The story begins in the year 1910, when this young man is undertaking a lone hiking trip through Provence, France, and into the Alps, enjoying the relatively unspoiled wilderness. The narrator runs out of water in a treeless, desolate valley where only wild lavender grows and there is no trace of civilization except old, empty crumbling buildings. The narrator finds only a dried up well, but is saved by a middle-aged shepherd who takes him to a spring he knows of. Curious about this man and why he has chosen such a lonely life, the narrator stays with him for a time. The shepherd, after being widowed, has decided to restore the ruined landscape of the isolated and largely abandoned valley by single-handedly cultivating a forest, tree by tree. The shepherd, Elzéard Bouffier, makes holes in the ground with his curling pole and drops into the holes acorns that he has collected from many miles away. The narrator leaves the shepherd and returns home, and later fights in the First World War. In 1920, shell-shocked and depressed after the war, the man returns. He is surprised to see young saplings of all forms taking root in the valley, and new streams running through it where the shepherd has made dams higher up in the mountain. The narrator makes a full recovery in the peace and beauty of the regrowing valley, and continues to visit Bouffier every year. Bouffier is no longer a shepherd, because he is worried about the sheep affecting his young trees, and has become a bee keeper instead. Over four decades, Bouffier continues to plant trees, and the valley is turned into a kind of Garden of Eden. By the end of the story, the valley is vibrant with life and is peacefully settled. The valley receives official protection after the First World War. (the authorities mistakenly believe that the rapid growth of this forest is a bizarre natural phenomenon, as they are unaware of Bouffier''s selfless deeds), and more than 10,000 people move there, all of them unknowingly owing their happiness to Bouffier. The narrator tells one of his friends in the government the truth about the natural forest, and the friend also helps protect the forest. The narrator visits the now very old Bouffier one last time in 1945. In a hospice in Banon, in 1947, the man who planted trees peacefully passes away.

The Man Who Planted Trees

The plot concerns four college students who discover a manuscript, The Book of Skulls, dealing with an order of monks living in a monastery in the Arizona desert, whose members have the power to bestow immortality on those who complete their bizarre initiation rite. The boys travel to the monastery, where they are accepted as a "Receptacle," and told that for each group of four who agree to undergo the ritual, two must die in order for the others to succeed - one must sacrifice himself, and the other must be sacrificed. The narrative switches back and forth between the viewpoints of the four students as each confronts his personal demons on the way to completing the ritual. Ned, who is openly homosexual, must face his guilt over the tragic aftermath of one of his affairs; Eli, the gifted (but socially inept) young man who discovered the manuscript, makes a confession that could destroy his academic career; Timothy, star athlete and prodigal son of a wealthy family, confronts a terrible sin from his past involving his younger sister; and Oliver, the farm kid from the wrong side of the tracks, comes face to face with his own true innermost nature. The Book of Skulls has been republished as part of the series SF Masterworks.

