The novel opens with Strieber''s account of a nuclear attack on New York City in October 1988. He is on a bus when he experiences the initial blast. Strieber also witnesses the flooding of the subway system due to a tsunami that was triggered by a nuclear detonation at sea. Strieber makes his way to his son''s school, where he is reunited with his family and shelters there. During this period, Strieber survives an attack of radiation sickness. Upon his recovery, he and his family leave New York for San Antonio which they soon discover was destroyed as well. They eventually settle in Dallas, where he becomes a news reporter for the Dallas Times Herald. Five years later, Strieber and Kunetka decide to document the effects of Warday on the United States. They travel through devastated southeastern and southwestern Texas, then the newly formed nation-state of Aztlan in the former American Southwest, and conduct interviews with the Aztlanian foreign minister and citizens. From Aztlan, they sneak into California which was unattacked and became a self-governing, authoritarian, police state. In Los Angeles, they conduct interviews while trying to evade the omnipresent police. They go to San Francisco where they reunite with an old friend of Streiber''s, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, and are ultimately captured, arrested, and sentenced to years of hard labor and imprisonment. While en route to prison they escape, and flee California by train. By train, they travel and conduct interviews across the Midwest, taking refuge whenever highly radioactive duststorms&mdash;caused by dustbowl conditions as a result of the nuclear bombings of the Dakotas&mdash;happen. After visiting Chicago, they continue east into Pennsylvania and into what remains of New York City, where Strieber, overcome with emotion and at great personal risk to himself, visits what remains of a very dangerous Manhattan to visit his old apartment. The book ends with Strieber and Kunetka back in Texas facing an uncertain future.

Warday

Written as a first-person narrative, Craii de Curtea-Veche depicts the lives of the rich and educated boyar family descendants Paşadia and Pantazi, who are often visited by the narrator. The latter admits his admiration for Paşadia and his fascination with Pantazi. The two''s mysterious existence is revealed only through conversations and banquet episodes, which tend to end in champagne-drinking bouts and orgies. They appear versed in Western manners and refined salon culture, but love to refresh their senses by submerging in the muddy atmosphere of Bucharest brothels. Their destiny intersects with that of Gore Pîrgu, a brutish self-seeker who is on his way up on the social scale. A combination of venality, depravity and bombastic, often demagogic discourse, Pîrgu is meant to illustrate the alternative and undertoned "Balkan-like" Romanian identity. He manages to sell Ilinca, an impoverished young noblewoman, to the libertine Paşadia, but the latter is defied by Pantazi, who offers to marry Ilinca himself and thus save her family''s honour. However, fate puts an end to such a romantic happy ending, as the young woman catches scarlet fever and dies, while Paşadia ends his aventurous life in a heart attack during one of his sexual escapades. The latter stage of the novel corresponds with the onset of World War I and the drastic changes it brought to Romanian society.

Craii de Curtea-Veche

On New Year''s Eve morning, 1999, in Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C., a killer referred to as ''the Digger'' guns down tens of innocent people at the metro station. A man, Gilbert Havel, sends a letter to the Mayor Gerald Kennedy demanding twenty million dollars cash to be dropped off at a park near Interstate 66 in bags. The letter goes on to explain that if his demands are not met the Digger will continue to strike at secret locations - at 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and at Midnight. Kennedy decides to deliver the money to the extortionist to ensure no more innocents are harmed and to make sure the town doesn''t lose faith in the Mayor as election time is nearing. Agent Margret Lukas, the agent responsible for the case, wants to either put tracking on the bags, or take the extortionist down when he comes for the money. However, Havel is killed in a hit-and-run incident before he can make it to the drop-off point. All that Agent Margret has now is a letter, a dead body, and the knowledge that since the Digger had not been called off he will continue to carry on the remaining attacks. Assisting her in the investigation are officer Len Hardy and Detective Cage. At his home, retired FBI Document Examiner Parker Kincaid is spending time with his daughter and son and studying a letter that supposedly written by late President George Washington. It is when he is debating the authenticity of the letter that his ex-wife, Joan, comes and tells him that she wants the custody of their children. To Parker''s dismay Joan''s social worker will be at his house the next day. Parker receives an unwanted call from Cage, an old friend, and Cage tells Parker that he needs Parker''s help with a letter based on the subway shootings. Sensing this as a bad idea because of his children, Parker declines. After some time pondering about the shooting and all the innocent children like his own that had died and ensuring his son Robby that ''the Boatman'' (a suspect from Parker''s past case that tried to break in Robby''s window) won''t show up, Parker shows up under Lukas'' investigation site. Parker studies the letter and concludes that although the writer seems dumb or foreign by the mistakes he makes, that it is on purpose and the extortionist is actually intellectual. He also makes note of a strange stroke done over the letter ''i'' which he dubs the ''Devil''s Teardrop''. In scans conducted by Hardy and Parker there is an imprint on letter caused by being under another piece of paper. The imprint has ''-tel'' which the team concludes that the second attack site must be a hotel. <This plot summary is only partially complete. You can contribute by adding more elements of the story.>

