After a vicious shooting spree by Brian Dellasandro, a straight A student, the town of Sunnydale goes into a state of shock, though not one everyone would expect; they turn on each other and become nasty. At the same time, Helen, an ancient vicious vampire over 1500 years old, has come to Sunnydale. She has hunted and killed every single Slayer she has ever met in her life, and Buffy is next on her list. Helen and her lover, Julian, have come to Sunnydale to raise Meter, a goddess of destruction, and to do that they need the heart of the Slayer and the ashes of the Emperor Caligula from way back when in 47 A.D. The urn, containing his ashes, has arrived in Joyce''s gallery, and is later stolen. After a run-in with Helen, Buffy learns that Angelus and Helen used to be paramours in the 19th century, but that it ended when he regained his soul. Angel explains to her about Helen''s past and how she came to hunt down Slayers. Buffy and her friends are captured and suited up on the night of Meter''s ascension. They are led onto a battleground where Buffy must stay alive against dozens of opponents as well as her friends who have been infected by the Potion of Madness in order to prevent Meter from rising. Buffy novels, such as this one are not considered by most fans as part of canon. They are usually not considered as official Buffyverse reality, but are novels from the authors'' imaginations. However unlike fanfic, ''overviews'' summarising their story, written early in the writing process, were ''approved'' by both Fox and Whedon (or his office), and the books were therefore later published as officially Buffy merchandise.

The Evil That Men Do

The story involves Mr. and Mrs. White and their adult son Herbert. Sergeant-Major Morris, a friend of the Whites who has been part of the British Armed Forces in India, leaves them with the monkey''s paw, telling of its mysterious powers to grant three wishes, and of its journey from an old fakir to his comrade, who used his third and final wish to wish for death. Mr. White wishes for £200 to be used as the final payment on his house. Following that, Herbert is killed by machinery at his company, but they do get compensation of £200. Ten days after the funeral, Mrs. White, almost mad with grief, asks her husband to wish Herbert back to life with the paw. Reluctantly, he does so. After a delay, there is a knock at the door. Mrs. White fumbles at the locks in an attempt to open the door. Mr. White knows, however, that he cannot allow their son in, as his appearance will be too grotesque. Mr. White was required to witness and identify the body, which had been mutilated by the accident and then buried for more than a week. He wishes his third wish for Herbert to remain dead, and the knocking stops. Mrs. White opens the door to find no one there. The theme of the story is contained in this description of the paw: ''"It had a spell put on it by an old fakir," said the sergeant-major, "a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled people''s lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow."

The Monkey''s Paw

Otis Spofford is a young boy with a promensity for causing trouble. He does not have any brothers or sisters and he lives with his mother. One the reasons why Otis likes to cause trouble is because he yearns to make life more exciting. Unfortunately, his behavior means that he does not have any close friends and his classmates are reluctant to form close bonds with him. The book is also about how Otis torments his classmate, Ellen Tebbits. She annoys him because she performs well in school and exhibits excellent behavior. Thus, Ellen is often the victim of Otis''s bad behaviour. Each chapter revolves around a prank of Otis''s, which often backfires. In one instance, he sabotages the class science project, which consists of feeding cafeteria food to one rat and bread and soda to another, and monitoring their growth. Otis feeds the underfed rat himself, hoping that it will get soda pop served in the cafeteria. His teacher, Mrs. Gitler, becomes wise to this and tries to get the culprit to confess. Otis opens his mouth and is stunned when Ellen steps forward. Ellen was secretly feeding the rat as well. Subsequently, it is Ellen who is allowed to take the rat home at experiment''s end, much to Otis''s displeasure (although she gives it to him when her mother will not allow her to keep it). Otis''s pranks are typically innocuous, such as firing spitballs in class. Near the end of the book he finally "gets his comeuppance," as Mrs. Gitler has long predicted. In order to impress his classmates on a dare, he cuts off a chunk of Ellen''s hair, which she had been painstakingly trying to grow "long enough for pigtails". This act turns nearly the entire class against him, and for the first time Otis does not relish the attention he receives from his actions. Otis eventually feels bad about what he did to Ellen when she bursts into tears and flees the classroom. Ellen and her best friend Austine manage an act of retribution by stealing Otis''s shoes while he is skating at the pond, forcing him to walk home in his ice skates. The two girls later accost a dejected Otis on the steps of his apartment and offer him his shoes in exchange for an apology to Ellen, and a promise that he will stop pestering her. Otis concedes, but only after the girls are leaving reveals he had two fingers crossed behind his back the entire time; clearly, he means to pester Ellen for a long time to come.

