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.

Vampire$

The plot, which unfolds on St. Valentine''s Day, concerns the inept attempts of a variety of suitors to win the hand of Audrey Turfe, the daughter of a Middlesex constable. To break Audrey''s engagement to John Clay the tilemaker, Squire Tub, a romantic rival, has the man falsely accused of theft. As Constable Turfe pursues the innocent man, yet another suitor, Justice Preamble, plays a comparable ruse against Squire Tub. All told, Audrey is chased after by four separate suitors, and apparently she has no particular preference among them. (She hesitates to accept Squire Tub, however, because of the social gap between them: "He''s too fine for me, and has a Lady / Tub to his mother.") Amid the disorder, Pol-Marten, Lady Tub''s usher, marries Audrey before the others realize it. Their marriage is celebrated with a wedding masque, also titled "A Tale of a Tub," which retells the story of the play. (In the colloquial usage of the time, a "tale of a tub" is the same as "a cock and bull story.") Jonson, here as often elsewhere in his plays, borrows elements from the Classical plays of Aristophanes and Plautus. The play was published with a motto from Catullus: Inficeto est inficetior rure.

A Tale of a Tub

In the prologue, Diamond summarizes his methodology in one paragraph: Diamond identifies five factors that contribute to collapse: climate change, hostile neighbors, collapse of essential trading partners, environmental problems, and failure to adapt to environmental issues. He also lists 12 environmental problems facing mankind today. The first eight have historically contributed to the collapse of past societies: #Deforestation and habitat destruction #Soil problems (erosion, salinization, and soil fertility losses) #Water management problems #Overhunting #Overfishing #Effects of introduced species on native species #Overpopulation #Increased per-capita impact of people Further, he says four new factors may contribute to the weakening and collapse of present and future societies: #Anthropogenic climate change #Buildup of toxins in the environment #Energy shortages #Full human utilization of the Earth’s photosynthetic capacity Diamond also writes about cultural factors, such as the apparent reluctance of the Greenland Norse to eat fish. The root problem in all but one of Diamond''s factors leading to collapse is overpopulation relative to the practicable (as opposed to the ideal theoretical) carrying capacity of the environment. The one factor not related to overpopulation is the harmful effect of accidentally or intentionally introducing nonnative species to a region. Diamond also states that "it would be absurd to claim that environmental damage must be a major factor in all collapses: the collapse of the Soviet Union is a modern counter-example, and the destruction of Carthage by Rome in 146 BC is an ancient one. It''s obviously true that military or economic factors alone may suffice" (p.&nbsp;15).

