The story starts out on April 18, 1800, in Port Mahon, Minorca, a base of the Royal Navy at that time. A shipless lieutenant wasting away in port, Jack Aubrey, meets Stephen Maturin, a poor half-Irish and half-Catalan physician and natural philosopher, at an evening concert at the Governor’s Mansion. The two of them do not quite get along during this first encounter. A duel almost occurs when Jack Aubrey gets elbowed by Maturin to stop beating the time while the string quartet is playing. Later that evening, on his way back to his living quarters, Jack Aubrey finds out that he has been promoted to the rank of Commander and has been given command of the brig Sophie. His joy overcomes his animosity towards Stephen Maturin and they quickly become good friends in part due to their shared love of music. The ship''s surgeon having left with the previous captain, Maturin is asked by Aubrey to sign on in that post. Although Maturin is a physician, not just a mere surgeon, he agrees, since he is currently unemployed. Also introduced into the story are Master''s Mates Thomas Pullings, William Mowett, midshipman William Babbington, and James Dillon, the Sophies first lieutenant. Dillon and Stephen both have secret backgrounds as members of the United Irishmen. Aubrey improves Sophies sailing qualities by adding a longer yard which allows him to spread a larger mainsail. She then is sent to accompany a small convoy of merchant ships. During their journey east, the new captain, Aubrey, takes the opportunity to get to know his sailors and work them into a fighting unit. As he does this, he and the crew explain many naval matters to Maturin (and to the reader) since the doctor has never served aboard a man-of-war. After the convoy duties, Lord Keith allows Aubrey to cruise independently, looking for French merchants. After a number of prizes are taken, they meet and defeat the Cacafuego, a Spanish frigate, losing a number of crew, including Dillon, in the bloody action and gaining the respect of other naval officers. However, Captain Harte, the commandant at Mahon, has a grudge against Aubrey, who has been having an affair with his wife. Harte''s malevolence ensures that the victory brings Aubrey and his crew no official recognition, promotion, or significant prize money, although Aubrey gains a reputation among members of the British Navy as one of its great, young fighting captains. On her following escort duty, Sophie is captured by a squadron of four large French warships after a pursuit and a brave but hopeless resistance. The Battle of Algeciras begins, and after a short period as prisoners of war, they are exchanged, missing the fighting. Back at Gibraltar, Aubrey must undergo a court-martial over the loss of his ship, but he is cleared of the charges.

Master and Commander

Cry of the Newborn centers around four newborn babies, in the town of Westfallen, in Caraduk, in the Conquord empire. The entire town is unique in all of the Conquord, as magic not only exists, but is a part of everyday life, which differs greatly from the rest of the Conquord, where the Omniscient(also referred to as the God and variants) is worshipped and there is no awareness of magic. In fact, the Order of the Omniscient persecuted early magic practitioners and thought they had destroyed all evidence of its existence. However, writing existed from the original Gorian, who was recorded all his knowledge of magic and postulated the future existence of the The Ascendants, and the knowledge was kept alive in the town of Westfallen. Due to the persecution of magic by the Order, the town of Westfallen shrouded itself in secrecy, taking the country''s representative to the Conquord (the Marshal Defender Vasselis) into confidence four generations before the time of the story, and all the successors (all Marshal Defender Vasselis). The Marshal Defender during the story''s time is Arvan Vasselis. Every town member is aware of the existence of magic and all play their part to continue its existence in secret, as does the Vasselis family. Up until the time of the Ascendants, many people in the town of Westfallen were able to manipulate nature in some form, for a while in their lives, being able to breathe underwater or being impervious to heat, for example. However, these abilities appeared to be limited in time, and eventually would disappear from a person. The notable exception is Ardol Kessian, who, during the time of the Ascendants, was around about 140 years old and still able to predict the weather. What made the Ascendants unique was their ability to project their manipulations of nature, making their abilities active instead of passive, as the normal townspeople''s abilities seem to be, and the Ascendants are able to manipulate nature outside of their original scope, for example, Mirron, who was originally a Firewalker (able to withstand heat), later developed the ability to breathe underwater. The Ascendants, whilst having been predicted by the original Gorian, were completely new to the world and unprecedented. As such, their tutorage was largely experimental. The four Ascendants are: *Gorian *Mirron *Arducious *Ossacer The Ascendants grow up, and develop their powers to phenomenal levels. Throughout their childhood and adolescence, certain relationships and character traits begin to develop which will greatly affect the future of the Ascendants. For example, Gorian begins to show signs of megalomania and eventually, this develops into an inflated sense of self-importance, because he is an Ascendant and therefore above normal people. Eventually, this causes him to rape Mirron, because he believes they must breed together to create a line of new, more powerful Ascendants. This action causes Gorian to be expelled by the others, which has the unfortunate and unforeseen consequence of causing Gorian to ally with the enemies of the Conquord, whom the Ascendants (minus Gorian) are using their abilities to save. The Conquord has expanded and expanded and resources are a bit thin in the time of the Ascendants, however, the Advocate, Herine Del Aglios, who is considered by the Conquord religion to be the living embodiment of the Omniscient, is convinced to continue expanding her empire into the kingdom of Tsard. This causes unrest in some of the newly acquired border states, most notably in Atreska, where rebellion breaks out and Atreska allies itself with Tsard, turning away from the Conquord. The Conquord underestimated the Tsard people and its armies, and far from being conquered by the Conquord, the Tsard not only resisted but retaliated, essentially annexing Atreska and moving into place for an assault on Estorr, the capital of Estorea and centre of the Conquord. It is because of this that the abilities of the Ascendants have been employed by Paul Jhered, Exchequer of the Conqourd, manipulating weather and nature to halt and, at times, destroy, the Tsard armies and navy. The main problem facing the Ascendants is the fact that, outside of Westfallen, almost nobody is aware of their existence and most citizens of the Conquord would be afraid of them and their abilities, and would view them as an affront to God (the Omniscient) as they can change and manipulate what he created at will. This also places them in danger from the Order, for the same reasons.

