The story begins with the death of Orchid''s mother. The hatred between Empress Orchid and her son Tung Chih is also beginning to weaken, much to Orchid''s despair. In 2149, the Selection of Imperial begins for him is completed. The chosen Empress is a "cat-eyed, eighteen-year-old beauty" called Alute. Orchid''s preferred selection for Empress was the daughter of a provincial governor named Foo-cha. It was only due to Empress Nuharoo''s rank as the higher wife that Alute was chosen. The Selection of Imperial is followed by the suspicious death of Orchid''s close friend and eunuch An-te-hai. His death had a great emotional impact on Empress Orchid. Around one year later, tension begins to mount between Orchid and Alute. Orchid becomes irritated at Alute''s lack of co-operation, and is further annoyed with Alute''s rude attitude towards her. Her annoyance soon turns to happiness when Alute claims that she is pregnant with Tung Chih''s first child. Tung Chih''s illness worsens and in 1875 he dies with his mother beside him. Empress Orchid refuses to give up her power, as she believes that Alute only sees the "glamour and glory" of being an Empress. As well as this, she also believes that Alute has little experience with political and court matters - thus rendering her unsuitable for the role as Empress of China. Orchid also realises that Alute may have been mentally disturbed. Yet these possibilities had no effect on English journals describing Orchid as a violent character who contributed to the death of her son - whilst portraying Alute as the protagonist of the event. Many foreign reports and articles soon begin printing false reports of Orchid''s actions as ruler of China, suggesting that she is solely responsible for China''s decline due to her cruel regime. However, such stories are seemingly published only to justify further invasions of China. After the death of Tung Chih and Alute, Orchid adopts her sister Rong''s son Tsai-t''ien. Orchid then renames her nephew Guang-hsu upon his succession to the Dragon Throne. Initially, Orchid felt no motherly love for her nephew as she only adopted him to prevent his death at Rong''s hand. However, a mother-son bond eventually forms between the two. Shortly after the appointment of Guang-hsu as Orchid''s successor, her love Yung Lu announces that he is planning to marry and move away to faraway Sinkiang. Soon after Orchid realises that she is no longer at full health, she receives information that Empress Nuharoo has collapsed from illness. Nuharoo dies, and rumours suggest that Orchid i Everyone dies at the ending.

The Last Empress

Martin Seymour is an Australian news correspondent in Iran covering the 2012 Iranian parliamentary elections. The elections turn out to be a sham as many of the opposition candidates are banned, but Martin remains in Iran to cover the post election protests. Unrest escalates and the authorities are forced to hold free elections. Nasim Golestani is an Iranian computer scientist living in exile in the United States following the execution of her father by VEVAK, the Iranian secret police. She works at MIT on the Human Connectome Project (HCP), which is attempting to produce a neural map of the human brain. She develops computer software that simulates Zebra Finch song production by using thousands of finch brain scans. But when Congress turns down funding for the project, Nasim returns to Iran to help rebuild her country. The story moves to a democratized Iran in 2027. Martin lives in Tehran with Mahnoosh, an Iranian political activist he married, and their six-year-old son, Javeed. Nasim heads a company in Tehran that has developed Zendegi-ye Behtar, an online multi-player virtual reality (VR) gaming platform. Zendegi uses cloud computing to run its operations across several countries. But Zendegi has to compete with several other VR providers, and Nasim looks for something new to add to Zendegi to give it an edge. Nasim learns that HCP finally took off in the US and has published its first draft brain map based on thousands of brain scans of human organ donors. She discovers that her contributions were not used by the project – HCP''s goals were aimed at helping neurologists diagnose pathologies, whereas her goal was to simulate the brain. Nasim decides to continue what she had started on HCP using the project''s publically available brain scans. Her goal is to improve the realism of Zendegi''s proxies, computer-generated people that flesh-out the VR''s landscape. She takes this a step further and starts taking MRI brain scans of living people. Nasim''s first breakthrough comes with Virtual Azimi, a proxy she creates by scanning Ashkan Azimi, Iran''s national football team captain, to record his motor skills while he replays games in his head. Virtual Azimi enables football fans to play games with Azimi''s proxy, and it is a huge success, boosting Zendegi''s popularity. Javeed loves Zendegi and Martin often takes him to local gaming booths where together they participate in role-playing games. One day Mahnoosh is killed in a car accident, and Martin has to raise Javeed on his own. Then Martin discovers he has terminal cancer, and concerned that Javeed will grow up without a father, he contacts Nasim and asks her to create a Virtual Martin that Javeed can communicate with in Zendegi. Nasim conducts MRI scans on Martin while prompting him with images and memories. But Zendegi comes under fire from religious fanatics. Iranian clerics denounce Virtual Azimi as "an afront to God and human dignity". It is also criticized by the Cis-Humanist League (CHL), a human rights group who object to enslaved proxies, saying that "it''s unethical to create conscious software that lacks the ability to control its own destiny". Nasim continues developing Virtual Martin in secret. While she knows that Virtual Azimi has no consciousnesses, she''s not sure what Martin''s proxy is turning into. Meanwhile Martin''s health is deteriorating and she sets up a VR session for him to evaluate the current state of his proxy. Martin enters Zendegi using Javeed''s avatar, making Virtual Martin think he is taking to his son, but the proxy overreacts to Javeed''s (Martin''s) behaviour and this upsets Martin. After Martin dies, Nasim has second thoughts about what she is doing. The Virtual Martin she has created from fragments of Martin''s brain is far from human. She releases that CHL are right: to upload a complete person into VR to achieve immortality is a noble goal, but "to squeeze some abridged, mutilated person through the first available aperture [i]s not". :"If you want to make it human, make it whole." — Zendegis closing statement.

