Set in the late Yuan Dynasty, the story revolves around a pair of priceless and extremely powerful weapons, known as the Heaven Reliant Sword (倚天劍) and Dragon Slaying Saber (屠龍刀), which many jianghu pugilists covet. Either or both of them are thought to allow their wielder to rule the wulin (martial artists'' community), according to a widely circulating rumour in a repeated mantra, "Honoured by the wulin, the precious saber slays the dragon, it commands the world, who dares to disobey? If the Heaven Reliant does not appear, who can challenge it?" (武林至尊，寶刀屠龍，號令天下，莫敢不從！倚天不出，誰與爭鋒？). The reason for that is lost at the beginning of the story. The protagonist Zhang Wuji is of mixed heritage: his father Zhang Cuishan hails from the reputable Wudang Sect under the master Zhang Sanfeng, while his mother Yin Susu is from the unorthodox Heavenly Eagle Cult. As a boy, he lives with them and his godfather Xie Xun on the isolated northern island where he was born. He returns to the Chinese mainland and loses his parents after they are cornered on Mount Wudang by several martial artists coveting the Dragon Slaying Saber. At the same time, he is wounded by the Xuanming Elders and survives after seeking medical treatment from Hu Qingniu, a master physician. His adventures further lead him to discover the long lost Nine Yang Manual and he masters the inner energy skills described inside, becoming a formidable pugilist. He later resolves the conflict between the Ming Cult and the six major orthodox sects, who are intent on destroying the cult. He earns the respect of the cult''s members and becomes its leader after mastering the skill Heaven and Earth Great Shift. He reforms the cult and helps to improve its relations with other sects. He becomes a key figure in leading rebel forces to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty. Throughout his adventures, Zhang Wuji finds himself entangled in a complex web of love relationships with four maidens. The first, Yin Li, is a horribly disfigured girl who is actually his maternal cousin. The second, Xiaozhao, is a Chinese Persian servant girl who understands him very well. The third, Zhou Zhiruo, is a childhood friend whom he develops a strong bond with. The fourth, Zhao Min, is a Mongol princess and his former arch-rival. Yin Li is apparently killed in the middle of the story while Xiaozhao returns to Persia after it is revealed that she is destined to lead the Persian Ming Cult. Zhou Zhiruo soon falls in love with Zhang Wuji, but has to turn against him as she is bound by an oath she made in front of her teacher Abbess Miejue, who hates and distrusts Zhang Wuji and anyone related to the Ming Cult. Miejue devises a vicious scheme for Zhou Zhiruo to seize the two weapons by exploiting Zhang Wuji''s love for Zhou. Zhou Zhiruo also turns vicious after Zhang Wuji reneges his promise to marry her and she swears vengeance on him. Zhao Min was initially Zhang Wuji''s rival as they were on opposing sides. However, Zhao Min gradually falls in love with Zhang Wuji after their various encounters, and she even turns against her clan to help him. At the end of the novel, Zhang Wuji decides to retire from the jianghu after he mistakenly believes that the Ming Cult''s members are plotting to betray him. He decides that Zhao Min is his true love and they leave for a reclusive life far away from society (the ending to the second edition, however, is ambiguous about his relationship with Zhou Zhiruo). Zhang Wuji gave up an opportunity to become the emperor, as the Ming Cult eventually overthrew the Yuan Dynasty, and ideally Zhang would become the new sovereign, but instead Zhu Yuanzhang takes the throne and founds the Ming Dynasty. In 2005 Jin Yong published the third edition of the novel, which has a slightly different ending from the earlier versions. In this edition, Zhang Wuji becomes disillusioned when he could not save the life of a general and address the death of Han Lin''er, and with that he left the leadership of the Ming Cult in the hands of Yang Xiao and Fan Yao, and then left the Central Plains with Zhao Min.

