Obi-Wan Kenobi is joined by Jedi Master Adi Gallia and her Padawan Siri Tachi at Jenna Zan Arbor''s secret laboratory on Simpla-12. Zan Arbor, who has been conducting experiments in an attempt to break the Force into its constituent parts, is holding captive Qui-Gon Jinn and the elderly Jedi Master Noor R''aya. The three rescuers attempt to smuggle themselves into the laboratory; however, despite the fact that Qui-Gon has managed to free himself, Zan Arbor escapes with the unconscious Noor. Later, Obi-Wan receives a message informing him that his companion Astri Oddo, who went to pursue the bounty hunter Ona Nobis, is injured on the planet of Sorrus. Qui-Gon and Adi send their Padawans to Sorrus to bring Astri home, but Obi-Wan learns that this was merely a trap set by Ona Nobis, and wisely chooses to run away from a fight. He and Siri are ordered to return to the Jedi Temple, but he convinces Siri that they should look for Astri since she''s on Sorrus. They are transported to the far desert and investigate a cave where they find Astri and her three companions tied up. However, the cave collapses &mdash; another trap set by Ona Nobis. The party are eventually rescued by a member of a tribe that Astri once helped. The two Padawans learn that Ona Nobis is headed to Belasco, the homeworld of Senator Uta S''orn, Jenna Zan Arbor''s only friend. On Belasco, the Jedi discover that the population is suffering unusually severely from bacteria that recur in the drinking supply every seven years. They find Senator S''orn caring for sick children, but she wants nothing to do with the Jedi. Eventually, they discover that S''orn has altered Galactic Senate transcripts for Zan Arbor, and that Zan Arbor is likely on the planet. Suspecting that Zan Arbor has bioengineered the bacteria in order to make a profit selling a cure, the four Jedi infiltrate the water purification plant, obtaining dated water samples as evidence. Obi-Wan and Siri then follow Uta S''orn as she delivers dinner to patients at the royal grounds, in the hope that she will lead them to the hiding place of Zan Arbor and Ona Nobis. After seeing Ona Nobis eat dinner, they report back to their Masters, who confront the Leader of Belasco and ask that S''orn''s quarters be searched. There, the Jedi find Jenna Zan Arbor, along with the captive Noor R''aya. Zan Arbor is quickly captured, but Obi-Wan notices that Siri has left the room, and he goes to search for her. He finds her cornered by Ona Nobis on the palace roof, and the two Padawans manage to hold off the wily bounty hunter. Ona Nobis then tries to escape, but she falls to her death when Siri slashes through her whip.

The Dangerous Rescue

When Freddy needs a change from running the animal newspaper and the animal bank that he established in earlier books, and he sees an offer to work as a caretaker on a local estate. He meets the eccentric Jimson Camphor and his proper butler, Bannister, who, Camphor explains, is "dignified for both of us". They have a running game reciting proverbs to match a situation, then arguing about whose is more appropriate. After they leave Freddy settles comfortably into caretaking. Meals are served in the main house, while he lives on a luxury houseboat. The restful circumstances are interrupted by two sorts of trespassers, a gang of rats led by the malicious Simon, and a human criminal, Zebedee Winch, accompanied by his dirty-faced son. The rats are destroying everything that displeases them in Camphor''s attic, while Zebedee and his son, finding that the cook is Zebedee’s runaway wife, take advantage by moving in to "visit" her. When Camphor returns for a weekend, Zebedee frames Freddy by stealing Camphor''s things. Freddy is fired, and returns to the Bean Farm. The animals are undecided how to respond. Meanwhile, since the United States is fighting World War II, the President is encouraging people to grow food in their own Victory Gardens. The farm bugs and insects throw a party where they patriotically decide to stop eating farm vegetables. The party is dampened when the rooster Charles starts one of his long-winded speeches. After he is forced to stop, the horsefly Zero crashes the party, telling everyone the war is somebody else''s problem. Freddy drives Zero away, but now he has another enemy threatening revenge. Mrs. Wiggins the Cow and Freddy are discussing Zebedee when they hear Jinx the Cat yowling. Instead of a problem, they discover the other animals playing Camphor and Bannister''s game, but testing proverbs. Jinx, having tipped his milk dish over, howls until Mrs. Bean refills it, proving that it is useful to cry over spilt milk. Jinx tells the dog that "Any stick is good enough to beat a dog with". The dog replies that there are more ways than one way to skin a cat. Freddy joins the game, but attention soon turns to his problems. The animals decide that Freddy, Jinx and the mice will sneak into Camphor’s house to implicate the Winches as thieves. However they are trapped inside when a door locks shut behind them. Freddy disguises himself in human clothes, and manages to fool Bannister long enough for Jinx and the mice to arrange his escape. The Winches recognize Freddy, but by this point nobody believes them, and the sheriff is called. Zebedee Winch tries to escape, but the sheriff catches him when Freddy''s friend eagle forces his car off the road. The sheriff drives to Zebedee''s house, and discovering Camphor''s stolen property, arrests him. To get Simon and his relatives out of their holes in Camphor''s attic, Freddy employs fleas, but there still is a fight before he forces them to leave. Camphor forgives the Winches and allows them to work on his estate. Freddy goes to a patriotic bug meeting, where the horsefly Zero is allowed to debate Charles the Rooster. Losing the debate, he physically threatens Freddy, who has prepared by bringing friend toads; when the fly comes to sting, he is eaten. Having been forgiven by Camphor, and helped restore his damaged portraits, Freddy tells Camphor the whole truth about what has happened. When Camphor thinks Freddy should write a book about it, Bannister produces the proverb, "There''s no friend like a good book".