Cry Of The Newborn

Jannus is the son of Mistress Lillia, the ruler of Newstock, a village near the river in Bremner. The competing villages are protected by the Valde, strange female warriors who serve ten years in the villages. The few that reach the end of their service are allowed to get married with one of the rare male Valde. The Valde are tall, beautiful, filled with quick animal instincts, sexually mature at nine and dead of old age around thirty, are also gifted with empathy; the power to feel one''s emotions. While watching a duel to the death between Poli - Jannus''s favorite Valde - and another Valde, Jannus discovers a Screamer, a fragile humanoid creature that is hunted without pity by the Valde. He saves the Screamer who tells him that he is an immortal Tek. Each time when a Tek dies he is reborn again. The Tek wants to return to Kantmorie to end his thousand years of regenerations. The Tek, called Lur by Jannus, persuades Jannus to accompany him. Together with a merchant family, the Yrsmits and a number of Valde warriors Jannus follows the river downstream. Among the Valde is Poli who served her ten years. After a number of adventures the Tek, Jannus, Poli and the leader of the merchant family find themselves in the desert trying to reach the location where the Shai is, the huge intelligence guiding the star ship that brought the Teks to the world, to end the endless cycle of rebirthing. * Pursuit of the Screamer, DAW Books, June 1978, ISBN 0-87997-386-2 * Circle, Crescent, Star, DAW Books, February 1981, ISBN 0-87997-603-9 * Summerfair, DAW Books, July 1982, ISBN 0-87997-759-0 * Tidestorm Limit, 1983, (published in Dutch and French translations only) **Stormvloedgrens, Dutch edition **Aux confins de l''ouragan, French edition * The Sun of Return, 1985 (published in Dutch and French translations only) **Gift van de Shai, Dutch edition **Le soleil du grand retour, French edition

