Dark Wraith of Shannara began with Jair Ohmsford having a recurring dream in which he relives a section of Indomitable where he managed to become the slain "Weapons Master" Garet Jax. He talked to his sister, Brin, about how he used the Wishsong to do something real (as all he had been able to do before was illusion). She asked Jair to promise not to use the Wishsong again as she feared that he would lose himself in the magic, and not be able to return to who he is if he became Garet Jax again. Jair promised to refrain from using the Wishsong again. Jair left, but that night, he was visited by the shade of Allanon, who told him that Kimber Boh and Cogline were captured by Mwellrets and their master, the Croton Witch. Allanon tells him that they seek to gain information about how to return Paranor to the world from Cogline, who had previously been a Druid. Upon restoring Paranor, they aimed to learn the secrets of the power of the Druids. Jair reluctantly decided that he had to rescue Kimber and Cogline. After meeting Slanter, they both left for Darklin Reach. Upon arriving, Jair and Slanter discovered the tracks made by the Mwellrets and their prisoners. They were also found by Whisper, who tracked Kimber to the cave in which she was trapped. They found her with a broken leg and unable to travel, so they took her back to Hearthstone, where her and Cogline had lived, to recover. Jair learns from Kimber that the Croton Witch tortured Cogline until he told her how to restore Paranor, and she has forced him to accompany her to Paranor to work the magic. Soon after they left, Slanter and Jair were confronted by a Koden. Slanter was thrown against a rock and knocked half-blind and dazed, so Jair is forced to break his promise to Brin. He used the Wishsong to become Garet Jax once more, and he quickly slayed the Koden. Eventually, Jair and Slanter found the Mwellrets and the Croton Witch, who are forcing Cogline to use magic to bring back Paranor. Although Jair and Slanter attempted to stop them, it was too late: Paranor was restored. Jair was once more forced to become Garet Jax. Jair, as Garet, destroyed the Mwellrets, and attempted to engage the Croton Witch in combat to the death—but the protective mist of Paranor that slays any who come into contact with it quickly destroyed the Croton Witch. (The mist was the final defense of Paranor; if the castle fell, then it would kill every living thing inside of it.) The mist attempted to destroy Jair and Slanter as well, and so they were forced to take Cogline and run. Jair, with the speed and power of Garet Jax, was able to lead them to safety, and managed to transform back to Jair Ohmsford. After Kimber and Cogline''s reunion, Kimber asked Jair to stay with her. He decided to forego the request and leave with Slanter, saying that he had to find out about himself first.

Dark Wraith of Shannara

The main character, Nicholas Hunt, is an American politician and lobbyist, closely involved with some branches of secret military research including paranormal activities. He is not a hero: as Dukaj himself describes him, he is "a cynical, egoistic bureaucrat, whose main motivation for all of his decisions in his job is, it seems, covering his ass". Currently he has lost an internal power struggle and is assigned to oversee what seems like a dead-end, low-key project. Soon, however, his project starts to gain more importance, as scientists explore some promising theories from the borders of memetics and telepathy, including study of potential lifeforms that would use memes just as we use genes, and develop new sciences like psychomemetics. Suddenly a strange cataclysm takes place, with millions of people worldwide going insane and many densely populated areas becoming a ''no-go'' zone. Is this an alien invasion? A result of military or corporate experiment? A new step in human evolution? Or are we seeing the painful transformation into a post-technological singularity world? Nicholas Hunt is not sure, but he knows one thing: the rat race is going on, and he will do everything he needs to survive.

