The novel begins by announcing that today will be the day that a young boy, Robert Caligari, dies. Robert is an extremely odd boy who cannot stop himself from kicking pigs. This begins as a private act of revenge against his sister, Nerys, who is always putting money in her own tin piggy bank. Robert is angry at Nerys constantly rattling the pig in front of him, and so takes great pleasure in kicking the pig across the room whenever he is alone. Robert''s obsession with kicking pigs gets worse, and one day, he kicks his sister''s piggy bank out of the window, causing chaos for his neighbours and a local police officer. The last straw for Robert''s mother is when he kicks a rather large woman''s bagged pork chops, which she had just bought at the local butcher''s shop. After a local man finally gets revenge on Robert by throwing him over a church wall, Robert realises that he hates people. While Robert''s neighbours soon come to the conclusion that he is a nice young boy, he is plotting revenge. After poisoning his sister''s food, he decides to trick an old blind man into crossing a road of busy traffic. Unfortunately for the old man this proves fatal, yet nobody suspects Robert''s involvement. Robert engineers another, far worse, road accident in the next step of his evil plan. However, in the process of doing so, he finds himself trapped in his secret hideaway, where he is about to face a truly terrible fate.

The Boy Who Kicked Pigs

The novel''s story is told in the form of a first-person memoir penned by the elderly Benjamin Weaver (born Lienzo), London-born son of Portuguese Sephardic Jewish parents. After a successful career in bare-knuckle boxing, Weaver has found a new calling as a ''thief-taker''—roughly equivalent to a modern private investigator. Believing that his estranged father died in a tragic accident, Weaver is shocked when a prospective client claims that the ''accident'' was, in fact, murder. Weaver''s subsequent investigation involves him in the new London financial world of banks, stocks, speculation, violence and scandal leading up to the world''s first stock-market crash, the South Sea Bubble. In order to solve the mystery, he must learn the inner workings of this new world of paper money. The murder investigation moves toward its conclusion in lock-step with the accelerating frenzy of the Bubble''s final days. A sub-plot involves Benjamin''s gradual reintegration, after years of estrangement, into his family''s community and traditions. This gives the author the opportunity to introduce the Lienzo family, and their struggles to survive and prosper as Jews and foreigners in 18th century London. Benjamin finds added incentive to rejoin his family when he meets the beautiful Miriam, widow of his cousin and now living in his uncle Miguel''s household.

A Conspiracy of Paper: A Novel

During World War One, German warships controlled Lake Tanganyika, which is the longest Lake in the world and was of great strategic advantage in Central Africa at the time. The British had no naval craft at all upon ''Tanganjikasee'' (as the Germans called it). After the destruction of the Belgian warship - Del Commune and through the actions of a British informant known as Lee and his observations of the two German Warships, including the Hedwig von Wissman, the British Admiralty and Admiral Sir David Gamble decided that a naval expedition was needed to retake the Lake from the Germans. They were unaware of the existence of a much larger German vessel on the lake, the Graf von Götzen. So, in June 1915, a force of 28 men was dispatched from Britain on a vast journey. Their chief was an eccentric naval officer, Geoffrey Spicer-Simson who was known for being the oldest Lt. Commander in the Royal Navy, a man court martialled for wrecking his own ships and a complete liar. He was given command of two small gunboats, which he named Mimi and Toutou (childish onomatopoeia for "Cat" and "Dog" in French). After a month long journey to South Africa via the Atlantic Ocean, the boats and expedition travelled by train to the Congo. In the Congo, with great difficulty, the expedition carried the two boats, with the aid of steam engines and mules, to the edge of Lake Tanganyika. They captured one ship, the Kigani, and named her Fifi, sank the Hedwig von Wissman, but did not engage the formidable Graf von Götzen, which remained dominant on the lake until it was scuttled in the wake of an Anglo-Belgian attack by land on German positions.

