Zen is on sick leave after a stomach operation and is feeling a shadow of himself. His relationship with his partner, Gemma, is also not going well. She is about to leave for Bologna to meet her son who has something important to tell her. Meanwhile, Zen is recalled to duty and is sent to be the liaison officer for a high profile murder investigation - in Bologna – where the local football team owner has been shot, as well as stabbed with a Parmesan knife. Whilst in Bologna, Gemma manages to get tickets to watch a live cook-off between local academic celebrity Edgardo Ugo and singing TV chef Romano Rinaldi, ''Lo Chef Che Canta e Incanta'', provoked by Ugo suggesting, in a newspaper article, that Lo Chef can''t cook. A series of coincidences leads to Zen being arrested when Ugo is found shot in the wake of the hilariously disastrous event. The other main characters include a couple of flatmates – a rich kid student of Ugo''s who fancies himself an ''Ultra'' football fan, the student''s illegal immigrant girlfriend, who calls herself Princess Flavia of Ruritania and the worlds worst private detective, who fancies himself a Chandleresque Private Eye. This is Zen at the centre of a black comedy.

Back to Bologna

The evil sorcerer Beelzebub Preposteror has contracted with His Excellency the Minister of Pitch Darkness to perform a certain number of evil deeds each year. This year, however, he did not meet the requirement, because the High Council of the Animals has sent the cat Maurizio as a spy, which forces Beelzebub to be more cautious. On New Year''s Eve he joins forces with the evil witch Tyrannia Vampirella, who has the same problem due to the raven Jakob who is spying on her. Together they try to brew the eponymous Notion Potion that will grant them all wishes, in order to fulfill their part of the contract before midnight. If they succeeded to brew the potion they wouldn''t even have to keep it secret from the animals, because due to the nature of the potion every wish they make will have the exact opposite effect - i.e. if they wish someone good health, he''ll become sick instead. The plot starts on New Year''s Eve at 5 pm and the chapters each represent one hour until midnight to illustrate the increasing time pressure that the characters are under. On the one hand, the sorcerers have to complete a five-meter-long recipe to brew the potion, while constantly getting in each other''s way. On the other, the cat and the raven must find a way to stop their evil plan while tackling their own problems, namely the obesity of the cat and the chronic diseases of the raven. Nevertheless, they devise a plan to exploit a weakness of the potion: when the potion has not been fully drunk up before the first ring of the bell at midnight, the potion won''t reverse the meaning of the wishes - as expected by the two sorcerers - but instead grants them as wished.

The Night of Wishes

The novel follows the journeys of three young European boys represented in a circa 1913 or 1914 photograph by August Sander. Two parallel narratives, one in the voice suspected to be the author, whose surname, we learn starts with P, offer contemporary perspectives and illustrate the interconnectedness of events. These voices provide contemporary perspectives on technology -- the major theme of the novel. A series of rather academic essays on the nature of photography, including quotes from Walter Benjamin and Hannah Arendt- in the authorial narrative voice of Mr P - are interspersed with the story. The story begins with the authorial narrative voice of Mr P. first sighting the photograph taken in the months before the outbreak of World War I of three young boys in Germany - a photograph which is titled Three Farmers on their Way to a Dance and which is being exhibited at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The novel follows the fictional fates of these three young men in war time, as well as the stories of Peter Mays, a technical editor for a 1980s electronics magazine and Mr P - the first person narrator of sections of the novel - who is obsessed with the photograph and with concepts of photography and technology. Note that Powers''s later novel Galatea 2.2, published in 1995, uses the first person perspective of semifictional narrator Richard Powers to describe to a large extent the conditions under which Powers wrote Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance attempts to balance the technological advancements that caused the large scale deaths in World War I with those that created art for the masses in the form of photography.

Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance

The Day Boy and the Night Girl begins by telling of a witch named Watho who, in her pursuit of complete knowledge, undertook an experiment to mold two people from birth by strictly controlling their environments. Watho convinced two expectant mothers to visit her castle. Lady Aurora (whose ambassador husband was away on business) was given spacious, sunlit rooms to stay in; she gave birth to a boy. The witch promptly whisked him away, sending his mother back to her home burdened with the lie that her son had died shortly after birth. The other woman (who had recently been widowed and become blind) Watho settled in windowless, tomblike chambers elsewhere in the castle. Vesper died in childbirth, leaving her daughter to the witch’s keeping. Watho did everything in her power to ensure that the boy Photogen grew up strong, able, and fearless. However, her foremost concern regarding the boy was that he should never see the night. Watho desired the opposite for the girl Nycteris, who knew no other world than the stony chambers she had been born in and no other light than that provided by the single dim lamp. It came about that Nycteris, in her sixteenth year, found her way out of these chambers into a night lit by a full-moon. Nycteris was filled with wonder at this glorious new light and the rest of nature; she returned to her rooms before daybreak, desiring to see the outdoors again and not wanting to spoil her chance by arousing Watho’s suspicions. Around the same time, Photogen (who spent his days hunting) one morning spied a big cat of some sort slinking off to the forest and took it in his mind to hunt this skilled hunter. As the sun went down, Photogen left to hunt the nocturnal beast, violating the witch’s constraint. Once darkness fell, Photogen was beset with terror. He came across Nycteris in one of her outings, and gathered some measure of comfort from the strange girl’s calm. She agreed to watch over him while he slept, and so it was that she was for the first time yet outdoors when the sun rose. Photogen regained his courage immediately; assuring Nycteris that there was now nothing to fear, he went on his way, despite her terrified pleas that he stay and protect her from the blinding light. Photogen (wishing to prove his courage) stayed up for another night, only to experience similar results. Photogen and Nycteris eventually learned to use their strengths to bear the other up through their weakness. In this way they were able to defeat the witch Watho. Photogen and Nycteris married; they continued to rely on and rejoice in each other’s strengths, to the point that Photogen came to prefer the night and Nycteris the day.

The Day Boy and the Night Girl

Chapter One: Enemy of God starts off where "The Winter King" left off, with Arthur''s unexpected victory over the combined armies of Powys and Siluria. Both Gorfyddyd, king of Powys, and Gundleus, king of Siluria, are dead. Gorfyddyd''s son, Cuneglas, shares Arthur''s desire for peace and also his dream of an alliance between the British kingdoms that will destroy their common enemies, the Saxons. Derfel is ordered to follow Cuneglas to Caer Sws (Caersws), capital of Powys, where the Edling is to be crowned king. As for the vacant Silurian throne, Arthur tells Derfel of his plan to make Lancelot king and marry him to the princess of Powys, Ceinwyn, thus cementing the alliance between Dumnonia, Powys and Siluria. Derfel does not reveal that he is in love with Ceinwyn, and want her for himself, and goes to Caer Sws, and witnesses Cuneglas'' acclamation. Days later, Arthur arrives with his court, including Guinevere and Lancelot. Derfel watches with frustration Ceinwyn''s betrothal to Lancelot, and her apparent happiness with the marriage. Derfel speaks with Merlin, and Merlin tells him that Arthur wants him to marry Gwenhwyvach, Guinevere''s plain and apathic sister. Merlin asks Derfel to meet him and Nimue late that night on a hilltop, where Merlin has Derfel drink a hallucinogenic potion. Derfel hallucinates about Ceinwyn and sees a dark road and a ghoul, and he describes his vision to Merlin. Merlin tells him the ghoul was Diwrnach, a vicious Irish king of Lleyn, and he also asks Derfel to accompany him on the quest (which also requires the presence of a virgin) for a magical Cauldron, one of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain, but Derfel is committed to taking his men to aid Arthur in his campaign to drive the Saxons out of eastern Britain. Merlin gives Derfel a bone, and tells him that all he has to do is break it and his wish will be granted, namely that Ceinwyn will choose him over Lancelot, but warns that if he breaks it, he will be bound to Merlin''s quest.

Enemy of God

The story is narrated by a ten-year-old boy living on Earth after it has been torn away from the Sun by a passing "dark star". The loss of solar heating has caused the Earth''s atmosphere to freeze into thick layers of "snow". The boy''s father had worked with a group of other scientists to construct a large shelter, but the earthquakes accompanying the disaster had destroyed it and killed the others. He managed to construct a smaller, makeshift shelter called the "Nest" for his family, where they maintain a breathable atmosphere by periodically retrieving pails of frozen oxygen to thaw over a fire. They have survived in this way for a number of years. At the end, they are found by a search party from a large group of survivors at Los Alamos, where they are using nuclear power to provide heat and have begun using rockets to search for other survivors (radio being ineffective at long range without an ionosphere). They reveal that other groups of humans have survived at Argonne, Brookhaven, and Harwell nuclear research facilities as well as in Tanna Tuva, and that plans are being made to establish uranium mining colonies at Great Slave Lake or in the Congo region. The age of the narrator is not revealed until the last sentence, providing a twist.

