Cryoburn takes place six or seven years after Diplomatic Immunity. Miles is 39&nbsp;years old. He is sent by Emperor Gregor to the planet Kibou-daini ("New&nbsp;Hope") to investigate White Chrysanthemum Cryonics Corporation. WhiteChrys, a major "cryocorp", to which sick or dying people go to be frozen in hopes of one day being revived and cured, is opening a subsidiary on Komarr, arousing suspicions. The narrative follows three points of view: those of Miles, his Armsman Roic, and Jin Sato, a local Kibou-daini boy. At a conference, an attempt is made to kidnap Miles and the other attendees. Miles avoids capture because an allergic reaction to the drug used on him causes him to go extremely hyperactive, and escapes into the below-ground Cryocombs, where the frozen are stored. Roic is caught along with Raven, a cryo-revival specialist from the Durona Group who assisted in reviving Miles after his death on Jackson''s Whole (detailed in Mirror Dance). When Miles finds his way back to the surface, he encounters Jin, an eleven-year-old boy living with his chickens and other pets in a disused building. Jin introduces him to a society of outcasts living in abandoned facilities. This helps Miles piece together what is really going on.

Cryoburn

The multiverse, shaped like a figure eight, contains Ayeward (generally good, pro-magic) and Nayward (the opposite) worlds. It is the task of the magids to urge the worlds in an Ayewards direction. In Ayeward worlds, magids can operate openly. Earth is an exception; it is generally Ayeward, but magic is still difficult and mostly hidden. The narrative in this book is told variously from the point of view of Rupert Venables in his magid report, Maree Mallory''s Thornlady computer files, and in an epilogue from Nick Mallory. Rupert Venables is Earth''s junior Magid, though his day job is writing software. He is also responsible for the Koryfonic Empire, a collection of Ayewards worlds. The Koryfonic Empire''s present emperor has made it a capital crime for his many banished children to discover their identities, and thus Rupert witnesses the execution of the emperor''s eldest son for daring to discover his origins. When the Emperor is assassinated a short time later, no heir can be found and this creates a huge unwanted problem for Venables. Meanwhile, Earth''s senior magid, Stan, has died. It is now Rupert''s job to find a new magid. Stan has compiled a short list of five candidates for Venables to research and is allowed by the "Upper Room" to remain in an advisory role by hanging around as a disembodied voice in Venables'' house and car. However, each magid candidate proves to be difficult to contact. Venables does encounter one of the British candidates, Maree Mallory, but their meeting is disastrous and he rejects her as a candidate. Using magid fateline methods, Venables draws the candidates together in an unlikely place: a science fiction convention in the fictitious town of Wantchester. Unfortunately, during the magid working to consolidate their fatelines, his peculiar inventor neighbor Andrew becomes tangled in the magical working and later accompanies Venables to Wantchester. Meanwhile, destitute Maree Mallory has been forced to move in with her uncle Ted Mallory, a horror writer, her hostile aunt Janine and their fourteen-year-old son, Nick. Ted is to be the guest of honor at the upcoming convention in Wantchester. Janine, Maree, and Nick are to accompany him, even though Venables has specifically prevented Maree from attending the con through a magic working. All arrive at the convention, where the reserved Venables is somewhat stunned at the bizarre nature of the convention and its attendees, particularly as it is housed in the strange, Escher-like Hotel Babylon, which appears to be centered on a powerful magical node. He seeks out each magid candidate, but is disappointed to find each of them entirely unsuitable. His opinion of Maree Mallory rises, however, as they encounter each other several times at the convention. Pleas for help from the unsettled Koryfonic Empire force Venables to cross over to the Ayewards world Thule to seek help from his magid brother Will. Maree and Nick unwittingly follow him through the gaps between worlds, nearly killing themselves in the process. Rupert is furious with them, but the placid Will decides to tell them all about magids and the multiverse. Afterward Will arrives at the Hotel Babylon in his car, but hits a centaur who arrives simultaneously from the Koryfonic Empire with a message for Rupert. Maree uses her veterinary skills to help heal the centaur Rob, something which reveals an unlikely bond between him, Maree and Nick. Rupert returns to the Koryfonic Empire to recover the heirs, but is thwarted in horrific ways by those who later prove to have been the emperor''s assassins. What transpires after this is a comedy of mistaken identity, horrible violence and dark magic (including the increased influence of a bitter thornbush goddess), a trip into the bizarre, nightmarish land of Babylon, and the ultimate restoration of the Koryfonic Empire to its rightful ruler after his memory of himself is abruptly restored..