Black Oceans

The novel is set in the future, on the fictional planet of Shora, a moon covered by water. The inhabitants of this planet, known as Sharers, are all female. Sharers use genetic engineering to control the ecology of their planet. They are peaceful beings who "share" — that is, they have a spiritual and linguistic union with each other and treat everyone equally. The Sharers take egalitarianism for granted because they share and they lack the concept of "power-over", making their society one in which conflicts are settled without violence. When they are being threatened by an outside power, they resist nonviolently because they refuse to believe in power. Thus, the Sharers can never be subdued by force. The Sharer way of nonviolence is more than spiritual. It is based on historical realities of nonviolent resistance. The author based the events of her novel on much historical research, particularly the writings of peace historian Gene Sharp. The novel includes much biological research into the evolution of innate capacities for nonviolence. For example, the participation of children in nonviolent resistance draws on deep instinctual responses found in humans and related mammals. A unique expression of the Sharer way is their language, in which subject and object are interchangeable. The Sharers know by context what subject and object are—but their language does not allow them to make a distinction. As a result, they always know that what one person "forces" upon another can always go the other way. Their language impedes anyone from "giving orders" to dominate others. For example, if a stranger says, "You must obey me," the Sharer hears, "I must obey you," or (the closest translation), "We must share agreement." Their language reinforces the Sharers'' inability to accept any situation in which one individual dominates another by force. The Sharer worldview extends to their environment, their surrounding ecosystem. They cannot act upon their plants and animals without being acted upon in return. So, for example, because Sharers consume plants and animals as food, they accept the fact that they in turn will become food for other life forms; that predators will ultimately consume them. At the beginning of the novel, the Sharers are all female. But as they encounter a non-Sharer community from another planet, which threatens them, the Sharer Merwen realizes that they must find out whether other kinds of "people" can share their life or not. Merwen goes to the other planet, Valedon, to recruit a young man, Spinel, to return to Shora and attempt to learn their ways. This venture leads to disagreement within the Sharer community (they have plenty of disagreements, though addressed without violence). With many false starts, Spinel gradually learns the Sharer way, as a man; and ultimately he works with the Sharers to help them defend their planet from a military invasion.

A Door Into Ocean

In the far future, the Earth''s magnetic field has cut out, and humanity has abandoned the planet, leaving it to multiple species of sentient robots, which after centuries of evolving look (and in some cases behave) similar to the now extinct terrestrial animals. Legend surrounds The God Beast - Amok - the leader of a herd of robotic elephants (wheeldebeasts), and his return to the geographical location that another tribe now occupies - the Mekaka, led by the psychotic - yet also cunning - gorilla robot Armageddon. Armageddon''s brutality and drive is explained that he operated on his own brain to remove lesser emotions which would impede his intentions to make "The Mekaka the greatest tribe on Earth". At the same time Armageddon leads his tribe to search for Amok, The God Beast is returning to the Mekaka''s territory, and needing metal to facilitate repairs to himself, he attacks the Mekaka tribe, killing Armageddon''s mate - Koola - and almost Armageddon''s son - Ham. Only the intervention of a Novad human - Jool - (who Armageddon had unintentionally rescued earlier) prevents his destruction as well. Armageddon is in fact consumed by Amok, but he draws on the planets magnetic field and reconstitutes himself - Pumping Iron - subsequently vowing to track down and kill Amok, which he now believes to have gone rogue. After following Amok''s trail they arrive at the Pits of Zinja - a long since exhausted mine, and coincidentally Jool''s last home. During a three-way fight between the Mekaka, the Wheeldebeasts and the Zinja, Jool believes that The God Beast has not brought the herd to Zinja for more metal, but to kill them, as he buries them in the empty pits. To prevent this, Armageddon attacks The God Beast directly, and inadvertently hacks into his brain - releasing The Master Program into Armageddon. Breaking the fourth wall, The Master Program explains to the reader how Earth came to be, (mentioning the only date in the series - that the Earth''s magnetic field cut out in the 24th Century,) and also reveals to Armageddon that The God Beast is not destroying his herd, but protecting them from an imminent asteroid shower - the Moonsoon. As the asteroids start to fall, fighting is broken off and all the combatants take joint cover in the pits. As Armageddon now has ownership of The Master Program he becomes the new God Beast, Amok dies, and passes control of the herd onto Armageddon. Armageddon states that the ore in the asteroids will help him rebuild his tribe - referring to the Wheeldebeasts. The graphic novel ends with the tribe shamek Jugarjuk commenting that now Armageddon has the Wheeldebeasts as well as his own Mekaka he will indeed control the world. Jool agrees, and quotes from Pythagoras, however this does not go down with the other surviving robots as well, and they leave in disdain - all apart from Ham who is strapped to her back.