The Book of Skulls

The story opens when the Providers, the invisible and unidentified rulers of all the Zones, order that Al•Ith, queen of the peaceful paradise of Zone Three, marry Ben Ata, king of the militarized and repressive Zone Four. Al•Ith is repulsed by the idea of consorting with a barbarian, and Ben Ata does not want a righteous queen disturbing his military campaigns. Nevertheless, Al•Ith descends to Zone Four and they reluctantly marry. Ben Ata is not used to the company of women he cannot control, and Al•Ith has difficulty relating to this ill-bred man, but in time they grow accustomed to each other and gain new insights into each other''s Zones. Al•Ith is appalled that all of Zone Four''s wealth goes into its huge armies, leaving the rest of its population poor and underdeveloped. Ben Ata is astounded by the fact that Zone Three has no army at all. The marriage bears a son, Arusi, the future heir to the two Zones. Some of the women of Zone Four, led by Dabeeb (wife of Jarnti, Ben Ata''s commander-in-chief), step in to help Al•Ith. Suppressed and downtrodden, these women relish being in the presence of the queen of Zone Three. But soon after the birth of Arusi, and just when Al•Ith and Ben Ata are growing fond of each other, the Providers order Al•Ith back to Zone Three and Ben Ata to marry Vahshi, the queen of the primitive Zone Five. Both are devastated by this news. Back in Zone Three, Al•Ith finds that not only have her people forgotten her, her sister, Murti• has taken over as queen. Disturbed by the changes she sees in Al•Ith, Murti• exiles her to the frontier of Zone Two. Al•Ith, drawn by its allure, tries to enter Zone Two, but finds an unworldly and inhospitable place and is told by invisible people that it is not her time yet. At the frontier of Zone Five, Ben Ata reluctantly marries Vahshi, a tribal leader of a band of nomads who terrorise the inhabitants of Zone Five. But Ben Ata''s marriage to Al•Ith has changed him and he disbands most of his armies, sending the soldiers home to rebuild their towns and villages and uplift their communities. He also slowly wins over Vahshi''s confidence and persuades her to stop plundering Zone Five. When Arusi is old enough to travel, Dabeeb and her band of women decide to take him to Zone Three to see Al•Ith. This cross-border excursion is not ordered by the Providers and Ben Ata has grave misgivings about their decision. In Zone Three the women are shocked to find the deposed Al•Ith working in a stable near Zone Two. While Al•Ith is pleased to see her son, she too has misgivings about Dabeeb''s action. The bumptious women''s travels through Zone Three evoke feelings of xenophobia in the locals. After five years of silence, the Providers instruct Ben Ata to go and see Al•Ith. But at the border he is surprised to find a band of Zone Three youths armed with crude makeshift weapons blocking his way. Clearly they want no more incursions from Zone Four. Ben Ata returns with a large army and enters Zone Three unchallenged. While he is not well received, he discovers that Al•Ith has a small but growing band of followers who have moved to the frontier of Zone Two to be close to her. When Ben Ata finds Al•Ith they are reunited like old lovers. He tells her of the reforms he has introduced in Zone Four and his taming of the "wild one" from Zone Five. One day, and not unexpectedly, Al•Ith visits Zone Two and does not return. But the changes set in motion by the two marriages are now evident everywhere. The frontiers between Zones Three, Four and Five are open and people and knowledge are flowing between them. Previously stagnant, the three Zones are now filled with enquiry, inspiration and renewal.

The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five

Christie Malry, being a "simple man", above all longs for sex and money. In order to understand how money works, he takes a job in a London bank. This leads him to enrol in a bookkeeping course, where he learns the double-entry system. Bored by his bank job, he quits and starts work at Tapper''s, a sweet factory. One day, he has the idea to apply the double-entry system to his life. Every aggravation Malry suffers from society—such as being forced to walk along a particular stretch of pavement due to a building''s placement—is revenged by a recompense—in this case, "[scratching] an unsightly line about a yard long into the blackened portland stone facing of the office block" (23–4). Having established this system, and growing progressively angry at society, Malry graduates from minor acts of personal revenge (mostly vandalism) to large-scale terrorism: bombing hoaxes, an actual bombing, and poisoning West London''s drinking water. Shortly before he manages to bomb the House of Commons, he dies of cancer. Christie compares himself to "Guy Fawkes, with the difference that he was caught" and strictly follows a code of twelve principles. The first principle, "I am a cell of one" (89), forbids him from discussing his actions with anyone else, not even with his few friends or with the Shrike, his beloved girlfriend.

Christie Malry''s Own Double-Entry

The Vom is an intergalactic intelligence described as a large black blob not unlike a gigantic amoeba, impervious to almost all energy and physical attack. Following years of battle with the Tar-Aiym it has sheltered on a planet where it has gone dormant for 500,000 years, waiting for an opportunity to escape the Tar-Aiym Guardian orbiting in space above it. Carmot MMYM a commander in the AAnn Empire discovers the Vom and brings it to the planet Repler for study at a concealed AAnn base. Lieutenants Kitten “Kitty” Kai-sung, a female human, and Porsupah, a male Tolian, of the Intelligence Arm of the United Church have been sent to Repler to investigate the newly re-established trade in the drug bloodhype (aka jaster, silly salt, brain-up, phinto) as the most deadly and addictive drug in and outside the Humanx Commonwealth. Once on Repler they make contact with the drug trader Dominick Rose who are using Captain Malcolm Hammurabi and his ship, the Umbra, as unwitting transporters of bloodhype. This trio tracks Rose to his base where they encounter Flinx, currently in Rose’s employ, who helps them escape when Rose’s men capture the agents. After reporting Rose’s activities to the United Church, Rose escapes to the AAnn base right before the AAnn lose control of the Vom. Meanwhile, the agents have enlisted the help of Rose’s brother who has discovered the Tar-Aiym Guardian and his machine now orbiting above Repler. With the assistance of Flinx’s psychic abilities the Guardian prepares to fight the Vom again, while Kitty, Porsupah, and Mal prepare a raid on the AAnn base to capture Rose. The Vom escapes and the Guardian is forced to fight it in a psychic battle, but is slowly losing until Kitty and Mal manage to recover Rose’s supply of bloodhype and use it to poison the Vom. Now weakened, the Vom succumbs to the Tar-Aiym Guardian. After the battle the Guardian self-destructs, Flinx leaves Repler on his ship Teacher, Porsupah gets drunk, while Mal and Kitty start a romantic relationship.

