Harvard 1980, a radical human rights activist group are seeking a way to put their group into the public eye. Member Kathy Lakas suggests they organise the rescue of Rudolf Hess, then being held for nearly 40 years since the end of the Second World War. Lakas, given the permission to employ a mercenary soldier to plan the rescue bid, hires Lebanese mercenary John Haddad. Haddad accepts the offer in part and travels to West Berlin, in the heart of East Germany, to conduct a reconnaissance into the feasibility of the operation. While in West Berlin, Haddad is kidnapped by a mysterious group of vicious Germans lead by an ill looking middle aged man. They already know who Haddad is and have guessed why he is in Berlin, but they torture him all the same and leave him for dead. Hospitalised from the beating, Haddad is visited by British Army Major Reed-Henry who questions him on his activities. He shows Haddad photographs of the men who attacked him, revealing the leader as Karl Stroebling, a KGB operative and terrorist group leader. Again Reed-Henry already suspects why Haddad is in Berlin, but leaves it at that. Next day Haddad is joined by Kathy who is shocked by his injuries. Still unsure whether to accept the contract, Haddad realises he needs someone to watch his back and allow him to work without the threat of Stroebling. So Haddad travels to Paris, where he locates an old comrade, Maroun, who has been contracted to assassinate a Palestinian military leader. Maroun agrees to join up with Haddad after he''s completed his current job and protect Haddad in Berlin from Stroebling and his group. While in Paris Hadad meets Kathy''s brother Michael, who''s also a senior member of Kathy''s group. Haddad returns to West Berlin to continue with his reconnaissance while Kathy returns to the States, back there she learns her fellow committee members want to pull the plug on the project. Kathy strongly objects to their plan and decides to fund the rescue with her brother personally by selling a valuable family heirloom. Back in West Berlin, Haddad is approached by an American Army Major, Tom Dade. Dade an old friend of the Lakas'' is keen to help and suggests that Haddad seek out Reed-Henry for assistance in rescuing Hess.

The Square Circle

Betty, an attractive California girl, takes a coming-of-age sojourn, embarking from San Francisco on an Italian freighter bound for ports in El Salvador, Panama, Venezuela, Spain and Italy. There are about a half dozen other passengers, including, to her dismay, Tom, an old boyfriend who infuriates her by introducing himself as her "fiancé", a notion of which she immediately disabuses both him and her fellow passengers. Betty develops an attraction for and engages in a mild flirtation with Mik Finsch, an older, mysterious man-of-the-world, but when she accepts an offer of drinks in his cabin, his amorous advances get way out of line and Betty find herself hard put to fend him off. Tom bursts into Finsch''s cabin and the two start fighting; by the time the captain breaks them up, Tom has thrashed Finsch, who claims he was "just warming up". Betty tells Tom she could have handled the situation herself and she still has no interest in marrying him and wished he had not come. Another passenger tells Betty that Finsch''s pride has been wounded and he will get revenge on Tom somehow. That night, Tom goes missing and a typewritten suicide note is found. There are suspicions, but no proof. When another "suicide" involving Finsch and the beautiful wife of a shipping agent leaves no doubt in Betty''s mind that Finsch is a murderer, the two are pitted against one another, with Finsch seemingly holding all the cards.

