Disaster strikes in the Gaulish village when Getafix the druid breaks his golden sickle. Without one he cannot attend the annual conference of druids, or cut mistletoe for the magic potion which keeps the Roman armies at bay. Asterix and his friend Obelix set out for Lutetia (present-day Paris) to buy a new one from Obelix''s cousin, the skilled sicklesmith Metallurgix. On the way they encounter bandits, but easily defeat them. A man in an Inn they stay at says sickles are in short supply in Lutetia. They finally get to the city. However, Metallurgix has mysteriously gone missing, and before long our heroes are exploring the underworld of the big city. They go to an Inn opposite, but when they ask about Metallurgix the man close up, and after they are gone gives a description of them to another man. This man finds them, and introduces himself as Clovogarlix, claiming to be a friend of Metallurgix. Saying that Metallurgix has retired from sickle making, he takes them to a place where they meet a man called Navishtrix who tries to sell them a sickle for a vast price, though they refuse and wreck the place. They are arrested, but released by the bored Prefect Surplus Dairyprodus, and find out from a Centurion that Metallurgix may have been kidnapped. They uncover a sickle-trafficking gang with sponsors high up the Roman bureaucracy, whose shadowy business is run from below a portal dolmen in the Boulogne forest. The two enter the forest and get directions from a bandit they save from wolves. They get into the lair and find a hoard of Golden Sickles, but are attacked by a gang that includes Clovogarlix and Navishtrix, but they defeat them. Navishtrix gets away, but they find him with Surplus, revealed to be the leader. When all is revealed that Surplus did it all just for mere amusement, the Gauls rescue Metallurgix, and Surplus is arrested for sickle-trafficking, while the sickles beneath the Dolmen have been returned to Metallurgix, they can go home with a new sickle for the druid which Metallurgix gives them for free and the magic potions will continue to flow.

Asterix and the Golden Sickle

Returning from the Cretaceous period, The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones journey to the present day, where Cybermen have been teleporting into labs and stealing technology. The Doctor takes Martha back to the Royal Hope hospital, where they have a confrontation with a pair of Cybermen in the car park. After nearly being captured, the Cybermen suddenly disappear, due to faults with their unfamiliar teleportation technology. The Army also want to get their hands on the Doctor, and ask for his help, so the Army capture him and his TARDIS from the Royal Hope Hospital, and he is separated from Martha. At the Army Base, the Doctor realises that the Cybermen who were made on Earth, not the parallel universe (and were therefore not sucked into the void) having been using teleportion devices stolen from the Torchwood building, to help them gather enough technology to create a portal capable of reopening The Void and release the Cybermen trapped inside. But the Cybermen do not know how to open the Void, and so they need the Doctor to open it for them. That''s why they''re trying to capture him alive. While Martha is separated from the Doctor, the Cybermen reappear, and capture her. They take her to their secret base where they discuss whether or not to kill her. Soon, the Doctor phones her on her mobile, and lets slip where he is. Just as Martha is about to tell him where she is, the Cyberleader snatches her phone and destroys it, then plans an attack on the Army Base where the Doctor is being held. The Doctor manages to figure out that the Cybermen are at the Millennium Dome. But a team of 6 Cybermen (who were being kept frozen since the battle of Canary Wharf) attacks the base. The Army manages to destroy all but the Cyberleader with special weapons they had prepared in case Cybermen should invade again. The Cyberleader tells the Doctor that they''ll kill Martha unless he helps them, then vanishes. The Doctor and the Army plan to attack the Millennium Dome. Having retrieved his TARDIS from the base, the Doctor manages to materialize right inside the Dome but the Army cannot enter due to a force-field set up by the Cybermen. The Doctor cooperates with the remaining two Cybermen & the Cyberleader, and opens their portal by linking up their equipment to the TARDIS. But the Cybermen realize that the Doctor''s methods do not work, and the force-field does not lead to the Void. Instead, it leads to Prehistoric Earth. A Tyrannosaurus rex appears and kills two Cybermen. Martha damages the force-field generator, and the Doctor uses an electrical cord from it to fry the Cyberleader. The portal then closes. With the Army entering too late, the Doctor and Martha say good-bye, then leave in the TARDIS to go somewhere ''peaceful''.

