Ray Richardson and his top team of architects have developed a super-smart building for Yue-Kong Yu''s business, the Yu Corporation. It is very much self-standing. It can clean itself, uses holograms as greeters in the reception, controls the lifts, toilets, and offices, and digitizes everyone''s voice on entry, to allow them to use voice activated services in the building such as lifts and doors. The whole system was given the name Abraham. Another key feature of Abraham was its ability to replicate itself, to adapt to modern office needs and objectives. This, however becomes a problem, when, before office work even starts in the Gridiron, Abraham start creating a new program named Isaac. This is deleted by computer programmers Yojo and Beech, with Beech actually reluctant to do so. Shortly after this, however, members of the Gridiron team begin to be suspiciously killed. These seem to be the fault of the protesters against the building who are outside, and Cheng Peng Fei is arrested on suspicion of one of the murders. Then, a routine inspection of the Gridiron involving Ray Richarson and his entire team (including Jenny Bao), ends in the whole group being locked in, and two policemen from LAPD Homicide coming to inspect the murder of Sam Glieg. After several more deaths from the team, Bob Beech discovers that during the self-replication that Abraham started, another program was created in the process, namely, Ishmael. This program escaped the deletion process by integrating itself with a video game which was on the Gridiron''s system. Ishmael now believes that he is in a game, and the objective is to kill all human players before one escapes, or before time runs out. The majority of the team are killed, leaving Mitch, Jenny, Helen, and Frank to escape the Gridiron moments before it destroys itself (time has run out). Ishmael, however, had e-mailed himself to an unknown location, thus saving himself from the destruction of the building.

Gridiron

In the first book, a wealthy arms manufacturer, Dr Baines, comes to a black magician, Theron Ware. Initially Baines tests Ware''s credentials by asking for two people to be killed, first the Governor of California, Rogan (Reagan was governor at the time of writing) and then a rival physicist. When this accomplished to Baines'' satisfaction Baines reveals his real reason: he wishes to release all the demons from hell for one night to see what might happen. The book includes a lengthy description of the summoning ritual, and a detailed (and as accurate as possible, given the available literature) description of the grotesque figures of the demons as they appear. Tension between white magicians (who appear to have a line of communications with the unfallen host in heaven) and Ware is woven over the terms and conditions of a magical covenant that is designed to provide for observers and limitations. Black Easter ends with Baphomet announcing to the participants that the demons can not be compelled to return to hell: the War is over, and God is dead. The Day After Judgement, which follows in the series, develops and extends the characters from the first book. It suggests that God may not be dead, or that demons may not be inherently self-destructive, as something appears to be restraining the actions of the demons upon Earth. In a lengthy Miltonian speech at the end of the novel, Satan Mekratrig explains that, compared to humans, demons are good, and that if perhaps God has withdrawn Himself, then Satan beyond all others was qualified to take His place and, if anything, would be a more just god. However, the defeat of Satan is complete - He cannot take up this throne, and must hand the burning keys to Man, as this is the most fell of all his fell damnations - He never wanted to be God at all, and so having won all, all has He lost.

Black Easter

Sophos, Magus''s once studious protégé, finds himself much out of his element as he and his family are ambushed in his villa. Surprising both his attackers and himself, Sophos at first succeeds in evading his attackers and hiding his mother and sisters, but is soon betrayed by his servants. Mistakenly sold into slavery, he finds himself content with manual labor and forms an unlikely camaraderie with the other slaves and workhands. However, eventually, when faced with a choice between a life of contentment or one of influence, capable of making changes much needed by Sounis, he chooses the latter, all the while wondering "if people always choose what will make them unhappy." Soon after a harrowing escape from the Baron who enslaved him, Sophos unexpectedly finds himself the King of Sounis. The state he has inherited is far from ideal. Not only is Sounis deadlocked in war with Attolia, it is also being torn from the inside by internal discontent and a civil war. With neither the monetary resources nor the man power to properly secure his throne, he is faced with several options, each with heavy consequences. Aided by the Magus, Sophos decides to turn to his old friend: Eugenides, the Thief of Eddis, with whom Sophos traveled years before and who is now the King of Attolia.