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

The story revolves around Juanito Santa Cruz. The scion of a wealthy family, he goes around carousing and womanizing with his friends. In one of these episodes, he is taken with Fortunata, a young woman of the lower class. This encounter ends with Juanito growing bored of Fortunata and disappearing from her life. His mother decides to marry him to his cousin Jacinta. During their honeymoon, he tells her about his experiences in the poor neighborhoods of Madrid and talks to her about Fortunata. As time passes, Jacinta realizes she cannot have children and she and the rest of the family become obsessed with this. Ido del Sagrario is a poor man whom Juanito invited to the house with the intention of humiliating him for his own amusement. He shows up at the Santa Cruz home one day and informs Jacinta that Juanito had a son with Fortunata. Jacinta becomes very excited about the idea of having her husband''s child, laying aside any feelings she had of betrayal. After consulting with Guillermina Pacheco (a saintly neighbor), the two women go through the Pitusín neighborhood. The baby''s guardian is José Izquierdo, uncle of Fortunata, from whom they wish to buy the baby. When she talks to her husband, the discussion turns farcical. He tells her that the baby was not his. He is certain that he had a child with Fortunata, but that that baby died some time after he married Jacinta. Meanwhile, Fortunata has been living with various men, and living badly. If one man did not deceive her, he beat her, or abandoned her at the first opportunity. She was in Barcelona for a time, and on her return she moved in with Feliciana, an acquaintance of hers. Feliciana''s boyfriend usually came to her house to visit with a friend of his, Maximiliano ("Maxi") Rubín. It is there that Rubín falls hopelessly in love with Fortunata. Soon the young man proposes to maintain her, and Fortunata, seeing this as an opportunity to escape her situation, accepts his offer. Maxi lives with his aunt, Doña Lupe. After a certain point he wants to marry Fortunata. He consults his aunt and brothers. Everyone agrees that Fortunata should spend some time in Las Micaelas convent in order to reform herself. After the prescribed time passed, they married. However, a trap awaits Fortunata in her new home. Juanito Santa Cruz has bought the apartment next door, and he bribes the newlywed''s servant to sow discord between the couple. It did not take long before Fortunata took the bait. Maxi returns to his aunt''s house, and Fortunata moves into the apartment paid for by Juanito. With time, Juanito grows tired of his vulgar desires. He tries to get far away from Fortunata to the point of abandoning her again, this time leaving her a small sum to live on for a while. Fortunata bumps into Don Evaristo Feijoo, friend of her brother-in-law Juan Pablo. Feijoo proposes a sexual relationship in which she will live well and see new faces. She stays with him for a time, though they do not live together. This works out until Feijoo begins to think he is too old and Fortunata finds herself once again in the gutter. Feijoo advises her to return to her husband''s house, and, after pulling a few heart strings, she does. During this time she meets Segismundo Ballester, a co-worker of Maxi''s from the pharmacy. Ballester is crazy for her. Seeing Fortunata reformed makes Juanito Santa Cruz want her once again by his side. Fortunata, without even fleeing from the house, falls for him once more. Maxi gradually loses his mind. One day, in his state of insanity, he discovers that his wife is pregnant. Meanwhile, Juanito begins to tire of Fortunata yet again. Fortunata is sure that she is pregnant, and rather than explain to Doña Lupe ("she of the turkeys") what has happened, she simply gets out of the house. Fortunata returns to her Aunt Segunda, in the place she was raised. She had her second child, attended by a doctor who was a friend of the Rubíns and of Segismundo. Maxi is told that Fortunata is dead. He refuses to believe this and is able to figure out where she is and even gets to know the baby. Fortunata is told that Juanito Santa Cruz was betraying her with Aurora, a family friend of the Rubíns and an intimate of hers. As soon as she finds herself alone at home, Fortunata plans to get even. In a few days she dies during a blood-letting. Before expiring, she writes a note in which she gives custody of her child to Jacinta. Maxi, who didn''t know whether he was too sane or too crazy, was sent to the insane asylum at Leganés. The same day as Fortunata''s funeral, they also bury Feijoo.

Fortunata y Jacinta

The novel takes place in Three Rivers, Connecticut. Dominick Birdsey''s identical twin, Thomas, suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. With medication, he can function properly and work at a coffee stand, but occasionally he has severe episodes of his illness. Thinking he is making a sacrificial protest that will stop the war in the Middle East, Thomas cuts off his own hand in a public library. Dominick sees him through the ensuing decision not to attempt to reattach the hand, and makes efforts on his behalf to free him from what he knows to be an inadequate and depressing hospital for the dangerous mentally ill. In the process, Dominick reviews his own difficult life as Thomas''s normal brother, his marriage to his gorgeous ex-wife, which ended after their only child died of SIDS, and his ongoing hostility toward his stepfather. Dominick also displays classic symptoms of PTSD, as a result of stressors in his adult life. First in Thomas''s interests, and then for his own sake, he sees a therapist, Dr. Rubina Patel, an Indian psychologist, employed by the hospital. She helps Dominick come to understand Thomas''s illness better and the family''s accommodations or reactions to it. In the course of Thomas''s treatment, Dominick is covertly informed of sexual abuse taking place in the hospital, and helps to expose the perpetrators. He succeeds in getting Thomas released, but Thomas soon dies, apparently by suicide. After Thomas''s death, Dominick discovers the identity of their birth father, who was part African American and part Native American--a secret their mother had shared with Thomas, but not with him. In the midst of this, Dominick is also reading the autobiography of his grandfather, Italian/Sicilian-born Domenico Tempesta, which discloses details about the legacy of twins in their family. Dominick learns about himself and his mother through learning about his grandfather. He also learns that his live-in girlfriend, Joy, has been seeing a man on the side, who is her bisexual half-uncle, as well as letting him watch her and Dominick during sex. She is also HIV-positive, having contracted it from her secret lover. She asks Dominick to raise her baby if she dies. At first he resists, but later, after having found his way back into a relationship with his ex-wife, Dessa, they decide to remarry each other and adopt Joy''s daughter. The book ends with Dominick able to cope with the considerable loss, failure, and sadness in his personal and family history.

