Blending steampunk with urban fantasy, Heartless is set in an alternate history version of Victorian England where vampires and werewolves are welcomed as members of society, often in the upper class. The protagonist of the novel is Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Maccon, who is "soulless", and thus unaffected by the powers of supernatural beings. The author has stated in interviews that while Changeless and Blameless, the second and third books in the series, were closely linked, Heartless will be more independent, in the manner of Soulless, the series'' first entry. *2011, USA, Orbit Books ISBN 0-316-12719-1, Pub date 28 June 2011, Paperback *2011, UK, Orbit Books ISBN 0-356-50009-8, Pub date 7 July 2011, Paperback On September 22, 2010, the author reported that the manuscript was "99% complete" and that the final draft of the novel was due to the publisher on November 1, 2010. Publisher Orbit Books released the book''s cover on February 1, 2011, and a revised version in late March 2011. As with the first three novels in the series, this cover was designed by Lauren Panepinto and the model on the cover is Donna Ricci. The original photographs of Ricci for this cover were taken by Pixie Vision Productions. While the author''s official website also lists German, Italian, Spanish, and other translated editions of the first three novels in the series to be released in the near future, no publication dates have yet been announced for any non-English language editions of Heartless.

Heartless

The opening chapters of Fortunes for All set out Vash Young''s credentials: the long, happy and rewarding life that he has enjoyed - his ''Fortune'' - through taking his own advice and living by the rules he formulated as a young man. Vash then turns to his early life of hardship, poverty, hunger and deprivation and candidly reveals how he squandered early opportunities as a young man through self-doubt and moral weakness. Vash Young then describes the flash of insight the enabled him to re-invent himself. This was the defining point in his life when Vash the failure changed virtually overnight into Vash the success. The bulk of the book explains in detail the methods he used to give himself the mindset needed to find his Fortune. These lessons are amply illustrate by anecdotes taken from his own life and from those of people he encountered. Vash goes out of his way to show that what he did is relevant to anyone at any time or place. The title shows his intent: Fortunes for All is intended to be a handbook for everyone.

Fortunes for All

The story takes place in China during the Down to the Countryside Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The unnamed narrator and the chess master Wang Yisheng are two young intellectuals among many who are sent to a remote farm in the mountains to work. During the train ride to the mountains, Wang Yisheng and his friend talk about how he learned to play Chinese chess, and how he evolved his current strategy. Wang Yisheng tells his friend that his family was very poor, and his mother did not want him to be such a chess maniac, since chess could not earn money. However, Wang Yisheng was very devoted to chess. One day, while gathering garbage to sell, Wang Yisheng meets an old man who is a chess master. Using the principles of Daoism, the old man teaches Wang everything he knows about chess. Wang Yisheng also tells his friend about how his mother always disapproved of his chess habit, but before she died, she painstakingly made him a chess set out of discarded toothbrush handles, because she knew how much he loved chess. The two friends then debark the train and head their separate ways to different farms in the countryside. A couple months later, Wang Yisheng takes a vacation and visits his friend in the mountains. One of the narrator''s friends at the farm, Legballs, happens to be a good chess player. Legballs is very impressed with Wang''s ability, and the two become good friends. After a while of working at the farm, there is a local festival with a chess tournament. The narrator, Legballs, and their friends all take a vacation to attend the festival. Wang Yisheng arrives too late to enter the official chess tournament, but he challenges the winners to an unofficial match after the tournament is over. Word spreads of his challenge, and many people decide to challenge him. He ends up playing 9 people at once without any chess boards in front of him (effectively playing blind), and he beats most of them easily. He eventually defeats the winner of the official tournament, an old man. zh:棋王 (阿城小说)