The Dark Ocean

The novel is related in broad chronological order by the main protagonist, Herbert Badgery, but with frequent digressions that relate the circumstances and life history of Badgery himself, and of many of the characters he meets. The story begins in 1919 when the thirty-three year old Herbert lands his aeroplane in a field close to the wealthy former bullock-herder Jack McGrath. Herbert befriends Jack and persuades him to invest in the construction of an aeroplane factory. Herbert also becomes the lover of Jack''s teenage daughter Phoebe, who had previously been involved in a lesbian relationship with a teacher, Annette Davidson. Jack commits suicide following a violent argument between Herbert and some other potential investors. Herbert marries Phoebe and they bear two children, Charles and Sonia. After learning to fly Herbert''s aeroplane, Phoebe steals it, abandoning her husband and children to live with Annette. Herbert briefly becomes the lover of Jack''s widow, Molly, but goes out on the road to scrape a living, often as a confidence trickster, accompanied by his two children. He meets Leah Goldstein, a former medical student turned dancer who is married to the Communist agitator Izzy Kaletsky. She and Herbert become lovers and develop a variety act, but Leah returns to care for Izzy after he has both legs amputated following an accident. Sonia dies, and Herbert is subsequently jailed for an assault on a Chinese man who had been his childhood mentor, Goon Tse Ying, whose finger is torn off. In prison, Herbert is presented with the preserved finger in a jar, and finds that looking into the jar presents the viewer with curious visions. Herbert, who for much of his life had been illiterate, begins studying, and eventually obtains a degree in Australian history. Charles becomes a dealer in animals, and meets Emma Underhill when required to rescue her from the clutches of a frightened goanna. Charles falls in love with and weds Emma, despite warnings from her father about her fragile mental state. Charles builds a successful business selling animals and moves into larger and larger premises. Upon the outbreak of World War Two, he considers enlisting, but is rejected because of his hearing. Traumatised by his decision, Emma retreats into the goanna''s cage and continues living in an adapted cage for the rest of her life. Leah returns to help Charles, but also begins living in a cage, as part of Charles'' extended household. After his release from prison, Herbert goes to live with Charles at the pet emporium. He attempts to rebuild part of Charles'' shop, but the attempt ends in disaster. Herbert befriends Charles'' youngest son, Hissao, who dreams of becoming an architect. Herbert suffers a stroke, and Charles is obliged to consider how his shop can continue to maintain the support of his American backers, who wish to export animals illegally against Charles'' wishes. Emma comes into possession of the jar of Herbert''s that contains Ying''s finger and claims that she sees a reptile in the bottle that she also claims is Hissao''s half-brother. Distraught by the claim, Charles shoots Emma''s goanna, and turns the gun on himself. Hissao claims he will not give up architecture in order to preserve the family business by becoming an animal smuggler, but does so, and becomes wealthy and much-travelled. He accidentally kills a rare bird he is smuggling, whereupon he sells much of his share in the business to Japanese investors and commences rebuilding the emporium to his own design, according to which it becomes a bizarre and controversial museum of the Australian nation.

Illywhacker

Set in the late Ming Dynasty, the story centers on Yuan Chengzhi, the son of Yuan Chonghuan, a patriotic military commander who was wrongly put to death by the Chongzhen Emperor. An orphan, Yuan Chengzhi is sent to the Mount Hua Sect, where he is tutored in martial arts by Mu Renqing. He grows up to become a fine young pugilist and he leaves Mount Hua in search of adventure. Serendipitous incidents lead him to discover the Golden Serpent Sword and a martial arts manual, which once belonged to Xia Xueyi, a long dead enigmatic swordsman. Yuan Chengzhi inherits Xia Xueyi''s possessions and skills and becomes more powerful than before. Yuan Chengzhi wanders around the land and meets Wen Qingqing, a young maiden from a family of brigands. Wen Qingqing is actually Xia Xueyi''s daughter and she follows Yuan Chengzhi after being expelled from her family. Yuan Chengzhi initially wanted to seek redress for his father, but decides to join Li Zicheng''s rebel force to overthrow the corrupt Ming government. He helps the rebels retrieve the gold robbed by the Wen family, sabotages a battery of cannons supplied to the Ming army by foreigners, and finances the rebellion with part of the treasure he discovered in Nanjing. Yuan Chengzhi also befriends several pugilists, who pledge allegiance to him out of respect for his heroism. Yuan Chengzhi organises his followers to form an army and they pledge to serve and defend China from invading Manchu forces in the northeast. Eager to prove his loyalty to his countrymen, Yuan Chengzhi infiltrates Mukden and attempts to assassinate the Manchu ruler Hong Taiji but fails. Later, despite harbouring a grudge against the Chongzhen Emperor for his father''s death, he saves the emperor from a coup led by a treacherous noble called Prince Hui. During that time, he meets He Tieshou, one of Prince Hui''s allies and the leader of the Five Poisons Cult. Yuan Chengzhi succeeds in reforming her and accepts her as his student. He also develops romantic relationships with Wen Qingqing and a maiden called A''jiu, who is actually the Chongzhen Emperor''s daughter Princess Changping. Yuan Chengzhi''s decision to support Li Zicheng eventually makes him regret, because after overthrowing the Ming government, Li not only fails to fulfill his promises to restore peace and stability, but also condones his followers'' brutality towards the common people. Yuan Chengzhi is disappointed with Li Zicheng and decides to leave. A former Ming general called Wu Sangui later defects to the Manchus and allow them to pass through Shanhai Pass and overrun the rest of China. When Yuan Chengzhi learns that China has fallen to the Manchus, he realises that he is unable to do anything to reverse the situation and decides to leave for good and he sails to a distant land with his companions.