I Know This Much Is True

Surviving Antarctica takes place in the year 2083 in a television-crazed country of United States. The Secretary of "Entertainment" is the Head of the Department of Entertainment or the DOE. Public schools shut down and are replaced with "Edu-TV" which are lessons with Interactive Quizzes on a television screen. It is mandatory and only goes up to Eighth Grade. After completing the required Eighth Year of Edu-TV, one must pay for High School and College. In the year 2083, America is awfully poor and very bad in the economy. People live in shacks similar to Hoovervilles during the Great Depression. So to pay for further education, a few sponsored scholarships are given out. The most popular is "The Toss" which is a game of pure chance. The administer calls out a number, and the 14 year-old wishing for the full scholarship rolls two dice, hoping it will land on that number. In Edu-TV the Social Studies/History show is called "Historical Survivor". The Secretary of DOE (aka "Hot Sauce" by her employees) gathers a "lucky few" to re-enact parts of history. The five kids (Robert, Polly, Grace, Andrew, and Billy) see an advertisement by the Secretary of Entertainment for a new Historical Survivor Series that features kids. It is called "Historical Survivor: Antarctica". She offers $10,000 to whoever is chosen to re-enact the expedition of Robert F. Scott and an extra $90,000 to the MVP (most valuable player). They had to fill out an application to be eligible. These five kids (out of about 4,000 applicants) made it, unlike most of the others. Unbeknownst to them, however, the Secretary has placed mini camcorders in the eyes to film instead of a camera crew. Hot Sauce also planned different calamities to happen to the kids on their journey that also happened to Scott. But a group of night shift employees engage in acts of sabotage to help the kids on their way. All five come from completely different backgrounds and walks of life, but will have to cooperate to survive Antarctica. Through a series of tragedies and misfortunes, they end up in the middle of nowhere, frostbitten and hungry. But will they get help from the one person nobody would expect- the camera crews?

Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083

The Doctor tries to push the TARDIS to its limit, but is forced to land when it begins to break up. They land on the surface of a frozen sea of acid on the planet Endpoint, in the distant future. When the ice begins to break up, The Doctor, Fitz and Anji, flee to the nearby city of Hope, only to see the TARDIS sink to the bottom of the sea. On the city, a policeman investigating a decapitation explains that the planet is toxic, so the humans had to evolve to survive, but recently a serial killer has been decapitating people. The policeman then tells them to go to a casino for help. When they arrive The Doctor buys entry with a apple core (which is long extinct) from his pocket. Inside the casino, a group of cyborgs, calling themselves the Brotherhood of the Silver Fist, burst in and demand that the casino''s owner, Silver, speaks to them. Silver, himself a cyborg, enters and drives the brotherhood out of the casino but not before talking to The Doctor. After learning that The Doctor can time travel, he offers to recover the TARDIS if The Doctor catches the murderer, which The Doctor agrees to. While Fitz and Anji rest in the casino, The Doctor finds a used tranquilliser dart at a crime scene and deduces that the murders are part of a plan committed by a visitor to Endpoint. While Fitz tries to infiltrate the Brotherhood, Anji finds apple trees being cloned from the core. Silver explains that he was born in the 30th Century, and was enlisted into the military and given his implants to prolong his life from the birth defects he suffered. In 3006, he was sent to the future to collect technology to help in a war, but was unable to return, and became a businessman on Endpoint. The Doctor learns that the people of Endpoint produce a hormone called Kallisti, which has similar effects to adrenalin, and the killer has been taking heads to give himself a permanent supply. The Doctor uses himself as bait, and when the killer attacks him, he overpowers him, only to discover that the killer is an inbred human. Then, other humans surround The Doctor and tranquillise him. Back at the casino, Anji asks Silver if he could clone her boyfriend Dave Young. Silver agrees, but demands that Anji provides him with data from the TARDIS so he can build his own time machine, which Anji agrees to. When his staff tell him that The Doctor has disappeared, Silver explains that he fitted The Doctor with a tracer, and he locates him on the sea bed. Silver then dives down to rescue The Doctor. On sea bed, where The Doctor is being held in a bunker, the humans explain that they regard the people of Endpoint as mutants, and they believe that humans should be the dominant race, so they have been experimenting with Kallisti to improve humans. Suddenly, Silver attacks the bunker and kills the humans. Fitz contacts The Brotherhood and turns them against each other, but then the image of their cyborg Queen appears and orders Fitz''s release. Fitz releases the Queen, who is actually one of Silver''s staff, Miraso. She explains the The Brotherhood was created by Silver to control rebels and keep the public''s faith in Silver. In the Bunker, The Doctor and Silver find technology capable of reversing the pollution. When activated, the sea turns into water, and the air becomes breathable again. Fitz discovers that Silver has mutants with silver skin hidden in his casino and goes to investigate while Anji trades the data on the TARDIS so that the clone of Dave can be made. The Doctor places Kallisti into the liquid computer of Silver''s brain, allowing him to create Kallisti himself. The humans explain that their bunker has a hypertunnel, which can be used to quickly travel throughout space. Fitz tells The Doctor about Silver''s mutants, and, with Miraso''s help, breaks into Silver''s office. Silver explains to Anji that he intends to use Dave''s clone (Dave II) to give the human race some genetic variety. He explains that he plans to create a new race, Silverati, who all have the enhanced Kallisti, and are loyal to Silver. After conquering the empire, he plans to create time machines to spread his power further. The Doctor and Fitz are imprisoned after learning of Silver''s plan. The Doctor gives Anji the TARDIS key and blows up the cell door with an explosive from his pocket. The Doctor turns Dave II into a Silverati disloyal to Silver. Dave II takes them to the hypertunnel and helps them fight Silver. Anji shoots Silver in the eye and he flees through the hypertunnel. The Doctor explains that he took the data on the TARDIS from him when they were fighting. Dave II reprograms the hypertunnel to leave Silver and his army stranded on a dead planet. The Doctor turns Dave II back into a human and Anji leaves him to create a new life for himself on Endpoint, before she leaves in the TARDIS.

Hope

The story begins with a model in the ground-floor store window of French''s Department Store in New York City who is demonstrating the features of a suite of ultra-modern furniture. When she pushes a button to reveal the folding bed, the bludgeoned corpse of the wife of the owner of the store tumbles to the floor. The murder case falls into the hands of Inspector Richard Queen of the Homicide Squad and his mystery-writing son Ellery. A set of onyx bookends in the private apartments on the top of the store reveal not only bloodstains but grains of fingerprint powder and an unusual assortment of books. Also, an ashtray full of half-smoked cigarettes is an important clue. The suspects include the wealthy victim''s family and friends, some employees of the store, and possible members of a drug ring. At the finale of the novel, Ellery Queen performs an extended piece of deduction by creating a list of conditions that the murderer must meet (involving, among other things, the possession of keys). He clears all suspects except one, whose identity is revealed in the last line of the novel.