Deep Secret

Diaspora begins with a description of "orphanogenesis", the birthing of a citizen without any ancestors (most citizens descend from fleshers uploaded at some point), and the subsequent upbringing of the newborn Yatima within Konishi polis. Yatima matures within a few real-time days, because citizens'' subjective time runs about 800 times as rapidly as flesher and gleisner time. Early on, Yatima and a friend, Inoshiro, use abandoned gleisner bodies to visit a Bridger colony near the ruins of Atlanta on Earth. Years later, the gleisner Karpal, using a gravitational-wave detector, determines that a binary neutron star system in the constellation of Lacerta has collapsed, releasing a huge burst of energy. Previous predictions portrayed the system''s stable orbit as likely to last for another seven million years. By analysing irregularities in the orbit, Karpal discovers that the devastating burst of energy will reach Earth within the next four days. Yatima and Inoshiro return to Earth to urge the fleshers — gathered in a conference — either to migrate to the polises or at least to shelter themselves. Many fleshers reject this advice, or fail fully to appreciate its urgency quickly enough. Stirred up by a paranoid Static diplomat, many fleshers suspect that Yatima and Inoshiro have come to trick or coerce them into "Introdus", or mass-migration into the polises, involving masses of virus-sized nanomachines which dismantle a human body and record the brain''s information states as it is chemically converted into a crystalline computer. The gamma ray burst reaches Earth shortly after the conference, destroying the atmosphere and causing a mass extinction. The gleisners and the Coalition of Polises survive the burst, thanks to cosmic radiation hardening. Over the next few years, Yatima and other citizens and gleisners attempt to rescue any surviving fleshers from slow suffocation, starvation, or poisoning by offering to upload them into the polises. The novel''s title itself refers to a quest undertaken by most of the inhabitants of Carter-Zimmerman ("C-Z"), a polis devoted to physics and understanding the cosmos, along with volunteers from throughout the Coalition of Polises. The Diaspora consists of a collection of one thousand clones (digital copies) of C-Z polis, deployed toward stars in all directions in the hope of gathering as much data as possible in order to revise the long-held classical understanding of Kozuch Theory, which had failed to predict the Lacerta event. The bulk of the novel follows this expedition, rotating back and forth between different cloned instances of the same cast of main characters as different C-Z clones make discoveries along the way, relaying information to one another over hundreds of light years – and finally between universes.

