The novel focuses on the adventures of Peter Schock and Kate Dyer in 1763 after they are accidentally transported there by an anti-gravity machine while chasing Molly, Kate''s dog. They awoke in the eighteenth century to see their time machine being carted away by a dark character known as the ''Tar Man'', or "Blueskin". Soon, they meet a man called Gideon Seymour, who helps them adjust to life in the eighteenth century. He takes them to the Byng residence where they stay until they are able to track down the lost anti-gravity machine. With the help of Gideon, Mrs. Byng, Sir Richard, Parson, Sidney, Hannah and Jack they are able travel to London. Although the Parson initially distrusts Gideon, he is eventually won over by Gideon''s honor and courage when he saves the group from highway men. Gideon eventually tells the story of his association with Lord Luxon and the Tar Man. Gideon explains to Peter that he met with Lord Luxon shortly after his fifteenth birthday. His parents and some of his siblings had died many years ago leaving only Gideon and his younger brother, Joshua. Forced into a life of servitude in order to stay alive, Gideon finally made up his mind to run away and, thus earn enough money to send for his brother to join him. After he escaped Gideon found himself without any resources and decided to steal for food. When he is caught, his life is spared only by the wealth and influence of Lord Luxon. While in London they meet King George III and Queen Charlotte. Lord Luxon and The Tar Man (Blueskin) are in London trying to stop the children going home. To get the anti-gravity machine back from Tar Man, Gideon offers to race him to the Tempest House for the anti-gravity machine. The Parson fed the Tar Man''s horse certain herbs to make it sick during the race, and the Tar Man attacked Gideon. Gideon won the race, but was forced to forfeit when he learned that the Parson had cheated though The Tar Man had also cheated. Lord Luxon had him accused of crimes he did not commit and sent him to Newgate Prison. While Kate and Peter try to help Gideon, Kate''s father appears with her dog. While the children catch up with Dr. Dyer on events in both centuries, Gideon is tried and sentenced to death by hanging. Kate and Peter save him by pulling an unusual stunt and setting him free. They encounter the Tar Man once again and as Peter says good-bye to Gideon, The Tar Man runs toward the anti-gravity machine. The anti-gravity machine then leaves for the 21st century and The Tar Man and Peter switch places. Peter is now stuck in 1763 without Kate.

Gideon the Cutpurse

Set in the aftermath of a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States, the book chronicles the investigations of Carl Landry, a reporter for the Boston Globe. As the story unravels, Carl attempts to uncover the events leading up to the war, while at the same time running from those who would have the truth buried. The story begins in 1972, ten years after the nuclear war between the USA and USSR, which followed the Cuban missile crisis. Washington, D.C., New York, Omaha, San Diego, Miami and other American cities, principally those surrounding military bases, have been destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by Soviet nuclear attacks. Philadelphia is the capital of the United States, and although a civilian President is nominally in office, the USA is effectively under martial law. The Soviet Union has been utterly devastated by US nuclear strikes. Cuba is an atomic ruin, with Spain responsible for relief efforts aiding what is left of the island''s population. One consequence of the war is that America''s embroilment in Vietnam is abruptly curtailed. US military personnel in South Vietnam (and indeed across the world) are withdrawn in order to stabilise the USA in the aftermath of the Soviet missile and air strikes. The text of the novel also makes it clear that the People''s Republic of China has collapsed, with numerous regional warlords waging a civil conflict against each other. US nuclear strikes on the Soviet Union led to the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, and also to the release of a massive fallout cloud over much of Asia, killing further millions after the destruction of the USSR. As a consequence, The United States has become a pariah in the eyes of much of the world. Many governments regard members of the US Air Force (USAF) as war criminals, and its servicemen are advised not to travel abroad. After the 1962 war, nearly all the remaining countries of the globe have renounced possession of nuclear weapons. The USA alone retains an atomic arsenal. Europe survived the war largely unscathed. NATO collapsed almost as soon as hostilities commenced, and France and (a united) Germany now preside over the continent. Britain remains an ally of the USA, and actually assists in post-war reconstruction efforts in US states hit hardest by the war. The UK in the period after 1962, has managed to regain much of its pre 1939 colonial confidence in the vacuum left by the destruction of the U.S.S.R and the emasculation of the US in world affairs. The policy of decolonialisation has been halted and even reversed, some newly independent nations even returning to the remaining British "Empire" in the new, uncertain world created after the "Cuban War". While British aid is welcome, there is also a sense of resentment in America over excessive dependence on the UK. The presence of British and Canadian military personnel in the USA is also a source of contention, with some Americans wondering whether their allies possess ulterior motives. The story covers two parallel plot-lines. The first involves Landry''s attempts to discover what happened in Washington DC in October 1962. US military propaganda accounts maintain that the Cuban war broke out because of John F. Kennedy''s recklessness and incompetence, these claims are generally believed. Kennedy and his officials are regarded as butchers and war criminals and the only senior surviving member of JFK''s administration - McGeorge Bundy - is imprisoned in Fort Leavenworth. In contrast, US military commanders (notably the Chief of the Air Force, General Curtis) are portrayed as the saviours of the nation. During the course of the novel Landry gradually discovers that it was Kennedy who sought to prevent the crisis over Cuba from escalating into war, and that last minute attempts to achieve a deal with Nikita Khrushchev to end the crisis were deliberately sabotaged by Curtis and other generals. The second plot-line concerns Anglo-American relations. Landry and a British journalist - Sandra Price - discover that elements within the British government and security services are plotting a military takeover (or anschluss) of the United States. This plan is under way near the end of the novel, and is called off at the last minute.

