The plot device employed in Josephine Mutzenbacher is that of first-person narrative, structured in the format of a memoir. The story is told from the point of view of an accomplished aging 50-year-old Viennese courtesan who is looking back upon the sexual escapades she enjoyed during her unbridled youth in Vienna. Contrary to the what the title indicates, almost the entirety of the book takes place when Josephine is between the ages of 5–12 years old, before she actually becomes a licensed prostitute in the brothels of Vienna. The book begins when she is five years old and ends when she is twelve years old and about to enter professional service in a brothel. Although the book makes use of many "euphemisms" for human anatomy and sexual behavior that seem quaint today, its content is entirely pornographic. The actual progression of events amounts to little more than a graphic, unapologetic description of the reckless sexuality exhibited by the heroine, all before reaching her 13th year. The style bears more than a passing resemblance to the Marquis de Sade''s The 120 Days of Sodom in its unabashed "laundry list" cataloging of all manner of taboo sexual antics from incest, rape and homosexuality to child prostitution, group sex and fellatio.

Josephine Mutzenbacher

Charlemagne''s army is fighting the Muslims in Spain. The last city standing is Saragossa, held by the Muslim king Marsilla. Terrified of the might of Charlemagne''s army of Franks, Marsilla sends out messengers to Charlemagne, promising treasure and Marsilla''s conversion to Christianity if the Franks will go back to France. Charlemagne and his men are tired of fighting and decide to accept this peace offer. They need now to select a messenger to go back to Marsilla''s court. The bold warrior Roland nominates his stepfather Ganelon. Ganelon is enraged; he fears that he''ll die in the hands of the bloodthirsty pagans and suspects that this is just Roland''s intent. He has long hated and envied his stepson, and, riding back to Saragossa with the Saracen messengers, he finds an opportunity for revenge. He tells the Saracens how they could ambush the rear guard of Charlemagne''s army, which will surely be led by Roland as the Franks pick their way back to Spain through the mountain passes, and helps the Saracens plan their attack. Just as the traitor Ganelon predicted, Roland gallantly volunteers to lead the rear guard. The wise and moderate Oliver and the fierce Archbishop Turpin are among the men Roland picks to join him. Pagans ambush them at Roncesvalles, according to plan; the Christians are overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. Seeing how badly outnumbered they are, Olivier asks Roland to blow on his olifant, his horn made out of an elephant tusk, to call for help from the main body of the Frankish army. Roland proudly refuses to do so, claiming that they need no help, that the rear guard can easily take on the pagan hordes. While the Franks fight magnificently, there''s no way they can continue to hold off against the Saracens, and the battle begins to turn clearly against them. Almost all his men are dead and Roland knows that it''s now too late for Charlemagne and his troops to save them, but he blows his oliphant anyway, so that the emperor can see what happened to his men and avenge them. Roland blows so hard that his temples burst. He dies a glorious martyr''s death, and saints take his soul straight to Paradise. When Charlemagne and his men reach the battlefield, they find only dead bodies. The pagans have fled, but the Franks pursue them, chasing them into the river Ebro, where they all drown. Meanwhile, the powerful emir of Babylon, Baligant, has arrived in Spain to help his vassal Marsilla fend off the Frankish threat. Baligant and his enormous Muslim army ride after Charlemagne and his Christian army, meeting them on the battlefield at Roncesvalles, where the Christians are burying and mourning their dead. Both sides fight valiantly. But when Charlemagne kills Baligant, all the pagan army scatter and flee. Now Saragossa has no defenders left; the Franks take the city. With Marsilla''s wife Bramimonde, Charlemagne and his men ride back to Aix, their capital in France. The Franks discovered Ganelon''s betrayal some time ago and keep him in chains until it is time for his trial. Ganelon argues that his action was legitimate revenge, openly proclaimed, not treason. While the council of barons which Charlemagne has assembled to decide the traitor''s fate is initially swayed by this claim, one man, Thierry, argues that, because Roland was serving Charlemagne when Ganelon delivered his revenge on him, Ganelon''s action constitutes a betrayal of the emperor. Ganelon''s friend Pinabel challenges Thierry to trial by combat; the two will fight a duel to see who''s right. By divine intervention, Thierry, the weaker man, wins, killing Pinabel. The Franks are convinced by this of Ganelon''s villainy and sentence him to a most painful death. The traitor is torn limb from limb by galloping horses and thirty of his relatives are hung for good measure.