A Conspiracy of Kings

The novel follows multiple narratives written in the stream of consciousness format. The novel is set during the early 1980s whilst Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was introducing the infitah or open door free-market economic policies which led to widespread unrest. The plot revolves around a young Egyptian man who is in love with a co-worker, but her father will not permit their marriage because the young man cannot earn enough money to purchase and furnish an apartment. Eventually their engagement is called off, and the woman is engaged to their boss. In a fit of rage and despair, the protagonist murders his boss on the same day that Sadat is assassinated by terrorists, and the two narratives are intertwined. Hearing the news of the President''s death is the catalyst for the protagonist''s decision to kill his employer. The grandfather of the protagonist reflects on the generational gap in Egypt throughout the novel. Like many of Mahfouz''s novels, the book uses Egyptian history and society to analyze universal themes such as the relationship between love and economics, familiar relationships, death, and the irrationality of human emotion.

The Day the Leader was Killed

Pemberton, a penniless graduate of Oxford, takes a job to tutor Morgan Moreen, aged eleven, a brilliant and somewhat cynical member of a wandering American family. His mother and father refuse to pay Pemberton as they jump their bills from one hotel to another in Europe. Pemberton grows to dislike all the Moreens except Morgan, including older brother Ulick and sisters Paula and Amy. Morgan, who is afflicted with heart trouble, advises Pemberton to escape his family''s baleful influence. But Pemberton stays on because he has come to love and admire his pupil and he hopes for at least some eventual payment. Pemberton finally has to take another tutoring job in London simply to make ends meet. He is summoned back to Paris, though, by a telegram from the Moreens that says Morgan has fallen ill. It turns out that Morgan is healthy enough, though the fatal day arrives when his family is evicted from their hotel for nonpayment. Morgan''s parents beg Pemberton to take their son away with him while they try to find some money. Morgan is ecstatic at the prospect of leaving with Pemberton, but the tutor hesitates. Morgan suddenly collapses with a heart attack and dies. In the story''s ironic final note, James says that Morgan''s father takes his son''s death with the perfect manner of "a man of the world."

The Pupil

MacDonald begins her book with a summary description of her childhood and family. Her father was an engineer, and moved frequently with his family throughout the West. Her mother''s theory that a wife must support her husband in his career comes into play when the author marries a friend of her brother ("Bob") who soon admits that his dream is to leave his current office job and start a chicken ranch. Knowing nothing about ranching, but eager to support her husband, the author encourages the dream but is unprepared for the primitive conditions that exist on the ranch he purchases. From this "set up" the book turns to anecdotal stories that rely upon the proverbial "fish out of water" tales that pit MacDonald against her situation and her surroundings, such as the struggle to keep up with the need for water, which needs to be hand carried from a pond to the house until a tank is installed or keeping a fire going in "Stove" or the constant care that chicks need. At one point a guest expresses envy of MacDonald and her husband, as she thinks they live a life full of fresh air and beautiful scenery, which is then followed by MacDonald pointing out that while the guest had lounged in bed that morning, she and her husband had been up before sunrise working for several hours, and then again the couple had stayed up long into the night after the guest had gone to bed.

