Having recently moved to Dublin, Tess finds solitude in her power to Switch (shapeshift), escaping city life in favour of the animal world. However, she is troubled by a boy named Kevin, who constantly follows her home when she gets off the school bus, and claims to need her help. He soon reveals that he is also a Switcher, and that he has joined her on several of her recent excursion as an animal. However, Kevin is almost fifteen years of age, and once a Switcher turns fifteen, they lose their powers (something of which Tess was not aware). After much prodding, Tess agrees to follow Kevin to a house owned by an elderly former Switcher named Lizzie, who reveals that enormous, ice-dwelling Arctic slugs called krools have been roused from a millennia-long slumber by recent oil drilling in the area of their hibernation. Now that they are wakeful, they have begun to lower the temperature of the Earth so as to make it more comfortable for themselves, and will not stop until they have brought the entire planet into a new Ice Age. Only Tess and Kevin have the power to stop this. In the forms of whales the two Switchers swim to the Arctic, where they rest as polar bears. During a dream, Tess suddenly realizes the meaning of Lizzie''s advice about "being what isn’t". She explains to Kevin that because they have been so focussed on what exists in the here and now, they have closed their mind to alternative possibilities, such as Switching into creatures which once existed and are now extinct. Armed with this knowledge, the two transform themselves into mammoths, in which form they continue their journey. A krool sees the mammoths approaching, and resolves to consume them to appease its hunger. As its enormous body rears up to swallow them, however, Tess makes a sudden leap of imagination by Switching into a dragon. Kevin follows suit, and together they melt the krool with their fiery breath. Unfortunately, an American military helicopter sees them, and, mistaking them for UFOs, attempts to destroy them with missiles. The creatures evade these attacks, and begin to move about the Arctic, killing all the krools they can find, thus causing the snowstorms all over the world to die down. While Tess and Kevin are returning to Ireland, the war-planes pursue them once more, this time attacking with a napalm bomb. They swerve away from the explosion, Switching into birds as they do so, but Kevin''s Switch comes a few seconds too late, and he is caught in the blast. Tess waits in the sky above the bomb-site until the dawn of Kevin''s fifteenth birthday, but it is clear that he died in the explosion. She returns to Dublin, and speaks to Lizzie, who is not nearly as upset about Kevin''s death as Tess had expected. Lizzie explains that she does not know whether there is an afterlife or not and therefore is not in a position to think about where Kevin now is. Tess returns home, and her parents are overjoyed to have her back. However, they notice that she has gone through considerable changes during her absence, and is more isolated than ever before. For the next several months, she considers what to become when she turns fifteen, and finds a downside to almost every option. Tess becomes increasingly lonely as time passes, until one night, she is visited by Kevin, now permanently in the form of a phoenix. Her friend made an immense leap of faith as he was swept up in the explosion, allowing him to survive because phoenixes by nature rise from their own ashes when killed. The book ends as Tess prepares to become a phoenix and fly with Kevin over the city.

Switchers

The year 340 BC. A hunted, haunted Brahmin youth vows revenge for the gruesome murder of his beloved father. Cold, calculating, cruel and armed with complete absence of accepted morals, he becomes the most powerful political strategist in Bharat and succeeds in uniting a ragged country against the invasion of the army of that demigod, Alexander the great. Pitting the weak edges of both forces against each other, he pulls off a wicked and astonishing victory and succeeds in installing Chandragupta on the throne of the mighty Mauryan empire. History knows him as the brilliant strategist Chanakya. Satisfied-and a little bored-by his success as a kingmaker through the simple summoning of his gifted mind, he recedes into the shadows to write Arthashastra, the science of wealth. But history, which exults in repeating itself, revives Chanakya two and a half millennium later, in the form of Gangasagar Mishra, a Brahmin teacher in a small town of India who becomes a puppteer to a host of ambitious individuals-including a certain slum child who grows up to be a beautiful and a powerful woman. Modern India happens to be just as riven as ancient bharat by class hatred, corruption and divisive politics and this happens to be Gangasagar''s feasting ground. Can this wily pandit, who preys on greed, venality and sexual deviance-bring about another miracle of a united India. Will the Chanakya Chant work again?

