The novel is set in England during World War I at Styles Court, an Essex country manor (also the setting of Curtain, Poirot''s last case). Upon her husband''s death, the wealthy widow, Emily Cavendish, inherited a life estate in Styles as well as the outright inheritance of the larger part of the late Mr. Cavendish''s income. Mrs. Cavendish became Mrs. Inglethorp upon her recent remarriage to a much younger man, Alfred Inglethorp. Emily''s two stepsons, John and Lawrence Cavendish, as well as John''s wife Mary and several other people, also live at Styles. John Cavendish is the vested remainderman of Styles; that is, the property will pass to him automatically upon his stepmother''s decease, as per his late father''s will. The income left to Mrs Inglethorp by her late husband would be distributed as per Mrs. Inglethorp''s own will. Late one night, the residents of Styles wake to find Emily Inglethorp dying of what proves to be strychnine poisoning. Lieutenant Hastings, a houseguest, enlists the help of his friend Hercule Poirot, who is staying in the nearby village, Styles St. Mary. Poirot pieces together events surrounding the murder. On the day she was killed, Emily Inglethorp was overheard arguing with someone, most likely her husband, Alfred, or her stepson, John. Afterwards, she seemed quite distressed and, apparently, made a new will — which no one can find. She ate little at dinner and retired early to her room with her document case. The case was later forced open by someone and a document removed. Alfred Inglethorp left Styles earlier in the evening and stayed overnight in the nearby village, so was not present when the poisoning occurred. Nobody can explain how or when the strychnine was administered to Mrs. Inglethorp. At first, Alfred is the prime suspect. He has the most to gain financially from his wife''s death, and, since he is so much younger than Emily was, the Cavendishes already suspect him as a fortune hunter. Evelyn Howard, Emily''s companion, seems to hate him most of all. His behaviour, too, is suspicious; he openly purchased strychnine in the village before Emily was poisoned, and although he denies it, he refuses to provide an alibi. The police are keen to arrest him, but Poirot intervenes by proving he could not have purchased the poison. Scotland Yard police later arrest Emily Inglethorp’s oldest stepson, John Cavendish. He inherits under the terms of her will, and there is evidence to suggest he also had obtained poison. Poirot clears Cavendish by proving it was, after all, Alfred Inglethorp who committed the crime, assisted by Evelyn Howard, who turns out to be his kissing cousin, not his enemy. The guilty pair poisoned Emily by adding a precipitating agent, bromide (obtained from Mrs Inglethorp''s sleeping powder), to her regular evening medicine, causing its normally innocuous strychnine constituents to sink to the bottom of the bottle where they were finally consumed in a single, lethal dose. Their plan had been for Alfred Inglethorp to incriminate himself with false evidence, which could then be refuted at his trial. Once acquitted, due to double jeopardy, he could not be tried for the crime a second time should any genuine evidence against him be subsequently discovered, hence prompting Poirot to keep him out of prison when he realized that Alfred wanted to be arrested.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Mance was the chief visionary and engineer behind the skytower, a super space elevator which ran from Ecuador all the way into low Earth orbit. When religious fundamentalists and agents of the scheming Yamagata Corporation sabotage the skytower, however, millions are killed; Mance is faced with his own guilt for the tragedy and sees himself as ostensibly responsible. He is arrested and put on trial. Things turn out even worse for Mance when his friends, bioengineer Victor Molina and Rev. Elliott Danvers, abandon him, and he is exiled to a life of hard work and misery in the Asteroid Belt, far from his beloved wife Lara—upon whom the double-crossing Victor Molina had always harbored designs. For a time, he escapes his fate in the Belt by being inducted into the crew of an ore hauler, where for a while he contemplates his life and comes to the conclusion that he was set up. Ultimately he falls for the captain''s beautiful young daughter Addie. When the same forces responsible for the destruction of the skytower destroy the freighter, Mance manages to survive by having been outside, tethered to the ship as punishment from the captain for having been caught with his daughter. Rescued against all odds, Mance is brought to the moon to recuperate, where is able to assume the identity of the ships'' late first officer, Dante Alexios, by undergoing extensive nano reconstruction to make him appear outwardly identical to Dante Alexios. With his new persona, Mance/Dante leads up a successful engineering career, which empowers him to plot his revenge against those whom he blames for his downfall: the simple but good-natured New Morality clergyman Elliott Danvers, and Molina (who has since married Lara with whom he has a child) and the Yamagata Corporation. Mance lures the three to Mercury where he manages to infiltrate the Yamagata operations and cause financially ruinous delays to their Mercurian project by planting Martian rock samples containing organic compounds there. These he allows to be discovered by Molina, who believes them to be authentically Mercurian and heralds them as a great discovery. Finally, he frames the Rev. Danvers for the trickery in order to also ruin his career, which succeeds flawlessly—to the extent that Danvers takes his own life. Yet things go awry for Mance when he confesses to Lara that it was he who set up Molina for the fall. However justified it may have been, Lara cannot accept it, nor can she return to Mance/Dante. Crushed, Bracknell turns the focus of his ruined life to consummating his final revenge on the leader of the Yamagata Corporation himself. However, it is in trying to slowly and agonizingly destroy the life of Yamagata, by exposing him to the brutal elements of the planet Mercury for a prolonged period of time, that Mance perhaps finally realizes that revenge has ruined him, and feels regret upon hearing of Danvers'' fate. Furthermore, he had caught the wrong Yamagata; it was the son of the billionaire industrialist who''d been culpable in he skytower disaster. In the end, both Yamagata and Bracknell perish in the Mercurian wastes, but the reader is led to believe, through his last will and testament, that Bracknell in his final moments beat his demons and became human again by taping a confession of his schemes while waiting to die. At the same time, Yamagata, who was gladly willing to die if only to protect his son, tapes a message to his son, imploring him to continue his true work in taking humanity to the stars in the near future.

