When the tale begins, a mother duck''s eggs hatch. One of the little birds is perceived by the duck’s surroundings as a homely little creature and suffers much verbal and physical abuse from the other birds and animals on the farm. He wanders sadly from the barnyard and lives with wild ducks and geese until hunters slaughter the flocks. He then finds a home with an old woman but her cat and hen tease him mercilessly and again he sets off on his own. He sees a flock of migrating wild swans; he is delighted and excited but he cannot join them for he is too young and cannot fly. Winter arrives. A farmer finds and carries the freezing little bird home, but the foundling is frightened by the farmer’s noisy children and flees the house. He spends a miserable winter alone in the outdoors mostly hiding in a cave on the lake that partly freezes over. When spring arrives a flock of swans descends on the now thawing lake. The ugly duckling, now having fully grown and matured cannot endure a life of solitude and hardship any more and decides to throw himself at the flock of swans deciding that it is better to be killed by such beautiful birds than to live a life of ugliness and misery. He is shocked when the swans welcome and accept him, only to realize by looking at his reflection in the water that he has grown into one of them. The flock takes to the air and the ugly duckling spreads his beautiful large wings and takes flight with the rest of his new family.

The Ugly Duckling

Father Wolf and Mother Wolf (Raksha), a pair of Indian wolves raising a family of cubs, are furious to learn that Shere Khan the lame tiger is hunting in their part of the jungle because he might kill men and bring human retribution upon the jungle. But when Father Wolf hears something approaching their den it turns out not to be the tiger but a naked baby. Mother Wolf decides to adopt the hairless "man-cub". Her determination is only strengthened by the arrival of Shere Khan who demands the cub for his meal. The wolves drive off the tiger and Raksha names him Mowgli the Frog because of his hairlessness. At the wolf pack''s meeting at Council Rock Baloo the bear speaks for the man-cub and Bagheera the panther buys his life with a freshly killed bull. Baloo and Bagheera undertake the task of educating Mowgli as he grows. Meanwhile Shere Khan plans to take revenge on the wolf pack by persuading the younger wolves to depose their leader Akela. When Mowgli is about 11 or 12 Bagheera tells him of Shere Khan''s plan. Mowgli, being human, is the only creature in the jungle that does not fear fire, so he steals a pot of burning coals from a nearby village in order to use it against Shere Khan. The young wolves prevent Akela from catching his prey, and at that night''s meeting Shere Khan demands that Akela be killed and the man-cub given to him. Mowgli, despite being naked and unprotected, attacks Shere Khan with a burning branch and drives him and his allies away, but realises to his sorrow that he must now leave the pack and return to humanity. As he leaves he vows to return one day and lay Shere Khan''s hide upon the Council Rock. The story of Mowgli''s return to humanity is told in "Tiger! Tiger!" and continued in "Letting in the Jungle".

Mowgli''s Brothers

The story centers on two characters Barker has used in his previous work: private investigator Harry D''Amour, a character seen in several previous stories such as the novel Everville and the short story "The Last Illusion" (later adapted into the film Lord of Illusions); and a being known only as "Pinhead", an extra-dimensional entity residing in a world bordering our own. Pinhead and Harry are depicted as adversaries. Their first meeting occurs in the past, when Harry is twelve or thirteen years old and in Catholic school, and this encounter with Pinhead is said to be a primary cause of Harry''s later disturbed psyche. In the present day, a friend of Harry''s is taken hostage by Pinhead, and Harry, accompanied by four mismatched companions (including the blind medium Norma Paine, who has appeared in earlier Barker stories) and an animal, must track his friend down into the lowest levels of Hell. Roughly two thirds of the story will take place in Hell itself, and much is expected to be learned about the nature of Hell, its creator, its inhabitants, about the Order of the Gash and Pinhead''s place within it.

