With Trioculus imprisoned in carbonite, the Moffs meet in Kadann''s Chamber of Dark Visions to hear his new prophecy on the leadership of the Empire. Kadann spoke in quatrains, prophesying that Trioculus would never again get the blessing to be leader, the new leader is on Duro and finally about the last days of the Rebel Alliance. As the Moffs concoct a plan to retrieve Trioculus'' body and destroy it, Luke, Leia and Han fly to Dagobah. The rebels began to colonize Dagobah by building a school, which Ken is to attend, and a fortress that served as the Defense Research and Planetary Assistance Center, DRAPAC. DRAPAC was based on Mount Yoda, and was the subject of Kadann''s prophecy When the dragon pack, Perched upon Yoda''s stony back, Receives a visitor pierced by gold, Then come the last days of the Rebel Alliance. While there, a Duros, Dustini, brings news that the planet Duro is under attack by Imperial stormtroopers, who are stealing artifacts. Though he managed to save some, one was a golden crown that was booby trapped and stabbed Dustini, seemingly fulfilling the prophecy. As the Rebels send a mission to Duro to stop the Empire, the Moffs destroy the block of carbonite, only to discover it was fake and Trioculus was still alive. In a secret cavern on Duro, Luke, Han and Ken finally encounter Triclops, the true son of Emperor Palpatine. Though the Imperials attacked trying to abduct Triclops, with his help the rebels escaped and brought Triclops back to DRAPAC, with him promising to bring down his father&#39;s Empire.

Mission from Mount Yoda

The story follows him, and the dog he finds after the battle, into the border country with Wales to the ruins of Viroconium (Wroxeter). There he meets a street urchin named Regina, the only person left in the city. They learn to trust each other and form a bond. When they leave the city and are later separated, Owain becomes a thrall to a Saxon lord in the swamps near the Isle of Wight, where he spends a number of years. In the end, Owain and Regina are finally reunited and return to the Celtic lands beyond the Welsh border. The story takes place at a turning point in the evolution of relations among the Saxons, invaders from the European mainland, and the indigenous Celts. As Owain lives and fights with the Saxons, he sees them beginning to reach accommodation and common cause with the Celts. The Dawn Wind of the title is a reference to the arrival of St Augustine, who brought Christianity to the Saxons. This change also later brought the Saxons and the already-Christian Celts closer together.

Dawn Wind

The Gates of Firestorm Peak begins in the Shirelands at the village of Longbridge, located in the foothills of the mountain range that contains Firestorm Peak. In prehistory, the Elder Elves thrived during a previous Age of the world, and created a magical laboratory under Firestorm Peak where they opened a gate to the Far Realm which opens every 27 years. Over time, the bizarre physical laws and alien madness of the other dimension began to warp the areas underneath the mountain. Three hundred years ago a colony of duergar settled nearby and became guardians of the corrupted area. Decades ago, the evil conjurer Madreus bypassed the duergar and gained mastery of the Far Realm creatures residing in the complex underneath Firestorm Peak. In the last five years, he gained control of the duergar, and his studies and experiments have begun to cause manifestations of warped behavior in nature and society to spread beyond the legendary mountain. If not stopped by the player characters, the gate will eventually provide Madreus with the energies and allies he needs to bring the Far Realm''s madness to the rest of the world.

The Gates of Firestorm Peak

Purple Hibiscus is set in postcolonial Nigeria, a country beset by political instability and economic difficulties. The central character is Kambili Achike, fifteen for much of the period covered by the book, a member of a wealthy family dominated by her devoutly Catholic father, Eugene. Eugene is both a religious zealot and a violent figure in the Achike household, subjecting his wife Beatrice, Kambili herself, and her brother Jaja to beatings and psychological cruelty. The story is told through Kambili’s eyes and is essentially about the disintegration of her family unit and her struggle to grow to maturity. A key period is the time Kambili and her brother spend at the house of her father’s sister, Ifeoma, and her three children. This household offers a marked contrast to what Kambili and Jaja are used to. Though Catholic, it practices a completely different form of Catholicism, making for a happy, liberal place that encourages its members to speak their minds. In this nurturing environment both Kambili and Jaja become more open, more able to voice their own opinions. Importantly, also, while at Aunty Ifeoma’s, Kambili falls in love with a young priest, Father Amadi, which awakens her sense of her own sexuality. Ultimately, a critical mass is reached in terms of the lives of Kambili, Jaja and the existence of their family as it once was. Unable to cope with Eugene’s continual violence, Beatrice poisons him. Jaja takes the blame for the crime and ends up in prison. In the meantime, Aunty Ifeoma and her family go to America to live after she is unfairly dismissed from her job as lecturer at the University of Nigeria. The novel ends almost three years after these events, on a cautiously optimistic note. Kambili has become a young woman of eighteen, more confident than before, while her brother Jaja is about to be released from prison, hardened but not broken by his experience there. Their mother, Beatrice, having deteriorated psychologically to a great degree, shows small signs of improvement. In essence, a better future is possible for them all, though exactly what it might involve is an open question.