Freddy and Mr Camphor

Oil worker Bill Soileau is a reckless hedonist based in San Francisco and well acquainted with the city’s notorious sexual underground. He long ago contracted HIV but seems unconcerned about exposing his partners. On assignment at what appears to be an oil refinery abandoned by Soviet occupiers in a remote part of modern day Armenia, Soileau meet Dr. Quif Melikian. She’s conducting a health safety inspection of the plant and has discovered a hidden laboratory. An accident in the mysterious lab infects Bill with a manmade virus, later identified as a mutated form of phage. It instantly cures Bill’s HIV, unbeknownst to anyone. Eventually the doctor and oil worker discover the existence of the phage and learn it’s a type of miraculous retrovirus that rewrites diseased cells back to their original configurations, a potential cure for all diseases. The two also learn the phage cure can only be passed to others via sex. This sets in motion a plot to destroy or control the phage and Bill Soileau.

The Sower

Anastasia''s mother, who is a children''s book illustrator, finds out that she is being flown to California to act as a consultant for a film being made from a book that she illustrated. At first, Anastasia thinks that being in charge of the house in her mother''s absence will be a snap, particularly when she and her father make up an easy to follow, super-organized housekeeping list. Unexpected events, however, keep shaking up Anastasia''s domestic bliss. First, her younger brother Sam gets the chicken pox, and Anastasia has to stay home from school to take care of him. Then her boyfriend, Steve, asks her out on their first real date—but she finds out she can''t go out with him because she has to stay home to chaperone a meeting between her father and Annie, one of his ex-girlfriends. Anastasia wants to plan a romantic dinner for herself and Steve, but worries that the romantic setting will affect her father and Annie. Numerous disasters—small and large—strike, but luckily Anastasia won''t be on her own for long, as her mother is able to come home early and straighten things out again. Her mother''s arrival brought her peace and happiness.

