Eve finds the body of famous Prosecuting Attorney Cicely Towers on the night of May 2. Eve returns to Cop Central to find that Commander Whitney was very good friends with Towers, having started out together when they were very young. Due to this fact, he has personally arranged that Eve be primary. Another victim is found, murdered by the same MO, an actress named Yvonne Metcalf, whose shoe is missing. C. J. Morse is already on the scene, filming the woman's dead body. He snidely informs Eve that Metcalf used to have a relationship with Roarke.

Eve tells Roarke that the killer is stalking famous women. He is unhappy to find that Eve has decided to capitalize on this by becoming bait. Nadine promises to help this by delivering as much media attention as possible, but the scheme doesn't work. Roarke, who has to leave on another business trip, surprises Eve with her own suite of the house, which he has converted (partly with furniture from her apartment) into her own home office, adjoining his.

Eve and Roarke have a night in Mexico; on their return, Eve finds that the lab has tested David's knife as being negative for the murder weapon. The new police chief, Harrison Tibble, tells her to release David and Marcus on lack of evidence. He adds that there is too much emotion involved in this case, lightly censuring both her and Whitney. Afterwards, Eve finds out that Nadine is missing.

During the fight with Morse, Eve miscalculates and gives him the upper hand. Before he can kill her, Roarke intervenes and saves her, and the knife instead stabs Morse in the throat. (It is not clear whether or not this was accidental or intentional on Roarke's part.) Roarke proposes to Eve as they walk away from the scene.

The player controls detective Ned Peters, who has to figure out the identity of the murderer by wandering around the rooms, looking for clues and overhearing conversations between the other guests aboard the flying boat ''Condor'' on a cruise over the Atlantic.

In the near future, the entire world is struck with a bizarre malady which affects every girl between the ages of 14 and 16 years old.

Victims first experience a period of giddiness called "Near Death Happiness" ("NDH" or 臨死遊戯状態) before expiring. Within minutes of death the victim rises again as a flesh-eating zombie—a "Stacy". These Stacies run amok until they are cut into pieces in an act called a "Repeat-Kill" (再殺).

The government has organized the poorly trained "Romero Repeat-Kill Troops," who ride around on garbage trucks, ordered to act out the disposal of the Stacies. By law, a Stacy may only be Repeat-Killed by her loved ones or the Romero Repeat Kill Troops.

Through research, it is discovered that a key to the Stacy phenomenon is the "Butterfly Twinkle Powder" (BTP or 蝶羽状輝徽粉) that accumulates on the Stacies' skin.

The Queen of the Fairies having died, the fairies tried to elect a new one, but there were two candidates they could not choose between. They decided whoever did the greatest wonder would be queen. One, Surcantine, resolved to raise a prince whom nothing could make constant, and the other, Paridamie, a princess whom no one would see without falling in love.

Nearby, King Bardondon and Queen Balanice had an infant daughter, Rosanella. One day the queen dreamed that an eagle had snatched a bouquet of roses from her, and when she woke, the princess had vanished. Soon after, peasant girls brought her twelve baskets, saying they might prove a consolation. Each one contained a beautiful baby girl. This renewed the queen's grief, but she set about providing for them, and this distracted her. She named them, but as they grew, though all were beautiful, intelligent, and accomplished, their dispositions were so clear that they came to be called by them: Sweet, or Grave, or Beautiful.

Meanwhile, Surcantine raised Prince Mirliflor to be perfect in every way except his fickleness, and he broke every heart in his father's kingdom. He went to visit King Bardondon and found himself in love with all twelve of the maidens, but one day giants carried them all off. The prince despaired, but soon after Paridamie appeared with Rosanella, and told the queen that soon she would not miss her twelve maidens. The prince did not want to meet her, but he had to, and found that she combined in herself all the charms of the twelve, and asked her to marry him.

Paridamie appeared, and revealed that the twelve had in fact all been Rosanella, so that they might charm the prince separately and, combined again, cure Mirliflor of his inconstancy. Surcantine owned herself defeated, and even attended the wedding and gave them a gift.

''Lewis and Clark and George'' opens with Salvator Xuereb (playing Lewis) and Dan Gunther (Clark) at a water tank site wearing prison jump suits. The scene is desert scrub and the two state prison escapees have just located a buried metal box with a loaded revolver, treasure map, and Cuban cigars. A road trip begins as the two hike off through the desert to find the treasure, eventually joined by Rose McGowan (George).

Mai Kazuki is from a family of magicians. Her grandparents are leaders of a troupe, Magic Carat, and their daughter — Mai's mother — debuted under them. Naturally, Mai wants to become a magician herself, just like her hero, the fabulous legend Emily Howell. Unfortunately, because she is still a young girl, she is very clumsy and unsure.

One day, while helping her grandfather move things, Mai sees a strange light enter an odd, heart-shaped mirror and turn into a mirror fairy named Topo. He takes over the body of her favorite stuffed toy, a flying squirrel doll, and explains that he must give magic to the one who can see him. He gives her a bracelet with the symbols of the 4 card suits (spade, club, diamond and heart) which produces a magic wand. By waving the wand, Mai becomes Magical Emi, a teenage magician. She stars in her grandparents' shows, and uses magic to help solve problems. But at the end of the day, she wants to become a magician all by herself.

Nanami Takahashi, a teenage girl in her first year of high school, hopes to make new friends quickly. The center of attention at her school is Motoharu Yano, a very popular boy, whom Nanami dislikes at the beginning, due to his apparent superficiality. However, she soon falls in love with him, but Yano is still affected by the loss of his girlfriend, Nana Yamamoto. Nana was killed in a car crash a year before the beginning of the story. Because she was with her ex-boyfriend at the time of her death, Yano suspects she was cheating on him. Due to this, he is unable to trust people or to talk about his relationship with her; instead, he chooses to pretend he does not care very much about the situation.

Nanami confesses her love to Yano but is rejected when he is unable to tell her if he loves her back. Despite that, she is still willing to support him and reassures him she will always be by his side. Soon, Yano realizes he has fallen in love with her as well, so they start going out. However, Yano's secrets (including the fact that he slept with Nana's little sister, Yuri, after the accident and his unwillingness to talk about his feelings for his dead girlfriend) make Nanami unsure to the point that she decides to end the relationship, believing she is unable to make him happy. The story becomes even more complicated when Masafumi Takeuchi, Yano's best friend, also falls in love with Nanami and becomes Yano's rival.

Due to these circumstances, Nanami is confused over whom she should choose, but she soon realizes that Yano is the one she genuinely loves. She agrees to start going out with him again, on the condition that she can find out more about the relationship between Nana and Yano and his true feelings about what had happened. Their romance takes an unexpected turn when Yano finds out that his mother, Yoko, wants to move to Tokyo. Upon hearing this, Nanami tells him to make a decision without taking her into consideration. The anime ends with Yano's departure; however, the two of them decide to continue their relationship.

The manga picks up four years later. It is revealed that Yano and Nanami kept in touch for about six months; then, suddenly, he stopped contacting her and disappeared without a trace. Tired of waiting, hurt and confused, Nanami starts a relationship with Takeuchi. Even so, she is still in love with Yano and unable to forget about their common past. She befriends a co-worker named Akiko Sengenji, who is revealed to be one of Yano's classmates from the Tokyo high school he transferred to. In a series of flashbacks, it is shown that Yano was forced to work part-time when his mother was diagnosed with cancer, but kept everything hidden from Nanami, not wanting to worry her. Following an unexpected visit from Michiko, her former friend and the wife of Yano's father, Yoko became increasingly paranoid, fearing he would leave her. When Yano announced his decision to go and visit Nanami, she accused him of being insensitive. After a short, but violent fight, Yoko hung herself; as in Nana's case, Yano blamed himself for her death and therefore decided to sever all the ties with his past.

Sengenji is also in love with Yano, but, despite this, she sees Nanami as a friend, not as a rival. She is the one who reveals Yano's whereabouts to Nanami (including the fact that he adopted his father's name, Nagakura) and later the fact that he lives with Yuri Yamamoto. As a result, Nanami rejects Takeuchi when he proposes to her, feeling that it wouldn't be fair to marry him. Upon meeting Nanami for the first time in more than five years, Yano claims he is in love with another woman. However, when he and Nanami meet again, she tells him that she knows about the relationship between him and Yuri. He then admits that he only stays with Yuri because her mother is dying and he feels he can't leave her alone. He also tells Nanami about his mother's suicide, and also about his panic attacks. During this meeting, it is hinted that he's still in love with her.

Meanwhile, Takeuchi decides to continue his relationship with Nanami, but only as friends. He tells her that she will eventually reach Yano and asks her to wait for him. He also starts to push Yano to admit his own feelings for Nanami and points out that no matter how strong she seems, she is unable to deal with the situation by herself. Nanami and Yano have an unexpected meeting, during which Yano finally confesses he wanted her to hold him back instead of letting him leave with his mother. Shortly after, Yuri's mother dies, which prompts Yuri to end her relationship with Yano. She reveals to him that her sister Nana never cheated on him and that she only wanted to have a proper break-up with her ex-boyfriend at the time of the accident.

Yano decides to start over with Nanami and tries to contact her on the telephone. He fails several times due to her busy schedule, but eventually reaches her. During their conversation, a severely over-worked and anemic Nanami falls down a flight of stairs and is brought to the hospital injured and unconscious. Terrified by the possibility of losing her as well, Yano rushes to her side; as a result, the two of them are reunited. The finale of the manga shows Yano proposing to Nanami and then visiting Nana Yamamoto's gravesite with her.

The story is framed by testimony in the court of Judge Murdock, where Dixie Crane is seeking a divorce. He asks how the principals first met and the first flashback begins...Eddie Crane a young composer, is struggling with a tune he has just written. When his girlfriend, Dixie Donegan, provides words almost by accident, the song is published and is a great success. A few years later, now married and successful songwriters with a hit Broadway show behind them, Dixie realizes that Eddie is spending more time in rich New York society than composing. They divorce, but quickly realize they miss working together, and their new work raises them to the top of the charts, and they are honored at an industry banquet, where Dixie sings ”The Last Time I Saw Paris.” (The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for 1941, even though it was not written for the film.) Eddie becomes intensely jealous, and thanks to the machinations of their friends, they end up getting married again. Driving home after the ceremony, they discover that their plans are very different. Dixie wants to start writing the music for a big new show—their dream project—right away. Eddie plans a honeymoon in Bermuda first. Dixie not only refuses the honeymoon, she tells him they are going to have to continue to live apart while they write the new show. They separate, and Eddie quits the show. He begins composing a symphony under the aegis of Mrs. Wardley, a wealthy patron of the arts who has her eye on Eddie as well as his music. The opening of Dixie's show is represented by the legendary “Fascinatin’ Rhythm” production number featuring Eleanor Powell. Eddie disappears for 6 months and returns from South America too late to protest the second divorce, also in Judge Murdock’s court. Not realizing that this time the judge refused to grant it, he proposes to Dixie.

Season one

Bree Avery (Lonelygirl15), a homeschooled 16-year-old girl, begins posting video blogs on YouTube about her mundane daily life and her interests, such as science and her purple monkey puppet, P-Monkey. Her best friend, Daniel (Danielbeast), occasionally appears in the videos and uploads videos of his own, and a romantic connection between Daniel and Bree starts to form as tensions regarding Bree's family's strange, unnamed religion arise between Bree and Daniel, and later between Bree and her parents. Bree is soon chosen to participate in a mysterious ceremony for her religion, which she must prepare for by dieting, take shots, and learning Enochian. After an argument between Bree and Daniel, Daniel starts following her outside and recording her while she prepares for the ceremony with her "helper", Lucy. Daniel discovers that Lucy has photographs of him on her computer and staged a fake ceremony with Bree to trick him while he was recording, and Bree asks her parents to tell the deacons of her religion that she no longer wants to go through with the ceremony, to which they agree.

Later, the show moved to a bizarre narrative that portrayed her dealings with secret occult practices within her family, and included the mysterious disappearance of her parents after she refused to attend a "secret" ceremony prescribed by the leaders of the family's cult.

Screenshot from shortly after the start of the game. The game's plot takes place in an unspecified (albeit vaguely Eastern European) nation headed by the dictator Orlovsky. The protagonist is a government agent tasked with discovering the whereabouts of a missing scientist named Horselover Frost. He begins his quest in a third-floor room of a luxury hotel (which is in fact the headquarters of the government's intelligence arm). After collecting his belongings in a suitcase, the protagonist takes an elevator ride to the lobby, during which a boy replaces the case with another identical one containing various spy-related paraphernalia. In the lobby, the government's intelligence chief briefs the protagonist on his mission. The protagonist then moves to the central railway station. From this point on all the events of the story take place on trains or at the various stations (which include the national science institute) along the nation's main rail line. The player must engage in scripted conversations with various individuals, each of whom reveals pieces of information that advance the protagonist in his quest.

A young French woman, Madeline Minot, arrives in New York in 1848, looking for expatriate Charles Thevenet. She is initially turned away at the door by his mistress and housekeeper, Lorna Bounty, but persists, presenting Charles with a letter of introduction from his only grandson, Paul, a romantic revolutionary with whom Madeline is in love.

Charles is an old, wealthy, and dissipated rake, who correctly guesses Madeline's purpose in visiting him: she has been sent by Paul to ask him for money to support the revolution in France. Assisted by hulking butler, Martin, and cook Mrs. Flynn, who are also after Charles' fortune, having waited for the old man to die for ten years, Lorna lets Charles drink as much as he wants, contrary to the instructions of Dr. Roland, and replaces some prescribed medicine.

) consider the changing situation. Madeline has one ally, a chance acquaintance named Dupin, a heavy-drinking impecunious poet, to whom she turns when she suspects that Charles' medicine has been laced with poison. They take a sample to a pharmacist, who determines that it is sugar water. Dupin becomes acquainted with Lorna, and recognizes her as a former actress who achieved fame with Charles' backing.

During her stay at Charles' residence, Madeline softens the old reprobate's heart. He summons his lawyer, Durand, and changes his will. Then he secretly puts arsenic in his drink, ready to end his life. However, he suffers a stroke that paralyzes him, leaving him only partial control of his face. He watches helplessly as Durand drinks the fatal brandy. The will is then snatched up by Charles' pet raven and hidden in the fireplace. Before the old man dies, he tries to pass along to Dupin the location of the will solely with his eyes.

Lorna guesses that there is a new will and its contents. After the funeral, she and her accomplices search desperately for it without success. Dupin is more perceptive; from the clues, he finds and retrieves the document, though he has to fight Martin off to escape the house alive. When the will is read, it reveals that Paul does inherit the money; Lorna, Martin and Mrs. Flynn are left only the house.

At the end of the film, Madeline goes looking for Dupin to thank him. Dupin's generous bartender, Flaherty, tells her he has gone, leaving only a seemingly worthless IOU for his sizable bar bill. On one side is a draft of a verse about a woman named Annabel Lee, and on the other, the IOU's signature, which reveals Dupin's real name: Edgar Allan Poe.

(Television Film)

When his leading lady (and fiancée) Monica Welles (Redgrave) is found dead from an apparent suicide after the opening night of her Broadway stage debut, playwright Alex Dennison (Preston) is left heartbroken. On the first anniversary of her death, he gathers the cast and crew from that ill-fated night in the same Broadway theater, ostensibly to read a new play he is working on, a mystery in which a famous actress is killed. As the reading progresses, the scenes seem to the cast to be uncomfortably close to actual encounters they might have had with Monica. When pressed, Alex finally reveals that he believes that Monica was murdered and that someone at the theater is her killer.

(Theatrical Production)

One year after the supposed suicide of his fiancée (Monica Welles) Alex Dennison invites his friends, some cast and crew from the play one year ago, to read through a new play, Killing Jessica. Along with the cast he invites another actor (Frank Heller) to pose as a police officer(Henry McElroy). During the reading of the scenes, some of the cast become unnerved by Jessica's similarity to the late Monica Welles and the scenes' similarity to reality. After reading a few scenes, the producer (Bella Lamb), director (Lloyd Andrews) and lead (David Matthews) demand to know what is Alex's true intentions are, leading him to reveal that the killer of Monica is in the theatre. Most of the cast and crew decides on leaving, but with aid of the false police officer and the unintentional aid of the producer (Bella Lamb), they are convinced of reading through more scenes. After reading the a few more scenes, they start to question Alex's mental state, leading to them to leave for the sake of Alex's mental health. However, Alex draws a revolver on his friends, forcing them to stay and keep reading through his scenes. After Alex is convinced that the comic (Leo Gibbs) killed Monica, he draws his revolver once more and fires upon Leo with blank cartridges. The lights go out after someone conspiring with Alex pulls the switch. The chaos leads to Frank Heller revealing what he knows about Monica's apartment the day she died. Alex his friends reveal that they knew that he was the killer all along, and all they wanted out of him was a confession. Frank reveals that Monica nearly slept with him after a fight with Alex, and so he used that as blackmail to get a large sum of money from Monica. After the meeting went wrong, he unintentionally killed Monica. The real Henry McElroy reveals that he was watching the whole time and comes to arrest Frank. Alex and his friends rejoice that the killer has been brought to justice after all this time. The play ends after his friends leave and Alex toasts with Monica's untouched glass; showing him making peace with this new reality.

The opening sequence is a 1943 black-and-white Cinesound newsreel ''Monarch of the Rails'' showing the locomotive being built. The film then changes to colour and shows the locomotive at the Enfield Locomotive Depot, then the home of the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum. The fireman lights the fire and the driver inspects the locomotive. When ready the locomotive is turned on the turntable.

The main part of the film shows the train travelling through the New South Wales countryside through disparate locations including the Sydney suburbs, Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge, Ten Tunnels Deviation, Polona signal box Blayney station and the Picton-Mittagong loop line. These scenes are interspersed with vignettes of life the 1940s including a travelling salesman, a country wedding in a church at Georges Plains, and two soldiers heading off to war, having their last drink in a pub, the Hotel Alexander in Rydal. All linked in to the train journey.

There is no commentary, and most of the audio is live sound of the train, with some overlaid with original music by George Dreyfus. Cinematography was by Academy Award winner, Dean Semler (Dances With Wolves).

''The Oracle'' is set in a fictional world, in the middle of a terrible drought. The Archon, the god-on-earth, has been called by the god to die, in order to bring rain to the land. Mirany is the bearer-of-the-god, one of the Nine priestesses who attend the god and his various incarnations. Her duty as Bearer is to hold the god in scorpion form in a bronze bowl. The god is fickle, and occasionally claims the Bearer's life. This terrifies Mirany.

As the procession taking the Archon to his death reaches the final destination, the top of a Ziggurat in the City of the Dead, the Archon slips Mirany a note, telling her that the Oracle of the god is being betrayed, and the Speaker is corrupt. The Speaker is the most senior member of the Nine, and relays messages from the god, which he delivers via the Oracle. The Archon is killed by the scorpion the god inhabits, carried by Mirany.

Secretly, Mirany does not believe in the god. She sees him as a lie, used by the Nine to gain favor. However, this changes when he begins to speak directly into her mind.