The Devil''s Teardrop: A Novel of the Last Night of the Century

After the victory in Thessaly which ended the first book of the trilogy, Child of a Dream, Alexander and his army march towards the East. The first step of the expedition is to free the Greek cities from the Persian domination in order to establish a strong and unite Pan-Hellenic League. Once that is achieved, the target is the Persian Empire itself and its immense Asian territory. During his military campaign the Macedonian army records numerous victories, including those against the city of Tyre, the Towers of Giza and the legendary Halicarnassus. And it is in the midst of this campaign that Alexander meets the only opponent he believes worthy of his utmost respect: Memnon of Rhodes, the commander of the Greek mercenaries of the Persian army. He struggles in the attempt to defeat Memnon fair and square on the field, but the two end up stalemating each other with strategic cunning. Alexander''s friends then suggest to end the confrontation between the two men by ordering to poison the mercenary; Alexander is however disgusted by this outrageous idea as he reckons his opponent is worthy of being defeated with respect and the only way for that to be possible is for Alexander to beat him on the battle field. However, Alexander''s friends do carry out the order without Alexander''s approval or knowing and Memnon is poisoned within a few weeks. The mercenary''s death represents an anti-climactic end to the fantastic strategic battle between the two. After Memnon''s death, Alexander claims his former wife: the beautiful Barsine. The two grow close, which makes Leptine jealous of their relationship. After the Macedonian army finally defeats Darius, thank to a tactically perfect charge, Alexander becomes the sovereign of the greatest Empire ever existed. But the young king is certainly not satisfied: he heads towards Egypt and, after defeating the Tyrian naval force that was attempting to block his way into the country, he finally makes it to the land of the Pharaohs. Here, he is proclaimed Pharaoh and he founds the first of his cities: Alexandria. Finally, he crosses the Libyan desert and after a long and hard journey, he reaches the Oasis of Siwa, where the Oracle of Ammon lies. This tells him that he is not a mere human, but the son of Zeus himself.

The Sands of Ammon

Gabriel Jacoby, young, unemployed, sleepless and untidy, lives in Kilburn with his flatmate Nick. Gabe’s life is blighted by two problems, his insomnia and his passion for Alice, the beautiful black wife of his brother Ben. The cast of comic characters includes Nick, his girlfriend Fran, a cat Jezebel, Ben and Gabe’s parents and grandmother Mutti, who lives in a Jewish old age-home, Liv Dashem House. Gabe’s mother spends her life talking about and collecting memorabilia of the Hindenburg, an airship designed by her own father, while their father spends his life swearing loudly at his wife at their home at 22 Salmon Street, Wembley Park. When Dina arrives from the States to visit her sister Alice, Gabe decides to ask her out. They go to see Queens Park Rangers play at home, but the old car breaks down on the way. Finding Alice’s Green Flag card in her pocket, Dina agrees to pretend to be her sister to get help, but Gabe does not have sufficient funds to get the car repaired. In spite of the disastrous afternoon, he manages to persuade Dina to come round for dinner. Unfortunately, when he lifts the lid off his tandoori quorn, a live frog which had been brought home by Jezebel jumps out. Dina is horrified but eventually falls into Gabe’s arms. The first time they make love, Gabe disposes of the condom by filling it with water and tying the top, and notices a leak. Later in the novel Dina discovers she is pregnant, and decides to return to the US for an abortion. In the last scene Gabe is on a plane to find her. The novel is enlivened by the escapades of the other characters. Nick becomes disturbed under the influence of cannabis but the drugs prescribed reduce him to a sleepy weight: Fran has an affair with Ben, who is drawn to Jewish life and has discovered that Fran is Jewish. Their mother eventually destroys the Hindenburg, the real one having crashed anyway. Jezebel brings home a dead rat, and Gabe spends a happy night playing with it, and then puts it away in a drawer and forgets it. Nick tells Alice that Gabe has been in love with him all along.