Anastasia on her Own

A World Restored explains the complex chain of Congresses that started before the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1814 with the Congress of Vienna, and extended into the 1820s, as a system expected to give Europe peace and a new order after the violent struggles of the previous quarter century. At the same time, the book introduces the reader to the political biographies of two important characters of the time. The first and main character is Prince Metternich, the Austrian Chancellor at that time. As the statesman of an old and fragile multilingual empire, Metternich had to deal with the task of organizing the alliance against Napoleon, while at the same time being a forced ally of France. After Napoleon was defeated, Metternich became the organizer of the Congress system, through which he would seek the survival and advancement of Austria. An 18th century styled rococo figure, old-fashioned even in his own era, but described as having superlative diplomatic skills, Prince Metternich pursued a peace for Europe, based on restored monarchical principles, and on solidarity among the monarchs of Europe. The French Revolution of 1789, and the subsequent Napoleonic invasion and rule of much of Europe, had implanted new liberal revolutionary ideas that were never to be eliminated. At the same time nationalism was rising over much of the world. The Habsburg Empire was a complex political entity, with many ethnic groups and languages coexisting within it, and these forces threatened the survival of the Empire. Metternich expected to lead an alliance against France, pressing only enough to depose Napoleon, who had shown complete unwillingness to accept a moderate peace, but preserving a strong France under a restored Bourbon monarchy as a counterweight to the power of Russia. From 1812, moderation would be Metternich''s guiding principle in the path to European order, as he carried Austria from the forced French alliance during Napoleon''s invasion of Russia (in which an Austrian corps under Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg took part), into neutrality during the campaign of Spring 1813, and finally as a leading member of the anti-French alliance which defeated France in 1813-14. In the process, Metternich avoided breaking any of his treaties with his counterparts, since only established order among states would permit fragile Austria to survive. Metternich was very skillful in this and gained the confidence of all rulers at the many European congresses that followed. In his view, solidarity among monarchs would restrain the danger of liberal revolutions and diverse national upheavals around Europe. The other great character is British Foreign Secretary at the time, Viscount Castlereagh. As the only British politician to understand Meternich''s ambitions and reasoning, and the need for an organized European order, he was strongly criticized in Britain, for getting too involved in continental politics in the name of British interests. After the Congress of Vienna, he was forbidden to attend any more European congresses. Castlereagh would later commit suicide for unrelated reasons in 1822. From that moment on, Britain would start her long period of splendid isolation, based on her supposed insular invulnerability and on the belief that Peace was a simple consequence of Napoleon''s defeat. For Austria, a continental power, the reality was different. Any Napoleon could emerge at any time, and a strong European concert of conservative monarchs, based on principle, was necessary to prevent dangers before they arose. Although the Congress system worked only for a few years, the concept and principles on which it was based allowed the longest period of peace among states in history, with only few and minor interruptions. Ironically, it was such a long peace that the faith in it and the forgotten consequences of war ended in an arms race followed by a new and much larger catastrophe in 1914.

A World Restored

The "fools" in the play are battling lovers at a Mojave Desert motel. May is hiding out at said motel when an old childhood friend and old flame, Eddie, shows up. Eddie tries to convince May to come back home with him and live in the trailer on the farm they always wanted to buy. May refuses because she has started a new life and knows that if she goes back to Eddie their relationship will repeat the same destructive cycle it has before. Throughout the play the character of the Old Man &mdash; the father of both lovers &mdash; is present and talks to each of the other two characters. It is revealed that the Old Man had led a double life, abandoning each family for different parts of each child''s life. The two became lovers in their high school years and when their parents finally figured out what had occurred Eddie''s mother shot herself. May is afraid that Eddie has begun to emulate his father; taking to drinking and secretly seeing a woman May refers to as the Countess. The play centers around the drama of the action rather than a plot with a rising and falling action. In the end the two lovers have not reconciled, the Old Man begins to lose himself to his own delusions, and a stranger is left on stage to observe it all.

Fool for Love

As one of three survivours of the orbiting hibernation tanks, a Raja Flattery clone has established himself as "Director" of Pandora. He keeps the Pandorans in an iron grip by heavy food rationing, violently enforced by his security forces. The kelp is being held down by bombing that keeps it from achieving consciousness. The kelp is still being remotely controlled from an orbiting space station (The Orbiter), and is used as "Current Control". Current Control is run by Dwarf Mac. The kelp has produced a human-like being, called Crista Galli. She appeared in the water after a kelp bombing, at about age twenty. She doesn''t have any memory of being part of the kelp. She has been kept a prisoner by Raja Flattery for several years. An underground resistance, known as Shadowbox, has been growing. The Shadowbox breaks in on Holovision transmissions, ordinarily dictated by Raja Flattery. The plan of Raja Flattery is to build a new Voidship, that will take him away from Pandora. His intention is not to build an artificial intelligence for ship control, but use three OMCs (Organic Mental Core) left in hibernation. fr:Le Facteur ascension