Sword Stained with Royal Blood

The Capture is about a young barn owl named Soren, who lives in the Forest Kindom of Tyto with his father and mother, Noctus and Marella, respectively, and older brother Kludd. One day, chick is hatched, and Soren''s mother, Marella, names her Eglantine. Mrs. Plithiver, the nest-maid for the family, a blind snake, helps care for her. While Soren''s parents are on a hunting trip, Kludd pushes Soren out of the nest. Soren gets snatched by a patrol unit from St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. Grimble. Another owl is holding a tiny Elf Owl named Gylfie. Soon, Soren and Gylfie reach St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. In this "orphanage", owls are "numbered" and forced to do a "sleeping march" where they march at night in the moonlight. Soren is number 12-1, and Gylfie is numbered 25-2. Hortense, a Spotted Owl, is number 12-8. Owls have to calls themselves and other owls by their numbers. The sleeping position is tipping your beak up and putting your head slightly back, while continuously repeating their own name. Gylfie tells Soren if an owl sleeps in this position under full shine (full moon) they forget their own personality and everything is the wrong side up. This is called moonblinking. Another rule is then revealed: no asking questions. Soren accidentally asks a question in the pelletorium and, as a punishment, his down gets plucked. He wakes up finding the pit guardian, Auntie Finny, standing above him. Later, forced to sleep under full shine again, Soren finds out that they are getting moon blinked by repeating their own names, which when a word is repeated continuessly, it starts to sound like a noise, not a word anymore. Gylfie then gets an idea: march in place under the rock ridge and say your number, not your real name. On the second day of doing this, an owl finds out and they are "moon scalded", or kept in full shine of the moon. Soren realizes that saying the Ga''Hoolian legends, or Tales of Yore, helps him clear his mind. Soren and Gylfie start telling legends, until the moon goes down. As they come out, they pretend to be perfectly moon blinked. Later, Gylfie sees Hortense trying to dislodge an owl''s egg from the nest with bald eagles flying nearby. Gylfie and Soren confront Hortense, and find out she is not moonblinked, like them. Skench, Spoorn, Jatt, Jutt, and Auntie find Hortense trying to save the eggs. Hortense appears'' to have died after being pushed off the high point of her nest in the hatchery. Grimble, who appears to be on Soren and Gylfies'' side, teaches them how to fly, and they fly away, right at the moment when Skench comes in and kills Grimble. Gylfie and Soren meet Twilight, a Great Gray Owl. They agree to find the Great Ga''Hoole Tree, where a noble group of owls is found. They also agree to try to find their families, but are most unsuccessful. At the Desert Kingdom of Kuneer, they find a Burrowing Owl named Digger, who agreed to go the quest. At the Forest Kingdom of Tyto, Mrs. Plithiver was discovered and says she wants to come and go the quest,also. Mrs. P rests on Soren''s shoulders, who is flying. Also, in the Desert Kingdom of Kuneer, they meet Hortense''s eagles, Streak and Zan. Here, traveling to the Great Ga''Hoole Tree, the book ends off, and the book The Journey starts. The film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga''Hoole is based on this book, along with The Journey and The Rescue