Resurrection Day

Eleanor Roosevelt Dingman (Ellie) is an 11-year-old girl who lives on Witch Tree Lane and, along with the other people who live on the street, is hated by the other children in school. Holly and Ellie have been given a hard time by the popular girls in their school (the Sparrows), but since the death of late president John F. Kennedy it has temporarily stopped. Ellie''s life is turned upside down when her mother decides to go into show business. Her mother has asked Ellie to call her Doris (after Doris Day). Ellie''s mother has been overcome with grief for the newly widowed mother, Jackie Kennedy, but realizes that life is short so she goes to New York to "become established". As her life progresses, Ellie discovers she has more power than she thinks and can change her life no matter what the situation. When Doris moves to New York, Ellie is forced to take care of her family, as well as deal with life without Doris. Doris then decides to move to Hollywood, and Ellie has finally had enough. Even though life will not be the same, Ellie is still happy and content.

Here Today

In I, Lucifer, God presents the devil with a chance of redemption by living a somewhat sinless life in a human body. Lucifer, not wanting redemption, takes God’s offer for a trial but instead takes it as a month''s holiday. This story takes place in London and Lucifer lives in the body of Declan Gunn (an anagram of "Glen Duncan", the author''s name), formerly a struggling writer who is suicidal. While in Declan’s body, Lucifer takes his body for granted and abuses drugs, alcohol, and sex. Not only does Lucifer still live a devilish life, but also he starts to realize what being a human is really like. He realizes there is so much going on in their lives and so much temptation, and people can’t simply do whatever they please. As Lucifer’s trial is coming to an end, he receives a visit from the angel, Raphael, in an attempt to help Lucifer head in the right direction. Raphael tells him the world is going to end so there’s no choice but to gain redemption from rebelling against God and be accepted back into heaven. Lucifer makes his decision. The whole story is permeated by the main character''s versions of biblical episodes and his disparaging opinions about God and "Jimmeny" (Jesus).