Mercury

Orphaned and illegitimate, Jamie Sommers grows up believing he has "no hope of heaven", that he is doomed to a dreadful existence. A Catholic, he is deeply depressed by the ideas of being conceived in adultery and born in sin. The impressionable Jamie is repeatedly told by mean nuns in the Bronx, that he is destined to repeat the sins of his parents and he proves them right. Taking to the sea, Jamie seeks out danger and adventure in exotic ports all over the world as a smuggler, gun runner – and murderer. Life became a constant struggle in his search for excitement and fulfillment. Also Jamie believed he didn''t deserve a better life than has, so he chooses to worsen himself. Tough enough to handle anything, he survives foreign prisons, pirates and a shark attack. But in a quiet seaside town in Delaware, Jamie discovers something that pushes him over the edge mentally and changes his life forever. After being taken out of the Mental Institution life gets harder. Trying to deal with the townspeople who want him hurt and taking his medicine, all the while having to deal with his master. He starts to find himself when he switches medicines and Grenville takes him on a cruise. S.E. Hinton takes you on a journey through one life that couldnt be harder. Jamie fights through his late life being scared of everything.

Hawkes Harbor

Flaviano is the courtly favorite of the Duke of Mantua; he desires to marry the Duke''s daughter Fioretta. She, however, has been promised to Prince Leonato of Ferrara, who has brought his army to the aid of Mantua in its current war. Honorio, the Duke''s son and Fioretta''s brother, favors Leonato; while he lies wounded, Flaviano schemes to persuade the Duke that Leonato is a wild young man who is morally unfit to be Fioretta''s husband. Flaviano manipulates the situation so that Fioretta is moved to a convent, from where he spirits her secretly to his mother''s country house. He also puts out word that Fioretta has decided to remain at the convent for a year, effectively postponing the marriage. Prince Leonato is outraged, and blames the Duke for bad faith; he demands a face-to-face meeting with Fioretta. The Duke feels that he cannot deny this demand &mdash; but he and Flaviano plan to substitute another woman in the meeting. One of the novices at the content is Flaviano''s former mistress Juliana; Flaviano prevails upon her to take Fioretta''s part. He even wants Juliana to marry Leonato &mdash; but the Duke will not go that far; Juliana is merely to insist upon the one-year delay. Prince Leonato arrives at the convent, and has his meeting with the false Fioretta. Juliana, superficially, plays her part as instructed; yet Leonato correctly interprets her replies to indicate that she would not object if he forced the issue. Taking the hint, Leonato leads a troop of his men to break into the convent and carry off "Fioretta." He takes her home to Ferrara...where the true Fioretta has also arrived. Suspicious of Flaviano, Fioretta has escped from his mother''s country house and reached Ferrara in disguise, where she has taken an assumed name and is staying with Leonato''s sister Donabella. Honorio has also come to Ferrara, to seek justice and vengeance for what he thinks is the rape of his sister. As he and Leonato are prepared to duel, Juliana and Donabella rush between them. Honorio confronts his pretended sister, but Juliana manages to persuade him to remain silent for the time being. The real Fioretta locates and welcomes her brother, while Juliana confronts Prince Leonato. She tells the prince that she is a noble virgin forced to impersonate Fioretta by the Duke of Mantua. Honorio breaks in with a captive Flaviano; Flaviano has followed Honorio to Ferrara to kill him, but has gotten caught instead. Honorio tries to explain Flaviano''s villainous manipulations &mdash; but Leonato refuses to listen; he believes Juliana, and has resolved both to marry her and to go to war with Mantua. For a moment, Flaviano''s plotting appears to have worked; but he is betrayed by a co-conspirator named Claudio. Juliana''s falsehood is exposed; she begs for mercy, but Leonato casts her aside. The Duke of Mantua himself arrives in Ferrara, and the Fioretta/Juliana tangle is exposed and unraveled. Leonato is matched with Fioretta, and Honorio with Donabella; Juliana is sent back to the convent, and Flaviano is exiled. The play''s subplot involves the courting of the widow Florelia by the soldiers Hortensio and Volterino. Florelia says that she will marry the man who cures her son Bertoldi of his cowardice. The soldiers, with a share of soldierly drinking and brawling, try to make Bertoldi brave, and failing that, to make him appear brave; but that fails too. Eventually making the best of a bad job, Florelia marries Hortensio.