The Chess Master

In the post Tokyo/San Francisco earthquake world of the early 21st century, Colin Laney is referred to agents of the aging mega-rock star Rez of the musical group Lo/Rez for a job using his peculiar talent of sifting through vast amounts of mundane data to find "nodal points" of particular relevance. Rez has claimed to want to marry a synthetic personality named Rei Toei, the Idoru (Japanese Idol) of the title, which is apparently impossible and therefore questioned by his loyal staff, particularly by his head of security, Keith Blackwell. Blackwell believes that someone is manipulating Rez, and wants Laney to find out who. Simultaneously, the Seattle chapter of the Lo/Rez fan club is discussing exactly the same topic of the unbelievable marriage of human and AI construct. Fourteen year old Chia Pet McKenzie is chosen by the group to go to Tokyo and meet with the Tokyo chapter to find out what is really happening. On the flight she meets a woman named Maryalice, who dupes her into unwittingly carrying a contraband item through customs in Tokyo. Laney accepts his new position warily, but is conflicted throughout much of the novel by his past involvement with a powerful infotainment organization, "SlitScan", which thrives on destroying media personalities by exposing their secrets. In the course of this earlier job he feels responsible for the death of an innocent party. His talent had allowed him a foreshadowing of a probable suicide but SlitScan had tried to limit Laney''s role to passive observer. However, Laney''s conscience snapped and he attempted at the last moment to stop the suicide, but instead became mired in a scandal. Yet another organization claiming to be a media watchdog steps in and tries to pull Laney away from SlitScan to use his story to expose SlitScan’s involvement in illegal spying. This goes awry and Laney is left high and dry and alone. Further complicating Laney’s life is that Kathy Torrance, his controller from SlitScan, is attempting to blackmail him with false evidence into betraying his current employers, Lo/Rez, by exposing whatever secret she thinks they are hiding. Chia, after being brought to the club run by Maryalice’s boyfriend Eddie, is helped to escape by one of the club’s employees who thinks (rightfully) that she is in danger. Unfortunately, she takes with her the contraband which was slipped into her luggage. When she meets with the local Tokyo chapter of the Lo/Rez fan club she is disappointed by their seeming indifference to the impending “wedding” and they inform her this is merely an unfounded rumor. Disbelieving, Chia decides to investigate on her own and seeks the help of her host Mitsuko’s brother Masahiko, an Otaku who is a member of the hacker community the “Walled City” (a virtual community based on the Kowloon Walled City). Masahiko and Chia embark on a search for the truth to the marriage of Rez and Rei by going to the club where Rez announced the event, though the club no longer exists in the rapidly changing Tokyo scene. Masahiko is informed by other denizens of Walled City that he is being watched, both on the net and physically at his (and his sister’s) home. Chia admits to Masahiko that she has found something in her luggage and that might be what the unknown men are seeking. The contraband turns out to be a highly illegal nanotech assembler, a device used for high-speed material fabrication, which Eddie smuggled in on behalf of the Russian Mafia. Chia and Masahiko go to a love hotel to try to hide from the searchers. It is here that all the parties converge. When Chia and Masahiko link into the net, the Idoru (Rei) manifests herself in Chia''s Venice simulation after she realizes that Chia is playing a part in her evolution. Maryalice finds the hotel through their taxi record, letting herself into their room. Lamenting her recent breakup with Eddie over the botched smuggling operation, she tells them that giving back the device won’t stop them from being killed as witnesses. Masahiko and Chia go onto the Net to get the help of Chia’s friend Zona Rosa, who claims to be the leader of a Mexico City “girl gang” and from the Walled City who are protecting the distributed system of which Masahiko is a part. In short order, Maryalice’s boyfriend Eddie shows up with a member of the Russian Mafia to reclaim the nanotech device. This prompts Zona Rosa (who has been viewing events over the net) into making a terrible personal sacrifice to save Chia. Events rapidly come to a head when Rez and Blackwell arrive. Laney sees events occurring (and about to occur) in the datastreams and rushes with Lo/Rez’s support crew to the love hotel. A deal is struck and most of the parties are accommodated. The ultimate resolution is left open as to whether the Rez/Rei union is made possible with the nanotechnology that they have obtained.