The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre

The story began during Hayslip''s childhood in a small village in central Vietnam, named Ky La. Her village was along the fault line between the north and south of Vietnam, with shifting allegiances in the village leading to constant tension. She and her friends worked as lookout for the northern Vietcong. The South Vietnamese learned of her work, arrested and tortured her. After Hayslip was released from prison, however, the Vietcong no longer trusted her and sentenced her to death. At the age of fourteen, two soldiers threatened to kill her in the forest. Once they arrived, both men decided to rape her instead. She fled to Da Nang where she worked as a maid, a black-market vendor, a waitress, a hospital worker and even a prostitute. While working for a wealthy Vietnamese family with her mother in Saigon, Hayslip had a few sexual encounters with the landlord, Anh, and discovered she was pregnant. She gave birth to a baby son at the age of fifteen. Several years later, she married an American contractor named Ed Munro and gave birth to another son. Hayslip left for San Diego, California in 1970, shortly after her 20th birthday. Hayslip''s entire family was torn apart by the war: one brother fled to Hanoi, and did not see his family again for 20 years. Another brother was killed by a land mine. The Vietcong pressured her father to force Hayslip to become a saboteur. Rather than give into the pressure, he committed suicide. The memoir alternates between her childhood in Vietnam, and her return in 1986, to visit the friends and family she had not seen for so long. In Vietnam she was reunited with the father of her first child, her sisters, brother, and her mother. Her family were afraid to be seen with her because the tensions from the war was still present. Her memoir concludes with a plea for an end to the enmity between the Vietnamese and Americans.

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places

Arkady Renko, former Chief Investigator of the Moscow Town Prosecutor''s Office, is serving a self-imposed exile in Siberia to avoid being detained for his actions in Gorky Park several years earlier, despite the Soviet Union''s ostensibly increasing liberalization. He procures menial employment as a fish gutter on the "slime lime" of a large Arctic sea factory ship called the Polar Star, part of a joint Soviet-American fishing exercise within detente. He is brought to the attention of Viktor Marchuk, the ship''s captain, after a young woman named Zina Patiashvili is found dead in a net full of freshly-caught fish. Due to his past as a homicide investigator, he is given the task of finding out what happened to her—to the dislike of political officer Volovoi. Hess, the ship''s chief electrical engineer—an elaborate blind for his espionage activities—welcomes Arkady more warmly. Researching the girl''s background, he discovers an open and somewhat radical Georgian personality, known for her many lovers (including the Captain, before she became a crew member) and fondness for underground music. Looking into her death also attracts the attention of the ship''s main gang, lead by Karp Corabetz—the ship''s leading fisher and Arkady''s former prisoner. The American corporate representative on board, Susan Hightower, takes an interest in the case. Arkady grows weary of the investigation, largely due to the obstructive actions of many of his shipmates—many of whom are concerned that it will delay a long-awaited shore leave on the island of Dutch Harbour. Renko finally decides to go along with the original verdict of suicide, letting the ship''s crew disembark. Though lacking proper authorization to go ashore himself, Arkady is sponsored in an impromptu shore leave by "Fleet Electrical Engineer" Hess. Whilst there, he starts to enter into a relationship with Susan before encountering Volovoi in a nearby dwelling. Volovoi threatens him but is killed by a disgruntled Karp, who then locks Arkady in and sets the building on fire. The investigator manages to escape and "accidentally" falls into the water to wash off any incriminating odors. Questions are raised, but nothing is decided. Arkady has no evidence against Karp and, having already survived an attempt on his life, fears he will be attacked again. Entering the icy North, the American trawler freezes into the ice whilst trailing the Polar Star. Arkady learns of Karp''s relationship with Zina and her attempts to defect aboard the American ship, as well the secret spy cable running underneath the vessel that is operated by Hess. Arkady ventures out into the ice towards the American ship, and Karp casually follows and eventually catches up with him. On board they find evidence that Zina was killed and stowed on board in one of the lockers. Arkady also finds indications that the Americans were deceiving Hess by transmitting the electronic signatures of numerous other decommissioned American vessels. Karp kills the killer, scaring off the Americans and allowing him and Renko to escape. After a final foiled attempt to finish Arkady off, Karp finally decides, with draconian Russian justice awaiting him back home, to drown himself in the icy water. When the Polar Star returns to Vladivostok, Arkady says farewell to Susan and his fellow crewmen, suddenly finding himself in the party''s favour again. <gallery> Image:AleutianIslandsFromSpace.jpg|The Aleutian Islands. Image:UnalaskaAlaska.jpg|Dutch Harbor, Alaska with the Russian Orthodox church in the foreground. </gallery>