Pursuit of the Screamer

The book is divided into four parts (Prison, Desert, Esacape and Refuge). Najib Muhammad, the protagonist of the novel, is a young man from somewhere near Kayamkulam, Kerala state, recently married and dreams of a better job in any of the Persian Gulf states. In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia however he got trapped. Najib Muhammad is taken away by a rich Arab animal farm supervisor from King Khalid International Airport and is being used a "slave" laborer and shepherd assigned to look after goats, sheep and camels for almost three and half years in the remote deserts of Saudi Arabia. He is forced to do back-breaking work, is kept half-hungry and is denied water to wash and suffers unimaginably. The farm''s brutal supervisor keeps Najib in control with a gun and binoculars and frequently beats him with a belt. In a country where he does not know the language, places or people, he is far away from any human interaction. Najib steadily starts to identify himself with the goats. He considers himself one of them. His dreams, desires, revenge, hopes—he identifies all it with them. He talks to them, eats with them, sleeps with them and virtually lives the life of a goat. Still he keeps a ray of hope which will bring freedom and end to sufferings some unknown day. Finally one night with the help of Ibrahim Khadiri, a Somalian worker in the neighboring farm, Najib Muhammed and his friend Hakim escape from the horrible life to freedom. But, the trio fumbles across the desert for days, and young Hakim dies of thirst and fatigue. Finally, Ibrahim Qadiri and Najib manage to find their way to Al-Bathaa, Riyadh, where Najib gets himself arrested by the Regular Police in order to get deported to India. Najib spends several months in the Sumesi Prison before being put on a plane to India by the Saudi Arabian authorities.

Adujivitam

A young Han Chinese girl called Li Wenxiu loses her parents in the Gobi Desert while escaping from a group of bandits, who are after a map of the Gaochang labyrinth. Placed on a white steed, Li Wenxiu flees to Kazakh territory and is taken into the care of an elderly Han Chinese man called Old Man Ji. While growing up, Li Wenxiu meets a Kazakh boy named Su Pu and they gradually develop a romance. However Su Pu''s father disapproves of the relationship between his son and a Han Chinese girl so they are forced to separate. Several years later, Li Wenxiu meets a hermit named Hua Hui in an oasis in the Gobi Desert and helps him cure his wounds. Hua Hui is grateful to her and accepts her as his student and teaches her martial arts. She returns home amidst heavy snow and sees that Su Pu, his father and his new lover are taking shelter inside her house. Unfortunately, Chen Dahai, the leader of the group of bandits who killed Li Wenxiu''s parents, arrives at Li''s home and suspects that the map they have been hunting for is inside the house. He proceeds to ransack the house for the map and eventually finds it. The secret of the map is revealed when blood is spilled onto the cloth. Chen Dahai wants to silence Su Pu and the others but is stopped by Li Wenxiu, who is in disguise as a Han Chinese man. Li Wenxiu defeats and wounds Chen Dahai. Chen Dahai flees with the map and finds his way to the labyrinth, while Li Wenxiu and Su Pu gather five others to join them in pursuit of Chen Dahai and the bandits. The seven of them make their way to the labyrinth but discover ordinary items associated with Han Chinese culture in place of treasure and riches. To their horror, they encounter a "ghost" who haunts them by killing their companions without leaving any traces. Just as they are about to flee, Su Pu learns that his lover has been kidnapped by the "ghost" and he tracks the "ghost" to its lair in the labyrinth, where he discovers that the "ghost" is actually a martial arts expert in disguise. The "ghost" tells his story and reveals that he was forced into exile and later betrayed by his former disciple, who is actually Old Man Ji. The "ghost" is the hermit Hua Hui, whom Li Wenxiu had saved earlier. More shockingly, Old Man Ji is revealed to be actually a man in his 30s disguised as a elderly man. Old Man Ji and Hua Hui start fighting each other. Li Wenxiu is shocked to realise that the two, who are close to her, are actually enemies. Hua Hui eventually dies in his futile attempt to kill everyone present at the scene. Upon leaving the labyrinth, Li Wenxiu hears the true story behind the items hidden in the labyrinth and its origins. She decides to leave the land for central China, feeling miserable after the loss of two of her loved ones and the marriage of her lover to another woman.

Swordswoman Riding West on White Horse

Peony is set in the 1850s in the city of K''aifeng, in the province of Honan, which was historically a center for Chinese Jews. The novel follows Peony, a Chinese bondmaid of the prominent Jewish family of Ezra ben Israel, and shows through her eyes how the Jewish community was regarded in K''aifeng at a time when most of the Jews had come to think of themselves as Chinese. The novel contains a hidden love and shows the importance of duty along with the challenges of life. This novel is one that follows the guidelines of Buck''s work. The setting is China, religion is involved, and there is an interracial couple (David and Kueilan). A prefatory note before the title page tells the reader of the assimilation of the Jews of K''aifeng. "Today even the memory of their origin is gone. They are Chinese." Not all the 1st editions have the same cover design; some have a light blue binding with the title centered in a 3"x 1.5" simple gold imprint on dark blue background, the sun shining on a field, with the title at the top and the author''s name at the bottom. Much more is known today (2010) than in Buck''s lifetime about the K''aifeng Jews. nl:Pioenroos (roman)