The Imposture

The novel is based on a story of a Muslim girl named Tanaya Shah; a young Indian girl mesmerized by western culture. She was raised by her mother and grandfather, as her father abandoned Tanaya''s mother when Tanaya was a young child. Tanaya''s grandfather treated Tanaya with the utmost respect. He treated her like his own daughter, but Tanaya still felt that she was neglected. Because Tanaya''s mother was abandoned, Tanaya''s grandfather (Tanaya''s mother''s father) would remain extremely cautious of Tanaya''s roundabouts. This became difficult for Tanaya, as she wanted to explore the world outside of Mahim; place she Tanaya was born and raised. Adding to this, Tanaya was born in a family where women had the best facial features. This was true for all women in her family, except for her mother. As the story progresses, we learn that Tanaya''s mother was thought to have been abandoned because of this lacking feature. Unfortunately, Tanaya''s mother was well aware of this fact, and thus hated Tanaya. Over the years, her mother had become sarcastic and cruel towards Tanaya. This was one of the reasons that Tanaya was more attached to her grandfather. Getting back to Tanaya''s fantasy of the western culture; like every young girl, Tanaya was also amazed by the glossy magazines that portrayed women in a stylish way. Tanaya with her best friend, Nilu, would read all western magazines, especially, Teen Cosmo. In private conversations with Nilu, she would often confide about leaving Mahim to Paris. She wanted to become like one of the models. However, modeling was not her passion. All she wanted was freedom, and a new change in her life. Her grandfather saw it a bit differently. He attested this new change with her married life. Call it a fortunate event, but Tanaya received a proposal. He happened to be the son of Tanaya''s grandfather''s friend. His name was Tariq Khan, who happened to live in Paris. Tanaya saw this as an opportunity to see Paris. Fate of luck strikes, and her grandfather allows her to visit Paris, where she became part of the modeling industry. (The book has a detailed account of the difficulties she faces to become a model). In the end, Tanaya finally gets married to Tariq Khan, and realizes that she was pursuing rather a mere image of herself.

Salaam, Paris

Joe Winder is a journalism dropout employed to compose press releases for the Amazing Kingdom, a Florida based theme park that aspires to achieve the greatness of Disney World. The park is owned by a former “wise guy” whose court testimony forced him to seek refuge in the Federal Witness Protection Program. A new identity and a change of venue, however, did nothing to alter the morals of Francis X. Kingsbury. He thinks nothing of faking wildlife exhibits, destroying the fragile environment of the Florida Keys, or using lethal means to protect his nefarious schemes from public exposure. When an equally amoral environmentalist resolves to thwart Kingsbury’s designs. Winder comes out of retirement as an investigative reporter to attempt to rescue the last of a near-extict species. He finds himself in alliance with an ex-governor seeking absolution in the life of a hermit, law enforcement officials with a peculiar sense of justice, two of the most bumbling burglars ever to circumvent an alarm system, and an incredibly bloodthirsty senior citizen. This motley group, with the assistance of a contract killer sent by the mob to eliminate Kingsbury, put paid to those who would damage the environment and subvert the democratic process.