Diaspora

The play opens with Agnes, a brutal, scathing, upper class woman in her late 50’s, discussing the possibility of suddenly and quite easily losing her mind. When Tobias reassures Agnes that “we will all go mad before you,” Agnes admits that she could not really go mad because she needs to take care of him. Agnes exclaims that although she is astonished by her own thoughts of madness, it is her sister, Claire, who lives with them, who astonishes her the most. Claire appears and apologizes to Agnes that her own nature is such to bring out in her sister the full force of her brutality. This inspires a diatribe from Agnes concerning Claire’s lifestyle, namely, her alcoholism. Claire senses that Tobias and Agnes’s daughter Julia might be going on her fourth divorce and predicts that Julia will be coming home shortly. Agnes reenters, announcing that Julia is coming home. Tobias then tells the story of a cat that he once had that he had put to sleep because the cat stopped liking him. There is a knock on the door, and Harry and Edna, Agnes and Tobias’s best friends, ask if they can stay there. They have been frightened by something intangible and do not want to return to their own home. Act II opens with Agnes and Julia discussing the fact that Harry and Edna are occupying Julia’s old bedroom. Harry and Edna have spent the entire day in the room, not coming out even for meals. Julia whines to Tobias next about not having her room. Tobias discredits Julia for all the broken marriages that she has accumulated. There is mention of Julia’s brother who died while still young. Claire enters and chides Julia about her new divorce and about constantly returning home. Julia teases Claire back about her drinking. When asked if she knows what is going on with Harry and Edna, Agnes tells them that she knocked on the door but was too embarrassed, irritated, and apprehensive to pursue the matter. After asking Tobias for a drink, she announces that “there is no point in pressing” the issue of Harry and Edna. At the end of scene 1, Harry and Edna appear with their coats over their arms. They announce they are going home but will return with their suitcases. Scene ii opens with Julia and Agnes alone after dinner. Julia is disgusted with her mother’s desire to control everyone’s conversations and emotions. Agnes retorts, “There is a balance to be maintained . . . and I must be the fulcrum.” Agnes and Tobias leave to help Harry and Edna unload their suitcases from their car. Edna enters and tells Julia that it is time for her to grow up. Julia reminds Edna that she is a guest in the house, to which Edna responds that she and Harry are Agnes and Tobias’s best friends. When Harry enters, he goes to fix everyone a drink at the bar. Julia blocks him from the bar and insists that he stay away from it. Julia yells “I WANT . . . WHAT IS MINE!” and leaves the room. Agnes reminisces about the death of her son, “an unreal time.” She suspects that Tobias has been unfaithful, and asks Harry and Claire to confirm it, but they both deny it. After Tobias attempts to excuse Julia as being in hysterics, Julia reappears with a gun in her hand. She insists that Harry and Edna leave. Edna declares, “We have rights here. We belong,” and insists that she and Harry are staying there forever, “if need be.” Tobias has stayed up all night, and is making himself a morning cocktail. Agnes comes down from her room. She tells Tobias that it is his role to make all the decisions with regards to what to do about Edna and Harry. She reminds Tobias of the time when he prevented her from getting pregnant after the death of their son. Claire, Julia, Tobias, and Agnes all discuss their versions of why Harry and Edna are there and what they should do about it. Harry and Edna join them, and everyone in the room is drinking, despite the early hour of the morning. Edna announces that Harry wants to talk to Tobias alone, and the women exit. Harry tells Tobias that if the circumstances were reversed, he and Edna don’t think they would allow Tobias and Agnes to live at their house, in spite of the fact that they are best friends. Harry asks Tobias, “You don’t want us, do you, Toby?” Tobias delivers what the author refers to in the script notes as Tobias’s “aria.” Tobias answers that he does not really want Harry and Edna to stay there but that because they are friends, Harry and Edna have the right to be there. He goes with Harry to get their suitcases and put them back in their car. Agnes says to Edna, “Everything becomes… too late, finally.” The play ends on Agnes’s rumination that people sleep at night because they are afraid of the dark: “They say we sleep to let the demons out—to let the mind go raving mad…And when the daylight comes again... comes order with it.”