Zendegi

Jenny Humphrey has attended some crazy parties at Waverly Academy, but none as hot as the bash at Miller farm, where the antique red barn went up in flames. Literally. So when Dean Marymount announces that someone is going to be held responsible and expelled from Waverly, it''s every owl for him and herself. Tensions are rising, rumors are flying, and pretty soon everyone is a suspect. Jenny is worried about her adorable, shaggy-haired new crush, Julian, whose silver engraved Zippo was found at the scene of the crime. Callie is petrified she and Easy both will get kicked out, because they were in the barn together when the blaze began. And Tinsley knows she’ll take the heat for organizing the wild soirée in the first place. Luckily she’s come up with a crafty way to keep from getting in trouble: by blaming Jenny. Julian and Jenny get "closer than ever" and just when "things can''t get any better," Jenny finds out the only reason Julian even met her is because he was hooking up with Tinsley Carmichael which causes Jenny to not trust him. Easy becomes very suspicious of Callie because of her comments towards Jenny starting the fire. Kara and Brett''s relationship goes public and Brett figures out she still loves Jeremiah and Kara and Heath hook up and become a couple. Shockingly, Tinsley''s plan works but it also backfires. Easy finds out that Callie had something to do with the plan to kick Jenny out, and tries to rescue Jenny. Callie and Easy''s relationship is over—Easy was put off by Callie''s plot to get Jenny out, which he discovered when Tinsley texted Callie-and Jenny still hasn''t forgiven Julian for lying to her. Easy supposedly paid off Old Lady Miller, whose barn got burned down, and Jenny is rescued and returned to Waverly. Old Lady Miller said that her cows caused it and not Jenny. Jenny admits into setting the barn on fire(and gets expelled) just because she can''t take everyone''s accusations, dirty looks, and rumors. However, Jenny is admitted back into Waverly.