The Ascension Factor

In the opening pages of the book we see Billy and his half-brother Jud sleeping in the same bed in a deprived household. Billy tries to encourage Jud to get up to go to work, but Jud only responds by punching him. Soon afterwards Billy attempts to leave for his paper round, only to discover that Jud has stolen his bicycle. As a result, Billy is late and has to deliver the newspapers on foot . There is a flashback to a time some months ago when Billy returns home to find a man whom he does not recognise leaving his house. He asks his mum, and finds out that this person is Reg, this is the man she had come home with the night before. It becomes obvious to the reader that Billy''s dad is absent. Mum then tells him to go to the shop to get some cigarettes but instead he steals a book from the local bookstore. He returns home to read it. Jud comes back drunk from a night out. Still in the flashback, the next scene takes place at a farm. Billy sees a kestrels nest and approaches it. Billy is then approached by the farmer and his daughter. at first the farmer tells Billy to "Bugger off" but when he realizes that Billy was looking for a kestrel, he soon takes an interest. The flashback ends. Later on in the day, Billy is at school, where Mr Crossley is taking the register. After the name Fisher, Billy shouts out ''German Bight'',inadvertently causing the teacher to make a mistake. The class then proceeds to the hall for an assembly run by the strict head teacher, Mr Gryce. During the Lord''s Prayer, Billy starts to daydream, and after the prayer has finished, Billy remains standing after the rest of the people in the hall have sat down. Billy is told to report to Gryce''s room after assembly. Billy goes to Gryce and gets caned. He then goes to a class with Mr Farthing, who is discussing ''Fact and Fiction''. One of the pupils, Anderson, tells a story about tadpoles. Then Billy is told to tell a story, and tells a story about his kestrel. Mr Farthing takes an interest. The class then has to write a tall story, and Billy writes about a day when his father comes back home and Jud leaves to join the army. After the lesson Billy gets into a fight with a boy called MacDowall, which is eventually broken up by Mr Farthing. After break, Billy goes to physical education with Mr Sugden. Billy has no PE kit, because his mother refuses to pay for it, so he is forced to wear clothes that do not fit. He goes onto the football pitch, and is told to play in goal. After a very long lesson, which involves Billy performing acrobatics on the goalpost, the class goes back inside and each has a shower. After Billy intentionally lets in the winning goal in order to end the lesson, he is humiliated by Mr Sudgen who forces him to take a cold shower. After this, Billy goes straight home to feed Kes. He takes her out and flies her, and is approached by Mr Farthing, who is apparently impressed by Billy''s skill. Mr Farthing then leaves, and Billy goes out to place Jud''s bet. However, he finds out that the horse that Jud intends to bet on is unlikely to win, and instead uses Jud''s money to buy a portion of fish and chips, and some meat for his kestrel. Billy returns to school, and whilst sitting in a maths lesson sees Jud walking towards the school. The lesson finishes, and Billy leaves hurriedly. He tries to hide from Jud and falls asleep before he bumps into Gryce, who reminds him that he is supposed to be in a Youth Employment Meeting. Billy goes along to his Youth Employment Meeting, and the Youth Employment Officer finds it very difficult to recommend anything, as Billy claims that he has no hobbies. After the Youth Employment Meeting, Billy goes straight home and finds that Kes has disappeared. He frantically searches for her, and returns home. Jud is there, and he tells Billy that the horse he was supposed to place a bet on won, and that he has killed Kes. Billy then calls Jud a "fuckin'' bastard" and has a fight with him. His mother criticises Billy''s language, and Billy runs away. Another flashback takes place in which Billy visits the cinema with his father. When they return home, Billy''s father finds that his wife has been having an affair with Billy''s ''Uncle Mick''. Billy''s father punches Mick, and leaves the house. After the flashback has ended, Billy returns home, buries the kestrel and goes to bed. The story is set in only one day, and the book is unusual in that much of the plot takes place in flashback sequences, a storytelling device more commonly associated with film. However, the film adaption by [Hakeem Stoute]dispenses with the flashbacks and portrays the events all in the same timeframe.