Mimi and Toutou Go Forth. The Bizarre Battle for Lake Tanganyika

Tom Sanders, the head of advanced products manufacturing at DigiCom, expects to be promoted to run the advanced products division after DigiCom''s merger with a publishing house. Instead, his ex-girlfriend, Meredith Johnson, who recently moved to Seattle from the company''s headquarters in Cupertino, California; is given the promotion. Later that day, Meredith calls Tom into her office, ostensibly to discuss an advanced CD-ROM drive. She aggressively tries to resume their relationship, despite Tom''s repeated attempts to resist. When he spurns her sexual advances, Meredith angrily vows to make him pay. The next morning, Tom discovers that Meredith has retaliated by falsely accusing him of sexual harassment. DigiCom president Bob Garvin, fearing that the incident could jeopardize the merger, tells the company''s general counsel, Phil Blackburn, to propose transferring Tom to the company''s Austin facility. However, Tom''s division is due to be spun off as a publicly traded company after the merger, and if he''s transferred, he will lose stock options which would make him a wealthy man. Seemingly out of options, Tom gets in touch with Seattle attorney Louise Fernandez, who agrees to take the case. Tom threatens to sue Meredith and DigiCom for sexual harassment unless Meredith is fired, throwing the merger and his future with the company in jeopardy. During a mediation, Tom discovers that when he called one of his colleagues, John Levin, about the problems with the drive, John''s answering machine recorded the whole incident with Meredith. He and Linda also discover that DigiCom officials have known for some time that Meredith has a history of unwelcome advances toward male coworkers, and yet did nothing to stop it. Confronted with this evidence, DigiCom is forced to agree to a settlement in which Meredith is quietly pushed out and Tom is restored to his former post. That night, Tom gets an email from "A Friend" warning him that all is not normal yet. Later, he overhears Meredith and Phil planning to make it look like Tom is responsible for defects in the CD-ROM project, thereby giving DigiCom an excuse to fire him for incompetence. Tom is unable to access information in the database that would prove his innocence since Meredith has locked him out of the system. Through a prototype of the company''s virtual reality machine, Tom discovers that Meredith changed the quality control specifications at the Malaysian plant manufacturing the drive. These changes, ostensibly to appease Malaysian government demands and cut costs, resulted in the defects. With the help of one of his Malaysian colleagues, Tom obtains enough evidence to turn the tables on Meredith, resulting in her getting fired instead.

Disclosure

The novel begins during the events in the book Legend, During the defense of the fortress Dros Delnoch from the Nadir, Druss begins to tell a young warrior a story from his past. He tells how he and his friend Sieben travelled to the land of the Gothir and how he became involved in the political affairs there. Due to a prophecy that the King made Druss must lose a tournament, when he refuses to do this men are hired to kill him. In the course of the attempt on his life his friend Klay is shot in the spine with a crossbow leaving him paralyzed and mortally wounded. To help him Druss travels to the land of the Nadir where a mystic has told him there are gems that can heal any wound. As he travels to the shrine of Nadir hero Oshikai, the Gothir send a force of 2,000 men to destroy it. Druss arrives at the shrine hoping to find the jewels but is unable to before the Gothir arrive and so helps 4 Nadir tribes to defend the shrine under the guidance of a Gothir trained Nadir soldier called Talisman. Talisman is on a quest to find "The Uniter", a man with blazing violet eyes called Ulric, who will unite the Nadir tribes after centuries of warfare. During the defense of the shrine the spirit of Oshikai''s wife Shul-sen is released from captivity with the help of Druss and Talisman, the spirit unleashes a storm on the Gothir army and those that are not killed are ordered to withdraw. Druss''s friend Sieben reveals that he has found the jewels which the Nadir call "The Eyes of Alchazzar". He takes them back to Gothir where they find that Klay had died a few days after they left. However, they heal many of the sick in the hospice before returning the jewels to the Nadir. Talisman then calls a meeting of the Nadir tribes in which he smashes the jewels to return the magic and life of the Nadir land. In doing this the energy flows through him turning his eyes a blazing purple; he then claims his name as Ulric. The book then comes back to the present day where we learn that Druss has fallen in combat in the defense of Dros Delnoch. Ulric/Talisman is saddened to learn of this, even though they were on opposing sides he considered Druss a great warrior.