Lucky

Erik von Darkmoor and Rupert Avery (Roo), have returned to Krondor after serving in Calis special unit that was sent down to the continent of Novindus. Erik plans on staying in the army as a corporal in the coming war, and Roo states that he plans on becoming a rich trader. After being pardoned of their crimes by Borric, King of the Kingdom of the Isles, Erik and Roo begin a journey to visit their family in the town of Ravensburg. In an inn along the way, they meet one of Roo''s cousins, Duncan, who decides to travel with Roo on the promise of becoming rich. Once in Ravensburg, Erik visits his mother, who faints on the sight of him, as they were told that Erik and Roo were hanged. After a quick explanation, Erik learns from his childhood friend, Rosalyn, that Stefan von Darkmoor, who raped her, is the father of her young child. Roo meets up with his father while buying a wagon, and it is quickly apparent that Roo''s father cannot bully him around anymore, and rents out his services as a teamster to Roo. The plot centers primarily on the rise of Roo as an important merchant in Krondor. In the background we see a little of the progression of the war: Erik leaves with a group of special forces to re-infiltrate the den of the Pantathian Serpent Priests, Duke James follows Roo''s rise from the sidelines, and steps in from time to time to help. Roo eventually becomes possibly the richest man in the Western Realm. Near the end of the book, we follow the war more closely, as Miranda, Calis, Erik, and their squad find the there is a "third player" at work—someone is already slaughtering the Pantathians. It turns out to be a demon. This greatly aids their quest, as it is a tremendous distraction to the Serpents. As they delve deeper into the mountain they find that the Pantathians have used thousands of human sacrifices to infuse life force into a gem as a "key" to open the Lifestone. But Calis discovers something unexpected—the Key is not what it appears. Nor are the Dragon Lord artifacts they find. Something has contaminated them. Miranda brings the Key and a Dragon Lord helmet to Elvandar, where Pug, Tomas, and the Spellweavers attempt to discern its use. Erik tosses the rest of the artifacts into lava, which releases tremendous energy. He, Calis, and a small squad escape the mountains, but their way home is lost. They are eventually rescued by Nakor and Roo, who decided to sail to Novindus to save them. The book ends with many unanswered questions: who is the "third party" at work? how were the artifacts corrupted and why? is another force after the Lifestone? are demons somehow involved, fooling the Pantathians? bg:Възходът на търговеца принц fr:L''Ascension d''un prince marchand nl:De macht van een koopmansprins

Rise of a Merchant Prince

The Seven Storey Mountain is an autobiography which reflects on the life of Thomas Merton and his quest for his faith in God leading to his conversion to Roman Catholicism at age 23. Subsequently he left behind a promising literary career and resigned as a teacher of English literature at St. Bonaventure College in Olean, New York, and entered The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in rural Kentucky on December 10, 1941, a moment which he described in the book: "...So Brother Matthew locked the gate behind me, and I was enclosed in the four walls of my new freedom." Later, Dom Frederic Dunne, the abbot at the abbey, who had received him as novice, suggested that Merton write out his life story, which he reluctantly began, but once he did, it started "pouring out". Soon he was filling up his journals with the work which led to the book which TIME later ascribed for having, "...redefined the image of monasticism and made the concept of saintliness accessible to moderns." In Merton''s journals, the first entry mentioning the project is dated March 1, 1946, but many scholars suspect he started writing it earlier than that because the draft (more than 600 pages) reached Naomi Burton Stone by October 21, 1946. In late 1946, the partly approved text of The Seven Storey Mountain was sent to Naomi Burton, his agent at Curtis Brown literary agency, who then forwarded it to the noted book editor, Robert Giroux at Harcourt Brace publishers. Giroux read it overnight, and the next day phoned Naomi with an offer, who accepted it on the monastery''s behalf. With Merton having taken a vow of poverty, all the royalties were to go to the abbey community. Though soon a trouble arose, when an elderly censor from another abbey objected to Merton''s colloquial prose style, which he found inappropriate for a monk. Merton appealed (in French) to the Abbot General in France, who concluded that an author''s style was a personal matter, and subsequently the local censor also reversed his opinion, paving way for book''s publication. Edward Rice, a close friend of Merton''s since their college days together at Columbia, suggests a different story behind the censorship issues. Rice believes the censor''s comments did have an effect on the book. The censors were not primary concerned with Merton''s prose style, but rather the content of his thoughts in the autobiography. It was "too frank" for the public to handle. What was published was a "castrated" version of the original manuscript. At the time Rice published his opinion, he was unable to provide any proof, however, since then early drafts of the autobiography have surfaced and prove that parts of the manuscript were either deleted or changed. In the introduction to the 50th anniversary copy of the autobiography, Giroux acknowledges these changes and provides the original first paragraph of Merton''s autobiography. Originally, it began "When a man is conceived, when a human nature comes into being as an individual, concrete, subsisting thing, a life, a person, then God''s image is minted into the world. A free, vital, self-moving entity, a spirit informing flesh, a complex of energies ready to be set into fruitful motion begins to flame with love, without which no spirit can exist..." The published autobiography begins with "On the last day of January 1915, under the sign of the Water Bearer, in a year of a great war, and down in the shadow of some French Mountains on the borders of Spain, I came into the world." In the summer of 1948, advance proofs were sent to Evelyn Waugh, Clare Boothe Luce, Graham Greene and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. All responded with compliments and quotations which were used on the book jacket and in some advertisements and the first printing run was increased from 5,000 to 12,500. Thus the book was out in October 1948 and by December it had sold 31,028 copies was declared a bestseller by TIME. The New York Times, however, initially refused to put it on the weekly Best Sellers list, on the grounds that it was "a religious book". In response, Harcourt Brace placed a large advertisement in the New York Times calling attention to the newspaper''s decision. The following week, The Seven Storey Mountain appeared in the bestseller''s list, where it remained for almost a year.