The Egg and I

The story is told in the form of a series of journal entries made by Beka Cooper as she trains to become a Dog, a nickname for the guards in the employ of the Lord Provost of Tortall, with a prelude taken from Eleni Cooper''s diary in which she relates Beka''s story to her son George. Beka is also the surrogate daughter of the Provost, having helped him capture a band of dangerous criminals when she was only 8 years old. Lord Gershom adopts her, her mother, and her brothers and sisters from the "scummer" life of Mutt Piddle Lane, where the very poor lived. Beka begins her training assigned as a Puppy, or a Dog in his or her first year of training, to two revered senior Dogs in the Lower City: Clara "Clary" Goodwin and Matthias "Mattes" Tunstall. Though the Dogs are initially unsure of their new charge, Beka proves to be a valuable resource, although she is extremely shy and has a hard time speaking in front of people. Through Beka''s unusual magical abilities, she is able to hear the voices of ghosts who ride the backs of pigeons until they are ready to enter the Peaceful Realms of the Black God (the god of death,) and hear snippets of conversations that may contain valuable information caught by "dust spinners", swirls of breeze and dirt mixed from the city streets. From these sources she learns of two grave threats to the Lower City. One is the Shadow Snake. Old bedtime tales featured the Shadow Snake as something to instill good behaviors into children. However, a ruthless killer who abducts children has taken on the name, and uses the threat of harming the children to force their parents to give up their most prized valuable possessions, killing the kidnapped children if the price is not paid. The other threat is an unknown party who keeps hiring digging crews to search for fire opals,(rare and extremely expensive stones that not only have irresistible beauty, but supply mages with a certain power) swearing the workers to secrecy, and killing them when the job is done. Beka''s determination to see both parties brought to justice will place her in the middle of a power struggle in Tortall''s underworld. Beka''s cat, Pounce, helps Beka throughout the book. Pounce has purple eyes and is it has been observed that he may be god marked. Tamora Pierce has noted in her blog that Pounce is the same character known as Faithful, Alanna''s cat in the Song of the Lioness quartet. It is worth noting that the first name that is suggested for Faithful was "Pounce." However, in the second novel in this series it is revealed that Pounce is actually a constellation, not a god. However, he has the ability to speak, hear Beka''s thoughts at close range when she wishes, and perform tasks most cats cannot. Crookshank''s (Crookshank being a landlord who owns most property in the Lower City and is hated by everyone for his unfairly high rates and his cruel retaliation when rent cannot be paid) grandson, Roland, is killed by the alleged Shadow Snake. Beka is best friends with Tansy, Crookshank''s daughter-in-law, which helps Beka gain extra information about what is going on in the household. Through her training as a Dog, her time spent with pigeons and Dust Spinners, and with the help of her friends Kora, Rosto, and Aniki (a mage, rusher, and a sword fighter who work for the Rogue, the king of crime in the city) Beka gains information about the opals and the Shadow Snake. She soon discovers that it is Crookshank who has been hiring the diggers to be murdered, and the Shadow Snake is demanding a large number of fire opals. After Crookshank''s son has also been taken by the Snake, and he still refuses to pay up, Beka and her Dogs discover the culprit- or at least who they think is the culprit. The son of Mistress Noll, a local baker, who suicides instead of allowing himself to be captured. Beka goes to tell Mistress Noll the news and discovers it was not her son, but the mother who was the Snake, and the angry baker woman sends a curse flying at Beka. However, Pounce gets in the way and swallows the curse, giving Beka time to arrest Mistress Noll, who is later brought to justice for her crimes. Crookshank later dies in a riot, and Rosto, Beka''s rusher friend, becomes Rogue.

Terrier

In the summer of 1915, Beata Wittgenstein falls in love with a young Catholic French officer and follows her heart to be with him against the wishes of her Jewish Orthodox family and decides to live with him in Switzerland till World War 1 ends. After the war gets over, she goes back to Germany with her husband Antoine and her 2 year old daughter Amadea. They begin a peaceful life and after 8 years, she has her second daughter, Daphne. Antoine dies soon after his father''s death and his fortune as a Count is passed on to Beata, allowing her to take care of her family for years. However, after the death of her husband, she drifts away from her daughters and it is only when Amadea decides to become a nun, that she realizes her duty. As the war threatens her daughters, Beata''s views of the future change. She is not discovered as a Jewish-born, but when a woman from her past recognizes her, Beata and Daphne are arrested and die in a concentration camp. Amadea, a Carmelite nun is saved as she had stayed in the convent but is still forced into hiding as her friends disappear without a trace. She is sent to a concentration camp and escapes with the help of a German soldier. But, when he tries to rape her, she kills him and flees the country with the help of Partisans. As she flees and crosses the country ravaged by war, she decides to become an agent and falls for a British secret agent Rupert Montgomery. In love, Amadea begins to understand the ways of life and how love can echo through the generations.

Echoes

Britain is ruled by the children of Llyr and Penarddun, the giant King Bran and his siblings Branwen and Manawyddan, together with their younger half-brothers Nissyen and Evnissyen, the offspring of Penarddun and Euroswydd. Branwen is given in marriage to Matholuch, king of Ireland. Angry that he was not consulted, Evnissyen, a tragic and haunted figure, insults Matholuch by mutilating his horses. Bran placates the Irish king by compensating him with new horses and treasure, including a magical cauldron which can restore the dead to life. Back in Ireland, Matholuch and Branwen have a son, Gwern, but Evnissyen''s insult continues to rankle the Irish and Branwen is banished to the kitchen and beaten every day. Finally she gets a message to Bran, who responds by making war on Matholuch. His army sails across the Irish Sea, but Bran is so huge he wades across. The fearful Matholuch offers peace and agrees to step aside as king of Ireland in favor of Gwern. Matholwch builds a house big enough to entertain Bran. His followers, unrepentant, conceal themselves in the house inside a hanging hundred bags, supposedly containing flour. Evnissyen, suspecting treachery, reconnoitres the hall and kills the hidden warriors by crushing their heads inside the bags. Later, at the feast, the angry Evnissyen throws Gwern into the fire, precipitating a battle. The fighting goes against Bran''s forces, as the Irish use the magic cauldron to revive their dead. Evnissyen hides among the corpses to have himself thrown in the cauldron, which destroys it, although the effort costs him his life and comes too late for the combatants, almost all of whom are now dead. Only Branwen and seven of Bran''s followers survive, notably Manawyddan and Pryderi, prince of Dyved. Bran himself is mortally wounded. Bran instructs his mourning companions to cut off his head and take it back to Britain. Branwen dies on their return, grief-struck from the ruin caused on her account. Bran''s head, magically preserved, continues to live for a time, comforting and entertaining his adherents in a series of enchanted feasts before burial. Of all the children of Llyr only Manawyddan remains.