The Scarlet Gospels

The book begins with contractors arriving at Arthur Dent''s house, in order to demolish it to make way for a bypass. His friend, Ford Prefect, arrives while Arthur is lying in front of the bulldozers, to keep them from demolishing it. He tries to explain to Arthur that the Earth is about to be demolished. The Vogons, an alien race, intend to destroy Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass. The two escape by hitching a lift on one of the Vogon demolition ships. This is, however, against Vogon regulations, and when the pair are discovered, they are tortured with hearing Vogon poetry, the third worst in the known Universe, and then thrown into space. They are, very improbably, picked up by the Heart of Gold, a ship powered by an infinite improbability drive, which has been stolen by Ford''s semi-cousin and President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox. Zaphod, accompanied by Trillian and the chronically depressed robot Marvin, is searching for the legendary planet of Magrathea, which is rumoured to have manufactured luxury planets. Ford is initially skeptical, but they do, in fact, find Magrathea. There, Arthur, after being separated from the rest of the group, is taken into the interior of the planet by a native, Slartibartfast. The others are kidnapped. Slartibartfast explains to Arthur that the Earth was actually a supercomputer commissioned and paid for by a race of "hyper-intelligent," "pan-dimensional" beings. These creatures had earlier built a supercomputer called Deep Thought to calculate the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. This computer, after seven and a half million years of calculation, had announced that the Answer is in fact 42. Being unsatisfied with the Answer, they set about finding the Question which would give the Answer meaning, whereupon Deep Thought designed the Earth, to calculate it. However, ten million years later, and just five minutes before the completion of the program Earth was designed to execute, the Earth is demolished by the Vogons. Two of these beings, Frankie Mouse and Benjy Mouse, had arrived on Magrathea on the Heart of Gold, in the form of Trillian''s pet mice. The mice realize that a latent version of the question, or something very like it, must exist in Arthur''s brain since he is a late-generation organic product of the computer, and offer to buy his brain from him. Arthur declines, and a fight ensues. The mice are about to cut Arthur''s head open when klaxons all over the planet are activated, creating a diversion during which Arthur, Ford, Zaphod and Trillian are able to escape. The galactic police arrive on the planet to arrest Zaphod and the group is attacked by two officers who abruptly die when the life support systems in their spacesuits fail: Marvin had been talking to their ship, which was linked to their suits, and as a result it had become so depressed that it committed suicide. The group decides to go to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe for lunch.

The Hitchhiker''s Guide to the Galaxy

Three Junes follows the McLeods, a Scottish family, throughout their lives and relationships. Its members are Paul and Maureen, and their sons: Fenno, and twins David and Dennis. At the opening of the book, Paul is on a tour of Greece, Maureen has died from lung cancer, and Fenno is running a bookstore in New York City. Other important characters include Malachy, Fenno''s friend who is a music critic and suffering from AIDS, and Fern, an unwed pregnant woman, who Paul formerly met on his trip to Greece, trying to recover from his wife''s death. Finally, another important character of the book is Tony, a photographer, who is a house-sitter, never living in the same house for more than a few months. He is a catalyst in the narative development of Fern and Fenno. He is an old friend with Fern and he develops a tumultuous relationship with Fenno. The novel is written in three parts, using the flashback technique. The first takes place in 1989 and is told from Paul''s perspective; the second, in 1995 and from Fenno''s point of view; the third, in 1999 and from Fern''s perspective. As Julia Glass has said herself, the book should be viewed not as a trilogy but rather a triptych - elements that may seem small in one section play a large role in another, like a triptych, rather than a consecutive series of novels in a trilogy.

Three Junes

Andi Walker is a girl who does not want to move to her animal-allergic great-aunt Alice because to do so would mean having to say goodbye to her beloved dog Bebe. Regardless of this, she is forced to go. However, shortly after the move, she finds a stranded dog and wishes to keep her. Andi''s mother vetoes this idea, so, along with her older brother Bruce, she keeps the dog (who she names "Friday") and her pups in an abandoned house across the street. After a while, Andi and Bruce allow in three more partners, Tim, Debbie, and Annabel and eight more dogs: Red Rover (an Irish Setter who ran away from his abusive owner and Bruce''s enemy, Jerry Gordon), MacTavish (an abandoned dog), Preston (a paying tenant), and five "Bulldales". In the end, their expenses overwhelm them, and they are discovered by their father, mother, and aunt. During a final scene, Jerry''s wickedness is revealed to his ignorant father, Red Rover, Sadie, and Bebe return home with the Walkers, MacTavish is adopted by Tim, the Bulldales find a home, and Andi''s writing is finally published. Sequel: A book sequel, called News for Dogs, was released May 1, 2010.

