The novel is represented as a tale told by the "most learned of all cats". At the beginning and at the head of each chapter, the cat introduces the scenes and the characters. At the end, the cat asks the hearer/reader to pass on the tale so that it may "make its own way back to me, riding on another''s tongue." A slave woman gives her new-born daughter to an old witch to be raised as a "Woman of Power". The witch teaches the girl, Chingis, all her arcane wisdom, including the use of the shamanic ghost drum. With the drum she can enter many other worlds including the ghost-world, the land of the dead. When Chingis''s apprenticeship is complete, witches come from all around to congratulate her, but the shaman Kuzma envies and fears her potential for greatness. The Czar Guidon, the latest in a long line of ruthless rulers, has married by the counsel of his advisers, but he is deathly afraid of being overthrown by his son. He imprisons his pregnant wife, Farida, in a windowless room at the top of the tallest tower in the palace, and when she dies in childbirth he orders that his son, the Czarevich Safa, should never leave the room. Marien, Safa''s nurse, raises him there. When he becomes restless at his imprisonment, she dares to speak to the Czar about him and is summarily executed. The Czarevich spends many years alone before his psychic cries of distress reach Chingis, and then, with the help of the ghost drum, she finds and secretly spirits him away. He is filled with astonishment and wonder at the world he has never seen so much as a glimpse of before. Meanwhile the Czar dies, and fighting breaks out in the palace; Margaretta ascends to the throne and determines to find her nephew, intending to kill him. Kuzma, arriving in the form of a polar bear, offers to help her. Using his shamanic knowledge against Chingis, Kuzma succeeds in killing her and capturing Safa. However, in the ghost world, Chingis enlists the help of her mentor and of Marien and Farida, to return to her body and defeat Kuzma. The four spirits take over Kuzma''s body and confront Margaretta before returning to the ghost world to await rebirth.

The Ghost Drum

The novel follows on from events in The Enemies of Jupiter, at the end of which Jonathan goes missing and is believed to have died in the fire in Rome. Unknown to the other characters, he accidentally started the fire and out of guilt signed up as a child gladiator for the games at the new amphitheatre. He is also tortured by the supposed death of his mother. The short story "Jonathan vs Ira" in Trimalchio''s Feast and other mini-mysteries gives an account of his troubled state of mind during training. The Gladiators from Capua opens with a brief scene set some years earlier – a slave in training as a gladiator refuses to kill his beaten opponent, turning his back on a promising career. The themes of combat, bloodshed and mercy are thus established from the start. The story proper starts the month after the fire. Flavia and Nubia are holding a memorial for Jonathan when Lupus arrives full of a rumour he has heard: a boy with dark curly hair who is believed to have started the fire is hiding on Potsherd Mountain in Rome. Jonathan could be alive! Flavia finagles an invitation from her uncle the senator to visit Rome for the Inaugural Games at the new Flavian Amphitheatre. Flavia, Nubia and Lupus travel to Rome with Jonathan''s dog Tigris and the doorkeeper Caudex as their bodyguard. They discover that the curly-haired boy has been taken from Potsherd Mountain to the amphitheatre and is to be "thrown to the beasts". At the amphitheatre, they split up to look for Jonathan. Nubia meets an old friend, Mnason the animal trainer. Tigris spots Jonathan among the gladiators, but the others fail to interpret his barking correctly. The next three days are the start of the hundred days of games decreed by Titus to celebrate the new amphitheatre – and to take people''s minds off the disastrous events of his reign thus far. For each day a programme of events is given: beginning with acrobats or dancers, then exotic beasts and the fancifully-staged execution of criminals, and in the afternoon the popular gladiatorial contests. The first day, the children are stuck on the top tier with the senator''s family watching the displays at a distance, alternately fascinated and horrified at the drama, the ferocity and the bloodshed. On the second day, with the relations safely out of town, they resume their search for Jonathan. Flavia poses as an orphan to get taken on as a "nymph" – only to discover that she is part of a water pageant intended to end in the killing of all the nymphs by hippos and crocodiles. Only Nubia''s quick thinking and the intervention of the emperor''s brother Domitian saves her. The two girls are invited to join him in the Imperial Box to watch the rest of the show. They recognize Jonathan among the child gladiators, but unfortunately when Titus finds out, he orders Jonathan''s arrest, believing him guilty of causing the fire. On the third day, Jonathan''s execution is averted by Mnason, Nubia and Caudex who arrange a spectacular escape which wins the crowd''s approval. Titus is glad to spare the boy, especially when he learns the truth about the fire, but he insists the children return home to Ostia, out of harm''s way.