The French Powder Mystery

Volga Se Ganga is about the history of Indo–European people who were later known as the Aryans. The 20 stories are woven over a time span of 8000 years and a distance of about 10,000&nbsp;km. This is a very good attempt at freeing our brains of the clutches of space and time. The first story Nisha is about cavemen living in Siberia about 6000 BC. The society or its precursor at that time was matriarchal and so the story is named after the leader of the family ''Nisha''. Although all the 20 stories are independent and equally enjoyable in their own right, the sequence in which they are arranged nevertheless serves a very important purpose. It is an indispensable aid to anyone who has been baffled by discontinuities in the evolution of societies and their cultures. Here one can find a gradual transformation from a matriarchal society (the first two stories) to a patriarchal one (the rest), a gradual change from freedom to slavery, from acceptance of slavery to its loathing and the likes. If we are to believe Sankrityayan then an apprehension for technological advancement is nothing new. People were wary of the newly better armament which was fast replacing the older stone equipment (Fourth story – Puruhoot (Tajikistan 2500BC.)). The same story tells us how an arms race was started during that period and how southerners amassed great wealth at the expense of the northerners. The sixth story Angira (Taxila 1800 BC) is about a man who wants to save the Aryan race from losing itself to other races by teaching about their culture (precursor to Vedic Rishis). The eighth story (Pravahan (700 BC. Panchal, U.P.). is about the upper class manipulating religion for their own vested interests and conspiring to keep people in dark for at least 2000 years). One can see how easily and frequently the Indians, the mid easterners and the Greeks mingled with each other in the times of Chanakya and Alexander by reading the tenth story Nagdatt about a philosopher classmate of Chanakya who travels to Greece and learns how Athens fell to Macedonia. The eleventh story (Prabha, 50 AD) is about the famous (also the first Indian) dramatist Ashwaghosh, who adopted the Greek art of drama into Indian culture in a very beautiful and authentic way, and his inspiration. Baba Noordeen (1300), the 15th story is about the rise of Sufism. The seventeenth story Rekha Bhagat (1800 is about the barbarous rule of the East India company and the anarchy it brought to India. The last story (Sumer, 1942) is about a man who goes on to fight the Japanese because he wants Soviet Russia to triumph, for this nation (i.e., the Communist Party) is the only hope left for humanity.

Volga Se Ganga

The story begins with a perilous winter railroad journey through the Nevada Territory in the 1870s in the midst of a blizzard. Aboard the train are Nevada governor Fairchild and his niece Marica, along with U.S. cavalry Colonel Claremont and two carloads of troops. Joining them are U.S. Marshal Pearce, the governor''s aide, and Pearce''s old Army buddy Major O''Brien. Pearce, a lawman and Indian agent is transporting dangerous murderer and gunman John Deakin. Their destination is the remote Fort Humboldt deep in the Nevada mountains, whose troops have recently been decimated by a cholera epidemic. Dr. Molyneaux, a tropical disease expert, is also accompanying the group. As the journey continues we slowly learn that all is not what it seems, and that none of the characters is telling the whole truth. Maclean meticulously obliterates the lines defining exactly which characters are the good guys are and which are the bad. As the story winds down, the cunningly devious nature of the plan is finally revealed.

Breakheart Pass

Paul Rayment, a man of late middle-age, loses part of a leg after his bicycle is hit by a car driven by a reckless young man. He becomes reclusive and retreats to his flat where he is cared for by a succession of nurses. None suit him until Marijana, with whom he shares a European childhood (hers in Croatia, his in France), comes along. Paul''s feelings for Marijana, and for her teenage son Drago, become more complex. When Paul offers to finance Drago''s education, Marijana''s husband becomes suspicious of Paul''s relationship with Marijana, which causes trouble in their family and culminates in Drago fighting with his father and moving in with Paul. It is not until the famed author Elizabeth Costello shows up unexpectedly and uninvited at Paul''s doorstep that he confronts his feelings for Marijana and his resentment at the state of his life following his bicycle accident. Costello''s sudden presence in his life confounds Paul, who believes she is merely using him as a character in her next novel. The book can be read as a metafictional discourse on the inter-relationship between the literary author and the characters, and with reality.