A Delicate Balance

The Given Day is a historical novel set in Boston, Massachusetts and Tulsa, Oklahoma. The story has two main characters: Aiden "Danny" Coughlin, an ethnic Irish Boston Police patrolman, whose father is a prominent detective and captain in the department; and Luther Laurence, a talented African-American amateur baseball player from Columbus, Ohio. The novel starts at the end of World War I, when union organizing activities are high across the country. The year is 1918 and the BPD patrolmen have not been given a raise since 1905; they are working for below-poverty level wages. The Boston Social Club (BSC) is the fraternal organization of the BPD patrolmen and its members begin to discuss their grievances and possible actions. Due to his family''s high status and reputation in the police department, Danny is reluctant to attend BSC meetings . His partner, Steve Coyle, is able to get him to attend some meetings where the BSC hopes to join the American Federation of Labor, a national union. BPD Captain Thomas Coughlin (Danny''s father), FBI agent Rayme Finch, and a Department of Justice lawyer, the young J. Edgar Hoover, assign Danny to infiltrate the Roxbury Lettish Workingman''s Society in promise of his detective''s stripes. Danny is told that they may be collaborating with other radical cells to plan a national revolt on May Day. As Danny is undercover attending meetings with the Letts, he begins to identify with some of the principles they preach. He soon is elected as the vice president of the BSC. Luther Laurence and his pregnant wife, Lila, move from Columbus to Tulsa, Oklahoma to start a new life closer to some of her relatives in the Greenwood District. Laurence and his friend Jessie earn some extra money running numbers for a local bookie and gangster, Deacon Skinner Brocious. When Jessie gets caught skimming from Deacon, a deadly confrontation ensues. Laurence has to leave his wife in Tulsa and flees to Boston, where his uncle sets him up with the Giddreauxs, an African-American couple who lead the Boston chapter of the recently formed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In Boston Laurence gets work as a handyman and servant in the home of police Captain Thomas Coughlin. While working for the Coughlins, Laurence becomes close friends with Nora O''Shea, an Irish immigrant and servant. She was taken in by the Coughlins five years earlier, when the captain found her shivering in the streets on Christmas Eve. Nora and Danny had a love affair, which ended when he discovered a dark secret from her past. She has become engaged to his younger brother, a rising attorney. Laurence is manipulated by Lieutenant Eddie McKenna, best friend to Captain Coughlin and godfather to Danny. Delving into Luther''s past, McKenna has discovered that he is running from the deadly altercation in Tulsa. Laurence has been earning his board at the Giddreauxs'' home by renovating an old building as the new NAACP headquarters in Boston. McKenna forces him to obtain NAACP membership information and to build a secret chamber in the new headquarters. When the Coughlins discover Nora''s secret, she is banned from their household. Laurence is banned after being caught spending time with her and giving her food. Danny''s involvement in the BSC takes him away from his family as well; his father is particularly opposed to Danny''s new "radical and Bolshevik-like" views. Nora, Danny, and Luther form a close friendship when each finds that the others are the true friends to count on for dealing with their individual hardships. Nora is on her own just as she was five years ago, the men of the BPD are counting on Danny to lead them to a fair wage and working conditions, and Laurence is trying to escape McKenna''s clutches and make it back to his wife and child. The story culminates in the historical Boston Police Strike, which is precipitated by the police commissioner''s refusal to allow the nascent police union''s right to affiliate with national labor organizations, or to exist. In the chaos of the strike, Laurence saves Danny''s life. By this time Danny had reunited with and married Nora. Luther reconciles the difficult situation he had run from in Tulsa, and succeeds in returning there to join his wife and recently born child in the Greenwood District. (This is before the area was destroyed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.)