The Song of Roland

The story opens in the middle of a particularly violent battle. As the battle becomes more and more hopeless Jake orders a desperate retreat leaving Marco and Rachel to fend for themselves. The Animorphs all escape, but barely. Tensions are high and Cassie begins to break down again questioning the violence and killing that come with battle. Jake responds to her without much sympathy. Exhausted he returns home and Tom seems at last suspicious of him. He falls asleep. When he awakes he realizes that he is a ten years older version of himself living in New York City on an earth that has already been completely taken over by the Yeerks. Everyone assumes him to be a Controller with a Yeerk named Essak in his head. Jake follows the crowd to his work, but skips his stop in order to investigate this strange new world. He doesn''t know how he has come to be in this time and place and suspects that it is some kind of alternate or parallel timeline created by the Ellimist or Crayak. He discovers that there is a terrorist organization called the Evolutionist Front (EF) which is composed of Yeerks and their hosts who believe that forms of biological evolution and mutation should be explored instead of the enslavement of sentient species. He encounters Cassie, who is a Controller and one of the leaders of the organization. She is a brutal and calculating terrorist who will use any tactics to sabotage the Yeerk Empire. She persuades Jake to help her foil a Yeerk plot to turn Earth''s Moon into a Kandrona sun, and tells him a contact will approach him with details later. It seems that time and space do not always follow logically in this futuristic world. Jake travels to his place of work, and there he is haunted by the image of the many creatures he has killed in battle. He is then taken in to be interrogated about EF activities. His questioner is a Controller Marco who is Visser Two, and the leader of Earth. Marco has also captured Cassie and threatens to kill her if Jake does not work with him against the EF. Jake''s EFing contact turns out to be an unrecognizable crippled Rachel, scarred from years of battle. She gives him instructions where to meet the head of the resistance, saying that he will recognize him when he sees him. Jake follows her instructions and encounters a fully grown Andalite whom he believes to be Elfangor. It is in fact a cold and indifferent Tobias. Tobias explains that he stayed in morph as Ax, and explains to Jake that his brother Tom killed Jake while he slept ten years ago. He seeks Jake''s help in foiling the Yeerk plan for Kandrona on the Moon. Jake protests that this will mean certain death for Cassie and Tobias responds that sacrifices must be made in war. In a race against time Jake is faced with a choice to either save Cassie or the world. Jake chooses to save "what must be valued above all else". Jake is then instantly back in his bed the next morning. He hears a voice in his head which he has "never heard", saying it is not the Ellimist. He describes the voice as both young and old, male and female, like distant thought speak. The voice simply says "Interesting choice. They have strangely segmented minds: conscious, unconscious, and an ability to reconcile both. They will bear more study, these humans…". Jake then gets out of bed and calls Cassie to ask her if she''s alright.

The Familiar

The book told the story of a young Jewish doctor, who because of antisemitic pressures, seeks to escape his Jewishness by submitting himself to a series of violently painful medical procedures. The doctor has stereotypical Jewish features: black curly hair, oily skin, thick lips, and a large, hooked nose, an effeminate voice, has poor posture and is orthopedically impaired. He agrees to undergo a complex medical operation in order to free himself from his Jewishness. Ultimately, he arranges to have all his bones straightened out, has his hair dyed blonde, and gets his larynx altered to change his voice. He is placed in a bathtub and given a blood transfusion by pure Aryan virgins. Having been seemingly cured of his Jewishness, he weds a blonde German woman. However, just as he is about to deliver a speech at his wedding, his voice takes on a high pitch, as all his previous Jewish features resurface. He ultimately winds up as a gelinatous puddle on the floor, thus signifying the immutability of the Jew: a Jew is always a Jew, regardless of whatever attempts at assimilation he may undertake. The book incorporated all the elements of modern, racial antisemitism: the expression of desire on part of the Jew to escape his identity, the lengths to which he will go to transform himself, the pornographic quality of the affair (as exemplified by the Aryan virgins), and the impossibility of it all. It sought to illustrate that Jews cannot escape their race; if they try, they become something non-human, and indeed sub-human.