Made of Steel

Renia and Josl Bensky grow up in the Polish town of Łódź, Poland. Shortly after their marriage, they are forced to move to the Ghetto of Łódź, and soon, they are deported to the concentration camp of Auschwitz. After the downfall of the Third Reich, they meet again, and their first daughter Lola is born in a DP camp in 1946. In 1948, The Benskys move to Melbourne and try to start a new life, far away from the horrible crimes they had to endure during the Holocaust. They find good friends among fellow Jewish Immigrants, and with this tight group of friends, they try to live as normal a life as possible. Josl and Renia both try to live with their past; in this mixture of trying to forget and to commemorate, they raise Lola to be an Australian girl. Lola knows she will never understand her parents completely since she will never experience what they had to live through. She has her own problems. She has overweight, weird boyfriends and a first husband whom she does not love. When she turns 19, Lola starts to write for a rock magazine and gets to travel around the world to interview the stars of her time. Apart from her job, she raises her children and tries to figure out her life. Finally, she marries the artist Garth and moves to New York.

Things Could Be Worse

Spain, early 17th century. A woman is found lifeless in Santesteban. All points to a murder committed by the Devil and its followers. The region is being scourged for months by the sorcerers, even if the precedent year eleven people were burned alive in a sorcery trial. The people are scared. To appease them the Santo Oficio decides to promote a grace edict to forgive those who admit their agreements with the Devil. The severe inquisitor Alonso de Salazar y Frías is in charge to apply the edict by covering the region. But what nobody knows is that Salazar doesn''t''t trust anymore in sorcery or spells and, even worst, he doesn''t trust in the Devil any more, because he has lost his faith. To reveal the mystery of the witches, Salazar will use the anatomy studies from Leonardo da Vinci, forensic technics he learned in Rome, apothecary knowledge to analyse magical ointments... he finally will base his investigation on verifiable facts to establish factual truths instead of suppositions. Meanwhile, a young woman called Mayo from Labastide-d''Armagnac, who was, following her birth statements, the bastard daughter of the Devil and a mortal woman, travels selling spells. Mayo lost her female companion because this one was arrested during the last auto-da-fé, even if she wasn''t condemned. To find her, Mayo decides to follow the steps of Salazar, whom she protects with her spells, even if he doesn''t suspect anything about her beneficial actions. During their journey, both will face the diabolical powers which will obstruct their plans, the lack of faith and the death of those they love.

Ars Magica

Seventy-eight year-old Jeff Baker has revolutionized the world by inventing the ultimate method of information storage and allowing free use of it with no profits going into his own pocket. Because of this generous act, he is chosen by the European Union to be the first recipient for rejuvenation technology, which will leave him with the body of a young man. As part of the deal, he will support the re-election of the EU president. Jeff''s son Tim has a fairly typical frustrated life as a rich teenager, living with his famous father and distant mother. Tim is extremely happy when he starts going out with gorgeous Annabelle. She likes him, but she has a troubled home life and Tim''s drink problem reminds her of her father. Jeff comes home from the rejuvenation in his 20-year-old body. Energized by his new youthfulness, he has a series of affairs. Reconnecting with his son, Jeff reveals to Tim that the reason he gave away the information storage technology was so his hated ex-wife could not get any royalties. The amazing act of charity he is famous for was motivated by spite, not goodwill. But Jeff find himself attracted to Annabelle, and while giving her a ride home after Tim got too drunk at a school dance, they start a tawdry affair behind Tim''s back and fall in love. Their passionate relationship is only a secret for a short time before Tim finds them in bed together. His life falling apart, Tim runs away to live with his Aunt (Jeff''s sister), stops drinking and doing drugs, and makes friends with his mother. Eventually he finds a new romantic interest in Vanessa, one of his classmates. Jeff and Annabelle are happy together, traveling around the world, meeting celebrities, even experimenting with a ménage à trois. However, they are sad that they have hurt Tim, who gets seriously injured in a jet-ski accident, providing a catalyst for Jeff to re-enter Tim''s life. Jeff and Annabelle both attend a controversial EU conference in London so Jeff can speak supporting the EU. Tim and his friends join a massive and violent protest in the streets below the conference. As the riots begin, concerned for Tim''s safety, Jeff changes his mind about supporting the EU and leaves the conference to charge through the riots to find his son. Impressed by this act, Tim finds it in him to forgive his father and Annabelle. In the end, Jeff is dying because the rejuvenation treatment is not yet a properly functional technology, and it is failing him. After impregnating Annabelle with a second genetically improved child, a girl this time, he begins a live broadcast, where he reveals the lies of the EU government and rescinds his support for the presidential campaign. He dies surrounded by his family and loved ones.