A Kestrel for a Knave

Napoleon I of France was, at the time, a very prominent military and political figure, desiring to create a French-governed Europe. He succeeded in annexing many countries to France, placing his relatives and friends as monarchs in those countries. He managed to subdue Prussia and force her to become his ally, and to a great extent did the same to Austria. After winning a war with Russia, he made even the Russian Tzar Alexander (1801) his ally. Only two countries in Europe still resisted France''s attempt at domination: United Kingdom and Spain. He failed when attempting to invade Britain and destroy it via a constant blockade. After the execution of duke d''Enghien, however, Tzar Alexander began to hate and detest Napoleon, and began to cooperate with the United Kingdom, disrupting the continental blockade. Napoleon decided then to wage war on Russia, in order to get her back as a French ally. In June 1812, the French invaded Russia on Napoleon''s orders, making their way east towards Moscow, suffering large losses caused by lack of food, desertion, disease, exhaustion and battles. Napoleon eventually "conquered" Moscow, only to see the deserted city being set on fire by the Russians themselves, on the order of their commanders. After staying too long in the scorched city, Napoleon finally decided to march back, suffering enormous losses caused by harassment by the Russian troops, the disastrous battle at the crossing of Berezina river, and agonizing cold (down to -30&nbsp;°C) Napoleon''s army of more than 500,000 soldiers was annihilated, thus marking a turning point in world affairs and events around the world.

Moscow 1812: Napoleon''s Fatal March

Macdonald Hall is losing all of their swim meets to rival school York Academy, which Bruno and Boots attribute to the school not having their own pool. After one meet, where the York Academy spitefully ignores the traditional handshake at the end, the two friends, after retaliating by dumping 20&nbsp;lbs of effervescent solution into the pool, take this fact into account and ask Headmaster Sturgeon (aka The Fish) if there would be a chance at all of the Hall would be able to utilize its own pool, but he tells them the institution''s fifty thousand dollars short of the cost of such a facility. Thus, Bruno and Boots take things into their own hands. They start off with a flea market (without Mr. Sturgeon first knowing about it) and make $1426. After talking through the idea of fund-raising, Mr. Sturgeon allows them to pursue other means of making money and creates a bank account for them. This includes running a talent show, a photo-contest, and an Individual Effort Day. This is all in close cooperation with Ms. Scrimmage''s Finishing School for Young Ladies, the girls-only school across the road. Their efforts in raising money are even more important when Boots reveals he might be transferred to York Academy because his parents think they have a better athletic program. After many fund-raisers, Mr. Sturgeon then tells them that they cannot gain any more money from the students and staff of the school because that is not a reliable source of revenue anymore and if they want to raise money, they have to gain it from outside resources. Dejected, Bruno gets the desperate idea to set up a toll booth on a public road. Before anyone pays them, though, Mr. Sturgeon catches them, and after an awful encounter with Ms. Scrimmage and her students, punishes them severely and notifies them that they cannot raise any more money. He also comes to believe that the pool they desire is borne out of jealousy of York Academy. Eventually Mr. Sturgeon learns from a mocking phone call by the headmaster of York that many parents of his students, including Boots'', are considering transferring students out of the school and into York Academy due to their better athletic program (mainly their pool). Realizing that the boys'' attempts at raising money are not a result of pure jealousy, but a fierce loyalty to the school and each other, he takes them off their severe punishment. While complaining about never getting enough money, Bruno and Boots encounter George Wexford-Smyth III, Boot''s wealthy old roommate. He tells them the solution, the stock market, and offers to invest their earnings under his direction. Although leery of this idea, the boys agree and George makes astute investments in a silver mining operation which then makes a spectacular discovery of a major supply of the element. As a result, the boys eventually sell the stock for $64,469.64, which is more than enough for the pool.