I, Lucifer

Sometime between 1958 and 1962, Leo Runcible, a Liberal Jew, is working in the real estate field. On learning that Walt Dombrosio, Leo''s neighbor, has had a Black visitor to his house in a "lily-white" suburb of Marin County, California, potential purchasers interrogate Runcible about the matter and ultimately incur his wrath over their narrow-minded bigotry. He thereby fails to close the deal and forfeits their friendship and a precious commission as well. But according to Leo''s tortured logic it is Walt who''s at fault for this unforeseen little debacle. So in retaliation Runcible opportunistically reports Dombrosio''s later episode of drunk driving, leading to the loss of the latter''s motor vehicle operator''s license for a period of six months. Walt''s wife Sherry then drives him to and from work every day, eventually landing a job working alongside her husband. Walt, however, being as he is an insecure, misogynistic, manipulating headcase, quits his own position over this incident and continues to fume over it as the weeks and months roll by. He eventually humiliates and manhandles his wife in front of their neighbors as a prelude to forcefully impregnating her with an unwanted child which she unsuccessfully threatens to abort. At the same time, Runcible has found what he believes to be Neanderthal remains in Carquinez, Marin County, and envisages rising property prices due to incipient archaeological interest and the avalanche of media coverage that naturally follows. As it turns out, however, Dombrosio is the culprit who modified and planted the modern human remains there to begin with. They are a legacy of the local ''chuppers'' who developed facial, cranial and spinal deformations as a supposed result of the pollution of the local water supply. The novel ends with Walt Dombrosio, by far the most despicable character of the novel, essentially coming out on top. He discusses his flirtation with bankruptcy, via his purchase of the local substandard water company, with the local grammar school teacher, and he makes himself out as quite the unflinching hero in the process. There is also an extended scene, dovetailing almost imperceptibly into this conversation, in which Dombrosio visualizes his little family several years later after Sherry has presumably given birth to a malformed baby boy due to the possible teratogenic properties of the local water supply.

The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike

Pulp is a pulp fiction novel which acts also as a meta-pulp. Pulp comments on the obsessions of the pulp fiction genre, making fun of itself as stereotypical of the genre in the grimiest form. Bukowski dedicates the story to "bad writing", as Bukowski did not plan his mystery novel well and frequently wrote Nicky Belane into holes from which he could not escape. Bukowski wrote some of his most violent, cynical, sarcastic, and shocking work during the final months of his life. Many critics have agreed this novel exemplifies Bukowski showing an acceptance of his own pending mortality. A convoluted detective story about a hard-boiled private eye who solves his cases by waiting them out, Pulp evokes Raymond Chandler, an author who lived in Los Angeles and set stories there, as did Bukowski. The novel also bears similarity to some works by Dashiell Hammett; and the name of character Nicky Belane rhymes suggestively with the name of author Mickey Spillane as well as Casablanca''s main character Rick Blaine.

Pulp

The book starts with a 14 year old boy called Andy Pierce witnessing his mother getting assaulted by two masked men who are working for the Animal Freedom Militia. The book then skips to Kerry being annoyed by her boyfriend, James. James goes into his room and he is met by his sister Lauren. She asks him to help her and her best friend Bethany to sneak into the basic training compound to give Bethany''s brother, Jake, and Lauren''s crush, Rat, some food. James refuses but Lauren blackmails him by threatening to tell Kerry about him cheating on her during a mission a year before. James joins the girls on the mission to get the food to the trainees. All goes fine but Mac watches them on the back up CCTV and they get caught. James is not punished for being blackmailed and he, Lauren and Kyle and sent on a mission to bring down the AFM (Animal Freedom Militia). Lauren is stuck with the ex-con while he meets up with his old animal rights protest group. They get invited to rescuing dozens of dogs from the compound which were supposed to be sold onto the testing company. All goes well in the rescue, but the rescuers were overwhelmed because many more dogs were rescued than they thought. This chapter ends with Lauren saving a puppy from getting run over by Zara''s car. They end up keeping the dog in the chairwoman''s house. Lauren always visits the puppy, who was called Meatball (due to Lauren being a vegetarian). Together James, Lauren and Kyle succeed in their mission and return home. On the mission Lauren becomes a vegetarian and at the end James puts meat in her bag on the plane to annoy her. Zara Asker becomes chairman succeeding Dr. McAfferty who retires.

CHERUB: Man Vs. Beast

The book starts three months after the end of Peter and the Starcatchers. Slank returns to the island with more of the Others, including a certain Lord Ombra, to reclaim the trunk of starstuff lost in the previous book. When they learn that the Starcatchers have taken the trunk back to England, they set sail for London. Peter follows, fearing for Molly''s safety, and with Tinker Bell''s help conceals himself on their ship. Once in London, Peter does not know where to find Molly. After unpleasant encounters with beggars, traders and the police, Peter finally gets directions from J. M. Barrie to Lord Aster''s house, and rescues Molly from Lord Ombra in the nick of time. However, Louise Aster- Molly''s mother -has been kidnapped by the Others, and the children must find Lord Aster who is guarding the starstuff. Meanwhile, back on the island, the pirates are hunting the Lost Boys. They capture the boys to use as bait for Peter, not knowing he is not on the island. In the end, Molly is saved by Peter, and she takes Peter to her old best friend''s house. Where she introduces Peter to George and they become best friends.