Purple Hibiscus

A Contract with the Earth''s is, broadly, a manifesto that challenges those on the right to provide a strategy for repairing the planet and calls on government to embrace the concept that a healthy environment is required for a healthy democracy and economy. This approach, alternately branded mainstream and entrepreneurial environmentalism by the authors, requires that companies should lead the way in environmental issues while governments provide them with incentives to reduce their carbon footprint. With its 10 "commandments", A Contract with the Earth calls for politicians to abandon adversarial politics and for business and conservationists to form compatible partnerships. In one of the book''s themes, Gingrich and Maple argue that environmental efforts shouldn''t be exclusive to one political philosophy and reject the idea that free enterprise and a cleaner world are opposing forces. The book generated a storm of media attention in late 2007 and early 2008 as the U.S. presidential campaign began to heat up. Gingrich in particular made numerous media appearances arguing that the Republican Party was losing popular support because their response to environmental policy was simply, as he put it, "NO!" Maple toured the country as Gingrich''s stand-in, most notably before the Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP, www.repamerica.org) during their annual meeting (at which John McCain was endorsed as the most "green" of the Republican presidential candidates). In 2008 Gingrich published another book that advocated oil drilling, Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less, and many pundits called his environmental commitment into question. However, this book''s fifth chapter provided an argument for environmental protection. Like many aspects of Gingrich''s career, his interest in environmental issues has generated controversy. The book, whose title is similar to Gingrich''s co-authored book Contract with America, criticizes the Democratic Party''s legislation and litigation on environmental protection issues.

A Contract with the Earth

The House of Mirth tells the story of Lily Bart, a woman who is torn between her desire for luxurious living and a relationship based on mutual respect and love. She sabotages all her possible chances for a wealthy marriage, loses the esteem of her social circle, and dies young, poor, and alone. Lily is initially of good social standing and rejects several offers of advantageous marriage. Lily''s social standing erodes when her friend Judy Trenor''s husband Gus gives Lily a large sum of money. Lily innocently accepts the money, believing that it is the return on investments he supposedly made for her. The rumors of this transaction, and of her mysterious visit to Gus in his city residence crack her social standing further. To escape the rumors and gossip, she accepts an invitation from Bertha Dorset to join her and her husband, George, on a cruise of Europe aboard their yacht the Sabrina. Unfortunately, while aboard the yacht, Bertha accuses Lily of adultery with George in order to shift societal attention from Bertha''s own infidelity with poet Ned Silverton. The ensuing scandal ruins Lily, leading her friends to abandon her and Aunt Peniston to disinherit her. Lily descends the social strata, working as a personal secretary until Bertha sabotages her position by turning her employers against her. Lily then takes a job as social secretary for a disreputable woman, but resigns after a friend of hers, Lawrence Selden, comes to rescue her from complete infamy. She then works in a millinery, but produces poorly and is let go at the end of the season. Simon Rosedale, the Jewish suitor who had proposed marriage to her when she was higher on the social scale tries to rescue her, but she is unwilling to meet his terms: to use love letters she bought which prove the affair Bertha Dorset and Selden had years earlier. Lily refrains for sake of Selden''s reputation, and secretly burns the letters when she visits Selden for one last time. Eventually Lily receives her $10,000 inheritance, which she uses to pay her debt to Trenor. Lily dies from an overdose, possibly accidental, of the sleeping draught to which she had become addicted. Hours later Selden comes to propose to her, but finds she has died. Only then is he able to be close to her in a way he never was able to when she was living and admit his true love for her.