The Legend of Deathwalker

In the book''s opening, the title character and her mate ambush a herd of Astrodon, which are large herbivorous sauropods. The Astrodon are surprised, thinking that their bulk deters smaller predators. Utahraptor, however, are much larger than any resident raptor, and proceed to take down an Astrodon with teamwork. When Red''s mate climbs onto the dead Astrodon, the corpse rolls in the mud, trapping the male under the bulk of the animal. Despite Red''s best efforts, her mate suffocates. Despondent, Red wanders around the floodplain, nearly starving since a Utahraptor cannot successfully hunt big game on its own. Red follows a familiar scent and is reunited with her sister, a single mother with three chicks. The two hunt together and bring food back to the nest for the young. A white pterosaur, one Red has seen since she hatched, helps the two by finding carrion and prey in exchange for a helping of meat. On one hunting expedition, when the two adult Utahraptor are stalking a herd of Iguanodon, Red spies a young male Utahraptor that is watching their prey. He begins a courtship dance for Red, but Red''s sister chases him off, hissing. Her growls agitate the Iguanodon, who stampede; the male hastily leaves. After climbing into a tree to escape a flash flood, Red encounters the male raptor again, who performs a courtship dance while hanging onto the tree branches. Red''s sister begrudgingly allows the male to stay with them, provided he steers clear of her chicks. For a while, Red and her pack are happy, feeding off the plentiful carrion left by receding flood waters, but the pack''s way of life is upset by an invasion of large Acrocanthosaurus, huge meat-eating dinosaurs. The added competition for food puts strain on the pack, as does the unexpected death of one of the chicks. A fight erupts between the male raptor and Red''s sister. Red, torn between a prospective mate and her kin, tries to defuse the situation. Two Acrocanthosaurus watch the commotion and take the opportunity to attack the Utahraptor. Meanwhile, a Kronosaurus ambushes one of the chicks on the beach. Seeing the danger, Red lures the female Acrocanthosaurus into deep water where the larger predator is dragged under by the Kronosaurus. Red saves her family, but at a price—her consort is forced away by Red''s sister. Facing continual threats from the Acrocanthosaurus, Red, her sister and the chicks are forced up into the mountains. They encounter ice and snow for the first time, and kill a segnosaur in a cave, turning the den into their nest. The older chick accompanies the two adults on hunting expeditions. One day the raptors encounter a strange creature they have never seen—a whip-tailed diplodocid who inflicts wounds on Red and her sister; the older chick is forced to set off alone and find the pack''s food. This calamity coincides with the arrival of a large pack of smaller raptors known as Deinonychus. Sensing the weakness of the Utahraptor pack, they surround the nest and wait for the wounded raptors to become weak enough to attack. Red''s sister dies, and Red is crippled and defenseless against the smaller dinosaurs. The Deinonychus close in and wait for Red to die, but are driven back by a sudden attack—the older Utahraptor chick returns with Red''s consort to defend the nest, driving back the Deinonychus. Some time later, the old white pterosaur circles over Red''s mountain stronghold, and finds the pack has grown considerably. Both Red and the older chick have found mates and have chicks, who are having fun rolling down a hill. The satisfied pterosaur leaves with a mate and offspring of his own.

Raptor Red

Jody Baxter lives with his parents, Ory and Ezra "Penny" Baxter, in the animal-filled central Florida backwoods at the end of the 19th Century. His parents had six other children prior to Jody, but they died in infancy which makes it difficult for Ma Baxter to bond with Jody. Jody loves the outdoors and loves his family. He has wanted a pet for as long as he can remember, yet his mother Ory says they only have enough food to feed themselves. A subplot involves the hunt for an old bear named Slewfoot that randomly attacks the Baxter livestock. Later the Baxters and Forresters get in a fight about the bear, and continue to fight about nearly anything. The Forresters steal the Baxters'' pigs and while Penny and Jody are out searching for their stolen pigs, Penny is bitten by a rattlesnake in the arm. Penny shoots a doe to use its liver to draw out the snake''s poison. Penny recovers, but the doe leaves behind a fawn. Jody adopts the fawn, whom he names Flag, and it becomes his constant companion. The story revolves around the life of Jody as he grows to adolescence along with the fawn. The plot also centers on the conflicts of the young boy as he struggles with strained relationships, hunger, death (of his childhood companion, Fodder-wing Forrester, due to sickness), and the capriciousness of nature through a catastrophic flood. Throughout, the Baxter family is in contrast to their uncouth neighbors the Forresters, and the Baxters'' more refined relatives in the village of Volusia. Jody experiences tender moments with his family, his fawn, and their neighbors and relatives. Along with his father, he comes face-to-face with the rough life of a farmer and hunter. As Jody takes his final steps into maturity, he is forced to make a desperate choice between his pet Flag and his family. The parents realize that the now-adult Flag is endangering their very survival, as he persists in eating the corn crop which the family is relying on for their food the next winter. Jody''s father orders him to take Flag into the woods and shoot him, but Jody cannot bring himself to do it. When his mother shoots the deer and wounds him, Jody is then forced to shoot Flag in the neck himself. In anger at his mother, Jody runs away, only to come face-to-face with the true meaning of hunger, loneliness, and fear. After a failed attempt to run away in a broken-down canoe, he is picked up by a mail ship and dropped off in Volusia. In the end, Jody returns home and assumes his role as the emerging caregiver to his family and their land.