Misspent Youth

The story starts out on April 18, 1800, in Port Mahon, Minorca, a base of the Royal Navy at that time. A shipless lieutenant wasting away in port, Jack Aubrey, meets Stephen Maturin, a poor half-Irish and half-Catalan physician and natural philosopher, at an evening concert at the Governor’s Mansion. The two of them do not quite get along during this first encounter. A duel almost occurs when Jack Aubrey gets elbowed by Maturin to stop beating the time while the string quartet is playing. Later that evening, on his way back to his living quarters, Jack Aubrey finds out that he has been promoted to the rank of Commander and has been given command of the brig Sophie. His joy overcomes his animosity towards Stephen Maturin and they quickly become good friends in part due to their shared love of music. The ship''s surgeon having left with the previous captain, Maturin is asked by Aubrey to sign on in that post. Although Maturin is a physician, not just a mere surgeon, he agrees, since he is currently unemployed. Also introduced into the story are Master''s Mates Thomas Pullings, William Mowett, midshipman William Babbington, and James Dillon, the Sophies first lieutenant. Dillon and Stephen both have secret backgrounds as members of the United Irishmen. Aubrey improves Sophies sailing qualities by adding a longer yard which allows him to spread a larger mainsail. She then is sent to accompany a small convoy of merchant ships. During their journey east, the new captain, Aubrey, takes the opportunity to get to know his sailors and work them into a fighting unit. As he does this, he and the crew explain many naval matters to Maturin (and to the reader) since the doctor has never served aboard a man-of-war. After the convoy duties, Lord Keith allows Aubrey to cruise independently, looking for French merchants. After a number of prizes are taken, they meet and defeat the Cacafuego, a Spanish frigate, losing a number of crew, including Dillon, in the bloody action and gaining the respect of other naval officers. However, Captain Harte, the commandant at Mahon, has a grudge against Aubrey, who has been having an affair with his wife. Harte''s malevolence ensures that the victory brings Aubrey and his crew no official recognition, promotion, or significant prize money, although Aubrey gains a reputation among members of the British Navy as one of its great, young fighting captains. On her following escort duty, Sophie is captured by a squadron of four large French warships after a pursuit and a brave but hopeless resistance. The Battle of Algeciras begins, and after a short period as prisoners of war, they are exchanged, missing the fighting. Back at Gibraltar, Aubrey must undergo a court-martial over the loss of his ship, but he is cleared of the charges.

