After 1982, the world experienced a devastating nuclear war. Fallout and radiation has caused widespread mutations to human and animal populations alike. Akin to gnosticism, there is a new messianic religion. The members of this religion, known as the Servants of Wrath or SOWs, worship the creator and detonator of the war''s ultimate weapon, Carleton Lufteufel (from the German words "Luft," meaning "air," and "Teufel," meaning "Devil"), ex-chairman of the Energy Research and Development Agency of the United States of America - ERDA/USA. In Charlotteville, there are ample debates between the Servants of Wrath and the diminishing congregations of Christians left in existence. The Servants of Wrath faith is based on an "anger-driven" traditional perception of godhood, compared to Christian survivors, and it is from this that the book derives its name- deus irae, Latin for "God of Wrath". Tibor McMasters is an armless, legless cyborg phocomelus artist who has been commissioned to paint a mural of Lufteufel, though nobody knows where Lufteufel lives, or what he looks like. The Servants of Wrath leadership ask McMasters to find Lufteufel and paint his mural. En route, we learn about the absence of widespread national communications systems after the widespread destruction of nuclear warfare. McMasters and other seekers encounter mutant lizards, birds and insects who have evolved sentience, as well as the "Big C", a decaying artificial intelligence which also survived the war, and consumes humans for their trace elements to sustain its survival. While trying to remove the shrapnel from his forehead Lufteufel loses consciousness from loss of blood, at which point his intellectually challenged "daughter", Alice, tries to remove some of the blood with a shirt leaving a bloody imprint. Alice keeps the shirt as it is the only remaining likeness of his face, leaving her with the only true shroud of the God of Wrath, equivalent to Catholic legends about Saint Veronica and the Shroud of Turin. Alice is later visited by Lufteufel''s "spirit" after his death. He does not speak, but Alice sees that his spirit is finally at peace after he helps Alice by "lifting the fog in her brain", removing her disability. She is not the only human to experience a theophany related to Lufteufel''s passing, however, for another survivor has a vision of a "Palm Tree Garden" equivalent to the Judaeo-Christian Garden of Eden. This implies that Lufteufel may have been a gnostic demiurge, an evil earthbound deity which believes itself omnipotent, but whose abilities are constricted compared to "higher levels" of divinity. However, McMasters has no knowledge of Lufteufel''s death or related alleged visions related to his death. He is tricked by his (Christian) companion Pete into using an elderly dying alcoholic vagrant for the likeness of Lufteufel for the commissioned church mural, which is prominently featured in leading Servants of Wrath institutions. The mural''s survival is a tacit argument that religious belief is often based on mythological accretions, which may not be valid interpretations of decisive events in the history of that faith.

Deus Irae

This romance novel is set in the period of World War II at a military hospital during nightly blackouts and bomb raids. The story''s young male protagonist, Laurie Odell, is a wounded soldier from the Dunkirk evacuation (Renault herself worked as a nurse treating Dunkirk evacuees during the war), who must decide if his affections lie with a conscientious objector or a naval officer. The conscientious objector, a Quaker, has not come to terms with his own homosexuality, whereas the naval officer, a friend of Laurie''s from school, is sexually experienced and established in the homosexual subculture of the British military. Laurie''s confused romantic feelings for the two very different young men are compounded by his own discomfort with the gay lifestyle (dramatized in an extended scene at a gay party, regarded by some critics as a literary tour de force). Through this conflict, Renault explored her own ambivalence about whether homosexuals truly constituted what would come to be seen as a gay and lesbian community. She also explored a religious theme, contrasting the pacifist Christianity of the young conscientious objector with the "exalted paganism" (as one character describes it) of ancient Greece. The novel derives its title from the Chariot Allegory employed by Plato in his dialogue Phaedrus; Renault also alludes to Plato''s Symposium, in which a character philosophizes about an army composed of male lovers. The story''s wartime setting is crucial to the ethical issues the novel explores. In a sense, The Charioteer is a warm-up for Renault''s historical novels. By turning away from the 20th century and focusing on stories about male lovers in the warrior societies of ancient Greece, Renault no longer had to deal with homosexuality and antigay prejudice as social "problems"; instead she was free to focus on larger ethical and philosophical concerns while examining the nature of love and leadership.