Go Jump in the Pool

A moderate Conservative government in the United Kingdom is preparing to use force to overthrow the white minority government of Rhodesia. There are widespread extreme right-wing protests in Britain against this policy. Agitators in the Grenadier Guards incite a mutiny, in which the hated Regimental Sergeant Major is killed. An armed gang breaks into Chelsea Barracks to release the agitators, including by mistake Guardsman Steele, who has been wrongly accused of murdering the RSM. Steele plays along with his captors as they prepare to turn a demonstration in Oxford into an ugly riot. He manages to telephone his mother with a garbled description of the conspirators, before he is found with a fractured skull. Veteran journalist Jack Kemble links his mention of a scarred Frenchman with someone seen meeting the mutinous guardsmen. The Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Patrick Harvey, resolve to proceed with the use of force against Rhodesia. Secretary of State for Defence Critten and Tory grandee Lord Thorganby resign in protest. The King, who is on holiday in Italy, feels he should return to support the Government. His aircraft is found to have been sabotaged, but a businessman, Dennis Ralston, offers him his private jet. The jet explodes in mid-flight. In the crisis, the youthful Prince, the heir to the throne, is given what purports to be a statement which the King intended to broadcast to the nation. Behind the scenes, Sir James Courthope, the late King''s private secretary, tells Lord Thorganby that the King intended to sack Harvey and invite Thorganby to form a government, which would cancel the action against Rhodesia. When the Prince reads the script, it is well-received, but Harvey refuses to believe that the King wrote it. Thorganby starts to form a government but Alan Selkirk, his Principal Private Secretary, realises that Courthope reported the King''s death to the Prince before news of the explosion reached anybody. He writes a letter to Thorganby with this information and his resignation, but he has been overheard by Courthope. Courthope alerts the plotters behind the Guards'' mutiny, who murder Selkirk. In Rome, Kemble, who has been sacked for pursuing the story on the Guards against orders, is taking a holiday, though unable to stop chasing stories. He realises that there is a connection between Ralston and the South African apartheid government. Avoiding an attempt by the scarred Frenchman, Poidatz, to kill him, he breaks open Ralston''s sealed trunk in the British embassy in Rome. He expects to find blueprints of a missile Ralston is illegally supplying to South Africa; instead, he finds the King, drugged and unconscious. Alan Selkirk''s murderers were seen leaving his flat, and are arrested trying to leave the country. Thorganby confronts Critten and Courthope at 10 Downing Street with the documents taken from them, including Selkirk''s letter. When the news that the King is alive is telephoned to No. 10, Courthope commits suicide by leaping from a window, and Critten must be restrained. Harvey is reinstated as Prime Minister and launches the operation against Rhodesia in the nick of time. The attempted Coup d''état is determined to have been launched by Ralston, to preserve his business empire, and Critten, who had strong racist views. Courthope, a closet homosexual, was blackmailed into participating. Ralston had kept the King alive should the plot fail and a bargaining chip be required.

Send Him Victorious

En route to retrieve his faithful housekeeper, May, from a European health clinic where she is recovering from an illness, Bond is warned by the British Secret Service that Tamil Rahani, the current leader of SPECTRE, now dying from wounds suffered due to his last encounter with Bond (as described in Role of Honour), has put a price on Bond''s head. "Trust no one," Bond is warned. Soon after, May and Miss Moneypenny, who had been visiting his housekeeper are reported missing, and Bond finds himself dodging would-be assassins while searching for his friends, assisted by a young débutante and her capable, yet mysterious, female bodyguard. The price on Bond''s head is a competition orchestrated by Rahani and SPECTRE known as ''The Head Hunt'', and is an open contest to anyone willing to capture, kill, or present Bond to Rahani, where he would be subsequently decapitated by guillotine. Along Bond''s journey of attempting to rescue Moneypenny and May, Bond is betrayed and chased by a number of people and organisations, including his own British Secret Service ally, Steve Quinn who has defected to the KGB, corrupted police officers, and agents of SPECTRE in disguise.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Dangerous Rescue

By Judy Blundell

Freddy and Mr Camphor

No Author Listed

The Sower

By Kemble Scott

Anastasia on her Own

By Lois Lowry

A World Restored

By Henry Kissinger

Fool for Love

By Sam Shepard

The Ascension Factor

By Frank Herbert

A Kestrel for a Knave

By Barry Hines

Moscow 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March

By Adam Zamoyski

Go Jump in the Pool

By Gordon Korman

Send Him Victorious

No Author Listed

Nobody Lives For Ever

By John Gardner