Hotel for Dogs

The novel takes place in suburban Iowa and in New York City, around the middle of the 21st century. Its first section describes the childhood and adolescence of Daniel Weinreb, an imaginative boy who manages to adapt well to his conservative surroundings until a minor act of rebellion sends him to prison at age 14. Daniel''s experience there makes him eager to leave the Midwest. After falling in love with the daughter of a powerful and reactionary local tycoon, he moves with her to New York, dreaming of becoming a musician and exploring the forbidden art of "flying" -- electronically-assisted astral projection. Tragedy and exploitation leave Daniel''s idealism in ruins, but he persists and becomes an internationally famous and controversial performer. Alongside this Bildungsroman storyline, the novel presents a detailed portrait of a future United States torn by economic hardship and culture war. The Midwestern Farm Belt states are ruled by a coalition of the Christian right, known as "undergoders" (a reference to the successful conservative campaign to add the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance); the nominally secular government is socially repressive and business-friendly to an extreme. The coastal states more closely resemble present-day urban America, with generally permissive social attitudes and artistic ferment, but great economic inequality. The invention of "flying" (which has happened at some unspecified point prior to the beginning of the novel, and is never described in any technological detail) aggravates these cultural divisions. By using a device that seems to be based on biofeedback, while singing with particular verve (an action that, as Disch suggests, causes unique integration of brain activity), a practitioner can separate mind from body and roam the world as an invisible "fairy", able to travel almost without restriction and perceive hidden things. Not surprisingly, the undergoders regard this as a sinful and dangerous practice, so much so that they discourage musical performance of any kind; but in the coastal cities flying is a fad, so popular that singers are afraid to admit not having been able to achieve it. Many Americans simply refuse to believe that such a radical escape is possible and claim that flying is a hallucination, but still take precautions to avoid being observed by "fairies".

On Wings of Song

The novel tells the tales of four women, working the graveyard shift at a Japanese bento factory. All four women live hard lives. Masako, accepted as the leader of the four women, feels completely alienated from her estranged husband and teenage son. Kuniko, a plump and rather vain girl, has recently been ditched by her boyfriend after the couple were driven into debt leaving Kuniko to fend off a loan shark. Yoshie is a single mother and reluctant caretaker of her mother-in-law, who was left partly paralyzed after a stroke. Yayoi is a thirty-four-year old mother of two small boys. She hates to leave her children home alone to go to work. More than that, she hates the thought of her drunken, gambling husband returning home and hurting them or, more likely, herself. Returning home one night, Yayoi discovers her husband has gambled away all their savings and loses control of her temper. She strangles him to death. She desperately persuades Masako, who eventually gets Yoshie and Kuniko involved, to help her dispose of the body. The body is dismembered, secured in many black bin-liners and hidden all over Tokyo. It is isn''t long before one carelessly hidden bag is discovered and the police begin to ask questions. As if things weren''t bad enough, the women begin to blackmail each other, a loanshark is requiring their services and a criminal who has lost everything because of their antics has begun to hunt the women down. The way out is not easy and it is certainly not pretty, and the women soon have to pay the price.