The Operated Jew

Hector Kipling is an artist who is famous for his ovarian paintings of big heads. When visiting the Tate Modern in London with one of his best friends and fellow artists, Lenny Snook, he breaks down upon seeing a Munch, which Lenny explains as Stendhal Syndrome. Several days later he visits his parents in his native Blackpool with his Greek girlfriend Eleni. Eleni is four days late, but when she and Hector have sex on the settee that night, she bleeds through, leaving a large stain on it. Another of Hector''s closest friends and also an artist, Kirk Church, is found to have a brain tumor. Hector finds himself longing for someone close to him to die, because that would mean that Hector, as one left behind, would receive much sympathy. When Eleni''s mother Sofia is in a kitchen accident -- being burned with boiling fat and falling into the resulting fire -- Eleni heads for Crete. Hector and Eleni are in a fight shortly before this, because Hector makes the implication that he would be glad if Sofia dies. He denies this, though, because if Eleni''s mother would die, Eleni would be the one to receive all the sympathy. Meanwhile, Hector''s own father has ended up in hospital as well: Hector''s mother Connie threw away the blood-stained settee and bought a second-hand one out of the paper for 850 pounds. The new settee smells of cigarette smoke and this, combined with the amount of money spent on it, is too much for Hector''s father to take. During an open poetry night at a café, Hector''s eye falls on an American punk poet named Rosa Flood. The two meet again during the opening of an exhibition of Hector''s large head paintings. At that exhibition, an assailant badly damages Hector''s paining "God Bolton", which depicts Hector''s previous neighbour Godfrey Bolton shortly after his suicide by hanging. Rosa takes Hector home to comfort him and the two end up having sex. The assailant meets up with Hector to apologize and introduces himself as Freddie Monger; Godfrey Bolton was Monger''s father who severely abused him. To make up for the damage done he will buy the settee off of Hector''s parents'' hands without letting them know Hector is behind it, so as to get Hector''s father out of hospital. While he does buy the settee with Hector''s money, he also robs his parents of 15,000 pounds and kills their pet dog, the remains of which are later found inside the settee. Eleni makes an unexpected return home and announces her mother has died. She leaves again in anger when she finds Rosa in the bathtub. Monger reveals his father''s death wasn''t a suicide and says he only wants one thing from Hector: blood. Monger ends up killing Lenny and Rosa, however, when he mistakes Lenny for Hector who was staying at his house. Hector ends up shooting Monger with the latter''s gun. He does not call the police, as he yelled out "I will kill you both" to Lenny and Rosa when they left together earlier that night while a policeman stood nearby. Instead, he heads for the Tate Britain and paints the words "L''acte Surréaliste le plus simple est de marcher dans une peuplée avec un revolver chargé, et de tirer au hasard" on the wall with blood. He hides inside one of Lenny''s artworks (a hole in the floor of the museum) for the rest of the night and jumps out in the morning when Brian Sewell translates the words to mean "The simplest act of surrealism is to walk into a crowded street with a loaded revolver, and open the fire at random." Hector does just that and kills several art critics who had gathered for the opening of Lenny Snook''s exhibition. From inside Wandsworth Prison Hector relates the rest of events: not only was he charged with killing the art critics, but with killing Rosa and Lenny as well. Hector has decided to let it go. Reactions to his mass murder are varied, from outright disgust to admiration. Hector''s father has died in hospital upon hearing of his son''s deeds and his mother has committed suicide by throwing herself in the Irish Sea. He has never heard from Eleni again and hopes she never learned of what he had done, because then there would be still one person in the world who loves him, even a little bit. In the end, Hector wishes for nothing but something to write with, so that he can write down his story.