Metalzoic

The novel revolves around the mishaps of its narrator, Fred Trumper, a floundering late-twenty-something graduate student with serious commitment and honesty issues that earn him the nickname "Bogus." The novel shows Irving beginning to develop a blend of comedy and pathos, as well as a penchant for fashioning quirky characters. It follows a non-linear narrative in the form of a sort of ''confession'' authored by Trumper, who humorously recounts his various failures in life and love, from his New England childhood through his experiences on foreign study in Vienna, Austria, and as a graduate student in Iowa, leading up to the present-action setting, early-1970s New York, where Trumper is attempting to sever himself from his adolescent past. ''I want to change,'' Trumper says at the end of Chapter one. The phrase seems to be the novel''s central theme. The title refers to a method prescribed to Trumper for the treatment of non-specific urological disorders relating to his abnormally narrow urinary tract. Trumper''s urologist, Dr. Jean Claude Vigneron, offers him three options for the treatment of his disorder: abstinence from sex and alcohol, a painful operation to widen the urinary canal, or the Water Method, which consists simply of consuming abnormal quantities of water before and after sex to flush bacteria out of the urinary tract. Trumper opts for the Water Method, suggesting both his generally comical cowardice and lack of self-discipline. Trumper''s narration meanders through flashbacks revolving around his relationships with the novel''s two primary female characters: Sue ''Biggie'' Kunft, a former championship downhill skier whom Trumper courts, impregnates, and marries in Vienna while still a student, and Tulpen, Trumper''s present day live-in girlfriend, a documentary film editor in New York, where he lands after losing Biggie. Though the two relationships function chiefly as a means of demonstrating Bogus Trumper''s tendency to repeat his mistakes, Irving is often regarded for his strong, independent female characters, and Tulpen and Biggie can be seen as markers in the development of the strong women in his more popularly successful novels, particularly The World According to Garp (1979). Other characters include Trumper''s best childhood friend Couth, a still-photographer; Merrill Overturf, an alcoholic and diabetic loon Trumper befriends in Vienna; Ralph Packer, a pretentious documentary filmmaker who employs Trumper as a sound editor; and Colm, Trumper''s young son from his first marriage to Biggie. Trumper is a graduate student at the University of Iowa in comparative literature whose dissertation is to be a translation of an ancient, ''Old Low Norse'' epic called ''Akthelt and Gunnel''. Irving employs the ''Akthelt and Gunnel'' poem as a means for allowing Trumper to poke merciless fun at himself through analogously inventing the story of the poem according to his own life''s mishaps. de:Die wilde Geschichte vom Wassertrinker fr:L''Épopée du buveur d''eau lt:Vandens metodas pl:Metoda wodna