Idoru



The Thursday Murder Club is the first book in Richard Osman’s series of mystery crime novels. It follows four elderly friends living in a retirement village in England as they attempt to solve local crimes and mysteries. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron form the Thursday Murder Club, meeting in the village hall each week to discuss unsolved cases. When a suspicious death occurs in their village, the four friends decide to investigate and uncover a series of dark secrets and conspiracies that had been hidden away. With the help of a local detective, they are able to follow the clues and piece together the puzzle, ultimately leading them to the murderer. Along the way, the group discovers a lot about themselves as well as about their village, and the reader is taken on a thrilling journey of suspense and intrigue as the mystery unfolds. The Thursday Murder Club is a gripping and fast-paced novel that will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very end.  As the group looks into these murders, Osman also deals humorously and thoughtfully with things like aging, grief, dementia, and so forth. It makes for an entertaining read that gives it a little extra compared to your typical genre mystery.

The Thursday Murder Club: (The Thursday Murder Club 1)

The village of Wootton Major was well-known around the countryside for its annual festivals, which were particularly famous for their culinary delights. The biggest festival of all was the Feast of Good Children. This festival was celebrated only once every twenty-four years: twenty-four children of the village were invited to a party, and the highlight of the party was the Great Cake, a career milestone by which Master Cooks were judged. In the year the story begins, the Master Cook was Nokes, who had landed the position more or less by default; he delegated much of the creative work to his apprentice Alf. Nokes crowned his Great Cake with a little doll jokingly representing the Queen of Faery. Various trinkets were hidden in the cake for the children to find; one of these was a star the Cook discovered in the old spice box. The star was not found at the Feast, but was swallowed by a blacksmith’s son. The boy did not feel its magical properties at once, but on the morning of his tenth birthday the star fixed itself on his forehead, and became his passport to Faery. The boy grew up to be a blacksmith like his father, but in his free time he roamed the Land of Faery. The star on his forehead protected him from many of the dangers threatening mortals in that land, and the Folk of Faery called him "Starbrow". The book describes his many travels in Faery, until at last he meets the true Queen of Faery. The identity of the King is also revealed. The time came for another Feast of Good Children. Smith had possessed his gift for most of his life, and the time had come to pass it on to some other child. So he regretfully surrendered the star to Alf, and with it his adventures into Faery. Alf, who had become Master Cook long before, baked it into the festive cake once again for another child to find. After the feast, Alf retired and left the village; and Smith returned to his forge to teach his craft to his now-grown son.

Smith of Wootton Major

Save Me the Waltz, according to its author, derives its title from a Victor record catalog, and it suggests the romantic glitter of the life which F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald lived and which Scott’s novels have so indelibly written into American literary and cultural history. Divided into four chapters, each of which is further divided into three parts, the novel is a chronological narrative of four periods in the lives of Alabama and David Knight, names that are but thin disguises for their real-life counterparts. Save Me The Waltz is the story of Alabama Beggs, a Southern girl who marries a twenty-two-year-old artist, David Knight. As with Zelda and Scott, Alabama met David when he was in the South during World War I. Knight becomes a successful painter, and the family moves to the Riviera where Knight begins an affair with an actress. Determined to be successful in her own right, Alabama decides to become a ballet dancer and devotes herself relentlessly to the cause, eventually achieving success. Alabama dances her solo debut in the opera Faust. Though outwardly successful, Alabama and David are miserable. At the novel''s end they return to the South when Alabama''s father dies. Though she says otherwise, her friends from the South go on about how happy and lucky Alabama is. Alabama searches for meaning in her father''s death, but finds none. While cleaning up after their final party before returning to their unhappy lives, Alabama remarks — an interesting contrast to the closing lines of The Great Gatsby — that emptying the ashtrays is "very expressive of myself. I just lump everything in a great heap which I have labeled ''the past,'' and having thus emptied this deep reservoir that was once myself, I am ready to continue."