Guardians of Ga''Hoole: The Capture

17-year-old Mike, a comic book fan who collects strange gadgets (many of which he obtained by sending in coupons from cereal boxes), is staying for the summer with his 13-year-old cousin Penny, whose parents are getting fed up with his antics and ready to send him back home. After attending a magic show where people gain strange powers, Penny and Mike sneak onto the stage and Mike uses the magician''s magic chair to cast a spell on Penny. To their surprise, it works, and Penny gains superhero powers such as strength, flight, and the ability to pass through solid objects. Penny becomes, in Mike''s words, "the world''s most amazing 13-year-old". She also becomes eight feet tall. Penny''s new powers lead to adventures and misadventures, and generally interfere with her normal life. Penny also resents the loss of control that comes from the powers being activated and deactivated exclusively by Mike, the spellcaster. However, Penny successfully captures a gang of crooks who were attempting a series of major thefts. Although Penny ultimately uses her powers successfully (after some embarrassing errors), she still wishes to be normal again, but she finds out that the magic chair used to enchant her has been accidentally destroyed, so there is no way to undo the charm. Just when she despairs of ever having a normal life again, she reaches her 14th birthday; suddenly, her powers are gone, as the spell granted powers to a 13-year-old.

Master Mike and the Miracle Maid

Stevie Thomas is a fourteen-year-old sports fanatic who has saved a player from blackmailing at the Final Four. He has also proved that a kidnapping was actually a hoax. After that, he and his partner, Susan Carol were hired by USTV to do a show. Three months later, he was fired because he “didn’t have enough sizzle”. This left Susan Carol furious. He flies to Indianapolis to work as a journalist for the Super Bowl. When he lands at the airport, he meets Sean McManus who hires him to work for CBS during the week. On Tuesday, he goes to the Hoosier Dome, which is a massive building. His story features the Ravens'' equipment guy, Darin Kerns. Kerns used to play with the Dreams’ star quarterback Eddie Brennan in high school. Stevie also gets some one-on-one time with Brennan for the story of them playing together. While he is sleeping in his hotel room, he gets a call from Susan Carol saying that she wants to talk to him right now. She says that she was at a party and a doctor who worked with the Dreams came up to her and started talking to her. He was drunk and was trying to impress her. He tells her that five offensive linemen tested positive for HGH, or human growth hormone, and that it was being covered up so the players don’t get suspended. They decide that they have to try to write the story and alert the public about it. Stevie goes back to the Hoosier Dome the next morning. CBS decides to film his story and have Darin Kerns and Eddie Brennan talk about their experience together. After the interview, Stevie talks to Eddie about the drug tests but doesn’t get much information other than Eddie freaking out that he knew. After that, Bobby Kelleher, his mentor in journalism, sets him up with an interview with Steve Bisciotti, the Ravens owner. That night, there is a huge NFL party that everyone is going to attend. When he goes there he sees Bobby Kelleher arguing with Don Meeker, the Dreams owner. Later, Susan Carol pretends to admire him and gets his cell phone number. The next morning, they get a full conversation with Eddie, who tells them about the drug tests. He also tells them that Meeker is the one covering up the test results so the players don’t get suspended. Susan Carol calls Dr. Snow, the drunk doctor, and says she wants to talk. He said to go to a YMCA where they can talk. There, they try to blackmail him to get test results. He says that he will give them test results at a mall only if there are no adults around. Both Stevie and Susan Carol are suspicious of a trap. They go to the mall and Dr. Snow leads them past the empty theater where Don Meeker’s bodyguards grab them and hold them hostage. As Snow is about to leave, Darin Kerns and two security men rush in and save them. It turns out that Stevie had put his cell phone on speaker and on the other line was Eddie. He heard them and called Kerns. Eddie introduces Stevie and Susan Carol to Bob Arciero, an orthopedic surgeon for the Dreams. Arciero, unlike Dr. Snow, is honest and is not part of the cover up. He gets them the drug test documents. With the documents at hand, Stevie and Susan Carol write the story. They talk to the newspaper lawyers, who say they need comments from the Commissioner Goodell and Don Meeker. Godell and comments on launching an investigation and punishing anyone involved. Meeker, after hearing two paragraphs of the story, goes on a profane tirade. They send the quotes and the story and go out to eat. However, they don’t come back in time and are surrounded by cameras as soon as they step in the hotel. Don calls them the next day to tell them that he was pegged as the source and that he’s not starting. Meeker is about to go on CBS and USTV to lie and try to convince people he did nothing wrong. In the process, he slanders Susan Carol on USTV. After Meeker’s interview on USTV, he had to do another one on CBS. There, Jim Nantz doesn''t let Meeker get away with his story. This angers Meeker, who decides to pick on Susan Carol again after the interview. The game starts, and the backup quarterback, instead of Brennan, is playing for the Dreams. Pretty soon the Dreams fall into a hole. Eddie starts the second half and steers his team to a comeback. While the game is going on, Tal Vincent lets it slip that Mike Shupe was the one who was feeding Meeker information. Jamie Whitsitt, who is a singer and was Stevie''s replacement on USTV, leads them into the studio and gives them a tape. He had left it on record while Don Meeker and Mike Shupe were having their conversation. It has Meeker clearly saying that he bribed the doctors to keep quiet. After this, Eddie and the Dreams win the Super Bowl on a miracle play. Stevie proves that Don Meeker was covering up and that the owners could vote to force Meeker to sell the team.