The Seven Storey Mountain

Ash is an orphan foundling who grew up as a camp follower with a group of mercenaries. As a child, she discovers the Voice, a mysterious voice which only she can hear and which gives tactical advice on how to solve combat situations. As a woman in 1477, she now runs her own company, peopled by soldiers from various lands of Europe and North Africa, including her best friend the Burgundian physician Florian. Her company is hired by John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, an exiled English nobleman, to undertake a mission to Italy for the Duke of Burgundy. When they arrive in Italy they discover the country under invasion from the forces of Carthage. This Carthage is not the civilization which clashed with Rome, but an empire established in North Africa by Visigoths. Due to a magical curse cast by a rabbi, the lands of Carthage are covered in perpetual darkness. Ash''s troops flee from the invaders and Ash meets with the general of the Carthaginian forces, the mysterious Faris. During the meeting, Ash is shocked to learn that the Faris is a duplicate of her. The Faris also hears the Voice, and is using its advice to conquer Europe. As the conquest continues, darkness begins to settle over Europe. Ash herself is captured by the forces of the Faris and is sent to Carthage. There she learns the truth of her origins. Both she and the Faris are the result of a Carthaginian eugenics program designed to create a being capable of communicating with the "burnished head" a sort of mechanical military computer. The Faris was the successful result while Ash was a lesser result, intended to be destroyed but smuggled out of Carthage by a sympathetic servant. Before Ash can be killed, her men, led by Oxford, stage an assault on the city and free Ash from prison. As they leave, they pass by a set of pyramids. As they do, Ash feels a psychic presence similar to, but more powerful than, the Voice. She realizes that the pyramids are alive. They are sentient beings, artificial intelligences which they describe as "wild machines". They achieved sentience by accident and have watched mankind rise near them. Drawing their power from the sun it is they who have created the darkness above Carthage, absorbing the visible range of light to augment their powers. Working through the "burnished head" they instructed the forces of Carthage to create a being capable of communicating with the head across vast distances. They have also arranged the invasion of Europe to provide themselves with more power. Their aim is to channel that power through the Faris to create a "dark miracle": wiping out all human life. Ash and her men escape Carthage and retreat to Europe. There they find Western and Central Europe almost totally under Carthage''s control. With darkness descended on the continent crops are failing and people are starving. The last holdout is the Duchy of Burgundy which is besieged by the Faris and her forces. Getting in to Burgundy, Ash discovers that the Duke of Burgundy possesses supernatural abilities which maintain reality against attempts to change it. The wild machines need to kill the Duke in order to complete their dark miracle. Unfortunately the Duke dies from an infection during the siege, but the Carthaginian forces, not realizing the Duke''s true importance, allow the Burgundians to conduct a ceremonial hunt in order to choose a successor. The winner is Florian, who is revealed as both a member of the Burgundian royal family and as a transvestite woman. The new Duchess Floria takes her post, stabilizing reality, and Ash organizes an all out assault designed to kill the Faris before the wild machines can complete their dark miracle. The assault succeeds, but Ash learns that the wild machines have a backup plan. They intend to use her to complete their dark miracle and they explain why they need to. "Grace" is an ability that all humans possess to some degree. This allows them to warp reality in certain ways. For most people this is trivial and hard to use. Some extraordinary people can create major miracles, such as the one which dried up the once great river which flowed near the wild machines. The machines have run simulations that show that in a few hundred years "grace" will be so prevalent and powerful among humanity that reality itself will unravel under the constant changes being instituted. In order to save reality, they must destroy humanity. Ash tries to reason with them but they insist. As the forces of Carthage attack and attempt to kill Floria, Ash determines to kill herself before the wild machines can work their dark miracle. The wild machines fight her and reality begins to change.