Save Me the Waltz

All three scenes are set in the sitting room of Guy''s London apartment: during Guy''s flatwarming party (Scene 1); after Reg''s funeral, some years later (Scene 2); and after Guy''s funeral (Scene 3). The group, most of them in their thirties, meet at irregular intervals, often at Guy''s place. Guy himself is a lonely man. Ever since their university days, he has had a crush on John, but he has never dared to tell him about it. Rather, he lives a solitary life, which he only spices up with phone sex and an occasional visit to a gay pub -- that is where he meets 18 year-old Eric, who then helps him decorate his new flat. On holiday on the island of Lanzarote, he meets a gay man who eventually forces himself on Guy and has unprotected sex with him—the last thing Guy has been looking for. At his flatwarming party, he has just come back from his holiday and is still quite shocked about what happened. It is hard for him not to start crying when, as a present, John gives him a cookery book specialising in dishes for one. The most popular of the gay circle is Reg, who is conspicuously absent from the party. Reg has had a long-term relationship with Daniel, but Daniel himself suspects Reg of occasionally being unfaithful to him. In fact Reg seems to be sleeping with every man he can get hold of (as it seems, even with the vicar). In the course of the play, John, Benny and even his seemingly faithful companion Bernie have secret sex with Reg. Ironically, they all confide in Guy. It hurts Guy most to hear that John &mdash; whom he himself fancies &mdash; is having an affair with Reg, thus betraying their mutual friend Daniel. After his fling with Reg, Benny panics because he thinks he might have contracted HIV, but he does not confess it to his partner, Bernie. When Reg is dying from AIDS, he is looked after by his partner, Daniel. Ironically again, the next one to die is Guy, the only one who has not had sex with Reg and who seems to have been infected with HIV when he was raped during his holiday in Lanzarote. Guy bequeaths his new flat to the love of his life, John who does not need it at all because he comes from a rich background. It is John who, somewhere in the flat, finds all kinds of memorabilia dating back to their student days.

My Night with Reg

It''s Christmastime in the Kingdom of the dead (Minneapolis), which is complicated as it sounds. Betsy Taylor isn''t going to let a little thing like death and blood-drinking stop her from enjoying the holidays or planning her upcoming spring wedding to drop-dead gorgeous vamp Eric Sinclair. But all is not merry and bright-Betsy is plagued by ghosts who demand her help in rectifying their past mistakes, and a serial killer is on the loose. With his victims all being, blond women. Besty fits the profile exactly... The book starts out with the knowledge that Betsy is technically dead, however everyone but close family and friends think that she is still alive. In Betsy''s life she has a stepmother, Antonia (the Ant) who gives birth to a younger brother, Jon, and her best friend, rich Jessica, and Laura, is technically her half-sister but also the devil''s daughter after Satan possessed her stepmother (The Ant who gave her up to adoption to, ironically, the Goodman''s) and produced a daughter. She also receives attention from a human boy who is a past member of a gang of vampie slayers. She also has a gay human friend called Marc, a doctor she saved in the first novel from suicide and a human policemen who is a former flame called Nick Berry. Aside from all of this she has vampire servants who work for her and a hostage wild vampire dubbed George the Fiend. George is a wild vampire created by a 500 year old vampire Betsy killed. She feeds him with her blood to make him stronger and Jessica teaches him different things such as crocheting. Laura later attacks George the Fiend thinking her mother (Satan) is using him to annoy her and meddle in her life. After Betsy tries to break up the fight Laura stabs her with a sword forged by Hellfire that kills magical creatures, however it doesn''t kill her. After this Laura is sent to feed him. Eric and Betsy fight after she reveals she can hear his thoughts during sex. Eric is hurt she doesn''t tell him earlier and goes back to his room which causes Betsy to point out that he hasn''t fully committed to their relationship. Also, in an attempt to connect with her people Betsy starts an advice column intended for new vampires which others deem as stupid. Also, the human boy, with the decidedly shady past as an ex-vampire slayer, decides to write her life story as a fiction story and publish it through his university course, however Sinclair and his best friend Tina wipe his memory of it to save Betsy from exposure. After a serial killer known as the "Driveway Killer" kills her stepmother''s next door neighbor a ghost starts plaguing Betsy. Laura and her set out to find him and discover him in a rundown house with a hostage. Laura kills him and the two set the hostage free. Betsy finds herself somewhat frightend of Laura doing the fight scene in which the overtake the serial killer and set the hostage free. In this novel it seems that Antonia knows that Laura is her daughter.