Bloodhype

At Hendricks School for Boys, Luke Garner has managed to adjust to his new life as Lee Grant, having adopted this fake name when he came out of hiding. Things change when the Grants, a prominent Baron family who donated the name of their son when he died in a ski accident, decide to send the real Lee''s brother, Smithfield (a.k.a. Smits), to the school and visit "Lee". Smits is troubled by the death of his brother, and tells Luke, the new Lee, his stories of times he and the real Lee spent together. But when Smits wants to get rid of his bodyguard, he sets the school on fire. After the fire, Luke is sent to search Smit''s room and discovers two fake IDs in Smits'' room: one with Smits'' picture labeled Peter Goodard, the other had no picture and was labeled Stanley Goodard. Luke is soon caught up in a complicated web of lies in a world where he is completely unprotected from anything that will prove he is an illegal third child. He has no idea who he can trust, especially Smits and his bodyguard, Oscar Wydell, and as a member of the Grant family in name, Luke is in an incredible amount of danger. Furthermore, the Grant family selfishly desires to express their grief over the real Lee''s death by faking "Lee''s" death and send Luke back into hiding once again. The return of "Lee" (with a few changes made by the Grants'' services) and Smits is celebrated by a party at the Grant''s house. At the party, Oscar attempts to assassinate the President, who started the war, and Luke who is saved by Trey. The President was in a different location at the time. Smits''s parents are both killed by a falling chandelier. Smits, Luke, and some of Luke''s friends escape, dropping Smits and Luke off at Luke''s house. Trey grabs some documents which he thinks are important and which he will use in Among the Brave. Smits and Luke are then welcomed back by Luke''s family. Smits stays with Luke''s family as a sort of fourth son that they had never been able to have. Luke then leaves with more unanswered questions. He feels that he did something right for Smits even though he didn''t do anything much for his cause. The book ends with Trey, Nina, Joel, and John at Mr. Talbot''s home, seeking answers and safety, and Luke leaving off at his house. vi:Ở giữa Bọn Tư Bản

Among the Barons

James Vaughan and Hugh Prentice are the two junior partners of the law practice of Prentice, Prentice & Vaughan and its senior partner, Hugh''s uncle Charles Prentice. Hugh and his fiance Helen are in Hugh''s office, which is littered with detective stories; a French-speaking Arab who calls himself Abu of Ispahan arrives and asks for an appointment to discuss a private matter. Helen leaves, and Hugh must deliver a brief to famed defense lawyer Patrick Butler. Since Abu wishes to deal with no one except "Meester Pren-tees", Hugh asks him to wait for forty-five minutes; before Hugh leaves, Abu announces "All my troubles have been caused by your gloves." Hugh goes down the hall to speak with James Vaughan. When they hear a scream, both rush back to Hugh''s office to find Abu stabbed; he has just enough time and breath to gasp "Your gloves" in French before he expires. Hugh immediately enlists the help of Patrick Butler, who is accompanied by the upper-crust Lady Pamela de Saxe. The three, with occasional assistance from Helen, embark upon a series of breakneck escapes from the police and Hugh''s strait-laced uncle while they gather evidence (including the beautiful stage magician Cécile Feyoum, Abu''s widow). In the course of the evening, Hugh falls out of love with Helen and into love with Pam, and at the night''s climax Patrick Butler calls everyone together and reveals the name of the murderer, and the meaning of the gloves.