Mirany discovers a plot by Hermia, the Speaker, and the General Argelin, to control the land, and that the Archon's death was arranged by the two so that they could choose the new Archon, a young boy, and use him as a puppet. Mirany, with the help of the previous Archon's musician Oblek, and Seth, an ambitious scribe, must find the new Archon, and instate him before Hermia and Argelin can.

Paul Zindel's dark comedy explores the relationship among three very different sisters after the death of their mother in the early 1960s. Having been abandoned by their father in early childhood, Catherine, Ceil, and Anna Reardon were raised in a small apartment by their mother. The three ladies are educated and become members of their local school community. Anna Reardon becomes a chemistry teacher, Catherine Reardon the assistant principal, and Ceil (Reardon) Adams is the superintendent of schools.

The scene of the play is in the Reardon family apartment sisters Catherine and Anna are living following the death of their mother. Several months of caring for her sick mother only to see her pass has left Anna suffering a severe nervous breakdown. She has become a complete hypochondriac, obsessed with animals and rabies. She is also on an extended break from school for allegedly molesting a male student. Catherine's reaction to both her mother's death and her sister's ailment has been to drink "a little". She is consistently drunk throughout the show. Ceil did not have any sort of contact with the family while her mother was suffering, but rather ran off to marry her sister Catherine's boyfriend, Edward Adams (who never appears on stage).

Ceil has come to the Reardon home to coax Catherine into having Anna committed. Neither Anna nor Catherine is interested in anything their sister has to say. Halfway through dinner, which consists of zucchini and kiwi, Fleur Stein invades the family conversation. Fleur works in guidance at Anna and Catherine's school, and wishes to butter up Mrs. Adams in attempt to gain a better salary. She is very colorful and somewhat obnoxious, which her husband, Bob, makes perfectly clear once he arrives.

After a humorous, but often bitter evening, Ceil demands that Anna be locked up. Catherine refuses this demand, and Ceil essentially abandons the two women to take care of each other.

Set over a single 1963 summer in one of Sarajevo's neighbourhoods, the plot follows the fortunes of a school boy nicknamed Dino (Slavko Štimac) who grows up under the shadow of his good, but ailing, father. Simultaneous to being enthralled with a life that flashes before his eyes and ears in the local cinema and youth centre (where, among other things, he watches Alessandro Blasetti's ''European Nights'' and listens to Adriano Celentano's "24 Mila Baci"), Dino gets a taste of the world inhabited by local thugs and petty criminals. However, when he is rewarded via a liaison for providing a hiding place for prostitute "Dolly Bell" (Ljiljana Blagojević), his world is turned upside down as he falls in love with her.

The story is told by a Native American elderly man to a Native American boy who wants to give up dancing and leave the reservation by bus. The story he tells is about a Native American man named Charlie Silvercloud III who thinks that he will be hit by a milk truck on his 25th birthday, like his father and grandfather before him due to a curse. His birthday is two weeks away. Charlie has a checklist of things he wants to do before his two weeks are up, but because he does not have long to live and has no way to do anything extreme, his list is somewhat more practical than most "bucket" lists. His checklist includes canceling his cellphone contract, watering the plants, and returning library books. His mother tries to prevent the curse from killing him by mapping the milk truck route and is trying to stop Charlie from going outside during certain times just in case he might be killed earlier than expected. While looking for a casket to buy for his assumed death, he meets Bessie Smith who is looking for casket for her mother. Bessie owns a dog named Roadkill because he is able to play dead so convincingly that crowds gather when he plays dead. Bessie and Charlie start seeing each other, but Charlie cannot decide if he should continue the relationship because of his impending death. Things become more complicated when Charlie finds out that Bessie is being stalked by a man who drives a milk truck for the local dairy.

Ill and with only six months to live, a man named Manuel (Eddie Garcia) has one thing left that he wants to do, which is to find his beloved Corazon. His family has its own problems, with his son Rod is still mourning his wife's death, while grandson, Kyle has recently been dumped by his wife Peggy.

Manuel embarks on his search in Ilocos but is unable to locate her. Rod and Kyle pick him up from Ilocos, and on the way home Manuel takes the opportunity to tell them about his past and why he was in Ilocos.

In his youth, Manuel's best friends included a fellow named Domingo, Corazon or Cora, and Azon. Manuel falls in love with the lively and cheery Azon, not knowing that Cora has a secret crush on him. When Azon tells Manuel that her mother wants to move far away, she asks him to come with them but Manuel declines. Before spending the night together, Azon gives Manuel a piece of her pendant, and tells him that if the pendant returns, then they are meant to be together. Manuel wakes up with Azon gone.

Not long after, the Second World War erupts in the Philippines and Manuel and Domingo join the army. Azon tries to find a way to say goodbye to Manuel but is unable to reach him and instead meets Domingo, who explains the situation. Azon gives Domingo her address and asks him to tell Manuel to find her.

During the war, Domingo and Manuel are captured by the enemy and walks the Death March. Domingo is wounded so badly that he can't walk. Domingo gives Manuel Azon's address, and then forces him to leave. Manuel reluctantly follows, and eventually survives the war. He is reunited with Cora in a hospital, where she is a nurse. While waiting to recover from a foot injury, Manuel sees that Cora cares for him deeply and the two embark on a romance. Cora is soon pregnant and she marries Manuel. After Cora gives birth, she decides to leave Manuel seeing that he is still in love with Azon. Before she leaves, she gives him half a picture of her, saying that if the two halves are reunited again, that means that they are meant to be together, much like what Azon had said to Domingo with her pendant.

In the present, Manuel's son and grandson reluctantly decide to help Manuel's search despite realizing that they are searching Cora, the woman who broke up their family. In time, the trio are successful with their search and it is revealed that Manuel was actually looking for his wife, Cora, whom he realized he really loved after she has left him, while Azon is already dead.

The story ends when, Manuel and Corazon dance in a night of blue moon, a wish she had stated when they were still married. Manuel passes some time later.

When Tom Seymour, a child psychologist, plunges into a river to save a young man from suicide, he unwittingly reopens a chapter from his past he had hoped to forget. For Tom already knows the young man as Danny Miller. When Danny was eleven, Tom presented evidence that helped commit him to prison for the murder of the elderly Lizzie Parks. Danny, full of suppressed memory and now free from prison, turns to Tom to help him recount what really happened, and discover the truth.

Reluctantly, Tom is drawn back into Danny's world, a place where the border between good and evil, innocence and guilt are blurred and confused. But when Danny's demands on Tom become extreme, Tom wonders whether he has crossed the line between the professional and personal relationship, speculating upon, but never realising, the perilous danger he is in until it is almost too late.

''To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday'' is a play in two acts. The time is the present. The place is the back deck and beach of David's island home. The action traces the final weekend of August.

Characters

• David - age 37, college professor temporarily retired.
• Rachel - age 16, David's daughter
• Cindy - age 16, Rachel's friend
• Paul - age 38, David's brother-in-law, married to Esther
• Esther - age 39, David's sister-in-law, a psychologist, married to Paul
• Kevin - age 28, female, friend of Paul and Esther, recently divorced
• Gillian - age 35, David's former wife who died in a sailing accident two years prior to the events of the play, Esther's sister, Rachel's mom

Plot

David loves his wife, Gillian. Unfortunately, she died two years ago. David deals with his grief by continuing his romance with Gillian during walks with her "ghost" on the beach at night. While David lives in the past, other family problems crop up in the present in the real world. Esther and Paul come for a visit to try to help Rachel. She has lost her mother and needs her father to snap back into the real world and help her.

David loves his wife, Gillian. Unfortunately, she died two years ago. David deals with his grief by continuing his romance with Gillian during walks with her "ghost" on the beach at night. While David lives in the past, other family problems crop up in the present in the real world. Esther and Paul come for a visit to try to help Rachel. She has lost her mother and needs her father to snap back into the real world and help her.

Because of the environmental pollution, the Earth has become a contaminated desert, there are only patches of land. Some to be said to be inhabited by "sub-humans", contaminated people. However, there are a few areas along the shore where normal people live, but they've become suspicious of strangers, and know nothing of the people of the outside world.

One day, a young girl named Marine washes up on the shore of one of the inhabited lands. She has no memory of where she came from. She is found by a young boy named Kazuya, who loves the sea and has a natural curiosity about the outside world. The two of them become friends but then rumors start spreading that Marine might be a sub-human, and she is locked up. Now Kazuya must help her escape, and uncover the mystery of who she is and where she came from.

A short-tempered, violent criminal named White Tiger is on the run from the police and joins a theater troupe to hide out, killing anyone who angers him or who suspects his identity. One person he unsuccessfully tries to kill several times is a cowardly laundry man named Mousy, who manages to escape by fleeing. When Mousy's close friend and elder brother figure, Leung Foon, is killed by White Tiger, Mousy overcomes his cowardliness enough to seek revenge.

In a scene early on in the film, Mousy is washing the laundry with his bossy sister. After complaining about the repetitiveness of laundry work, his sister scolds him and demands he wash the clothes in the "family way." This leads to a scene with Mousy flipping the clothes around with his hands and wringing them out with powerful squeezing from this index finger and middle finger. These abilities turn out to be related to kung-fu methods, as Mousy eventually uses the same laundry method to defeat White Tiger.

Boog (Chris Williams) is a 900-pound grizzly who is the star of the town Timberline's nature show. In a dream, Boog chases after a giant version of his teddy bear Dinkleman, but he is soon woken by Beth (Kari Wahlgren), who takes him to the town center for Boog's performance. But Beth finds that Shaw, a cruel hunter, has already hunted a buck. She goes into Sheriff Gordy's police office to confront Shaw. The buck (Maddie Taylor) wakes up and introduces himself, his name being Elliot. Boog reluctantly frees him, and Shaw (Darryl Kurylo) vows revenge on Boog after Sheriff Gordy (Carlos Alazraqui) tells him he's been living in the woods too long. That night, Elliot decides to "free" Boog in return. He manages to lure him to the convenience store, where they finish all the chocolate bars there, but they're discovered by the police and incapacitated with a tranquilizer gun by Beth and brought to the Timberline National Forest until the start of open season. There, Elliot claims that he knows how to get back to Timberline, prompting a road trip.

They encounter a squirrel called McSquizzy (Michael Gough) and his army of squirrels called the Furry Tail Clan (Carlos Alazraqui), who abuse them with nuts. Boog meets a few members of Elliot's herd: Giselle (Kari Wahlgren), a doe whom Elliot has a crush on, and Ian (Patrick Warburton), the head of the herd who hates Elliot. It's revealed that during this time of year, the Deer Games are held, with only one sport: Running. Elliot competes with Ian and wins the race, but he's kicked away by a jealous Ian as revenge. In the Timberline National Forest, Boog and Elliot help all kinds of animals with their tasks. The two meet McSquizzy again, who directs them to a shortcut: A mine. After riding through the mine in a minecart, Boog and Elliot continue their journey across a valley, and climb up a mountain, only to encounter Shaw, they escape the hunter by rolling down the hill in a big snow ball. They get to a beaver's dam, which Elliot claims is the way home. Not letting them cross, the two help the beavers find a missing piece for the dam: An outhouse. They find Boswell (Maurice LaMarche), trying to push the outhouse down from a hunting camp. Boog and Elliot jump onto it, and it quickly breaks and they ride it down the river rapids until they reach the dam. Boog quickly realizes that Elliot had never known how to go to Timberline because he'd asked some moles (since they're blind) for directions. Boog's weight causes the dam to break up. Having lost Elliot in the flood, Boog looks for shelter for the night. Boog enters Shaw's house, only to be confronted by Shaw himself. Shaw locks Boog in his basement but Boog eventually escapes, and encounters McSquizzy on a sign, who threatens to not show him the way back home if he doesn't help the animals during open season. Boog goes the right way, but he decides to go back and help the animals, suggesting to the wilds that they fight back.

Agreeing to this, Serge (Danny Mann), Deni, and the rest of the ducks fly around the Timberline National Forest, dropping propane tanks everywhere, while the other animals collect items helpful for the fight. The wilds ultimately win the battle against the hunters. But while they're celebrating, Shaw appears and tries to shoot Boog. Elliot sacrifices himself by jumping in front of Boog and takes the hit instead, seemingly killing him, which angers Boog. Boog defeats Shaw after throwing a skunk, a rabbit, and a squirrel at him, roars him, and then he ties Shaw up with his gun. The game then closes as Elliot awakens having survived the gunshot and the wilds celebrate their victory by mauling Shaw.

Stephen Danel lures paroled convicts to his isolated island where they are forced to work as slaves for life. Government agent Mark Sheldon aka "64" allows himself to be convicted of a murder he did not commit so that he can spend time in prison and then be paroled to work on Danel's island. It turns out that Danel's beautiful wife, Lorraine Danel, is a prisoner too.

A clueless, aspiring criminal named John "Rugged" Rudgate spends his days forging rebate coupons and selling speakers out the back of his van. One day, Rugged runs into an old acquaintance, the dim-witted Jeff Lagrand, who recently returned home to help his cynical sister run the storage facility that they inherited from their father. When Rugged tries to force his way into the Lagrand family business, things go terribly wrong—and the situation gets even more complicated when an emotionally unstable cop begins investigating.

The story begins with Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), the local hardman of Walford - a fictionalized borough in East London - and its community Albert Square, waking up from a nightmare in which he has blood on his hands. This causes Phil to realize that he is seeing images of his former love rival, Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman), being murdered on New Years Eve 2005. The dream ends with Phil finding himself face-to-face with Johnny Allen (Billy Murray), the square's criminal kingpin who appears to taunt Phil by laughing towards him. Later on that morning, Phil seemingly wishes to spend time with his brother Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) by arranging for them to go and play a round of golf. Grant agrees and the brothers set off to play gold, but stop at a roadside café in Essex. There, the two discuss their own personal problems - namely Phil's struggle to avoid a relapse in his alcoholism - over lunch. A strange man walks into the café and makes a sarcastic joke about Phil and Grant's bald heads, remarking: "Right Said Fred have reformed." The stranger follows Phil into the toilets and starts singing "I'm Too Sexy". Phil reacts by punching the stranger and knocking him out. When they leave the café, Grant tells Phil that he has been seeing a therapist in a bid to confront his demons. They pass a large house in the countryside and Phil orders Grant to stop. Phil announces that he is ready to confront his demons and that they have arrived at Johnny's house.

Phil scours Johnny's house in a bid to break in, while Grant begs him to stop being stupid. Phil explains that he is keeping the promise that he made with Dennis' wife Sharon (Letitia Dean) to confront Johnny for Dennis's murder, which Johnny had ordered. Johnny spots Phil on his CCTV system and quickly finds him. Phil attacks Johnny but Johnny manages to overpower him with a stick. Grant soon arrives on the scene and finds Phil being threatened by Johnny and his henchman, Danny Moon (Jake Maskall). Grant beats up Danny, while Johnny re-enters his office and starts arguing with his daughter Ruby Allen (Louisa Lytton) - who is angry with him for being an alcoholic. Phil finally intimidates Johnny into admitting his involvement in Dennis' death, and begins to throttle him.

Phil's anger towards Johnny gets more intense and he threatens to shoot him, but Grant stops him from pulling the trigger just in time. Danny once again tries to defend Johnny but receives another beating from Phil and Grant, and stays at the house while Johnny flees in his car. Phil and Grant give chase to Johnny and follow him to a deserted goods yard, where Phil almost runs him over. Johnny escapes and then Grant and Phil get into an argument. Grant insults Phil for being a bad father and almost gets run over himself, but Phil smashes the car into a pile of Skips instead. The Skips collapse on Phil's car but he emerges unscathed. Johnny returns from where he had left the Mitchells and holds them at gunpoint.

Armed with a gun, Johnny frogmarches Phil and Grant to a soundproofed cell back at his house. Grant quickly establishes that Johnny is intent on killing them both, and his expectations are confirmed when Johnny orders Danny to lead them away into the nearby woods to kill them both and then bury their bodies. Phil hears a gunshot and opens his eyes to see Danny lying dead on the floor. Phil turns his head to see Danny's brother, Jake Moon (Joel Beckett), standing nearby with a gun - looking mortified; Jake had just killed Danny despite not wanting to do so. Jake is devastated at having killed his brother, as he only wanted to stop him from killing someone. After the Mitchells leave, Jake buries Danny's body in the woods. Meanwhile, Ruby discovers mobile phone footage of Dennis' murder. She announces that she has informed the police about Johnny's crimes and that they are on their way to the house. Johnny is arrested and immediately confesses to the police that he murdered his gangland predecessor, Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs), and later ordered Danny to kill Dennis.

Aftermath

Johnny is eventually convicted of killing Andy and ordering the murder of Dennis. He receives a sentence of life imprisonment and the judge recommends that he should spend at least 27 years behind bars before being considered for release, but six months into his sentence, he suffers a heart attack in prison and dies in hospital the next day - after receiving a visit from Ruby's boyfriend, Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky), and being taunted by the latter over his plan to extract their family assets.

Japan is being ravaged by bizarre and powerful giant monsters.

A reptilian creature called Baragon is creating earthquakes in an oil refinery, a high-speed pterosaur named Rodan is leaving sonic booms in his wake, a hideous blob of slime called Hedorah is feeding off of the city's toxic waste and growing larger every second, a giant caterpillar named Mothra is laying eggs in different parts of town, a terrible three-headed hydra named King Ghidorah is bringing fire to the skies, and Godzilla is plowing through everything around him. To make matters worse, a fleet of alien saucers has begun an invasion.

Only the Allied Defense Forces can stop them.

The game chronicles the story of the Drasle family (an abbreviation for "Dragon Slayer"; though the characters are given the last name "Worzen" in the credits) and their attempt to destroy an ancient dragon named Keela that is magically entrapped in a painting within an underground labyrinth. To accomplish this goal, they must find the "Dragon Slayer", a magical sword that is protected by four hidden crowns. The player must use the unique abilities of each member of the family to regain possession of the crowns and destroy the evil Keela. Like many games of its era, the story of ''Legacy of the Wizard'' is explained almost entirely in the game's instruction manual. The game itself contains very little text, and does little to add to or even to explain the story of the game.

Mike (Borchardt) is a writer struggling with a lack of artistic productivity. To deal with the pressures he feels from within and without, he escalates his abuse of alcohol. One day, when faced with overwhelming deadlines, he takes a large quantity of pills with alcohol, resulting in an overdose and hospitalization. When Steve (Tom Schimmels) takes notice of Mike's increasing volatility and isolation, he confronts the defensive writer, showing genuine concern for his friend's self-destructive behavior in the process. It is suggested, by the lack of others at the intervention, that Steve may be the only friend Mike has left. Steve asks Mike to join him at a support group with which he is affiliated and, after gaining some perspective, Mike agrees. Soon, however, Mike comes to realize that the group has a deeper occult agenda and uses extreme, sometimes supernatural, tactics to "help" new members remain clean and sober.