The Water-Method Man

The novel begins quietly, introducing us to Jonathan and Barbara as they are introduced to each other for the first time. Fast forward some years, and they are living the good life in a Washington, D.C. suburb. They have the dream house, filled with a lifetime’s worth of antiques they’ve collected, two children (Eve and Josh), a dog, and a cat. Jonathan’s law career could not be better, and they had recently hired an au pair to aid in the upkeep of the house and the children as Barbara has embarked in a gourmet business endeavour. She has received a small amount of acclaim for her pâté. Somewhere along the road to building to this ideal family unit, Barbara fell out of love with Jonathan. She realizes it as Jonathan has what is believed to be a heart attack. Suddenly, it would not be so bad if he died. She would not be distraught. Jonathan, on the other hand, only thinks of his wife as he is rushed to the hospital and cannot understand why she did not come to his bedside as he waited for the prognosis. Upon returning home, Barbara tells him their marriage is over. It’s been over for some time and he never realized it. Divorce. Barbara hires the best divorce attorney in town. Smart enough not to represent himself, Jonathan puts an attorney of his own on a retainer. Jonathan would like the divorce to go smoothly. He offers Barbara a generous monthly allowance, as well as half of everything they have. That’s not enough. She wants it all, the house and all its contents. She has earned it, putting the house together and making it home they both wanted. She raised his children in the house. It belongs to her. Jonathan had to work to provide for her, the family, and the home. He cannot let her have it so easily. He opts not to move out, citing an old legal precedent which permits a couple to live under the same roof while going through a divorce. Barbara is less than thrilled at the prospect of having him continue to live there. Despite the warnings of their attorneys, both take it upon themselves to make the other miserable. It begins with small acts of sabotage, but soon escalates. Only the children are off limits, everything else, from careers to prized possessions, is fair game. Their previous life together, a life of love, vanishes as aggression and territoriality engulfs both Jonathan and Barbara.

The War of The Roses

In pre-agricultural Europe,the hunter-gatherers of the Forest live in clans, each represented by a particular animal or life form. Torak and his father, of Wolf Clan, live together in the forest. During Torak''s twelfth year, his father ("Fa") is killed by a bear which has been possessed by a demon. Before Torak''s father dies, he tells Torak to swear an oath to head north and find the Mountain of the World Spirit, and ask the World Spirit to help destroy the bear before it kills all life in the forest. His guide will find him and help him on his quest. Torak reluctantly leaves his father as the bear comes back to kill him. Torak heads north and soon encounters an orphaned wolf cub. Torak initially tries to kill the cub in order to eat it, but he doesn''t have the heart. He discovers that he can communicate with the cub. The Cub smells Torak is of the Wolf Clan, who was fed by a wolf as a baby, and accepts Torak as his pack-brother. He realizes the cub is the guide, and Torak names the cub "Wolf". Over time they become good friends. A few days later Torak and Wolf are captured by the Raven Clan, who accuse Torak of stealing one of their roe deer. They are taken to the Raven camp so Torak''s fate can be decided by Fin-Kedinn, the Raven Clan leader. Torak''s captors are a teenage boy named Hord, a girl named Renn, and a man named Oslak. In the Raven camp, Torak is taken to Fin-Kedinn. Unlike the other Ravens, Fin-Kedinn treats him with kindness and respect, until Fin-Kedinn realizes who Torak''s father was. To regain his freedom, Torak fights Hord, who is much bigger and stronger, to prove his innocence. He wins by temporarily blinding Hord with steam from some broth which is cooking nearby. This, together with the dog whistle which Torak has made to summon Wolf, makes Fin-Kedinn and Saeunn, the Raven mage (shaman), see Torak as the possible fulfillment of a prophecy about a "Listener". The prophecy states that the Listener, who "talks with silence and fights with air", will offer his heart''s blood to the World Spirit and thereby kill the demon-bear. One interpretation of this prophecy is that Torak must be sacrificed, and his blood taken to the Mountain of the World Spirit. Fin-Keddin reveals to Torak that his Fa was the Wolf Clan''s mage, and the Demon Bear was created for the sole purpose of killing his Fa. They then lock Torak away while they debate his fate. Torak escapes, helped by Renn, who believes that Torak must go to the Mountain of the World Spirit himself. Renn tells Torak the rest of the prophecy, which says he must find three parts of the "Nanuak", the brightest soul, to please the World Spirit and ensure its aid. On their journey together, guided by Wolf, Torak finds the first part of the Nanuak when he falls into a river, the second part in a cave, and the third part while crossing the treacherous glacial flow close to the High Mountains. Nearly at their destination, Renn and Torak are recaptured by the Ravens and taken to the Raven Clan''s new temporary camp. Fin-Kedinn releases Torak, believing him to be the one who should go to the Mountain. Fin-Kedinn also reveals that Torak''s Fa was killed because he dedicated himself to thwarting a group of rogue mages, the Soul Eaters, who have turned to evil in their determination to rule the Forest. Torak and Wolf climb the mountain, followed by the bear. Torak is unexpectedly attacked by Hord, who believes himself to be the one who must take the Nanuak to the mountain. Torak realizes that the prophecy''s "heart''s blood" means Wolf, and as Wolf carries off the Nanuak, Hord and the bear are engulfed by an ensuing avalanche, and fall down the mountain. Torak escapes from under his hiding place and looks for Wolf, but he only hears his howl in the distance, along with the howls of other wolves. Torak howls to Wolf, promising that he will one day return for him, before turning to head back into the forest.

