled by recollections that the Navy review board had twice passed him over for promotion , returning a judgement of fitted and retained . His promotion to Commander only came when the United States entered the war , leading him to fear that he may be unsuited to his command . The book illustrates the difficulties of the Atlantic war the struggle against the sea , the enemy , and the exhaustion brought on by constant vigilance . It also details the problems of the early radar and ASDIC equipment available and the poor communications between the fleet and Admiralty .

<|fantasy|>There is a saying in the land that someone who drinks the Wine of the Gods before he is ready is only half a man thereafter . Amatus , the prince , manages to swig down a significant amount of the Wine of the Gods , and his entire left half vanishes . His father , the normally gentle King Boniface , orders the executions of the four people responsible for this travesty the maid , the alchemist , the witch , and the captain of the guard and then begins the long and arduous process of interviewing to fill these four positions . A year and a day later , four strangers arrive in the kingdom . This is a magical time , and noted by all as being very auspicious . The strangers are hired by the king and become known as the prince s Companions . The rest of the tale deals with Amatus s growth into manhood , kingship , and love . It is filled with adventure , laughter , tragedy , unexpected reunions and royal pomp .

<|fantasy|>Stations of the Tide is the story of a bureaucrat with the Department of Technology Transfer who must descend to the surface of Miranda to hunt a magician who has smuggled proscribed technology past the orbital embargo , and bring him to justice before the world is transformed by the flood of the Jubilee Tides .

<|childrens|>In the story , Tom , Huck , and Jim set sail to Africa in a futuristic hot air balloon , where they survive encounters with lions , robbers , and fleas to see some of the world s greatest wonders , including the Pyramids and the Sphinx . Like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer , Detective , the story is told using the first person narrative voice of Huck Finn . It is a sequel , set in the time following the title story of the Tom Sawyer series .

<|childrens|>Walking home one night through the streets of Minneapolis after quitting her rock band and breaking up with her boyfriend , Eddi McCandry discovers that she is being pursued by a threatening man and an even more threatening black dog . They turn out to be one and same a shapeshifting prankster faerie known as a phouka , who drafts Eddi to be the key linchpin in the ongoing battle between faerie s good and noble Seelie Court and the evil Unseelie Court , ruled by the Queen of Air and Darkness . Eddi soon finds herself in a struggle for survival against the Unseelie Court , all while trying to put a new rock band together . Meanwhile , her initial feelings of resentment toward the phouka develop into gratitude for his efforts to protect her against the dark queen , and ultimately turn into love . The novel climaxes in a rock concert playoff between Eddi and the Queen of Air and Darkness , which decides the fate of both faerie courts , as well as the fate of her loved one .

<|fantasy|>In March 1912 , in the event some people called the Miracle , Europe and parts of Asia and Africa , including its inhabitants , disappear suddenly overnight and are replaced with a slice of an alien Earth , a land mass of roughly equal outlines and terrain features , but with a strange new flora and fauna which seems to have followed a different path in evolution . Seen by some as an act of divine retribution , the Miracle affects the lives of people all around and transforms world history . The book describes the life and the adventures of Guilford Law , a young American photographer . As a 14 year old boy , Guilford Law witnessed the Miracle as shimmering lights moving eerily across the ocean sky . As a grown man , he is determined to travel to the strange continent of Darwinia and explore its mysteries . To that end , he enlists as a photographer in the Finch expedition , which plans to travel up the river that used to be known as the Rhine and penetrate the bizarre new continent s hidden depths as far as possible . He lands in the middle of the jungle in the midst of nationalistic skirmishes , in which partisans attack and wipe out most of the party of the Finch expedition on the continent that they believe to belong to them . Law brought an unwanted companion with him , a mysterious twin who seems to have both lived and died on an alternate Earth unchanged by the Miracle . The twin first appears to Guilford in dreams , and he brings a message that Darwinia is not what it seems to be , and Guilford is not who he seems to be . A startling revelation soon arrives . By the end of the story , it is revealed to all the characters that it is really now the End of Time and that the Universe , the Earth , and all the consciousness that ever existed are really being preserved in a computer like simulation known as the Archive . The Archive was built by a coalition of all the sentient beings in the Universe in an effort to save consciousness from death . However , viruses parasitic artificial life forms known as Psions have invaded the system of the Archive . Guilford Law eventually learns that he and those like him serve as instruments in a cosmic struggle against the Psions for the survival of consciousness itself .

