Unable to find employment at home and deciding to go to sea, young Wellingborough Redburn signs on the Highlander, a merchantman out of New York City and bound for Liverpool, England. Representing himself as the "son of a gentleman" and expecting comparable treatment as such, he very soon discovers that he is just a green hand, a "boy", the lowest rank on the ship, assigned all the duties no other sailor wants (like cleaning out the "pig-pen", a longboat serving as a shipboard sty). The first mate promptly nicknames him "Buttons" for the shiny rows of them that adorn his impractical, unseamanlike jacket. As his education at sea commences, he begins to understand the brutal workings of ship politics. As a common seaman he can have no intercourse "behind the mast" where the officers command the ship. Before the mast, where the common seaman work and live, there is a man named Jackson, the best seaman aboard, and a bully who is feared by all. Uneducated yet cunning, with broken nose and squinting eye, he is described as "a Cain afloat, branded on his yellow brow with some inscrutable curse and going about corrupting and searing every heart that beat near him." With an iron fist, Jackson rules "before the mast". Redburn soon experiences all the trials of a greenhorn: seasickness, scrubbing decks, climbing masts in the dead of night to unfurl sails; life in the forecastle with its cramped quarters and bad food. They eventually land in Liverpool where he is given liberty ashore. He rents a room and every day walks the city. One day in a street called Launcelott''s Hey he stumbles on a sight that will haunt him for the rest of the voyage. From a cellar beneath an old warehouse he hears "a feeble wail" and looking into it sees "the figure of what had been a woman. Her blue arms folded to her livid bosom two shrunken things like children, that leaned toward her, one on each side. At first I knew not whether they were alive or dead. They made no sign; they did not move or stir; but from the vault came that soul-sickening wail." He notices the child lift its head and then the mother looks at him for a moment. A woman and two girls "with hearts which, though they did not bound with blood, yet beat with a dull, dead ache that was their life." He runs for help but everywhere is met with indifference. A ragpicker, a porter, his landlady, even a policeman who tells him to mind his own business. He returns with some bread and cheese and drops them into the vault; but they are too weak to even lift it to their mouths. The mother whispers "water" so he runs and fills his tarpaulin hat at an open hydrant. The girls drink and revive enough to nibble some cheese. Something compels him and he clasps the mother''s arms and pulls them aside to see the most haunting image of all: "a meager babe, the lower part of its body thrust into an old bonnet. Its face was dazzlingly white, even in its squalor; but the closed eyes looked like balls of indigo. It must have been dead for some hours." Judging them too far gone for any medicine to help he returns to his room. A few days later he revisits the street and finds the vault empty. "In place of the woman and children, a heap of quick-lime was glistening." On the docks he meets Harry Boulton, a sailor looking for a job, and Redburn helps him procure a birth on the Highlander for the return voyage. They become fast friends and make a trip to London where they visit a male brothel. The ship soon departs for New York where Bolton''s deficits as sailor become apparent. He is persecuted and tormented by the crew. Jackson has been ill, not leaving his bed for four weeks. His first day of active duty he climbs to the topsail yard but suddenly vomits "a torrent of blood from his lungs," and falls head first into the sea never to resurface. The crew never speak his name again. His death is their deliverance. At port Redburn and Bolton go their separate ways, the former to his home and the latter to ship aboard a whaler. Redburn later hears that Bolton, far out in the Pacific, had fallen over the side and was drowned.