The book starts with a funeral. The atmosphere is not, as one would assume, oppressive, but rather buoyant. When the coffin is carried to the graveyard, Helen remarks that her mother is still, even after her death, making her presence felt. As her mother had had a row with the priest when choosing the grave years ago, he keeps casting Helen and her brother distrustful looks throughout the funeral. From the very beginning of the book it is clear that Dorothy Glovers must have been a nasty woman. A woman who did not treat her children with love and affection, but ruled them and deprived them of life’s pleasures. Only Louise, her youngest daughter, had had the strength to escape from her dominant influence. When the ceremony of burying is held at the grave and the priest is giving his sermon, Helen thinks: „Eternal life is an appalling idea, especially in mother’s case.“ Slowly but steadily, Helen and Edward get used to their mother’s absence and they start to slightly change their lives. Helen feels much freer than before her mother''s death and falls in love with Giles Carnaby, their lawyer. She becomes more confident and starts to perceive life differently. Nevertheless, Dorothy, Helen''s and Edward''s mother still, even after her death, makes her presence felt. At one point, Helen finds love-letters that a former boyfriend of hers had written to her in one of her mother''s old cloaks. Her mother had never given these letters to her and therefore had caused the separation of Helen and her boyfriend. Helen is upset, but has to come to terms with it – she cannot confront her mother anymore. Edwards is a biology teacher. His mother’s does not change much about his life - he remains as reclusive as he had been before his mother''s death. He spends most of his leisure time in the wood that is part of the estate he and Helen live at. There he tends plants and watches birds. In the course of the book he turns out to be homosexual. Helen helps Howard through what seems to be a life crisis. By doing so she feels strong. Helen and Edward live modestly. They only buy what they absolutely need; their lifestyle is rather old-fashioned. This is in complete contrast to the life their sister Luise and her husband Tom lead, who every once in a while drop in at Helen and Howard''s place. Luise and Tom live an urban life in London, their problems are those typical of people that live in big cities: lack of time and psycho-somatic illnesses. Helen and Howard, by contrast, lead a calm, monotonous and rather rural life. Throughout the book it seems as though Helen and Giles Carnaby, the lawyer, will end up in a happy relationship. This does not happen, as in one of the last chapters Gilbert tells Helen that he does not want to see her anymore.

Passing On

Set in 2030–2031, ten years after the events of Software, Wetware focuses on the attempt of an Edgar Allan Poe-obsessed bopper named Berenice to populate Earth with a robot/human hybrid called a meatbop. Toward this end, she implants an embryo in a human woman living on the Moon (Della Taze, Cobb Anderson''s niece) and then frames her for murder to force her to return to Earth. After only a few days, she gives birth to a boy named Manchile, who has been genetically programmed to carry bopper software in his brain (and in his sperm), and to grow to maturity in a matter of weeks. Berenice''s plan is for Manchile to announce the formation of a new religion unifying boppers and humans, and then arrange to have himself assassinated. (Rucker makes several allusions to the Christ story; Taze''s abbreviated pregnancy is discovered on Christmas Eve, for instance.) Before the assassination, Manchile impregnates several women, the idea being that his similarly accelerated offspring will create a race of meatbops at an exponential rate. The plot goes disastrously awry, and a human corporation called ISDN retaliates against the boppers by infecting them with a genetically modified organism called chipmold. The artificial disease succeeds in killing off the boppers, but when it infects the boppers'' outer coating, a kind of smart plastic known as flickercladding, it creates a new race of intelligent symbiotes known as moldies &mdash; thus fulfilling Berenice''s dream of an organic/synthetic hybrid. Both of the two main human characters of Software play prominent roles in Wetware: Cobb Anderson, whose robot body was destroyed at the end of the last novel, has his software implanted in a new body so he can help raise Manchile; while Sta-Hi Mooney &mdash; now known as Stahn Mooney &mdash; is now working as a private detective on the Moon after accidentally killing his wife, and is used as a pawn in various bopper and anti-bopper schemes. The Belle of Louisville, a steamboat of historic significance located in Louisville, Kentucky (the setting for the earthbound portions of the book), occurs as a character in the book, in which it is revealed that the steamer has been imbued with an onboard artificial intelligence.