Wolf Brother

Mallory, a private investigator from New York, spends New Year’s Eve in his office, with a bottle of whisky, and in a terrible mood. His business partner left for California with Mallory’s wife, having also blackmailed some of their clients. Since the infuriated victims head for the detective’s office, it seems that the night will end up tragically; yet, the plot suddenly takes an unexpected turn as in the room appears a strange creature, an elf called Mürgenstürm. Mürgenstürm, who comes from an alternative world, is in equally serious trouble. He was obliged to guard a valuable animal, the unicorn called Larkspur. He neglected his duty and the unicorn was stolen. Now, the elf’s life is in danger, so he wants to take advantage of Mallory’s service. As he has no other way out of trouble the detective decides to follow Mürgenstürm, and to search for the stolen animal. They enter the alternative New York through the gate in the basement of the very building where Mallory has his office. When the detective examines the scene of the crime, he encounters the eye-witness, a cat-girl Felina, who, despite her cat-like personality, will become Mallory’s loyal partner. She reveals that the culprit is a leprechaun, Gillespie, working for a perilous and powerful demon Grundy that is responsible for spreading evil in both New Yorks. At the same time, the Grundy finds out about Mallory’s investigation and tries to dissuade him from taking further steps. Nevertheless, Mallory does not abandon the investigation and in search of information about the unicorn visits various places in the alternative New York, such as the Museum of Natural History, full of dead yet regularly reviving animals, and Central Park, occupied by wholesalers offering completely useless goods. On his way Mallory meets Eohippus, a six-inch tall horse that helps him find the expert on unicorns, a former huntress still craving for adventure, Colonel Winifred Carruthers. Unlike Mürgenstürm, who gradually turns out to be more an accomplice in the crime than the victim, Carruthers and Eohippus are valuable allies. Due to Colonel, Mallory comes into contact with a magician, The Great Mephisto, and finds out the motives for the crime. In the unicorn’s head there is a ruby that would enable the Grundy to move freely between the two worlds and gain more power than he has ever had. After a long search Mallory reaches Gillespie’s flat on the 13th floor of a cheap hotel only to find out that the leprechaun ran away, the unicorn is already dead, and the gate between the two cities begins to close. In the meantime, Mallory’s partners, Colonel and Eohippus, are caught by Gillespie. Soon after that the detective receives an invitation to the auction at which the precious ruby is to be sold. The Grundy appears there too, and he seems to have all the cards. Yet, it turns out that Mallory, with the help of Felina, has already found and hidden the jewel, which gives him an advantage over the enemy. Grundy sets Mallory’s friends free and agrees to wait until the detective delivers the ruby. Mallory, who has no intention of letting the Grundy wreak havoc in both worlds, has the jewel transported to "his" New York just before the passage between the two worlds closes. Then he meets the Grundy only to inform him about it. Since the demon cannot be sure whether Mallory tells the truth he does not dare to kill the detective, but promises to have his revenge in the future. Mallory is content to stay in the alternative New York, where his work makes more sense. He is determined to continue his struggle against evil having the noble Colonel and of the mysterious Felina at his side.