Undead and Unreturnable

The prologue serves as a continuation of Yang Yuncong and Nalan Minghui''s story in Saiwai Qixia Zhuan, set in the early Qing Dynasty. Nalan is forced to marry the Manchu prince Dodo even though she loves Yang and has bore Yang a daughter. Yang shows up on the night before Nalan''s wedding and seizes their infant daughter from her. He is mortally wounded in a fight against Prince Dodo''s henchmen and before his death he entrusts his daughter to the youth Liang Mulang, who was attempting suicide after being mistakenly accused of betraying his comrades. Mulang brings Yang''s daughter back to Yang''s teacher Reverend Huiming on Mount Heaven. Mulang spends eighteen years training under Reverend Huiming''s tutelage and becomes a formidable swordsman. He returns to the jianghu under a new alias, "Ling Weifeng", and does a series of chivalrous deeds. Yang Yuncong''s daughter Yilan Zhu has mastered the Mount Heaven Swordplay, and she swears to kill Prince Dodo and avenge her father. On Mount Wutai, members of the anti-government Heaven and Earth Society and some Southern Ming rebels attempt to assassinate Prince Dodo but their plans are interrupted by Yilan Zhu''s untimely appearance. During the ensuing chaos, Yilan Zhu unintentionally causes Zhang Huazhao to be captured by Qing soldiers. She goes to Prince Dodo''s residence to rescue Zhang later. Meanwhile Fu Qingzhu and Mao Wanlian discover that the Shunzhi Emperor is still alive and has become a monk on Mount Wutai. Shunzhi''s son, the reigning Kangxi Emperor, secretly murders his father to safeguard his throne. On Ling Weifeng''s part, he meets his old crush Liu Yufang, who wrongly accused him of betrayal years ago. Even though Ling''s appearance has changed, Liu still notices that he bears some resemblance to Mulang, but he refuses to admit that he is indeed Mulang. Ling Weifeng and Liu Yufang travel to Yunnan later and befriend Li Siyong, a descendant of Li Zicheng. They also encounter Fu Qingzhu and Mao Wanlian, as well as Gui Zhongming, a new companion. Gui falls in love with Mao after she helps him recover from his mental illness. Gui Zhongming and Mao Wanlian go to Beijing later to find Yilan Zhu and they meet the scholar Nalan Rongruo. In the meantime, Nalan Minghui recognises Yilan Zhu as her daughter and she pleads with Prince Dodo to spare her daughter''s life. After much difficulty, Yilan Zhu and Zhang Huazhao escape from danger and they fall in love. Yilan Zhu avenges her father later by assassinating Prince Dodo, but is captured and imprisoned. Nalan Minghui is unable to rescue her daughter and commits suicide in despair. "Flying Red Sash" Hamaya (a former love rival of Nalan) and Ling Weifeng appear in the nick of time and save Yilan Zhu. Ling Weifeng suddenly experiences a seizure in a fight against Chu Zhaonan, his treacherous senior. Chu turns the tables on Ling and captures and imprisons him in an underground labyrinth in Tibet. Ling attempts to escape but fails and is on the brink of death. He writes a letter to Liu Yufang, admitting that he is indeed Mulang. Liu is heartbroken upon reading Ling''s letter. Han Zhibang, who has a secret crush on Liu Yufang, bravely sacrifices himself to save Ling Weifeng and dies at the hands of Chu Zhaonan. Fu Qingzhu and the other heroes break into the labyrinth to rescue Ling. Chu Zhaonan is defeated by Yilan Zhu and commits suicide eventually. Ling Weifeng, Zhang Huazhao, Gui Zhongming, Yilan Zhu, Mao Wanlian, Wu Qiongyao, and Hamaya form the "Seven Swords of Mount Heaven", with Liu Yufang as a close ally. They leave behind a heroic legacy of upholding justice and helping the poor and oppressed.