Time for Bed

Princess Ivy, who is now a 5 year old in this book, asks one of Castle Roogna''s ghosts to tell her how he became a ghost. Ivy uses her talent of enhancement - and some caustic Crewel Lye to strip off centuries of accrued grime - to improve the range and clarity of Castle Roogna''s magical Tapestry. The Tapestry is a woven hanging which allows anyone to view recent or historical events (although it cannot violate the Adult Conspiracy, nor does it include sound). The ghost, known as Jordan the Barbarian when he was alive 400 years ago, begins his story by recounting how he set off on an adventure with his horse Pook. Jordan had the magical talent of self-healing — which came in handy as he was cut, stabbed, and dismembered during his travels. In one case, a woman finds him gravely injured and hauls him to her cottage, not knowing of his talent. Jordan ends up falling in love with this woman, Threnody. Unfortunately, the evil magician Yin-Yang had already claimed Threnody to be his wife, and was willing to do anything to have her. Intending to keep Jordan safe from Yin-Yang, Threnody makes it appear that she has betrayed Jordan. She cuts him into pieces and buries each piece in a different remote location — knowing that if the pieces were reattached, he would be able to heal himself. However, she is never able to break free of Yin-Yang long enough to collect Jordan''s dismembered body and eventually kills herself. After hearing Jordan''s story, Ivy decides to gather his body parts herself. Once placed near each other, the pieces mend together and cover back up with muscle and skin (greatly sped up due to Ivy''s enhancement). Jordan is alive again — but he wants his new love, the ghost Renee, to be brought to life again too. When Ivy and Jordan use a regenerating potion on Renee''s remains (after accidentally teleporting Stanley Steamer the baby Gap Dragon away), Threnody emerges from her grave. Threnody explains that her "cruel lie" had been done to protect Jordan. After some time, he forgives her and they get married. pl:Okrutne kłamstwo

Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn

Prey reveals that Alan Grant has become part of a UN project to protect the dinosaurs of Isla Sorna. He is (somewhat unwillingly) forced to stay in the island coordinating a crew of scientists and other experts, and is decided to return balance to the dinosaur ecosystem by relocating some predators to other parts of the island. In this story, Eric Kirby blackmails Alan Grant so that he will let him go to the island. Alan agrees, but tricks Eric taking him during Christmas time where there are no operations going on in the island. Meanwhile, a group of teenagers led by 18 year old Simon Tunney lands in the island and try to film a movie about the island, so that they will become celebrities (just as Eric has, seemingly, after writing "Survivor"). Simon is obsessed with becoming a rich celebrity, even if that means to endanger his peers. Upon realizing this, Grant and his team go to the jungle and try to find them, while Eric escapes the headquarters and finds them himself. The teenagers then provoke a herd of Triceratops, and they attack them, but Eric saves them by imitating a Velociraptor''s call. Eric tries to convince them to go to Grant''s headquarters but Simon refuses fearing that Grant will confiscate his footage, and continues his trip. Angered, Eric follows, knowing that they are getting in the territory of large predators. Later, both Grant''s and Simon''s teams are attacked by three Carnotaurus. Grant realizes that the leader of the pack has a personal vendetta against him and runs away from the group to save the others. But the carnotaurs keep chasing the teenagers and almost kill one of them (Simon''s little brother, who he sacrifices instead of his valuable footage). Eric saves the boy in the nick of time and the carnotaurs are dominated by Grant''s full team. With recorded video evidence of his behavior, Simon is now trapped and is taken to prison while Grant praises Eric''s braveness and allows him to become a temporal member of his team.