The Charioteer

Stark, Darius and Aphrodite follow the clues in Kramisha''s prophetic poems and take Zoey''s body to the Isle of Sgiach to find a way of getting Zoey back. They gain entrance because of Stark''s being the blood relative of Seoras, the queen''s Guardian(the "bridge of blood"). Together with Sgiach they decipher the rest of the poem and realize that Stark must become a Shaman to step into the Otherworld. Stark sacrifices on the altar of Seol ne Gigh and through pain he enters a trance where he kills the evil side of himself to become a Shaman. After the fight, the Black Bull leads him to the Otherworld. Zoey meets Heath in the Otherworld and refuses to be parted from him a second time. As time passes she becomes more and more erratic. Heath feels bad as he sees her fall apart, but is powerless to stop it as Zoey herself is too afraid to accept the lost parts of her soul back. When Stark arrives, he follows Aphrodite''s advice and contacts Heath first, as Zoey wouldn''t leave with Heath still in the Otherworld with her. Stark argues that Zoey might still accept her soul back and stay with Heath, but Neferet would win in the real world. Realizing that Stark speaks the truth and is not motivated by jealousy anymore, Heath speaks one more time with Zoey and disappears. While Zoey stays behind, crying, Stark comes and tries to get Zoey to come back, but she is too scared. To get her to act, Stark comes out of the enchanted meadow and faces Kalona in an arena. Terrified that Stark might die too, Zoey finally calls back the fragments of her soul. Stark is temporarily distracted, and Kalona kills him. Zoey calls air and fixes him on the wall of the arena. She calls in the debt he owns her for Heath''s death to save Stark, and Nyx materializes and forces Kalona to share some of his immortality with Stark before banishing him from her realm. Zoey wakes Stark and gives him her blood to heal him and her tattoos return. She gets up, follows Spirit and jumps into the darkness along with Stark. After having nearly burned down on a roof, Stevie Rae recovers quickly due to Rephaim''s Immortal blood and their Imprint. She learns of Zoey''s soul shattering and has to balance the expectations of those who would expect her to step in Zoey''s shoes. She escapes her friends to talk to Rephaim and the two make a pact to help each other until Zoey or Kalona returns to her or his body. Stevie Rae follows the clues in Kramisha''s poems and decides to invoke Light, materialized as on of the bulls. By wrongly presuming that Light will materialize as the white Bull, she accidentally invokes Darkness, who nonetheless gives Stark access to the Otherworld. To reach her in time, Rephaim calls unto the immortal powers of his father to heal his wing, without realizing that it''s actually Darkness too, that answers. He reaches her in time and takes on her debt to Darkness, allowing the Bull to feed on his pain. To save him, Stevie Rae calls the black Bull, Light and accepts to be forever bound to Rephaim''s humanity in exchange for Light''s saving him. The Bulls start fighting and disappear. Dallas appears and takes a wounded Stevie Rae home. When she heals she takes the red fledglings to conquer the tunnels. On the way, Dallas discovers an affinity for the New world, electricity, and leads them to the kitchens where the renegades are gathered. Five of them die in the ensuing confrontation, but none of Stevie Rae''s, because of her Earth affinity and the others flee. Stevie Rae and Dallas remain behind to finish cleaning up. Dallas kisses Stevie Rae and they start having sex, when Rephaim finds them, alerted by the Imprint. Realizing that Stevie Rae has saved and sheltered him, Dallas lets himself be influenced by the residual Darkness left by the renegades and fights him. When Stevie Rae protects Rephaim, Dallas accepts Darkness and Changes and angrily rushes out, threatening to tell everyone at the House of Night the truth. When she finds out he has stolen her car, Stevie Rae lets Rephaim fly her to Gilcrease, where she goes to sleep. The next day, Stevie Rae calls Lenobia, to find that Dallas has never reached the House of Night, and Aphrodite, to learn that she has had a vision about her and Rephaim. Stevie Rae and Rephaim confess their feelings for each other and Nyx offers them a vision of a human Rephaim. As they look transfixed, Kalona returns to the real world, along with Zoey, and Rephaim leaves, confessing he can''t turn his back on his father.