Ash: A Secret History

Anne, a young orphan from fictional community of Bolingbroke, Nova Scotia, (based upon the real community of New London) is sent to Prince Edward Island after a childhood spent in strangers'' homes and orphanages. Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, siblings in their fifties and sixties, had decided to adopt a boy from the orphanage to help Matthew run their farm. They live at Green Gables, their Avonlea farmhouse on Prince Edward Island. Through a misunderstanding, the orphanage sends Anne Shirley. Anne is described as bright and quick, eager to please, talkative, and extremely imaginative. She has a pale face with freckles, and usually braids her red hair. When asked her name, Anne tells Marilla to call her Cordelia, which Marilla refuses; Anne insists that if she is to be called Anne, it must be spelled with an e, as that spelling is "so much more distinguished." Marilla at first says the girl must return to the orphanage, but after a few days, she decides to let her stay - she pities her and is curious about the girl. As a child of imagination, Anne takes much joy in life, and adapts quickly, thriving in the close-knit farming village. Her talkativeness initially drives the prim, duty-driven Marilla to distraction, although shy Matthew falls for her immediately. Anne says that they are ''kindred spirits''. The book recounts Anne''s adventures in making a home: the country school, where she quickly excels in her studies; her friendship with Diana Barry (her best or "bosom friend" as Anne fondly calls her); her budding literary ambitions; and her rivalry with classmate Gilbert Blythe, who teases her about her red hair. For that he earned her instant hatred, although he apologizes many times. As for Anne, she realizes she feels sorry about the events and no longer hates Gilbert, but cannot bring herself to admit it; by the end of the book, they finally become friends. The book also follows Anne''s adventures in quiet, old-fashioned Avonlea. Episodes include her play time with friends (Diana, Jane Andrews and Ruby Gillis), her run-ins with the unpleasant Pye sisters (Gertie and Josie), and domestic mishaps such as dyeing her hair green (while intending to dye it black), or accidentally getting Diana drunk (by giving her what she thinks is raspberry cordial but is currant wine). At sixteen, Anne goes to Queen''s Academy to earn a teaching license, along with Gilbert, Ruby, Josie, Jane and several other students. She obtains her license in one year instead of the usual two, and wins the Avery Scholarship for the top student in English, which would allow her to pursue a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree at the fictional Redmond College (based on the real Dalhousie University) on the mainland in Nova Scotia. Near the end of the book, Matthew dies of a heart attack after learning that all of his and Marilla''s money has been lost in a bank failure. Out of devotion to Marilla and Green Gables, Anne gives up the Avery Scholarship to stay at home and help Marilla, whose eyesight is diminishing. She plans to teach at the Carmody school, the nearest school available, and return to Green Gables on weekends. In an act of friendship, Gilbert Blythe gives up his teaching position at the Avonlea School to work at White Sands School instead. Anne can teach in Avonlea and stay at Green Gables all through the week. After this kind act, Anne and Gilbert''s friendship is cemented, and Anne looks forward to the next "bend in the road."