The Late Hector Kipling

The events take place in Alaska, north of the Arctic Circle. Evan Marshall, a paleoecologist, is a team member from Northern Massachusetts University studying the effects of global warming on a receding glacier near the fictional Mount Fear. The expedition discovers a monstrous ancient animal, presumed to be a preserved example of Smilodon populator, frozen in solid ice inside a lava tube made into an ice cave. The expedition''s corporate sponsors, sensing huge publicity, decide to have the beast cut from the ice, thawed, and revealed live on television. Meanwhile, local Tunit try to warn the scientists that they do not understand what they have found. Specific warnings are that the animal only exists to kill and that they (the Tunit) do not believe that it is dead. A fanatical documentary producer continues his attempt to capture the events of the discovery, even after the animal exceeds any expectations of its capabilities. (Tunit was the name assigned to the Dorset People in Greenland by the early Thule proto-Inuit. The last Dorset survivors died in 1902 and no Dorset People ever lived in Alaska, being resident in eastern Canada and Greenland.)

Terminal Freeze

The book takes Luke''s style to its logical conclusion, as the entire book is made up of sections taken from other, fictional books. The preface to the book claims that it was written in Deya, Majorca, in 2326. According to the book, an entire industry has grown up publishing books about a Montauk named Wim - including The Gospel According to Luke (Luke Forth, not Luke Rhinehart) and the screenplay of a movie. The screenplay is possibly in there as a result of Luke Rhinehart''s continuing frustration in trying to get The Dice Man turned into a good movie. Adventures of Wim, then, is an effort to create a new interpretation of the story of Wim, drawing on the many previous efforts, and so providing a multi-faceted and whimsical account of ''one of the greatest figures in the 20th and 21st Century''. A boy is born of a virgin mother and is named "Wim" (in Adventures of Wim) or "Whim" (in The Book of the Die and Whim): Montauk for "Wave Rider". He is pronounced to be the saviour of the Montauk nation by his tribe''s navigator, and educated in their ways. Sadly, the humans steal him away and attempt to educate him in more useful skills, such as American Football. Wim, also known as "He of Many Chances", proves to be an inefficient saviour, as God sends him on a quest for Ultimate Truth. This does not seem to be something that will benefit his tribe terribly, but the navigator isn''t one to stare down the barrel of a lightning gun, and sends him on his way. After a long and arduous search, Wim finds ultimate truth (in a tomato), and with it the cure for the sickness of the human condition.

Adventures of Wim

A relatively quiet evening at home in 1897 for the Emersons is disturbed by the appearance of Reggie Forthright and his grandfather, Viscount Blacktower. The two visitors have information about Blacktower''s older son, Willoughby Forth, who disappeared fourteen years ago in the desert west of the Nile in the Sudan. They tell the story of a lost civilization in the midst of the desert. Lord Blacktower''s story would have been discounted, except the map he produced was on the back of a page from Emerson''s own notebook, drawn by Willie Forth himself. Blacktower wants the Emersons to lead an expedition to find the missing heir, but the Emersons decline. Surprisingly, Radcliffe, Amelia and Ramses do travel to the Sudan, to excavate at Gebel Barkal and Napata, the first Nubian capital. The sudden appearance of Reggie Forthright causes them to alter their plans. Reggie is set on seeking his long-lost uncle, and when he disappears in the western wastes, the Emersons have no recourse but to go after him. But the rescuers need rescue themselves when all but one of their men desert them, and their camels die off one by one. Finally, the last faithful servant takes a chance, and looks for a promised oasis ahead. Nearly dead from heat and thirst, they suddenly find themselves in a world 3,000 years out of place. Amelia suffers the worst of it, taking weeks to fully recover. She is spurred on because they find themselves in a place where ancient Egypt is still alive and functioning. And they find that their servant was in fact one of two brothers struggling for power in the ancient land. They soon learn that anyone who thought life in ancient Egypt was simple would have been grossly mistaken. The intrigues, politics, and social mores push and prod the Emersons in ways they never expected, and they still need to discover what happened to Willie Forth, his wife, and his nephew. Dinner with princes and a queen, clandestine meetings with priestesses, and plans to escape all jumble together until the god Aminreh appears to make his decision, and all three Emersons are in the midst of the action when Aminreh makes the choice no one expected... Nefret Forth is introduced, and the source of her later wealth is established. So too is the devotion the family has to a young woman they did not know the existence of just a short while before.