Polar Star

The Doctor and Rose Tyler are preparing to enjoy a visit to Earth''s Moon when they discover that the TARDIS has, on its own volition, taken them instead to a small seaside town in present-day England. In this town, the dead shell of a Dalek has been discovered by archaeologists in 1st century Roman ruins on the site of a decommissioned Cold War-era military bunker. The Doctor and Rose are separated for a time when the TARDIS dematerializes with Rose still outside the ship. The Doctor finds himself at the dig where he befriends one of the archaeologists and, upon recognizing the Dalek, attempts to disarm the dead creature by giving his new friend custody of the Dalek''s gun arm. Rose, meanwhile, witnesses a traffic accident in which a young woman named Kate is apparently killed. However, Kate proceeds to regenerate in much the same fashion as the Doctor, which causes her hair colour to change and — unknown to Rose — her intellect to increase exponentially. Along with Kate''s newfound intelligence comes a confusing desire to exterminate every human on the planet, starting with her ex-boyfriend. The Doctor and Rose eventually reunite at the dig site, where Kate reactivates the Dalek, causing it to also regenerate. Rose and the confused Kate escape, while the Doctor tries to unsuccessfully disable the revived Dalek before it can go on a killing spree. The Dalek tracks down and kills the archeologist in order to reacquire its gun arm. Meanwhile, Kate''s personality becomes more Dalek-like, and she eventually unites with the Dalek, who bargains for the use of a time travel technology, with Earth as the bargaining chip. It is revealed that Kate is a form of Dalek-human hybrid, the result of an attempt by Daleks who came to Earth millennia earlier (because of the Time War) and injected a "Dalek Factor" into humanity. However, only a few individuals retained it in the present day. With encouragement from Rose and the Doctor, Kate''s human personality manages to reassert itself against the Dalek influence and she destroys the Dalek, returning to her pre-accident self.

I am a Dalek

The story concerns a world named Patra-Bannk (known otherwise as Freeze-Bake), and a crew of explorers from another world named Two-Bit (because life is cheap there), seeking a treasure of metallic hydrogen. Upon arriving at the planet, the four members of the expedition arrange themselves into two shuttlecraft. Pike and Hendig, in one shuttlecraft, travel inland toward a mountain village where they hope to find the navigator, Paddelack, who was stranded there after Hendig''s previous voyage. After finding him, they are captured by a group of locals known as the Gostum. Upon escaping from the Gostum stronghold of Konndjlan, Pike and Paddelack proceed to Daryephna, a fabled forbidden city where Pike hopes to find the metallic hydrogen. Stringer and Valyavar take the other shuttle north along the coast about one hundred thousand kilometers and crash land near the city of Ta-tjenen. The locals consider Ta-tjenen to be the center of the world. Stringer awakens after the crash landing to find Valyavar missing, and he shoots and kills one of the natives who approach him, unaware that they were trying to help. The planet''s current inhabitants are human-like, but with six fingers on each hand and with skin that darkens and lightens dramatically as the weather changes. They are divided into semi-barbaric groups or tribes with historical enmity toward one another. There are local legends of an ancient people called the Polkraitz who lived on Patra-Bannk centuries ago and had a much more advanced technology than is currently available. They left, but are prophesied to return when two of the traditional calendar systems coincide - an event known as the Golun-Patra that occurs once every 96 (Earth) years. The upcoming Golun-Patra is the twelfth Golun-Patra, which gives it added significance. The planet''s slow rotation rate results in extreme weather, alternating between freezing cold "nights" (Patras) lasting up to six (Earth) months during which the sun never rises and steaming hot "days" (Bannks) during which the sun never sets for a similar number of months. Patra-Bannk is at least 50 times the size of Earth, six hundred thousand kilometers across. It is a type of Dyson sphere built around a black hole. The book is set in a time in the far future when the galaxies are beginning to merge, prior to the "Big Crunch".

The World is Round

The hero of the novel is the mysterious and distinguished Rodolphe, who is really the Grand Duke of Gerolstein (a fictional kingdom of Germany) but is disguised as a Parisian worker. Rodolphe can speak in argot, is extremely strong and a good fighter. Yet he also shows great compassion for the lower classes, good judgment, and a brilliant mind. He can navigate all layers of society in order to understand their problems, and to understand how the different social classes are linked. Rodolphe is accompanied by his friends Sir Walter Murph, an Englishman, and David, a gifted black doctor, formerly a slave. The first figures they meet are Le Chourineur and La Goualeuse. Rodolphe saves La Goualeuse from Le Chourineur''s brutality, and saves Le Chourineur from himself, knowing that the man still has some good in him. La Goualeuse is a prostitute, and Le Chourineur is a former butcher who has served 15 years in prison for murder. Both characters are grateful for Rodolphe''s assistance, as are many other characters in the novel. Though Rodolphe is described as a flawless man, Sue otherwise depicts the Parisian nobility as deaf to the misfortunes of the common people and focused on meaningless intrigues. For this reason, some, such as Dumas, have considered the novel''s ending a failure. Rodolphe goes back to Gerolstein to take on the role to which he was destined by birth, rather than staying in Paris to help the lower classes.