Native Tongue

Olivier Ameisen is a French Doctor practising in New York. He has a private Cardiology practice, a varied social life, and work that he loves doing. He is a gifted pianist with a loving girlfriend. There is no reason for him to drink to excess and no history of drinking in his family, but nonetheless he becomes an alcoholic. The book starts with an embarrassing blackout episode and being treated in an emergency room by one of his ex-students. Ameisen attempts many different ways to stop drinking. He attends hundreds of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, takes medication, goes to various expensive rehabs, and seeks the guidance of educated friends. For fear of harming patients, he quits practising and closes his business. Nothing that he tries works and he continues to relapse, regardless of the consequences. He starts to drink so much he is no longer aware if it night or day, and regularly ends up needing medical treatment for injuries sustained while drinking. He is eventually committed to hospital as a result of an intervention, and faces the loss of his New York medical licence, along with financial ruin caused by expensive stays in rehab and unemployment. Losing everything in New York, he returns home to France to live with his elderly mother. He keeps drinking and is committed to hospital again by his family. Olivier''s mother dies and he begins to feel there is no chance of controlling his drinking. His girlfriend sends him an article about Baclofen. He begins experimenting with taking the drug, and finds this drug removes all his cravings for alcohol. The second part of the book details his attempts to get his findings fully researched and published, and ends with a call for more research. Despite his achievements, Ameisen relates how he has been plagued by feeling of insecurity and anxiety, and suffered panic attacks throughout his life.

The End Of My Addiction

The Seven Storey Mountain is an autobiography which reflects on the life of Thomas Merton and his quest for his faith in God leading to his conversion to Roman Catholicism at age 23. Subsequently he left behind a promising literary career and resigned as a teacher of English literature at St. Bonaventure College in Olean, New York, and entered The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in rural Kentucky on December 10, 1941, a moment which he described in the book: "...So Brother Matthew locked the gate behind me, and I was enclosed in the four walls of my new freedom." Later, Dom Frederic Dunne, the abbot at the abbey, who had received him as novice, suggested that Merton write out his life story, which he reluctantly began, but once he did, it started "pouring out". Soon he was filling up his journals with the work which led to the book which TIME later ascribed for having, "...redefined the image of monasticism and made the concept of saintliness accessible to moderns." In Merton''s journals, the first entry mentioning the project is dated March 1, 1946, but many scholars suspect he started writing it earlier than that because the draft (more than 600 pages) reached Naomi Burton Stone by October 21, 1946. In late 1946, the partly approved text of The Seven Storey Mountain was sent to Naomi Burton, his agent at Curtis Brown literary agency, who then forwarded it to the noted book editor, Robert Giroux at Harcourt Brace publishers. Giroux read it overnight, and the next day phoned Naomi with an offer, who accepted it on the monastery''s behalf. With Merton having taken a vow of poverty, all the royalties were to go to the abbey community. Though soon a trouble arose, when an elderly censor from another abbey objected to Merton''s colloquial prose style, which he found inappropriate for a monk. Merton appealed (in French) to the Abbot General in France, who concluded that an author''s style was a personal matter, and subsequently the local censor also reversed his opinion, paving way for book''s publication. Edward Rice, a close friend of Merton''s since their college days together at Columbia, suggests a different story behind the censorship issues. Rice believes the censor''s comments did have an effect on the book. The censors were not primary concerned with Merton''s prose style, but rather the content of his thoughts in the autobiography. It was "too frank" for the public to handle. What was published was a "castrated" version of the original manuscript. At the time Rice published his opinion, he was unable to provide any proof, however, since then early drafts of the autobiography have surfaced and prove that parts of the manuscript were either deleted or changed. In the introduction to the 50th anniversary copy of the autobiography, Giroux acknowledges these changes and provides the original first paragraph of Merton''s autobiography. Originally, it began "When a man is conceived, when a human nature comes into being as an individual, concrete, subsisting thing, a life, a person, then God''s image is minted into the world. A free, vital, self-moving entity, a spirit informing flesh, a complex of energies ready to be set into fruitful motion begins to flame with love, without which no spirit can exist..." The published autobiography begins with "On the last day of January 1915, under the sign of the Water Bearer, in a year of a great war, and down in the shadow of some French Mountains on the borders of Spain, I came into the world." In the summer of 1948, advance proofs were sent to Evelyn Waugh, Clare Boothe Luce, Graham Greene and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. All responded with compliments and quotations which were used on the book jacket and in some advertisements and the first printing run was increased from 5,000 to 12,500. Thus the book was out in October 1948 and by December it had sold 31,028 copies was declared a bestseller by TIME. The New York Times, however, initially refused to put it on the weekly Best Sellers list, on the grounds that it was "a religious book". In response, Harcourt Brace placed a large advertisement in the New York Times calling attention to the newspaper''s decision. The following week, The Seven Storey Mountain appeared in the bestseller''s list, where it remained for almost a year.