Wetware

Guy Mannering, after leaving Oxford, had been Mr Godfrey Bertram''s guest on the night of his son''s birth, when he made acquaintance with Dominie Sampson, and with Meg Merrilies, who came to tell the infant''s fortune. The young student, however, offered to do this from the stars, and predicted that three periods of the boy''s life would be very hazardous. Five years afterwards he was kidnapped while riding with Kennedy, whose dead body was found on the beach; and the same night, after giving birth to a daughter, Mrs Bertram left her husband a widower. Sixteen more years had elapsed when Colonel Mannering returned from India just in time to be present at his friend''s death, and Glossin, who had been concerned in Harry''s abduction, became the possessor of the Ellangowan estate. Lucy and the dominie accepted the hospitality of Mr and Mrs MacMorlan; but the colonel, having learnt from Mr Mervyn, at whose house his daughter was staying, that she had a lover, who afterwards proved to be Brown, hired a house in the neighbourhood of Kippletringan, and invited Miss Bertram to be Julia''s companion, and the tutor his librarian. As he was following Miss Mannering to Scotland, the smuggler Brown, whom the colonel believed he had shot in a duel in India, dined with the farmer Dinmont at an inn, where he also met Meg Merrilies, who recognised him; and, having rescued the farmer from some robbers, he spent a few days at his house. Proceeding on his journey, he came to a ruined hut, in which the gipsy was tending a dying man; and, hidden by her, he saw a gang of ruffians divide the contents of his portmanteau, and bury their comrade. When they had gone she pointed out his road, and gave him a purse, exacting at the same time a promise that he would come with her whenever she called for him. Writing to a friend, Julia made great fun of the dominie''s peculiarities, and mentioned Lucy''s discouragement of young Hazlewood because she had no fortune. In her next letter she described an attack upon their house at Woodbourne by smugglers; and in another the sudden appearance of Brown, who had wounded Hazlewood and escaped. The attorney Glossin, now a justice of the peace, was indefatigable in endeavouring to trace him, and heard with pleasure that MacGuffog had a man in custody. He, however, was Hatteraick, in whose smuggling ventures the attorney had largely shared, and who told him that Harry Bertram was in the neighbourhood. Having connived at his escape from custody, Glossin met him in a cave, and learnt that the young heir had been carried to Holland, where he was adopted by a merchant named Vanbeest, who afterwards sent him to India. The attorney then called at Woodbourne to announce that Miss Bertram had left her fortune to Lucy, and the colonel at once started with the dominie to Edinburgh, to place the matter in the advocate Mr Pleydell''s hands. Harry had retreated to Cumberland, but he managed to correspond with Julia; and, having returned to Ellangowan, he was wandering among the ruins when he encountered Glossin, who had him arrested for shooting at Hazlewood, and lodged in the bridewell (small prison) adjoining the custom-house at Portanferry. Here he was visited by Dinmont, who had heard from Gabriel of his being in trouble, and was allowed to pass the night with him. Meanwhile Meg Merrilies had sent a paper to the colonel by the dominie, and urged young Hazlewood to cause the soldiers who had been withdrawn from Portanferry to be sent back there instantly. During the night the custom-house was fired by a gang of ruffians; but one of them helped Bertram and his friend to escape, and led them to a carriage, which conveyed them to Woodbourne, where Mr Pleydell had previously arrived. Having been recognised by the colonel as Brown, and questioned by the lawyer, his identity as the heir of Ellangowan was established, and he was hugged by the dominie as his little Harry. The next morning Lucy embraced her long-lost brother, and Julia acknowledged him as her lover. As he was walking with them, Meg Merrilies sent Dinmont to claim Bertram''s compliance with his promise to her; and, followed also by Hazlewood, she led the way to a room where she armed them, and thence to the smugglers'' cave, where, after a struggle, in which the gipsy was mortally wounded, they seized Hatteraick and handed him over to the village constables. Meg''s dying revelations furnished sufficient evidence for arresting Glossin, who, by bribing the jailer, obtained access to the smuggler''s cell, where he was found strangled, and his accomplice in crime committed suicide. Having recovered the property of his ancestors, Harry Bertram was able to discharge all his father''s debts, and, with the help of Julia''s dowry, to erect a new mansion, which contained a snug chamber called "Mr Sampson''s apartment." His aunt''s estate also reverted to him, but he resigned it to his sister on her marriage with Hazlewood.

