This is the first book in the Second Sons Trilogy. The novel is set in the fantasy world of Ranadon, where there is no night time. Two suns orbit the earth and bathe it in light constantly. A religious sect known as the Shadowdancers claim this is the work of the Goddess, a both benign and at times merciless deity whom most in the world believe in. The back story is that many years ago the second sun mysteriously vanished and left Ranadon in the Age of Shadows. At the insistence of the self-appointed High Priestess of the Shadow dancers, Belegren, the lion of Senet, a powerful and devout man named Antonov, sacrificed his baby son Gunta, after which the second sun returned and so it has been ever since. Dirk Provin, the second son of the Duke Wallin Provin of Elcast, saves a wounded sailor from a shipwreck, brought about by a volcanic eruption and consequent earthquake. Through the course of the man''s recovery it is revealed that he is in fact, Johan Thorn, the exiled King of Dhevyn who was utterly defeated by Antonov during the Age of Shadows, and is now the most wanted man in Ranadon. News of this reaches the Lion of Senet himself, who arrives with Belegren the High Priestess, on Elcast, and the secret web of lies which had been built up around Dirk and everything he ever knew begins to slowly unravel, as the apprentice physician comes to realise that others are slowly drawing their own plans around him.

Lion of Senet

Ex-CIA agent, John Caine, is hired by Wasserman, a Holocaust survivor, who has become a Hollywood porn king, to find and kill Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous Angel of Death of Auschwitz, who has eluded pursuers for more than 30 years. After an encounter with Wasserman’s mistress, C.J., Caine begins a hunt for Mengele that will lead him from Europe to an encounter with the Neo-Nazi ODESSA ring in Paraguay to Jerusalem and Vienna, where he learns of a plot called “Starfish” and escapes ODESSA agents with a lead to South America. Deep in the Amazon jungle, he finds a medical clinic for Indians run by a Dr. Mendoza, who turns out to be Mengele. Captured, Caine manages to kill Mengele and escape into the jungle pursued by headhunting Indians. He makes his way to Lima, where he meets C.J., who betrays him to the Peruvian police, who arrest him for Mendoza’s murder. Caine’s CIA case officer, Harris, springs him from jail and reveals an oil strike in the Amazon that was behind the Starfish conspiracy to take over South America. Landing in Los Angeles, Caine finds Wasserman who is revealed as a Nazi, von Schiffen, who had taken the identity of the Jew, Wasserman and who needed Mengele dead as part of the oil conspiracy. Caine kills von Schiffen and he and C.J. escape together.

Hour of the Assassins

Frederick Altamont Cornwalis Twistleton, fifth Earl of Ickenham, known to all as Uncle Fred, is on the loose once again (Lady Ickenham having decamped for a wedding in Trinidad), and Reginald ("Pongo") Twistleton, his long-suffering nephew (and Drones Club member) has every right to be petrified. Uncle Fred has just arrived at Ashenden Manor, home of Sir Aylmer Bostock, Pongo''s future father-in-law. Pongo is already in residence and has committed two rank floaters: accidentally smashing a whatnot from Sir Aylmer''s collection of African curios, and (in the course of demonstrating how Brazilian natives kill birds with rude slings) smashing a coveted bust of his host. Pongo''s solution is to replace the busted bust with another one, abstracted from Ickenham hall. But unknown to him, the replacement bust was fashioned by his former fiancée Sally Painter, and conceals valuable jewellery that a friend of hers was planning to smuggle through New York Customs. Sally tries to replace the bust with another of Sir Aylmer she sculpted (but had had returned to her, after an unfortunate incident relating to her brother Otis'' publication of Sir Aylmer''s memoirs), but this comes to naught, and both busts end up in Sir Aylmer''s collection room. Uncle Fred sees these not as reverses, but as opportunities to show his stuff. Having met Bill Oakshott (the nominal owner of Ashenden Manor, but under the thumb of his uncle Sir Aylmer) on the train, he contrives to get invited to the house&mdash;under the name of Major Brabazon-Plank. Unfortunately, the local Constable, Harold Potter, happens to have grown up with Major Plank (and also happens to remember arresting Uncle Fred and Pongo at the dog races under the names of Edwin Smith of Nasturtium Road, East Dulwich). Potter, intimately tied to the household through his fiancée, the housemaid Elsie Bean, becomes suspicious, and watches the house. Uncle Fred''s tasks before him are to snatch the bust for Sally Painter; get Sir Aylmer to drop his suit against Otis, so Sally will not lose the money she invested in his firm; convince Pongo to turn down Hermione Bostock and marry Sally instead; restore Bill Oakshott to his place as head of his family home; and convince Constable Potter not only to not arrest him, but indeed to quit the force so he and Elsie Bean may live happily ever after. The only obstacles in his way are the real Major Brabazon-Plank and the irresistible opportunity to judge the Bonnie Babies competition at the Ashenden Oakshott Fête. Bill Oakshott finds inspiration in the dominant hero of Ethel M. Dell''s ''The Way of an Eagle''. This real-life female novelist was a model for another of Wodehouse''s characters, Rosie M. Banks. The story has also been adapted as a serial in six half-hour episodes for BBC Radio 4, starring Richard Briers as Uncle Fred and Hugh Grant as Pongo, with narration by Paul Eddington. Uncle Fred and Pongo would return in Cocktail Time (1958) and Service With a Smile (1961).