The Gladiators from Capua

Harriet has evacuated her family to the Wimseys'' country house, Talboys (in Hertfordshire), taking her two children, along with the three children of her sister-in-law, Lady Mary, and Peter''s venerable old housekeeper, Mrs. Trapp. Peter and Bunter are away on an undercover assignment. During a practice air raid, a young woman is murdered in the village, and Superintendent Kirk recruits Harriet to help solve the murder, partly because the police are too busy organizing all the changes necessitated by the war and partly because as the wife of a detective, and as a crime novelist, she is the best qualified person to find the murderer. The murdered girl had come from the city as a "Land Girl", to do agricultural work and help the war effort. She was killed in the village street during an air raid drill, while most people were underground, and much of the investigation turns on the issue of who had been, or could have been, outside the shelter when the murder was committed. Many of the witnesses—and some of the possible suspects—are RAF pilots stationed at a nearby air base, who need to be questioned in between going out on missions. Gerald, Lord Peter''s favourite nephew, who was first seen a decade earlier as a precocious boy playing a major role in solving "The Learned Adventure of the Dragon''s Head" and appeared as an Oxford undergraduate in Gaudy Night; is now an RAF combat pilot. At least one character introduces the possibility that the murder is directly linked to German espionage. While conducting the investigation and riding herd on the five children under her charge, Harriet worried about her husband, whose life is in danger. She regrets the lost years when she had put him off before finally agreeing to marry him. Wimsey, realizing that the Germans had broken the code which he had been using, devises a new one which is unbreakable because of being based on things only he and Harriet knew. His Secret Service colleague brings her Peter''s message and she shows considerable skill in decoding it. Eventually, Bunter comes back from the continent—uncharacteristically dirty, scruffy and so exhausted that he lets Lady Peter wait upon him and put him to bed—and is followed some days later by Peter, who arrived by a different route. It is never revealed where exactly they had been. Lord Peter is retired from active service and, while still involved in intelligence issues, would not be sent again behind enemy lines. Being presented with Harriet''s record of her investigations—which, as he notes, already solved most of the mystery—he is able to add the last missing pieces. Finding the solution for the mystery does not mean, however, just handing the perpetrator to the police; rather, solving the mystery arouses a complicated new problem involving legal, military, ethical and moral issues—which Lord Peter manages to neatly tie up.

A Presumption of Death

The story centers on a house built at the top of a small hill, far out in the country. Her builder decrees that she "may never be sold for gold or silver" but is built sturdy enough to one day see his great-great-grandchildren''s great-great-grandchildren living in her. The house watches the seasons pass, and wonders about the lights of the city, which grow ever closer. Eventually a road is built in front of the house. This is followed by roadside stands, gas stations, and more little houses. Next, the small houses are replaced by tenements and apartments. Streetcars, an elevated railroad, and a subway appear to surround the house. Finally, two gigantic skyscrapers are built—one on each side; now living in the city, the house is sad because she misses being on the small hill in the countryside and that her exterior looks shabby due to no one living in her and the city''s environment. One day the great-great-granddaughter of the builder sees the house and remembers stories that her grandmother told about living in just such a house, albeit far out in the country. When the great-great-granddaughter discovers that it is the same house, she arranges to have her moved out of the city, to a hill in the country where she can once again watch the seasons pass and live happily ever after.