The Yearling

Hawkeye Pierce returns to live in Crabapple Cove, Maine near the town of Spruce Harbor. Having left the Army, Hawkeye is established to be working for the Veterans Administration. In May 1954 he is laid off. At this point, Hawkeye doesn’t have much money in the bank, is 31 years old, and has three children: Billy, Stephen and Karen. The day he’s released, Trapper John McIntyre comes to visit and sets Hawkeye’s future in motion. Trapper John, a Lieutenant in the medical organization of Maxie Neville in New York City, arranges for further thoracic training for Hawkeye, first in the East Orange VA Hospital in New Jersey, then at St Lombard’s in Manhattan from July 1954. After two years Hawkeye breezes through the Thoracic Boards. At the end of his training in June 1956, two Spruce Harbor locals, Jocko Allcock (the man who was responsible for Hawkeye being fired by the VA) and “Wooden Leg” Willcox (the local fish magnate) come to visit Hawkeye to set him up in practice—by betting favorably on the outcome of his operations. The first operation with Trapper John’s assistance (upon Pasquale Merlino) is a success, and thanks to his superior training Hawkeye becomes the local surgeon. As time goes by, Hawkeye is given more patients by the local general practitioner of note, “Doggy” Moore; goes into private practice with ex-Spitfire pilot Tony Holcombe and plots the eventual reuniting of the Swamp Gang. By 1959 Hawkeye has lured Trapper John, Duke Forrest, and Spearchucker Jones into his net, and thanks to the proceeds of the “Allcock-Willcox” syndicate, a new “Finestkind Fishmarket and Clinic” is set up along with the new Spruce Harbor General Hospital. Duke returns to Georgia from Korea, and takes a course in urology. Hawkeye Pierce then invites him up to Spruce Harbor, Maine to join him and a new friend, Tony Holcombe in private practice. Duke immediately turns up in Maine with his bloodhound, Little Eva, and joins Hawkeye in persuading Spearchucker to become the local neurosurgeon. Duke and his family move into Crabapple Cove next to Hawkeye and Mary Pierce. Pierce''s home, "Port Waldo", is (real-life) Waldoboro, and the FinestKind Clinic is just up Route 1 in Rockland. "Crabapple Cove" is Broad Cove, in Bremen, just down the Medomak River from Waldoboro Village. Richard Hooker (Hornberger) owned an old farmhouse on Heath Point. The reader will note Wreck Island, Thief Island, and other Muscongus Bay landmarks in the book. It is possible that the Pierce family is modeled after the (real-life) Spear family, who had a number of different branches in the area, in the 1950s.