Uncle Dynamite

After being fired from his job as an LA homicide detective for being drunk on the job, Jesse Stone is hired as chief of police for the small town of Paradise, Massachusetts. Stone, who already has a penchant for drinking, really begins to hit the bottle after he discovers his wife, actress Jenn Stone, having an affair with her agent. They divorce, and after his drinking leads to his termination from the LAPD he decides to get as far away from his now ex-wife as possible. Despite showing up to the interview intoxicated, he is hired for the job in Paradise. He later learns that this is because the corrupt Board of Selectman chair, Hasty Hathaway, is looking for a lush that they can push around. They get more than they bargain for in Stone. The novel begins with Stone’s cross country road trip to Paradise during which the disintegration of his marriage is detailed through flashbacks. Shortly after arriving in Paradise, he meets Jo Jo Genest while responding to a domestic dispute. Genest is a huge body builder, who assists local gangsters in a money laundering operation and also provides muscle for Hathaway. During the confrontation, Stone kicks Genest in the groin. Soon after, Genest proceeds to taunt Stone by vandalizing a police car and murdering the station cat as well as writing the word "slut" on both. Along with being the Board of Selectman chair, Hathaway is also a wealthy bank owner and leader of "The Freedom’s Horsemen", a local militia group. It is Hathaway who orchestrates the payoff and termination of the previous police chief, Tom Carson, after Carson learns of the money laundering operation. Carson then moves out west. Hathaway later becomes concerned that Carson will talk and dispatches corrupt police officer Lou Burke to kill Carson. Hathaway also orders Jo Jo Genest to murder his mistress, Tammy Portugal, after she demands he leave his wife for her. However, Genest can’t help but leave his calling card by writing the word "slut" on Tammy’s corpse to further taunt Jesse. Jesse begins to investigate Tom Carson’s murder, and discovers that Lou Burke had traveled out west at the time of the homicide. He responds by suspending Burke while he continues to investigate. Fearing that Jesse is learning too much, Hathaway orders Genest to kill him, but Genest convinces Hathaway to let him kill Burke instead. Hathaway agrees, and Genest throws Burke off a cliff in an attempt to make it look like suicide. While all these events are taking place, Genest organizes a weapons deal between Hathaway’s militia and gay Boston mob boss Gino Fish. When Fish rips off Hathaway, he responds by blaming Genest and demands that he get his money back. Genest doesn’t like this at all, and responds by sending nude Polaroids of Hathaway’s wife (and town slut), Cissy, to her priest, town selectmen and others. When the priest calls Chief Stone about the photo, Stone confronts Cissy about it. Cissy admits to having an affair with Genest, among others, and confirms that he took the photos. She also reveals that Genest confessed murdering Tammy Portugal to her. Stone then arrests Genest. Later that evening, Cissy tells her husband what she confessed to Chief Stone and Hathaway panics. He organizes the militia and convinces them to storm the police station, kill Chief Stone and free Genest, whom he intends to kill also. During the standoff, Chief Stone refuses to release Genest and the militia retreat when local and state police arrive. Hathaway is then arrested. The novel also details Jesse’s relationship with local DA, Abby Taylor. They begin a sexual relationship, but she becomes frustrated with him and breaks it off by the end of the novel. His relationship with her and his Scotch consumption are basically attempts to forget Jenn. However, Jenn does not make this easy as they talk regularly on the phone. Jenn becomes fearful for Jesse’s life as the events in Paradise unfold and she realizes she still loves him. The novel ends with Jesse coming home to find Jenn in his apartment.