Burned

The plot of The Sacred Art of Stealing tells the story of American Zal Innez, a witty and intellectual art-loving thief, who is being blackmailed by crime boss Alessandro Estabol to do one last major job for him. As a warm up to their main heist, Zal and his team of fellow failed artists rob a Glasgow bank of approaching a million pounds. During the raid they use unorthodox methods such as firing itching powder at armed police, carrying fake guns, staging plays and drawing works of art for their hostages to keep casualties to a minimum. During this robbery Zal meets and falls for a woman police officer, Angelique de Xavia, heroine of Brookmyre''s previous novel, who is under-appreciated by her bosses. Both police officer and thief become painfully aware of the strong attraction between them and a relationship is formed, despite the fact that they are both fully aware that they are on opposite sides. Zal knows Angelique is after him, and even counts on this knowledge to complete his final job, while Angelique is aware that Zal is playing her, even though she does not want to contemplate what that might imply about his real feelings for her.

The Sacred Art of Stealing

Sneaking into Paisley Park to sit with her memories of Asukai Jin, Kinukawa Kotoe fell into the clutches of Spooky E, who had been hiding there since his defeat by Boogiepop. Capturing her as a new terminal, he worked on her to lead his search for Imaginator. Using her vast wealth, the manipulated Kinukawa began taking those whose friends had been changed by Imaginator to help find it. Under the suspicion of Kirima Nagi, Taniguchi Masaki headed off to meet Orihata Aya, planning to again impersonate Boogiepop for her. Kinukawa had already met up with Orihata and had instructed her that this was the end of her relationship with Taniguchi. Trying to save him, Orihata tries to make Taniguchi hate her, but he instead runs off to continue impersonating Boogiepop for her sake. Spotting one of the girls who had been with Asukai at her school, Suema followed to investigate. The girl had been looking for someone. After, at their cram school, Suema confronts Asukai. Both manage to surprise each other with their knowledge, though neither managed to identify how the other was linked. Living as ''Boogiepop'', Taniguchi stopped returning home. Finding new targets by himself, he continued to act the part of a hero, but was gradually becoming sloppier in his actions. Kinukawa and some of her hired thugs managed to find Taniguchi and tried to use him to kill ''Boogiepop'', thereby making the real Boogiepop a fake in the eyes of others. Though able to protect himself against the initial attack, Taniguchi was soon overwhelmed, however, he was rescued by Kirima, who had also been looking for him. She defeated the attackers and freed them all from Spooky E''s control. Kinukawa escaped, but was found by Asukai, who restored her to normal, as he had done with many of the other Terminals. Trying to find Orihata, Taniguchi searched her apartment, but soon realised that she had not returned since they last met. Meanwhile, Spooky E quickly discovered that he had lost all his Terminals, and was soon confronted by Asukai, who identified himself as Imaginator. Protecting himself from Spooky E''s powers with anti-magnetic sheets, Asukai grasps Spooky E''s ''flower'' and begins changing his heart, but the synthetic human chose suicide over being manipulated by Imaginator. Fearing for Orihata''s life, Taniguchi attempts to contact her by phone. She is found by Asukai, who allows her to speak with Taniguchi, but he needs her to be his sacrifice to create his perfect world. From the phone call, Taniguchi was able to deduce that they were at Paisley Park and immediately set off for it. Meanwhile, Suema also discovers that everything is at Paisley Park and makes her own way to the abandoned site. Breaking into Paisley Park, Taniguchi is confronted by those manipulated by Imaginator. Unable to effectively fight back, he is soon overwhelmed, but at the last moment is saved by a microfilament wire. Accompanied by the Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Boogiepop makes his appearance and quickly defeats the manipulated humans. Making his way to where Asukai and Orihata were, Boogiepop appeared before them. From the way she feared him, Asukai deduced that Boogiepop was a powerful opponent, but it was not until his plan to use Orihata fails that he realised that he had lost. After expelling Imaginator, Boogiepop left Orihata and Asukai alone. Suema arrived at Paisley Park to again find that everything had already finished around her. Suema saved Asukai and helped reunite Orihata and Taniguchi, who need no longer be separated.

Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator Part 2

The story concerns a small town Michigan cafe owner, Tom McKenna, who becomes a local hero after defending his store from an attempted robbery. When his story receives national attention, several members of the New York City Mafia arrive in town, believing him to be someone named Joey, who crossed them 20 years earlier. Tom protests his innocence to everyone, but eventually his façade is dropped and he is forced to confess his history of violence to his wife and son and eventually the police. Namely, he and his friend performed a well planned and spectacular assassination and robbery of mobsters in their youth in retaliation for the murder of a relative. Unfortunately, Tom''s friend foolishly decided to flaunt his take, which allowed the mob to identify him as one of the assailants and abduct him for revenge. Meanwhile, Tom barely escaped the same fate and fled the city with the intent of starting over with a new identity. Fortunately for McKenna and his family, their lawyer arrives and learns that the police failed to Mirandize him, which makes his confession inadmissible in court. However, as the McKenna family is transported to the father''s original city to deal with related legal matters, the mobsters learn of McKenna''s detention and plan their revenge with a horrific surprise.

A History of Violence

Sam, an owl, wakes up one night looking for someone to play with. However, since it is the middle of the night, all the creatures are asleep. Sam then comes across a series of flying lights, one of which hits Sam in the head. It is Gus, the firefly. Gus shows Sam the trick he can do, which is he can make glowing lines in midair using his light. Sam is amazed, and decides to have fun by having Gus follow him directly as he flies. Sam flies in the shape of various words; Gus finds this fun and decides to do more on his own. However, he has mischief on his mind. First, he causes several cars to crash at an intersection by displaying "Go left", "go right", "stop", and "go" above. Sam wants to talk to him about this behavior, that is dangerous and bad; however, Gus abandons Sam as he thinks Sam doesn''t know how to have fun. Gus then continues to cause mischief; he causes several airplanes to get crossed up by displaying random directions, he causes people to overflow into a movie theater by displaying "COME IN! FREE SHOW" above it, and changes a sign from "HOT DOGS" to "COLD DOGS", deterring the hot dog maker''s customers. The hot dog maker immediately nets Gus and puts him a jar and into his pickup truck. Sam sees this and is determined to save him. Gus regrets not listening to Sam in the first place about having too much fun, when all of a sudden the aforementioned pickup truck stall on a railroad crossing with a train coming. Sam arrives at the scene and breaks the jar containing Gus, freeing him. Gus, now free, displays "STOP" several times in large letters; the engineer aboard the locomotive, seeing this and the truck on the tracks, pulls the brake and stops the train just in time. The hot dog maker and the engineer and brakeman all call Gus a hero, and Gus and Sam fly off into the night, but then dawn arises, so they must go back to their homes to sleep, since they are nocturnal. Gus now comes to Sam''s tree home every night to play.

Sam and the Firefly

Time is set on Earth, the inner part of the Solar System and various other universes onwards from the 21st century. The novel covers a wide range of topics, including the Doomsday argument, Fermi paradox, genetic engineering, and humanity''s extinction. The book begins at the end of space and time, when the last descendants of humanity face an infinite but pointless existence. Due to proton decay the physical universe has collapsed, but some form of intelligence has survived by embedding itself into a lossless computing substrate where it can theoretically survive indefinitely. However, since there will never be new input, eventually all possible thoughts will be exhausted. Some portion of this intelligence decides that this should not have been the ultimate fate of the universe, and takes action to change the past, centering around the early 21st century. The changes come in several forms, including a message to Reid Malenfant, the appearance of super-intelligent children around the world, and the discovery of a mysterious gateway on asteroid 3753 Cruithne.