Les Mystères de Paris

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

High Time to Kill

Around 1958, a decade on from the preceding novel, Books Do Furnish a Room, Jenkins attends an international literary conference in Venice, where the death is announced of French author Ferrand-Sénéschal. Dr Emily Brightman introduces Jenkins to Russell Gwinnett, a prospective biographer of X Trapnel with a faintly alarming manner. Gwinnett naturally wishes to meet Pamela Widmerpool, and he produces a press report linking her with Ferrand-Sénéschal''s death. Next day the conference visits the Bragadin Palace to view a ceiling painted by Tiepolo. Here Pamela is encountered with American film director Louis Glober gazing at the ceiling. Gwinnett is introduced to Pamela. Widmerpool arrives, and a row between the couple ensues with accusations flying. On the Sunday Nick visits painter Daniel Tokenhouse and lunches with Ada Leintwardine and Glober. Further viewing of Tokenhouse''s paintings is interrupted by the abrupt arrival of Widmerpool on mysterious business. It is evident that Glober has designs upon Pamela. Nick dines with Gwinnett, who recounts a surprising earlier rendezvous with Pamela. Later at a bar Nick meets Odo Stevens (now married to Rosie Manasch) and Pamela, who foretells trouble for Widmerpool. Back in England later that year Nick visits Bagshaw who recounts the mystery of Pamela''s nakedness in his house while Gwinnett was staying there. Later still Nick dines with Gwinnett, and attends an army reunion where he hears a further account of Stringham''s death; Farebrother predicts Widmerpool''s imminent arrest for spying. Moreland conducts at a Mozart concert party given by Odo and Rosie Stevens in Summer 1959. Glober is there with Polly Duport (actress daughter of Bob Duport and Jean), as are Mrs Erdleigh with Jimmy Stripling, Audrey Maclintick and the Widmerpools. There are violent scenes between Glober, Pamela and Widmerpool on leaving the party. Pamela is warned by Mrs Erdleigh that she is near the edge. Moreland collapses after the concert. Late in 1959 Nick reflects on the subsequent death of Pamela, apparently from an overdose while in bed with Gwinnett, and also visits the dying Moreland in hospital.

Temporary Kings

It is the story of Elizabeth Allen, who is made a monitor and then risks her position by accusing Julian, a fellow student, of being a thief who tricks her and making her lose her place as a monitor, by playing tricks on her such as making irritating water drops fall on her head, making her books fall thrice, making the teacher to send her out and putting sneezing powder in her book which enters her nose on opening the book and tickles her nostrils, causing her to sneeze. Elizabeth also quarrels with another fellow student, Arabella Buckley, who is vain and selfish and disobeyed the school rules about pocket money. She also makes a midnight feast for her birthday. Elizabeth then sees Julian taking biscuits from the old games locker and thinks he is stealing. She is made to resign her position as a school monitor but ultimately gets it back when she saves a small child from drowning. The real thief- Martin- is discovered at last and admits to having deliberately framed Julian. But unfortunately, in the process he had got Elizabeth into trouble.But at last there was a happy ending.

The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor

The story is told in the first person by the hero, Jonathan Dark, who is represented to be its author. Carter, the actual author, claims to have merely edited the manuscript, which, like subsequent works in the series, supposedly found its way to him from the ruins of the ancient city of Arangkhôr in Cambodia. Dark, a helicopter pilot transporting medical supplies in Southeast Asia, is forced down in the jungles of Cambodia, where he discovers Arangkhôr. There he slides into a well made of a mysteriously slippery substance, which proves to be a device of unknown provenance that teleports him to another world. The world in question is eventually determined to be the Jovian moon of Callisto, which beneath a projected illusion of airless desolation turns out to have a breathable atmosphere, an alien biology, and human inhabitants (presumably descended from victims of the well during the period before Arangkhôr was abandoned). Callisto is known to its inhabitants as Thanator. After nearly falling victim to a Yathib, one of the local predators, Dark is saved by a nomadic tribe of Yathoon, a race of intelligent insectoids. Rescue proves a mixed blessing, as he is also enslaved. While with them he learns Thanator''s language, which is shared by Yathoon and human alike, and his captors learn his name, more or less. "Jandar" is the closest they can render "Jon Dark," and he remains Jandar through the rest of the series. Escaping, he encounters one of the latter, a beautiful woman in peril. For Jandar, it''s love at first sight; she takes a bit longer to warm to him -- three whole books, actually. She is the princess Darloona, who has been exiled from her native city-state of Shondakar by the conquering Black Legion. His attempts to aid her are not very effective, and they fall into the hands of another tribe of Yathoon. They are delivered from this second captivity by the appearance of an airship commanded by Thuton, prince of the city-state of Zanadar. The Zanadarians are "Sky Pirates" -- raiders who use the aerial technology they alone possess to abstract the possessions of others, in this instance Jandar and Darloona from the Yathoon. Thuton proves well-disposed to his fellow royal, but less so toward Jandar, who jealously goads him into a fight. As the prince is a master of the sword and the earthman has never picked up that particular skill, the outcome is predictable -- and humiliating. The upshot is that Dark is once again a slave, this time in Zanadar. In the Sky Pirates'' city he manages to escape again, learns to fence, and raises his fellow slaves in a rebellion against their oppressors. In a bid to rescue Darloona, he takes on Thuton a second time. Fortunately, his comrades, who have taken over one of the Zanadarians'' airships, are able to extract both him and the princess before he can be killed. Fleeing the city, they restore Darloona to her people, the Ku Thad, who have been living in the jungles of the Grand Kumala since their exile from Shondakar. The celebration is short-lived, however, as the princess is shortly afterward carried off by a raiding party from the Black Legion.