Night Passage

Carnelian, son and heir to Lord Suth, and prince Osidian have been abducted, drugged and smuggled out of the capital of the three lands, Osrakum, in funeral urns. Carnelian is awakened by a would-be grave robber seeking spoils in the urns. The robber is immediately placed in the dilemma of having looked upon the face of one of the exalted chosen lords, for which the penalty is death, of killing them and risking eventual discovery and death, of being caught in the inevitable hunt for such exalted missing persons and being executed, or fleeing far from the capital with his captives in the hope of selling them as valuable slaves. He chooses the latter as his only chance of survival and thus Carnelian and Osidian are set upon a very different course than Osidians anticipated coronation. Osidian having failed to appear at the coronation, his brother Molochite would automatically be made emperor instead. As mortal brother to the new divine emperor, Osidian would take Molochite''s place as blood sacrifice. Carnelian and Osidian are bound and disguised and marched away from the capital. Osidian is in worse shape than Carnelian, so that Carnelian must make the difficult choices of attempting their escape. Carnelian has a possibility of escape and return to the capital, but either abandoning Osidian or bringing him back would mean his inevitable death. Instead he seizes the opportunity of an attack by nomad tribesmen to transfer them to captivity with the tribesmen, instead of the slavers. As the party returns to the plains which are home to the ochre tribe, Osidian recovers somewhat and his reckless determination defending the party from wild animals, plus his navigational skills and knowledge of the plains drawn from his unconventional and privileged education, impresses the tribesmen. Some of them start to defer to Osidian both as a clearly recognisable member of the ruling race which they have been taught to fear, and as a natural replacement for the dead leaders of their party. The tribesmen return to their village, where a combination of fast talking by Carnelian (whose family had a number of plainsmen as slaves), and growing respect for Osidian mean they are allowed to live as part of the village. Carnelian is accepting of their new life, but Osidian is at first suicidal, but then vengeful. He embarks on a plan to recover his position and sets about manipulating the tribesmen to his ends. By a number of staged encounters, he sets tribesmen from different villages against each other, until he controls a steadily growing warband. This he intends to use as the start of an army to wage war against his brother.

The Standing Dead

The story continues where This Earth of Mankind leaves off, shortly after Annelies has departed by ship to the Netherlands with Panji Darman secretly in tow. Having promised to watch over Annelies, Panji discovers her room on the ship, only to be recruited by the ship''s crew in taking care of the severely ailing young woman. Panji continues to accompany her after arriving in the Netherlands where she unfortunately passes away after rapidly deteriorating. He relays this information back to Nyai and Minke through multiple letters. From this point, Minke attempts to continue on with his life by writing for Maarten Nijman and the Soerabaiaasch Nieuws, however he is challenged by his good friend Jean Marais, as well as Kommer later on, to write in Javanese or Malay. They argue that in doing so, he would be helping his people in their struggle to overcome the oppression laid down by the Dutch occupying their nation. At first, Minke refuses on the grounds that it would tarnish his rising, refutable position in his influential field. His opinion quickly changes after recording an interview between Nijman and a member of the Chinese Young Generation, Khouw Ah Soe. After being a part of the unique experience, Minke feels quite proud, as well as curious of Soe''s position and beliefs. Soon after, he discovers the article he wrote was completely ignored, only to be replaced by Nijman''s self-report of Soe being a Chinese radical, opposing old Chinese traditions, and generally being a trouble-maker. Minke feels hurt from the encounter, and decides to take Kommer up on his offer to visit the Sidoarjo region and discover who his people really are.