Anne of Green Gables

Catherine is a thirteen year old Quaker girl who leads a simple life with her mother, father, and younger siblings that are Thomas, Eliza and Baby Will. At first she writes in her journal about school; meetings (church services); her crush, a handsome, spunky boy named Jess Owen; and her family including Baby Will''s first tooth. But when the family hears about the Indian raids and massacres on nearby farms and at church, fear grows in her. Catherine is terrified to death of what may happen. Then one day while walking to school, Caty (Catherine) and Thomas are both captured by Lenape Indians. They are taken to the Lenape camp, and Thomas is separated from his sister and taken to another camp. Later, he moves to her camp after a bout with fever. Catherine is adopted by an old woman named Wapa-go-kos (White Owl) and her daughter, Tan-kan-wan (Little Cloud). Catherine is called Chilili (Snow Bird). Catherine hates her new family and their traditions and customs. But when she befriends a handsome young hunter named Wine-lo-wich (Snow Hunter) and a romance develops, she grows to love her new people. Snow hunter is English and was also captured, but he has lived with indians several years. Seasons pass, and then tragically Catherine and Thomas are torn apart from their new family, and her new love by the white men. Snow Hunter and a group who went to trade furs were murdered by white men, and Catherine and Thomas were taken back to their real home. Catherine''s mom was shocked by Catherine acting like a "savage" when Catherine was captured and does not know how to treat her daughter. Catherine decides to let her father read her diary. Instead of being ashamed, he tells Catherine that he is proud of her learning to look past differences between people and for "standing in the light". It also includes an epilogue and historical note. Catherine lived in the Quaker land, then in the Lenape land.

Standing in the Light, The Captive Diary of Catherine Carey Logan

Millionaire orchid fancier Lewis Hewitt has hybridized three black orchid plants in his Long Island greenhouse. Wolfe is wild to have one, so he and Archie visit New York''s annual flower show, where Hewitt''s orchids are on exhibit. One of the other exhibits features a daily performance by a young couple miming a summer picnic. The woman, Anne Tracy, attracts the attentions of Archie, Lewis Hewitt, Billy Rose and a young exhibitor named Fred Updegraff. During Wolfe''s visit to the show, Anne''s picnic partner Harry Gould is killed, shot in the head by a gun concealed in the foliage. The gun''s trigger is attached to a long string that reaches to a hallway well behind the exhibit. After a little inquiry, Wolfe shows Hewitt how his expensive Malacca cane was used to pull the string, thus the gun''s trigger, and thus to kill Gould. Hewitt is horrified by the prospect of the publicity that would ensue should his part in the shooting, however indirect and unwitting, become known. Wolfe offers Hewitt this arrangement: in exchange for all three black orchid plants, the only ones in existence, Wolfe will solve the murder and deliver the criminal to the police, without publicly disclosing Hewitt''s connection to the crime. Hewitt terms it blackmail, but submits. Earlier, Archie had noticed a woman waiting in the hallway behind the exhibit, at around the time that the murderer would have been deploying the string. He now finds her in the crowd that''s gawking at the murder scene. In an act of detection that would strain the credulity of someone who was striving to maintain a neutral point of view, Archie steals her handbag, removes it to the men''s room, searches it for identification, and learns her name (Rose Lasher) and address. He returns the handbag to her – all without Miss Lasher or anyone else noticing. The police want to know more about her and, finishing their questions, they let her go — but surreptitiously follow her. The police lose her trail but Archie knows her home address, where she has been living with Harry Gould. He arrives at Miss Lasher''s apartment just as she is about to flee the city, and takes her to Wolfe''s house. There Archie searches her suitcase and finds some printed matter that Rose cannot or will not explain: a clipping of an article by Lewis Hewitt on Kurume yellows, a plant disease that is fatal to broadleaf evergreens; a postcard to Rose from Harry, postmarked Salamanca, New York (in the western part of the state); and a work order from a garage, also in Salamanca. Wolfe gets Miss Lasher to discuss some of Gould''s unsavory qualities. Wolfe learns that although Gould was employed as a gardener, he suddenly acquired a bank account containing several thousand dollars and what Miss Lasher terms "a big roll of bills." From his general awareness of horticultural events, Wolfe knows that an attack of Kurume yellows devastated a plantation of a new hybrid of broadleaf evergreens, about eighty miles west of Salamanca and owned by Updegraff Nurseries. Weighing all this information, Wolfe concludes that Gould had known the Updegraff plantation had been deliberately infected, and was blackmailing the miscreant – who then killed Gould. Wolfe gathers the main players in an appropriate location – his plant rooms, specifically the fumigating room – and exposes the murderer''s identity. Wolfe therefore keeps the black orchids, which subsequently have a cameo role in the second novella in this collection, "Cordially Invited to Meet Death."