Cover Up

La Belle Bête starts off as the three main characters return home on a train. Immediately, the characters’ relationships with one another, as well as their physical beauty as a status, are established. As they return home, their daily activities reveal even more of their living situation with one another, as Isabelle-Marie is the Cinderella of the family, working hard and being neglected, while Louise fawns over her beloved beautiful Patrice. Patrice is so incompetent from his constant dependence on his mother, that he can do nothing but accept her attention. Eventually, Louise announces that she needs to travel to pick up farm equipment for their vast land, and leaves Patrice and Isabelle-Marie. Isabelle-Marie continues her distaste for her brother, and as her mother is no longer there to support Patrice, she takes the opportunity to let him starve to release her anger and jealously towards him As she grows to pity his incompetence and dependency on Louise, Isabelle-Marie begins to care for him ever so slightly. When Louise returns, she brings with her Lanz, who becomes the new controlling figure over the family. Patrice rejoices and cleaves to his mother, but she can no longer respond with her attention as she is consumed by her own relationship with Lanz. As Lanz brings Louise further and further from her children, Patrice spirals into deterioration while Isabelle-Marie relishes in her new found freedom. As Isabelle-Marie becomes more upbeat, she learns to care for Patrice, as well as meets her lover Michael, who she convinces to love her by lying about her beauty . From here the story splits into two. On one side of life, Isabelle-Marie begins her life with the blind Michael, while Patrice is continued to be neglected as Lanz demands the attention of Louise. Both children’s’ stories end in despair as Michael eventually regains his vision and comes to terms with the ugliness of Isabelle-Marie and consequently, their newborn child Anne. He abandons both of them and disappears from their lives. As the torn spirit of Isabelle-Marie returns to her unwanted home, she finds that Louise is being controlled by Lanz, and has chosen him over Patrice. Her new found anger towards outer beauty drives her to push Patrice’s face into a pot of boiling water, thus bringing his now beast-like face to her lowly status. Patrice cries to his mother, and she makes the ultimate choice to live her life with Lanz, abandoning Patrice entirely (pg 52). Patrice is sent to an insane asylum by Louise, who becomes fed up with his incompetence, however he escapes shortly afterwards. As their lives quickly become disillusioned, Isabelle-Marie ends up setting fire to the farm. Louise, who has slowly been cracking under the loss of her beautiful child, and the control – and eventual death - of her husband is lost in the fire. Isabelle-Marie commits suicide as she pushes her child off the train tracks that once brought her home, as Patrice drowns himself when he sees his hideous face in the reflection of a lake.