Chanakya''s Chant

The plot focuses on Adam Salton, originally from Australia, who is contacted by his great-uncle, Richard Salton, in 1860 Derbyshire for the purpose of establishing a relationship between these last two members of the family. His great-uncle wants to make Adam his heir. Adam travels to Richard Salton''s house in Mercia, Lesser Hill, and quickly finds himself at the centre of mysterious and inexplicable occurrences. The new heir to the Caswall estate, known as Castra Regis, the Royal Camp, Edgar Caswall, appears to be making some sort of a mesmeric assault on a local girl, Lilla Watford, while a local lady, Arabella March, seems to be running a game of her own, perhaps angling to become Mrs. Caswall. Adam Salton discovers black snakes on the property and buys a mongoose to hunt them down. He then discovers a child who has been bitten on the neck. The child barely survives. He learns that another child was killed earlier while animals were also killed in the region. The mongoose attacks Arabella who shoots it to death. Arabella tears another mongoose apart with her hands. Arabella then murders Oolanga, the African servant, by dragging him down into a pit or hole. Adam witnesses the murder which he cannot prove. Adam then suspects Arabella of the other crimes. Adam and Sir Nathaniel de Salis, who is a friend of Richard Salton''s, then plot to stop Arabella by whatever means necessary. They suspect that she wants to murder Mimi Watford, whom Adam later marries. Nathaniel is an Abraham Van Helsing type of character who wants to hunt down Arabella. The White Worm is a large snake-like creature that dwells in the hole or pit in Arabella''s house located in Diana''s Grove. The White Worm has green glowing eyes and feeds on whatever is thrown to it in the pit. The White Worm ascends from the pit and seeks to attack Adam and Mimi Watford in a forest. Adam plans to pour sand into the pit and to use dynamite to kill the giant White Worm while it is inside the pit. Edgar Caswall is a slightly pathological eccentric who has Mesmer''s chest which he keeps at the Castra Regis Tower. Caswall wants to recreate mesmerism, associated with Anton Mesmer, which was a precursor to hypnotism. He has a giant kite in the shape of a hawk to scare away pigeons which have gone berserk and have attacked his fields. In the final scene, Adam Salton, Mimi Watford, and Nathaniel de Salis confront Arabella and Edgar Caswall. A thunderstorm and lightning destroy Diana''s Grove by igniting the dynamite.

Lair of the White Worm

Will Godwin, a young boy, is forced to work for the evil apothecary Dr. Elias Theophrastus Spittle after Spittle frames him for a murder. Following a close call, he finds a family of cats in a graveyard and brings them back to Spittle''s home. The mother cat, as it seems, is named Imelza. But the father is nowhere in sight. Soon after, Will persuades Spittle, who is searching for a way to become immortal, to take one of them as a familiar. The kittens are thereafter named Jupiter, Dab and Leech. Jupiter is trained in the magic arts, while his brother Leech is despised by Spittle. Envious, Leech begins to plot the downfall of his brother, Jupiter. The plague spreads through London, and many people die. Imelza and Dab escape from Spittle, but Imelza is beaten to death by a mob and Dab almost dies but is saved by Molly, a plague doctor and friend of Will''s. Dab returns home and is soon killed by Spittle for his experiments, leaving Jupiter and Leech alone to battle over who is heir to the black arts. Spittle, after creating a potion that dyes things orange, manages to formulate the Philosopher''s Stone, but contracts the Plague and dies, forcing Jupiter to use the potion on him to resurrect him. Jupiter, upon discovering Dab''s body, drinks the potion himself and turns on his master and kills him by starting a fire. Leech betrays Jupiter and leaves him to burn, inheriting his brother''s magic powers in the process, but falls into the fire himself. Will manages to recover one cat, burnt unrecognizably but later revealed to be Leech. Leech, having drunk both the immortality potion and orange dye, convinces a rat that Spittle had kept to take him into the sewers and takes his brother''s name and title as his own, "Jupiter, Lord of All". The book gradually weaves both storylines together. The Great Plague and the Great Fire of London occur during the course of the story.