Redburn

The novel is set in the 1730s and 1740s and tells the life story (in the first person) of Roderick "Rory" Random, who was born to a Scottish gentleman and a lower-class woman and is thus shunned by his father''s family. His mother dies soon after giving birth and his father is driven mad with grief. Random''s paternal grandfather coerces a local school master into providing free education for the boy, who becomes popular with his classmates (some of whom he encounters again in subsequent adventures) and learns Latin, French, Italian and ancient Greek. The language accomplishments are despite, rather than because of, the abusive tutor who oppresses Random at every opportunity. Finally Random is cast out after the tutor exacts revenge for one of Random''s escapades and denounces him to his grandfather. With none of his paternal family willing to assist him in any way, Random relies on his wits and the occasional support of his maternal uncle, Tom Bowling. The naive Random then embarks on a series of adventures and misadventures, visiting inter alia: London, Bath, France, the West Indies, West Africa and South America. With little money to support himself, he encounters malice, discrimination and sharpers at every turn. His honest and trustworthy character and medical skills do however win him a few staunch friends. Roderick spends much of the novel trying to attract the attention of various wealthy women he meets, so that he can live comfortably and take up his rightful entitlement as a gentleman. To that end he poses as a nobleman several times, including once while he is in France. Roderick and his companion Hugh Strap end up serving twice on British ships, once on a privateer and once on a warship after being press-ganged. The novel ends happily when Random is reunited with his now wealthy father in Argentina. He inherits some funds immediately, enabling him to marry the lovely Narcissa without the consent of her guardian brother.

The Adventures of Roderick Random

The novel begins with the announcement from an ethnological expedition to Mongolia that among humanity exist people who can turn themselves into animals. However, the expedition''s dies of sudden mysterious seizure in the midst of a press conference, just as he was about to provide detailed proof of his assertions. His friend, journalist Will Barbee, suspects his alleged colleague, the fascinating April Bell. Determined to discover the truth, but also attracted by Bell, Barbee finds out that in a past era a war took place in which Homo sapiens defeated werewolves (Homo lycanthropus) - who can, in fact, also turn themselves into various other animals other than wolves. The surviving werewolves continued to live hidden among humans and await the coming of the Child of the Night who will lead them to recover the supremacy. In the secret history depicted in the book, Medieval witch hunting was not a manifestation of blind fanaticism but a means of protecting Homo Sapiens against the resurgence of this very real threat; conversely, modern skepticism and rational disbelief in the very existence of witches were deliberately fostered by these hidden werewolves, as a way of gaining a breathing spell and preparing for their counter-attack. While becoming aware of all this, Barbee is faced with the issue of discovering precisely who and what he is himself, and on which side should he range himself in the coming titanic struggle.

Darker Than You Think

Set during Christmas 1183 at Henry II of England''s castle in Chinon, Anjou, Angevin Empire, the play opens with the arrival of Henry''s wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom he has had imprisoned since 1173. The story concerns the gamesmanship between Henry, Eleanor, their three surviving sons Richard, Geoffrey, and John, and their Christmas Court guest, the King of France, Philip II Augustus (), who was the son of Eleanor''s ex-husband, Louis VII of France (by his third wife, Adelaide). Also involved is Philip''s half-sister Alais, who has been at court since she was betrothed to Richard at age eight, but has since become Henry''s mistress. The Lion in Winter is fictional and none of the dialogue and actions is historical; there was not a Christmas Court at Chinon in 1183. However, the events leading up to the story are generally accurate. There is no definitive evidence that Alais was Henry''s mistress (although Richard later resisted marrying Alais on the basis of this claim). The real Henry had many mistresses (and several illegitimate children).