''Gata Salvaje'' tells the story of Rosaura Rios, a beautiful and kind young woman who lost her mother and who lives with her drunkard father Anselmo, her sisters Mayrita and Karina, her stepmother Maria Julia and her brother Ivan. She has no choice but to work during day as a lunch girl picking up food from the workers in the Arismendi's land; and at night, as a bartender in a nightclub in order to be able to sustain her family who lives in a small house next to the fabulous ranch of the wealthy Arismendi family. She lost their house due to the hurricane in Tampa.

Luis Mario Arismendi is an educated and handsome young man, heir to the family fortune, who loses his wife, Camelia, in an accident at sea, and she is never recovered. This event keeps him in a sentimental limbo for quite some time. But before that, both of them were together enjoying their honeymoon while Patricio, Camelia's former lover called to threaten her that if she refuses to leave Luis Mario, he would tell Luis Mario that he and Camelia are lovers; and he is the only one who gives Camelia the kind of life that she desires and wants. But Camelia decided to leave Luis Mario forever to escape with him.

Luis Mario decides to return from New York to take over the family business – the ranch – which is not in good financial standing. As he returns, the small plane in which he travels suffers an accident very close by to the ranch. Rosaura, who is in the area, reaches him and rescues him. Luis Mario instinctively kisses Rosaura and Rosaura is smitten.

Eduarda, Luis Mario's sister, is determined to see Luis Mario married to Eva Granados, a beautiful but impulsive and demanding rich girl that will guarantee that they will not be financially ruined; but Luis Mario, in order to go against his sister, marries Rosaura, who is deeply in love him although he doesn't share the same feelings.

When they get married Eva kisses him on the mouth, Rosaura reacts by scratching him on the face, thus getting the name of "Wild Cat". Eduarda and Eva plan to make Rosaura's and Luis Mario's life miserable. They form a plan and murder Rosuara's father by running him over. After trapping Rosaura in their games and turning Luis Mario against her, they finally manage to break their marriage, this is also due to Rosaura's jealousy as women, Minerva, one of Eva closest friends, flaunts herself and publicly kisses Luis Mario. He also thinks her too wild to tame and too childlike, which finally causes him to divorce her. Sometime later, Luis Mario decides to leave for New York, hoping to make money to save his family ranch. He departs from his family in the airport, knowing that Rosaura is not far way, hiding behind a wall. When he boards the plane, he leaves not knowing that Rosaura is pregnant with his child. Later during Rosaura's revenge, she tells him this and he's saddened that she hadn't told him. She replied by saying" "That doesn't matter now (anymore)." It wasn't until later during the show that Rosaura revealed to Luis Mario that Eva was responsible murdering their unborn child by shooting her while she was riding on a horse.

Now Rosaura alone, penniless and sad begins a new life. But her luck is about to change when she finds out that she is the only descendant of Dona Cruz Olivares, a powerful and wealthy old lady who wants to find her granddaughter before she passes away. Her stepmother and half-sister try to rob her of this but Claudia, Dona Cruz's only daughter, who employs Rosaura and her brother Ivan, becomes suspicious. When Claudia meets Rosaura, she immediately likes her. One night, Claudia is searching through Rosaura's belonging and finds a hidden note, confirming that it is Rosuara the daughter of her deceased sister and deceased father Anselmo. Claudia decides to reveal the truth to Rosaura and unmask her stepmother and half sister. Rosaura becomes a sophisticated lady that will use her fortune to ruin all of those who harmed her in the past, and surely enough she does, including Luis Mario.

Her revenge begins on a night when Rosaura and Claudia attend a gallery show and sees Luis Mario, his believed-to-be dead wife, Camelia, Eva, and Eduarda. When Rosaura and Luis Mario make eye contact, Luis Mario walks up to her. He is impressed by her transformation. Rosaura tells Luis Mario: "I'm going to destroy your family Luis Mario. I'm going to destroy you." Luis Mario leaves in doubt but later he reveals to his best friend Gabriel, that he had taken her seriously and he was unsure of what to expect.

Luis Mario tries to reconquer her love but he gives up and lets Rosaura know that she is a different person. He asks her where is the feisty, innocent woman he fell in love with. She replied by saying that it was he who made her this way. Luis Mario ignores this and repeats she is a changed woman that wears too much makeup, overdresses instead of the woman who wore hair-ties and dressed like an ordinary everyday girl. Rosaura, the "Wild Cat", realizes that her transformation has turned her into a bitter and heartless woman, and she comes to understand that the love she feels for Luis Mario is unbreakable, and that aside from all the things she did to the Arismendi family, she passionately loves him. Finally, after another long period of going through troubles and fighting their enemies, they will both be able to regain the happiness that long time ago escaped them.

In the mid-spring to early summer of 2011, Telefurtura gained the rights to the soap opera. It was aired Monday-Friday at 10:00am.

In 1912, the luxurious ''Titanic'' is the largest vessel afloat and is widely believed to be unsinkable. Among the passengers boarding for her maiden voyage to New York are first class passengers Sir Richard and Lady Richard, second class passengers Mr. Clarke and Mrs. Clarke, a young newlywed couple, and steerage passengers Pat Murphy, Martin Gallagher and James Farrel. On 10 April, ''Titanic'' sails from Southampton. On 14 April, in the Atlantic, the ship receives a number of ice warnings from other steamers. Only a few of the messages are relayed to Captain Edward J. Smith, who orders a lookout.

Later that night, the SS ''Californian'' spots float ice in the distance, and tries to send a message to ''Titanic''. Meanwhile, steerage passengers on ''Titanic'' enjoy a party in Third Class where Murphy becomes attracted to a young Polish girl and dances with her. In the wireless room, operators Jack Phillips and Harold Sydney Bride are changing shifts. Phillips receives an ice warning, but when more messages arrive for him to send out, the warning is lost under them. On the ''Californian'', field ice is spotted. The ship stops due to the danger, and a message is sent to ''Titanic''. Because the ''Californian'' is so close, the message is very loud, and Phillips cuts it off abruptly. ''Titanic'' s passengers begin to settle in for the night.

Suddenly, the vessel collides with an iceberg. Captain Smith sends for Thomas Andrews, the ship's builder, to inspect the damage. Andrews determines that ''Titanic'' will sink within two hours, and quickly realizes it lacks sufficient lifeboat capacity. Distress signals are sent out, but the ''Californian'' s radio operator is off duty. 58 miles away, the radio operator receives the distress call and alerts Captain Arthur Rostron, who orders the ship to turn around. Unfortunately, it will take around four hours to reach ''Titanic''. Seeing the ''Californian'' on the horizon 10 miles away, ''Titanic'' begins to signal the ship, but the ''Californian'' s crew fails to comprehend why a ship they are in sight of is firing rockets.

Captain Smith orders Second Officer Charles Lightoller to start lowering the lifeboats. In the Grand Staircase, passenger Robbie Lucas is told the truth by Andrews. Lucas gets his wife and children safely in a boat. Murphy, Gallagher and Farrel help the Polish girl and her mother through the ship and get them to a boat. The Richards and Hoyle are admitted to a boat by Murdoch. Yates gives a female passenger a note to send to his sister. Ida Straus and Isidor Straus refuse to be separated, inadvertently setting an example for Mrs. Clarke, who decides to stay with her husband until Andrews advises them on how to survive.

As the crew struggles to hold back the third-class passengers, most first- and second-class passengers board lifeboats and row away. As ''Titanic'' lists, passengers begin to realize the danger; when the third-class passengers are finally allowed up, chaos ensues. White Star Line Chairman J. Bruce Ismay steps into one of the last lifeboats. The ''Titanic'' s bow submerges, and only two collapsible lifeboats are left. Lightoller and other able seamen struggle to free them, as Captain Smith gives the order to abandon ship.

The Clarkes use a rope to get down the ship's side as the orchestra performs "Nearer, My God, to Thee". Smith returns to the bridge to go down with his ship. ''Titanic'' begins its final plunge; Lightoller and many others are swept off. Andrews awaits his fate in the first-class smoking room, while passengers, among them Murphy, Gallagher and Farrel, retreat towards the stern as it rises into the air. A kindly steward comforts a lost boy separated from his mother. Lucas looks out towards the lifeboats, realizing he will never see his family again, while the Clarkes, struggling in the water, are killed by a falling funnel. The passengers pray as the stricken liner rapidly sinks into the icy sea.

Many people, including Lucas and Farrel, die of hypothermia. One of the collapsibles is floating overturned. Yates, unwilling to overcrowd the boat, swims away to his death. Lightoller takes charge on the boat as Murphy and Gallagher make it aboard, Murphy swimming about with a dead child in his arms - possibly the lost boy who was comforted by the ship's steward. Chief Baker Charles Joughin, after having given up his lifeboat seat and turning to the bottle to ease his ailments, also climbs aboard. The men are eventually saved by another boat. In the boat, a female passenger mentions her baby in a cracking voice, implying she was the lost boy's mother.

The ''Carpathia'' arrives and rescues the survivors. On the ship, Murphy and Gallagher are reunited with the Polish girl and her mother, while Mrs. Farrel and Mrs. Lucas mourn the loss of their husbands. After a group prayer, Rostron informs Lightoller how many were saved (705) and lost (1,500). The ''Carpathia'' receives a message from the ''Californian'', which heard of the disaster, but informs them that anything humanly possible has been done. A shaken Lightoller tells Col. Gracie, "It's still unbelievable. I don't think I'll ever feel sure again about anything."

The film's closing message states: "But this is not the end of the story - for their sacrifice was not in vain. Today there are lifeboats for all. Unceasing radio vigil and, in the North Atlantic, the International Ice Patrol guards the sea lanes making them safe for the peoples of the world."

The novel opens on 13 May 1876 with a university student, Pyotr Kokorin, committing suicide in the public park in front of a beautiful young noblewoman, Elizaveta von Evert-Kolokoltseva. His will leaves his large fortune to the newly opened Moscow chapter of Astair House, an international network of schools for orphan boys founded by an English noblewoman, Lady Astair. The apparently open-and-shut suicide case falls to inexperienced 20-year-old detective Erast Fandorin. He interviews Elizaveta, and immediately falls in love with her. Further investigation reveals that Kokorin was playing Russian roulette (called "American roulette" in the novel) with another university student, Akhtyrtsev.

Fandorin tails Akhtyrtsev, who leads him to a sensuous dark-haired woman, Amalia Bezhetskaya, whom Fandorin recognizes from a picture in Kokorin's room. He follows Bezhetskaya to her home, where she spends her time toying with the many men who come to visit. At Bezhetskaya's home, Fandorin meets Count Zurov, an Army officer that Amalia seems fond of, and sees Akhtyrtsev again. Akhtyrtsev and Fandorin leave Amalia's house together to go drinking, and Akhtyrtsev reveals to Fandorin that the Russian roulette game between him and Kokorin was Bezhetskaya's idea. Just as the mystery of Kokorin's suicide seems to be solved, a mysterious white-eyed assassin stabs Akhtyrstev to death and tries to kill Fandorin, only to fail when his knife bounces off the corset Fandorin is wearing. As he kills Akhtyrtsev, the white-eyed man hisses one word: "Azazel".

The murder of Akhtyrtsev brings a great deal of attention to what had seemed a routine case. Fandorin gets a new boss, Ivan Brilling, a sophisticated detective familiar with modern investigative techniques. Brilling believes that the murder is the work of a terrorist organization called "Azazel" that is operating in Moscow. He sends Fandorin off to interview Lady Astair, whose Astair House has now acquired Akhtyrtsev's fortune along with Kokorin's, because both students left all their assets to Astair House after Amalia Bezhetskaya encouraged them to do so. Fandorin argues that this, at least in theory, gave Lady Astair a motive to want their deaths. However, tt their meeting Lady Astair is helpful to Fandorin, who leaves her school convinced of her innocence and impressed by her charitable mission.

Next, Fandorin investigates Count Zurov. After Fandorin beats Zurov at cards, the count challenges him to a duel, but it turns out to be a practical joke on Fandorin, and the count befriends him. Zurov, believing Fandorin to be as much in love with Amalia as he is, and wishing that Fandorin will win her heart so that Zurov can let her go, reveals to Fandorin that she is staying at the Winter Queen Hotel in London.

Fandorin journeys to London, where he tracks down Bezhetskaya to a house in town. He sneaks into her room after she leaves it and finds a paper that appears to be a list of Azazel members all over the world, many of whom hold high ranks in government or the military. Fandorin is about to leave when Bezhetskaya catches him in her room. They struggle, a shot goes off in the dark, and Fandorin flees, believing that he has killed Amalia.

He has not, however, because Amalia and her henchmen kidnap Fandorin from his hotel room. Amalia leaves her henchmen to kill Fandorin, and they are about to do so when Count Zurov appears out of nowhere and saves Fandorin's life. Zurov admits to Fandorin that jealousy over Amalia led him to follow Fandorin to London. Fandorin assures Zurov that he is no rival for Amalia, and Zurov leaves to either kill her or "take her away somewhere".

Meanwhile, Fandorin hurriedly leaves for St. Petersburg to intercept the letter that Amalia has mailed to her Azazel contact there. He succeeds, and sees the letter delivered to Gerald Cunningham, a teacher at the Moscow Astair House. Fandorin reports this to Brilling, and they go together to arrest Cunningham—but Brilling shoots Cunningham dead, and reveals to Fandorin that he is also an agent of Azazel. Fandorin and Brilling struggle, and Brilling is killed.

Fandorin travels back to Moscow to continue the investigation. While on the way, he meets Elizaveta on the train, and finds out that she is as smitten by him as he is by her. Upon arrival in Moscow, he once again goes to see Lady Astair and asks her if she knows anything about Cunningham's activities with Azazel. While talking to Lady Astair, Fandorin suddenly realizes that Cunningham was too young to have started Azazel, and that Lady Astair is the real criminal mastermind.

Lady Astair confesses to Fandorin, admitting that she is the head of Azazel. She tells him that her Astair Houses are part of a plot to train bright young orphan boys to serve her and her group, which plans to eventually take over the world. She then tells one of her servants, the German professor Blank, to give Fandorin a lobotomy so that they may retrain him as a member of Azazel, but Fandorin escapes and confronts Lady Astair, who is waiting for him with a bomb. Lady Astair traps him with her, but after Fandorin begs for his life, she lets him go in return for a promise to not hunt down her "children" from the Astair Houses. Lady Astair then appears to commit suicide with her bomb.

Fandorin, however, is ordered to help the campaign to root out members of Azazel in Russia, which he does. His guilt at breaking his promise mars his happiness on the day of his wedding to Elizaveta. After the newly married couple retreat to their hotel suite, a messenger brings Fandorin a package. Fandorin walks to the window and sees the messenger frantically running into a carriage driven by the white-eyed assassin that earlier tried to kill Fandorin. Fandorin jumps out his window in an attempt to arrest the killer, and thus escapes the bomb, which blows up and kills his young bride. The novel ends with a dazed Fandorin walking the streets of Moscow, his hair having turned gray at the temples due to his shock over his wife's death.

Mark Bradley (Richards) is a radio commentator whose pilot, Joe Walker (Smith), is flying him across the South Pacific to a conference in Australia.

Engine trouble develops, and Walker must make a forced landing on the beach of a small, uncharted island inhabited by Dr. Paul Lujan (Napier). On the island with Lujan are his three naive daughters, who have never known another man except their father.

Lujan, unfriendly to the point of hostility, orders the intruders to leave his island, but one of their aircraft's two engines is too badly damaged for them to be able to comply without first making repairs. He grants them a couple days in order to do so. In the meantime he grudgingly introduces Bradley and Walker to his trio of young, beautiful daughters, Venus (Stevenson), Urana (Jergens), and Mercuria (Blair). The two men soon learn that Dr. Lujan was an atomic scientist who fled the civilized world with his family because he fears the havoc being caused by the discovery of nuclear energy.

To the doctor's disapproval, his two older daughters easily fall in love with the two attractive strangers and try to help them, while the third, 16 and jealous of her sisters, tries to foil their plans. This forces them to make a choice between staying on the island with their father or returning with the two men to a civilization they have only experienced via short wave radio broadcasts. When Bradley mentions that he plans on doing a radio broadcast about Lujan and his island location after he returns to civilization, the doctor begins to scheme a way to keep the men and his daughters on the island.

The novel's hero is the Army Colonel Keith Landry, who served as an infantry platoon leader with the First Cavalry Division and fought in Vietnam. Later on he transferred to the Army Intelligence and served as an intelligence officer and operative for almost 25 years. After the end of the cold war is over Landry retires and moves back to Spencerville, the small Midwestern town where he grew up. The town changed over the years but two people are still there: Annie Prentis, his first love, and her possessive husband Cliff Baxter. Landry wants to get Annie back and that means a confrontation with Baxter, once the high school bully, and now Spencerville corrupt police chief.

Murders are happening all over the huge reservation, and Lt. Leaphorn can see no pattern. Then, someone makes an attempt on Jim Chee's life, and the two work together for the first time to solve these crimes.

The novel won two awards, the 1988 Anthony Award for Best Novel and the 1987 Spur Award for Best Western Novel. Reviews at the time of publication praised it highly: "Hillerman brings together his two series characters--middle-aged, cynical Lieut. Joe Leaphorn and young, mystical Officer Jim Chee--without in any way diminishing the stark power and somber integrity that have distinguished previous exploits of the Navajo Tribal Police." The writing is "lively and extremely descriptive" and author Hillerman was "a master of character, scene, and plot". A ''New York Times'' review called this the breakout novel for Hillerman, when sales began to surge and recognition increased.

Jim Chee wakes from restless sleep about 2:30 am, hearing the cat enter through the cat door into his trailer. When Chee is out of bed, three shotgun blasts come through the trailer wall over his bed, tearing apart his mattress instead of him. In daylight, he finds where a vehicle leaking oil had parked in the night and the footprints of a small person. This is added to the list of unsolved homicides facing Lt. Joe Leaphorn, who asks that Chee be assigned full-time to aid him in solving the homicides of Irma Onesalt, Dugai Endocheeney, and Wilson Sam, and to find who shot at Chee. Captain Largo agrees.

The first connection among these homicides comes when they learn that Endocheeney received a letter from the office where Irma Onesalt worked. Then Leaphorn learns of the list of people for whom she sought death dates, though some on the list were alive when she was posing her question. Leaphorn and Chee learn to communicate effectively with each other, as they pursue the investigation. Chee sleeps away from his trailer bed, fearing a repeat attack until the culprit is found. The next link among the cases is small bone beads, made from a long-dead bovine. One was in the shotgun shells that entered Chee's trailer; another was in the knife wounds that killed Endocheeney; and one was found in Bistie's wallet when he was taken in for questioning.

Leaphorn and Chee go to Bistie's home to talk again, after he was set free by public defender Janet Pete. No one is home, evidence exists of someone recently dragged out of the hogan. As they follow tracks outdoors, someone shoots Leaphorn in his right arm. After he is taken to the hospital at Gallup, Chee and other officers follow the drag marks to find Bistie's corpse, dead from two gunshots to the chest, likely from the same gun that hit Leaphorn's arm. Chee observes a small mark above the bullet wounds on Bistie's body, likely from a crystal gazer who made a cut and claimed to take bone from his body, telling Bistie it was from a skinwalker. They do not catch the shooter. Chee gets two letters. One is from Mary Landon saying she will not return to the reservation. The other is from a client for a Blessing Way ceremony, a pleasing prospect.