Peony

Robert Phillips, known by his nickname "Bobby", wakes up one day to find that he can no longer see himself. Upon discovery, he heads downstairs and tries to convince his parents that it''s not a trick. He drinks a glass of orange juice, which to the astonishment of his parents, seems to make a"spoon float in the air." After a brief argument with his mother, Bobby is told to stay at home until his parents decide get back from work (His mother is an English professor, and his father a scientist.) After his parents are gone, Bobby heads to the library, bundled up to conceal his secret invisible self, and after a brief walk around, he hurriedly leaves, bumping into a girl. His scarf comes off so he''s scared she will freak out. He helps to retrieve her things, and realizes she''s blind when he hands her back her cane. Upon returning home, he gets in trouble because he left the house. His parents leave to get dinner and Bobby watches TV and takes a nap when he wakes up the TV says that there was a major three car crash. He sees one of the cars is his family''s. The Police then come to his door and check on him. After they leave Bobby goes to the hospital to see his parents. When he gets there he takes off his clothes (so he can be invisible) and goes to find his parents. He can only find his Mom. After talking to his Mom he uses money she gave him to get a taxi and he goes home. He returns to the library the next day. He goes naked this time, and stumbles upon the blind girl in a listening room. He enters the room with her permission and they start talking. He learns that her name is Alicia, and befriends her. Together, they try to find the ''cure'' for his predicament.

Things Not Seen

Lenny is a recently released ex-convict. Despite his imposing size, he was gang raped repeatedly while incarcerated and struggles to find his manhood on the outside. Daisy, his alcoholic girlfriend, craves a “real” life with a “real” man and abandons him at a seedy pre-Giuliani Times Square bar in pursuit of some cheap Chinese takeout. At the bar is Skank, a former failed actor turned junkie, who is trying to outlast the rain storm and get a buyback from the long-missing Irish bartender as he begins to go through withdrawals. Also at the bar is Sammy, an old, dying guilt-ridden drunk who exists somewhere between reality and the afterlife. DeMaris, a seventeen-year-old gun-brandishing single mother, wants to learn to turn tricks. She enlists the aid of Chickie, Skank’s girlfriend, a young crackhead hooker who plays Go Fish with the simple-minded day bartender Charlie, who thinks he’s a Jedi warrior and who buys meals for Chickie because he loves her and because he lives for the day they can go out someday, “just as friends.” The owner of the bar is Jake. The place was his father’s before him, and after thirty years, he longs for the chance to leave “this sewer” for a re-invented life in Florida. The real-estate boom, “gentrification” and the emergence of Disney in Times Square affords him that opportunity. Unaware that their last piece of home is about to be pulled out from under them, the bar patrons struggle on. Their sense of humor, their misguided hopes and dreams, and their lack of self-pity are badges that are tattooed to their souls. They will all, before the end, demand and take the chance to face head on their complicated and sad truths.

In Arabia We''d All Be Kings

Julia and her brother, Paul, are spending a day by the beach when they discover a midden heap. They climb to the top, where Julia discovers a rag doll in a ball of feathers hidden in a nest. It turns out to be a powerful and evil witch, and it possesses Julia and spirits her away through a pyramid of fire. Paul manages to follow them and he finds himself in a strange country desperately unprepared for the return of the Ragwitch. At first, he meets the May Dancers, who after questioning him, lead him to the edge of the forest and set him free. The people of the land aid him as he searches for a way to free his sister, action following at every turn, as both Paul and Julia battle the Ragwitch; Julia from within Her, and Paul from outside. Paul collects several mystical objects from the powerful Elementals, before meeting with the Patchwork King, who forges for him a needle spear in order to kill the Ragwitch. There are no strong fighters to help Paul, no saviors for him and he must find his own way. Because Paul is no hero, his war is one of bravery and brains, not brawn. Julia tells her own story from the mind of the Ragwitch. Although she is much more courageous than Paul, her war is one of the mind, resisting the power of the Ragwitch from within the witch''s body.