Child of All Nations

Against the will of her boyfriend, Alistair, Mary Jago volunteers to donate bone marrow. He beats her after finding out, so she breaks up with him and goes house-sitting for a rich couple in London. Leslie Bean, an old dog-walker, comes there twice a day to take the shih tzu Gushi out along with five other dogs. Mary makes an appointment with Leo Nash, the leukemia patient whose life she prolonged. Although he''s secretive about his private life and doesn''t want her to see his brother she starts an affair with him, much to the dislike of Alistair. Homeless people live in and around Regent''s Park, including Roman Ashton, who''s actually rich but prefers the street life since his wife and children died in a traffic accident. When Effie, a homeless woman, finds a corpse over the spikes of the park gate, he makes an anonymous phone call to the police. The victim is John Dominic Cahill, a homeless Irishman known as Decker. The newspaper nickname the killer ''The Impaler''. A second victim follows: James "Pharaoh" Clancy, a homeless man who was always wearing keys around his neck. DI William Marnock starts suspecting Bean, because he has accused the victim of beating him up and had plans to pay Hob, a drug addict, to beat up Pharaoh. In the meantime Mary starts asking questions about Leo and his mysterious brother.

The Keys to the Street

The book takes place in 1850 partially in Mexico but the main setting is London. This story starts of with Jack Harkett, a street urchin living on the docks of London. One night Jack sees a merchant ship sailing into port. He finds this an opportunity to make some money. But Jack feels strange as the ship stops and a number of bats suddenly fly out of the back of the ship. Then Jack watches a man, with proper clothes, walk down from the ship. Jack gets an eerie feeling as the man brushes past him, Jack also got a slight glimpse of a young boy on the ship, who had started to walk down from the ship. He runs after the boy and finally catches him. The boy told Jack his name was Benedict Cole and that he just returned from an ill-fated trip from Mexico. Benedict or Ben tells Jack how he, his father (Harisson Cole), Ben''s godfather (Edwin Sherwood), Sir Donald (the man who brushed past Jack) had a very interesting voyage to Mexico and also tells Jack about Sir Donald becoming possessed by the Mayan bat-god Camazotz. During the voyage, Sir Donald killed, one by one, some tribe people helping them and got hold of some bats which are Vampires as well as Harisson Cole and Edwin Sherwood. Jack joins Ben in helping him to destroy Sir Donald, which they later realize is Camatotz, a fearsome vampire God banished over a thousand years ago during the Mayan Empire. There is a sequel to this book called Vampire Plagues Paris, Vampire Plagues Mexico, Vampire Plagues Outbreak, The Bitch Vampire, Vampire Plagues Epidemic, and Vampire Plagues Extermination.

Vampire Plagues:London 1850

John can be a meanie only because he has been untouchable since his parents'' divorce six years ago, and Marisol, who has recently come out as a lesbian, meet through their interests in writing zines, into which they pour their life stories. John arranges coffee dates that occur over several Saturdays, thus getting to know Marisol, and becoming friends. After Marisol tells John that she likes him, he is very surprised. No one had ever told him that they liked him, and he falls in love with her. Marisol doesn''t know how to let him down, without losing her new best friend. Throughout the story, John and Marisol try to keep their friendship intact through writing zines together. As the story begins, John wonders what it would be like to meet one of his favorite zine writers, Marisol. From her personal biography, she describes herself as a "Puerto Rican Cuban Yankee Lesbian." John meets Marisol at a magazine rack on a Saturday when he asks her for coffee. Over time they start to spend more time together and she teaches him the ways of the zine writer. While John is spending time with his divorced father, he starts to ask questions about Al, the man his mother is marrying. John gets angry and throws a tantrum. Seemingly childish, the outburst becomes a topic for his writing, which he asks Marisol to read, instead of discarding it as he usually would have. Reflecting more on his life, John begins to understand his sexual orientation. This sudden embrace of his heterosexuality starts to give John ideas about his future with Marisol. Planning for the upcoming junior prom, John is thinking of taking Marisol. Marisol is aware that John only wants to go as friends, but is confused at John''s desire to parade his heterosexuality to his friends. When John tries to kiss her, Marisol refuses. She yells at him, announcing that she is strictly lesbian, and that she thought he understood. Regretting his actions, John assumes he will never see Marisol again. To his surprise, Marisol calls him and she does not seem mad. She asks him to a zine conference on the shore of Cape Cod, next to the Bluefish Wharf Inn. Marisol tells him that this is the chance to express his feelings about the situation at hand to his parents, so he does. John writes letters to his mother and father, mails his father''s to him, leaves his mother''s on the table, and heads to the bus station for Marisol. One long bus ride later, they arrive at the conference surrounded by cabins and writers. John sees one of his favorite writers, Dianna Tree. As the weekend passes, Dianna and John develop a relationship while Marisol is off partying. Dianna sings a song for John called "Hard Love." After the convention ends, Marisol plans to go live in New York with her friends, Jane, Sarah, and B.J. John is completely taken aback by Marisol''s plans. He tries to talk to her before she leaves but, running short on time, she hurries away. John is left to sort through his relationship with his parents and finish his last year of high school.