Stalking the Unicorn

The novel has a convoluted plot about two distant cousins both named Allan Armadale. The father of one had murdered the father of the other (the two fathers are also named Allan Armadale). The story starts with a deathbed confession by the murderer in the form of a letter to be given to his baby son when he grows up. Many years pass. The son, mistreated at home, runs away from his mother and stepfather, and takes up a wandering life under the assumed name of Ozias Midwinter. He becomes a companion to his distant cousin, the other Allan Armadale, who throughout the novel never discovers the relationship. But Ozias is constantly haunted by feeling that he might harm Allan, first after he reads the letter left for him, and then again after they spend the night on a shipwreck off the Isle of Man — the ship turning out to be the same on which the murder took place (the murderer locked his victim in a cabin as the boat filled with water). On the boat, Allan has a mysterious dream involving three characters. This dream fills Ozias with foreboding, justifiably so as its three scenes become fulfilled in the course of the novel. Allan inherits estates at Thorpe Ambrose in Norfolk after the mysterious death of three of the family. He is unused to wealth, and falls in love with the sixteen-year-old daughter of Major Milroy, to whom he has rented a cottage. This love affair is for a period thwarted by the machinations of Miss Milroy''s governess, Lydia Gwilt. Lydia, who is thirty-five but looks twenty-something, is the villain of the novel and her colourful portrayal takes up much of the rest of the story. Originally Allan’s mother''s maid, and a contributor to the conflict between Allan''s and Ozias''s fathers, she is a fortune-hunter and, it turns out, a murderess. Unable to alienate Allan''s affections from Miss Milroy, she settles for marrying Midwinter, having discovered his name is the same. She plots to murder Allan — or to have him killed by her ex-husband, a Spanish desperado — and, since she is now "Mrs. Armadale," to impersonate his widow. Allan escapes the desperado''s attempt on his life — he is supposed to have drowned in a shipwreck — and returns to England. Lydia''s plans are thus foiled. Her last shot is to murder Allan herself — the weapon being poison gas, the scene being a sanatorium run by a quack called Doctor Downward — but she is thwarted by her own conscience. Midwinter and Allan have switched rooms, and she can''t bring herself to murder her true husband, for whom she does have genuine feelings of love. After rescuing Midwinter and writing him a farewell note, she goes into the air-poisoned room and kills herself. Allan marries Miss Milroy; Midwinter, still his best friend, becomes a writer. Some linking passages consist of letters between the various characters, or of extracts from Lydia''s journal, but the great majority of the text narrates the events as they occur. The novel is enlivened by many minor characters including Mr Bashwood, an old failure of a clerk who is infatuated with the beautiful Lydia; his son, James Bashwood, a private detective; Mrs Oldershaw, an unscrupulous associate of Lydia’s; the Pedgifts (father and son), Allan''s sometime lawyers; and the Rev Decimus Brock, a shrewd (but not quite shrewd enough) clergymen who brings Allan up but who is kept out of the way for much of the book. Is the dream to be interpreted rationally or superstitiously, as Midwinter does? The question is never resolved. “The distortions of the plot, the violent and irrational reactions of the characters, reflect and dramatize the ways in which his readers’ perceptions were distorted by the assumptions and hypocrisies of the society in which they lived," writes Catherine Peters. In the end, the novel is a story of redemption that teaches that the sins of the fathers are not necessarily visited on the children, and the son of a murderer can turn out good. Collins was to take this up again later in The Legacy of Cain.