The Seven Storey Mountain

The title character is Ralph Newton, the nephew of Squire Gregory Newton of Newton Priory. The Squire has never married; he has an illegitimate son, also named Ralph Newton, whom he loves dearly. However, the estate is entailed, and after his death will go to his nephew Ralph; he cannot leave it to his natural son. Ralph the heir is a spendthrift, and has run himself deep into debt. There are two ways in which he can extricate himself: by raising money on his future interest in the Newton estate, or by marrying Polly Neefit, the daughter of a wealthy breeches-maker who is one of his major creditors. Neither choice is a good one for him: the first might lead to the estate''s being seized by his creditors upon the old squire''s death; the second would mean allying himself to a family of a much lower social class, thus putting his own social standing at risk. The Squire, anxious to obtain full possession of the estate so that he can pass it to his son, offers to buy the heir''s reversion. Ralph vacillates, hesitatingly proposes to and is rejected twice by Polly Neefit, and eventually accepts his uncle''s offer. However, before the transaction can be completed, the Squire is killed in a hunting accident and his nephew comes into full possession of the property and its large income. Now safe from his creditors, the new Squire is nevertheless harassed by Polly Neefit''s father, who threatens him with legal action and embarrassing publicity if he does not continue seeking his daughter''s hand. The matter is eventually resolved by Polly, who accepts the oft-repeated proposals of Ontario Moggs, son of a prosperous bootmaker, and induces her father to consent to the marriage despite his preference for the Squire. In the meantime, Ralph the Squire has proposed to and been rejected by Mary Bonner, the beautiful niece and ward of Sir Thomas Bertram; soon after this, she accepts an offer of marriage from the illegitimate Ralph. The novel also describes a Parliamentary election in the fictional borough of Percycross, in which Sir Thomas, a Conservative, and Moggs, a Radical, are two of the four candidates for the two available seats. Both are eager that the election be conducted fairly and honestly. The other two candidates, one a Conservative and one a Liberal, are the incumbents; they see nothing wrong with the buying and selling of votes that has been traditional at Percycross. Sir Thomas and his fellow Conservative win the election, but it is annulled on petition, and the borough is disfranchised by Parliament because of its pervasive corruption.