Master and Commander

The Kingdom of Xylar, one of the twelve city-states of Novaria, has a peculiar custom for choosing its kings, each of whom serves for a five-year term. At the end of that period he is beheaded in the public square before an assembly of foreigners, and his head cast into the crowd. The man who catches the head is drafted as the next king. The latest beneficiary/victim of this arrangement is Jorian of Kortoli, a powerful and intelligent man who has trained extensively for a life of adventure, but who is hampered by garrulousness and a weakness for drink and women. Having served out his term as king in a reign characterized by both great accomplishments and increasing despair, he ultimately appears resigned to his fate, though in fact he is determined to cheat it. He successfully escapes his beheading with the aid of a Mulvanian magician, the saintly Dr. Karadur, who provides a spell granting physical access to the plane of the Novarian afterlife. This turns out to be our own world, in which the souls of Novarians are reincarnated. Jorian''s brief excursion there is a satirical romp in which he is frightened by a passing giant truck, has a mutually uncomprehending encounter with a police officer in a patrol car, and is very glad to get back to the familiar dangers of his own world. These include an encounter with a homicidal wizard and his giant squirrel familiar, along with the succor of a distressed damsel who proves more trouble than she is worth. Linking back up with Karadur, Jorian is confronted with the price of the sorcerer''s aid; securing for him the Kist of Avlen, a legendary repository of ancient magical manuscripts. The novel follows his adventures as he attempts to both fulfill his service and avoid the agents of Xylar, duty-bound to abduct him back to Xylar for the beheading ceremony. Jorian''s quest takes him through much of the known world, including the exotic lands of Mulvan, Komilakh and Shven, before ultimately returning to Novaria. Included in his adventures'' bill of fare are the rescue a consignment of maidens destined for the block from a fortress full of homicidal retired executioners, romancing the 500-year-old serpent princess serving as guardian of the Kist in order to steal it, matching wits with an unreliable and ineffectual god who appears to his worshipers in creams, escaping sacrifice by a horde of angry beast men to their tiger god, enslavement and sale by treacherous nomads, and abetting a revolution in the priest-ruled city-state of Tarxia, during which a huge frog statue is brought to life. The ultimate challenge comes at a great symposium of Karadur''s guild of magicians hosted by the city-state of Metouro - the depiction of which provides de Camp with the opportunity to poke some fun at academic conferences and symposiums before getting on with the plot. The meeting is held in the fabled Goblin Tower, constructed from actual goblins transformed to stone. There Jorian becomes enmeshed in sorcerous politics as his patron Karadur naively presents the Kist of Avlen to the heads of his own faction, hoping thereby to advance its cause. Unfortunately, its use by these unscrupulous leaders cancels the spell binding the building''s fabric together, freeing the goblins and bringing the tower crashing down. The protagonists escape but are left without resource. The outcome is particularly frustrating to Jorian; he had counted on Karadur''s assistance in achieving his ultimate objective, the rescue from Xylar of Estrildis, his favorite among the wives he had as king, with whom he had hoped to settle down in peaceful obscurity in his home state of Kortoli. The end of the novel finds him starting from scratch to recoup his fortunes by telling stories on a street corner.

The Goblin Tower

Prologue In Palomir, the priest of Franca, Salmson, calls forth the Worm, a giant worm that spews a black ash cloud from its mouth that melts the flesh off of whomever it touches, through the use of blood sacrifices. Using a hair of the Lady he restrains it and gives it into the keeping of Archas, a pirate. Salmson tells him that he must always possess the talisman, or the Worm will devour all the world as it did to its own. Upon summoning the worm, they see through to the worms home world, it is barren, lifeless, and completely covered in a grey ash. The Main Events Following the events of The Mirror of Worlds Garric, Sharina, Cashel and Ilna have been reunited on Pandah, the new capital of the continent. When they begin receiving reports of rat armies moving forth from Palomir under the influence of its Emperor and the forbidden gods (Franca in particular), they are forced to separate to save the kingdom. Garric and Tenoctris take the army to Haft where they have reports that an army of Rat men are advancing. Garric leaves control of the city in the hands of Sharina as his regent. Upon arriving in Haft Garric is met by his father Reise, who urges him to return to Barca''s Hamlet and visit his mother. The Army moves to Barca''s Hamlet and Garric visits his mother, assuring her that despite the lack of blood relationship she is still the only mother he has ever known. We next find Garric on the march, his troops run into a foraging party of the rat men, Garric rides out to meet them with a squadron of cavalry and a regiment of infantry. In the course of the brief battle Garric discovers that the scent of the Rat men causes horses to either run in fear, or attack in a fit of rage. Garric is almost killed in the course of the battle but is saved by a platoon of infantrymen. Garric orders the recovery of some of the bodies and brings one to Tenoctris, who upon examining the corpse discovers how they are made. She informs Garric that the rats are created by stealing the souls of the dead, and putting them in the bodies of rats. She also informs him that they must venture into a different plane of existence to find Lord Munn and ask him to close the Ivory Gate, through which the souls of the dead are being stolen. Guided by a boatman, they come to a temple and awaken Lord Munn, who then closes the Ivory Gate, halting the creation of further rat legions. Returning to their own world, Garric and Tenoctris battle the legions of the Emperor and defeat them. Cashel travels with Liane and Rasile to Dariada. There they hope to stop the Worm, which now approaches the city to destroy it. They take counsel from the Tree Oracle and journey to awaken the hero Gorand, who had defeated the Worm once before and then was driven from Dariada by its people. Coming to a different world, they defeat the Lord and then pass through a gate where they defeat a pair of wizards and awake Gorand. While he is reluctant to return, he follows them out. In Dariada, he possesses the Tree Oracle, and destroys the worm. In the midst of the fighting, Cashel becomes the Shepherd, the last of the Gods to return. Ilna goes south at the request of former Admiral Zettin where she searches for one of his relatives. There she is taken by a wizard who convinces her to steal a box that belonged to the wizards deceased husband. They go down to his grave and there Ilna opens the box, meeting Usun. She travels on and comes to a new land where she meets King Perus, Princess Perrine and Prince Perrin slaves to a great ape who wants to be King and God of all. Ilna defeats the ape with her weaving and battles Hili, the Queen of Hell. Upon killing Hili, Ilna becomes the Sister, the second of the returned gods. Sharina remains on Pandah as regent where she is confronted by a new religion worshiping Lord scorpion. A mysterious figure Black enters Sharina''s dreams and tells her that she is to be the high priestess of this new religion. Scorpions now run loose through the city, working as spies. Sharina befriends Burne, a speaking rat, who acts as her personal scorpion catcher. Brune is instrumental in capturing one of the new priests of the scorpion cult, a former priest of the Shepherd. When the priest is questioned he reveals that Black always appears in his dreams, and tells him where to preach, confirming for Sharina that she was not merely having a bad dream. As Black''s plot is unveiled, Sharina besieges the former Temple of the Shepherd where Black has made a fortress. She defeats a large scorpion with the help of the army and then duels Black alone. Upon his doom she becomes the Lady, the first of the returned gods. Epilogue King Garric and his wife Liane supervise the erection of a new temple devoted to the three gods. They carve statues for Sharina, the Lady; Cashel, the Shepherd; and Ilna, the Sister. With the help of the Gods, Garric says, they will rule.