The belief or superstition of skinwalkers involves the skinwalker somewhat magically blowing a bit of bone into a victim, who will die unless the skinwalker is killed. Bistie's daughter thinks her father had been trying to kill a skinwalker, to regain his own life, which would end soon by untreatable liver cancer. She did not call the public defender for her father. Janet Pete says Mr. Curtis Atcitty called her, but Bistie told her he knew no such man. Pete thinks this Atcitty used her to get Bistie out of jail both before he might talk to the police and so he could be killed. Another client, Irma Onesalt, was shot 10 days after she approached Pete for help on her list.

Leaphorn learns from Shorty McGinnis that Wilson Sam had received a letter from Irma Onesalt about two months earlier, making enough links among the victims for Leaphorn. He brings Emma to the hospital for tests. Chee visits the Badwater Clinic, learning of the argument between Onesalt and Yellowhorse from Mrs. Billie at the desk. He then proceeds to his meeting at Dinebito Wash with Alice Yazzie to arrange the Blessing Way ceremony. Captain Largo knows where Chee is; Leaphorn pursues him after learning that it is an empty home where the meeting is set up. Leaphorn meets Lenny Skeet in Piñon, where they both drive to the hogan. Chee realizes too late that he has been set up. A young mother shoots him in the back with her automatic shotgun as he runs. With the door of the hogan between them, she tells him he is a skinwalker who marked her baby for death. She tells him Dr. Yellowhorse told her Chee was a witch, a sorcerer. He tells her he is not. Lenny Skeet and Leaphorn arrive to find Chee barely alive in that hogan. They bring him to Badwater Clinic, where he murmurs, "Woman, baby dying", before his treatment began.

Dr. Vigil tells Leaphorn that Emma has a brain tumor. Surgery will reveal its status, and tell the odds of her surviving the tumor, forcing him to accept hope again. Then, the reason for the homicides falls into place, and he must get from Gallup to Badwater Clinic, because Dr. Yellowhorse, the man who wants to improve health of the Navajo people, will kill Chee. Yellowhorse assumed Chee would figure out his scheme, as Irma Onesalt had. Yellowhorse was cheating by claiming reimbursements months after patients died at the clinic or went home healthy, so she had to be killed. Yellowhorse returns to the clinic and goes straight for Chee, both threatening Chee's life and confessing what he did. The woman, the grieving mother arrives next with her shotgun, and kills Yellowhorse, the skinwalker, just as Leaphorn arrives. Yellowhorse first arranged for men to be killed whose names were on Irma Onesalt's list. Then, he had her killed and next set the bereaved mother toward Chee. Agent Streib is already working on tracing the financial crimes. They guess he will not think to trace down which patients Yellowhorse persuaded to kill the four victims, as the mother attacked Chee, but that is okay, it is over.

A man gives his girlfriend an ultimatum: to drop her career to start a family or he will leave her. She begins to question the relationship realizing maybe she was dense.

Amelia Peabody is introduced in the series' first novel, ''Crocodile on the Sandbank'' as a confirmed spinster, suffragist, and scholar, living in England in 1884. She inherits a fortune from her father and leaves England to see the world, with the side benefit of escaping various suitors and family members who were neither aware that she would be the sole beneficiary of her father's estate nor that he had amassed a small fortune over the course of his lifetime.

In Rome, Amelia meets Evelyn Barton-Forbes, a young Englishwoman of social standing who has run off with (and subsequently been abandoned by) her Italian lover, and the two make their way to Egypt. There they meet the Emerson brothers, Egyptologist Radcliffe and his philologist brother Walter. Over the course of the first book the couples pair up: Amelia marries Radcliffe (referred to throughout the series by his last name "Emerson"), and Evelyn marries Walter.

Following the birth of their son Ramses (né Walter) Emerson ("as swarthy as an Egyptian and as arrogant as a Pharaoh"), the Emersons initially settle in Kent, from where Emerson commutes to a job lecturing in Egyptology at university in London. Despite Amelia's suggestions that he resume seasonal digs in Egypt, Emerson insists on staying in England with his family while Ramses is too young to travel.

Peabody and Emerson return to Egypt at least once without Ramses (''The Curse of the Pharaohs'') in 1892 before deciding to bring him along on their annual digs (''The Mummy Case''), beginning in the 1894-95 season. Amelia's desire to explore pyramids is countered by Emerson's refusal to be diplomatic with the Egyptian Service d'Antiquites, resulting in the loss of their ''firman'' (permit) to excavate at one of the major pyramid fields, and instead being awarded Mazghuna, a minor pyramid field southwest of Cairo.

While the Emersons are excavating at Mazghuna, they encounter an enigmatic criminal mastermind who runs an illicit underground antiquities trade, stealing artifacts from tombs, which puts him at odds with the Emersons. Amelia initially calls him "The Master Criminal," although his ''nom de guerre'' is eventually revealed to be Sethos. Sethos is initially presented as a rival to Emerson for Amelia's affections, but later becomes an important part of the Emerson's large circle of friends, allies, and acquaintances in later books when it is revealed that he is Emerson's theretofore unknown half-brother, Seth.

The Emerson family expands again during the 1897-1898 season while on an archaeological expedition to Nubia. The family encounters a hitherto unknown civilization in a remote wadi in the desert (''The Last Camel Died at Noon''), becomes embroiled in turbulent politics, and discovers Nefret Forth, the daughter of a long-presumed dead explorer. Nefret returns to England with the Emersons and becomes their ward.

Another key character is introduced in the 1899-1900 season (''The Hippopotamus Pool''), that of David Todros, the son of Abdullah's estranged daughter and her Christian husband. David is living in a state of semi-slavery, working for a forger of antiquities. A key character in that novel, he is later taken in by Evelyn and Walter Emerson as a ward. David later marries Evelyn and Walter's daughter Amelia (known as Lia to avoid confusion with her aunt).

The introduction of Nefret initiates a running story arc of sexual tension between her and Ramses. This becomes an important part of the plot in a subset of four books beginning with ''Seeing a Large Cat'', coinciding with the introduction of "excerpts from Manuscript H" in which the younger generation of the family begins a parallel narration to Amelia's. Among the pitfalls in this story arc is the arrival of Sennia, a young girl initially suspected to be Ramses' illegitimate daughter with a local prostitute. Sennia's arrival, and the suspicions about Ramses that it raises, precipitates Nefret's brief marriage to another man. Sennia is revealed to be the child of Amelia's nephew Percival, first seen in ''Deeds of the Disturber'', who is reintroduced as an adult in a villainous role for several volumes beginning with ''The Falcon at the Portal''. Sennia is adopted by the Emersons, who take her back to England at the conclusion of the volume.

The tension between Ramses and Nefret is finally resolved in ''He Shall Thunder in the Sky'', with their marriage taking place at the end of that book and recounted in flashback sequences in the next. The two eventually have three children: a set of fraternal twins (a son, David John, and a daughter, Charlotte, or "Charla"), and an unnamed daughter born after the current conclusion of the series. It is through the youngest daughter that John Tregarth, a character in Peters's Vicky Bliss series, is descended from the Emerson-Peabodys.

Additional characters in the series include members of the large Egyptian family who support the Emersons in their digs. The head of the family is Abdullah ibn al-Wahhab, Emerson's ''reis'' or foreman, who supervises their archaeological digs. Abdullah has several children, among them his youngest son, Selim, who, originally assigned as a bodyguard of sorts for Ramses (''The Mummy Case''), eventually replaces his father as ''reis'' (dig supervisor). Abdullah's daughter-in-law, Khadijah, her cooking, and her green healing poultice (which is effective, although its exact contents are never quite determined) are frequently mentioned. After Abdullah's death (''The Ape Who Guards the Balance'') the character appears to Amelia in dreams as a spiritual guide (although it is left ambiguous whether his appearance is a manifestation of Amelia's own subconsciousness or supernatural in nature).

Chronologically, the latest book in the series (''Tomb of the Golden Bird'')) takes place in 1922-23, around the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb.

In their bedroom asleep one night, Bonnie and Lieth Von Stein are violently attacked and stabbed by home intruders. Bonnie barely survives, but her husband does not.

The investigation into who could do such a thing, and for what purpose, takes an unexpected twist when Bonnie's son Chris Pritchard becomes a prime suspect in the case. Police theorize that it is possible Chris provided two friends from school, Henderson and Upchurch, with a detailed map to the Von Stein family's home, resulting in his mother and stepfather being assaulted while Chris was away at college and his sister Angela asleep in her own bedroom at home.

The savagery of the crime and the absurdity of the charge leads Bonnie to hire attorney Bill Osteen to represent Chris, in as much as she finds it impossible that he could have played a role in her husband's murder. The more police investigate, however, the more Osteen tries to prepare Bonnie that her son may indeed be involved, and that even Angela may know more than she has been telling.

In the near future, a newly created device called the "DC Mini" allows the user to view people's dreams. The head of the team working on this treatment, Doctor Atsuko Chiba, begins using the machine illegally to help psychiatric patients outside the research facility, by assuming her dream world alter-ego/other personality "Paprika". Chiba's closest allies are Doctor Toratarō Shima, the chief of the department, and Doctor Kōsaku Tokita, the inventor of the DC Mini.

Paprika counsels Detective Toshimi Konakawa, who is plagued by a recurring dream. She gives Konakawa a card with the name of a website on it. Because they are unfinished prototypes, the DC Minis lack access restrictions, allowing anyone to enter another person's dreams, which poses grave consequences when they are stolen. Shima goes on a nonsensical tirade and jumps through a window, nearly killing himself. Upon examining Shima's dream, which is a parade of random objects, Tokita recognizes his assistant, Kei Himuro, which confirms their suspicion that the theft was an inside job.

When two other scientists fall victim to the DC Mini, the company's chairman, Doctor Seijirō Inui, who was against the project to begin with, bans the use of the device. This fails to hinder the crazed parade, now inside Himuro's dream, which claims Tokita. Paprika and Shima discover that Himuro is only an empty shell. The real culprit is Inui, who believes that he must protect dreams from humankind's influence through dream therapy, with the help of Doctor Morio Osanai.

Paprika is captured by the pair after an exhausting chase. Osanai admits his love for Chiba and peels away Paprika's skin to reveal Chiba underneath. However, he is interrupted by the outraged Inui who demands that they finish off Chiba; as the two share Osanai's body, they battle for control. Konakawa enters the dream and flees with Chiba back into his own recurring dream. Osanai gives chase, which ends in Konakawa shooting Osanai to take control of the dream. The act kills Osanai's physical body in the real world.

Dreams and reality begin to merge. The dream parade runs amok in the city, and reality starts to unravel. Shima is nearly killed by a giant Japanese doll, but is saved by Paprika, who has become separate from Chiba. Amidst the chaos, Tokita, in the form of a giant robot, eats Chiba and prepares to do the same to Paprika. A ghostly apparition of Chiba appears and reveals that she has been in love with Tokita and has been repressing these emotions. She comes to terms with her repressed desires, reconciling herself with the part of her that is Paprika. Inui returns in the form of a giant humanoid nightmare, reveals his twisted dreams of omnipotence, and threatens to darken the world with his delusions. Paprika throws herself into Tokita's body. A baby emerges from the robotic shell and consumes Inui, aging into a fully-grown combination of Chiba and Paprika as she does so, then fades away, ending the nightmare.

In the final scene, Chiba sits at Tokita's bedside as he wakes up. Later, Konakawa visits the website from Paprika's card and receives a message from Paprika: "Atsuko will change her surname to Tokita...and I suggest watching the movie ''Dreaming Kids''." Konakawa enters a movie theater and purchases a ticket for ''Dreaming Kids''.

The story takes place in Breckenridge, Georgia, where 14-year-old Connor Strong (Lucas Black) becomes deeply attached to a young chestnut colt named Flash, which is up for sale by one of Connor's neighbors. Determined to own the horse, he talks it over with his family, which is composed of his widower father David (Brian Kerwin) and his Grandmother Laura (Ellen Burstyn). As the family is struggling financially, Connor is disappointed to learn they don't have the $500 needed to purchase the horse. Connor takes a job at the local grocery store in an attempt to raise the money to buy Flash.

Meanwhile, their continuing pattern of falling behind on their mortgage payments troubles David to the point that he considers taking a job in the merchant marines, a job he'd held several years earlier which yields a $25,000 payout, which includes a $5,000 signing bonus. When discussing this with Laura, he's elated at the prospect of getting ahead in terms of finances, but is dismayed by the thought of being away at sea for five months, remembering a promise he'd made to his late wife that he'd never leave Connor. Despite all this, David takes the job, and with a portion of the signing bonus, buys Flash for Connor.

While Flash and Connor bond instantly, things quickly begin to unravel after David leaves. The signing bonus David had intended to provide for Connor and Laura during his absence is seized by the bank for past due bills, forcing Laura to take a job at the local textile mill. The mill is owned by Alfred Rutherford, Breckenridge's wealthiest resident. While working for the grocery store, Connor delivers groceries to the Rutherford's home, where he meets their son Tad, who is the same age as Connor, and the two quickly become friends. However, the conditions at the mill prove to be detrimental to Laura's health and she suffers a heart attack while on shift, and dies not long afterward. Left on his own, Connor takes on making the arrangements for Laura's funeral, and in his determination to honor the woman who'd raised him since his mother died, he sells Flash to the Rutherfords to give to Tad in order to pay the expenses.

In order to stay near Flash, Connor volunteers to work in the stables for free, and after his house is boarded up by the bank, the Rutherford's groundskeeper gives him a room in the stables. Meanwhile, things for Flash do not go smoothly either. While Tad adores the horse, his father treats Flash very harshly while trying to train him as a racehorse, while at the same time berating Tad for not pushing him hard enough. Upset by this and longing for his father's approval, Tad whips Flash many times, and after calming down he goes to see Flash to apologize. However, Flash responds in a defensive way, injuring Tad. Outraged, Alfred threatens to put Flash down, causing Connor to take Flash and run away.

Labeled as a horse thief and with the sheriff looking for him, Connor's only option is to reach his father, who is scheduled to return in New York in only a few days. Regardless of the time limit, Connor and Flash begin to head north. After four days he makes it to North Carolina, and after winning a horse race at a county fair, he uses the winnings to pay for train tickets for him and Flash, except the money is only enough to get them as far as Trenton, New Jersey. Despite injuring his leg during the train trip, Flash pushes through to get Connor to New York in time, where he catches David immediately after leaving the ship and receiving the rest of his pay.

With the story of Connor and Flash's journey making headlines, they are greeted with a heroes' welcome upon their return to Breckenridge, along with an infuriated Alfred Rutherford, who threatens to have Connor arrested and have Flash put down. Tad, however, stands up to his father, reminding him the horse actually belongs to him, as well as admitting Flash hurting him was his own fault and that Connor was justified in his actions. After calming his father's nerves, Tad gives Flash back to Connor, and alongside his father, Connor takes Flash home.

Three friends, Angela Silver (SnowAngel), Zoe Barrett (zoegirl), and Madigan "Maddie" Kinnick (mad maddie) are just starting tenth grade of high school. At the beginning of the book, the trio, who refer to themselves as the "winsome threesome," believe that they will stick together forever. Zoe wants something meaningful and big to happen in her life, Angela knows it is going to be a fabulous year and that she is going to meet the boy of her dreams, and Maddie can't help but feel low and down on herself. When Angela discovers that Rob Tyler is in her French class, she develops a crush on him. Maddie notices how mean Jana Whitaker, the school's queen bee, is to her and to other students. Rob finally asks Angela out and the two have a fun time together, which is how Angela describes it. Later, she reveals to her friends that Rob is "the one", as in the one she goes all the way with. The next day, Angela is unable to go on a planned date with Rob since her mother grounded her for going to a bar without permission. Angela then learns that Rob went out with Tonnie Wyndham while she had to stay home. Rob apologizes and states that Tonnie refused to let him call Angela. Days later, Rob goes on another date (while he was supposed to be on a date with Angela and left her waiting) with Tonnie and says that she asked him out and he didn't know how to say no. Angela breaks up with him after this. Zoe has been experiencing favoritism in one of her classes by a young teacher who gives her special attention. She struggles when the line of appropriateness becomes blurred, she needs her friends a time when Maddie's new friendship with Jana is creating fractures in the friend group. Maddie gives Jana a ride home (when she was supposed to give Angela a ride) and Angela gets mad at her too. For Halloween, the trio plan to go trick or treating as mold, fungus and dust. When Halloween arrives, though, Maddie ditches her friends and doesn't show up. Instead she goes to a party with Jana Whitaker and ends up getting really drunk and taking her shirt off and dancing exposed in front of guys, which Jana photographs without Maddie's permission. They all go through their ups and downs of tenth grade.

It is prior to the American entry into World War II, and Japan's fiendish Black Dragon Society is hatching an evil plot with the Nazis. They instruct a brilliant scientist, Dr. Melcher, to travel to Japan on a secret mission. There he operates on six Japanese conspirators, transforming them to resemble six American leaders. The actual leaders are murdered and replaced with their likenesses. Dr. Melcher is condemned to a lifetime of imprisonment so the secret may die with him.

Prior to delivering a cargo to the nearby planet Xathru, Jordan McKell, a smuggler for a crime lord nicknamed Brother John and his shadowy boss, Mr. Antoniewicz, is on the planet Meima with his partner, Ixil, a member of an alien species called the Kalixiri. McKell is offered a job by a man named Alexander Borodin, whom he recognizes as the famous industrialist and sometime-archaeologist Arno Cameron. Cameron wants McKell to pilot the ship ''Icarus'', which is carrying a very important cargo in its sealed storage core, to Earth.

McKell accepts the job and instructs Ixil to continue on to Xathru, intending to pick him up there. He and Ixil theorize that Cameron's archaeological dig on Meima had uncovered an advanced, alien stardrive, which he intends to be brought to Earth by the ''Icarus''. While waiting to board the ''Icarus'', McKell becomes acquainted with the rest of the ''Icarus''' rag-tag crew, all of whom are complete strangers to him and to each other. At the last minute, they are informed that Cameron is unable to accompany them, and are forced to set out on their voyage without their employer.

One of the crewers is killed in an accident a few hours later, and a series of other bizarre occurrences leads McKell to believe that they have a saboteur aboard; he begins keeping a wary eye on the crew. He stops as planned on Xathru to pick up Ixil and contact Brother John, who gives him a reluctant go-ahead to carry on with the voyage. While on Xathru, he is assaulted by a pair of strange aliens who say they want the ''Icarus''' cargo.

McKell escapes and pilots the ''Icarus'' to a planet called Dorscind's World. Convinced that the ''Icarus'' is carrying something far more important than he'd originally supposed, and that they are being hunted, he lands the ''Icarus'' under a false name. He then attempts to make contact with his benefactor, "Uncle Arthur", both to inform him of his current situation and to get information from him about his crewmembers and about Cameron's activities. Before he can get a call through, he is confronted by an old acquaintance, who tells him that there is now a reward out for knowledge of his whereabouts and attempts to extort money from him in exchange for not turning him in.