The Given Day

The book tells about the highest stakes poker match of all time, over the course of a few years, between Andrew Beal and a group of professional poker players called "The Corporation." It begins as Ted Forrest, a professional poker player, is driving outside of Las Vegas when he calls the Bellagio poker room. The personnel in the poker room tell him the highest game is $10,000-$20,000 (which, at the time, was more than two times larger than any cash game ever played). He decides to go straight to the poker room, sit down with his last five hundred thousand dollars, and play against the other two men sitting at the table (Chip Reese and Andy Beal). Forrest had lost $400,000 without playing a single hand, and questions why he is there. The book then flashes back to February 2001, when Beal first visited the Bellagio poker room. He enjoys the atmosphere and the players, and meets many professional poker players, like Todd Brunson. He ends up winning over $100,000 dollars, and thinking it was luck, trains intensely to face the top players. Andy returns to Las Vegas, and wants to play heads-up with a professional for the highest stakes. Because they are in a casino, nothing can prevent other players from sitting down at the game, so the top professional poker players decide to pool their money with everybody who they thought would sit down at the game. Then Beal starts his match with Chip Reese. Beal and Reese play their match, and then Ted Forrest sits down. (Forrest was unreachable, so he was not originally part of the group.) Down to his last $100,000, Ted makes a stand and ends up winning $1.5 million. He is then asked to join the group, and for the rest of the book, nobody else sits down besides Beal and his selected opponent, who alternates throughout the story. The book then chronicles the three years of matches between the professionals and Beal, with the professionals winning most of their matches, but Beal occasionally coming out on top. It also delves into personal stories of the pros and Beal. In March 2004, Beal loses 16 million dollars in two days, and vows to give up poker, which ends the book.

The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time

Passage to Nirvana begins with Carlson''s accident, when he was hit by a car standing outside a car wash, striking his head violently on the pavement, fracturing his skull, lapsing into a light coma and sustaining a Traumatic Brain Injury, with bleeding on the brain and other damage. The story follows him through his brief hospitalization, then a year-long rehab in Florida, then his return to the North Fork of Long Island where he tries to rebuild his shattered life. His wife has left him and moved away with their children, his work life has evaporated, he has no home and has to start over again from scratch. During his year in Florida he also helps care for his mother, who is severely disabled from her own traumatic brain injury sustained when she fell down a flight of basement stairs. She is in a wheelchair, unable to walk, talk or feed herself. While he is in Florida, his mother eventually dies. Upon returning to Long Island, more misfortunes seem to pile on at every turn: his aunt dies of cancer, as does his brother-in-law, and he returns to Buffalo to help his sister and her children while his brother-in-law is in the hospital. While this may sound morbid and depressing, the bulk of the book is uplifting, a positive affirmation of life. Carlson concentrates on his Zen Buddhist studies and meditation as a way of helping him heal, working with the noted writer and Zen teacher Peter Matthiessen. Sections of the book take place in the Ocean Zendo, a Zen center run by Matthiessen, and much of the book is a meditation on the spiritual aspects of healing, acceptance and rebuilding a life. Eventually Carlson meets a beautiful, understanding woman who has been through difficulties of her own: a difficult divorce, raising two children as a single mother. They fall in love, and decide to buy a sailboat named "Nirvana" that they discover rotting in a boatyard in St. Martin. They renovate the boat, sail her back to the eastern end of Long Island, where they are joined by their four children and two dogs, working at creating a new family and a new life. Eventually they sail "Nirvana" to the Bahamas for a winter writing sabbatical, where most of the book was written. Trying to describe the "plot" is difficult, however, as the book is really a collection of short essays, some about events happening in real time, some about Traumatic Brain Injury, some reflections on various aspects of philosophy and Eastern thought, and some stories recalling the author''s childhood. See the section "Unique Writing Style" below for more information.

Passage to Nirvana

This book focuses on an aspect of World War II that is largely ignored in many history books – the Nazi looting of Europe and Russia and the Allied recovery and repatriation of stolen art. Little known to the general public, Hitler diverted his attention from the prosecution of the war to the systematic theft of Europe’s great art. His dream was to build the world’s greatest collection – The Führermuseum – in his hometown of Linz, Austria. European museum officials took extraordinary measures to protect art from Hitler and the ensuing war. When U.S. forces prepared to enter Europe, they assembled a special force of largely American and British museum directors, curators, and art historians known as the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFAA) section, attached to the Allied armies. These “Monuments Men” attempted to minimize damage to European monuments and architecture, then track down stolen works of art. Their effort would become one of the greatest “treasure hunts” in history. In the end, Allied forces located more than 1,000 repositories in mines and castles across Europe, many of which were filled with art, sculpture, furniture, archives, and other cultural property stolen by the Nazis. Edsel points out that thousands of pieces are still missing, such as Raphael’s Portrait of a Young Man from the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, Poland. Rescuing Da Vinci tells this story through brief text and more than 460 photographs, 60 of which are in color. This group of photographs has never been published in a single book, and many have not been seen in decades. Images such as Michelangelo’s David entombed in brick for protection or a Rembrandt Self Portrait sitting atop crates in a salt mine, capture the story better than words could describe.