Armadale

Soraya, Kavi and Jiaan have agreed to work together to defeat the Hrum and free Farsala. However, distrust of Kavi is impeding this effort. The three attempt to work together, but it becomes difficult. Luckily, they have finally uncovered the secret of watersteel, with the help of Kavi''s ability to "speak" to metal. Only a few months remain in the Hrums self-imposed limit to conquer Farsala. The three youths learn that Garren, the Strategus in charge of the conquest, has more riding on the conquest than just Farsala. His father, a member of the Senate of the Hrum Empire, stated that Garren would conquer Farsala with only ten thousand troops. In addition, his father stated that he will resign from the Senate if this is not accomplished. He did these things in order to secure the assignment of the Farsalan conquest to his son. Garren''s father''s enemies are eager for this to happen. When Garren requisitions gold to hire Kadeshi aid and circumvent the troop sanction, the Senate sends a delegation to review the conquest. Kavi, Jiaan and Soraya decide to capture the gold before it reaches the Kadeshi, as a Kadeshi warlord has informed Jiaan that if he chooses to pay, the warlord will order the troops he sent Garren to betray the Hrum, crippling the army. Jiaan, Kavi and Soraya do not wish for this to happen. Soraya, with Kavi accompanying her, visits the bandits and convinces them to rob the Senate committee, which will arrive at the nearby harbor of Dugaz. They believe that if the delegation is robbed during its stay, it will demonstrate to the Senate that Garren does not have the country under control. However, upon arriving at the bandits'' lair, Shir, their leader, informs Kavi and Soraya that the Senate arrived a week ago, and the bandits failed to rob them. Disappointed, the two promise Shir that in exchange for letting them go, they will get the Suud to try to develop a cure for the swamp fever plaguing the bandits. The gold arrives in Setesafon, and under Garren''s close supervision. Using stolen Hrum disguises, Kavi infiltrates the palace, attempting to uncover the passwords into the vault, but is captured. Before he is captured he burns the words into his mule''s saddle, which Jiaan and Soraya find. Jiaan and Soraya enter the palace under a guise that Jiaan has captured Soraya. They release the gold into barrels in the river. After the gold is discovered missing Garren orders Kavi tortured, but Kavi withstands it. Garren publicly declares that if Sorahb does not fight Garren as a champion of Farsala, Kavi will be slain. While Jiaan believes the challenge to be a trap and does not think Kavi will be killed, Fasal accepts the challenge. After Fasal breaks Garren''s blade with the newly-developed Farsalan watersteel, Garren orders Fasal killed. The Farsalans begin rioting and Soraya, outraged, uses magic to kill Garren with lightning. The senate committee is convinced Farsala is not subdued, and decides the Hrum shall leave Farsala as an allied state. The remaining people send delegates, and Kavi, much to his annoyance, is elected to be a "councilherd" of the council; to make things run smoothly. Jiaan is invited to accompany the Hrum on their next campaign, that in Kadesh; he accepts. Soraya decides to live with the Suud.

Forging the Sword

The narrator, K., arrives in a village governed by a mysterious bureaucracy that resides in a nearby castle. When seeking shelter at the town inn, he falsely gives himself out to be a land surveyor summoned by the castle authorities. He is quickly notified that his castle contact is an official named Klamm, who, in the introductory note, informs K. he will report to the Council Chairman. The Council Chairman informs K. that, through a mix up in communication between the castle and the village, he was erroneously requested but, trying to accommodate K., the Council Chairman offers him a position in the service of the school teacher as a caretaker. Meanwhile, K., unfamiliar with the customs, bureaucracy and processes of the village, continues to attempt to reach the official Klamm, which is considered a strong taboo to the villagers. The villagers hold the officials and the castle in the highest regard, justifying, quite elaborately at times, even though they do attempt to appear to know what the officials do, the actions of the officials are never explained; they simply defend it as being absurd any other way. The number of assumptions and justifications about the functions of the officials and their dealings are enumerated through lengthy monologues of the villagers. Everyone appears to have an explanation for the officials'' actions that appear to be founded on assumptions and gossip. The descriptions given by the townspeople often contradict themselves by having very different features and routines within a single person''s description, but they do not try to hide the ambiguity; instead, they praise it as any other action or feature of an official should be praised. One of the more obvious contradictions between the "official word" and the village conception is the dissertation by the secretary Erlanger on Frieda''s required return to service as a barmaid. K. is the only villager that knows that the request is being forced by the castle (even though Frieda may be the genesis), with no consideration of the inhabitants of the village. The castle is the ultimate bureaucracy with copious paperwork that the bureaucracy maintains is "flawless". This flawlessness is, of course, a lie; it is a flaw in the paperwork that has brought K. to the village. There are other failures of the system which are occasionally referred to. K. witnesses a flagrant misprocessing after his nighttime interrogation by Erlanger as a servant destroys paperwork when he cannot determine who the recipient should be. The castle''s occupants appear to be all adult men and there is little reference to the castle other than to its bureaucratic functions. The two notable instances are the reference to a fire brigade and that Otto Brunswick''s wife declares herself to be from the castle. The latter declaration builds the importance of Hans (Otto''s son) in K.''s eyes, as a way to gain access to the castle officials. The functions of the officials are never mentioned. The officials that are discussed have one or more secretaries that do their work in their village. Although the officials come to the village, they do not interact with the villagers unless they need female companionship, implied to be sexual in nature.