The Little House

The opening episode in the novel is the release of the 108 spirits, imprisoned under an ancient stele-bearing tortoise., which includes the English translation of the relevant excerpt from the novel. The original text of the chapter can be seen e.g. at 水滸傳/第001回, starting from "只中央一個石碑，約高五六尺，下面石龜趺坐 ..." The next chapter describes the rise of Gao Qiu, one of the primary antagonists of the story. Gao Qiu abuses his status as a grand marshal by bullying Wang Jin, whose father taught Gao a painful lesson when the latter was still a street roaming ruffian. Wang Jin flees from the capital with his mother and by chance he meets Shi Jin, who becomes his student. The next few chapters tell the story of Shi Jin''s friend Lu Zhishen, followed by the story of Lu''s sworn brother Lin Chong. Lin Chong is framed by Gao Qiu for attempted assassination and almost dies in a fire at a supply depot set by Gao''s lackeys. He slays his foes and abandons the depot, eventually making his way to Liangshan Marsh, where he becomes an outlaw. Meanwhile, the "Original Seven", led by Chao Gai, rob a convoy of birthday gifts intended for the minister Cai Jing, another primary antagonist of the story. They flee to Liangshan Marsh after defeating a group of soldiers sent by the authorities to arrest them, and settle down there as outlaws as well, with Chao Gai as chief of the outlaw band. As the story progresses, more people come to join the outlaw band, among whom include army generals and civil servants who grew tired of serving the corrupt government, as well as men with special skills and talents. Stories of the outlaws are told in separate sections in the following chapters. Connections between characters are vague, but the individual stories are eventually pieced together by chapter 40 after Song Jiang succeeds Chao Gai as the leader of the outlaw band, after the latter dies in battle against the Zeng Family Fortress. The plot further develops by illustrating the conflicts between the outlaws and the Song government after the Grand Assembly. Song Jiang strongly advocates making peace with the government and seeking redress for the outlaws. After defeating the imperial armies, the outlaws are eventually granted amnesty by the Emperor Huizong. The emperor recruits them to form a military contingent and allows them to embark on campaigns against invaders from the Liao Dynasty and suppress the rebel forces of Tian Hu, Wang Qing and Fang La within the Song Dynasty''s domain. The following outline of chapters is based on a 100 chapters edition. Yang Dingjian''s 120 chapters edition includes other campaigns of the outlaws on behalf of Song Dynasty, while Jin Shengtan''s 70 chapters edition omits the chapters on the outlaws'' acceptance of amnesty and subsequent campaigns. {|class="wikitable" |- !Chapter !Main events |- |1 |Marshal Hong releases the 108 spirits |- |2 |The rise of Gao Qiu |- |2–3 |The story of Shi Jin |- |3–7 |The story of Lu Zhishen |- |7–12 |The story of Lin Chong |- |12–13 |The story of Yang Zhi |- |13–20 |The robbing of the birthday gifts by the "Original Seven" |- |20–22 |The story of Song Jiang |- |23–32 |The story of Wu Song |- |32–35 |The story of Hua Rong |- |36–43 |Song Jiang''s encounters in Jiangzhou |- |44–47 |The story of Shi Xiu and Yang Xiong |- |47–50 |The three assaults on the Zhu Family Village |- |51–52 |The story of Lei Heng and Zhu Tong |- |53–55 |The outlaws attack Gaotangzhou; the search for Gongsun Sheng |- |55–57 |The first imperial assault on Liangshan Marsh (led by Huyan Zhuo) |- | 57–59 |The outlaws attack Qingzhou; Huyan Zhuo defects to Liangshan |- |59–60 |The outlaws led by Gongsun Sheng attack Mount Mangdang |- |60 |The first assault by the outlaws on the Zeng Family Village; the death of Chao Gai |- |60–67 |The story of Lu Junyi; the outlaws attack Daming Prefecture; the second imperial assault on Liangshan Marsh (led by Guan Sheng) |- |67 |Guan Sheng defects to Liangshan; The third imperial assault on Liangshan Marsh (led by Shan Tinggui and Wei Dingguo) |- |68 |The second assault by the outlaws on the Zeng Family Fortress; |- |69–70 |The outlaws attack Dongping and Dongchang prefectures |- |71–74 |The Grand Assembly; the funny and lethal antics of Li Kui |- |75–78 |The emperor offers amnesty for the first time; the fourth imperial assault on Liangshan Marsh (led by Tong Guan) |- |78–80 |The fifth imperial assault on Liangshan Marsh (led by Gao Qiu) |- |81–82 |The outlaws are granted amnesty |- |83–89 |The Liangshan heroes attack the Liao invaders |- |90–99 |The Liangshan heroes attack Fang La |- |100 |The tragic dissolution of the Liangshan heroes |} The extended version includes the Liangshan heroes'' expeditions against other notable rebel leaders, Tian Hu in Hebei and Wang Qing in Sichuan, prior to the campaign against Fang La. Other stories tells such as the heroes fighting the Jurchen-ruled Jin Dynasty or moving to Siam.