<|comedy|>During World War II , a cargo vessel S . S . Cabinet Minister is wrecked off a remote fictional Scottish island group mdash Great Todday and Little Todday mdash with fifty thousand cases of whisky aboard . Due to wartime rationing , the thirsty islanders had nearly run out of the water of life and see this as an unexpected godsend . They manage to salvage several hundred cases before the ship sinks . But it is not all clear sailing . They must thwart the efforts of the authorities to confiscate the liquor , particularly in the shape of misguided , pompous English Home Guard Captain Paul Waggett . A cat and mouse battle of wits ensues . Although the wreck and the escapades over the whisky are at the centre of the story , there is also a lot of background detail about life in the Outer Hebrides , including e . g . culture clashes between the Protestant island of Great Todday and the Roman Catholic island of Little Todday . Mackenzie based the geography of these islands on Barra and Eriskay respectively , but in real life they are both Catholic islands . There are various sub plots , e . g . two couples who are planning to get married . Mackenzie s prose captures the various accents of the area and also includes much common Gaelic that was in use at the time . The book comes with a useful glossary of both the meaning and approximate pronunciation of the language .

<|fantasy|>The story is split between parallel narratives . The odd numbered chapters take place in the Hard Boiled Wonderland , although the phrase is not used anywhere in the text , only in page headers . The narrator is a Calcutec , a human data processor encryption system who has been trained to use his subconscious as an encryption key . The Calcutecs work for the quasi governmental System , as opposed to the criminal Semiotecs who work for the Factory and who are generally fallen Calcutecs . The relationship between the two groups is simple the System protects data while the Semiotecs steal it , although it is suggested that one man might be behind both . The narrator completes an assignment for a mysterious scientist , who is exploring sound removal . He works in a laboratory hidden within an anachronistic version of Tokyo s sewer system . The narrator eventually learns that he only has a day and a half to exist before he leaves the world he knows and delves forever into the world that has been created in his subconscious mind . The even numbered chapters deal with a newcomer to The End of the World , a strange , isolated walled Town depicted in the frontispiece map as being surrounded by a perfect and impenetrable wall . The narrator is in the process of being accepted into the Town . His Shadow has been cut off and this Shadow lives in the Shadow Grounds where he is not expected to survive the winter . Residents of the Town are not allowed to have a shadow , and , it transpires , do not have a mind . Or is it only suppressed ? The narrator is assigned quarters and a job as the current Dreamreader a process intended to remove the traces of mind from the Town . He goes to the Library every evening where , assisted by the Librarian , he learns to read dreams from the skulls of unicorns . These beasts passively accept their role , sent out of the Town at night to their enclosure , where many die of cold during the winter . It gradually becomes evident that this Town is the world inside of the narrator from the Hard Boiled Wonderland s subconscious the password he uses to control different aspects of his mind is even end of the world . The narrator grows to love the Librarian while he discovers the secrets of the Town , and although he plans to escape the Town with his Shadow , he later goes back on his word and leaves his Shadow to escape the Town alone . The two storylines converge , exploring concepts of consciousness , the unconscious mind or as it incorrectly referred to , subconscious and identity . In the original Japanese , the narrator uses the more formal first person pronoun watashi to refer to himself in the Hard Boiled Wonderland narrative and the more intimate boku in the End of the World . Translator Alfred Birnbaum achieved a similar effect in English by putting the End of the World sections in the present tense .

<|fantasy|>The novel is about a low key unemployed man , Toru Okada , whose cat runs away . A chain of events follow that prove that his seemingly mundane life is much more complicated than it appears .

<|novel|>An old journalist , who has just celebrated his 90th birthday , seeks sex with a young prostitute , who is selling her virginity to help her family . Instead of sex , he discovers love for the first time in his life .