McKell realizes that the ''Icarus'' is being hunted by the Patth (an alien race who have a near-monopoly on the galaxy's shipping industry, due to their unique stardrives, which are several times faster than those of any other race). He becomes suspicious that the ''Icarus'' isn't ''carrying'' the recently discovered alien stardrive; instead, he thinks the ''Icarus'' itself ''is'' the alien stardrive. If this stardrive were to remain outside Patth hands, it could spell the doom of the Patth economic empire.

There are more scattered sabotage incidents aboard the ship, leading McKell to believe that one of the crewers is a Patth agent. He requests background information on all of them from Uncle Arthur, which is delivered to him when the ship stops at the planet Morsh Pon. McKell and Ixil discover that the ship's computer tech, Tera, is in fact the daughter of Arno Cameron. They also discover that Cameron himself had been aboard the ship, hidden in the area between the inner and outer hulls; he had unexpectedly jumped ship, however, during one of the fuel stops.

The ''Icarus'' successfully evades an attack off the planet Utheno, and McKell decides to make a break for Earth, outrunning the Patth by using the alien stardrive. This requires dismantling a good deal of the ship; while exploring deep inside the ''Icarus''' interior, McKell discovers by accident that the ''Icarus'' is not a stardrive at all; it is actually a stargate (a hitherto-theoretical interstellar-teleportation device), and Arno Cameron, instead of jumping ship as they had supposed, had instead been temporarily stuck at the stargate's other end.

A forced landing on the planet Palmary leads to McKell being captured by the Patth; he is rescued, however, by some of the crew. They decide to take temporary refuge at the isolated planet Beyscrim. There, they are confronted by Antoniewicz, and it is revealed that Antoniewicz, through the crewmember Everett, had engineered most of the sabotage incidents, believing that McKell was no longer loyal to him and intending to bring him back into line. Then, recognizing the ''Icarus''' value, he had decided to take it for himself, and maneuvered the ''Icarus'' and its crew into coming to Beyscrim.

Antoniewicz's plans are thwarted, however, with the arrival of a Kalixiri commando force that had been sent by Uncle Arthur. In the end, McKell reveals that he and Ixil are not smugglers, but instead members of a military intelligence organization who had been assigned to infiltrate Antoniewicz's operation. McKell had been on Meima under orders from Uncle Arthur, his superior, to find Cameron and help him out of whatever trouble he was in, with taking the job as the ''Icarus''' pilot a maneuver to that end; landing the ''Icarus'' on Beyscrim had merely been bait to bring Antoniewicz out of his cover.

The book concludes with the crew celebrating their rescue, while Cameron makes plans for smuggling the ''Icarus'' back to Earth for research.

A secondary plot thread (and a complication of the main plot) involves a chemical dependency (possibly related to a rare and fatal neurological disease) of one of the crewmen.

On the Isle of Wight, a train accident on the Island Line means that the main hospital, St. James's, is completely full and unable to take in any more patients. A smaller and older hospital, Mercy Falls, is being closed down, but some of the patients, including the children's ward, need to remain at the site until there is availability elsewhere.

One of the children, Maggie, an orphan suffering from severe cystic fibrosis, tells the night nurse, Susan, that she has seen "her" again, frightening Susan. Another child, Simon, suffers a broken leg and is rushed to the X-ray department. No one knows how his leg broke but as Simon lies on the X-ray table, his femur inexplicably suffers a second fracture.

Susan leaves the hospital on sick leave and Amy Nicholls replaces her. Amy bonds with Maggie as both are orphans. Maggie explains to Amy that there is a girl called Charlotte who lives in the abandoned ward upstairs. Roy, the operations manager, explains to Amy that Charlotte is an urban legend that has been seen by several children over the past two decades. Simon later tells Amy that Charlotte is the one who broke his leg. Amy visits Susan to ask why she left but learns that Susan died in an accident. She meets two local psychics, who explain that Charlotte can only be seen by those who are close to death.

Back at Mercy Falls, the children watch Sleeping Beauty and Maggie says that true love's kiss has special power. Amy looks at the files of the other children who'd mentioned Charlotte. All of these children are deceased; Amy realizes that Maggie must be close to death. Later, Roy is killed by Charlotte after she causes him to have a major nose bleed then violently forces him backward through a window.

Amy goes up to the second floor through a hidden trapdoor. She finds an old photograph of a girl in a wheelchair with a nurse and a film-reel which shows the girl on a medical treatment for osteogenesis imperfecta or "brittle bone disease". The photograph is labelled, "Charlotte and Mandy, 1959." Charlotte begins to appear in front of a metal door shown as a grey tall figure with braces on her legs. Maggie saves Amy, dropping her favorite blanket, "Mr. Sleepy" in the process. Amy and Dr. Robert view the film and Robert explains the disease Charlotte suffered from was a sickness that causes the patient's bones to be susceptible to fractures. Doctors had built metal, orthotic braces for Charlotte to wear, in the hopes of strengthening her bones. Amy now believes Charlotte is the angry ghost of the little girl who is hurting the children. She searches the records but no child called Charlotte existed.

Amy finally learns why the upstairs ward is closed. The nurse caring for the little girl had become obsessed with her. When the treatments began to work and the child improved, she started purposely breaking the girl's bones and eventually murdered the child. She then put on the child's metal, orthotic braces and leapt down an elevator shaft, to her death. Robert shows Amy a file he found which proves that "Mandy" is the child's name and "Charlotte" is in fact, the obsessed nurse. Amy realizes Charlotte wants the children.

The hospital starts falling apart because of Charlotte's rage as the staff desperately try to evacuate the children, assisted by additional staff from St. James's. As help arrives, Amy realises that everything is suddenly calm, and Mrs. Folder says that Maggie is missing. Amy realises that Maggie went to get her 'Mr Sleepy' and runs to the abandoned ward. Weak and exhausted, Maggie is in Mandy's old room. Despite Charlotte's presence, Amy determinedly picks up Maggie and tries to reach the trapdoor but Charlotte causes the floor to destabilise and Amy's leg is impaled by a piece of metal, causing major bleeding. As the two escape the second floor by jumping through the trapdoor, Maggie succumbs to her illness and stops breathing. Despite Amy's desperate attempts, the little girl dies in her arms. Amy then also collapses from blood loss.

Robert futilely tries to revive her with a defibrillator but Amy's heart stops beating. As the medical team step back, we see Maggie's ghost give Amy a "pure love" kiss, similar to the one she watched in Sleeping Beauty earlier, and Amy begins to breathe again. The movie ends as Amy wakes up in a different hospital with Robert at her side. An elderly patient notices Maggie's smiling ghost sitting on Amy's bedside - staying close to what she loved best in life.

The game's setting is a medieval fantasy world similar to that of sword-and-sorcery high fantasy such as ''The Lord of the Rings''. The demons and abominations of nature who reside in the underground kingdom of Cadash have not forgotten that, thousands of years previously, they once shared the light with humans. Then one rose among them who was especially powerful, a demonic wizard born of a human woman – the Balrog (Baarogue or Baalogue in the arcade version, and Barlog in the TurboGrafx version). The Balrog promised his followers they could, in time, emerge from their subterranean prison and rule the world of men, taking revenge on humans for their prior defeat in battle and subsequent exile, if the Balrog could mingle his blood with that of a human king. The Balrog and his demonic armies gathered in force over the centuries, and are now powerful enough to emerge to the surface and make war with the unprepared human kingdoms which had not known war for millennia, all of which quickly fall to the Balrog. The human world is almost entirely laid to waste by the Balrog. However, this was not enough for the Balrog, whose prize is the mightiest of all human kingdoms, the Kingdom of Dirzir. One night, the beautiful Princess Salassa is kidnapped by the Balrog from the Keep of Deerzar, the capital city of Dirzir, and taken underground to the dreaded Castle Cadash. There the Balrog plans to initiate the ritual which would magically bind himself to the human princess, becoming all-powerful and invincible. Dilsarl, the distraught and helpless elderly King of Dirzir, has vowed to give his entire kingdom to the one who would rescue his beloved only daughter, and many brave heroes have disappeared into the depths of Cadash on this quest.

A timid insurance salesman Albert L. Tuttle (Jack Haley) visits eccentric millionaire Cyrus J. Rutherford, intent on selling him a $200,000 insurance deal. Instead he finds that Rutherford has recently died and his mansion is now full of relatives who are, according to the will, all bound to remain in the mansion until a glass-domed vault is constructed on the roof, to house the deceased millionaire who was an ardent follower of the stars. Tuttle is mistaken for a private detective sent to guard the body, and once the confusion is cleared up and the real detective fails to show, he is persuaded by Rutherford's niece Carol Dunlap (Jean Parker) to remain and ensure that the body is not stolen. If the body should be buried any place other than the vault, the will states that recipients who would receive the largest request will receive the smallest, and vice versa. One of the recipients plans to reverse the will in their favor, hide the body and kill anyone who gets in their way. Unfortunately for mild-mannered Tuttle, he is directly in the way of the killer, and the rest of the conniving family.

The Penderwicks, a family of six, (four sisters, their father, and their dog) get lost on the way to Arundel Cottage, which they have rented for the summer, but find their way with the help of a tomato seller named Harry, and Cagney, the gardener at Arundel.

After getting to the cottage, Skye goes exploring on the grounds, and meets Cagney in the garden. They talk until Mrs. Tifton, the owner of Arundel, comes looking for Cagney, and he hides Skye in an urn. Mrs. Tifton tells Cagney that he needs to get rid of the Fimbriata rosebush that his uncle kept alive for 30 years, but Skye and Cagney decide to move the bush to a place near the cottage. When Skye leaves, she runs into Mrs. Tifton's son Jeffrey, and, not knowing who he is, warns him to stay out of the garden and insults Mrs. Tifton.

After telling Rosalind and Jane what happened, Rosalind decides they need to apologize to Jeffrey, and they send Jane to apologize on Skye's behalf the next day. Jane and Jeffrey quickly become friends. Meanwhile, at the cottage, Rosalind and Skye attempt to bake cookies for Jeffrey, but when Cagney comes over with the Fimbriata, Rosalind goes to help him, leaving Skye in charge of the cookies. Skye sets the oven to "broil" and goes upstairs, letting the cookies burn. When Rosalind finds them, Skye yells at her, calling Jeffrey a snob - just as Jeffrey and Jane approach the house. Mr. Penderwick comes in and sends them all on a walk. Jeffrey takes them to see a neighboring farmer's bull, and Batty unknowingly wanders into its pen. Skye, Jane, and Jeffrey manage to save her from being attacked, and swear not to tell Mr. Penderwick or Rosalind about the incident. Later, everyone goes to Jeffrey's house for gingerbread. The cook, Churchie, wants Jeffrey to invite the girls to his birthday party and helps the girls choose beautiful dresses from among Mrs. Tifton's old clothes. The birthday party turns out to be a disaster. At dinner, Mrs. Tifton begins to despise the girls, and afterward they find out that Mrs. Tifton is planning to marry her boyfriend Dexter Dupree, and is considering sending Jeffrey to a military academy a year earlier than she had previously intended to.

After the party, life at Arundel falls into a routine: Skye, Jane, and Jeffrey play soccer and practice archery almost every day, and after Cagney offers to let Batty meet his pet rabbits, she and Rosalind visit his apartment every morning. When Rosalind is too busy to take Batty one day, she goes to visit the rabbits herself, and after being scared by Mrs. Tifton, she accidentally lets one escape. She attempts to find him, but can't, and feeling upset because Cagney told her the rabbit would be killed by an animal if it got loose, she decides to walk back to her house.

Hound the dog senses Batty is missing and runs away, with all the Penderwick sisters and Jeffrey following. He catches the escaped rabbit, and leads the older children to Batty, but right as they get to her, Batty walks into the street into the path of a car. Jeffrey pulls her out of the way. When the girls tell Mr. Penderwick what happened, he says that in some cultures, when a person saves another person's life, their souls are linked together.

A few days later, when Skye, Jane, and Jeffrey are playing soccer together, they run into the Arundel gardens, forgetting that the Garden Club Contest was happening, and Mrs. Tifton had warned them to stay out of the garden that day. She furiously forbids Jeffrey to ever see the Penderwicks again, but when she and Dexter are out, Skye and Batty go to the Arundel mansion to check on him. Dexter and Mrs. Tifton come home early and find Skye and Batty there. She kicks them out, but Skye goes back and listens to Mrs. Tifton lecturing Jeffrey to make sure he is okay. She overhears Mrs. Tifton call her sneaky and sarcastic and say that Rosalind is always following Cagney around like a lovesick puppy, and that if she continues, some man will "let himself be caught" and that will "end her innocence." Skye also hears that Mr. Penderwick is a pushover, she thinks Batty has a mental issue because of "her tacky wings and the odd way she stares without speaking," and that Mrs. Penderwick ran away from the family because she got tired of caring for all the girls. Skye loses her self-control, storms into the room, and tells Mrs. Tifton that her mother is dead before leaving.

That night, Skye tells Rosalind everything that happened, including the part about Rosalind's obsession with Cagney. Rosalind goes for a walk, sees Cagney with another girl, and falls into the pond, hitting her head on a rock. Cagney brings her home. Churchie calls Skye and tells her that Mrs. Tifton and Dexter took Jeffrey for an interview at the military school and delivers a message from Jeffrey telling Skye that it wasn't her fault. That night, Jeffrey comes over to the cottage and tells the girls that he is running away. He plans to stay with Churchie's daughter in Boston. Rosalind invites Jeffrey to stay with them for the night, and he accepts.

The next morning, Mrs. Tifton and Dexter come over to the cottage, trying to find Jeffrey. Jeffrey explains to Mrs. Tifton that he doesn't want to go to Pencey, and she finally listens to him. Even better, she lets him take a lesson at the Boston Music Conservatory. In the end, the Penderwicks go home, and Jeffrey, the rabbits, and everyone else is happy, except that they have to leave each other.

The actual story is classic Simmons in its literary allusions, with epigraphs from Ezra Pound's ''Cantos''; the protagonist's father is a Pound scholar with an especial interest in the ''Cantos'' (reading from it to his children), and the premise can be seen as deriving from a line in the ''Cantos'' as well.

The mother of the family has died of some unspecified illness. Stricken by grief, the father bargains (heedless of the prospect of financial ruin) with the "Resurrectionists" to have his wife's corpse technologically revived. The resurrection is a hollow one, as all higher cognitive functions are irreparably damaged, although it does function somewhat autonomously. Their family is stigmatized, and the father slowly breaks down and his classes become less and less popular until he takes a sabbatical to write his long-planned work on the ''Cantos''. He spends most of it drunk. Simon, the protagonist's brother, eventually commits suicide. A few years later, while the protagonist is at university (sponsored by the Resurrectionists, whom he has joined) the father commits suicide as well. He graduates and begins working for them and helping to spread the living dead. He does little but work, spending his free time with his resurrected family.

The two central characters are the Americans Bremen and Gail. Both are telepaths, the only other telepaths that either has ever known. Inevitably, they fall in love. When Gail dies of illness, Bremen is devastated. He gives up his career in mathematics and becomes a drifter. At the commencement of the action, he has ended up at a facility for disabled minors. He becomes sort of fond of one named Robby, who had been blinded and mentally crippled before birth by his mother's drug abuse habits, and resolves that before he leaves the facility (for he feels he has been there too long), he will use his telepathic power to give Robby a gift of sorts: images and sounds of the outside world.

Bremen succeeds in penetrating Robby's mental defenses, but is unexpectedly sucked into Robby's mind, where Gail manifests. The fusion between Gail and Bremen was deep and profound enough. Unfortunately, the strain of holding Bremen and Gail in his mind and in comprehending what the show up pushes Robby's obese body to the brink and over. Bremen leaves Robby's mind, taking Gail and Robby with him while Robby's body dies.

It is set in a flooded post-apocalyptic New York City, to which televangelists have dispatched missionaries equipped with Satellite TV reception units to convert the heathens. Brother Jimmy-Joe Billy-Bob has been sent to NYC. There he meets the Red Bantam clan, which tattoos images of bantams on its members (as Simmons notes, this is a sly reference to the publisher Bantam Books), which Jimmy-Joe interprets as the Mark of the Beast. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, Jimmy-Joe takes a survival knife that appeared as an extra present as a gift. He tells the children that "Anyone upon the roof tonight would see [the pagan and hence evil, from his perspective] Santa Claus and his reindeer." When one comes up the flights seeking him, Billy-Bob sacrifices her on the altar holding up the antenna with the survival knife.

It recounts the fate of a young Boy Scout during the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. There he is randomly assigned to assist a veteran, one Captain Montgomery from North Carolina. The captain brandishes an antique pistol at the unnamed scout, and orders a wagon and team. Fortuitously, just such a team shows up, and the captain heads out to "Iverson's Pits", where he expects to reach a consummation to his long-held obsession with achieving a revenge on his former commander, Alfred Iverson. Apparently, Iverson's incompetence had led him to order his men into the teeth of a Union trap while he had lunch. To cover his own failing, Iverson claimed to one and all that his men were cowards and had tried to surrender.

The two hide in some weeds and ambush a young man who looks much like Iverson did. The boy stops the Captain from killing him, as the traveler is far too young. They cordially greet the traveler, whose name is Sheads, and visit his house. Jessup Sheads toasts the captain's regiment, and then Iverson himself with some of the local wine. The Captain refuses the second toast, cursing Iverson. Sheads reveals himself to be Iverson's nephew. Iverson comes down, and the nephew kills Montgomery when he draws a revolver on Iverson. About to bury the Captain, Iverson orders Sheads to kill the scout as well, to silence all witnesses, when the very earth begins moving and opening up. With its teeth, it seizes and devours Sheads. Iverson attempts to escape on his horse and kill the Scout, but he hurls a lantern at Iverson, distracting him. The pits take Iverson and his horse, and the Scout eventually becomes a historian specializing in Gettysburg.

Mr. Kennan apparently entered a master's degree program in Missouri, but on completing it found himself too poor to move back to the Northeast, and so is forced to take a job there teaching for a year.

In The Story, Raul and Gernisavien have discovered in the "Man Ruins", a map to the location of the long-forgotten farcaster portal. Hunted by the Wizards, they travel to the city of Carnval. In that city's ancient archives, they discover the key to re-activate the portal. Once activated, they can draw on the expertise of Dobby, the sorcerer-ape. The Wizards trap them in Carnval, and they can only afford to escape aboard the Sky Galleon because Raul risks his life in the Death Game fighting the "genetically-engineered" relic of the Wizard Wars, the fearsome and unbeatable Shrike. Raul survives the requisite three minutes, and wins. After they leave the Sky Galleon, all but Raul are captured by the Wizards and taken to their fortress in the cold mountain fastnesses. There Gernisavien is about to be dissected by a Wizard to get the key which she had swallowed. Kennan plans the grand finale to coincide with the end of the school year; Raul will sacrifice himself in glorious combat with the Wizards while his friends frantically reactivate the farcaster. They will succeed, and return with an army of Humans, freeing their world. But Kennan unexpectedly lands an excellent position in the East at a college, but the exigencies of the situation are such that he must cut short the school year and leave almost immediately. He would be unable to finish The Story. Terry, when Mr. Kennan tells him that he is leaving, rejects him; the details of their discussion are not given. Kennan never sees him again.