A Pail of Air

Buster Casey is born in the rural town of Middleton with the senses of smell and taste far more advanced than any other human. Buster acquires the nickname "Rant" from a childhood prank involving animal organs which results in numerous people getting sick. As the victims throw up, they make a sound resembling the word "rant," which becomes a local synonym for "vomit" and Buster''s nickname. As a child Rant discovers a massive wealth that turns the small town''s economy on its head. He then becomes obsessed with getting bitten by rabid animals along with venomous snakes and spiders. After his first bite from a black widow spider, Rant discovers that toxic spider bites cause him to get an erection. He uses this effect to get out of school and eventually threatens his way to an early diploma and a rather large check that he uses to leave town. It isn''t until Rant arrives in the city that it becomes clear that the novel takes place in a dystopian future, where urban dwellers are forcefully divided by curfew into two separate classes: the respectable Daytimers and the oppressed Nighttimers. Rant becomes a Nighttimer and finds himself swept up in the Nighttimer lifestyle that revolves around "Party Crashing", a covert demolition derby played out on city streets at night. The game is organized by an unknown entity and is set during a designated window of time. The object of the game is to crash, not too forcefully, into other players who sport a certain "flag", such as a Christmas tree on the car''s roof or the words "Just Married" scrawled on the rear windshield. Rant meets Echo Lawrence, a fellow crasher and the girl with whom he falls in love. Rant also starts a nationwide rabies epidemic that eventually erupts into zombie-invasion-like proportions that calls for those infected with rabies to be shot and killed on sight. Rant eventually dies during a Party Crashing event. His death is viewed and listened to by millions on national television and the "Graphic Traffic" radio show. However, when the car is pried open, his body is missing. After his "death", many interviewees share their speculations about Rant''s strange fate and its implications for society along with the rabies outbreak. Some interviewees and friends of Rant speculate that crashing a car while in a given state of mind, will jar a person outside of time. Once this is accomplished, they can then go back and kill off all of their ancestors, in turn, making them immortal. Or they can, through incest, make themselves into something more than human. The latter is believed to have happened to Green Taylor Simms, a fellow Party Crasher, who is suspected to have unsettling ties to Buster Casey.

Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey

Covering a time span of over ten years, this novel follows the fortunes of the mining community of Aberfoyle near Stirling, Scotland. Receiving a letter from an old colleague, mining engineer James Starr sets off for the old Aberfoyle mine, thought to have been mined out ten years earlier. Starr finds mine overman Simon Ford and his family living in a cottage deep inside the mine; he is astonished to find that Ford has made a discovery of the presence of a large vein of coal. Accompanying Simon Ford are his wife, Madge, and adult son, Harry. From the outset, mysterious and unexplained happenings start to occur around the main characters, attributed initially to goblins and firemaidens. Soon after the discovery of the new vein of coal, the community is revitalised with a whole town growing up around the underground lake called Loch Malcolm. Suspicious of a malevolent force at work, Harry continues his explorations of the cavern system, where down a deep shaft, he discovers a young orphan girl named Nell. Over the course of the next few years Nell is adopted by Simon and Madge but reveals nothing of where she came from, only that she had never been out of the mine. Eventually, when Harry and Nell announce their marriage, the mysterious occurrences come to a head. It becomes clear that all of the happenings have been caused by Silfax, another former employee of the mine, who along with his trained owl has inhabited the mine since its closure.