Jurassic Park Adventures: Prey

After Spain’s favorite matador Juan Olivar dies from being gored by a bull it is up to his 3 year old son Monolo to live up to his father’s name. Six men tell Monolo he will have his first bullfight when he is 12 years old. But there is one thing Monolo won’t tell a soul, he is a coward. He doesn’t have the passion to be a bullfighter. He wants to become a doctor. All the people in the town of Arcangel are expecting him to be just as good as his father was at his first bullfight. Monolo’s friend Juan wants to be a bullfighter but can’t get anyone important to watch him. At Monolo’s tentena he realizes that he can’t be a bullfighter and he gives his bull and the ring to Juan and a doctor tells him “I knew you were no bullfighter, so how would you like to come work with me for a while?” Monolo agrees. The story takes place in the province of Arcangel, Southern Spain, but it never tells the year to date the book but you can get a pretty good idea from reading it. Twelve-year-old Manolo Olivar is the son of Juan Olivar, a renowned bullfighter who was killed in the ring when Manolo was only three. The people in the town of Arcangel, Spain, expect that Manolo will follow in his father''s footsteps. His best friend, Jamie, has a brother, Juan, who yearns to fight bulls like his father before him, but Manolo has been trying to conquer his own fears. Many of the townspeople have paid much attention to Manolo, mainly by comparing him to his famous father or taking him to bullfights to see how to perform the sport. Through all this commotion, Manolo is trying to learn more about his father. Everyone in the town always speaks of how great Juan Olivar, Manolo''s father, was, but Manolo wants to know the truth. Manolo has heard that his father first killed a bull when he was twelve years old. Manolo wants to know, did Juan Olivar have fear? After seeing the result of a bull goring, Manolo becomes more discouraged in becoming a bull fighter. He notices the old doctor cleaning the wound and, hearing that he was the only doctor who would touch a goring injury, decides that he could be the next doctor. Manolo still suffers from the problem that everyone wants him to be a bullfighter, not a doctor. Realizing that he should follow in his father''s footsteps, Manolo trains in secret as a matador with his friend''s brother Juan. The more he practices, the sooner Manolo realizes how big a coward he is. The days left until the annual fiesta, his first bullfight, are decreasing. Manolo is close friends with Count De La Casa, a very famous count who also knew Manolo''s father. Because of their friendship, Manolo is confident that the count would give him anything he asked for. Manolo goes and meets with Juan and promises him that he would ask the count if Juan could be invited to the party. Manolo does not tell Juan that he would like it if Juan fought Manolo''s bull so he can have a chance for the count to see him fight. The day of his first contest arrives, and Manolo is successful in the corrida. He knows all the moves and has practiced daily, but when it is time for the killing, Manolo realizes that he simply does not have the spirit of a bullfighter, and he finally offers Juan a chance in the ring. The doctor who Manolo had met previously offers Manolo an apprenticeship, allowing Manolo to follow his own dream. Manolo does live up to his father''s name, just not how people expected.

Shadow of a Bull

Flaviano is the courtly favorite of the Duke of Mantua; he desires to marry the Duke''s daughter Fioretta. She, however, has been promised to Prince Leonato of Ferrara, who has brought his army to the aid of Mantua in its current war. Honorio, the Duke''s son and Fioretta''s brother, favors Leonato; while he lies wounded, Flaviano schemes to persuade the Duke that Leonato is a wild young man who is morally unfit to be Fioretta''s husband. Flaviano manipulates the situation so that Fioretta is moved to a convent, from where he spirits her secretly to his mother''s country house. He also puts out word that Fioretta has decided to remain at the convent for a year, effectively postponing the marriage. Prince Leonato is outraged, and blames the Duke for bad faith; he demands a face-to-face meeting with Fioretta. The Duke feels that he cannot deny this demand &mdash; but he and Flaviano plan to substitute another woman in the meeting. One of the novices at the content is Flaviano''s former mistress Juliana; Flaviano prevails upon her to take Fioretta''s part. He even wants Juliana to marry Leonato &mdash; but the Duke will not go that far; Juliana is merely to insist upon the one-year delay. Prince Leonato arrives at the convent, and has his meeting with the false Fioretta. Juliana, superficially, plays her part as instructed; yet Leonato correctly interprets her replies to indicate that she would not object if he forced the issue. Taking the hint, Leonato leads a troop of his men to break into the convent and carry off "Fioretta." He takes her home to Ferrara...where the true Fioretta has also arrived. Suspicious of Flaviano, Fioretta has escped from his mother''s country house and reached Ferrara in disguise, where she has taken an assumed name and is staying with Leonato''s sister Donabella. Honorio has also come to Ferrara, to seek justice and vengeance for what he thinks is the rape of his sister. As he and Leonato are prepared to duel, Juliana and Donabella rush between them. Honorio confronts his pretended sister, but Juliana manages to persuade him to remain silent for the time being. The real Fioretta locates and welcomes her brother, while Juliana confronts Prince Leonato. She tells the prince that she is a noble virgin forced to impersonate Fioretta by the Duke of Mantua. Honorio breaks in with a captive Flaviano; Flaviano has followed Honorio to Ferrara to kill him, but has gotten caught instead. Honorio tries to explain Flaviano''s villainous manipulations &mdash; but Leonato refuses to listen; he believes Juliana, and has resolved both to marry her and to go to war with Mantua. For a moment, Flaviano''s plotting appears to have worked; but he is betrayed by a co-conspirator named Claudio. Juliana''s falsehood is exposed; she begs for mercy, but Leonato casts her aside. The Duke of Mantua himself arrives in Ferrara, and the Fioretta/Juliana tangle is exposed and unraveled. Leonato is matched with Fioretta, and Honorio with Donabella; Juliana is sent back to the convent, and Flaviano is exiled. The play''s subplot involves the courting of the widow Florelia by the soldiers Hortensio and Volterino. Florelia says that she will marry the man who cures her son Bertoldi of his cowardice. The soldiers, with a share of soldierly drinking and brawling, try to make Bertoldi brave, and failing that, to make him appear brave; but that fails too. Eventually making the best of a bad job, Florelia marries Hortensio.