Ralph the Heir

Kelderek is a young hunter nicknamed "Play-with-the-Children" because of his simple nature and love of small children. In the forest near his home on the river island of Ortelga, he sees an enormous bear. When a tremendous fire ravaged the forest, the bear managed to flee, to be found almost dead by Kelderek. The Ortelgans worship the bear-god Shardik and once ruled the entire territory now known as the Beklan Empire, but their territory and religion are now limited to a small barony of river-islands on the empire''s outskirts. Convinced that this bear is an incarnation of Shardik, Kelderek communicates this belief to the local priests and barons, eventually resulting in a military campaign to retake Bekla. The bear is sedated and caged by the priestesses to be carried forward with the Ortelgans but awakens from his slumber during a battle they are losing; as if in divine intervention, he breaks free, crushing the opposing army. Shardik''s worship is restored to central prominence in Bekla with Kelderek as the high priest to the recaged bear, but temporal power is held by the military barons. Still idealistic and unworldly, Kelderek is dismayed by the brutality and corruption that quickly surrounds him. When the bear escapes and flees again, it is Kelderek alone who follows in pursuit. The two of them stagger through the wilderness for a long time. Behind them, the capital city is torn apart by factions of rebels, and lawless chaos spreads through the entire empire. On the brink of madness after days alone with no sleep, Kelderek follows the bear to a mysterious place called the Streels of Urtah. Here, Shardik enters one of the ravines comprising the Streels, and is presumed dead. A shepherd (later revealed as a guardian of the Streels) informs Kelderek that any who enter there are beings of great evil who are destined to die, with one past exception: a woman who entered the Streels but was able to climb out again, doomed to die horribly but by her death bring about greatness. This woman gave birth to a son as she left the Streels, a son who later grew to be a great hero who led the ancient overthrow of the Ortelgans from Bekla. As this story is told, Shardik emerges from the ravine and flees again into the woods. Kelderek continues to follow Shardik, meeting many foes along the way, until he reaches Zeray, an outlaw town beyond the borders of civilisation. Here he re-encounters Melathys, a former priestess of Shardik. Having lost Shardik and his faith, Kelderek is captured by Genshed, a cruel slave-trader who already has a large group of children to eventually sell but is meanwhile tormenting them for his own amusement. Treating the children with his customary kindness, Kelderek is mocked and threatened by Genshed, who is on the point of killing him when Shardik erupts from the woods, mad and half-starved. The bear attacks Genshed, mortally wounding him before itself collapsing in the river. Kelderek, his faith and kindness restored but now tempered with knowledge of the world, returns to the town of Zeray with the children and attempts to re-establish a lawful society. The epilogue skips forward a number of years. It is told from the perspective of a newcomer from Zakalon, a distant kingdom to the east of Bekla. This man, Siristrou, is the leader of the first embassy from Zakalon sent to reciprocate the first visit of a Beklan to their country. The formerly lawless border town is now the home of hundreds of orphans and refugees working together to build a better future. Kelderek is its mayor, widely regarded as a fair and wise leader, and is married to his love, Melathys. Kelderek takes the traveller into his home and tells him of the bear Shardik, now known as a great animal who taught the people of the land the meaning of both kindness and hardship. In the final passages, Siristrou stirs the logs in the fireplace and plays a game of spotting images in the flames: an island, a glowing knife, a barred cage, an old woman, a deep ravine, a shaggy bear; he recognises these images in turn, and finally remarks "That''s a beautiful fire."

Shardik

Having landed on the planet of Espero, the Doctor and Fitz leave Trix in the TARDIS whilst they investigate a distress signal. As she grows bored, Trix decides to leave, but is surprised to find an amnesiac Fitz lying unconscious outside the TARDIS. They find themselves in the path of a wavefront of grey goo, and Fitz surprises Trix by being quite keen to investigate the mystery. The Doctor, meanwhile, has been befriended by Calamee, a member of the planet''s ruling family. The amnesia he has been suffering from has grown worse, and he — like Fitz — has forgotten everything that has happened prior to the start of the novel. He is directed to the home of a mysterious off-worlder named Madam Xing, who restores his most recent memories and confirms that the memories lost (prior to The Burning) have been permanently deleted, rather than merely suppressed. The Doctor refuses to allow Xing to restore the memories by using a viroid unit, but does take the unit with him as he leaves. As he goes, he discovers that he is being observed via anachronistic technology. Fitz and Trix head to the city, and watch as a mob of citizens attack a "night beast" — an unknown creature that has arrived on the planet. Fitz tries to prevent the attack, but is over-powered by the mob, who kill the beast. Fortunately, they are led to safety by a woman named Farine, but Trix wanders away when she sees a young boy watching them. The boy offers her a device that will allow her to disguise herself much more effectively, changing her entire body on a genetic level. Trix takes him up on the offer, only to find that the "device" is actually an alien symbiote named Reo, who takes complete control of her body. Fitz is taken to the palace by Farine, who turns out to be Princess Sensimi of the ruling family. As they head to the cellars to visit a captured night beast, the TARDIS arrives and the Doctor and Calamee step out: the Doctor has been persuaded to warn the authorities about the wavefront. He explains that it is altering living beings on a genetic level, and manages to convince the others to join him in searching for the source of the wavefront. Finding the source, the Doctor and Fitz discover that it is a crashed living spaceship called Tain, a warship from a race called the Makers who are involved in a war with a race called the Oon. Tain had removed the Doctor and Fitz''s memories of finding the ship, but because of a trojan virus in his systems he was unable to do the job properly. The trojan created the night beasts as soldiers against Tain, but he was able to interfere in their development to make them docile. Unfortunately, in his panic he activated the Gaian Wave, a self-defence mechanism that genetically alters the inhabitants of a planet so that they are all genetically part of the ship: its enemies will be unable to defeat it without destroying the entire planet. Trix and Reo find them, and as Tain agrees to sacrifice himself to save the planet, Reo transfers his consciousness into the ship. Trix collapses, her body unable to look after itself without Reo''s control, and Tain manages to link with her and keep her alive. But this leaves the Doctor with a dilemma: if he carries out Tain''s wishes and destroys him to save the planet, Trix will die. Fortunately, Fitz saves the day: remembering that his current body was "remembered" (Interference: Book Two) he advises Tain to do the same. Tain separates himself from the ship in a new body, and destroys Reo''s consciousness inside the ship. Tain then returns his consciousness to the ship, and cures Trix.