Peter and the Shadow Thieves

In the not-too-distant future, a cold war threatens to turn hot. Colonization of Mars seems to be mankind''s only hope of surviving certain Armageddon. To facilitate this, the American government begins a cyborg program to create a being capable of surviving the harsh Martian environment: Man Plus. After the death of the first candidate, due to the project supervisors forgetting to enhance his brain''s ability to process sensory input to cope with the new stimuli he is receiving, Roger Torraway becomes the heart of the program. In order to survive in the thin Martian atmosphere, Roger Torraway''s body must be replaced with an artificial one. At every step he becomes more and more disconnected from humanity, unable to feel things in his new body. It is only after arriving on Mars that his new body begins to make sense to him. It is perfectly adapted to this new world, and thus he becomes perfectly separated from his old world, and from humanity. The success of the Martian mission spurs similar cyborg programs in other spacefaring nations. It is revealed that the computer networks of Earth have become sentient, and that ensuring humanity''s survival will guarantee theirs as well. In the end, the network is puzzled...it appears that something else was behind the push to space, a mystery even to the machines.

Man Plus

Biff has been resurrected in the present day to complete missing parts of the Bible, supposedly under the watchful eye of the angel Raziel, who turns out to be more interested in soap operas and Spiderman on the television in their hotel. Biff is made to write down his account of the decades missing from Jesus'' life. During these years he and Joshua (which, as Biff points out, is the original Hebrew version of the Hellenized "Jesus", and thus in Galilee Jesus was called Joshua Bar Joseph) travel to the East to seek the Three Wise Men (a magician, a Buddhist, and a Hindu Yogi) who attended Joshua''s birth so that he may learn how to become the Messiah. Over a span of roughly twenty years, Joshua learns a great deal about human nature, world religions, and how he is able to translate those into his teachings. At each point, Joshua surpasses the abilities of the wise men by incorporating his own beliefs into theirs. The story takes a fantastical twist on Joshua''s miracles as well: he learns to multiply food from one of the Wise Men and learns to become invisible from another; however, his ability to resurrect the dead figures strongly into his first meeting with Biff when both boys are six years old. Biff, for himself, is sarcastic, practical and endlessly loyal. While it would seem that such traits, as well as the fact that he was the Messiah''s best friend for nearly thirty years, would ensure his place in the Gospels, there are reasons, as revealed in the final chapter, why Biff was essentially "cut out" of the story. The recounting of Jesus'' human and godlike qualities, combined with Biff''s earthy debauchery, leads to its all-too-familiar tragic ending, but humorously explains many things: the origins of judo (a pun that is definitely intended), why Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas, and how rabbits became associated with Easter. The Three Wise Men, Mary Magdalene (on whom Biff has a childhood crush), Joseph, and Mary (Joshua''s mother, whom Biff plans to marry if anything happens to Joseph) all have their part in the life and times of Joshua. Mary Magdalene is depicted as harboring love for Joshua, though in Moore''s version Joshua remains chaste, as per Raziel''s instructions. This in itself leads to some of Biff''s debauchery, as he is literally attempting to go through enough harlots for both of them. Biff himself loves "Maggie" with the same intensity, leading to a revolving love triangle. At the conclusion of the novel, Biff completes "The Gospel According to Biff", giving it to Raziel, who allows Biff to finally leave the hotel room. As Biff exits into the hallway he is surprised to find a resurrected Maggie exiting the room opposite, having finished her own Gospel weeks ago. The two embrace, informed by an angel that it is "the will of the Son" that they be together. The two leave together, Biff content to be with Maggie even though he is her second choice.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ''s Childhood Pal