The Imposture

Ever since Wallace Wallace (main character) was young, he has insisted on telling the truth. After scoring the winning touchdown for the Bedford Middle School football team in the championship Wallace Wallace, he becomes a popular guy. What the entire town and most of the football team don''t realize is that Wallace is really a benchwarmer, whose winning touchdown was a fluke. His former best friend, football team captain Steve Cavanaugh, knows that the winning move was lucky and has cut ties with Wallace because of it. When Wallace is assigned to write a report on the book Old Shep, My Pal, he won''t lie about his feelings. He dislikes the book and writes a negative review, which results in a detention handed down by his English teacher, Mr. Fogelman, until he writes a quality review. His detention is spent with the drama club, which is currently producing a play version of Old Shep, My Pal. Wallace is initially bored, but soon impresses the club members with his charisma and suggestions for improvement. When his detention is complete, he quits the football team to join the drama club. The student body does not take this lightly, as they view him as the hero of the team. Soon after Wallace joins the club, an unknown person vandalizes the play set and rehearsals. One club member, Rachel Turner, believes Wallace is the culprit. Everyone else initially regards him as a hero and refuses to believe her, but when one of Wallace''s practice jerseys appears during the final sabotage attempt, they turn against him. Rachel changes her mind to believe that Wallace isn''t the vandal. Wallace is eventually banned from the play entirely. Despite his ban, the drama club decides to use Wallace''s ideas for the play, including having Shep live at the end. This decision results in disaster when the saboteur blows up the prop Shep during the performance—just as the actors praise his miraculous recovery. Meanwhile, Wallace figures out that the culprit is Rachel''s brother Dylan, who wanted revenge because he felt the play had ruined the famous Wallace Wallace. Consequently, Wallace tells his first lie to spare Rachel''s feelings. After her initial anger at Wallace, she realizes on her own that Dylan was behind the attacks. Wallace and Rachel recognize their mutual feelings of love, and plan to go on a date together. Furthermore, Cavanaugh and Wallace make up and are friends again.

No More Dead Dogs

Dred is the story of Nina Gordon, an impetuous young heiress to a large southern plantation, whose land is rapidly becoming worthless. It is run competently by one of Nina''s slaves, Harry, who endures a murderous rivalry with Nina''s brother Tom Gordon, a drunken, cruel slaveowner. Nina is a flighty young girl, and maintains several suitors, before finally settling down with a man named Clayton. Clayton is socially and religiously liberal, and very idealistic, and has a down-to-earth perpetual-virgin sister, Anne. In addition to Harry (who, as well as being the administrator of Nina''s estate, is secretly also her and Tom''s half-brother), the slave characters include the devoutly Christian Milly (actually the property of Nina''s Aunt Nesbit), and Tomtit, a joker-type character. There is also a family of poor whites, who have but a single, devoted slave, Old Tiff. Dred, the titular character, is one of the Great Dismal Swamp maroons, escaped slaves living in the Great Dismal Swamp, preaching angry and violent retribution for the evils of slavery and rescuing escapees from the dog of the slavecatchers.

Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp

Willie Upton returns home to Templeton for the summer from her graduate studies in archaeology with several dark secrets. Her life seemingly in shambles, she moves back in with her mother for the summer. She never knew the identity of her real father and her mother gives her the shocking revelation that her real father is alive and living in Templeton, but it is up to Willie to dig up the deep dark secrets of the small town and thus discover his identity. She excavates data from the local archives and from ancient books and letters. She gradually pieces together her family tree. While all of this is going on, Willie is concerned in the present about a possible pregnancy, about her sick friend she left back in California, about her mother''s relationship with a local preacher, about her old acquaintance Zeke and of course about Glimmey, the kindly but now dead lake monster. In the end she discovers the true identity of her father and that she was closer to him then she ever could have thought.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

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Warday

By Whitley Strieber

Craii de Curtea-Veche

No Author Listed

The Devil's Teardrop: A Novel of the Last Night of the Century

By Jeffery Deaver

The Sands of Ammon

By Valerio Massimo Manfredi

Time for Bed

No Author Listed

Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn

By Piers Anthony

Jurassic Park Adventures: Prey

By Scott Ciencin

Shadow of a Bull

By Maia Wojciechowska

The Imposture

No Author Listed

No More Dead Dogs

By Gordon Korman

Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp

By Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Monsters of Templeton

By Lauren Groff