Halflife

The events of the novel take place in Ancient Egypt and in particular during the transitional period after the New Kingdom, towards the start of the Third Intermediate Period, during the 21st Dynasty (c. 1070-945 BC). At this time, Egypt was ruled by the High Priests of the god Amun-Ra, who dwelt in the traditional capital Thebes, which was also known as Waset in ancient times, and is known today as Luxor. This period is known as one of theocratic rule, due to the religious nature of the governments’ authority. Among historians, this is considered one of the rare times when ancient Egypt was directly controlled by the high priests. There was also a civil government who very probably had family ties with Pharaoh Ramses XI (c. 1099-1069 BC), the last king of the last dynasty of the New Kingdom (c. 1539-1070 BC), also known as the Imperial age or (by Egyptologists) as the 20th Dynasty (1186-1069 BC). With the end of the so-called New Kingdom, Egypt lost much of the power, prestige and domination that she had enjoyed earlier. Beyond her borders, the holdings of her empire had diminished, and within the country there was anarchy for a variety of causes. The most important was the split in government between the north and the south. The north was managed by Smendes, the governor of Tanis, a town in the eastern Delta, while the south was managed by the High Priest of Amun-Ra, Herihor, resident at Thebes. The events of the Tale of Wenamun are a good example of the decline in Egyptian possessions as defined by territories and states that characterized this period. In his tale Wenamun leaves the temple of Amun-Re at Thebes to acquire wood from the eastern coastal region of the Mediterranean which had previously been under Egyptian control for several centuries, in order to build a sacred bark for this god. During the dangerous journey the hero of this tale, Wenamun, experiences numerous difficulties: he is driven from one of the towns he visits and is once even threatened with death. All of these unfortunate events show how serious the situation of Egypt is at this time. The events of In Search of Khnum take place in this historical context. In a narrative framework, the author describes an imaginary situation that takes place in precisely this period of Ancient Egyptian history. It is thus not a real or even an experienced history, as was the case with the Pharaonic writings of the very great novelist Naguib Mahfouz: Khufu’s Wisdom, Rhadopis of Nubia, Thebes at War, Before the Throne, Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth. In consequence this story takes place in ancient Egypt to reconstruct the reality and to observe it rather than reproducing it. At the same time, this novel is not only concerned with past time, but also reflects a diaphanous shadow on the present with a skillful literary talent. It is a novel that is as engaged with the present as it is associated with the past and with the fundamental aim of declaring itself optimistic for the future. What is truly remarkable about this literary work is its surprising capacity to reconstruct the Egyptian past and dwell on its fascinating details without bombarding the reader with subjects and historical events, and without compromising the truth of this distant period. Thus the history of Ancient Egypt is presented in such a literary and artistic manner that it confirms art’s true role and incredible capacity in preserving and reanimating cultural heritage. The author also knows how to renew and refashion this heritage in an engaging style which allows the observer to view it with a fresh eye, and both to enrich his thoughts about life and to deepen his knowledge of literature. It is not an easy matter to create a setting similar to the ambiance of the period’s chronicles, and this is what gives this work its originality and brilliance. The author’s style gives the novel its splendor to the novel, since he is a specialist in Egyptology and has a passion to make this science both his career and the subject of his writing. fr:À la recherche de Khnoum

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The Mysterious Affair at Styles

By Agatha Christie

Mercury

By Ben Bova

Hawkes Harbor

By S. E. Hinton

The Imposture

No Author Listed

Salaam, Paris

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The End Of My Addiction

No Author Listed

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No Author Listed