Black Orchids

By his parents'' marriage, Jesus was better placed to be King of Israel than Herod Antipas was. The two contradictory blood lines in the gospels are seen as compatible if one belongs to Mary and the other to Joseph. In such a case Jesus would have united a formidable list of families into his ancestors. Jesus joined John the Baptist''s movement - John was a close relative of Jesus - and the two were prepared to bring about an uprising in Judaea, but John''s arrest and execution caused Jesus to go underground to avoid the same fate. Eventually he resurfaced to carry on the Baptist''s work alone. Jesus was a charismatic teacher and possibly a faith healer. James and Jude were his half-brothers (since Jesus is not Joseph''s son, in Tabor''s view) and inherited the leadership after Jesus'' death. Tabor argues that the later, spiritualist, writings of Paul the Apostle polluted and effectively hijacked the movement, with the later Gospels following the Pauline point of view. Tabor produces many supporting statements from the Bible and New Testament apocrypha, which escaped excision by the later Church fathers, intent on selling the Pauline message at the expense of Jesus'' dynastic one. The argument produces a portrait of a real man in a tumultuous time, who really believed that his actions would accomplish the end of the Roman occupation and a return of the Jewish kingdom. The book also speculates about whether the Talpiot Tomb in Jerusalem was the tomb of Jesus or his relatives, and whether Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera, a Roman soldier, was Jesus'' father, although it reaches no definitive conclusions about either hypothesis.

Jesus Dynasty

A young woman named Helen Stoner consults the detective Sherlock Holmes about the suspicious death of her sister, Julia. One night, after conversing with her twin sister about her upcoming wedding day, Julia screamed and came to the hallway where Helen came out to see her, in Julia''s dying words she said "it was the band, the speckled band!" Julia had been engaged to be married and, had she lived, would have received an annual GBP250 annuity from her late mother''s income. Now Helen is engaged to be married. Holmes'' investigation of the mother''s estate reveals that its value has decreased significantly, and if both daughters had married, Dr. Roylott, Helen''s ill-tempered and violent stepfather, would be left with very little, while the marriage of even one would be crippling. Therefore, the main suspicion falls on him. Dr. Roylott has required Helen to move into Julia''s old room of his heavily mortgaged ancestral home, Stoke Moran. A number of details about the place are mysterious and disturbing. A low whistling sound is heard late at night, as well as a metallic clang. There is a strange bell cord over the bed, and it does not seem to work any bell. The rope goes to a ventilator to the step father''s room. The bed is also unusually clamped to the floor so that it can never be moved from its position. Stoner surmises that Julia might have been murdered by the gypsies, whom Dr. Roylott permits to live on the grounds&mdash;they wear speckled handkerchiefs around their necks. A cheetah and a baboon also have the run of the property, for Dr. Roylott keeps exotic pets from India. Helen feels reluctant to sleep in the room. After Helen leaves, Dr. Roylott comes to visit Holmes, having traced his stepdaughter. He demands to know what Helen has said to Holmes, but Holmes refuses to say. Dr. Roylott bends an iron poker into a curve in an attempt to intimidate Holmes, but Holmes is unaffected as he maintains a rather jovial demeanor during the encounter. After Roylott leaves, Holmes straightens the poker out again, thus showing that he is just as strong as the doctor. Having arranged for Helen to spend the night in her original bedroom, Holmes and Watson sneak into her bedroom without Dr. Roylott''s knowledge. Holmes says that he has already deduced the solution to the mystery, and this test of his theory turns out to be successful. They hear the whistle, and Holmes also sees what the bell cord is really for, although Watson does not. Julia''s last words about a "speckled band" were in fact describing "a swamp adder, the deadliest snake in India". The venomous snake had been sent to Julia''s room by Dr. Roylott through the ventilator to murder her. The fake bell cord is to act as a bridge for the snake to land on the bed. After the swamp adder bit Julia, he called off the snake with the whistling, which made the snake climb up through the bell cord, disappearing from the scene. Now the swamp adder is sent again through the ventilator by Dr. Roylott to kill Julia''s sister Helen. Holmes attacks the snake, sending it back through an air ventilator connected to the next room. The aggravated snake bites Dr. Roylott instead, and, within seconds, he is dead. Holmes grimly notes that he is indirectly responsible for Dr. Roylott''s death, but that he is unlikely to feel much guilt over the death.