Guy Mannering

Now a Green Rider, one of the king''s elite troop of messengers, Karigan returns to Sacor City giving up her merchant lifestyle. The story opens a year into this service as danger is threatening the kingdom of Sacoridia once again. The dark magic in Blackveil Forest is restless, and has found an outlet through the breach in the D''Yer Wall, which has protected Sacoridia from the forest for over 1000 years. This influx of magic has messed up a land that has largely learned to live without magic during this time. Strange instances of animals turned to stone and entire villages disappearing are brought to the palace from around the country. In the end the strange magic touches even the main city as suits of iron are brought to life and snow falls within the castle. Even the Green Riders'' magic goes haywire sending Captain Mapstone into solitary confinement. As a result Mara (another rider) and Karigan are left to lead the riders as best they can. Throughout the book Karigan has visions of the First Rider, Lil Ambriodhe, who is the long-dead founder of the troop. Karigan meets with an Eletian prince and learns that she has wild magic within her that entered her as a result of her battle with Shawdell in the previous book. This wild magic augments her rider ability and allows her to do some interesting time travel, even visiting Lil in her own time. However, it also allows Mornhavon the Black to possess her. However, Karigan uses this to her favour at the end of the book. Whilst Mornhavon possesses her, she transports him into the future and then with the help of Lil Ambriodhe, deposits him there. This buys the defenders of Sacoridia time to prepare for Mornhavon''s return. With the weakening of the wall, Mornhavon''s spirit reawakens in Blackveil forest and begins to control the forest. Alton D''Yer is sent to fix the wall, but is betrayed by Seargent Uxton and knocked over the side of the wall into Blackveil. Mornhavon then possesses Alton and tricks him into singing the song that would destroy the D''Yer Wall keeping him imprisoned. Mornhavon also raises two lietenants from his army from the dead but they are destroyed later in the book. An interesting web woven throughout the book is the journal of Hadriax el Fex. Hadriax El Fex was Mornhavon''s right hand man and best friend. From Hadriax''s journals you learn who Mornhavon the Black was. He was Alessandros del Mornhavon, a prince of a foreign land called Arcosia. He comes to Sacoridia to conquer the land and harvest the lands magic to prove himself to his father. He destroys the Eletian city of Argenthythe and many of the human cities. He faces resistance, though, and the war becomes long and drawn out and becomes the Long War referred to in the book. He loses contact with his father and the empire of Arcosia and feels abandoned by his father. This abandonment and his quest for ultimate power lead him to commit foul experiments to increase his power and make a foul weapon called the Black Star. Hadriax, increasingly dislikes the Long War and Mornhavon''s experiments. It becomes too much for Hadriax when Mornhavon sacrifices one of his elite units to power the Black Star. Hadriax joins the Sacoridian league against Mornhavon and helps to bring Mornhavon down. Mornhavon is defeated by the Eletian king in the final battle of the long war. Karigan receives a copy of Hadriax''s journal from Estral who finds it in the archives in Selium. From the journal, Karigan learns that Hadriax changes his name to Hadriax G''ladheon and that he is Karigan''s ancestor. Overall the book more fully develops the characters met in the first book and introduces new characters that further the plot.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Ugly Duckling

By Hans Christian Andersen

Mowgli's Brothers

By Rudyard Kipling

The Scarlet Gospels

By Clive Barker

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

By Douglas Adams

Three Junes

By Julia Glass

Hotel for Dogs

By Lois Duncan

On Wings of Song

By Thomas M. Disch

Out

By Natsuo Kirino

Passing On

No Author Listed

Wetware

By Rudy Rucker

Guy Mannering

By Walter Scott

First Rider's Call

By Kristen Britain