The Gods Return

In Spirou in New York, the Italian Mafia of New York are dismayed as their criminal activities seem to be cursed and Don Vito "Lucky" Cortizone, the Mafia Godfather, initiates a plan put forward by his second-in-command, Alfredo, to reverse their uncannily rotten luck: to plant a golden key into a Cortizone & Son product, Lucky''s Pizza, and rewarding a million dollars to the lucky finders. Spirou and Fantasio who are in an economic slump, are forced to eat an inexpensive dinner, and as Fantasio chokes on a bite of Lucky''s Pizza, they become the finders of the golden key. Informed they simply have to travel to New York to collect their prize, The Mafia believe they are receiving a talisman to counteract their misfortune. When they arrive in New York, they learn the true identity of their hosts and promptly leave without accepting any mafia money, but are unexpectedly attacked by members of the Chinese Triad, the Mafia''s chief rivals, and as a result Spip is abducted. Forced to collaborate with Cortizone in order to rescue Spip, they break into the Triad headquarters and discover the source of The Mafia''s constant misfortune, a table with the power to influence good and bad fortune onto the subject of a photo placed onto the field, shaped in the design of a Taijitu, like the yin-yang, which are selected by Cortizone''s Triad counterpart, "The Mandarin". Having levelled the balance of fortune, Cortizone and the Mandarin engage in a personal battle over briefcases containing money and a bomb, and following a deceptive swap of suitcases, the two rivals explode above Hudson River. <!--

Spirou à New-York

The story is set in the United States, presumably during the late 1980s or early 1990s. It begins with Yeager in the middle of a personal campaign of assassination, initially gunning down racially mixed couples in parking lots, before escalating to more sophisticated methods against higher-profile targets, including prominent journalists and politicians whom Yeager sees as promoting racial mixing. At the same time, Yeager and his girlfriend are developing connections with a white nationalist group. After several successful and increasingly ambitious attacks, Yeager is found and confronted by a senior agent of the FBI who himself is disgusted with "Jewish control" of the FBI and the American social situation. This agent blackmails Yeager into assisting him with his career by assassinating several Jewish FBI agents and targeting Mossad agents in the United States so that the agent can be appointed as the head of a newly-formed antiterrorist secret-police agency, assume increasing control of the United States, and use his power to challenge and remove Jewish control of the government and media. At the same time, Yeager''s white nationalist group is achieving greater and greater prominence through the insertion of one of their members into a Christian evangelist television broadcasting ministry, from which he is broadcasting increasingly racially-conscious and anti-Jewish messages. Yeager''s campaign of assassination and terrorism, the actions of copycats and imitators, the white nationalist broadcasting effort, the efforts of the antiterrorist official, and a rapid decline of the U.S. economy all work to push the United States towards increasing racial and social violence and fragmentation. Eventually, Yeager is faced with a dilemma when the government official for whom he has been working finally orders him to kill the undercover evangelist minister, whose efforts oppose the agent''s intent to establish order and strike a temporary bargain with the Jews. Yeager attempts to avoid the assignment, and then deliberately appears to bungle the assassination. At this point, Yeager is caught between the intentions of his government confederate, who intends to consolidate his own power and control over the government and reform the system from the top down after suppressing upcoming black nationalist riots; and the white-nationalist group who wishes to stir up the chaos even further, draw white Americans into battle, and eventually overthrow the government. Ultimately, Yeager kills the government agent. Following this, the Jewish-controlled media side with the black rioters, revealing that the government official would have been double-crossed had he attempted to strike his deal. Yeager and the other members of the group, now under increasing government scrutiny, resolve to continue their efforts and to go "underground" to continue the fight against the system.