Manifold: Time

Kathy Sellers is the daughter of lower middle-class parents, living in Los Angeles, California. Her mother Helen is on her fourth marriage to Mike, an unemployed man who uses his back as an excuse to avoid work, and living with them are Kathy''s 16-year-old twin sisters, Mona and Dona. After a sexual encounter with her 18-year-old boyfriend Guy, Kathy learns she is pregnant. She is sent to live at St. Anne''s, a home for unwed mothers until her delivery, which happens not long after her fifteenth birthday. After he initially reacts with outrage, she does extract a promise from Guy (who enters the Army) that he will send for her once he gets settled. Despite her regular series of letters to Guy in the military, he doesn''t reciprocate. Thus, that day never comes for Kathy. She gives birth to a baby boy whom she names John. She initially decides to give John up for adoption, but changes her mind and tells Miss Ambrose, her social worker, that she wants to try to raise her baby on her own, after Helen tells her she and the family will help raise him. She is given an allotment of food stamps and welfare money, which Helen decides to use as a vehicle to move the family into a larger apartment. Within a few short months, Kathy begins to mature as a mother, wanting more for her child, and knowing that living with her parents and sisters isn''t going to make that possible. She begins to explore options of moving into a place of her own, which doesn''t sit well with Mike and Helen, who depend on her welfare money to pay for the bigger apartment. She makes friends with Linda and Sue, two other girls in a teen mother program to move into a rented house with their children in a middle-class family-type neighborhood. She also makes friends with her neighbor Jane, a married woman about ten years her senior with a house, her fireman husband Allen, and their young daughter Wendy. Kathy sees Jane''s family as perfect and wants to aspire to that level, but isn''t sure how. However, Kathy''s dreams of sharing responsibilities with her roommates as a collective effort to rise above their circumstances are quashed when Linda throws a party with booze found in a baby bottle. After a near-violent confrontation, Kathy learns that her roommates (mostly Linda) are only interested in having a place of their own so they can continue their reckless behavior. Feeling trapped again, with her illusion of cooperative motherhood shattered, Kathy begins having second thoughts about her role as a mother. Following the earlier confrontation, Kathy takes her now-four-month-old son outside in their backyard and sees Allen, Jane and Wendy in their own backyard, enjoying their time as a family. Kathy decides that despite her best efforts, she ultimately has to do right by John. She calls Miss Ambrose and tells her that she''s reconsidered her decision to have John put up for adoption. Most people close to Kathy condemn her decision, but she finds a friend in Jane, who offers to help her on her road to building a better life for herself if she promises to keep in touch. Kathy happily agrees. Miss Ambrose tracks down Guy in the Army and gets his permission to allow the adoption. He apologizes to Kathy through Miss Ambrose for running out on her. At the end of the story, Kathy appears to get cold feet about the adoption, but it is implied that she goes through with it.

Unwed Mother

While recovering from their victory against the Empire at Endor, the Rebel Alliance intercepts an Imperial probe containing a distress call for the Emperor. The message details a lizardlike race of aliens invading the Outer Rim planet Bakura. With Palpatine dead and the Imperial Navy scattered, Luke Skywalker volunteers to lead a force to intercept the alien invasion and save Bakura. Upon arrival, the Rebel Alliance forces ally with the remnants of the Imperial garrison to repel an invasion by the reptilian Ssi-Ruuk race under the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium, which seeks to establish a beachhead in the larger galaxy. The Ssi-Ruuk seek to harvest a supply of life forms, whose life energies power their advanced technology through a process known as entechment. The Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker especially intrigues the Ssi-Ruuk, because they believe his Force powers could allow the Ssi-ruuk to entech beings from a distance. Obi-Wan Kenobi appears to Luke and underscores the danger of the Ssi-Ruuk if they get into the greater galaxy with this technology. The Ssi-ruuk themselves cannot sense the Force, but they know of it through a captured human, Dev Sibwarra, who is Force-sensitive but untrained (his mother was killed by the Ssi-ruuk) and has been brainwashed into furthering the Ssi-ruuvi agenda. On a personal level, Luke finds himself consistently distracted by one of Bakura''s senators, Gaeriel Captison, and by the nascent attraction forming between them, despite her religious objections to the Jedi Order. Princess Leia and Han Solo also struggle to find some time together and hash out their newly-formed relationship. Leia, putting diplomatic feelers out into a world that ''joined'' the Empire only three years ago, discovers that Bakura chafes under Imperial rule — as do some of the Imperials, notably ranking officer Commander Pter Thanas — though Imperial governor Wilek Nereus is too crafty to let dissension spread too far. Finally, Leia must find a way to cope with the revelation given to her on Endor — that Darth Vader is actually her father, Anakin Skywalker — when she is visited by his spirit, who begs for her forgiveness. In the end, Nereus attempts to turn Luke over to the Ssi-ruuk in exchange for their retreat, but though the kidnapping succeeds, Luke manages to fight them off and escape. He is also able to free Dev of his brainwashing and decides to take him on as an apprentice, but Dev is injured during the escape and later dies of his wounds. The joint Rebel-Imperial force turns back the Ssi-ruuk, and during the chaos, Bakuran resistance cells overthrow Nereus; in his absence, Bakura decides to join the Rebel Alliance. Commander Thanas defects as well, although he first destroys the Rebel cruiser-carrier Flurry. New Republic Intelligence later referred to the battle as the "Bakura Incident", and believed that it would be best if the New Republic attempted to prevent widespread public knowledge of the Ssi-Ruuk, advice that was taken controversially at best. In addition, Luke finally makes his breakthrough with Gaeriel, though he must shortly leave her when the Alliance forces depart at the end of the novel, to continue the ongoing fight against the Empire.