La Belle Bête

After leaving her school, Sabriel crosses the Wall, using papers given to her by her father. Her goal is Abhorsen''s House, the home of her father. After entering Death to obtain guidance from a projection of her dead mother, she narrowly avoids a fatal altercation with a Dead creature. As she continues her journey, she becomes aware that she is being stalked by a Mordicant, a powerful Dead creature. She is able to outrun the creature and reach the safety of Abhorsen''s House, which is located on an island in the center of the river. (The Dead cannot cross fast and deep running water.) Inside Abhorsen''s house, Sabriel is able to rest and obtain food and other supplies, as well as armor. She also meets Mogget, a Free Magic construct who takes the form of a small white cat, wearing a collar with a powerful binding spell on it and a miniature Saraneth hanging from it. Mogget insists on accompanying her on her journey to find her father. Later, they look out over the walls surrounding the house and discover the Dead attempting to build a bridge. Sabriel performs a ritual to summon a flood of water and then flees the house by Paperwing (a magically propelled plane-like structure.) While in the air, Sabriel and Mogget are attacked by the Dead, and Sabriel loosens Mogget''s collar to avoid a fatal crash. They fall into a sinkhole, where Mogget, in his unbound form, attempts to murder Sabriel. However, she is able to bind him anew with a ring given to her for that purpose. The next day, Sabriel and Mogget walk through a tunnel to another sinkhole, which Mogget determines to be Holehallow, the historical burial place of the royal family. Each king is buried in a boat. Sabriel discovers that the figurehead on one of the boats is actually a man, who has been imprisoned in that form for two hundred years. The man tells Sabriel that he was a Royal Guard before his imprisonment, and asks to be called Touchstone (a jester''s name) for reasons that remain cryptic. Sabriel, Touchstone, and Mogget continue their journey, stopping to help rid a seaside village of a Dead creature. They obtain a boat there and sail up the coast of the Old Kingdom until they reach Belisaere, the capital. They find the Abhorsen in an underground reservoir in Belisaere, trapped in Death. Since he has stayed too long in Death, he cannot return for long, but with what little time he has left, the Abhorsen tells Sabriel about the evil known as Kerrigor. Kerrigor has risen far from Death and intends to wreak havoc in the Old Kingdom and Ancelstierre. Sabriel releases her father from Death, and once they emerge from Death, father and daughter part for the last time — he, to ring the bell Astarael(the sound of which throws everyone who hears it far into the realm of Death) and delay Kerrigor''s havoc; and she, to save Touchstone by bringing him (and herself) as far away from Astarael''s music as possible. To prevent him from losing to Death, she kisses him roughly in order to keep him focused on Life. In the process of ringing Astarael, Sabriel''s father releases Mogget. They succeed, but as long as Kerrigor''s body is intact, he will rise from Death again and again. Sabriel and Touchstone use another Paperwing to bring them as close to the Wall as possible, and cross over to Ancelstierre to find Kerrigor''s body, following the clairvoyant guidance of the Clayr twins Sanar and Ryelle. They find the body, and Sabriel finally defeats Kerrigor by binding him with Ranna and Mogget''s collar. She dies but the previous Abhorsens prevent her from crossing into Final Death as she cannot die without someone else to take her place as Abhorsen. She wakes up with Touchstone before her, and both Mogget and Kerrigor asleep, bound by Ranna (the first of seven necromantic bells that instills sleep and quiescence in those who hear it).

Sabriel

Innokentii Volodin, a diplomat, makes a telephone call he feels obligated to his conscience to make, even though he knows he risks arrest. His call was taped and the NKVD seek to identify who made the call. The sharashka prisoners work on technical projects to assist state security agencies and generally pander to Stalin''s increasing paranoia. While most are aware of how much better off they are than "regular" Gulag prisoners, some are also conscious of the overwhelming moral dilemma of working to aid a system that is the cause of so much suffering. Lev Rubin is tasked with identifying the voice in the recorded phone call, he examines printed spectrographs of the voice and compares them with recordings of Volodin and five other suspects. He narrows it down to Volodin and one other suspect, both of whom are arrested. By the end of the book, several zeks, including Gleb Nerzhin, the autobiographical hero, choose to stop cooperating, even though their choice means being sent to much deadlier camps. Volodin, initially crushed by the ordeal of his arrest, begins to find encouragement at the end of his first night in prison. The book also briefly depicts several Soviet leaders of the period, including Stalin himself, who is depicted as vain and vengeful, remembering with pleasure the torture of a rival, dreaming of one day becoming emperor of the world, or listening to his subordinate Viktor Abakumov and wondering: "[...]has the day come to shoot him yet?" The novel addresses numerous philosophical themes, and through multiple narratives is a powerful argument both for a stoic integrity and humanism. Like other Solzhenitsyn works, the book illustrates the difficulty in maintaining dignity within a system designed to strip its inhabitants of it.