The Alchymist''s Cat

The novel begins in 1962 where several famous science fiction authors are watching an American space probe as it lands on an inhabited Mars. They watch as human-like Martians arrive in a "land ship" and take the probe with them. In 2000, both the US and Sino-Soviet "Eastbloc" have bases on the planet. The US has their base off in the wilderness away from the major cities while the Eastbloc have placed their base inside the remnants of the Tollamune emperor''s realm within Olympus Mons, a ruling dynasty that once ruled all Mars. Although in decline, Martian civilization is considerably older than that of Earth and has considerable expertise in genetic engineering. Archeologist Jeremy Wainman is sent by the U.S. Aero-Space Force to explore the lost city of Rema-Dza out in the "Great Beyond", or the Martian desert. The USASF also hires a female Martian mercenary, Teyud za-Zhalt, who leads the expedition to the city. While fighting a pack of feral engines under the city, Jeremy and Teyud fall in love. It becomes apparent that there is more to Teyud than she initially recounts. When the expedition discovers the lost "Invisible Crown" of the Tollamune emperors, a symbol of authority that gives the wearer immense power, everyone is startled to find that Teyud can wear it even though only someone from the Tollamune dynasty is capable of doing so. Teyud admits that she is the illegitimate daughter of the current emperor. Now the former mercenary commands the power of an ancient technological artifact allegedly created by the aliens that terraformed Mars and Venus, and seeded them with life from Earth. Jeremy and Teyud soon discover that there are Tollamune dynastic factions who know of Teyud''s ancestry and are looking to either kill or capture her. Jeremy himself is captured while attempting to protect Teyud. This forces her, with the help of her father''s soldiers, to attempt to rescue him from the fortress of a potential usurper, who had been displaced from the imperial succession after the Emperor recognises his daughter''s legitimacy. The Crown Prince is later defeated after playing a game of Atanj (Martian chess), using people as the pieces, including Teyud and Jeremy. Teyud''s father also dies passing the title of emperor to her. With the Crown Prince dead and a Tollamune once again ruling all of Mars, Teyud takes Jeremy as her prince consort. The couple are visited by an ancient alien computer program which cryptically announces that they will proceed to the next stage. Though both are unsure what this means, but they soon discover that three interdimensional "Gates" have opened up on Earth, Venus and Mars, each leading to another world. The book ends with Teyud and Jeremy visiting "Vow''da" (Moon-World) the new colony on the other side of the Martian gate.

In the Courts of the Crimson Kings

A teenager named Hope Yancey lives with her aunt, Addie, in Brooklyn, where Addie works as a chef and Hope works as a waitress at "The Blue Box Diner." Hope lives with her aunt because her mother, Deena, (who named her Tulip Yancey, which she disliked so she officially changed her name to Hope when she was twelve) did not consider herself to be a suitable parent. Hope has no idea who her father is and feels that she cannot be whole until she meets him. She has a scrapbook filled with people who she thinks would be her father. Besides the scrapbook, she also has "memory books" from every place that she''s been, given that she''s moved a lot. Her goal is to be able to pull out all of her memory books when she finally meets her father and give him the play-by-play of her life. When the restaurant Hope and her aunt work at closes down because the owner, Gleason Beal, stole all of the restaurant''s money, Addie and Hope decide to move to Mulhoney, a small city in southern Wisconsin, where they will work at a small-town diner. Before leaving her home, Hope writes "Hope was here" on one of the boards on the window. Writing her name somewhere noticeable but not obtrusive is her way of saying goodbye to a place. Hope''s new boss, G.T. (Gabriel Thomas) Stoop, is a kind-hearted man, but he has leukemia which keeps him off of his feet at the diner. G.T. decided to run for mayor against the current, very corrupt mayor Eli Millstone. Millstone lets the Real Fresh Dairy company not pay taxes, and in exchange the workers at this company must support his campaign. The current mayor supports a huge company that causes a lot of problems for the townspeople, such as cracking roads and keeping people up at night using illegal routes to the highway. but his political power causes few to run against him. Meanwhile, Addie has been changing the menu at the diner, much to G.T.''s amusement. G.T. then shows interest in dating Addie, who responds positively but brusquely. Encouraged by G.T.''s success, the line cook Eddie Braverman (AKA Braverman), who works at the diner to help support his ill mother, decides to ask Hope out, who initially refuses. Hope is wary of dating Braverman because Deena has always told her to never date the cook. However, after a test date, Hope and Braverman become a couple. Hope also befriends the two other waitresses, Flo and Lou Ellen, and a Russian immigrant, Yuri, who works as a bus boy at the diner. Lou Ellen has a young daughter, Anastasia, who is ill and refuses to eat. G.T. sets up a nursery in his office and lets Lou Ellen bring her daughter to work. Anastasia reminds Hope of herself when she was a baby, so Hope and Braverman decide to help Lou Ellen by watching Anastasia. They finally succeed in getting her to drink from a bottle. Braverman,Hope and a group of students from the area high school form a Students for Stoop organization to support G.T.''s campaign. Because of Braverman''s participation, he is attacked and beaten by a group of Millstone''s supporters. During his campaign, G.T. discovers that his leukemia is in remission, but Millstone''s campaign spreads a rumor that G.T.''s cancer has spread to his brain. The teens, Addie and G.T., along with Brenda, the deputy sheriff, all attempt to spread the truth about G.T., but they are not able to convince the townspeople in time, and G.T. loses the election. A few weeks later, Hope and Braverman are going over the list of voters, and they discover that Millstone rigged the election. G.T. is named the new mayor of Mulhoney and begins many reform programs. G.T. marries Addie and officially adopts Hope. About two years later, G.T.''s leukemia returns and he dies after Hope tells him that she thinks of him as her real father, the one that she was always looking for. Hope and Braverman leave for college, since he can now pay for his tuition thanks to reforms that G.T. started.