Otis Spofford

In November 1988, Peart joined David Mozer''s Bicycle Africa for a month-long tour of Cameroon. Along with David, Neil would travel with three other strangers. Leonard; an African-American electrical engineer who is also a Vietnam vet. Elsa; a slender 60-year-old pacifist who would struggle to keep up with everyone and complain about everything. And Annie; a 30-something administrative assistant who was often scatterbrained. Peart, an avid reader, brought two books on the trip with him, Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle and Dear Theo by Vincent van Gogh, to read at rest stops and before bedtime. He would entwine thoughts about these two books throughout The Masked Rider. They all met in Douala, where they would first travel west along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and then turn north to the heart of the former British Cameroon, stopping at many towns in Southern Cameroon along the way, like Tiko, Buea, Limbe, Kumba, Nkongsamba, Bafang, Bafoussam, Mbouda, Bamenda, Bafut, Ndop, Kumbo, Jakiri, and Foumban. As they travel, Elsa starts complaining and is so tired after a few days she contemplates quitting, but it was David who encouraged her to keep going. Neil and the others also experience many things about each town; how nice some are (Bamenda) and how not so nice the others are (Kumba). Peart called Kumba "a real hell hole." They also meet a Peace Corps volunteer named Kim in Jakiri who cooked them all hamburgers. After the Southern tour is over, all five of them are crammed into a bus in Foumban to go to Yaoundé where they spend two days before boarding a train to Ngaoundéré. Once there, they board another bus for Garoua. However, this bus would have problems, starting with the bus driver allowing both of one set of dual tires to blow out, and managing to obtain another tire to fix it all before continuing on (as there was only one spare tire, which was useless when two tires are blown out). Eventually, about 30 miles from Garoua, the bus''s engine would give out, and they decide to start cycling again from there. From before Garoua, the gang starts cycling again to towns and villages in the north. After Garoua, it would be Hama Koussou, Dembo, Tchevi, Roumsiki, Guave, Mabas, Tourou, Mozogo, Mora, Waza, Ndiguina, Maltam, Kousséri, and finally, to N''Djamena, Chad. During this time, Neil would get nervous while being accosted by a very, very drunk Cameroon soldier in Dembo, he and Leonard would almost wind up in Nigeria, they would enjoy looking at wildlife in a game park, Campement de Waza, while enjoying a bit of luxury, and finally continuing onto N''Djamena, where they would have further adventures concluding the trip. First, they had to obtain exit visas to leave Cameroon, then they would be told they would need one to leave Chad, which they were afraid they could not get in time for the one flight per week. Peart would get so ill the night before worrying about all this, he could not face dinner, but the next morning was much better, and they all managed to leave the country and conclude the tour. Neil, Leonard, and Elsa would fly UTA to Paris, while David and Annie would fly Air Afrique to Mali. At the end, Neil would spend a week with his then-wife, Jackie, in Paris.