The First Circle

Dwight McCarthy is on a mission from Gail to dig up information about a recent mob hit at a small diner. After being hit on by a female cop, (who he manages to get rid of by pretending to be a bisexual masochist), he goes into a bar near where the hit happened and tries to charm one of the local drinkers there named Peggy. Dwight also spots Fat Man and Little Boy, which makes his job easier later on. As Dwight keeps charming Peggy, she realizes he''s not interested in any company that night and only looking for information behind the recent hit. It''s revealed that Bruno, the target, was killed by Vito; one of Don Magliozzi''s nephews and also one of his hitmen. This was done in retaliation on Don Magliozzi''s part as Bruno killed his beloved niece years ago. Going against his family''s treaty with mob boss Wallenquist, he orders Vito to kill Bruno, who is on Wallenquist''s payroll, immediately. Afterwards, everyone''s nervous about what Wallenquist will do and if there will be a mob war in retaliation. With that information, Dwight leaves the bar and is confronted by Vito and some other hitmen who came when Fat Man and Little Boy alerted them someone was digging around for information. Dwight is kidnapped by them, but is more interested in Vito''s car and constantly refers to it as his just as soon as he kills all of them. No one believes him as they drive toward the Projects. Unknown to them except for Dwight is that Miho was following Dwight for protection. On the way, Vito tells his side of the story as to how he killed every living thing he saw, including a stray dog. Dwight is satisfied with this and orders Miho to make her appearance. She kills Spinelli, one of the goons, and they park in a hilltop rest area, overlooking the Projects. There, Miho toys with one of the hitmen as Dwight tells Vito to kill the other hitman; Vito''s own brother Luca. After Miho and Dwight are through, they head straight to Sacred Oaks to confront Don Magliozzi, driven by Vito. Miho cuts through the guards and Dwight makes his appearance. He tells the Don he is going to die along with Vito, and reveals why: the accidental death of Carmen, one of the Old Town girls. Dwight tells them Vito shouldn''t have shot at the stray dog, since the angles were in a straight line to a nearby phone booth where Carmen was calling for a ride. Carmen was killed by the gunfire. Carmen''s lover, Daisy, arrives as Dwight walks away from the Don and his associates. Daisy guns them down as Dwight remarks there''s going to be a mob war because of this, but that neither he nor the girls of Old Town will have cause to worry about it. Finally, he takes possession of Vito''s car and drives off into the night.

Family Values

Julian is told from the perspective of teenager Adam Hazzard, who lives in the rural town of Williams Ford, in the state of Athabaska (today a region in Canada, but in the story, a part of the greater United States) in 2172, at a time when technology has regressed to 19th century levels. The story deals with his relationship with his friend Julian Comstock (later in life called Julian Conqueror or Julian the Agnostic), an aristocratic boy of his age with radical beliefs about God, science, and evolution, notably his beliefs in DNA and the Moon Landings, in defiance of the omnipresent and theocratic Church of the Dominion of Jesus Christ on Earth, which came about as a result of the end of oil in the 21st century, a time which was later interpreted as a Biblical Tribulation. Julian is the nephew of the President, Deklan Comstock, and it is rumored that Deklan may send Julian to fight in the Labrador War against the European powers, in order to quiet dissent against him that his family does not care about the soldiers. The story centers on how Adam and Julian will avoid the coming draft and remain alive despite Julian''s beliefs. Robert Charles Wilson has created a full length novel of the story of Julian, titled Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

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The Square Circle

No Author Listed

The Dark Ocean

By Jack Vance

Illywhacker

By Peter Carey

Sword Stained with Royal Blood

By Louis Cha

Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Capture

By Kathryn Lasky

Master Mike and the Miracle Maid

No Author Listed

Cover Up

By John Feinstein

La Belle Bête

By Marie-Claire Blais

Sabriel

By Garth Nix

The First Circle

By Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Family Values

No Author Listed

Julian: A Christmas Story

By Robert Charles Wilson