Hope Was Here

Giovanni ''Nino'' Culotta is an Italian immigrant, who comes to Australia as a journalist, employed by an Italian publishing house, to write articles about Australians and their way of life for those Italians that might want to emigrate to Australia. In order to learn about real Australians, Nino takes a job as a brickie''s labourer with a man named Joe Kennedy. The comedy of the novel revolves around his attempts to understand English as it was spoken in Australia by the working classes in the 1950s and 1960s. Nino had previously only learned ''good'' English from a textbook. The novel is a social commentary on Australian society of the period; specifically male, working class society. Women mostly feature as cameos in the story with the exception of Kay (whose surname is not revealed in the novel), who becomes Nino''s wife. In the novel, Nino meets Kay in a cafe in Manly and their introduction is effected by Nino trying to teach Kay that she cannot eat spaghetti using a spoon. The final message of the novel is that immigrants to Australia should count themselves fortunate and should make efforts to assimilate into Australian society, including learning to speak Australian English. However, there is also a satirical undercurrent aimed at Australian society as a country of migrants.

They''re a Weird Mob

===Into the Blood Se he Master of Past and Presen he Golden Genera ook he Tra eunite ook escue Missio erak haos and Escap ndings and Epilogue=== Exiting the city, Tanis and Laurana meet up with Fizban, Caramon, Tika and Tasslehoff. Fizban then reveals that he is really the god Paladine. Tanis also recognizes him now as the old man at the Inn who first spurred them into action by calling for the guards in Dragons of Autumn Twilight. Fizban tell the heroes that both the good and evil dragons will remain on Ansalon and that balance has been restored between good and evil. Fizban explains to Caramon that the spirit who has helped Raistlin at times (and who Raistiln made a bargain with in the Great Library) is the ancient evil wizard Fistandantilus. But he points out that Raistlin is not being possessed and chose his life and his actions all by himself. The companions separate. Tasslehoff to travel to Kenderhome, Caramon and Tika to travel to Solace and Tanis and Laurana to travel to Kalaman. In the epilogue, Raistlin travels to the Tower of High Sorcery in an abandoned neighborhood in the city of Palanthas, cursed and unoccupied since the end of the Cataclysm. He proclaims himself to be the master of past and present whose coming was foretold, is recognized by the spectral denizens of the tower, and settles into his new home.