The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa

The book is written about events in the life of the Chalice, describing her actions and emotions. It begins with the Chalice, and the rest of the Circle, welcoming a new Master. The Chalice must be the first to greet the new Master, and give him a special cup to drink. The reason for a new Master is that the old one, and the former Chalice, died in a fire, which was caused by some of their own actions, a few months earlier. The now-dead Master was concerned only with his own pleasure and power, and neglected his duties to his demesne. Seven years before the story begins, the Master sent his brother away, to join the priests of Fire. The brother had been concerned about the demesne, and opposed the Master''s ways. When the older brother died, the Grand Seneschal sent for the younger brother, asking that he become the new Master. The brother is welcomed by the Circle, and the people of the demesne, but has changed, physically and mentally, so that he can hardly interact with the people of the demesne at all. Mirasol, the Chalice, was a peasant, living by herself in a cottage within walking distance of the House of the demesne, but having nothing to do with its inhabitants, until, to everyone''s surprise, she was chosen as Chalice. She raises bees, left to her by her dead parents. The bees are special. For a period of time, they produced so much honey that Mirasol couldn''t take care of it. They are larger than normal bees, they seem to understand the Chalice, and protect her, and they produce special types of honey. The Chalice has had no training for the job. She has read every manuscript she can find that tells her what a Chalice must do, and how, but there is a lot she doesn''t know. She thinks that the rest of the Circle, especially the Grand Seneschal, believes that she was a bad choice. She performs her job as best she can, operating from what she has read, and from her intuition, in deciding what vessel to use, and what to put in it, for each occasion. She mixes honey with the various drinks she offers to people involved in ceremonies of the Circle, or to pour out. This use of honey is new. It has never been used this way before. The Chalice (and most of the people of the demesne) very much want the new Master to succeed—they need a competent Master. He wants to succeed, himself, for the sake of the demesne. That is why he left the training for the priesthood, an unprecedented act, to return. He knows that the demesne needs a competent Master, one from the demesne itself. The Chalice learns of this, and also learns that the Master believes that she should continue as Chalice. Eventually, the Chalice learns that the Grand Seneschal, also, wants her, and the new Master, to succeed. The Overlord does not want this. Since the Master has no heir, he appoints one, who will do his bidding, rather than act for the good of the demesne, if he becomes Master. The Overlord arranges things so that the Master seems to have insulted him, and orders the Master, and the heir, to hold a single combat. The Chalice comes to realize, with the help of the Grand Seneschal, that, should the Master be killed in combat, the heir will not only succeed to the Mastership, but will marry her. She does not want either of these things to happen. During the seven days between the supposed insult and the time of the combat, the Chalice repairs as many of the earthlines of the demesne as possible. (She later learns that the Master has been helping her in this.) On the day of the combat, she returns to the House, to see that the Master will be forced to fight with swords, and has decided that his demesne would be better off if he was killed. But the Chalice''s amazing bees have something to say about this. They blanket the combatants, kill the heir, and transform the Master back to near normalcy. Many of the bees die in the process. The Overlord departs in defeat. Some of the Circle resign their positions, because they haven''t supported the Master. By the end of the book, it is clear that the Chalice and the Master will marry, and everyone live happily every after.

Chalice

Hunter S. Thompson receives a letter from the editor of Running magazine, asking him to cover the 1980 Honolulu Marathon, which the editor says should be "a good chance for a vacation". Hunter asks the illustrator Ralph Steadman to accompany him. On the flight over, he meets a man named Ackerman, who seems to have connections to the drug trade in Hawaii. Hunter covers the marathon with his characteristic gonzo style, weaving his own experiences into the coverage of the story. After the marathon, Hunter, Ralph and Ralph''s family move to a rented beach side "compound" on Hawaii''s Kona coast. The weather is miserable and they are trapped indoors, besieged by huge waves. Ralph and his family, upset about the terrible conditions of their vacation, return to England. Later, Hunter reunites with Ackerman to go fishing. Hunter eventually catches a huge Marlin, which he beats to death with a Samoan war club. The fishing boat returns to the dock, with Hunter screaming triumphantly, "I am Lono!", referring to the ancient Hawaiian god. After this, Hunter ends his story in the City of Refuge, hiding from those he upset with his antics at the docks. The story frequently breaks away to excerpts from The Last Voyage of Captain James Cook, which tells the story of the man the native Hawaiians thought was the reincarnation of Lono.