The Castle

The War in 2020 takes place in a future dystopia dominated by an alliance of Japan, South Africa and militant Islamic states. The novel describes the attempts by the United States to defend the remnants of the (still existing) Soviet Union against attacks by the Japanese alliance. The novel begins in the year 2005, when the South African Defense Force (equipped and trained by Japan) seizes mineral-rich areas of the Shaba Province in Zaire. The United States sends the XVIII Airborne Corps along with associated air and naval assets to repel the aggression. The American expeditionary force is defeated due to a combination of technological inferiority (the South Africans'' Japanese equipment has such innovations as onboard battle lasers), lax security (a squadron of USAF B-2 Spirit bombers is destroyed on the ground by South Africans and local guerrilla) and poor intelligence. The American collapse is so swift that the XVIII Airborne Corps attempt to surrender. When the surrender offer is ignored, the American President orders a nuclear strike on Pretoria, forcing a cease-fire and a South African withdrawal from Zaire. The political cost paid by the United States for these events, however, is very high. An African epidemic spreads home with the returning soldiers, while abroad, an economic and political conflict with Japan reduce American power and influence. This is heralded by a newspaper headline that reads: "THE END OF THE AMERICAN CENTURY". The novel''s protagonist, George Taylor, is an air cavalry captain commanding an Apache gunship squadron that is attacked and destroyed on the first day of the South African offensive. Through a combination of luck, physical strength, and sheer willpower, Taylor makes his way several thousand miles through the African bush from the Shaba province to the Zairean capital, Kinshasa, where he is evacuated, but finds himself suffering from a virus named "Runciman''s disease" that leaves him horribly scarred. After the war in Shaba ends, Runciman''s disease spreads rapidly through the rest of the world, bringing numerous societal problems along with it. In 2008, the United States is suffering from escalating social unrest and gang violence in major cities because of the spread of Runciman''s Disease. The U.S. Army is ordered into the major cities to quell unrest and to ensure the safety of basic services. Taylor is placed in command of a unit deployed to Los Angeles as part of the operation. In 2015, Mexico is occupied by the United States, and the U.S. Army is fighting a guerrilla war against Japanese-supported insurgents. Taylor commands a unit in the war, where his unconventional tactics are unleashed on an unsuspecting rebel leader. By the year 2020, the Soviet Union is collapsing from the inside-out. Quality of life for Russian citizens continues to decline. The Muslim Central Asian republics have joined forces with other Japanese-supported Islamic nations and have begun a genocidal conquest with the dual purpose of slaughtering ethnic Russians, as well as conquering the resource-wealthy territory for their Japanese masters. In order to prevent the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, the United States intervenes, secretly building up an in-theater force of experimental and secret war machines. Once unleashed, (now-Colonel) Taylor''s force proves to be unexpectedly advanced technologically to the Japanese. They strike a crippling blow to forces in the region, however, the Japanese have one last trick up their sleeve: a radio-wave weapon that cripples, but does not kill, all those affected. Their forces were battered, but their resolve was intact. The American forces planned a daring counter-attack.

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