The House of Mirth

A 14 year old David Morgan, handsome and academically gifted heir to a South African business empire and fortune, learns to fly with Barney Venter, a gruff but experienced ex-airline pilot. He realises that David is ''bird'' - blessed with a natural flying ability. David learns quickly and soon gains his pilot''s licence. After school, he opts to join the South African Air Force instead of going to university and business school. He impresses his Commanding Officer, the crusty Colonel Rastus Naude, who is disappointed when David decides not to accept a longer service contract and instead tries to seek out what he''s meant to do. He travels widely in Europe. In Spain, he meets Debra Mordechai, an attractive young Israeli writer and university lecturer, who''s traveling with her brother Joe and his fiancee Hannah. Debra rebuffs David''s advances and they part on bitter terms. David is drawn to Jerusalem to find her, and meets ''The Brig'', her father, General Mordechai, a plain-spoken pilot in the IDF and a senior staff officer. Learning that David has much experience on flying Mirage jets, he satisfies himself of David''s skills and then offers him a commission in the IDF. He accepts and is granted Israeli citizenship. He is plunged into Israel''s struggle for survival. David''s memories of his own (Jewish) mother and his growing passion for Debra make his involvement with this new country''s cause inescapable. He and Debra set up house together. But at Joe and Hannah''s wedding, a terrorist attack kills Hannah and Debra is left blind. In her grief, she rebuffs David, who only finds solace in the skies. He and Joe get into a dogfight with Russian-trained Syrian fighters. Joe''s plane is shot down and David, low on fuel and on the wrong side of the border, is forced to ditch. His jet catches fire and he is badly burned. A year later, after much plastic surgery and no longer the handsome man he was, David is forced to resign his commission on pain of a court-martial. He is now an outcast, as he had brought Israel to the brink of open war. He desperately seeks out Debra, and she is now willing to accept him back, not knowing what he now looks like. They marry, despite the misgivings and anger of ''The Brig'' and they travel to the now virtually derelict game lodge that David''s late father owned in the South African bush. Remembering all the poaching and ''sport'' killing that had happened there in his youth, he seeks out game warden Conrad Berg and offers the whole estate as a national park to serve as a haven for animals fleeing poachers. David falls foul of a particularly ruthless poacher and in the ensuing violence, Debra is badly injured. Pregnant, she loses the baby. But the injury has affected her brain and she can now sense some colours. They travel to Cape Town to consult a top ophthalmic surgeon, who decides to operate. The procedure is successful and Debra''s sight is restored. But she can now see how David really looks and in her panic, she rebuffs him. David is badly hurt and seeks consolation in the only place he feels safe - the sky. He plans to commit suicide by flying until his fuel runs out, but Debra''s father, who is visiting and has friends in Air Traffic Control, establishes radio contact with him and convinces him to return to Debra.

Eagle in the Sky

The novel''s protagonist, Laurence, is a hermaphrodite whose unsettled father, Paternus, decides to raise the child as a male, though "he" displays normative gender characteristics of both sexes. Laurence is sent off to college, where he excels in his studies, particularly the writing of poetry, a skill that inflames the passions of an older widow, Emma. Laurence, however, is not attracted to her, and even displays asexual tendencies. On the night of his graduation, Emma professes her love to him and, being told the truth of Laurence''s hermaphroditism, goes into a deep state of shock, and subsequently dies. Though it was Laurence who had stalled the consummation of their relationship, he nonetheless reacts emotionally, and returns home to his cold father. Here, Paternus displays the true level of repulsion he feels towards his child, as well as his regret that Laurence will never beget a male heir. He offers Laurence his inheritance in a premature bulk sum, if he allows Paternus to effectively disown him. Laurence vehemently rejects the offer, instead offering the money to his younger (and importantly gender-neutral) brother, Phil, with the hope that his brother will share his wealth upon their father''s death.

The Hermaphrodite

"Charlie" is the alias of the adolescent narrator of the novel, who is about to begin his first year of high school. The novel is presented through letters that Charlie writes to an anonymous friend, whom he hears girls at school talk about fondly. Charlie begins his freshman year apprehensive due to the death of his only good friend Michael, who committed suicide several months before. He does not feel that he can lean on his parents or older siblings for support, because they never truly understood him. He also explains that the only relative that he ever felt close to was his Aunt Helen, but she was killed in a car accident on his seventh birthday. Charlie soon befriends two seniors, Sam and her step-brother Patrick. Throughout the story, Sam, Patrick, and Charlie''s English teacher Bill introduce him to many new experiences and the letters he writes show his growth. In the end, he learns that he can go on life without being scared because he is a wallflower. Charlie writes about situations he gets into with his new friends including going to parties, seeing and performing in Rocky Horror Picture Show and going on his first date. Charlie also falls in love with Sam during the novel. He writes to his anonymous friend a lot about love. Besides his feelings for Sam, he also briefly dates Mary Elizabeth, another girl in their group of friends. In addition, Charlie writes about Patrick''s relationship with Brad, the quarterback of the football team, who is gay but still "in the closet". Another relationship discussed is his sister''s, who is dating a boy who Charlie witnessed hitting her, which Charlie is especially sensitive to as his Aunt Helen was abused. Charlie grows a lot during the story and learns how to participate in life. At the end of the summer, Patrick and Sam take Charlie through the tunnel again, this time, with Charlie standing in the truck bed.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