Hard Love

The novel deals with the relationships of all the three characters, and how life brings them together. Adam Coopersmith, an Obstetrician and Immunologist, helps in saving the life of Thomas Hartnell, known as the "Boss" in Washington, who is one of the advisors to the President of the United States, and arguably, a man holding more personal power than the President himself. Adam''s mentor, Dr.Max Rudolph, takes a slight detour from his ethical conduct and gives an FDA unapproved life saving cancer treatment whose efficacy is proved in his laboratory, to Hartnell. Adam serves as the attending doctor and ends up falling in love with Hartnell''s daughter Antonia, who is the Assistant Attorney General in Washington. After the demise of Max Rudolph, who is more of a father figure to Adam than a professional colleague, Adam is broken and finds solace in Antonia''s arms. They get married and have a daughter, Heather. However things soon start changing as Adam and his daughter slowly start realising that Antonia is married to her career, and in her list of priorities family figures quite below her work and her father. This slowly leads to a rift between Adam and Antonia, and he is drawn to Anya Avilov, the childless and abandoned wife of a Russian émigré Dr.Dmitri Avilov. Dmitri abandons Anya when he realises she is incapable of conceiving, and Adam, the attending obstetrician, rushes to fill in the gap in both his and her life. Eventually, Adam divorces Antonia and marries Anya. Antonia wins custody of Heather, but Heather always remains more attached to Adam rather than Antonia. Adam commits suicide unable to bear the crushing burden of Alzheimers Disease, a few days after he hears that he has won the Nobel Prize. Sandy Raven is the son of Sidney Raven, a Hollywood producer. Sandy has an inferiority complex about his looks, which gets reinforced over time as he faces the conspicuous lack of a social life throughout his teenage years. He joins MIT to study Genetics. His teenage love, Rochelle Taubman, uses him to get to his father and thereby gain entry into Hollywood. She very conveniently forgets Sandy after she gains contacts in Hollywood. She ends up doing seedy bit parts, and eventually, on the centerspread of Playboy. Sandy is unable to get over this betrayal and turns into a repressed person who is desperate for female company. He falls in love with his lab director''s daughter, Judy Morgenstern. His mentor and Laboratory director Gregory Morgenstern, cheats him out the Nobel Prize by not mentioning his contribution on a project. This leads to Judy and Sandy''s divorce, but Sandy finds solace in the love of his daughter Olivia, who, in turn studies physics under Isabel later in the book. Sandy finds love in a Japanese woman, Kimiko, and becomes a reputed scientist in Genetics. Isabel Da Costa is the daughter of Raymond Da Costa, and is a genius with an IQ far above average. Raymond recognizes this early on in her childhood and begins to run her life with an iron hand, thereby causing his marriage with Isabel''s mother Muriel to go into ruins. They also have a son Peter who is very close to Isabel, and who thinks that Raymond is ruining Isabel''s youth. Muriel wants Isabel to have a normal life, and Raymond is stubbornly intent on making Isabel win a nobel prize for physics, to vindicate his own failure in having a good academic career. Isabel is denied all pleasures of a normal teenage life with a punishing schedule in academics, and becomes a post graduate student at Berkeley before she has completed eighteen years of age, owing to her extraordinary powers of comprehension. She falls in love with Jerry Pracht, the son of her Thesis advisor Karl Pracht, in spite of her father''s repeated efforts to keep them apart. Jerry is a genius himself, who has quit the pressure of academics and is an ace tennis player. Isabel also longs to rebel against the pressure of being a genius and encourages this relationship on the sly. Her father realises that his hold on her life is detrimental, and gracefully moves out of her life. Isabel goes on to win the Nobel in Physics and strengthens her relationship with Jerry to a commitment.