Seven Swords of Mount Heaven

Kate Croy and Merton Densher are two betrothed Londoners who desperately want to marry but have very little money. Kate is constantly put upon by family troubles, and is now living with her domineering aunt, Maud Lowder. Into their world comes Milly Theale, an enormously rich young American woman who had previously met and fallen in love with Densher, though she didn''t reveal her feelings. Her travelling companion and confidante, Mrs. Stringham, is an old friend of Maud''s. Kate and Aunt Maud welcome Milly to London, and the American heiress enjoys great social success. With Kate as a companion, Milly goes to see an eminent physician, Sir Luke Strett, because she''s afraid that she is suffering from an incurable disease. The doctor is noncommittal but Milly fears the worst. Kate suspects that Milly is deathly ill. After the trip to America where he had met Milly, Densher returns to find the heiress in London. Kate wants Densher to pay as much attention as possible to Milly, though at first he doesn''t quite know why. Kate has been careful to conceal from Milly (and everybody else) that she and Densher are engaged. With the threat of serious illness hanging over her, Milly decides to travel to Venice with Mrs. Stringham. Aunt Maud, Kate and Densher follow her. At a party Milly gives in her Venice palazzo (the older Palazzo Barbaro, called "Palazzo Leporelli" in the novel), Kate finally reveals her complete plan to Densher: he is to marry Milly so that, after her presumably soon-to-occur death, Densher will inherit the money they can marry on. Densher had suspected this was Kate''s idea, and he demands that she consummate their affair before he''ll go along with her plan. Aunt Maud and Kate return to London while Densher remains with Milly. Unfortunately, the dying girl learns from a former suitor of Kate''s about the plot to get her money. She "turns her face to the wall" and grows very ill. Densher sees her one last time before he leaves for London, where he eventually receives news of Milly''s death. Milly does leave him a large amount of money despite everything. But Densher won''t touch the money, and he won''t marry Kate unless she also refuses the bequest. Conversely, if Kate chooses the money instead of him, Densher offers to make the bequest over to her in full. The lovers part on the novel''s final page with a cryptic exclamation from Kate: "We shall never be again as we were!"

The Wings of the Dove

Written as a first-person narrative, Craii de Curtea-Veche depicts the lives of the rich and educated boyar family descendants Paşadia and Pantazi, who are often visited by the narrator. The latter admits his admiration for Paşadia and his fascination with Pantazi. The two''s mysterious existence is revealed only through conversations and banquet episodes, which tend to end in champagne-drinking bouts and orgies. They appear versed in Western manners and refined salon culture, but love to refresh their senses by submerging in the muddy atmosphere of Bucharest brothels. Their destiny intersects with that of Gore Pîrgu, a brutish self-seeker who is on his way up on the social scale. A combination of venality, depravity and bombastic, often demagogic discourse, Pîrgu is meant to illustrate the alternative and undertoned "Balkan-like" Romanian identity. He manages to sell Ilinca, an impoverished young noblewoman, to the libertine Paşadia, but the latter is defied by Pantazi, who offers to marry Ilinca himself and thus save her family''s honour. However, fate puts an end to such a romantic happy ending, as the young woman catches scarlet fever and dies, while Paşadia ends his aventurous life in a heart attack during one of his sexual escapades. The latter stage of the novel corresponds with the onset of World War I and the drastic changes it brought to Romanian society.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

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Heartless

By Gail Carriger

Fortunes for All

No Author Listed

The Chess Master

By Zhong Acheng

Idoru

By William Gibson

The Thursday Murder Club: (The Thursday Murder Club 1)

By Richard Osman

Smith of Wootton Major

By J. R. R. Tolkien

Save Me the Waltz

By Zelda Fitzgerald

My Night with Reg

By Kevin Elyot

Undead and Unreturnable

By MaryJanice Davidson

Seven Swords of Mount Heaven

By Liang Yusheng

The Wings of the Dove

By Henry James

Craii de Curtea-Veche

No Author Listed