M*A*S*H Goes to Maine

Hans Schnier is the "Clown" of the novel''s title. He is twenty-seven years old from a very wealthy family. At the beginning of the story he arrives in Bonn, Germany. As a clown, he had to travel across the country from city to city to perform as an artist. He always sees himself an artist. His home is in Bonn; therefore, he has to stay in different hotels when he is not in Bohn. The woman he has been living with, Marie, has left him to marry another man named Zupfner. Because of this, Hans has become depressed. He also has serious financial problems and he wants to get Marie back from Zupfner. He describes himself as a clown with no church affiliation. His parents, devout Protestants, sent him to a Catholic school. He met Marie in school and fell in love with her. Although Marie was a Catholic, she agreed to live with him. They never got legally married, largely because Hans would not agree to sign a paper agreeing to raise his children as Catholics. He did not even want to get a marriage license, because he thought that they were for people who did not go to church. While living together, they never had any children. Marie always stated that even though she was living in sin, she was still a Catholic. Once in high school, Hans saw her holding hands with Zupfner, but she told him that Zupfner was only a friend. Hans brought her along on every trip and took her everywhere he went. After five years, there was a Catholic conference near their hotel in a German city. Marie wanted to breathe some Catholic air and ask Hans to go there. Hans had a performance at the same time. When they arrived late at night, he fell asleep. The next morning, he discovered Marie was gone, but had had left a note. He never saw her again. The note read: “I must take the path that I must take.” Hans has a mystical peculiarity, as he can detect smells through the telephone. As he explains, he does not only suffer from depression, headaches, laziness and that mystical ability, but also he suffers from his disposition to monogamy. There is only one woman that he can live with: Marie. His reversal of values is clearly shown in his statement: "I believe that the living are dead, and that the dead live, not the way Protestants and Catholics believe it." When he goes to his home in the Bonn, the first person he meets is his millionaire father. He remembers all of his memories from the past. He had a sister named Henrietta. The family forced her to volunteer for anti-aircraft duty seventeen years ago and she never came back. He also has a brother named Leo. He recently converted to Catholicism and is studying theology in college. Hans tells his father about his financial problems. After his father offers him to work for him for a relatively low wage, Hans rejects the offer. He tells his father that he and his brother never benefited from the wealth of their family. War has affected the family. They were never given enough food or pocket money. Many things were regarded as extravagances. Thus, he has no good memory from his past and maybe it was a factor that drove him, at age 21, to leave home to become a clown. He calls many of his relatives in Bonn, but nobody can help him. He soon discovers that Marie is now in Rome on her honeymoon. This news only depresses him more. Finally, he calls his brother, Leo, who promises to bring him money the next day. But, in the middle of the conversation, Leo says that he has talked to Zupner about something and that they became friends. Because Leo has converted to Catholicism, his father no longer supports him. Therefore, Leo is not in a good position financially. In anger, Hans tells him not to come to bring the money. At the end, Hans takes his guitar to the train station and plays as people throw coins into his hat.

The Clown

Correus Appius Julianus is the slave born son of retired Roman general Flavius Appius Julianus who is currently posted as a senior centurion to the Roman naval base of Misenum in modern-day Naples near Pompeii. The novel opens with Correus frustrated at serving in a peacetime establishment and requesting transfer to a more active post. After overseeing the new emperor Titus''s games, including a naval fight, Correus'' wish is granted as he is sent off to destroy some pirates while his young wife Ygerna has to remain behind to give birth to her baby. She also has to try to assert her authority as a stepmother over Correus'' five-year old son, which provokes a family war with Correus'' half-sister Julia, who has raised the boy for the past five years. Upon returning from his successful mission to destroy the pirates, Correus is caught up in the new emperor Domitian''s determination to win a triumph at the expense of Correus'' old adversaries on the German border. This is complicated by Correus'' own off-again, on-again friendship with the German chief and his half-brother Flavius'' romance with the widow of that same former chieftain. There is also a complicated subplot involving a truly nasty Senator who is attempting to orchestrate a plot to depose the emperor - a plot that the Julianus family ends up being intimately involved in through the actions of their brother-in-law Paulinus. The fast-paced conclusion ends with the defeat of the Germans, and the transfer of Correus to a new post in the Roman province of Dacia.