The Children of Llyr

Ursule is the legitimate daughter of the widower Dr Denis Minoret’s deceased illegitimate brother-in-law by marriage, Joseph Mirouët; not only is she the doctor’s niece, she is also his goddaughter and ward. Fifteen years old when the novel begins, she has been brought up by the doctor. Dr Minoret, an atheist rather than an agnostic, and a devoted student of the Encyclopédie, has persisted in his rationalistic atheism for most of his eighty-three years. At the beginning of the novel he is, however, converted to Christianity – emotionally by the example of Ursule’s piety, and intellectually by his experience of animal magnetism, or the paranormal, and by his longstanding friendship with Abbé Chaperon. Dr Minoret is determined that Ursule shall inherit all the savings he has accumulated during his lifetime. He intends, on the other hand, to bequeath the remainder (approximately half) of his total fortune of about 1,500,000 francs to his “héritiers”, nephews and cousins of his own bloodline who are members of the Minoret, Crémière and Massin families. Discontented with their inheritance prospects, the “heirs” seek to grab the whole of their wealthy relative’s fortune, enlisting the help of the notary’s clerk Goupil. The doctor conceals a letter of testamentary intention in a legal volume in his library. This, together with three bearer bonds, is stolen by one of the doctor’s nephews, the postmaster François Minoret-Levrault, who, in the era before railways, owns and manages the carriage and postchaise services in and out of Nemours. The doctor dies, leaving Ursule much poorer than he had intended, for her inheritance would have become her dowry. Despite their best efforts – ransacking all the books in his library – the “heirs” (or “family”) cannot find the clue to the money. But remorse strikes Minoret-Levrault, and the doctor, appearing to him in a vision, instructs him to make good his theft. By an act of poetic justice the postmaster’s dandyish son Désiré Minoret-Levrault is killed in a stagecoach accident. Ursule marries the man of her dreams, the young Army officer Viscount Savinien de Portenduère.