The Lion in Winter

The carnelian cube of the title is a small red "dream stone" confiscated by archaeologist Arthur Cleveland Finch from Tiridat Ariminian, one of the workers on the dig he is supervising in Cappadocia. It bears an inscription in Etruscan that appears to identify its original possessor as Apollonius of Tyana, and supposedly allows the bearer to attain the world of his dreams. Finch, frustrated with the irrationality of his existence as an archaeologist, yearns for a more rational world in which he could realize his true dream of being a poet. Sleeping with the stone beneath his pillow he finds himself cast into a parallel world. It and later worlds visited by Finch tend to place him in or near his native Louisville, Kentucky rather than the Middle Eastern locale he starts out from, but Kentuckys that, while appearing to share much of the "real" world''s history, have developed in radically alternate directions due to differences in their worlds'' psychological or physical properties. Finch''s new home sets the pattern; it is entirely too rational, with its denizens acting solely from self-interest in a society organized on a strict patron-client basis. The regimentation extends to naming conventions: people''s names are ordered surname first, given name second, and occupation last. Finch initially finds himself classed as "Finch Arthur Poet" — and is, indeed, a poet. Poets are, however, a low-classified occupation, with few perks, certainly as compared to the local patron, Sullivan Michael Politician. Finch''s attempts at social climbing, while initially successful, also bring him enemies, eventually making his new world too hot for him. Unfortunately, the stone had not made the trip with him, and Finch''s only means of escaping this new and not entirely congenial existence is to purloin its counterpart from the local version of Tiridat. With the rational world''s counterpart stone, Finch dreams himself into a second parallel world, this one exemplifying the individualism he has missed in the rational world. But he finds the individualist world one of rampant vanity and violence, in which megalomaniacal bully-boys like Colonel Richard Fitzhugh Lee uneasily dominate a population of extreme egocentrics defensive of their "originality" and touchy about being told what to do. It is also a more fantastic place, in which claims of ESP or the ability to raise spirits tend to be real. Hiring a medium-provided spirit to do the dirty work, Finch again obtains his current world''s counterpart of the carnelian cube and makes his escape, this time hoping to regain his original existence as an archaeologist reconstructing the past. Finch awakens in yet another parallel world, only to find the stone has once again over-literalised his dream; his third world is one in which astrology-guided archaeologists really do reconstruct the past, drafting and magically conditioning vast numbers of people to reenact past events. He finds himself project head of a recreation of the Assyrian siege of Samaria, and quickly discovers the reenactment no mere fantasy; the brainwashed participants actually fight, kill and die in the furtherance of scientific knowledge. Caught up in the chaos, Finch faces execution at the order of the reenactor portraying usurping Assyrian king Sargon. "Sargon" turns out to be yet another version of Tiridat, who, like the others, is the possessor of this world''s carnelian cube. Begging the cube from the "king" as a last request, Finch determines to escape once again by dreaming himself into a truly ideal world. On this note the novel ends, with neither the protagonist''s possible execution or projected escape recounted, leaving the plot open-ended and providing an obvious opportunity for a sequel. However, no such sequel ever appeared.

The Carnelian Cube

The fugitive starts a diary after tourists arrive on the desert island where he is hiding. Although he considers their presence a miracle, he is afraid they will turn him in to the authorities. He retreats to the swamps while they take over the museum on top of the hill where he used to live. Through his diary we learn that the fugitive is a writer from Venezuela sentenced to life in prison. He believes he is on the (fictional) island of Villings, a part of the Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu), but is not sure. All he knows is that the island is the focus of a strange disease whose symptoms are similar to radiation poisoning. Among the tourists is a woman who sees the sunset everyday from the cliff on the west side of the island. He spies on her and while doing so falls in love. She and another man, a bearded tennis player called Morel who visits her frequently, speak French among themselves. Morel calls her Faustine. The fugitive decides to approach her, but she does not react to him. He assumes she is ignoring him, but his encounters with the other tourists have the same result. Nobody on the island notices him. He points out that the conversations between Faustine and Morel repeat every week and fears he is going crazy. As suddenly as they appeared, the tourists vanish. The fugitive returns to the museum to investigate and finds no evidence of people being there during his absence. He attributes the experience to a hallucination caused by food poisoning, but the tourists reappear that night. They have come out of nowhere and yet they talk as if they have been there for a while. He watches them closely while still avoiding direct contact and notices more strange things. In the aquarium he encounters identical copies of the dead fish he found on his day of arrival. During a day at the pool, he sees the tourists jump to shake off the cold when the heat is unbearable. The strangest thing he notices is the presence of two suns and two moons in the sky. He comes up with all sort of theories about what is happening on the island, but finds out the truth when Morel tells the tourists he has been recording their actions of the past week with a machine of his invention capable of reproducing reality. He claims the recording will capture their souls, and through looping they will relive that week forever and he will spend eternity with the woman he loves. Although Morel does not mention her by name, the fugitive is sure he is talking about Faustine. After hearing that the people recorded on previous experiments are dead, one of the tourists guesses correctly they will die, too. The meeting ends abruptly as Morel leaves in anger. The fugitive picks up Morel''s cue cards and learns the machine keeps running because the wind and tide feed it with an endless supply of kinetic energy. He understands that the phenomena of the two suns and two moons are a consequence of what happens when the recording overlaps reality &mdash; one is the real sun and the other one represents the sun''s position at recording time. The other strange things that happen on the island have a similar explanation. He imagines all the possible uses for Morel''s invention, including the creation of a second model to resurrect people. Despite this he feels repulsion for the "new kind of photographs" that inhabit the island, but as time goes by he accepts their existence as something better than his own. He learns how to operate the machine and inserts himself into the recording so it looks like he and Faustine are in love, even though she might have slept with Alec and Haynes. This bothers him, but he is confident it will not matter in the eternity they will spend together. At least he is sure she is not Morel''s lover. On the diary''s final entry the fugitive describes how he is waiting for his soul to pass onto the recording while dying. He asks a favor of the man who will invent a machine capable of merging souls based on Morel''s invention. He wants the inventor to search for them and let him enter Faustine''s conscience as an act of mercy.