Water Margin

The five year period has passed; Gregori has come to San Francisco, where Savannah has ended her tour to claim her. The bombardment of new emotions prevents him from detecting the presence of a vampire. Before he can stop it, the vampire kills Savannah’s friend Peter and attempts to claim her for himself. Gregori is forced to kill him in front of her. Savannah still refuses to bond with him; however Gregori informs her that there is no choice for either of them. Knowing that she’s in shock and grief because of her friend, he takes her to his property to heal, intending to complete the mating ritual the next day. However, their closeness is too powerful to ignore and they begin to mate. Unfortunately, Gregori has waited to long and loses control and nearly kills Savannah. It is only her acceptance of him that pulls him back from the abyss. Now Savannah and Gregori must learn how to live with and love one another while staying one step ahead of the vampires and the human vampire hunting society who have targeted them.

Dark Magic

Juniortours is an outfit that tours children around America during the summer months. When Group Ambulance''s Artie Geller, a precocious 11-year-old con artist from Montreal signs on, Rob and Dennis find they have more than the usual summer job on their hands. From the streets of New York City to the casinos of Las Vegas, Artie proves as slippery as ever. First Scheme - New York City, NY. Artie sells grape jelly for $10 a jar under the title "Attack Jelly". Makes his first fortune. Second Scheme - Washington, DC. Artie buys a toy race track and convinces senators, congressman and other government officials to place bets on the toy cars. One Senator ends up losing all his money in the process. Third Scheme - Ogallala, NE. Artie convinces the other boys to help him run a "no-frills" milk store where he charges $1 a minute to milk a cow, usually resulting in less than a teaspoon of milk. Makes thousands of dollars. Fourth Scheme - Denver, CO. Artie disappears for several days. During this time he transforms an abandoned pretzel factory into a world-class discothèque visited by many prominent celebrities, then shuts it all down and flees with over $60,000. Fifth Scheme - Las Vegas, NV. Artie disguises himself as an old man and takes tens of thousands of dollars apiece from nine different casinos. The FBI catches him as he attempts to flee to Toronto with his winnings. They eventually agree to drop all criminal charges in exchange for payment of fines totaling $149,922.04 Final Scheme - Los Angeles, CA. Since Artie is now under FBI surveillance, he convinces the other boys to carry out his five previous schemes simultaneously.