Patrick Butler for the Defense

Brambleclaw, Squirrelpaw, Crowpaw, Stormfur and Tawnypelt have returned to the Clans from a quest with a message: the Clans must move to a new home, or risk death. The destruction of the forest has already begun, with the Clans starving as the food supply has been cut off and their habitat destroyed by the humans building a new road. At the same time, cats are being taken away by humans, including a ThunderClan apprentice, Leafpaw. A patrol is sent to rescue the captured cats, but Graystripe is captured after he succeeds in rescuing Leafpaw and other cats from RiverClan and WindClan, as well as many non-Clan cats. It is difficult for Firestar, ThunderClan''s leader, to convince ShadowClan and RiverClan to leave. Finally, RiverClan decides to leave when their river becomes poisoned by humans. ShadowClan also agrees to leave when a tree cut down by humans falls in their camp. While trying help ShadowClan, Firestar loses his fourth life when a tree falls on him. Midnight, an intelligent badger from the pervious book, had told the questing cats that a "dying warrior" will show the Clans the way to their new home. The dying warrior turns out to be the spirit of Mudfur, the RiverClan medicine cat who died earlier. As the Clans'' spiritual ancestors are represented by the star, Mudfur "runs" though the night sky as a shooting star and drops behind the mountains, showing the new territory will be beyond the mountains. The Clans travel together through the mountains, guided by Brambleclaw, Squirrelpaw, Crowpaw, Tawnypelt, and Stormfur. While in the mountains, the Clans meet the Tribe of Rushing Water and Stormfur chooses to stay with the Tribe with Brook Where Small Fish Swim, whom he has fallen in love with, and his sister, Feathertail''s, spirit. Near the end of the book, Squirrelpaw confesses her love to Brambleclaw and he confesses that he loves her back. At the end of the book, the Clans discover a forest around a lake that reflects all of the stars.

Dawn

The Hatcher and Tubman families decide to spend their summer vacation together in Maine, not next door to each other, but in the same house, much to the disgust of Peter Hatcher and his arch-rival Sheila Tubman. Fudge plans to marry Sheila Tubman and Peter is disgusted. It took ten hours for the Hatcher family to drive to Maine. Jimmy Fargo (Peter''s friend) is able to come for a week, with his father, Frank Fargo. Sheila also plans to have a friend come named Mouse Ellis who is weird, but she catches Chickenpox and is unable to do so. Fudge meets a girl named Mitzi, who has a baseball glove she calls her "mitzi" and she also has a book about her called "Tell me a Mitzi." Fudge gets his own "mitzi" and Peter goes with him to the library that day. Fudge could not find the book he wanted, so they ask a librarian named Isobel. Peter falls in love with her and cannot stop thinking about her. Peter asks Fudge why he wants to marry Sheila in the first place, which was because he wanted her to protect him from " scary creepy monsters." Fudge quickly postpones the wedding because he has his own can of " Mitzi''s monster spray" and it is solved. The Hatchers and Tubmans are related at the end of the story because their grandparents, Muriel and Buzzy, got married. Peter''s brother, Fudge, no longer plans to be a bird when he grows up, but instead a bird breeder, or as he mispronounces it, "bird breather", to which Sheila immediately corrects him by saying he cannot breathe for birds. Other subplots include Tootsie accidentally helping Mr. Fargo''s art business when she toddles across his work and Fudge being chosen as a team captain in a baseball game sponsored by a retired player of the Boston Red Sox, Big Apfel, much to Peter''s dismay. One last one is how Fudge meets Mitzi. Uncle Feather, Fudge''s myna bird, went missing and Peter and Fudge went looking for him. They rang the doorbells to different houses and eventually met up with Mitzi''s Grandma. The next day they met Mitzi. Towards the end of the book a little romance is spread between Peter and Sheila, though they agree that they will always hate each other.