In the last days, Terry lets it be known that he knows the ending to The Story. But the tale he tells during the final recess is different from the one Kennan outlined in his letter: Raul successfully breaks into the Wizard fortress, but half-frozen and overwhelmed by their technology, cannot overcome them. He is forced to escape aboard one of their flying craft. Dobby manages to wrench one arm free, but no more, while Gernisavien is securely fastened. They know their only course of action with Raul's defeat is to have Dobby smash some chemicals together. The resulting explosion levels the mountain. Raul is safely away when it happens, but he knows that the explosion means that the quest is dead, for his friends perished with the key and knowledge necessary to reactivate the farcaster.

Chronologically, ''Once a Hero'' directly follows ''Winning Colors'', even overlapping partially, but the focus distinctly shifts to young Esmay Suiza, who came to prominence after successfully leading a mutiny against her traitorous captain and intervening to decisive effect in the Battle of Xavier (as ''Winning Colors'' records).

Suiza is not immediately praised and feted for her heroism, however, for her actions demand official scrutiny. Thorough and complete, neither the Board of Inquiry nor the court-martial find Suiza guilty of anything, and so she is allowed to take a vacation before her next assignment.

Back home on Altiplano, Esmay is honored with Altiplano's highest award, the Starmount, although she remains convinced that she was not really a hero, that it was blind luck. While talking with an old soldier who had served under her father (one of the four highest military commanders on Altiplano) and was a family friend, she learns that the nightmares and her dislike of command and horses were psychological trauma from when, as a child, she had ventured into a warzone seeking her father. She had been waylaid and molested by one of her father's subordinates; the family friend knew this sordid tale because he had been the one to kill that subordinate, whose politically connected father meant any trial was infeasible. He felt free to tell her since he assumed that Suiza's father's coverup had failed to convince Suiza that the memories were merely nightmares during an illness or fragments of her imagination. This revelation precipitates a break with her father.

Meanwhile, some mendacious and greedy civilian contractors for the Fleet have agreed to carry out a job for the barbarian space-warriors of the Bloodhorde: they would take a Fleet contract to rekey the command sequences of various missiles, and when they were aboard the specified massive Deep Space Repair vessel, covertly disable its self-destruct mechanism. This job would pave the way for the Bloodhorde boarding team. By a remarkable coincidence, it is this very same DSR, the ''Koskiusko'' ("Kos" for short) which Suiza is assigned to.

After catching a resupply vehicle to the Kos, Suiza is assigned to a Major Pitak in Hulls and Architecture; Pitak immediately begins running Esmay ragged with errands and learning everything she needs to know about spaceship structural design and how to repair and fix vessels. In her spare time, Suiza slowly begins assembling a circle of friends, especially one Ensign Barin Serrano (last seen in ''Winning Colors'' hand-delivering a message to Heris Serrano from Vida Serrano before the Battle of Xavier).

As the months pass by Suiza settles in; so do the traitorous civilian contractors who productively improve the hours by disabling the self-destruct without tripping the monitors. Inevitably, the Bloodhorde launches its attack, crippling the patrol ship ''Wraith''. ''Wraith'' is repairable, but is incapable of further safe FTL jumps. So the Kos goes out to meet it, since it is in the neighborhood, although the danger of pulling the Kos out of its normal routes and so near Bloodhorde space is very real. Suiza is sent by Major Pitak to take pictures of the forward section of the hull to ascertain the full extent of the damage. Suiza discovers instead the first prong of the Bloodhorde plan: a massive mine was planted on ''Wraith'', programmed to wait until ''Wraith'' was brought into one of the Kos's repair bays and then detonate; this would incapacitate the Kos and make it easy meat for the waiting Bloodhorde assault group. Thanks to Suiza's presence of mind, the mine is safely disarmed. But all is not well. The Bloodhorde's plan is remarkably subtle (for the Bloodhorde): though the first prong has been deflected, the second was yet to strike.

After the mine is disposed of, repairs continue in earnest on the ''Wraith''. Forward of the mine, some 25 crew members are discovered knocked out by sleeping-gas and are taken into the hospital facilities. Despite their location, open to space, they are uniformly uninjured, and eventually scattered across the Kos to help out. One interacts with Suiza. His manner strikes her as drastically unlike that of a Fleet member, and more reminiscent of commandos she had known. After making inquiries as to their location (most had vanished), whether they were injured at all like they should have been, and whether any senior ''Wraith'' officers recognize them, it is concluded that Kos has been boarded by Bloodhorde commandos seeking to capture the DSR and massively upgrade the Bloodhorde's industrial infrastructure and especially its military construction capability, greatly increasing its killing power. The captain immediately orders everybody's identification checked against their DNA and fresh IDs issued. During the change-over, the Bloodhorde kidnaps Barin Serrano, taking him as a hostage.

With the Kos' FTL drive apparently broken and its self-destruct disabled, the higher-ups decide on a risky strategy of detaching the section of Kos containing most of the intruders, and ambushing the expected follow-up wave of Bloodhorde; while that wave was preoccupied boarding, they would attack the vessel and use it to either protect the Kos until its escorts returned with reinforcements or destroy it. During a meeting with Suiza to discuss how to suppress the commandos, the spoken-of commandos attack, cutting off most of the senior personnel with poison gas. They escape the cabin with the injured captain and link up with some personnel who had made it to the security lockers before the Bloodhorde. They conclude that to lead an effective resistance, they have to lead it from the T-1 arm of the Kos. But all the arms have been locked off from the core by the Bloodhorde. So, they decide to go EVA and go around. During the EVA excursions, the Kos is jumped through hyperspace.

Led by Suiza, the crew of T-1 determine to retake the Kos and ambush their ambushers. When the intruders relax their guard of the bridge, one of the bridge crew women risks her life to re-open the doors to the core (and by extension, enabling an assault on the bridge). The prepared security teams overcome the few commandos in the core and regain control easily - most of the commandos had gone to T-4 to eliminate the resistance there. The crew in T-4 had used their grace time profitably, arranging an elaborate drama for the benefit of the commandos, intended to convince them that they were fighting - and defeating - the ill-prepared armed resistance of the Familias crew. The drama lures them to the repair bay, where (elated by their success), they don spacesuits and sortie out to welcome their warship into the repair bay.

There it is trapped by an extremely strong adhesive. The two other warships dock without being trapped, and debark their crew in EVA suits. The robots used for painting vessels attack them, blinding and immobilizing them. The two still-mobile Bloodhorde ships are commandeered and the three remaining Bloodhorde are easily destroyed, and the day saved.

Barin Serrano is discovered alive, but much abused in mind and body. Suiza is no less discomfited by her nightmares and anxieties. She and Barin begin going to psychiatric care. Eventually Suiza begins to work through her phobia of sexual contact and assuming leadership. She transfers to "command track" and becomes intimate with Barin.

At the end of ''Once a Hero'', Esmay decided to pursue higher rank and command. Pursuant to this, she has transferred to a Fleet training base on the Fleet-owned planet Copper Mountain. Coincidentally, this is the same base that Brun is training at in various useful skills like escape and evasion.

Simultaneously with their training, the podunk colony planet of "Our Texas" is up to its old piracy tricks using its share of the "New Texas Godfearing Militia"; it is using certain converts in the Familias to steal Fleet nuclear warheads and intercept them.

Brun intends to befriend Esmay but is rejected; Esmay finds Brun to be shallow and is far too preoccupied with her staggering course load to be constantly hanging out with Brun. The final break occurs when Brun is forbidden by the base commandant and her father to participate in the field exercise which is the culmination of the Escape & Evasion course because of the scope it offers would-be assassins - already two attempts had taken place, one of which put Brun in the base hospital for a month. Brun storms down to Esmay's quarters to harangue her, accusing Esmay of not wanting to do the field exercise with her and getting her forbidden; Esmay is more than willing to reciprocate as she has learned of Brun's attempts to woo Barin away from Esmay. Brun is cut to the quick by some of the truths Esmay speaks and by her complete rejection (Brun having looked up to Esmay as a hero or almost a big sister), and leaves the base. She occupies herself travelling and inspecting various investments.

Esmay is severely reprimanded for having spoken to the Speaker's daughter in such a fashion, and is assigned far away to a Search-and-Rescue (SAR) space vessel as its executive officer.

After Brun leaves, the New Texas Godfearing Militia strikes, stealing the commercial hauler which is unknowingly carrying their stolen weapon; they space all the adults aboard (mutilating the women whom they describe as "abominations") and kidnapping the children and a teenaged girl named "Hazel". Brun happens to stumble on the scene (having discovered the commercial hauler's secret short cut) while the Militia was still practicing with the hauler. Against her bodyguard's better judgement, she sneaks in closer in her small yacht to see what was happening. Inevitably, the Militia notices and their warships begin maneuvering to capture the witness. Brun had not expected this, but began the complex and advanced maneuvers that would get her safely away - to discover that her chartered yacht had various safety interlocks in its computer navigation systems to prevent its users from doing anything possibly unsafe.

Brun is captured by the Our Texans. As per their religious beliefs, her bodyguard is slaughtered to the man, and the Rangers decide to make Brun herself into their conception of a proper wife by having her surgically muted. She is then repeatedly gang-raped until she becomes pregnant with twins. She is transported to Our Texas and imprisoned in a maternity home while she gives birth; like all women so abducted, the plan is that she will give birth three times; if she is not dead of childbirth or executed for disobedience, she will then be auctioned off to the highest bidder to serve as perhaps the man's third or fourth wife.

Records of all the proceedings are sent back to the Familias; the Ranger in charge is not completely suicidal, but believes that the threat of blowing up one of the thousands of Familias space-stations will deter any military response.

Back in the Familias, suspicion and rumor (aided by less talented and jealous former classmates) and Lord Thornbuckle fasten on to Esmay as the culpable agent to blame. Somewhat fortunately for Esmay, at this unpromising juncture her great-grandmother dies. Esmay is the designated next female in the succession of the Landbride, so she inherits the title and the assets like the land. The Fleet gladly grants her leave, and her stay on Altiplano lasts just long enough for her cousin Luci to knock some sense into Esmay's head and convince her to return to Fleet and try to reconcile with Barin.

She succeeds and planning for the rescue of Brun slowly proceeds; it will be timed for when Brun's twins are almost finished nursing and the time for Brun to be impregnated draws near. Presumably she will be at her best in this period. A Guerini agent will take her from the maternity facility and drive her to the spaceport. His shuttle will boost off the planet and be picked up by a Familias SAR spaceship, backed up by a decent sized task force in case the four Our Texan warships attempt to interfere.

In the meantime, Brun has been preparing on her own for an escape: physically conditioning her body, brewing alcohol (to knock out her babies so their crying does not reveal her escape), and acquiring kitchen knives as weapons.

The agent approaches Brun during her first practice escape, and also picks up the teenager from the merchant vessel at Brun's vigorous urging. The flight up is uneventful until the agent is offered more money by the Our Texans and changes his course to one of their warships while Hazel and Brun slept. When Brun wakes up and realizes his treachery, she kills him and seizes control of the shuttle. But the shuttle has already approached too close to the planet to escape, and she is forced to dock at an abandoned space station under heavy missile fire. The shuttle is sent on a suicide plunge into the atmosphere as a decoy, but this does not fool the Rangers, who dispatch several shuttles to destroy the station once and for all.

The expert system aboard decides to help Brun and Hazel. Brun has it send a message to the Fleet SAR that she is aboard the station and not dead, and squads of neuro-enhanced space marines arrive on the station just after the three Texan shuttles unload. Another faction of Texans seize the opportunity to attempt to eliminate the first faction's troops. In the confusion, Hazel is evacuated but Esmay and Brun are blown into space by some bombs. Esmay suffers from hypoxia before the two are rescued by a space sled.

By this point, the rest of the Fleet units have jumped in and easily blown the four warships guarding Our Texas.

With Our Texas supine before the task force, Brun tasks Admiral Serrano with retrieving the four children captured by the Texans with Hazel. The retrieval initially goes well, as the Ranger's household, led by his first wife, cooperates, and attaches itself to Barin as their "protector". The other Rangers's successors (the Rangers themselves either dead or captured) do not intend to allow the heathens to take back children now being raised as God wants, and plan to use their stolen nuclear bombs to kill them all. With some effective help from the marines and theft of the arming keys, the threat is defused and many civilian lives saved. Esmay, Barin, and Brun are all reconciled, with the sole remaining threat being the enthusiastic media coverage.

Category:Novels by Elizabeth Moon Category:1998 American novels Category:Baen Books books Category:1998 science fiction novels

Act 1

The plot begins on the Japanese New Year's Day in 1718, before the coming Day of the Rat on which the custom used to be to go out into the fields and uproot a pine tree as a part of the festivities. A great and renowned courtesan named Azuma is accosted by a poor old woman, who pours out her trouble: her son has been reduced by circumstances to working as a day laborer. Once his employer ordered him to deliver a letter to Azuma; this he did, but he fell madly in love with her. The old woman attempted to dissuade him, pointing out how impossible it would be for him to afford any of Azuma's services, but he refused to give up his hope. Finally she made him a deal: if she could persuade Azuma to drink a friendly cup of sake with young Hard Luck Yohei (as the son is nicknamed), then Yohei would abandon his hopeless love.

Azuma is deeply moved by the woman's words, and agrees; but calling out to Yohei, she lays out ''her'' troubles: Azuma is deeply in love with the wealthy and handsome merchant Yojibei of Yamazaki, son of Jōkan, but Yojibei cannot buy out Azuma's contract because his wife Okiku is jealous.

Azuma then attempts to give Yohei ten gold pieces so he could go out into the pleasure quarter and find some girl who was available to be intimate with.

Yohei hurls the gold to the ground, shamed that Azuma should have offered it. Azuma admits her mistake, and instead gives Yohei an under-robe Yojibei had previously given Azuma. Realizing the depths of her love, Yohei instead takes the money, vowing to go to Edo and prosper in the oil trade there; after he makes his fortune, he will return and ransom Azuma so she could be reunited with Yojibei. The two agree to go to a teahouse to drink together before Yohei leaves.

In scene two, Azuma is accosted by the boorish and ill-mannered Hikosuke, a wealthy tobacco merchant who has repeatedly sought Azuma's services and has as often been turned down. Refused a fifth time, he attempts to drag Azuma to a back-room, there to have his way by main force. He is soundly beaten by Yohei and tossed out of the teahouse. Hikosuke's bluster comes to an end and he departs hastily.

No sooner is he gone then it is bruited about that Yojibei has arrived. He learns of the recent events from Azuma and thanks Yohei, proposing that before he leaves for Edo, he spend the night with Azuma and Yojibei drinking and dancing and singing as their thanks to him. Yohei begs off, as his legs hurt from the unfamiliar seating arrangements and his mother is no doubt worrying about what has become of him.

On his way out, he encounters Hikosuke who is spoiling for a rematch. Yohei stabs Hikosuke in the head, and flees when Hikosuke yells for help – if he were to be captured, he would never make to Edo and so could never help Azuma. Confused as to the identity of his assailant, Hikosuke blames Yojibei, who is speedily apprehended. Yojibei realizes that it was Yohei who is to blame, but he remains silent: he owes Yohei a debt of honor for protecting Azuma, and he will remain silent even though he is in mortal danger of execution if Hikosuke perishes of his wound.

Act 2

Act two opens with Okiku preparing food for Yojibei, who is now under house arrest in the house of his father, Jōkan. Jōkan is apparently refusing to pay off Hikosuke to drop the charges, even though he is extremely wealthy and could easily afford it. Jōkan and Yojibei's samurai father-in-law, Jibuemon discuss the matter through the medium of a game of ''shogi'', but Jōkan is resolutely against saving Yojibei. Weeping, Okiku and Jibuemon go out into the garden. Just then, Azuma arrives and throws a letter over for Yojibei; it instructs Yojibei to kill himself before a commoner executioner could, assuring him that Azuma would kill herself the moment she heard.

Outraged, Okiku goes out to Azuma and reproaches her: :"Thanks to you my husband has neglected the family business and has shown himself completely indifferent to what happens at home. Day and night he spends in visits to the Quarter...Cursed strumpet! Shameless creature!"

Azuma accepts her accusations and to show the sincerity of her grief, is on the verge of cutting her throat with a razor when Okiku is convinced and urges her to forbear.

Jōkan comes out. He speaks to Okiku of mice and mice traps; Okiku understands that what he is really talking about is his desire to see Yojibei escape his household and the headsman. Yojibei initially refuses the proffered escape with Azuma: if Hikosuke were to die, then Jōkan would be executed in Yojibei's stead, and even if he weren't, Yojibei's escape would cause all of Jōkan's assets to be impounded. Jōkan threatens to kill himself then and there. Yojibei reluctantly complies. Left behind, Okiku watches tearfully as Yojibei and Azuma leave for Edo.

Act 3

In act 3, Azuma and Yojibei travel from Yamazaki to Nara. Yojibei is not well – has gone mad. The lyrical scene ends with a beautiful description of the scenery and circumstances.

Time passes before scene two takes place in late summer. Yohei rides up to the same teahouse he had so fatefully drank in with Azuma and Yojibei. He recounts his enormous success in Edo to the master of the house, and announces that he will ransom the fugitive Azuma.

However, Yohei is not the only would-be buyer. Hikosuke has recovered his former spirits and wishes to buy out Azuma's contract as well, as does an old samurai with an extremely valuable antique two-foot broadsword; Yohei is convinced that this old man is Jibuemon.

The owner determines that he can't let Azuma be ransomed before she returns. It would set a bad precedent otherwise. Yohei has his two chests brought in, and out spring both Azuma and Yojibei, now restored to his sense. Hikosuke is allowed to leave alive by Jibuemon, as long as he reports to the police that it was Yohei who did it and drops the charges. Yohei ransoms Azuma's contract for only 300 gold pieces, as it has not long to run, and gives the other 700 to various people. Azuma and Yojibei marry, to live happily ever after, although nothing is said of Okiku. Everyone begins to party.

In the first scene, Tokubei and an apprentice named Chozo visit the firm's customers at Osaka's Ikudama Shrine. They deliver their wares and collect the bills, when Tokubei encounters Ohatsu. He sends the apprentice away and talks to Ohatsu, who berates him for making her worry due to a lapse in communication. Moved by her tears, Tokubei tells her his troubles. Tokubei works for his uncle at his firm. Tokubei's honest performance impresses him and as a result, he wants Tokubei to marry his wife's niece. Because Tokubei loves Ohatsu, he tries to refuse politely. The uncle continues to try to convince Tokubei to agree to the match by talking secretly to Tokubei's stepmother. She returns to her home village and takes the two kamme dowry the uncle provides. (Two kamme is about one thousand dollars).