Ursule Mirouët

Fleurette is a beautiful, innocent country girl who has been protected by her indulgent, wealthy father from the worst horrors of the revolution. Her father Citizen Armand, whom she calls Bibi, is frequently away from home because of his exalted position in the government, but he dotes on her and showers her with gifts and affection during his infrequent visits to their house at Lou Mas, in Dauphiné near Larangne. As Fleurette''s mother is dead, she is looked after by Old Louise the housekeeper when Bibi is away. She also spends much time at the Frontenac family farm and is in love with her childhood sweetheart Amédé, the son of the local épicier M''sieu'' Colombe. Amédé is now twenty and will soon be leaving the village to become a soldier and fight the English. On Fleurette''s 18th birthday, Bibi comes home to visit and all seems perfect in Fleurette''s world. Yet, although the horrors of the Revolution appear far away, in reality they are nearby, for a group of soldiers has arrived in the village to arrest the Frontenac family at their chateau. When the soldiers arrive at the farm they discover that Madame de Frontenac and her crippled daughter Rose have disappeared. Only Charles de Frontenac, farmer and descendant of a long line of aristocrats, is at the house. They turn the house over looking for his wife and daughter with no success for the Scarlet Pimpernel has beaten them to it. Meanwhile, oblivious to what is happening at the farm, Fleurette hears a mysterious voice that tells her "Papers and valuables are behind the panel in Madame''s room" She realises that &#39;Madame&#39; is Madame de Frontenac and rushes excitedly to the chateau, thinking that the message is from St. Antoine, and that perhaps Madame has mislaid some papers. She arrives at the farm to discover the soldiers have trashed the place. Remembering a secret cupboard that Madame had shown her and Rose, Fleurette takes a wallet, a money-bag and a small casket and hides them in her pockets and under her shawl. She is just about to leave for home when she runs into her father standing by the stables with a tricolour sash around his waist. She gets away without him discovering what she has been doing and gives the items to her lover Amédé to hide in his father&#39;s tool shed. The next day, a group of soldiers arrive to search the Colombe&#39;s premises, having been tipped off that the items are there. They find the items and march off with Amédé, M. de Frontenac, and the soldiers who were there before. It&#39;s not long before Fleurette hears that Amédé has been accused of theft and, determined to clear his name, she takes old Louise and searches for her father to explain what really happened in the hope that he can intervene. She eventually finds him down in Orange at the Commission, for her father is none other than Citizen Armand Chauvelin, the arch-enemy of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Chauvelin may be ruthless and merciless, but it appears that he can also be gentle and caring where Fleurette is concerned. It turns out that the soldiers who took Amédé, M. de Frontenac were actually the &#39;English spies&#39; and he is terrified of what might happen to Fleurette after he hears her story. It is not long before Chauvelin&#39;s fears come true as Lieutenant Godot, whom Chauvelin has threatened to denounce for losing the prisoners to the Scarlet Pimpernel, brings Fleurette in front of the Committee on a charge of treason. To make matters worse there is a witness: Old Louise&#39;s daughter Adele who has always resented Fleurette&#39;s wealthy lifestyle. With his daughter apparently trapped by laws that he had helped to create, Chauvelin is determined to save her, thinking even now that if only he can capture the Scarlet Pimpernel, perhaps he would be able to trade the Englishman for his daughter&#39;s life. Despite his best efforts to forestall the inevitable process of trial and guillotine from happening to his beloved daughter the day arrives when Fleurette must face condemnation from her own father. After suffering intense mental anguish for weeks it finally occurs to Chauvelin that he may have to turn to his bitter enemy for help; for surely the Scarlet Pimpernel is the only person who can save Fleurette - but will Sir Percy be willing to help his enemy&#39;s child considering Chauvelin&#39;s previous treatment of Lady Blakeney? de:The Scarlet Pimpernel fr:Le Mouron rouge

Sir Percy Hits Back

The story focuses on the Explorer, who is encountering the brutal machine for the first time. Everything about the machine and its purpose is told to him by the Officer, while the Soldier and the Condemned (who is unaware that he has been sentenced to die) placidly watch nearby. The Officer tells of the religious epiphany the executed experience in their last six hours in the machine. Eventually it becomes clear that the use of the machine, and its associated process of justice where the accused is always instantly found guilty and the law he has broken is inscribed on his body before ultimately killing him, has fallen out of favor with the current Commandant. The Officer is nostalgic regarding the torture machine and the values that were initially associated with it. As the last proponent of the machine, he strongly believes in its form of justice and the infallibility of the previous Commandant, who designed and built the device. In fact, the Officer carries its blueprints with him and is the only person who can properly decipher them; no one else is allowed to handle these documents. The Officer begs the Explorer to speak to the current Commandant on behalf of the machine''s continued use. He refuses to do so. He says he will not speak against it publicly, but he will give his opinion to the Commandant privately, and will leave before he can be called to give an official account. With this, the Officer frees the Condemned and sets up the machine for himself, with the words "Be Just" to be written on him. However, the machine malfunctions due to its advanced state of disrepair; instead of its usual elegant operation, it quickly stabs the Officer to death, denying him the mystical experience of the prisoners he executed. Accompanied by the Soldier and the Condemned, the Explorer makes his way to a tea house in which he is shown the grave of the old Commandant. Its stone is set so low that a table can easily be placed over it; the inscription states his followers'' belief that he will rise from the dead someday and take control of the colony once more. As the Explorer prepares to leave by boat, the Soldier and the Condemned try to board but are repelled by the Explorer himself.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Gridiron

By Philip Kerr

Black Easter

By James Blish

A Conspiracy of Kings

By Megan Whalen Turner

The Day the Leader was Killed

By Naguib Mahfouz

The Pupil

By Henry James

The Egg and I

By Betty MacDonald

Terrier

By Tamora Pierce

Echoes

By Danielle Steel

The Children of Llyr

By Evangeline Walton

Ursule Mirouët

By Honoré de Balzac

Sir Percy Hits Back

By Baroness Emma Orczy

In the Penal Colony

By Franz Kafka