Fudge-a-Mania

The novel is composed of many jokes, which have strong effects on the characters. The story is told from the four viewpoints of Ludvik Jahn, Helena Zemánková, Kostka, and Jaroslav. Jaroslav''s joke is the transition away from his coveted Moravian folk lifestyle and appreciation. Kostka, who has separated himself from the Communist Party due to his Christianity, serves as a counterpoint to Ludvik. Helena serves as Ludvik''s victim and is satirical of the seriousness of party supporters. Ludvik demonstrates the shortcomings of the party and propels the plot in his search for revenge and redemption. Written in 1965 Prague and first published in Czechoslovakia in 1967, the novel opens with Ludvik Jahn looking back on the joke that changed his life in the early 1950s. Ludvik was a dashing, witty, and popular student who supported the Party. Like most of his friends, he was an enthusiastic supporter of the still-fresh Communist regime in post-World War II Czechoslovakia. In a playful mood, he writes a postcard to a girl in his class during their summer break. Since Ludvik believes she is too serious, he writes on the postcard, "Optimism is the opium of the people! A healthy atmosphere stinks of stupidity! Long live Trotsky!" His colleagues and fellow young-party leaders did not see the humor in the sentiment expressed in the postcard. Ludvik finds himself expelled from the party and college and drafted to a part of the Czech military where alleged subversives form work brigades and spend the next few years working in mines. Despite the interruption in his career, Ludvik has become a successful scientist. However, his treatment at the hands of his former friends has left him bitter and angry. An opportunity arises when he meets Helena, who is married to Pavel Zemanek, the friend who led the efforts to purge Ludvik from the party. Ludvik decides to seduce Helena as a means of exacting his revenge. In essence this is the second `joke'' of the novel. Although the seduction is successful, things do not quite play out the way Ludvik expects (this is the novel''s third joke), and he is left once more to sit and think bitter thoughts. Ultimately he decides that these sorts of jokes and their repercussions are not the fault of the humans who set them in motion, but are really just a matter of historic inevitability. Ultimately, then, one cannot blame forces that cannot be changed or altered.

The Joke

The Last Space Viking by John F. Carr and Mike Robertson takes place a hundred years after Lucas Trask founded the League of Civilized Worlds. Many changes have occurred in the Old Federation and King Trask''s plans for a new galaxy order are brought to a sudden halt when a new power emerges from the ashes of the Old Federation. Will King Rodrik the First of Tanith be able to salvage his grandfather''s dream, or become a tool of the new Mardukan Empire? Space Vikings have been raiding and terrorizing the worlds of the Old Federation for hundreds of years. Great fortunes have been made and hundreds of planets conquered and despoiled. Unfortunately, the Sword-Worlds have gone into tehir own decline just as the League of Civilized Worlds is faced with its greatest defeat. Soon, the first real threat to Space Viking domination must be overcome and brought to heel. Will the disparate Space Vikings join together, or be sent packing back to the Sword-Worlds in defeat? Captain David Morland of Joyeuse might well be the last of the great Space Viking captains. He emerges at a time when the Old Federation is changing, and not for the better. All Morland wants is his own Space Viking base world to use as a place for organizing raids and trading parties into the thousands of worlds of the long-dead Federation. Generations of Space Viking marauders have taken their toll and plunder-worthy planets have declined as more and more of the Old Federation worlds have slipped into barbarism. But first, Morland has to find the right world and conquer it before he''s discovered by a new power determined to end the Space Viking menace, one way or another!

The Last Space Viking

Sissy Hankshaw, the novel''s protagonist, is a woman born with enormously large thumbs who considers her mutation a gift. The novel covers various topics, including "free love", drug use, political rebellion, animal rights, body odor, religion, and yams. Sissy capitalizes on the size of her thumbs by becoming a hitchhiker and subsequently travels to New York, United States (US). The character becomes a model for The Countess, a male homosexual tycoon of feminine hygiene products. The Tycoon introduces Sissy to a staid Mohawk named Julian Gitche, whom she later marries. In her later travels, she encounters, among many others, a sexually open cowgirl named Bonanza Jellybean and an itinerant escapee from a Japanese internment camp happily mislabeled The Chink. The Chink is presented as a hermetic mystic and at one point states "I believe in everything; nothing is sacred. I believe in nothing; everything is sacred. Ha Ha Ho Ho Hee Hee." A flock of whooping cranes also makes frequent appearances throughout the novel which includes details of their physical characteristics and migratory patterns. Robbins also inserts himself into the novel (as a character) as well.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Man Who Planted Trees

By Jean Giono

The Book of Skulls

By Robert Silverberg

The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five

By Doris Lessing

Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry

By B.S. Johnson

Bloodhype

By Alan Dean Foster

Among the Barons

By Margaret Haddix

Patrick Butler for the Defense

By John Dickson Carr

Dawn

By Kate Cary

Fudge-a-Mania

By Judy Blume

The Joke

By Milan Kundera

The Last Space Viking

By John F. Carr

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

By Gus Van Sant