The Ragwitch

When Beale and Ida Farange are divorced, the court decrees that their only child, the very young Maisie, will shuttle back and forth between them, spending six months of the year with each. The parents are immoral and frivolous, and they use Maisie to intensify their hatred of each other. Beale Farange marries Miss Overmore, Maisie''s pretty governess, while Ida marries the likeable but weak Sir Claude. Maisie gets a new governess, the frumpy, more than a little ridiculous, but devoted Mrs. Wix. Both Ida and Beale soon busy themselves with other lovers besides their spouses. In return those spouses &mdash; Sir Claude and the new Mrs. Beale &mdash; begin an affair with each other. Maisie''s parents essentially abandon her, and she becomes largely the responsibility of Sir Claude. Eventually, Maisie must decide if she wants to remain with Sir Claude and Mrs. Beale. In the book''s long final section set in France, the older (probably teenaged) Maisie struggles to choose between them and Mrs Wix, and concludes that her new parents'' relationship will likely end as her biological parents'' did. She leaves them and goes to stay with Mrs. Wix, her most reliable adult guardian.

What Maisie Knew

When last seen alive, sixteen-year-old Deborah Harrison was on her way home from school. Her friend Megan thinks she saw the shadowy figure of a man behind Deborah as they waved goodbye on the bridge, but the fog was so thick that evening she can’t be sure. Not long after, Deborah’s body is found in the local cemetery. The murder terrorises the wealthy enclave of St Mary’s, Eastvale, and because Deborah was the daughter of a prominent industrialist, high-flying new Chief Constable Jeremiah “Jimmy” Riddle puts pressure on Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks and his team to catch the killer without delay. And soon, partly thanks to the work of new boy Detective Inspector Barry Stott, it looks as if they have done. But Banks is not convinced. While the community breathes a collective sigh of relief and turns into a lynch-mob, Banks examines the loose ends: a vicar, accused of sexually harassing a refugee worker, who lies about his whereabouts at the time of the murder; his straying wife; a schoolteacher with a dark secret; the accused’s vindictive ex-girlfriend; a teenage thug who has threatened Deborah and her family with violence. And then there are Deborah’s own family secrets. With each new piece of information, a different pattern is formed, until Banks is forced to incur the wrath of Jimmy Riddle if he hopes to solve the case.

Innocent Graves

The novel is the second part of The Second Foundation Trilogy and takes place almost entirely in the same time frame as "The Psychohistorians," which is the first part of the novel Foundation. In addition to telling a more expanded version of Hari Seldon''s confrontation with the Commission of Public Safety it also interweaves R. Daneel Olivaw''s struggle against a sect of robots who oppose his plans for humanity. While covering the same period as in Asimov’s “The Psychohistorians,” Foundation and Chaos focuses more on paternal superrobot R Daneel Olivaw than on Hari Seldon. Olivaw’s 20 millennia of machinations and contrivances are questioned by “Calvinian” robots who do not observe Olivaw’s Zeroth Law (“No robot may harm humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm”) developed in Asimov’s Robots and Empire. Olivaw’s actions dampen human intellectual growth and variation until the human species matures. The novel’s primary issue is whether Olivaw’s ends justify his means. Does the ancient Auroran robot really serve humanity’s greater good? Should Olivaw decide this for himself? Seldon seems unaware of Olivaw’s role in perpetuating brain fever and other dampeners. But Seldon would probably approve, considering his quarantining of the New Renaissance worlds when Seldon served as Imperial 1st Minister. Foundation and Chaos portrays the rise of mentallics (telepaths who can influence other’s thoughts) such as Wanda Seldon and Stettin Palver, who will form the Second Foundation. Twisted rogue mentallic Vara Liso even foreshadows the mutant Magnifico’s spectacular rise 310 years later. Powerful Public Safety Commissioner Linge Chen again plays a prominent role as the true Imperial power behind fatuous playboy Emperor Klayus. Reconstructed superrobot Dors Venabili reappears as well.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Master and Commander

By Patrick O''Brian

Cry Of The Newborn

By James Barclay

Pursuit of the Screamer

By Ansen Dibell

Adujivitam

No Author Listed

Swordswoman Riding West on White Horse

By Louis Cha

Peony

By Pearl S. Buck

Things Not Seen

By Andrew Clements

In Arabia We'd All Be Kings

By Stephen Adly Guirgis

The Ragwitch

By Garth Nix

What Maisie Knew

By Henry James

Innocent Graves

By Peter Robinson

Foundation and Chaos

By Greg Bear