The Child of the Cavern

This novel begins where the last one left off; Caramon Majere and Tasslehoff Burrfoot are in a bleak gray world and Raistlin Majere is with Crysania in the Abyss. The novel begins with a short prologue that relates the short ride of Kharas, a dwarven hero who is riding away from a battle. Kharas hears a massive explosion that is a fortress exploding due to magical forces mixing together when Raistlin enters the Abyss and Caramon and Tas go forward in time. Caramon and Tas arrive two years ahead of when they planned to, and discover that an hourglass constellation (hourglass being the symbol of Raistlin) dominates the sky, having defeated Paladine, Patriach of the Gods and Takhisis, Queen of Darkness. The world is devoid of life, nothing more than gray sludge. They find Caramon''s own corpse, and later they find the Tower of Wayreth, a bastion of magic, wherein the only two surviving creatures are, Par-Salian, master of magic, and Astinus, the immortal being that chronicles all of time as it passes, later recording the final moments of the world. Astinus tells Raistlin that he will be forced to be alone for all eternity, and writes that the world ends, but Caramon arrives, changing everything. He receives the last book from Astinus, and is told by Par-Salian that he must stop Raistlin from exiting the Abyss. Afterwards, the scene goes to Raistlin in the Abyss. Raistlin is plagued by magical illusions, but he gains control of himself and sees Crysania. Raistlin faces magically induced trials. Kitiara is seen discussing plans with Soth, and then Tanis is seen speaking to Lord Gunthar Uth Wistan, Grandmaster of the Knights of Solamnia. The hallucinations return to Raistlin in the Abyss, and a physical barrage assails Crysania when she protects him. Raistlin sees yet another illusion, and in the process of overcoming it, Crysania is severely hurt and blinded. Raistlin refuses to stay with her, as she has served her purpose. Back in Palanthas, Tanis goes to the High Clerist''s Tower, where Kitiara appears in a flying citadel, a great castle that magically floats. She flies right over the Tower, however, having no need to take it as she has the death knight, Lord Soth, on her side. Tanis flies to Palanthas to warn and prepare the defense. Caramon and Tas, now in the proper time, arrive at Palanthas. They read Astinus''s book and discover that Tanis dies in the battle against Soth. Tas goes to the Tower of High Sorcery at Palanthas to try to save Tanis and Caramon. Tanis and Caramon, accompanied by Tas, take control of the citadel. They then discover from the book that Dalamar is prevented from stopping Raistlin when he is killed by Kitiara. Kitiara gets into the Tower and injures Dalamar, who lethally wounded her. Caramon and Tanis soon arrive. Dalamar is too weak to battle Raistlin. Caramon enters the Abyss, as he is the only one who can stop Raistlin. Soth comes to claim Kitiara''s body. Raistlin encounters Caramon and is told of his inevitable failure; he gives the Staff of Magius to Caramon that he might close the Portal and stop Takhisis. Raistlin is attacked by the Queen, but he is said to fall into a dreamless sleep, protected from her. Caramon comes out and closes the Portal, having retrieved Crysania, who is still alive. The battle for Palanthas is won by the people of Palanthas at the cost of most of their city. Crysania, now back to health but blind, becomes head of the church of Paladine. Dalamar seals the laboratory where the Portal is for all time. Caramon goes to his wife, Tika, and they are overjoyed to be reunited. Tasslehoff finds a spot on the map he''s never been to and teleports off with the aid of the magical time traveling device.

Test of the Twins

After attending his parents funeral, Marcus Novius Faustus Leo, the teenage nephew of the emperor (and heir apparent since the death of his father), is informed by his fathers secretary Varius that his father Leo and his mother were murdered by a conspiracy concerned about Leo''s ambition to abolish slavery. While this is happening, Varius'' wife eats sweets given to Marcus by his cousin Makaria and dies of poisoning. Varius promptly arranges for Marcus to flee to a hidden refuge in Spain, run by Delir, an anti-slavery activist and secret ally of Leo. Meanwhile, a British slave named Una, who has the ability to read minds, rescues her brother Sulien who has been falsely accused of rape and sentenced to crucifixion. The three runaways meet in Gaul. Despite initial suspicion, they agree to help each other and travel to the refuge. However, Varius has been arrested and the conspirators force him to reveal the location of the refuge, as well as making him confess to the murder of Marcus''s parents, as well as the murder of Marcus himself. Upon discovering that Varius has confessed to murdering him and his parents, Marcus decides to go to Rome to reveal he is in fact still alive, planning to reveal the conspiracy in public so the conspirators will be unable to kill him. He runs away from the refuge and travels to Rome, evading the soldiers sent to capture him. Una and Sulien follow him, but are unable to find him in time to prevent him revealing himself. Marcus reveals himself but is captured and taken to a hospital. There he is injected with a hallucinogen by one of the conspirators so that when Emperor Faustus is taken to him, Marcus appears to be mad. As many of the Imperial family have succumbed to a hereditary madness in the past (including, apparently, Marcus'' other uncle, Lucius), Faustus agrees to keep Marcus in seclusion. The runaway slaves make it to Rome, and manage to rescue Marcus from the asylum where he is being held. Thereafter, Marcus succeeds in revealing the truth about Varius'' innocence to the emperor, as well as the plot to kill him. Makaria manages to exculpate herself from any involvement in the conspiracy, pouring suspicion onto the emperor''s current wife, Tulliola.