No Coins, Please

Jim Grimson is a troubled youth undergoing therapy in a psychiatric hospital who is encouraged to role-play Red Orc, a character in a science fiction novel. Jim finds himself actually transported to the fictional World of Tiers, entering the mind and body of the character he role-played in the hospital. In the World of Tiers Red Orc/Jim struggles with an abusive father, a situation mirroring his real-world problems The character has Oedipal issues with his father, an unemployed crane operator in the fictional "Belmont City", somewhere near Youngstown, Ohio. The steel mills are closing permanently and the family is facing a bleak economic future. Jim struggles with class-issues at his high-school. In academics, athletics, and student society he is a non-achiever, recapitulating his father''s position in the adult world. His only outlets are science fiction, the fantasies invented by his grandfather and some bizarre hallucination which occasionally intrude into his world. After a prank with an outhouse goes awry, Jim is arrested. He appears in court and is ordered to undergo a course of psychiatric evaluation and treatment in Wellington Hospital. While there he comes under the care of Dr. R. Lars Porsena. (This name is a play on "A. James Giannini". In most of Farmer''s novels the protagonist''s name or initials are a play on his or his collaborator''s name). Dr. Porsena is also a science-fiction fan. After a conversation with Jim, he invites him to join a projective therapy group. This group is focusing on the "World of Tiers" series. After joining this group and participating in some sessions, Jim gains an insight. He realizes that hallucinations glimpsed prior to his admission are of the World of Tiers. Shortly afterwords he projects himself into the mind of the fictional lord, Red Orc. Throughout the remainder of the novel, Jim has multiple adventures in this lord''s mind. He wanders through a universe filled with Freudian symbols and Jungian archetypes. He learns that Red Orc''s father, the appropriately named (qv. William Blake) "Los", fears his son and attempts to prevent him from becoming lord of Los''s universe. He imprisons him and attempts to suffocate him with jewels. He exiles him to a world where escape can only be had through narrow tunnels guarded by hairy spiders. During these adventures Red Orc is separately seduced by his mother and aunt. He also has sex with twenty of his sisters. During many of these adventures he is assisted by "Ijim". Ijim, his alter-ego, may or may not exist. During his adventures he is able to ride the totemic "white steed". While he is involved primarily in Red Orc''s struggles, he must also deal with his own conflicts on earth. As a result of a frame-up Jim is almost expelled from the hospital and Dr. Porsena''s position jeopardized. The conflict is resolved, in part, through insights Jim has gained while occupying the mind of Red Orc. During this time Ijim dies but Red Orc defeats Los and eats his testicles. The novel ends with Jim being discharged from Wellesley Hospital. His family situation has improved. He realizes that Dr. Porsena knows more about the worlds of Red Orc than that which could be obtained through his own sessions or from the books. He also realizes that some things are ultimately unknowable. An Afterword follows the text. This section is written by Dr. Giannini. It traces the origins of projective therapy and explains the technique. The utility of the World of Tiers for this purpose is discussed. This novel follows many Western traditions. Like Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy Jim travels with a companion who is unable to complete the journey. He enters a place of terror and wonder where punishment awaits those who violate a specific code. The novel is also a Bildungsroman, a coming-of-age novel in the German literary tradition. The protagonist must complete a journey of self and undergo loss to achieve adulthood, The Oedipal implications are quite obvious. Finally, this science-fiction novel takes its inspiration from the works of the English poet William Blake. Most of the characters in the alternative universe are found in the poetry and prose of Blake. Indeed Blake does make an appearance as a character in a later "Tiers" novel.

Red Orc''s Rage

Innocently responding to a motorist''s request that they shut off a light at his home, the Hardy Boys discover a deep mystery: the man used the name of a man, John Mead, that Chief Collig claims died five years earlier in a car accident. Adding to the mystery, the Mead mansion''s doors have neither knobs nor visible keyholes. Only after speaking to a locksmith do they learn that the locks were concealed. Meanwhile, their father Fenton assigns them to investigate a lead in the kidnapping of a doctor that may lead down the trail to a local boy who fell in with a local thief, a master criminal, who''s a relation to the boy. The Hardy boys are to locate a traffic signal that hums like someone singing faintly, and drive ten minutes from it in each direction, then investigate the area for a "secret panel". Fenton''s mystery ends up intertwining with the Mead mansion and the master criminal, who''s been carrying out a series of break-ins and thefts without triggering the alarm systems. It turns out that the deceased Mr. Mead was an electronics genius who developed a device that could open any lock and defeat alarm systems, but asked that, upon his death, it be turned over to the FBI. The master criminal had befriended Mr. Mead, found out about the device, and stolen it.