The Curse of Lono

The book starts with Jack McEvoy, a crime reporter for the Rocky Mountain News ("Death is my beat"), relating how the news of his brother Sean''s suicide was broken to him. Sean was a homicide detective with the Denver Police, who was found dead in his car in a remote parking lot. A one-sentence suicide note was found in the car with him, and it seemed impossible that someone else could have killed him. McEvoy, though, is reluctant to accept that his brother had succumbed to depression resulting from his investigations, even though the last one was particularly brutal: Theresa Lofton, a young college student, who was found in a park in two pieces. After much investigation on his own, including retracing his brother''s investigation into the Lofton case, Jack concludes that his brother''s death was simply made to look like a suicide by a serial killer. By focusing on homicide detectives who committed suicide in a similar fashion and left a one-sentence note quoting the works of Edgar Allan Poe (as Sean''s did), Jack finds three clear matches to his brother''s death. When the FBI finally realizes that he is on to something and attempts to block him from further access, he is able to trade his knowledge of the other deaths (one of which the FBI had not uncovered) for a role with the FBI investigative team headed by Robert Backus, the son of a famous agent within the bureau who has been overshadowed by his father''s legend. Assigned the duty of handling him is agent Rachel Walling, one of Backus'' main proteges, and the two of them become personally involved. The FBI nicknames the serial killer "The Poet" due to his use of Poe''s lines with the victims. As the case focuses on an Internet network of pedophiles and one in particular (William Gladden), McEvoy is taken along on the operation to arrest Gladden, who is suspicious of the set-up and kills the FBI agent trying to arrest him, Gordon Thorson (Walling''s ex-husband). McEvoy ends up killing Gladden himself while being held hostage. However, Gladden''s comments about his brother''s death lead McEvoy to believe that Gladden was not the killer, even though the case has been officially closed. He then finds evidence that the killings had a connection to the FBI and identifies a phone call to the FBI from Thorson''s room that he links to a "boasting" fax sent to the bureau by The Poet. Since McEvoy knew that Walling had sent Thorson on a fake errand to buy condoms during the time the fax was sent, he suspects Walling of being The Poet and of posting to the pedophile network under the name "Eidolon", another Poe reference. He then learns that Walling''s father, a cop, had committed suicide when she was a teenager ... and had been suspected by the investigating officers of molesting Rachel over a period of time. Since pedophiles tend to have been abused as children, McEvoy becomes worried enough to tell Backus of his suspicions. Backus tells McEvoy that they''ll set a trap for Walling and then takes him to a remote location—where Backus drugs McEvoy into nonresistance. He admits that he himself is both Eidolon and The Poet, because the room mistakenly billed to Thorson was actually the one in which he stayed. He admits to all of the deaths and to his setup of Gladden as the "fall guy" for the murders. As Backus prepares to sodomize and then kill McEvoy, Walling (who was suspicious because of messages that she had received from both men) shows up and eventually saves McEvoy''s life by knocking Backus out the window and down a long hill. Later the police find a body, however it is left open if this is Backus. Meanwhile, as the facts of the case become known, Walling''s judgment is called into question due to her personal relationship with McEvoy and her professional relationship with Backus. A tabloid publishes a photo of McEvoy and Walling together. However, because McEvoy suspected her, Walling ends their relationship and takes a leave to Italy. McEvoy then takes a leave from his paper to write a book about the events, although Walling explains to him that the book will forever taint the FBI because of Backus.

The Poet

A Contract with the Earth''s is, broadly, a manifesto that challenges those on the right to provide a strategy for repairing the planet and calls on government to embrace the concept that a healthy environment is required for a healthy democracy and economy. This approach, alternately branded mainstream and entrepreneurial environmentalism by the authors, requires that companies should lead the way in environmental issues while governments provide them with incentives to reduce their carbon footprint. With its 10 "commandments", A Contract with the Earth calls for politicians to abandon adversarial politics and for business and conservationists to form compatible partnerships. In one of the book''s themes, Gingrich and Maple argue that environmental efforts shouldn''t be exclusive to one political philosophy and reject the idea that free enterprise and a cleaner world are opposing forces. The book generated a storm of media attention in late 2007 and early 2008 as the U.S. presidential campaign began to heat up. Gingrich in particular made numerous media appearances arguing that the Republican Party was losing popular support because their response to environmental policy was simply, as he put it, "NO!" Maple toured the country as Gingrich''s stand-in, most notably before the Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP, www.repamerica.org) during their annual meeting (at which John McCain was endorsed as the most "green" of the Republican presidential candidates). In 2008 Gingrich published another book that advocated oil drilling, Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less, and many pundits called his environmental commitment into question. However, this book''s fifth chapter provided an argument for environmental protection. Like many aspects of Gingrich''s career, his interest in environmental issues has generated controversy. The book, whose title is similar to Gingrich''s co-authored book Contract with America, criticizes the Democratic Party''s legislation and litigation on environmental protection issues.

A Contract with the Earth

The book''s central crime is a murder, which takes place before the novel opens. (This is an Asimovian trademark, which he attributed to his own squeamishness and John Campbell''s advice of beginning as late in the story as possible.) Roj Nemmenuh Sarton, a Spacer Ambassador, lives in Spacetown, the Spacer outpost just outside New York City. For some time, he has tried to convince the Earth government to loosen its anti-robot restrictions. One morning, he is discovered outside his home, his chest imploded by an energy blaster. The New York police commissioner charges Elijah with finding the murderer. Elijah must work with a Spacer partner, a highly advanced robot named R. Daneel Olivaw who is visually identical to a human, even though Elijah, like many Earth residents, has a low opinion of robots. Together, they search for the murderer and try to avert an interstellar diplomatic incident. One interesting aspect of the book is the contrast between Elijah, the human detective, and Daneel, the humanoid robot. Asimov uses the "mechanical" robot to inquire about human nature. When confronting a "Medievalist" who fears that robots will overcome humankind, Elijah argues that robots are inherently deficient. Being precision-engineered calculating machines, they can have no appreciation of art, beauty, or God; robots can understand only concepts expressible in mathematics. Nevertheless, in the concluding scene, R. Daneel exhibits a sense of morality. He argues that the captured murderer be treated leniently, telling his human companions that he now realizes the destruction of evil is less desirable than the conversion of evil into good. Quoting the Pericope Adulteræ, Daneel tells the murderer, "Go, and sin no more!"