The Invention of Morel

Detective Alex Cross is enjoying a birthday party with his family when he receives a call from his bosses informing him that Caroline, the 24-year old only daughter of his late brother Blake, has been found murdered in Virginia. Cross and his girlfriend Briana Stone rush to Richmond, Virginia, and are shocked to discover that Caroline''s body was found dismembered (most likely by a wood chipper) in the trunk of a car driven by someone with connections to organized crime. Cross takes the case and one of his first stops is Caroline''s apartment. Cross is shocked to discover she only lived a few miles from him and yet never contacted him. He is further shocked to discover that based on the apartment''s locale and the extensive lingerie wardrobe inside, Caroline was a high-end escort. Further investigation reveals that several other young people with connections to high-end prostitution have also either been murdered or disappeared under suspicious circumstances. Further investigation reveals that Caroline''s escorting activities took her to a secretive club in Culpeper, Virginia, called Blacksmith Farms where she may have met an ultrasecretive character named Zeus who wears a mask at all times. During the course of his investigation, Cross is thwarted by various people in Washington, D.C.—including the Secret Service and the President of the United States—who all want Cross to hand over his investigation to them. Cross refuses and is almost forced to give up his investigative efforts when his old FBI friend Ned Mahoney recommends Cross follow up on a lead provided by a country farmer. The lead turns out to be an escort who met Zeus and saw him without his mask on. All escorts—like Cross'' niece Caroline—who saw Zeus without his mask were quickly killed and their bodies dismembered. This escort, however, managed to escape, but not before being shot in the back. The farmer just happened to come upon the escort and managed to nurse her back to health. The escort reveals that Zeus is actually Theodore Vance, husband to current US President Maggie Vance. Theodore Vance has a compulsion for young escorts and is able to indulge his compulsion with the help of various people (like his Secret Service detail) who want to keep it quiet to protect the current Presidential administration. Cross goes to a party at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. to question Theodore Vance about his connection to Zeus. Sensing that President Vance''s administration is about to be brought down by Theodore Vance''s arrest, Thedore Vance''s personal Secret Service agent (Dan Cormorant), in a final act of loyalty to his country, shoots and kills Theodore Vance. Cormorant is immediately killed by other Secret Service agents. By killing Vance, Cormorant has allowed the Vance presidential administration to survive and spared the country the embarrassment of a sex scandal. Instead, Theodore Vance will be remembered as a Presidential spouse who was tragically and inexplicably killed by a rogue Secret Service agent.