Rescuing Da Vinci: Hitler and the Nazis Stole Europe''s Great Art - America and Her Allies Recovered It

A young witch enters the Eastern town of Blackchapel on a quest to find his name. After a conversation with Miska, a strange coachman, the witch receives the name Morrolan, meaning "Dark Star". He meets a fellow witch named Arra, who counsels him to pledge his soul to Verra, the Demon Goddess. He does so, and together they summon other witches to the town and build a temple. While Morrolan is in a trance, some bandits from a neighboring village sack Blackchapel. Morrolan is consumed with the desire for revenge, but he is interrupted when Miska brings Lady Teldra, an Issola, who informs Morrolan that he is both a Dragaeran and a Count of House Dragon. Morrolan vows to journey to Dragaera, receive his birthright, and then return to take vengeance. Meanwhile, in Dragaera, three hundred years without sorcery or the authority of the Empire has ruined the land. Banditry, plague, and petty warlords reign. One warlord, Kâna, has conquered roughly a quarter of the old Empire''s territory, and holds influence over another quarter. His loyal cousin and strategist Habil advises him to start a new Empire with himself as Emperor, and he summons the Princes of the sixteen noble Houses to make the proposal. The reception is generally dubious. Pel, who has become Kâna''s agent, goes to speak with Sethra Lavode, and she expresses her total opposition to the plan. In the County of Whitecrest, which has been largely untouched by the ravages of the Interregnum, Khaavren has become a broken man, weighed down by guilt over his failure to protect the Emperor and prevent Adron''s Disaster. His son Piro, the Viscount of Adrilankha, has matured into a bright, bold young man. One of Piro''s friends, Zivra, is summoned away on a mysterious task. Shortly thereafter, Piro himself is summoned to Dzur Mountain, the home of Sethra Lavode, on a quest. He and his companions have uneventful encounters with a bandit company and a mysterious sorceress named Orlaan. At Dzur Mountain, he learns that Zivra is really Zerika, the last Phoenix and the true Empress. He must accompany her to the Paths of the Dead to recover the Imperial Orb and restore the Empire. Their party will also include Tazendra, who has been studying under Sethra. Pel meets with Khaavren and discovers his sorry state. Pel later contacts Aerich and together they scheme to snap their friend from his funk. They send a certain pyrologist to Adrilankha to inspect the city for signs of plague. During dinner with Khaavren and his wife, the pyrologist relates how a past failure drives him to achieve his fullest potential. Khaavren decides that he must get back into shape and help his son. He sets out with two young female houseguests, Ibronka and Röaana. The Lords of Judgment, chief among the gods, convene and decide what to do. They note that the Empire''s chief function is to help keep the Jenoine from returning. It must be restored for the good of the world. While the Orb is in their possession, they modify and improve it, and Verra decides to send a demon under her sway to help Sethra Lavode. Zerika''s band sets out and reaches the cliffs that border the Paths of the Dead. Orlaan arrives with the bandit band she commands, determined to stop them. Tazendra recognizes Orlaan as Grita, the daughter of Greycat, who was killed by Khaavren''s company during the events of Five Hundred Years After. As the bandits attack, Zerika throws herself from the cliffs. Believing Zerika dead, Piro and company bitterly fight off the bandits while Tazendra drives away Grita with her superior Elder Sorcery. Zerika lands safely in the Paths and navigates her way to the Lords of Judgment. After a hard-fought debate, she convinces the gods to give her the Orb. She emerges from the Paths as Zerika the Fourth, Empress of the restored Empire.