Romanitas

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett is a fantasy novel about a girl who is learning her place as a witch. Early in the novel, Tiffany Aching leaves her home in the chalk country (based on England’s chalk country) to act as an apprentice and maid for the elderly witch Miss Level. Her former teacher, Miss Tick, who is also a witch, escorts her to the town of Twoshirts. While waiting for Miss Level to arrive, they are attacked by a hiver. The hiver cannot be killed or seen and it takes over your mind. The encounter is only for a few seconds, and then the hiver leaves but it gives Tiffany and Miss Tick a fright. Miss Level comes along on a broomstick and takes Tiffany to her cottage in the mountains. After settling in Tiffany discovers that Miss Level has two bodies and she has a spirit who cleans her house named Oswald. After settling into the cottage, Tiffany goes to a group of apprentice witches her age with Petulia. The leader of the group is called Annagramma and many characters find her condescending and rude. Tiffany leaves the group upset after telling them about her imaginary hat. While in her room at the cottage, the hiver finds her and takes over her body and mind. At first Tiffany doesn’t realize what has happened, but when she does, it is too late for her to take action. The hiver (as Tiffany) causes chaos, steals Mr Weavall’s money and causes Annagramma to fear her. Upon arrival at the cottage, the hiver kills one of Miss Levels bodies. Rob Anybody who is one of the Nac Mac Feegle (which are fairies that are very loyal to Tiffany after she previously helped them) goes into Tiffany''s mind along with some of his friends to try to fight the hiver out of her mind. They decide that smells from her past will bring forth the actual Tiffany and she will be able to break free. With the help of the Nac Mac Feegle, Tiffany fights the hiver out of her mind, but she is still left with the memories of previous victims of the hiver. Mr. Weavall discovers that Tiffany stole his money, but the Feegles put gold in place of the copper he had saved up. Tiffany decides that the hiver must be dealt with so she proceeds to pursue it in the mountains. Mistress Weatherwax accompanies her although Tiffany is begrudging. They camp in the mountains and Mistress Weatherwax borrows an owls mind to observe the hiver as it lurks close by. Mistress Weatherwax tells Tiffany to call her Granny Weatherwax. In the morning Tiffany and Mistress Weatherwax head off to the witch trials, an annual event where witches show what they have learned. Upon arrival, Tiffany senses the hiver moving in on her and turns to Granny Weatherwax only to find that she isn’t there. Panicking, she runs until she finds Granny Weatherwax who tells her it is time to face the hiver alone. Tiffany welcomes the hiver to her mind, and discovers that the hiver doesn’t understand humans, it just wants to seek shelter from the world because it senses everything. Tiffany names the hiver Arthur and teaches it how to die which is its ultimate goal. She shows it the way across the desert to death. As she turns to exit the world of death, she finds that the door she entered has disappeared. Turning back around, Death confronts her but she is rescued by Granny Weatherwax. Granny Weatherwax gives Tiffany her hat but she returns it because she wants to make her own. The novel ends on Tiffany returning to the chalk to take the place of her dead grandmother as the witch of the land. She decides to make her hat out of the sky.

A Hat Full of Sky

Stormblade chronicles Stanach the dwarf''s quest to retrieve the powerful stormblade. The stormblade is a kingsword, a blade which is intended to break the deadlock among the council of thanes, and bring a new king to Thorbardin. Unfortunately, the blade is stolen, but when it turns up, only one dwarf is brave enough to go after it. Stanach was an orphan. He grew up like any other dwarf, but was lucky enough to be taught the basics of smithing. Without the blade, his teacher becomes depressed, and eventually mad. Stanach sets out to find the blade for both his teacher and just to restore it. Firstly, he meets Lavim, a stereotypical kender. Together they travel, eventually being joined by the human Kelida and the elf ranger Tyrol. They end up meeting one of the mystical Irda, who informs them of their quest. After many wrong turns, fights and misfortunes, they eventually make it back to Thorbardin, where the Theiwar thane is attempting to murder Hornfel, the hylar thane to gain power over the thanes so he can rule. After a long fight, the Theiwar thane is killed and the stormblade is restored to its rightful place. Unfortunately, Tyrol is mortally wounded in the process, and dies. As a mark of honor, they allow him to be buried in the garden of thanes (a great honor for dwarves, even more for an elf)

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Back to Bologna

By Michael Dibdin

The Night of Wishes

By Michael Ende

Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance

No Author Listed

The Day Boy and the Night Girl

By George MacDonald

Enemy of God

By Bernard Cornwell

A Pail of Air

By Fritz Leiber

Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey

By Chuck Palahniuk

The Child of the Cavern

By Jules Verne

Test of the Twins

By Margaret Weis

Romanitas

By Sophia McDougall

A Hat Full of Sky

By Terry Pratchett

Stormblade

By Nancy Varian Berberick