Prizes

No Deals, Mr. Bond begins with a mission in the Baltic Sea dubbed "Seahawk", which involves James Bond stealthily extracting two women that have completed an assignment in East Germany. After accomplishing his mission, the book continues 5 years later with Bond being called in by M to learn more background into what those women were doing there before being extracted. Their mission, dubbed Cream Cake, was a honey trap that involved getting close to top Soviet personnel as a means to not only spy for the British Secret Service, but to secure the defection of 2 highly ranking Soviet officers, an act that the Soviets occasionally performed against countries of the West. Involving 4 women and a man, the operation was considered a complete debacle that ended with the members being found out. After being extracted and given new identities, however, two of the women were discovered to be gruesomely murdered. Bond is subsequently sent by M, "off the record", to find the remaining members of Cream Cake before they suffer the same fate. During the adventure, Bond believes that Colonel Maxim Smolin, the primary target during operation Cream Cake, is systematically killing off the former members of the Cream Cake operation and leaving a signature of having their tongues removed. This, however, is not the case, and, in actuality, Smolin is a turncoat now working with the British Secret Service. Instead, the former members, in addition to Smolin and another Soviet turncoat, Captain Dietrich, are being targeted by General Chernov, an agent of a department formerly known as SMERSH. The situation is further complicated after M gets a message to Bond warning him that one of the surviving Cream Cake members is a double and that he wants Chernov brought in alive.

No Deals, Mr. Bond

As the story begins, Romayne and his friend, Major Hynd, are in Bologne to visit Romayne''s aunt, who is dying. While there, he attends a card game, where he has an argument with an opponent, who challenges him to a duel. Romayne accidentally kills his opponent, and the screams of the man''s brother after the death come to haunt Romayne for the rest of his life. Romayne returns to his Yorkshire home, called Vange Abbey. Even in his own home, the Frenchman''s younger brother''s awful cries follow him. He finally leaves for London, to visit his old friend Lord Loring, who is the patriarch of a well-heeled Catholic family. While there, he meets Stella Eyrecourt, who falls in love with him. A Catholic priest named Father Benwell, who serves as a spiritual leader for the Lorings, determines that he will convert Romayne to the church, employing the services of young priest, Arthur Penrose, to this end. This is all done in an attempt to bring Romayne''s family home, Vange, back to the church, who owned it before Romayne''s family. Romayne, who is still haunted by the duel, sends Major Hynd to enquire about the family of the man he killed in hopes of assisting them monetarily. Additionally, he confides in Penrose who becomes a true friend to Romayne, despite his presumed ulterior motives. Father Benwell employs various tactics to undermine Romayne''s marriage to Stella, finally culminating in a bigamous marriage, after Romayne becomes convinced of his wife''s untimely death. Eventually, Romayne is promoted to an ecclesiastical post in Paris. However, knowing that he is dying, Romayne finally decides to see Stella and his son. Father Benwell brings Romayne''s lawyer to his deathbed, trting to confirm the validity of the will in an attempt to ensure the church inherits Vange. But as he dies, Romayne acknowledges he loves his wife and child, and has the will destroyed. This causes Vange—and the entire inheritance—to pass to his family, foiling Benwell''s plans.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

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Lion of Senet

By Jennifer Fallon

Hour of the Assassins

By Andrew Kaplan

Uncle Dynamite

By P. G. Wodehouse

Night Passage

By Robert B. Parker

The Standing Dead

By Ricardo Pinto

Child of All Nations

By Pramoedya Ananta Toer

The Keys to the Street

By Ruth Rendell

Vampire Plagues:London 1850

By Ben Jeapes

Hard Love

By Ellen Wittlinger

Prizes

By Erich Segal

No Deals, Mr. Bond

By John Gardner

The Black Robe

By Wilkie Collins