The Viscount of Adrilankha

In this sequel in the Fudge'' series, Fudge takes up an obsessive and greedy love for money and his family decides to take him to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington to show how money is made hoping that his obsession would stop there. That plan doesn''t work, and instead they meet up with their long-lost cousins, the Howie Hatchers. There is Howie, a park ranger who resides in Hawaii and is traveling the country, his pregnant wife Eudora, their perfect, slightly overindulged twin daughters Flora and Fauna who are sometimes nicknamed the "Natural Beauties," and the "Heavenly Hatchers," and last but not least, three-year-old Farley Drexel Hatcher, which is also Fudge''s real name. The boys are left alone with their cousins and find out that the Natural Beauties have been trying to find a nickname for Farley and try to use Fudge''s own nickname. He tries to save his nickname from being taken by the Natural Beauties for Farley''s own use by yelling and gets bitten in the leg. After the two are broken up, Peter suggests the natural beauties call Farley "Mini-Fudge," but when the other Fudge disagrees, the name is changed to Mini-Farley. Peter is having a rough time throughout this because his best friend Jimmy has left Manhattan and moved far off to the SoHo section of New York City. He still goes to the same school but Peter feels lonely. Fudge begins to start hating Mini, and the Natural Beauties then annoy Peter more when they are invited to perform at an assembly at his school. Mini lets Uncle Feather, Fudge''s myna bird who has stopped talking out of his cage and he has a near-death incident (which causes him to begin talking again, although it is never explained why he stopped in the first place), Fudge goes trick-or-treating with Mini on Halloween and they get stuck in a elevator. Near the end of the story, in a semi-homage to the ending of the original Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Mini swallows Fudge''s baby tooth that just fallen out. The Howies quickly depart from the Hatchers'' apartment because he was throwing a fit, and after writing a note to the Tooth Fairy to explain what happened, he still tries to get some more Tooth Fairy money by using a box of Peter''s old baby teeth. He takes it back and places it under his own pillow because, as Peter says, "Hey, you never know

Double Fudge

The story starts out with the Cardinal family going on a trip to relieve them from some unknown stress. On the way back, it is revealed that the Cardinal family plans to move to California, due to financial concerns. Jack Cardinal is an acclaimed but underpaid writer, and plans to move with promises of higher pay. However, Amanda, his wife, is opposed to the idea, stating that they would not be happy and that Jack would not be free to write. Seeing that the children seem asleep, they battle it out. Eventually, a violent outburst awakes Lou, a young girl who greatly admires her father. She tries to stop the argument multiple times by offering a story, but Jack is undeterred. Meanwhile, Oz, Lou’s timid little brother is also awakened. Both Amanda and Lou hurry to comfort him, while simultaneously being calmed. As the argument further escalates, no one notices a man in the middle of the road, blocking their way. Jack turns the car just in time to avoid killing the man, but then loses all control. The car rolls, and when it stopped, Jack is dead, and Amanda faints. The story then shifts forward to the funeral, where it is discovered that Amanda is now paralyzed. Lou overhears two men discussing the fate of the children, and offers the idea of moving in with their great-grandmother in the mountains of Virginia, Louisa Mae. The men accept the offer, and the two children, a nurse, and their mother head off. When they arrive at the station, an African-American man picks them up and drives them through a series of towns, each more sparsely populated than the one previous. Soon they pick up a boy, who introduces both himself and their driver. Afterwards, he leaves to fish, and the others continue on towards Louisa’s house. Once there, Lou starts a completely new life, learning different chores and helping with the farm. In return, they achieve a comfortable lifestyle. Diamond, the boy they picked up, starts playing a bigger role, often taking the children out on adventures, showing them things such as a little collection of items, a wishing well, a danger-filled shortcut to the city, his version of constellations and the like. Eugene, the “mute” that drove the car, is also revealed as an honest man that will stand up for what is right. At around the same time, Cotton Longfellow, a lawyer, shows up, and offers to read to Amanda in hopes that she would get better. Then, a mysterious offer from Southern Valley, a coal and gas company, comes in, offering Louisa $100,000 for her land. She refuses, but receives pressure from her neighbors, who have also received the offer but is told that their land is useless without Louisa’s. Then, a series of incidents occurs. Louisa’s barn is burned to the ground in the middle of the night, causing her to suffer a stroke.. Diamond dies in a dynamite explosion, killed trying to save his dog. George Davis, a wealthy but hateful farmer, goes into Louisa’s land in search of something. Southern Valley comes back with an offer of 5 times the original, but is now refused by Cotton. It is then revealed that a court case is to ensue. Southern Valley is represented by Thurston Goode, a renowned lawyer from Richmond. He and Cotton each have several goes at the jury at a very eventful court case. In the end, however, Southern Valley wins, but Amanda comes in, supported by her children, and the book ends with her acknowledging Cotton for all he tried to help and, in the epilogue, it is revealed they married.