This agreement remains unknown to Tokubei until his uncle tries to force him into the marriage. Tokubei makes his refusal absolute and this angers his uncle. He fires Tokubei from the firm, demands the return of the two ''kamme'' (which Tokubei does not have), and says he will exile Tokubei from Osaka. Tokubei goes to his village and with the villagers' aid, forces the silver out of his stepmother and returns to Osaka. On his return, "Kuheiji the oil merchant", a close friend, tells Tokubei that he needs a loan of two ''kamme'' or else he will go bankrupt. Since Tokubei does not need to return the two ''kamme'' until several days after Kuheiji promises to return the money, he gives the loan to Kuheiji.

Here Tokubei finishes recounting the events that took place before the start of the play. As he finishes, Kuheiji enters the temple grounds with a band of revelers. Tokubei seizes the chance to ask Kuheiji to repay the now-overdue loan but Kuheiji denies the existence of any such debt. When Tokubei produces the promissory note Kuheiji stamped with his seal, Kuheiji dismisses it as an extortion attempt, revealing that before he stamped the promissory note, he reported the seal as lost. Tokubei realizes Kuheiji's deception and attacks him. Kuheiji and his followers beat him up and the scenes ends with Ohatsu rushed away in a palanquin and Tokubei leaving in defeat.

The second scene takes place in the evening at Ohatsu's place of employment, the Temma House. While Ohatsu hears two other courtesans gossip about Tokubei, she sees Tokubei outside and goes to him. He tells her what transpired but their conversation is cut short when people call Ohatsu to go inside. She hides him in her clothes and joins the others. Kuheiji arrives and spreads the story that Tokubei tried to extort money from him. After Kuheiji boasts that he thinks Tokubei will be executed, Ohatsu and Tokubei communicate through their hands and feet. Through this method, Ohatsu asks if Tokubei wishes to die and he signals that he does by passing her ankle across his throat. Ohatsu states that she wishes to die as well when she reprimands Kuheiji when he overhears her allusion to Tokubei's death wish. Kuheiji leaves and night falls. Scene two ends with Tokubei and Ohatsu sneaking past the sleeping servant guarding the exit.

Scene three begins with a poetic dialogue between the two lovers. The narrator interjects the occasional comment that sets the scenes for their journey. This part is considered a michiyuki or a lyrical journey. The two travel from Dojima to the "Wood of Tenjin" (Tenjin being Sugawara no Michizane) during the dialogue. Tokubei and Ohatsu come across an unusual tree in the Sonezaki shrine which has both a pine and palm tree growing out of the same trunk. They decide to make this the site of their death and so Tokubei binds Ohatsu to the tree. Tokubei tries to stab her throat with his razor but misses the first few times. When he strikes her throat, Tokubei thrusts the razor into his own throat and the two die together.

In 1999 (2019 in the second edition), Nigel Walmsley, a British scientist and astronaut for NASA, is sent to attach a thermonuclear bomb to a comet named Icarus which is on a direct collision course for India. Icarus turns out to be large, solid, and made of a nickel-iron composite. Nigel is instructed to plant the weapon and leave so it can be detonated. He persuades Mission Control to let him put it in a large fissure he discovered, so it would be even more effective.

In the fissure, Nigel discovers strips of metal worked in obviously artificial patterns. Awestruck at this evidence of extraterrestrial intelligent life, Nigel begins exploring. Icarus is made up of a number of hollow shells, making the asteroid's mass far less than predicted. NASA insists that the demolition has to go forward, claiming Icarus would skip off the atmosphere and land in the Indian Ocean, causing widespread damage from the resultant tsunami. Nigel realizes this is a lie, and convinces his partner of that. They hide the nuke and spend the next week retrieving artifacts and materials before detonating the bomb.

15 years after their discovery the Icarus artifacts have yielded little, and Nigel's delayed detonation of Icarus has alienated him from NASA and other people. Nigel's partner, Alexandria, dies from systemic lupus erythematosus, a disease caused by pollution. An anomaly near Jupiter distracts Nigel: something, nicknamed 'the Snark', is repeating radio broadcasts. The anomaly fires its fusion engines and reveals itself to the satellites around Jupiter. As a probe vessel, the Snark's directing computer could not afford to ignore the satellites' radio emissions before it moved on to Earth.

Eventually the JPL team locates the Snark around Venus. Nigel hijacks the communications, transmitting his own signal to the Snark. The Snark receives the signal as a sign of non-hostile intentions and transmits back. It also reaches out through Nigel's medical implants to his dead partner's more elaborate ones, and commandeers her body to explore and learn about Earth. The initial tentative transmissions blossom into a largely one-way torrent of information for the Snark. One day, it asks to visit Earth. A compromise is worked out: the Snark will orbit the Moon until trust is built up. As Nigel is already fully informed, he is assigned to pilot the space ship (armed with another nuke) and meet the Snark.

Nigel meets the Snark, which disables Nigel's conventional weapons and begins talking to him. It says that organic civilizations and species are inherently unstable; they flash brilliantly and commit suicide sooner or later. The autonomous machines they craft live on long after them, going on and evolving. But they cannot truly compete with the organics, who live "in the universe of essences". That is the reason for the Great Silence. Nigel's superiors order him to use the nuclear weapon, but he refuses. They override him and fire it anyway but the Snark flees the Solar System faster than the missile can follow. The decision to fire is covered up, but Nigel blackmails NASA into letting him go to the Moon; the Snark had directed a transmission at Mare Marginis for unknown parties, and Nigel wanted to find those parties.

Four years later, Nigel is now based on the Moon. A fellow astronaut, Nikka, is involved in a crash that accidentally discovers a still active alien spacecraft wreck in the Moon's Mare Marginis – a spacecraft suspiciously armed with a once-powerful anti-spacecraft weapon. Nigel and Nikka explore the wreck, and find a functioning computer with a direct neural interface. Nigel and several others experiment with the computer's neural hook-up, and leave fundamentally changed by it, while the computer becomes inert and unable to reveal any more about its creators. Meanwhile, on Earth, some surprising experiments in human genetics conducted by the aliens are discovered alive in North America.

The story opens approximately 20 years after ''The Armageddon Inheritance''. The human race has largely recovered from the Siege of Earth by the Achuultani and the Bia system is being slowly re-colonized and its defenses re-activated. In short, the Empire is largely at peace, busy assimilating the technological advances of the Fourth Empire and building and manning a fleet to take the war back to the Achuultani and the master computer controlling them. The captured Achuultani have prospered; with the aid of cloning, their ranks have swollen and they have colonized a planet called Narhan, which was unsuitable to humans by reason of its heavy gravity - for this reason they have renamed themselves the Narhani. They are fervently loyal to the reborn Empire and Colin, enraged by the perversion of their race by the master computer. Brashieel's clone-child (Brashieel is now the head Narhani) Brashan, is one of Sean and Harriet MacIntyre's closest friends (Sean and Harriet being Colin and Jiltanith's two children).

The only flies in the ointment are the worrying fact that some of Anu's agents remain at large, and that a small but increasingly violent faction that considers the Narhani to be minions of the anti-christ and want to kill all Narhani; these two factions are secretly working against the Emperor.

Into this volatile situation step Sean, Harry, Brashan, Sandy (daughter of Hector MacMahan and Ninhursag), and Tamman (the son of Amanda Tsien and Tamman), who have all enlisted in Battle Fleet.

After graduation from the Academy, the four depart on a newly constructed planetoid warship, ''Imperial Terra'', for their midshipman cruise. Unbeknownst to them, one of Anu's former minions, Lawrence Jefferson, had worked his way up to Lieutenant Governor of Earth, and has commenced his plan to become Emperor through assassinating everyone ahead of him in the line of succession. Under his instructions, Jefferson's personal band of religious terrorists, "The Sword of God", takes one of the planetoid's programmer's family hostage, and order him to sabotage ''Imperial Terra''. The task is accomplished, and the programmer and his family are all murdered to cover it up.

The ''Imperial Terra'' departs on its maiden voyage, but partway through deliberately loses control of its core tap, as the dead programmer had instructed. However, ''Dahak'' had surreptitiously inserted a command with equal priority to the sabotage command which states that the lives of 2 certain midshipmen and their friends must be preserved. ''Imperial Terra'' reconciles these conflicting orders by first jettisoning the four aboard a well-stocked and capable (but not FTL-capable) battleship moderately near some uncharted systems and only then destroying itself and its crew of 80 thousand.

Later, Sandy, Harry, Brashan, Sean, and Tamman arrive at the nearest potentially inhabited system. They barely survive the onslaught of a quarantine system, and decide to sneak onto the life-bearing world the space-borne Imperial weaponry seem to be protecting. Amazingly, it seems that the bio-weapon that had killed the Fourth Empire had missed this world.

After landing and investigating the ruins of a high-tech enclave, the five piece together the true history of the planet the indigenous inhabitants call "Pardal".

Once, Pardal had been an out-of-the-way minor planet of the Empire. Because it was out of the way, its governor managed to shut down the mat-trans system before Pardal was infected by the bio-weapon when the first warnings went out across the hypercoms, and also to devise with her chief engineer an extremely effective quarantine system. However, even as they hunkered down behind their orbital defenses, the hypercom continued to operate "like a comlink to hell" (pg 255), broadcasting the prolonged death of the Empire, and even more devastatingly, messages from worlds like Pardal which were fooled by the bio-weapon's long incubation period into thinking they were safe. The horrified backlash by Pardal's populace centered on destroying Pardal's technological infrastructure, and erasing all scientific accomplishment and knowledge more advanced than the Dark Ages, so another such horror could never arise. The civil and military authorities concentrated on creating a global theocracy (reminiscent of the Catholic Church) dedicated to the suppression of technological advancement and to the maintenance of the quarantine system.

The high-tech enclave the old records were retrieved from was permitted to exist to serve as a source of demons and to provide the fledgling church an easy enemy.

Harriet had been sent back to the shuttle to bring it to the valley so they could airlift the enclave's computer out, but along the way she was shot down by some locals. They were about to burn her alive for associating with the "Valley of the Damned" when Sean and the rest, frightened them and destroyed a portion of the village (without killing anyone) and rescuing her.

The local priest becomes convinced that the intruders were actually angels, as Pardalian angels are female, beautiful, wound-able, speak in the language of the Empire (the priestly language on Pardal), killed no one (an odd restraint, were they "damned demons"), wore imperial military uniforms, and were immune to Father Stomald's various religious attacks and banishments. He begins preaching to the populace, converting a fair proportion.

The Church reacts quickly and violently, sending a portion of the very well equipped "Temple Guard" to burn the heretics.

Stomald's forces are outnumbered and outgunned (the Church possesses a monopoly on heavy artillery) and surely doomed. The five castaways discuss matters, and decide that their guilt in instigating this little rebellion, kickstarting the modernization of Pardal, and also gaining access they need to the quarantine system's main computer could all be accomplished by supporting the rebellion with their leadership and knowledge of how to revolutionize Pardalian warfare. The initial Guard expedition is repulsed and scattered by a miracle accomplished through Imperial technology (see ''Clarke's Third Law''). This victory attracts even more recruits to their cause, such as a good proportion of the now-unarmed Guard force they defeated.

The quasi-country the revolt began in, the Princedom of Malagor, has long been known for its independent spirit and its rifles; it had long chafed under the Church's studied oppression of it and its artisans. With the new rifles (on Pardal, smoothbore guns and pikes made up most of an army. Rifles took far too long to load despite their greater accuracy and range, because balls had to be rammed down the barrel; with the "angels"' introduction of the Minié ball, this issue became moot) the army is considerably superior to conventional Pardalian armies. Other technology, such as bayonet rings, modern meteorology, satellite cartography, and canister shot, further increase the rebels advantage .

The Battle of Yortown, in which the massed Guard reinforcements charged a fortified Angel's army position, quite effectively demonstrated this through the slaughter of the aggressors. Sean's lack of boldness in the counter-stroke followup allowed the surviving Guard commander, named Ortak, to retreat to Erastor, a well-fortified position placed like a choke-point between Malagor and the Temple. Unfortunately, Sean's many advantages are largely nullified in a siege, so he conceives a strike to Ortak's rear, seizing Ortak's semaphore communication lines to perform a man in the middle attack and gain time. Sean managed to bring enough men around Ortak's impassable swamp-secured flank to launch a pincer attack on Ortak's rear and front. With Ortak's forces shattered, the Angels' Army moves out into the open country of Aris, where they can bypass fortifications and crush any army foolish enough to engage.

They march clear to the Temple, but are stymied by its elaborate fortifications. Sean's army is ideal for defeating other armies, but not for fighting a siege. The Council offers to meet with Sean to discuss a truce, offering as surety one of its own members and allowing Sean to bring a large contingent in with him. Sean walks straight into their trap, and begins fighting his way to the actual Template/computer complex with his men, while Sandy and the others task the main army with breaking in to relieve Sean. Brashan circles the conflict 100 kilometers away in the Imperial equivalent of a fighter jet, unable to do anything while the quarantine system's defense guns are operational.

Fierce fighting gets Sean within range of the computers; as crown prince and heir to the Imperial throne, he has all sorts of overrides and security codes. He shuts down the defenses, and Brashan defeats the Temple forces, ending the war.

The next time they are heard from is a few years later, when ''Dahak'' receives a message via their newly constructed hypercom. The Emperor and Empress are overjoyed to hear from the two whom they had long thought dead (thought it sincerely enough that they had had two more children). They had not rested in the meantime, defusing Jefferson's plan to kill all the people in the succession via a massive gravitonic bomb planted in a Narhani statue (intending to use his perversion of their gift as a way to blame them), and foiling his attempt on Jiltanith and Horus's life, at the cost of Horus.

After this message, Colin and company, along with Dahak, immediately embark for Pardal, eager to see their children as the main effort to crush the xenophobic computers holding the Achuultani hostage begins to take form.

Alicia DeVries had retired to Mathison's World, a remote fringe world of the Terran Empire—a puissant interstellar polity sprawling over several sectors, and bordered by the hostile and alien Rishathan Sphere ("the Lizards"), both of which are bordered by the Quarn Hegemony ("the Spiders"), a race of fanatic businessmen allied with the humans against the Rishathan, reputedly because the Rishathan cannot take a joke.

Alicia forced her retirement at so young an age after she'd taken a royal prisoner that felt honor bound to disclose the traitor in the midst of the Empire's military intelligence establishment, the traitor who had sent her unit into a deliberate trap and so had undoubted culpability in getting most all of her former unit killed in the prior operation.

Her retirement had been quiet and idyllic, until the day an extremely brutal group of space pirates razed her world and landed at her homestead, killing her younger brother, grandfather and parents. Out hunting a predator armed with only a hunting rifle and a survival knife, the raiders did not detect Alicia, and upon her return she slew all 25 of them before they could retreat to their shuttle—but at the cost of grievous wounds inflicted upon her person. As she lay dying, she wished fervidly to live in order to strike at those who had ordered the strike against her and others homes, at any cost: a long quiescent entity accepts her bargain.

Tisiphone, one of the legendary three Greek Erinyes (Furies of Greek mythology), cannot heal Alicia's wounds, and so decides to instead take Alicia to a place "where time has no business" while rescuers are awaited. Rescuers eventually do come, but not before three separate over-flights fail to discover Alicia. Because her survival is deeply anomalous and inexplicable, Alicia is held in Fleet custody during her convalescence, and eventually handed over to personnel from the Imperial Cadre (the Emperor's elite special forces popularly known as "drop commandos"), which Alicia is legally still part of. Because of some unguarded conversations with Tisiphone, Alicia is believed to be insane, and an insane drop commando is not to be left to her own devices. So Alicia is transported to the sector capital Soissons for more advanced psychological testing and evaluation. Tisiphone spends her time infiltrating and cracking the military computer systems, plotting their escape—the Cadre clearly intends to hold onto Alicia until the anomalies are explained to their satisfaction; an untenable restraint on Alicia's seeking of revenge. Unbeknownst to Alicia, Tisiphone's plan, when executed, has Alicia leaving her hospital room, defeating the unobtrusively placed Cadreman placed to prevent just such an escape, stealing an air-breathing "skimmer" craft to travel to the spaceport and then arrange for it to look like its destruction also caused Alicia's death. Tisiphone did not stop at merely faking Alicia's death, but at the spaceport is a fully armed and prepared assault shuttle (with a suit of Cadre armor for Alicia), which she steals; the shuttle takes her to a very special ship finishing construction above Soissons: an "alpha synth".

Most ships in the ''Path of the Fury'' follow a simplified pattern very similar to the one used in Weber's Honorverse, with relatively minor differences of mechanics and technology (different sub-light and FTL drive systems, true AI in the ''Fury'' universe but not the Honorverse, etc.) but the alpha synth class of vessels is peculiar to the ''Fury'' universe: it is a large vessel, with provisions for exactly one human, who pilots it by having previously mentally fused with the advanced cutting edge ("alpha") AI which runs every system on the armed-to-the-teeth vessel; Weber describes it thus: "The size of a big light cruiser yet possessed of more firepower than a battle-cruiser and faster than a destroyer, literally able to think for itself and respond with light-speed swiftness, an alpha synth was lethal beyond belief, ton for ton the most deadly weapon ever built by man." Tisiphone defeats the security systems, during which battle the sleeping AI accidentally awakes and impresses on Alicia—but not melding, rather, forming a second personality patterned on Alicia's own, but fiercely devoted to the protection of the first. Since the new AI personality has as little right to exist as Alicia does to be stealing the alpha synth, it naturally throws its lot in with Alicia and Tisiphone. The trio blast out of the system at high speed, easily eluding the warships sent after them and the star system's ring of defensive forts.

All the while, the pirates continue their raids and their murder of millions at the behest of their shadowy commander and his enigmatic plan.

Alicia and company go into business as couriers specializing in securely and swiftly delivering small cargoes; naturally many of these cargoes are illicit. Using Tisiphone's mind-reading and twisting abilities, they swiftly move their way through the criminal elements of various Rogue (independent) human worlds, tracking down the pirates' suppliers and fences.

Simultaneously, Ben Belkassem, a senior field operative with the feared Operations branch of the Empire's Justice Department, is following up the same leads. Their paths intersect when Alicia tracks down the final link in the supply chain, one Oscar Quintana, when one of the visiting pirate officers (who turns out to be a former Imperial Fleet officer, and their vessels former Fleet vessels) becomes suspicious and tries to drug Alicia with a truth serum. Among the many advanced and secret modifications made to a drop commando's body are a set of programs, sensors/computers, and chemicals intended to detect capture and/or interrogation, and then either kill the captors and escape, or failing that, kill the drop commando; as Alicia's cover as a starship captain did not allow for such autonomic responses, her cover was blown. The situation goes south and Alicia is saved by the armed intervention of Belkassem. Having sucked the location of the pirate fleet out of the dying officer's mind, Alicia and Belkassem take the alpha synth (now named ''Megarea'') to a system previously devastated by the pirates, Ringbolt, which holds the dubious distinction of being the epicenter of a vast assemblage of interstellar mercenaries eager to destroy the pirates in retaliation for the pirates' devastation of their home.