Slow Man

Ambulances arrive at two traffic accidents which block the only roads into the fictional British village of Midwich, Winshire. Attempting to approach the village, one paramedic falls unconscious. Suspecting gas poisoning, the army is called in. However, they find that a caged canary becomes unconscious upon entering the affected region, but regains consciousness when removed. Further experiments show the region to be a hemisphere with a diameter of around the village. Aerial photography reveals an unidentifiable ground-based silver object in the centre of the created exclusion zone. After one day the effect vanishes along with the unidentified object, and the villagers wake with no apparent ill effects. Some months later, the villagers realise that every woman of child-bearing age is pregnant, with all indications that the pregnancies were caused by xenogenesis during the period of unconsciousness referred to as the "Dayout". When the 31 boys and 30 girls are born they appear normal except for their unusual, golden eyes and pale, silvery skin. These children have none of the genetic characteristics of their parents. As they grow up, it becomes increasingly apparent that they are, at least in some respects, not human. They possess telepathic abilities, and can control others'' actions. The Children (they are referred to with a capital ''C'') have two distinct group minds: one for the boys and another for the girls. Their physical development is accelerated compared to that of humans; upon reaching the age of nine, they appear to be sixteen-year-olds. The Children protect themselves as much as possible using a form of mind control. One young man who accidentally hits a Child in the hip while driving a car is made to drive into a wall and kill himself. A bull who chased the Children is forced into a pond to drown. The villagers form a mob and try to burn down the Midwich Grange, where the Children are taught and live, but the Children make the villagers attack each other. The Military Intelligence department learn that the same thing has taken place in four other parts of the world, including an Inuit settlement in the Canadian Arctic, a small township in Australia''s Northern Territory, and a rural Siberian village. The Inuit instinctively killed the newborn Children, sensing they were not their own. The Australian babies had all died within a few weeks, suggesting that something may have gone wrong with their xenogenesis process. The Siberian village was destroyed by the Soviet government, using nuclear weapons, claiming that it was an accident. The Children are aware of the threat against them, and use their power to prevent any aeroplanes from flying over the village. During an interview with a Military Intelligence officer the Children explain that to solve the problem they must be destroyed. They explain it is not possible to kill them unless the entire village is bombed, which results in civilian deaths. It is revealed that the Children have put up an ultimatum: The Children want to migrate to a secure location, where they can live unharmed. They demand aeroplanes from the government. An elderly, educated Midwich resident (Gordon Zellaby) realises the Children must be killed as soon as possible. As he has a only a few weeks left to live due to a heart condition, he feels an obligation to do something. He has acted as a teacher and mentor to the Children and they regard him with as much affection as they can have for any human, letting him approach them more closely than they do with others. One evening, he - in effect abusing their trust - hides a bomb in his projection equipment, while showing the Children a film about the Aegean Islands of Ancient Greece. At an unspecified moment, Zellaby sets off the bomb, killing himself and all of the children. The title is a reference to the cuckoo bird, which lays its eggs in the nest of other birds in the hopes that they will raise the cuckoo''s offspring as their own.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Vampire$

By John Steakley

A Tale of a Tub

By Ben Jonson

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

By Jared Diamond

Fortunata y Jacinta

By Benito Pérez Galdós

I Know This Much Is True

By Wally Lamb

Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083

By Andrea White

Hope

By Mark Clapham

The French Powder Mystery

By Frederic Dannay

Volga Se Ganga

By Rahul Sankrityayan

Breakheart Pass

By Alistair MacLean

Slow Man

By John Maxwell Coetzee

The Midwich Cuckoos

By John Wyndham