Dragons of Spring Dawning

In the first novel, Fireball, Simon and Brad are cousins who are mysteriously transported to an alternate history Earth, where the Roman Empire did not break up and Europe remains in pre-Dark Ages technology. In an attempt to improve their status in the new realm, Simon and Brad aid the Church, which is oppressed, to launch a coup by introducing the stirrup and the longbow. The coup succeeds, but the boys did not anticipate the Church as a state power would force everyone in the Empire to convert or die. At the end of the first book, they sail away to the New World, which in the realm, was not discovered yet by the Old World. At the beginning of this novel, they managed to reach the American continent safely. They are received warmly enough by the native tribes in North America, but soon find themselves yearning for more advanced civilizations. Trekking across the continent, they head for the only civilization in America which has significant urban living - the Aztecs. As the Roman Empire has persisted in Europe of this realm until the 20th century due to unchanging externalities, the Aztec too has continued without encounters from the Europeans'' discovery of the New World. In order to quickly gain wealth and status to enjoy a comfortable living, they take part in the sacred games, which is a cross between squash, tennis and handball. Their aim though is to finish second, as the victors will be sacrificed to the gods. Unfortunately, they win. To escape the fate of the winners, they escape again, and this time, are captured by sailors from the Far East. Their story continues in the last book of the trilogy, Dragon Dance.

New Found Land

The Gigli Concert deals with seven days in the relationship between Dynamatologist JPW King, a quack self-help therapist living in Dublin but born and brought up in England, and the mysterious Irishman, a construction millionaire who asks King to teach him how to sing like the Italian opera singer Beniamino Gigli. As King finds himself reluctantly drawn into to the Irishman''s request it becomes clear that his subject is mentally unbalanced but, against all expectations, King finds himself able to heal the Irishman and, in the process, himself. Although he rises to the challenge and, indeed, becomes obsessed with it, the Irishman ends up ending the process, finding himself cured of his mental and emotional malady through King''s kindness. Left alone, and discovering that his lover, Mona, is suffering from cancer, King tries to kill himself but, in a stunning coup de theatre, instead finds himself miraculously able to sing an aria of Gigli himself. The play ends with King waking up after his suicide attempt and realising that the world is somewhere he is willing to fight on in.

The Gigli Concert

Avalon started its life as a magical seed that beat like a heart, planted by Merlin in Barron''s previous series, The Lost Years of Merlin. Soon it grew into a huge tree, having members of every existing species living in its 7 root-realms. Élano, the sap of the Great Tree, is a liquid that has the power to create, with powers far greater than that of Merlin himself. For the first several centuries of Avalon''s existence, the creatures lived in harmony, guided by the religion of Avalon, the Society of the Whole, its followers known as Drumadians, named after a wood in The Lost Years of Merlin. The Society was started by Elen and Rhiannon, mother and sister to Merlin respectively, also characters from The Lost Years of Merlin. The Society promotes harmony between all races, and the upkeep of the Great Tree, which sustains them all. However, sometime after Elen died, Rhiannon, called Rhia, resigned as High Priestess and left, never to be seen again. Peace is shattered by the War of Storms, a war that included almost all of the races in Avalon and lasted for several centuries. The beginning of the war was heralded by the darkening of the stars in the constellation the Wizard''s Staff. The war was only resolved by the Treaty of the Swaying Sea, crafted by the mysterious Lady of the Lake and by Merlin. After the war ended, Merlin said that he would probably not return to Avalon, and that Avalon''s problems must be solved by Avalonians. As a parting gift he, with the help of his friend Basilgarrad the dragon, flew up to the stars and rekindled the darkened constellation. All was well until the Lady of the Lake again appeared, this time to make a prophecy about a year wherein all of Avalon''s stars would go dark, and a child would be born who is destined to destroy Avalon. However, there was hope: the true heir of Merlin could save them all, if he was found. During the foretold Dark Year, the majority of creatures in Avalon forbade childbirth, killing all children born in spite of the moratorium. Despite this, rumors persist of a child being born in the Flamelon stronghold in the root-realm Rahnawyn. 17 years after the Dark Year, things are going badly. A drought appears in realms Olanabram, Brynchilla, and El Urien; humans become anthropocentric and arrogant; and the stars in the Wizard''s Staff are again darkening, one by one. Characters Tamwyn, Elli, Nuic, Henni, Llynia, and later Batty Lad, must journey to the Lady of the Lake to find out what is happening, and how they can stop it. Eventually, it is revealed that a sorcerer, Kulwych of the White Hands, has dammed the river that sustains the three realms named above with the sole purpose of collecting enough of the élano-bearing water thereof to produce a pure crystal of the substance. For this, he needs Merlin''s staff, Ohnyalei, which has been for seventeen years in the keeping of Tamwyn''s foster-brother, the eagleman Scree. Tamwyn is himself revealed to be Merlin''s grandson; to be the Child of the Dark Prophecy; and to be the Heir. With the aid of his friends Elli, Nuic, Henni, Batty Lad, Shim, and Brionna, as well as of Scree and the staff Ohnyalei, Tamwyn destroys the dam and drives Kulwych into hiding. It is later revealed that Kulwych is a servant of Rhita Gawr, an evil spirit warlord.