In November 1963, shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Peter Miller, a German freelance crime reporter, follows an ambulance to the apartment of Salomon Tauber, a Jewish Holocaust-survivor who has committed suicide. The next day, Miller is given the dead man''s diary by a friend in the police. After reading Tauber''s life story and learning that Tauber had been in Riga Ghetto commanded by Eduard Roschmann, "The Butcher of Riga", Miller resolves to search for Roschmann. Miller''s attention is especially drawn to one diary passage in which Tauber describes having seen Roschmann shoot a German Army Captain who was wearing an unusual military decoration. Miller pursues the story and visits the State Attorney General''s office and other offices where he learns that no one is prepared to search for or prosecute former Nazis. But his investigations take him to the famed war-criminal investigator Simon Wiesenthal, who tells him about the society "ODESSA". Miller is approached by a group of Mossad agents who have vowed to search for German war criminals and kill them and have been attempting to infiltrate Odessa. Miller is asked to infiltrate ODESSA and agrees. A former SS member who is working with the team of Israeli agents trains him to pass for a former SS sergeant. Miller visits a lawyer working for ODESSA and after passing a severe scrutiny is sent to meet a passport forger who supplies those members who wish to escape. Slowly Miller unravels the entire system. But Miller''s identity has been compromised, in part by his ill-advised decision to use his own car; the impoverished SS man he is impersonating would not have been able to afford a sports car, and ODESSA sets its top hit man on Miller''s trail. Miller escapes one trap by sheer luck; the hit man then installs a bomb in Miller''s car, but because the sports car has a very stiff suspension the bomb is not triggered while Miller is driving it. Eventually Miller confronts Roschmann at gunpoint and forces him to read from Tauber''s diary. Roschmann admits to killing the German Army captain, now revealed to have been Miller''s father, and attempts to justify his actions. Miller tells Roschmann that he doesn''t care about Roschmann''s Jewish victims; he is there to avenge the death of his father. Miller, momentarily off guard, is disarmed and knocked unconscious by another ODESSA man who leaves in Miller''s car but is killed when he drives over a snow-covered pole and detonates the bomb. Roschmann manages to escape, eventually flying to Argentina. The hit man who has been sent to kill Miller is instead killed by an Israeli agent. While Miller is recovering in hospital, he is told what happened while he was unconscious. Josef, his contact, warns him not to tell anyone the story. He does disclose that with Roschmann (code-named "Vulkan") in Argentina, West German authorities (at the urging of the Israelis) will close Roschmann''s radio factory where a rocket guidance system is being secretly developed for the Egyptian army. ODESSA''s plan to obliterate the State of Israel by combining German technological know-how with Egyptian biological weapons has been thwarted. Josef, in reality Uri ben Shaul, an Israeli army officer, returns to Israel to be debriefed, and performs one final duty. He has taken Tauber''s diary with him and per the last request in the diary, Uri visits Yad Vashem and says Kaddish for the soul of Salomon Tauber.

The Odessa File

Sofia Petrovna, a typist in the Soviet Union in 1937 is proud of the achievements of her son Nikolai (Kolya). Kolya, an engineering student and strong Communist, is at the beginning of a promising career, with his picture featured on the cover of Pravda. Before long, however, the Great Purge begins and Sofia''s coworkers begin vanishing, amid accusations of treachery. Soon, Kolya''s best friend Alik reports that Kolya has been arrested. Sofia and her friend and fellow typist Natasha try to find out more but are drowned in a sea of bureaucrats and long lines. More people vanish, and Sofia spends ever more time in lines at government buildings. Natasha makes a typographical error that is mistaken for a criticism of the Red Army and she is fired. When Sofia defends her, she is criticized and soon forced out as well. Alik is questioned, and when he does not renounce Kolya, he, too, is arrested and vanishes. Natasha and Sofia both lose their will to live. Natasha commits suicide via poison, and Sofia immerses herself in a fantasy of Kolya''s return. When she finally gets a letter from Kolya, in which he reaffirms his innocence and tells more of his own story, Sofia tries to fight for his freedom again, but realizes that, in this bizarre, chaotic place, she will likely only place more suspicion on herself and Kolya. Out of desperation, she burns the letter.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Gideon the Cutpurse

By Linda Buckley-Archer

Resurrection Day

By Brendan DuBois

Here Today

By Ann M. Martin

I, Lucifer

By Glen Duncan

The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike

By Philip K. Dick

Pulp

By Charles Bukowski

CHERUB: Man Vs. Beast

By Robert Muchamore

Peter and the Shadow Thieves

By Ridley Pearson

Man Plus

By Frederik Pohl

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

By Christopher Moore

The Odessa File

By Frederick Forsyth

Sofia Petrovna

By Lydia Chukovskaya