The Last Camel Died at Noon

The novel begins with the character of Tasslehoff Burrfoot at the Inn of the Last Home with his friends. However, soon a bounty hunter arrives and charges him for desertion for violating the laws of prearranged marriage. A journey east turns into a voyage with gully dwarves. Meanwhile in Kendermore, Tas''s Uncle Trapspringer and a human "doctor" have found a map leading to a treasure. Tas is having his own adventures after a shipwreck strands him, Gisella (the bounty hunter), and Woodrow (Gisella''s assistant) near a dwarven settlement. Tas is captured by gnomes, who seek to turn him into an exhibit. Woodrow saves him with help from Winnie, a wooly mammoth. Gisella is killed by Denzil, an assassin. Tas and Woodrow arrive in Kendermore. In the ruins east of the city, "Dr." Phineas Curick, Uncle Trapspringer, and Damaris (the one intended to marry Tasslehoff) find themselves being entertained by Vincent, a rare ogre who is good! The kender and human wander into a magical portal which takes them to Gelfigburg, a Candyland like place. They also discover that the treasure (a magical amulet) has been used up. Denzil, not knowing this, forces Tas to take him to the ruins. Tas tries to go into the portal, but Denzil pulls him out before he is all the way through, leaving Tas stuck in the portal. The kender in Gelfigburg attempt to pull Tas through, leading to a tug of war. Vincent pulls Tas, Damaris, Trapspringer, Phineas, and all the Kender out of Gelfigburg. Denzil is trapped inside. The Dark Queen attempts to enter, but Damaris closes the portal. The kender return to Kendermore, saving the city from a storm. Tas is reunified with Woodrow, and Damaris marries Trapspringer.

Kendermore

Heller describes his early passion for writing and some of the primary school papers that preview his adult fiction. Picking up late in high school, Heller reviews the various jobs he held before enlisting in the Air Force: telegram messenger boy, clerk at an insurance company, and blacksmith''s helper in a shipyard. With World War II looming, Heller enlisted in the US Army Air Corps, where he served as a bombardier. Heller describes several of his fellow soldiers and the events that would later become part of Catch-22. Heller completed his required number of missions, was discharged, and was married to his first wife within five months. She accompanied him to college, which Heller attended on the GI Bill, but we learn very little about her. Heller describes his early attempts at writing fiction, which occurred while he worked as an English professor and ad copywriter, and reminds the reader of the many prominent American writers who have been unable to support themselves on their words alone. Heller provides interesting details from his life''s story, but doesn''t rehash any of his works. Catch-22 and Something Happened receive the most attention, while Picture This, God Knows, and Good as Gold receive brief mentions. The most insight Heller provides into his body of his work is a discussion in the penultimate chapter of his experience with psychoanalysis. Heller revisits his father''s death in the chapter, and notes how so many of his works have a prominent, but not central, character''s death described in the penultimate chapter (e.g., Snowden in Catch-22). Heller also discusses why the only emotional closeness that appears in his works is between father and son. (e.g., David and Absalom in God Knows) Heller provides an in-depth reason to the insanity that often lurks in people''s minds.