I, Alex Cross

After a vicious shooting spree by Brian Dellasandro, a straight A student, the town of Sunnydale goes into a state of shock, though not one everyone would expect; they turn on each other and become nasty. At the same time, Helen, an ancient vicious vampire over 1500 years old, has come to Sunnydale. She has hunted and killed every single Slayer she has ever met in her life, and Buffy is next on her list. Helen and her lover, Julian, have come to Sunnydale to raise Meter, a goddess of destruction, and to do that they need the heart of the Slayer and the ashes of the Emperor Caligula from way back when in 47 A.D. The urn, containing his ashes, has arrived in Joyce''s gallery, and is later stolen. After a run-in with Helen, Buffy learns that Angelus and Helen used to be paramours in the 19th century, but that it ended when he regained his soul. Angel explains to her about Helen''s past and how she came to hunt down Slayers. Buffy and her friends are captured and suited up on the night of Meter''s ascension. They are led onto a battleground where Buffy must stay alive against dozens of opponents as well as her friends who have been infected by the Potion of Madness in order to prevent Meter from rising. Buffy novels, such as this one are not considered by most fans as part of canon. They are usually not considered as official Buffyverse reality, but are novels from the authors'' imaginations. However unlike fanfic, ''overviews'' summarising their story, written early in the writing process, were ''approved'' by both Fox and Whedon (or his office), and the books were therefore later published as officially Buffy merchandise.

The Evil That Men Do

The novel has a thin plot: two sisters, dressed as men and taking men''s names, Steve and Blue, decide to work as agricultural labourers in Gippsland, the place their mother has told them about throughout their childhood and with which they feel they have a "spiritual link". The book is divided into four parts: *Part One: "For the best! For the best!" Steve and Blue leave home in Dandenong and travel to Gippsland, near Bairnsdale, where they work as apple-pickers. Steve meets and falls in love with Kelly. They then go to Rutherglen to look for work pruning vines but aren''t successful due to their gender, and return home to Dandenong. This title of this section, Maxwell suggests, "reflects the general mood and optimism of the first section". *Part Two: "The Glitter of Celtic Bronze against the Sea" Steve and Blue return to Gippsland where they work, mostly, as pea-pickers. Kelly had not responded to Steve''s letters, and in this part she falls in love with Macca. Maxwell writes that the title of this section "is from Steve''s idealisation of Macca, her lifelong love, whom she sees sometimes as Charon, the mythical Greek boatman on whom the goddess Venus bestowed youth and beauty. The Celtic bronze of his reddish hair is set against the colour of the sea". *Part Three: "No Moon Yet" Steve and Blue travel to the Ovens Valley in Northeastern Victoria and obtain work harvesting hops and maize. They spend some of this time out of work, and struggle to feed themselves. They thieve food to survive, most often from the Italian itinerant workers living near them. Steve pines for her love, Macca. The title, Maxwell writes, "expresses Steve''s growing impatience and despair as she waits for sings of affection from Macca, her one true love, who has gone up-country". *Part Four: "Ah, Primavera" Steve and Blue return to Gippsland for another season of pea-picking. Macca is not there, and Steve learns that he has gone droving and has another "girl". At the end of picking, Blue returns home to marry, at Steve''s encouragement, and Steve remains alone in Gippsland.