Child of the Dark Prophecy

After a devastating nuclear war, the surviving people of earth have been forced to live in underground caverns, ruled by harsh dictatorships. In Britain an unseen leader inspires a large section of the populace to escape the caverns and forms a new dictatorship above ground. This new society is based on a collective sense of guilt at the events of the nuclear war. All subjects are named after famous murderers from history, and are obliged to wear sackcloth so as not to provoke envy with their appearance. The Dictator is never seen, but his voice is broadcast to his subjects regularly, instructing them on the laws and morals of his society. His rule is enforced by Inspectors, who have the power to fine people for minor infringements or report them to the higher ministries for further punishment. A young woman named Jael 97, who has been reported to the Ministry of Facial Justice for being "facially over privileged" and causing discontent among other women, approaches the Equalisation (Faces) Centre to have a synthetic "Beta" face fitted so that she will blend in with the community. At the urging of a friend, however, she decides to put this off. Her resultant guilt, along with subsequent events—her forbidden delight at the idea of "height" during an excursion to the ruined tower of Ely Cathedral; her injury in a planned motor-coach accident during her return from the excursion; her rescue by the Inspector Michael, with whom she falls in love; and her involuntary "Betafication" at the hospital to which she is taken—provokes her rebellious spirit, and she forms a resistance group whose aim is to undermine the regime and show it up as ridiculous. She also writes articles in magazines and papers, in which she deliberately stretches the rules of society to ridiculous proportions—suggesting, for instance, that spelling and grammatical errors in writing should not be criticised, as this can lead to envy and bitterness between people. From the doctor who Betafied her (and who desires her), Jael manages to find out that he has also treated the Dictator and that the Dictator''s chest bears a heart-shaped birthmark. In her desire to find and kill the Dictator, she writes an article urging that anyone should be able to challenge another person on the street to bare their chest and prove they have no birthmarks. This is, she claims, to ensure that everyone is as alike as possible. The idea proves divisive amongst the public and begins to cause a great deal of public disorder. Rioting breaks out on the streets, and in the absence of any advice from the Dictator, the public turn on him and denounce him. The Dictator finally responds by announcing that he can see that the public no longer appreciate his leadership and protection and, therefore, he will be leaving. The country descends into chaos after the Dictator''s departure. Further rioting ensues, and food supplies are exhausted as the means of production are abandoned or destroyed. The remaining government officials realise they will have to ask the underground dictatorships for food supplies. The leaders of the underground society agree to help, but demand that in return six people be sent to them, presumably to be executed. Jael, out of a sense of guilt at her role in the collapse of society, decides to volunteer to be one of the people sent underground. On the night before she intends to so offer herself, she remains awake to savour her last few hours above ground. Then, amidst sounds of a rainstorm outside, there is a knock at her door, which she opens to reveal an old lady who had been kind to her when she was hospitalised, clearly weak with hunger and soaked from heavy rain. Jael lets her into her home and offers her some clothes to change into. To Jael''s astonishment, she finds that the lady bears the Dictator''s birthmark and is, in fact, the Dictator. Clearly on the verge of death, the lady reveals that Michael (who has also arrived on the scene) has acted as her "voice" in the Dictator''s announcements. She also begs Jael to take on the role of Dictator and restore order and hope to the people. The novel ends with Jael, seemingly having accepted the offer from the Dictator, starting to address the public, through Michael''s voice, for the first time.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Switchers

By Kate Thompson

Chanakya's Chant

By Ashwin Sanghi

Lair of the White Worm

By Bram Stoker

The Alchymist's Cat

By Robin Jarvis

In the Courts of the Crimson Kings

By S. M. Stirling

Hope Was Here

By Joan Bauer

They're a Weird Mob

By John O''Grady

Dragons of Spring Dawning

By Margaret Weis

New Found Land

By Samuel Youd

The Gigli Concert

By Tom Murphy

Child of the Dark Prophecy

By T. A. Barron

Facial Justice

No Author Listed