<|fantasy|>Robert Bobby Pendragon , an everyday athletic junior high school student from Stony Brook , Connecticut discovers that he is a Traveler someone who is able to use mystical flumes to journey among ten distinct spacetime realities , called territories . His Uncle Press , the lead Traveler , tells him that they have a crucial mission to stop the efforts of the shapeshifting demon Saint Dane , a supporter of the darker side of human nature who believes that everything there is or was , collectively called Halla , must be destroyed so that he may rebuild it , according to his own designs . As each territory reaches a critical turning point , Saint Dane arrives , hoping to lead its people toward self destruction . Bobby travels to the ten territories to thwart Saint Dane s plans , sending journals to his home Second Earth to be received by his best friends Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde , who become sometimes involved with the action and are deemed Bobby s acolytes . There is one Traveler from each territory and Bobby soon realizes that his role is to replace his uncle as the lead Traveler , pursuing Saint Dane across Halla , and helping to guide the territories back toward stability with the assistance of the other Travelers , their acolytes , and further allies . The turning points of the territories , in order , occur on Denduron , Cloral , First Earth , Veelox , Eelong , Zadaa , Quillan , Ibara , Second Earth , and Third Earth . Not only does Bobby come up against the forces of Saint Dane , but he also learns the skills of martial arts and how to respect the diverse peoples of the territories he encounters , which wildly differ in their social structures , technologies , philosophies , traditions , and other cultural aspects . He also has to adapt to each territory s environments to get to Saint Dane . As the saga progresses , Bobby begins to learn the nature of what it really means to be a Traveler , that Saint Dane s ultimate goal includes a mysterious event called the Convergence , and how different he actually is from a normal American teenager . By the ninth book , Bobby successfully prevents the destruction of six territories , but on Second Earth , Veelox , and Quillan the Travelers fail , allowing Saint Dane to claim victory . Even worse , by taking over Second Earth , Saint Dane manages to reverse all previous Traveler victories , founding an elitist , genocidal cult called Ravinia that marches its robot army of humanoid soldiers freely throughout the territories . In the last book , Bobby and the Travelers learn that they are not actually humans , but rather , spirits created by Solara , the source of all accumulated human knowledge . Reuniting one last time , they manage to defeat Saint Dane in a final battle on Third Earth , thus reviving Halla and beginning its process toward recovery .

<|action|>An experienced burglar , Luther Whitney , breaks into a billionaire s house with the intent of robbing it . While there , he witnesses the President of the United States and the billionaire s wife having sex however , their lovemaking turns violent and Secret Service agents burst in and kill the woman . Whitney escapes , but not before the Secret Service learns of his presence they blame the wife s murder on Whitney . Whitney goes on the run from the President s agents while a detective tries to piece together the crime .

<|childrens|>Trisana Tris Chandler meets Kethlun Keth Warder , a glass mage with a dangerous power lightning . During their first meeting , he was unconsciously using his ambient powers and accidentally created a living dragon out of glass . Tris saves the dragon from being smashed by Keth , and names it Chime . She later finds out that he had been struck by lightning less than a year ago , and this left him paralyzed and with a great fear of lightning . He learned to walk again , but his speech is a little slow , and he lost his ease at glass blowing . A twenty year old man just as stubborn as Tris , Keth won t accept Tris or any of her teachings . He argues with her constantly , and refuses to learn about his lightning abilities , fearing a relapse into paralysis . Tris is surprisingly patient with him as she guides him through meditation and control over his powers . Eventually , Keth learns to trust Tris instincts , and grudgingly accepts her as his teacher . Meanwhile , mysterious murders are taking place . All the murdered women are Yaskedasi , female entertainers who are looked down upon in the town for their immodesty . But when one of the murdered Yaskedasi turns up in the town s central fountain , everyone starts to take notice . The town has a culture of thanatophobia , an irrational fear of death . Each time a person dies , the place must be cleansed by the town s priests when they perform the traditional cleansing ceremony . This ceremony is not only religious , but magical as well , effectively erasing all traces of the murderer , making it impossible for the authorities to track the killer , nicknamed the Ghost by locals . Keth has been asked to attempt to find the Ghost by way of glass balls that only he can make . These balls hold scenes of past crimes in them , causing him to be a suspect at first . Keth and Tris struggle , first against the local authorities , then against each other in the creation of these globes . When Keth s friend Yali is killed by the Ghost , the race takes on new meaning .