The Caves of Steel

The protagonist Yang Guo is the orphaned son of the first novel''s antagonist Yang Kang. He is raised briefly by the couple Guo Jing and Huang Rong he is sent to the Quanzhen Sect for better guidance in moral values and orthodox martial arts. In Quanzhen, Yang Guo is often picked on and bullied by his fellow students and his master Zhao Zhijing is biased against him. Yang Guo flees and ventures unknowingly into the nearby Tomb of the Living Dead, where the Ancient Tomb Sect is housed. He is saved by Xiaolongnü, a mysterious maiden of unknown origin, and becomes her apprentice. They live together in the tomb for many years until Yang Guo grows up. After being attacked by Li Mochou, they leave the tomb and stay on the mountain. Xiaolongnü develops romantic feelings for Yang Guo and after a while, he too falls in love with her. However, their romance is forbidden by doctrines of the Confucianist society of that time. Throughout the story, their love meets with several tests, such as the misunderstandings that threaten to tear them apart and the encounter with Gongsun Zhi. Finally, after their reunion and marriage, Xiaolongnü leaves Yang Guo again, owing to her belief she cannot recover from a fatal poison, and promises to meet him again sixteen years later. While Yang Guo is wandering the jianghu alone, he meets several formidable martial artists and a giant condor. His adventures gradually mould him into a courageous pugilist, whose prowess matches the Greats of his age. Yang Guo serves his nation by helping the Han Chinese of Song defeat the Mongol invaders. At the end of the novel, he is reunited with Xiaolongnü and they are recognised as heroes of their time.

The Return of the Condor Heroes

The plot centers on Nina Leeds, the daughter of an Ivy League professor, who is devastated when her adored fiancé is killed in World War I, before they have a chance to consummate their passion. Ignoring the unconditional love of the novelist Charles Marsden, Nina embarks on a series of sordid affairs before determining to marry an amiable fool, Sam Evans. While Nina is pregnant with Sam''s child, she learns a horrifying secret known only to Sam''s mother: insanity runs in the Evans family and could be inherited by any child of Sam''s. Realizing that a child is essential to her own and to Sam''s happiness, Nina decides on a "scientific" solution. She will abort Sam''s child and conceive a child with the physician Ned Darrell, letting Sam believe that it is his. The plan backfires when Nina and Ned''s intimacy leads to their falling passionately in love. Twenty years later, Sam''s "son" Gordon Evans is approaching manhood, with only Nina and Ned aware of the boy''s true parentage. The meaning of the title is suggested by the aging Nina in a speech near the end of the play: "Our lives are strange dark interludes in the electrical display of God the Father!"

Strange Interlude

In Molly Moon Stops The World, Molly Moon is having the good life after using the money she earned in New York. She is using the money to fix up the orphanage. At the start of the book, Davina Nuttel, a famous child actress, and Molly Moon''s rival, gets kidnapped by Primo Cell, a powerful leader and rich businessman. When Lucy Logan sees the news, she summons Molly because she suspects Primo is behind her abduction and is hypnotizing movie and other types of stars to perform in Primo Cell''s ads. And besides, is trying to become the president of United States. Molly travels to Los Angeles, California and finds out her large diamond that she wears around her neck enables her to stop time. She also finds that permanent hypnosis will ensue from stopping time during regular hypnosis of a person. Molly gets help from Sinclair (Primo''s stepson), his personal yoga teacher named Forest, and Rocky. Molly finds out that Lucy Logan and Primo Cell are her parents. She also finds Lucy and Primo have been under Cornelius Logan''s (Lucy''s twin brother) hypnosis for eleven years. The story finally ends when Molly made Cornelius think he was a lamb, through tireless hypnotism and time-stopping. es:Molly Moon detiene el Mundo sv:Molly Moon stannar tiden

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Evil That Men Do

By Nancy Holder

The Monkey's Paw

By W. W. Jacobs

Otis Spofford

By Beverly Cleary

The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa

By Neil Peart

Chalice

By Robin McKinley

The Curse of Lono

By Hunter S. Thompson

The Poet

By Michael Connelly

A Contract with the Earth

By Newt Gingrich

The Caves of Steel

By Isaac Asimov

The Return of the Condor Heroes

By Louis Cha

Strange Interlude

By Eugene O''Neill

Molly Moon Stops the World

By Georgia Byng