Wish You Well

Shortly after returning from the Asteroid Belt, David "Lucky" Starr learns that his Science Academy roommate Lou Evans had been sent to investigate trouble on Venus, but the Council of Science office on Venus has requested that he be recalled and investigated for corruption. As Starr and John "Bigman" Jones are shuttled to Venus, their pilots suffer an episode of paralysis, and Starr is required to keep their craft from smashing itself against the surface of the Venusian ocean. Afterwards, the pilots have no memory of the event. Upon reaching the Venusian city of Aphrodite, Starr and Bigman meet Dr. Mel Morriss, head of the Council of Science on Venus, who explains that Venusian scientists are perfecting strains of yeast that can be processed into luxury foods for export; whereas for six months there has been a growing series of incidents of bizarre behavior among the human colonists, often followed by amnesia. Morriss believes they are being telepathically controlled by an unknown enemy. Evans was sent to Venus to investigate, but was found with stolen data concerning a secret strain of yeast, and is under arrest. When Starr confronts him, Evans admits to having stolen the data, but refuses to explain further. While Starr is questioning him, word reaches them that a man is threatening to open an outside airlock, which will allow the ocean to flood Aphrodite. Starr, Bigman, and Morriss go to the airlock to deal with the crisis, where they meet the city''s chief engineer, Lyman Turner, the inventor and owner of a laptop computer carried with him. While Bigman goes through the ventilation ducts to cut power to the airlock door, Starr realizes that the airlock crisis is a feint and hastens to Council headquarters, to find that Evans has escaped custody and left Aphrodite in a submarine. Starr and Bigman pursue Evans in another submarine, eventually finding him and learning that the V-frogs are the source of the telepathic incidents; Evans having tested this hypothesis by stealing the secret data on the yeast strain, and interesting the V-frogs therein with the result of an accident involving that strain. Evans further reveals that the V-frogs have trapped himself and the other protagonists beneath an enormous deep-sea orange patch, which will attack them if they attempt escape. Starr, in response, leaves the submarine and uses an electric shock to destroy the orange patch''s heart, killing it. He then returns to the submarine, and pilots this to the surface of the ocean, where he intends to communicate his findings to an orbiting space station to be relayed to the Council on Earth. On the surface, the V-frogs communicate telepathically with him, telling him they intend to take over the minds of the humans on Venus. Initially they keep him away from the radio; but he is able to distract them and transmit his message. Returning to Aphrodite, Starr explains to Morriss that the V-frogs'' telepathy is used by a human individual to attempt control over the rest of humanity, and that the means of doing so is Lyman Turner''s computer. Bigman destroys the computer and Starr captures Turner, hoping to re-create his computer in the interest of reforming Turner himself.

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