The Emperor''s Games

After Glynn is transported to the world of Keltor, she is rescued by an Acanthan Windwalker named Solen, who despite his apparent indifference, is heavily involved in the complex politics of Keltor. Glynn pretends amnesia and slowly learns that the independent Isle of Darkfall and its sisterhood of soulweavers are falling out of favour with rulers in Keltor. Unfortunately, her athletic build, sense of honour and independence make her resemble the Myrmidons, amazon like women who are the sworn protectors of the soulweavers, who are also out of favour. Unbeknownst to Glynn, her twin sister Ember, in trying to save her from drowning was also transported into Keltor. She is rescued by the Soulweaver Alene and her Myrmidon protectors Feyt and Tareed, who harbours a nagging suspicions as to whether Ember is the "Unraveller" as predicted by Lanalor, the very first Holder(King) and the only male soulweaver. Ember is dying from a large tumour in the frontal lobe of her brain. She is half blind and does not have long to live. The entire plot is a result of Lanalor''s trickery in which the Unykorn/Firstmade was captured by the Chaos spirit so that Lanalor could be with his love, Shenavyre, who incidentally committed suicide when the Firstmade was imprisoned. Lanalor prophesized an Unraveller would come to rescue the Unykorn and free Keltor, although most Keltorians have lost faith in this prophecy. The arrival of strangers (People from Earth), Lanalor promised, would be a sign that the Unraveller would come one day. He gave the description by which the Unraveller would be identified: half blind yet seeing all (half blind), mark by visioning though without the Darkfall mark, lives yet sings the deathsong (dying), born yet not of the Song of Making (not from Keltor), gifted from the great water (from the portal in the water, thus washed up to shore) and crowned in bright flames (many take this as red hair) In an attempt to get currency to pay for a ship fare, Glynn is captured by members of the Draaka cult, who drug and enslave her. The Draaka cult preaches to the Chaos spirit though this is not known to all of Keltor. The Draaka seek to ultimately rule the world in Chaos. Glynn is saved from being a drugged drone by Bayard, a loyal Draaka follower who does not agree with the drug taking that the rest of the cult does, when her pet, the fienna, gets attached to Glynn. Bayard wanted Glynn as her servant instead of a drone as she believed that Glynn could help the fienna give birth to its final offspring (Glynn portrays herself as a Fomikan who came from an aspi breeder''s farm whose parents are disappointed with her, in order to survive). Through a vision, Ember saves the Holder''s life from an assassination attempt by Coralyn, who wants to put her other son Kalide on the throne. Her friend Bleyd is framed and tortured and a daring rescue attempt brings Ember face to face with the paradoxical manbeast Ronaall who predicts Ember''s death if she does not leave the Isle of Ramidan within the night with Bleyd. Ember''s tale ends with her smuggled on a ship heading to Darkfall so she can seek answers and healing for her ever-worsening brain tumour. Alene gives her own a''luwtha as a gift, the playing of the music to unlock her memory. Bayard falls overboard and drowns on the way to Ramidan and Glynn helps the fienna give birth, assisted by Solen, who she reunites with on a ship after his faked death. The mother fienna enhances Glynn''s latent abilities so that she can save the last offspring (the mother and 2 of 3 offspring die), and in doing so, helps fill the grey void in Glynn. She is now connected to the he-fienna. In the morning, as Glynn''s ship pulls into the harbour of Ramidan; unknowingly she watches Ember''s ship departing. The novel also interconnects characters on Earth to those in Keltor in "Segue" sections. These characters include Faye and Tabby (Implied mirrors of Feyt and Tareed), a mysterious comatose manbeast by the name of Ronaall, the male nurse who cares for the comatose man who also cared for Ember, a clarinet player and his comatose mother, a security guard, a policeman named Johnny, the blonde jogger who finds Wind''s suicide note and various others.

Darkfall

Only the most desperate colonists dare to make a new home on Hellhole. Reeling from a recent asteroid impact, tortured with horrific storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and churning volcanic eruptions, the planet is a dumping ground for undesirables, misfits, and charlatans…but also a haven for dreamers and independent pioneers. Against all odds, an exiled general named Adolphus has turned Hellhole into a place of real opportunity for the desperate colonists who call the planet their home. While the colonists are hard at work developing the planet, General Adolphus secretly builds alliances with the leaders of the other Deep Zone worlds, forming a clandestine coalition against the tyrannical, fossilized government responsible for their exile. What no one knows is this: the planet Hellhole, though damaged and volatile, hides an amazing secret. Deep beneath its surface lies the remnants of an obliterated alien civilization and the buried memories of its unrecorded past that, when unearthed, could tear the galaxy apart.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Boy Who Kicked Pigs

By Tom Baker

A Conspiracy of Paper: A Novel

By David Liss

Mimi and Toutou Go Forth. The Bizarre Battle for Lake Tanganyika

By Giles Foden

Disclosure

By Michael Crichton

The Legend of Deathwalker

By David Gemmell

Raptor Red

By Robert T. Bakker

The Yearling

By Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

MAS*H Goes to Maine

By H. Richard Hornberger

The Clown

By Heinrich Böll

The Emperor's Games

No Author Listed

Darkfall

By Isobelle Carmody

Hellhole

By Kevin J. Anderson