The Pea-Pickers

The story centers around Jill Bioskop, a journalist woman with blue hair and white skin whose story becomes involved with that of Alcide Nikopol and the Egyptian god Horus. The story continues two years after Nikopol is admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Paris. Nikopol suddenly stops quoting Baudelaire after the discovery of a block of concrete, which contains the immortal body of Horus. At the same time in London, Jill is working on an article about the Afro-Pakistian and Zuben''Ubisch minority conflicts in the suburbs of Chelsea. While working on her Script-Walker she receives a phone call from John, a Alpheratzish friend and informant. During that phone call John is murdered by four Afro-Pakistiani but before he dies, he tells Jill about an article in De Morgen. After having made her way to the phonebooth and discovered John''s body, Jill returns to her hotel room where she takes two red pills of HLV, John''s drug. The drug erases John from Jill''s memory. Meanwhile the news media are reporting about the block of concrete and the liberation of Horus, which was followed by the brutal murder of the workers who freed him onboard of the space vessel Europe I. Upon hearing this news, Jeff Wynatt, a friend of Jill Bioskop and former journalist, hurries towards the hotel where Jill is staying. He finds her in a deep coma and wakes her with cold water. Afterwards during a dinner in a restaurant Jeff asks Jill to cover the news of the return of Europe I, which is expected to arrive in a few days in Berlin. Jeff also says that he might visit Jill once she is in Berlin, which is something she didn''t want to hear. Later that evening in the hotel room Jill uses the antenna of the scripwalker to kill Jeff. After she has cleaned up, she takes another red HLV pill to erase everything from her memory. Alcide Nikopol Jr. receives a report from his father''s psychiatrist which says that Nikopol has fully recovered from his alleged mental illness, but that he hasn''t accepted the fact yet. However, Nikopol is shown to cover the room observation camera while making a deal with the nurse about taking his pills for a kiss, which can be interpreted in several ways. Jill travels with an air taxi to Berlin and during the flight she discovers in her pocket the news paper article that John had told her about before he was murdered. She also learns that what she is writing on her scriptwalker is printed on an old fax at the editorial office of De Morgen. The other Egyptian gods and the pyramid are somewhere in the neighbourhood of Mars when they discover that the pyramid is missing a block of concrete. Exactly the piece of concrete which was used for Horus''s punishment. Jill arrives at Mauer Palast Hotel in Berlin and says goodbye to Nick, the taxi driver. When she walks through the lobby of the hotel she feels Nick''s eyes. On her room she orders dinner and reviews the notes from the scriptwalker. During the night Nick tries to sneak into Jill''s bed which results in another murder with the antenna of the scriptwalker followed by a red pill. The next day Jill meets another journalist, Ivan Vabek, and they drink a cup of coffee in the bar of the hotel. Ivan tells about a conflict in Berlin called the Egg War, of which he thinks every journalist must cover at least once in his or her career. He offers Jill a front row spot and a dinner invitation. Jill accepts the invitation and is transported by a local boy to the spot where she can watch the Egg War herself. Next evening Jill tries to get access to the space port of Berlin, but everybody is denied access. The government inquires the only survivor of Europe I which is in fact controlled by Horus. Horus leaves the human body of the survivor he had taken and murders everybody who was questioning him. He finds Ivan Vabek and takes control of his body. Nikopol has followed these events with his telepathic cat and is preparing to leave the hospital and travel to Berlin. Also travelling to Berlin is John, Jill''s alien friend who was murdered in the beginning of the story. During a dinner with Ivan, Jill notices that something has changed in him, especially his voice. While in Ivan''s room, Ivan is fighting the spirit of Horus resulting in Horus leaving his body. Once more Jill is left back with another dead body and the usual red pill to erase it from her memory. Nikopol arrives at the desk of Mauer Palast, and he asks for a room. Once in the room, Nikopol speaks to Horus asking him to appear. Horus appears and during a glass of champagne, they discuss an agreement. John is arriving in the railway station of Berlin, where the police demands him to come with them. John knocks down three police men and flees, but is shot in the back three times...