Hunter

Set towards the end of WWI, in 1918, it tells the story of a shy young railway employee and amateur actor from Milwaukee, named Paul Peachy. Having realised that his wife no longer loves him, Paul enlists as a private in the U.S. Army and boards ship for the trenches of France. Peachy finds temporary solace in friendship amid horrors of war, but is soon captured by the enemy Germans in No Man''s Land. His only chance of survival is to impersonate one of the enemy''s most famous spies (as a child of immigrants, he is a fluent German speaker). As the urbane and accomplished spy Harry Stroller, Peachy is feted as a hero by the German top brass and gains access to a previously unimagined world of sumptuous living. But his new role also reveals inner reserves of courage and ingenuity he never knew he possessed, as the mounting suspicions of his German hosts force Peachy into ever more outrageous deceptions. In this atmosphere of smoke and mirrors, Paul Peachy falls in love with Annie, a beautiful French courtesan, who seems to see through his artful disguise. The ending is a surprise of twists and clever plotting.

My French Whore

The protagonist is the sharp-witted Dr. Peter Blood, a fictional Irish physician who had had a wide-ranging career as a soldier and sailor (including a commission as a captain under the Dutch admiral De Ruyter) before settling down to practice medicine in the town of Bridgwater in Somerset. The book opens with him attending to his geraniums while the town prepares to fight for the Duke of Monmouth. He wants no part in the rebellion, but while attending to some of the rebels wounded at the Battle of Sedgemoor, Peter is arrested. During the Bloody Assizes, he is convicted by the infamous Judge Jeffreys of treason on the grounds that "if any person be in actual rebellion against the King, and another person&mdash;who really and actually was not in rebellion&mdash;does knowingly receive, harbour, comfort, or succour him, such a person is as much a traitor as he who indeed bore arms." The sentence for treason is death by hanging, but King James II, for purely financial reasons, has the sentence for Blood and other convicted rebels commuted to transportation to the Caribbean, where they are to be sold into slavery. Upon arrival on the island of Barbados, he is bought by Colonel Bishop, initially for work in the Colonel''s sugar plantations but later hired out by Bishop when Blood''s skills as a physician prove superior to those of the local doctors. When a Spanish force attacks and raids the town of Bridgetown, Blood escapes with a number of other convict-slaves (including former shipmaster Jeremy Pitt, the one-eyed giant Edward Wolverstone, former gentleman Nathaniel Hagthorpe, former Royal Navy petty officer Nicholas Dyke and former Royal Navy master gunner Ned Ogle), captures the Spaniards'' ship and sails away to become one of the most successful pirates/buccaneers in the Caribbean, hated and feared by the Spanish. After the Glorious Revolution, Blood is pardoned, and as a reward for saving the colony of Jamaica from the French ends up as its governor.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Asterix and the Golden Sickle

By René Goscinny

Made of Steel

By Terrance Dicks

Things Could Be Worse

By Lily Brett

Ars Magica

No Author Listed

Misspent Youth

By Peter F. Hamilton

Master and Commander

By Patrick O''Brian

The Goblin Tower

By L. Sprague de Camp

The Gods Return

No Author Listed

Spirou à New-York

No Author Listed

Hunter

By James Byron Huggins

My French Whore

By Gene Wilder

Captain Blood: His Odyssey

By Rafael Sabatini