Jandar of Callisto

Remy is an eighteen year old girl who is about to leave for college. Her father, a musician, had died before she was born. Before he died, he left a short song called "This Lullaby," which is now extremely popular. Remy''s mother is getting married for the fifth time, with a car salesman. Consequently, love is something that Remy doesn''t believe exists. In the past, she''s been in many relationships with people she doesn''t really care about, and they never last long. One day, she randomly meets Dexter. He claims to feel a connection with her the second he saw her. He is messy and a musician, two of her least favorite traits. But he is persistent. She slowly finds herself falling for him. She doesn''t want to care about him, but somehow she just can''t bring herself to get rid of him. Eventually they start dating and she is surprised by how open and honest and caring he is. When Dexter overhears Remy saying that she only wants him to be a summer fling, they break up. Remy begins to date another guy, but she finds herself always thinking about Dexter. Meanwhile, her brother is getting engaged, her mother''s new husband is cheating, and her friends are all having problems of their own. But in the end, Remy realizes that she truly does love Dexter, and they get back together.

This Lullaby

The main protagonist is referred to in the story as Kochan. Being raised during Japan’s era of right-wing militarism and Imperialism, he struggles from a very early age to fit into society. Like Mishima, Kochan was born with a less-than-ideal body in terms of physical fitness and robustness, and throughout the first half of the book (which generally details Kochan’s childhood) struggles intensely to fit into Japanese society. Due to his weakness, Kochan is kept away from boys his own age as he is raised, and is thus not exposed to the norm. This is what likely led to his future fascinations and fantasies of death, violence, and sex. In this way of thinking, some have posited that Mishima is similar. Kochan is a homosexual, and in the context of Imperial Japan he struggles to keep it to himself. In the early portion of the novel, Kochan does not yet openly admit that he is attracted to men, but indeed professes that he admires masculinity and strength. Some have argued that this, too, is autobiographical of Mishima, himself having worked hard through a naturally weak body to become a superbly fit body builder and male model. In the first chapter of the book, Kochan recalls a memory of a picture book from when he was four years old. Even at that young age, Kochan approached a single picture of a heroic-looking Caucasian knight on horseback almost as pornography, gazing at it longingly and hiding it away, embarrassed, when others come to see what he is doing. When his nurse tells him that the knight is actually Joan of Arc, Kochan, wanting the knight to be a paragon of manliness, is immediately and forever put off by the picture, annoyed that a woman would dress in man’s clothing. The word ‘mask’ comes from how Kochan develops his own false personality that he uses to present himself to the world. Early on, as he develops a fascination with his friend Omi’s body during puberty, he believes that everybody around him is also hiding their true feelings from each other, everybody participating in a ‘reluctant masquerade’. As he grows up, he tries to fall in love with a girl named Sonoko, but is continuously tormented by his latent homosexual urges, and is unable to ever truly love her.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre

By Louis Cha

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places

By Phung Le Ly Hayslip

Polar Star

By Martin Cruz Smith

I am a Dalek

By Gareth Roberts

The World is Round

By Tony Rothman

Les Mystères de Paris

No Author Listed

High Time to Kill

By Raymond Benson

Temporary Kings

By Anthony Powell

The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor

By Enid Blyton

Jandar of Callisto

By Lin Carter

This Lullaby

By Sarah Dessen

Confessions of a Mask

By Yukio Mishima