La Femme piège

Olivia, the Queen of Murcia, is engaged to marry Leonario, the prince of Aragon. The wedding plans are disrupted by an invasion: Ferdinand claims to be the Queen''s cousin and the rightful heir to the throne. Leonario leads an army against the pretender and brings him back a captive. Ferdinand is accompanied by his page, Tiberio &mdash; who is actually Ferdinand''s fiancee Rosania in disguise. On trial for treason, Ferdinand courageously maintains his claim to the throne. Olivia is impressed with him, falls in love with him, and commands a recess in the trial as she leaves the courtroom. Leonario and the nobles are prepared to sentence the apparent usurper, but the Queen prevents and reproves them. She states that investigation may yet validate Ferdinand''s claim, and has him escort her from the court, to the general consternation of her supporters. Olivia soon marries Ferdinand &mdash; but finds him neglectful, and becomes irate and jealous. She questions "Tiberio" about potential mistresses; when Ferdinand arrives, Olivia tries to provoke his jealousy by flirting with Tiberio/Rosania, and then leaves them together. Ferdinand confesses that he agreed to the wedding only to allow a chance for them to escape, and has avoided consummation of the marriage. Rosania is willing to leave Ferdinand to Olivia, but Fredinand will not accept this; he prevails on "Tiberio" to obey the Queen''s summons to her chamber, and to leave the resolution of the problem in his hands. While Olivia is courting "Tiberio," Fredinand barges into her suite with courtiers in an effort to expose her. Olivia, however, brazens out her predicament, while her maid is in the next room disguising "Tiberio" as a woman. As the confrontation between Olivia and Ferdinand is coming to a head, one of Leonario''s spies drops a bombshell: the page is in fact a woman, and Ferdinand''s fiancee. Back in jail, Ferdinand awaits execution. Suddenly, though, he is acknowledged and acclaimed as the rightful king by the chancellor and other nobles. It was the chancellor who rescued Fredinand from a ruthless uncle during infancy and enabled his escape. Ferdinand becomes king in his own right, and publicly recognizes Rosania as his future queen; Olivia''s unsullied honor leaves her a fit mate for Leonario. But Leonario has a plan of his own: in a surprise attack he and his forces take the palace and capture the new King and his court. Ferdinand is condemned to death yet again, and Leonario leads Olivia to the altar; yet the victorious army''s general rips off his false beard to reveal himself as Ferdinand''s old guardian and Rosania''s father. The army that appeared to back Leonario is in fact a force from Valencia sent to reinforce Ferdinand. The rightful King Ferdinand and his new Queen Rosania triumph in the end.

The Doubtful Heir

The narrator suggests writing an article on Neil Paraday; his new editor agrees. The former spends a week with Neil and writes the article whilst there, alongside reading Paraday''s latest book. His editor rejects the article however; he decides to write an article for another newspaper, but it goes unnoticed. Neil Paraday gets excited about writing another book, despite the fact that he doesn''t seem successful still. However the narrator comes across a praiseful review in The Empire. Mr Morrow, a journalist suddenly interested in writing about Neil Paraday''s life now that he is successful, comes round and ends up scaring the writer; the narrator manages to see him off. He tells Mr Morrow all there is to know about Paraday is in his work; the journalist is not amused. Later, he publishes an article on Neil''s house in the Tatler. Embracing his fame, Paraday takes to going to London luncheons with women. The narrator meets Miss Hurter, an American admirer of the writer''s, in his house. As the writer is again busy with Mrs Wimbush, he explains to the girl that the best thing she can do is not to bother Paraday and only admire him from afar, so as not to interfere with his writings. Nevertheless, he keeps her autograph album to show it to him. Later, he meets with her to read passages from Paraday; once while they are at the opera he points Paraday out to her. The narrator is annoyed with Mrs Wimbush for inviting Paraday to a party at Prestidge. Subsequently, he quotes from a letter sent to Miss Hunter while he was at the party. In this mise en abyme, he describes the way the other guests have not read Paraday''s works; worse still, Lady Augusta confesses to having mislaid the text is expected to read out the next day - there is no extra copy. Paraday falls gravely ill; the guests, enhanced by the Princess, are merry since the party seems to be a success. Dora Forbes joins them - later to become Mrs Wimbrush''s next ''henpecked'' writer. The party is called off on doctors order; the Princess lets him pass away in one of her houses. Before his death, Paraday had asked the narrator to publish an unfinished text by him. Although the one lost by Lady Augusta has not been found again, the narrator and Miss Hunter shall keep Paraday''s memory alive through their dedication to his texts.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

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Redburn

By Herman Melville

The Adventures of Roderick Random

By Tobias Smollett

Darker Than You Think

By Jack Williamson

The Lion in Winter

By James Goldman

The Carnelian Cube

By Fletcher Pratt

The Invention of Morel

By Adolfo Bioy Casares

I, Alex Cross

By James Patterson

The Evil That Men Do

By Nancy Holder

The Pea-Pickers

By Eve Langley

La Femme piège

By Enki Bilal

The Doubtful Heir

No Author Listed

The Death of the Lion

By Henry James