The Secret Panel

Mary Ann Singleton Carruthers flees her luxurious life in Darien, Connecticut and for San Francisco, seeking solace from old friend Michael Tolliver. Reeling from both ill health and her husband''s infidelity, she asks Michael if she can stay in his guest cottage while she recuperates. Meanwhile, other former Barbary Lane residents show up in the novel: Mary Ann''s adoptive daughter Shawna is seriously dating for the first time; Anna Madrigal has mostly recovered from the stroke she had in Michael Tolliver Lives; Michael''s assistant, Jake Greenleaf, wrestles with his attraction to a closeted Mormon missionary who is involved in the movement to "cure" homosexuals; and Jake, a pre-op female-to-male transsexual, despairs of ever saving enough money to pay for surgery. Ironically, his dream of having a hysterectomy is the same nightmare that Mary Ann is facing. As the novel progresses, Dede and D''Orothea show up to help Mary Ann with her recuperation, Shawna befriends a homeless junkie prostitute, Jake makes a startling discovery, and a threat from the past comes back to haunt the former Barbary Lane residents.

Mary Ann in Autumn

To Middle City, a fictional American metropolis built around a volcano, burnt-out art student Ursula Van Urden arrives to care for her younger sister Ivy, a fashion model who has recently suffered a much-publicized schizophrenic meltdown. Ursula soon begins working for Ivy’s former boyfriend, Chas Lacouture, owner of the trendspotting firm Tomorrow, Ltd. She is trained as a trendspotter by both Chas and her coworker, Javier Delreal. A manic optimist, Javier takes her on rollerblading and party-crashing expeditions, predicting a new megatrend he calls the "Light Age," a "renaissance of self-creation," which he believes will coincide with the defeat of irony. By contrast, Chas, a cynical ex-philosophy professor, takes her to skulk in supermarkets and spy on customers, and introduces her to the concept of "paradessence," (Shakar’s invention), the "broken soul" at the center of every product, consisting of two opposing desires that it will promise to satisfy simultaneously: "‘The paradessence of coffee is stimulation and relaxation. Every successful ad campaign for coffee will promise both of those mutually exclusive states." As Ivy, still arguably insane, resumes her modeling activities, Ursula’s own trendspotting work comes to focus on a homeless girl who lives in a city park, makes her own clothing, and hunts pigeons for food. This eponymous “savage girl” forms the basis of a marketing campaign for a new product, "Diet Water," and serves as a harbinger, for Chas and Javier alike, of the new age to come. This age, of "postirony" (another of Shakar’s terms) is not so much unironic as darkly schizophrenic. The story builds to revelations both comic and tragic.

The Savage Girl

The Silver Chalice takes place in Israel and other parts of the Roman Empire shortly after the death of Jesus. A young man, Basil, is adopted by a rich man, but loses his fortune when his father dies and his uncle defrauds him claiming he was purchased as a slave and sells him. As a slave he survives by working as an artist and silversmith. He gains his freedom, becomes a Christian and is commissioned to create an outer covering for the cup Jesus drank from at The Last Supper. The plot of The Silver Chalice centers on the Grail—the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper. Tired of “all the Arthurian tripe about the Holy Grail,” Costain imagined his own version of the story. Joseph of Arimathea hires Basil of Antioch, a lowborn artisan, to fashion a beautiful silver casing to hold the plain original cup that Jesus used. The casing is to be decorated with the faces of Jesus and the twelve apostles. To fulfill the commission, Basil travels throughout the ancient Mediterranean world to meet these men and those who knew them intimately.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Ghost Drum

By Susan Price

The Gladiators from Capua

By Caroline Lawrence

A Presumption of Death

By Jill Paton Walsh

The Little House

By Virginia Lee Burton

Water Margin

By Shi Naian

Dark Magic

By Christine Feehan

No Coins, Please

No Author Listed

Red Orc's Rage

By Philip José Farmer

The Secret Panel

By Franklin W. Dixon

Mary Ann in Autumn

By Armistead Maupin

The Savage Girl

No Author Listed

The Silver Chalice

By Thomas B. Costain