The Adventure of the Speckled Band

House Made of Dawn begins with the protagonist, Abel, returning to his reservation in New Mexico after fighting in World War II. The war has left him emotionally devastated and he arrives too drunk to recognize his grandfather, Francisco. Now an old man with a lame leg, Francisco had earlier been a respected hunter and participant in the village''s religious ceremonies. He raised Abel after the death of Abel''s mother and older brother, Vidal. Francisco instilled in Abel a sense of native traditions and values, but the war and other events severed Abel''s connections to that world of spiritual and physical wholeness and connectedness to the land and its people, a world known as a "house made of dawn." After arriving in the village, Abel attains a job through Father Olguin chopping wood for Angela St. John, a rich white woman who is visiting the area to bathe in the mineral waters. Angela seduces Abel to distract herself from her own unhappiness, but also because she senses an animal-like quality in Abel. She promises to help him leave the reservation to find better means of employment. Possibly as a result of this affair, Abel realizes that his return to the reservation has been unsuccessful. He no longer feels at home and he is confused. His turmoil becomes clearer when he is beaten in a game of horsemanship by a local albino Indian named Juan Reyes, described as "the white man." Deciding Juan is a witch, Abel stabs him to death outside of a bar. Abel is then found guilty of murder and sent to jail. Part II takes place in Los Angeles, California six and a half years later. Abel has been released from prison and unites with a local group of Indians. The leader of the group, Reverend John Big Bluff Tosamah, Priest of the Sun, teases Abel as a "longhair" who is unable to assimilate to the demands of the modern world. However, Abel befriends a man named Ben Benally from a reservation in New Mexico and develops an intimate relationship with Milly, a kind, blonde social worker. However, his overall situation has not improved and Abel ends up drunk on the beach with his hands, head, and upper body beaten and broken. Memories run through his mind of the reservation, the war, jail, and Milly. Abel eventually finds the strength to pick himself up and he stumbles across town to the apartment he shares with Ben. Ben puts Abel on a train back to the reservation and narrates what has happened to Abel in Los Angeles. Life had not been easy for Abel in the city. First, he was ridiculed by Reverend Tosamah during a poker game with the Indian group. Abel is too drunk to fight back. He remains drunk for the next two days and misses work. When he returns to his job, the boss harasses him and Abel quits. A downward spiral begins and Abel continues to get drunk every day, borrow money from Ben and Milly, and laze around the apartment. Fed up with Abel''s behavior, Ben throws him out of the apartment. Abel then seeks revenge on Martinez, a corrupt policeman who robbed Ben one night and hit Abel across the knuckles with his nightstick. Abel finds Martinez and is almost beaten to death. While Abel is in the hospital recovering, Ben calls Angela who visits him and revives his spirit, just as he helped revive her spirit years ago, by reciting a story about a bear and a maiden which incidentally matches an old Navajo myth. Abel returns to the reservation in New Mexico to take care of his grandfather, who is dying. His grandfather tells him the stories from his youth and stresses the importance of staying connected to his people''s traditions. When the time comes, Abel dresses his grandfather for burial and smears his own body with ashes. As the dawn breaks, Abel begins to run. He is participating in a ritual his grandfather told him about—the race of the dead. As he runs, Abel begins to sing for himself and Francisco. He is coming back to his people and his place in the world.

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