Now and Then

John can be a meanie only because he has been untouchable since his parents'' divorce six years ago, and Marisol, who has recently come out as a lesbian, meet through their interests in writing zines, into which they pour their life stories. John arranges coffee dates that occur over several Saturdays, thus getting to know Marisol, and becoming friends. After Marisol tells John that she likes him, he is very surprised. No one had ever told him that they liked him, and he falls in love with her. Marisol doesn''t know how to let him down, without losing her new best friend. Throughout the story, John and Marisol try to keep their friendship intact through writing zines together. As the story begins, John wonders what it would be like to meet one of his favorite zine writers, Marisol. From her personal biography, she describes herself as a "Puerto Rican Cuban Yankee Lesbian." John meets Marisol at a magazine rack on a Saturday when he asks her for coffee. Over time they start to spend more time together and she teaches him the ways of the zine writer. While John is spending time with his divorced father, he starts to ask questions about Al, the man his mother is marrying. John gets angry and throws a tantrum. Seemingly childish, the outburst becomes a topic for his writing, which he asks Marisol to read, instead of discarding it as he usually would have. Reflecting more on his life, John begins to understand his sexual orientation. This sudden embrace of his heterosexuality starts to give John ideas about his future with Marisol. Planning for the upcoming junior prom, John is thinking of taking Marisol. Marisol is aware that John only wants to go as friends, but is confused at John''s desire to parade his heterosexuality to his friends. When John tries to kiss her, Marisol refuses. She yells at him, announcing that she is strictly lesbian, and that she thought he understood. Regretting his actions, John assumes he will never see Marisol again. To his surprise, Marisol calls him and she does not seem mad. She asks him to a zine conference on the shore of Cape Cod, next to the Bluefish Wharf Inn. Marisol tells him that this is the chance to express his feelings about the situation at hand to his parents, so he does. John writes letters to his mother and father, mails his father''s to him, leaves his mother''s on the table, and heads to the bus station for Marisol. One long bus ride later, they arrive at the conference surrounded by cabins and writers. John sees one of his favorite writers, Dianna Tree. As the weekend passes, Dianna and John develop a relationship while Marisol is off partying. Dianna sings a song for John called "Hard Love." After the convention ends, Marisol plans to go live in New York with her friends, Jane, Sarah, and B.J. John is completely taken aback by Marisol''s plans. He tries to talk to her before she leaves but, running short on time, she hurries away. John is left to sort through his relationship with his parents and finish his last year of high school.

Hard Love

Doyle''s pureblood Brachen demon father Axtius is the General for the Coalition of Purity which believes that all half-blood demons should be banished, leaving only the purebloods on Earth. Both Angel and Buffy are dealing with this threat in their respective cities when Buffy''s team learns that General Axtius plans to attack a half-blood demon safe haven island near Los Angeles. Uprooting the Scooby Gang, Buffy and the rest of them travel quickly to Los Angeles to help Angel deal with the increasing problem. Unfortunately, the demons on the island who are in need of saving seem to be sceptical about having vampires as well as the Slayer on their island and they must be convinced that it''s for their benefit before General Axtius and his troops launch a full-fledged attack on the island. In their final confrontation on the island, Angel defeats Axtius when unarmed despite Axtius wielding a powerful mystical weapon, taunting the Brachen by saying that he would have been ashamed of Doyle''s very human act of sacrifice and redemption. Having been defeated by Angel, Axtius is subsequently incinerated by his former second-in-command for his failure to destroy the island.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

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Josephine Mutzenbacher

No Author Listed

The Song of Roland

No Author Listed

The Familiar

By K. A. Applegate

The Operated Jew

No Author Listed

The Late Hector Kipling

By David Thewlis

Terminal Freeze

By Lincoln Child

Adventures of Wim

By George Cockcroft

The Last Camel Died at Noon

By Barbara Mertz

Kendermore

By Mary Kirchoff

Now and Then

By Joseph Heller

Hard Love

By Ellen Wittlinger

Monster Island

By Thomas E. Sniegoski