The Truce at Bakura

Amulet embodies in one woman’s voice the melancholy and violent history of Latin America. It begins: “This is going to be a horror story.” The speaker is Auxilio Lacouture, known as the “Mother of Mexican Poetry”. Tall, thin, and blonde, she becomes famous as the sole person who resists the army’s 1968 invasion of the university during the now infamous Tlatelolco massacre—she hides in a women''s toilet for twelve days. As she tries to outlast the occupiers and grows ever hungrier, Auxilio recalls her life, her lost teeth, her beloved friends and poets, and she soon moves on to strange landscapes: ice-bound mountains, seedy bars in “the dark night of the soul of Mexico City,” a terrifying chasm, and a bathroom where moonlight shines, moving slowly from tile to tile. Auxilio is also featured in The Savage Detectives, where she narrates her stay in the restroom of the besieged university. However, as Francisco Goldman has noted, Amulet "sings an enthralling and haunting ode to youth, life on the margins, poetry and poets, and Mexico City. Much more than a companion piece to The Savage Detectives - it shares some of the same characters - Amulet may be Bolaño''s most autobiographical book. Formally and verbally, it also represents some of his most innovative and thrilling writing."

Amulet

Emily Byrd Starr longs to attend Queen''s Academy to earn her teaching license, but her tradition-bound relatives at New Moon refuse. She is instead offered the chance to go to Shrewsbury High School with her friends, on two conditions. The first is that she board with her disliked Aunt Ruth, but it is the second that causes Emily difficulties. Emily must not write a word during her high-school education. At first, Emily refuses the offer, unable to contemplate a life without any writing. Cousin Jimmy changes the condition slightly, saying that she cannot write a word of "fiction". Emily does not think this much of an improvement but it turns out to be an excellent exercise for her budding writing career. Although Emily clashes with Aunt Ruth and Evelyn Blake, the school''s would-be writer, she starts to develop her powers of storytelling. Through a series of adventures, Emily is furnished with materials to write stories and poems, and even sees success with the short story "The Woman Who Spanked the King." In the meantime, Emily also begins to see romantic possibilities for her life. She and Teddy Kent draw closer, but due to misunderstandings and interference from Teddy''s mother, the romance stalls. Emily also refuses a proposal from Perry Miller, and continues her long-lasting friendship with Dean Priest. At the end of the novel, Emily, now a budding young writer, chooses to remain at her beloved New Moon rather than leaving for New York with famous writer Janet Royal.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Deus Irae

By Roger Zelazny

The Charioteer

By Mary Renault

Burned

By P. C. Cast

The Sacred Art of Stealing

By Christopher Brookmyre

Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator Part 2

By Kouhei Kadono

A History of Violence

By John Wagner

Sam and the Firefly

No Author Listed

Manifold: Time

By Stephen Baxter

Unwed Mother

By Gloria D. Miklowitz

The Truce at Bakura

By Kathy Tyers

Amulet

By Roberto Bolaño

Emily Climbs

By Lucy Maud Montgomery