According to Pier Anthony''s newsletter,"Two to the Fifth" is "the story of Cyrus Cyborg, a playwright who is considered a catch by several of the lovely actresses in his plays. The Princess Rhythm, age twelve, confesses to having a crush on him. He refuses to take that seriously; she''s a child. Bad mistake; she''s also a Sorceress. Never antagonize a Sorceress of any age. She enchants herself to be ten years older, grabs him, and hauls him into a love spring. Gives one heroic ellipsis... And reverts to her normal age after an hour, leaving him hopelessly in love with a woman who won''t exist for another decade. But the stork, having received the signal, brings her a baby. There are reasons for the dread Adult Conspiracy that children don''t necessarily appreciate. Then it gets complicated. Even when unapproachably young—Cyrus naturally honors the Adult Conspiracy throughout—and with a daughter who can''t be explained to others, the princess proves to be a dangerously jealous lover, and Cyrus is constantly wary. Aside from this incidental interaction, there is the challenge of Ragna Roc, who means to take over Xanth in a dramatic final battle, or destroy it. He does have the power. The three princesses together, their magic cubed, take him on in the finale without any certainty of winning."

Two to the Fifth

Set in the 1930s it follows the misadventures of Fang Hung-chien, a bumbling everyman who wastes his time studying abroad, and secures a fake degree when learning he has run out of money and must return home to China. The first part of the novel is set on the boat home, where Fang courts two young ladies. Fang was the son of a country gentleman. A marriage had been arranged for him while at university, but the intended wife died before he could see her. After completing a degree in Chinese literature, he went to Europe where he studied at several universities without pursuing a degree. After being pressured by his family, he bought a fake degree from an American Irishman. The year was 1937, and Fang was returning to China from Europe along with other graduating Chinese students. One fellow traveler was Miss Su, in her late 20s. She is quite pretty in a thin and pallid style, but her choosy attitude towards men means she is still unattached and getting slightly desperate. Another young lady on board was Miss Pao, who tended towards the tanned and voluptuous. Fang pursued Miss Pao with some success during the voyage. However, when the boat reached Hong Kong, Miss Pao disembarked into the embrace of her fiancee, a middle-aged, balding doctor, and Fang realised he had been used. Fang then became more intimate with Miss Su. However, after they disembarked at Shanghai, Fang became occupied with finding a job, and attending matchmaking sessions arranged by his parents and former in-laws. After one failed attempt, Fang decided to contact Miss Su. While visiting her he also met her cousin, Miss T''ang, and another suitor of Miss Su''s. The second section follows his securing a teaching post at a new university - where his fake credentials are used to keep him in line, and in the third part, it centers on his disastrous marriage. The novel ends with his wife leaving him, while he listens to a clock chiming.

Fortress Besieged

An eccentric millionaire, Cadmus Cole, visits the newly-founded offices of Ellery Queen, Confidential Investigations, in a rare incidence of disembarkment from his yacht. The investigation company is actually the brainchild and sole responsibility of his partner, "Beau" Rummell, an established private eye. The eccentric Mr. Cole pays $15,000 as a retainer to hire Ellery Queen for an investigation—the details of which he refuses to divulge, saying only "You''ll know when the time comes." Upon his departure, he leaves behind a well-chewed fountain pen with which he''s signed the retainer cheque. Almost immediately, Ellery''s appendix bursts, and Cadmus Cole is reported dead and buried at sea. Rummell, in the guise of Ellery Queen, begins to investigate both the circumstances of Cole''s death and his heirs; he soon meets two beautiful young women and the case becomes complicated by romance and the appearance of a claimant under the will. When the claimant is murdered, and Rummell married to one of the beauties, the real Ellery Queen must take a hand and solve the case, using the vital clue of the chewed fountain pen.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Mission from Mount Yoda

By Paul Davids

Dawn Wind

By Rosemary Sutcliff

The Gates of Firestorm Peak

By Bruce R. Cordell

Purple Hibiscus

By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A Contract with the Earth

By Newt Gingrich

The House of Mirth

By Edith Wharton

Eagle in the Sky

No Author Listed

The Hermaphrodite

By Julia Ward Howe

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

By Stephen Chbosky

Two to the Fifth

By Piers Anthony

Fortress Besieged

By Qian Zhongshu

The Dragon's Teeth

By Frederic Dannay