After forming a unified plan of attack, ''Megarea'' attacks the pirates, damaging several vessels heavily, but herself being damaged. Since she had a close look at them (and had discovered the secret of their true Fleet origins), and cannot truly elude them, the pirates have no choice but to follow her into FTL to silence her. Her lure leads them straight into the teeth of the waiting mercenaries. The pirates are ripped apart by the mercenaries, aided by Fleet (which observed the mercenaries' departure from Ringbolt and reasoned correctly as to the why and wherefore). Unfortunately, Fleet has shoot-on-sight orders as concerns the rogue drop commando and her alpha synth, which forces Alicia to flee. Tisiphone had previously cracked the pirates' networks and Megarea had killed the flagship dreadnaught's AI, incidentally gaining knowledge of just how the pirates had had such excellent intelligence and just how their records falsified and ships acquired: the pirates' depredations were intended to suck Fleet units into that sector. When the military buildup proved insufficient to stop the pirates, they were to serve as a Reichstag fire-style excuse for the sector governor, Treadwell (a brilliant military strategist) to secede. He would then arrange a mock battle in which the pirates would appear to be destroyed; in the wake of this victory, Treadwell would no doubt freely and fairly be elected by his people as Emperor, for ending the threat the original Empire proved so impotent against.

Blinded by rage, Alicia plans to ram her battered alpha synth into Governor Treadwell's base, an orbital fortress. Unbeknownst to her, the selfsame Fleet unit which had forced her to flee had also brought along a battalion of drop commandos, which focused their attention on assaulting the drifting hulk of the pirate dreadnaught and extracted from it the sole surviving senior officer. Under interrogation, she gave up the same information Tisiphone had discovered. Realizing that Alicia had no way of knowing that they had proof of Treadwell's treason, and that she would take matters into her own hand (because she had no way of knowing whether the rot went up even higher than Treadwell), and exactly what sort of plan she could some up with, Brigadier Sir Arthur Keita—Alicia's former commanding officer—her best friend (Major Tanis Cateau) and Inspector Ferhat Ben Belkassem race off in a dispatch boat to intercept Alicia at Soissons.

Disaster is barely averted by the simultaneous intercession of Tisiphone and her friends and allies on a collision course with ''her'' snap Alicia out of her madness. Treadwell and his conspirators are duly executed.

For their good work, Alicia is issued a full pardon, ''Megarea'' is granted her freedom as a sentient entity (Strictly speaking she belonged to the Fleet who had constructed her), and even Tisiphone is awarded a (secret) commendation. Impressed by the intelligence work she did, O Branch (through Ben Belkassem) offers the trio a place in it (and to pay for the numerous expenses involved in maintaining and supplying an alpha synth), which they accept.

Category:1992 American novels Category:1992 science fiction novels Category:American science fiction novels Category:Military science fiction novels Category:Novels by David Weber

The opening steps back to near the ending of ''Change of Command''; the loyalists in the weapons lab on Copper Mountain (which planet has just been taken over by mutineers) have finished sending out their radio transmission, which unbeknownst to them will indeed be picked by an escaping loyalist Fleet warship, and are wondering what to do next. Their transportation is ruined, so they decide to steal one from the mutineers. They stage a series of movements and radio transmissions intended to convince the mutineers that the weapons labs are being progressively taken over by their own.

Disabled, the ''Bonar Tighe'' is easy prey. The loyalists are rescued. For her services to Fleet past and present, Cecelia jokingly demands to be made an Admiral - a nod to a running joke in the series where various Fleet underlings become convinced (by how they keep showing up in the thick of things) that either Cecelia or Heris is really a special operations undercover admiral ferreting out traitors for Fleet.

Finally at Rockhouse, Esmay meets up with Brun and her own father General Casimir Suiza, who had brought along with him all the necessary apparatus to transfer Esmay's status as LandBride to her cousin Luci.

Admiral Arash Livadhi this entire time has been growing increasingly uneasy. He had unfortunately been close to Lepescu when he was a younger officer, and fears every day that the investigation into the Lepescu-inspired mutineers will damn him as well; he is further compromised by the fact that his closest friend Jules had been a Benignity deep agent, who had solely manipulated him into breaking rules and then through blackmail into becoming a Benignity agent.

Livadhi takes off. His ship begins bouncing around the Familias, attempting to throw off followers. Suiza follows in her ''Rascal'', and is hidden by Koutsoudas foxing the scans aboard Livadhi's cruiser. In the last system before the Benignity proper, Suiza powers up her weapons when she sees what is suspected to be a Benignity vessel entering the system.

Category:2000 novels Category:Novels by Elizabeth Moon Category:2000 science fiction novels Category:Baen Books books

In 2021, radio astronomy on the Moon reveals the presence of life by a nearby red dwarf, on a tide-locked planet.The star is apparently Lalande 21185, also known as BD +36 2147. Warner 2004 mass-market paperback ed., p. 15. To investigate, Earth's governments convert a space colony into ''Lancer'', a Bussard ramjet-powered interstellar ship based on the design of a crashed alien ship discovered in the Mare Marginis.

In 2061, the ''Lancer'' arrives and discovers a primitive race of nomads, broadcasting using organs adapted to emit and receive electromagnetic radiation (hence "EM"s). A curious satellite is discovered in orbit, at least a million years old, roughly when a meteor shower destroyed the EMs' civilization.

On Earth, international commerce is brought to a standstill when mysterious spaceships drop sea creatures dubbed ''Swarmers'' and ''Skimmers'' (for their behaviour: Swarmers swarm ships and head-butt them until they sink, and Skimmers simply jump and skim around like dolphins). They begin multiplying and the Swarmers begin attacking humans and all their works on the seas.

The expedition's first contacts go poorly: The attempt to enter one of the two satellites prompts a massive retaliation that kills most of the crew. Meanwhile, their attempt to contact the EMs in person confuses them; the aliens had expected a reply directly from Earth. The EMs' attempt to communicate with the messenger via radar accidentally cooks him alive. The standby team misinterprets the accident as a deliberate attack and massacres the EMs.

Nigel works with mathematicians and other experts to interpret the EMs' transmission. His analysis reveals that their technologically advanced civilization had attracted the attention of machines, who attacked with orbital bombardments that levelled the EMs' cities and cracked open the crust of the planet, permanently altering the ecosphere. The EMs used genetic engineering to adapt their bodies to use silicon and transistors for a nervous system. As the satellite is programmed to react only to high technology, not inbuilt features of organisms, the EMs are able to broadcast their message to other biological races unmolested.

No sooner has two-way communication been established than new orders come from Earth to move on to Ross 128, where they think the Skimmers and Swarmers may have originated. En route, the crew analyze reports from space probes. Walmsley hypothesizes that a machine-based race is systematically destroying or guarding planets supporting organic life, and is responsible for the anomalies; the Swarmers represent a first strike at Earth, which had eluded the machines' attempts to kill it, since the assigned Watcher (as Nigel calls the satellites) was destroyed by the Mare Marginis wreck. His ideas are regarded as being too speculative; the consensus is that Watchers are simply a form of weaponry left over from the suicide of biological races, and the Swarmer invasion is a grab for a new world.

At Ross 128, a Ganymede-like moon is found with a Watcher in orbit. Initially it is taken as a disproof of Walmsley's idea that Watchers will appear around any depopulated world that had once harboured technologically advanced biological life. The ''de facto'' leader Ted, who has always disliked Walmsley, attempts to covertly force Walmsley into hibernation until they return to Earth. Walmsley breaks out part-way through the medical preparations and escapes to the moon. There he discovers a much-reduced sapient civilization that had links to the EMs before the Watcher came. The Watcher prevented the moon's inhabitants from reaching the surface and developing technology, but cannot destroy the civilization as it is protected by ten kilometres of ice.

News comes from Earth (delayed nine years by the speed of light) that the Swarmers have begun land invasions; the tense superpowers each suspect the other, and escalate into a full-scale nuclear war. The machines, who had attempted to engineer just such a conflict, send their flotilla against the weakened Earth. The grim news galvanizes the crew to reactivate the fusion drive and turn the plume on the Watcher. This tactic cripples the Watcher, but its retaliation damages the ''Lancer''’s drive system.

New ending

At some point after the publication of one or more sequels (beginning with ''Great Sky River'', for the American paperback edition), Benford appended a new ending onto the original ending of the novel. The following section is from the second edition of the book to bridge over to the continuance of the Galactic Core Saga:

The Watcher is eventually blinded by being coated with a life-form native to the moon, which eats metals and other such materials, thus allowing the humans to board the ship. The boarding party discovers a map of the galaxy marked with places significant to the machines, and a fast vessel to take them to those places. Now the leader, Nigel vetoes suggestions that they return to Earth and quoting ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' ("Le's all slide out of here one of these nights and go for howling adventures amongst the Injuns over in the territory; and I says all right, that suits me.") energizes everyone for a voyage to the Galactic Center, the most important place of all for the machines. Earth's ocean-borne myriads, now partnered with the Skimmers against the Swarmers, will just have to fend for themselves.

On the Franco-Austrian Frontier during World War I, an Oriental priest, chaplain of a French colonial regiment, is condemned to life imprisonment because he possesses the power to turn men into zombies. In his prison cell, the priest prepares to burn a parchment containing the location of the secret formula. Gen. Mazovia (Roy D'Arcy) kills the priest and takes the partially burned parchment. After the war, an expedition of representatives from the Allied countries with colonial interests are sent to Cambodia to find and destroy forever the so-called "Secret of the Zombies". The group includes General Mazovia; a student of dead languages, Armand Louque (Dean Jagger); Englishman Clifford Grayson (Robert Noland); General Duval (George Cleveland); and his daughter Claire (Dorothy Stone).

Armand falls in love with Claire, who accepts his proposal of marriage to spite Clifford, whom she really loves. Later, when Claire runs to Cliff for comfort following an accident, Armand breaks the engagement, leaving her free to marry Cliff. Further accidents caused by Mazovia result in the natives refusing to work, forcing the expedition to return to Phnom Penh. Armand finds a clue which he had overlooked before and returns to Angkor against orders.

After viewing an ancient ceremony at a temple, Armand follows one of the servants of a high priest out of the temple, through a swamp, to a mysterious bronze doorway. When the servant leaves, Armand goes through the door to a room paneled in bronze, with an idol holding a gong. He accidentally strikes the gong, and a panel in the wall opens, revealing a small metal tablet. He translates the inscription and realizes that it is the secret for which they have all been looking. He alone now has the power to make zombies out of people, and begins with a practice run on his servant before using his zombie powers in an attempt to coerce the fickle Claire in the movie's climax.

A company known as Wholesale Souls Inc. is buying and selling human souls. A group of teens find out about this company and a boy by the name of James Young decides to sell his soul on the internet. The soul is shortly thereafter purchased by Stan L. McReynolds, the CEO of Wholesale Souls Inc.

Before long, James descends in to paranoia. James goes to Wholesale Souls with the hope of buying back his soul. Stan refuses and explains that souls do not exist in the eyes of the law, so there is nothing James can demand the return of. He begins to lose control of his life after his close friend Warren dies in a car accident. James feels that he is responsible for the death of Warren and the guilt destroys him. In the end, James kills himself.

Roger Marsh and Frank Stewart own a successful motorcycle dealership in San Antonio, Texas. Together with their wives Kelly and Alice, and Kelly's small dog, they leave San Antonio in a recreational vehicle (RV) for a much anticipated ski vacation in Aspen, Colorado. Along the way, they set up camp in a desolate meadow in central Texas, where Roger and Frank race their motorcycles together. Later that night, after their wives retire to the RV, the men witness what turns out to be a Satanic ritual human sacrifice a short distance from their campsite, across a river.

After being chased by the Satanists and barely escaping with their lives, they arrive in a small town and report the incident to Sheriff Taylor, who investigates but attempts to convince them that they probably only saw hippies killing an animal. Unbeknownst to the sheriff, Roger steals a sample of dirt stained with the murder victim's blood, intent on delivering it to the authorities in Amarillo, as he became suspicious of being driven to the crime scene without having had to offer any directions.

At the same time, while cleaning, the wives find a cryptic rune pinned to the broken rear window of the RV, and they steal books about occultism from the local library to further research the incident, unaware they're being watched by a man in a red truck. One of the books reveals that the ritual is what Satanists often perform to gain magical powers. As the foursome leaves town, the sheriff notices the red truck that begins to follow the RV, making it clear that he is either aware or part of the Satanic cult.

When the couples arrive at an RV park, Kelly sees she is being stared at by its residents while in a swimming pool and wants to return home. Nonetheless, she accepts a dinner invitation from another couple at the park. While at the restaurant/nightclub, Kelly again sees she is being stared at menacingly, this time by one of the musicians. When they return from dinner, the group discovers that Kelly's dog has been killed and hanged from the RV's broken open door, causing them to immediately leave the park. Shortly afterward, they find two rattlesnakes planted in the cupboards by the cultists. The frightened Kelly and Alice scream and panic, causing Frank to accidentally drive into a tree and break the RV motor's fan before the snakes are killed.

The next day, Kelly's dog is buried, after which Roger and Frank repair the motor and find their motorbikes' tires, wheels and gas tanks cut. They purchase a shotgun and head towards Amarillo while being spied on by a steadily increasing number of cultists who seem to be networked throughout numerous small Texas towns. When Roger tries to place a long-distance call to the highway patrol, he finds one dead payphone and another with a "bad connection", and is told that long-distance service is down by a "big wind from up north".

The couples leave for Amarillo and are chased by the Satanists in various trucks, which the couples escape. Later, they encounter a staged school bus "accident" that Frank sees through, since it occurs on a Sunday, and none of the children appear hurt. The couples flee the scene and have another showdown with the cult members during another high-speed chase that pits their RV against numerous trucks and cars. Roger and Frank kill or injure most of the attackers, and the couples escape.

The RV's headlights were damaged during the chase, which forces the foursome to stop in a field at nightfall. They begin to celebrate when they pick up a radio signal coming from Amarillo. In the middle of their celebration, they hear chanting outside the RV and find themselves surrounded by cult members wearing black robes with hoods, including Sheriff Taylor and the couple with whom they had dinner. The film ends as the cultists light a ring of fire around the RV, trapping the couples inside while the chanting continues.

In 1965, Andrea travels to Buenos Aires, Argentina with her husband, Gregorio, his 2 sisters and a group of family friends. During the trip, one in their group, Martha, is murdered in her hotel room, and Andrea is discovered at the crime scene holding the gun with which Martha was killed. As all evidence initially points to Andrea as the killer, she is tried and sentenced to prison for Martha's murder.

Her husband and friends believe she is guilty and abandon her in Argentina, returning to Mexico City vowing never to mention Andrea's name again. Gregorio decides to lie to his children when they grow up. He makes them adore the portrait of a woman that doesn't exist and makes them believe that woman is their dead mother. He does this in order to erase Andrea from all of their lives as he is convinced she will never return - finishing her days in that prison where he abandoned her.

The body of policeman Dan Grady is rescued in the San Francisco Bay lifeless and with clear indications of an execution. His good friend Captain Street, very touched by the tragedy, asks for the help of Mr. Wong and the journalist Bobbie Logan to solve the mystery. Dan was carrying out an investigation into gemstone smuggling, and the investigation leads to suspicion of jeweler Frank Belden's shop. A witness appears who saw Dan at 8.30 pm the night before at the Neptune club, a disreputable place run by Harry Lockett, a well-known cheater, con man and smuggler. The investigations will lead to the discovery of a ring of precious stone trafficking that revolved around the Neptune, in which both the owner and Frank Belden himself, and the vamp Tanya Serova were involved. Slowly, however, all the members of the gang end up killed, and the blame seems to fall on the young Frank Belden jr. son of the jeweler and boyfriend of Serova. It will be Wong himself who will discover the cunning ploy devised by the real culprit to frame the young man, so the head of the gang, the lawyer John T. Forbes, is arrested by Captain Street thanks to the decisive collaboration of Miss Logan.

Vic Hammond and his wife Mary go to a cocktail party hosted by their friends Jerry and Samantha Rainbow. Vic lusts after the difficult-to-seduce Samantha as she is faithful to her husband, so he devises a plan that would allow Vic and Jerry to switch wives for a night without the women knowing it. He puts the suggestion to Jerry in the form of a story and finally manages to lure Jerry into proposing that they should try out the plan. Many meetings are subsequently held between the two men in which they plan every detail of the scheme.

At one point, in order to ensure that the deception is as complete as possible, they even agree to describe the sexual routines they adopt when making love to their wives. Both men regard the other's approach with disdain. Vic, who is very proud of his own approach and sexual technique with his wife, is particularly outraged when Jerry criticizes his routine.

On the fateful night, the men are able to sneak into each other's bedrooms without incident. But in the middle of having sex with Samantha (in total darkness), Vic realizes that in the heat of things he has forgotten to copy Jerry's technique. Samantha at first tenses up, but then responds with gusto.

The men return home, full of glee at their own cleverness. Vic gets quite a shock the next morning, though, when his wife Mary admits that she's never really enjoyed sex with him… before last night (implying that Jerry similarly forgot or ignored Vic's particular routine).

On a fog-bound moonlight night, a wolf howls in a swamp. In his nearby laboratory, Dr. Lorenzo Cameron (George Zucco) draws blood from a caged wolf. Secured to a table is Dr. Cameron's simpleminded but strong gardener, Petro (Glenn Strange), who is to be the subject of the doctor's experiment. Cameron injects a serum made from a wolf's blood into the cooperative Petro, who loses consciousness, grows fur and fangs, and awakens after he has transformed into a wolfman.

Cameron turns to an empty table, visualizing his former colleagues sitting there: The four professors dismissed his theory that wolf blood transfusions could be used to give a human being wolf-like traits. He recalls how the scientific community, the press, and the public joined in a resounding chorus of ridicule that finally cost him his position at the university.

Addressing the four spectral professors, Cameron declares, "Right now, we're at war, at war with an enemy that produces a horde that strikes with a ferocious fanaticism". Cameron proposes giving wolfman traits to soldiers in order to help win the war. When the professors scoff, Cameron says to them that his proposal doesn't really matter; he is going to have his wolfman kill them one-by-one. For the time being, however, he administers an antidote that transforms Petro back to normal; Petro remembers nothing.

The following night, Cameron injects Petro again and sends him into the swamp. As a wolfman, he enters a nearby home and kills a little girl. Hearing about the child's death, Cameron knows his formulation works. Now he can proceed to eliminate his former colleagues. He begins by setting up elaborate encounters in which Petro, left alone with each scientist, makes his wolfman transformation. The more times this happens, however, the more unpredictable Petro becomes while killing them.

Cameron's daughter Lenora (Anne Nagel) is romantically involved with Tom Gregory (Johnny Downs), a newspaper reporter investigating the death of the little girl. As the professors are killed, Gregory begins to suspect that Cameron is behind the murders.

The principals arrive at the Cameron home as a large thunderstorm begins. A bolt of lightning suddenly strikes, setting Cameron's laboratory on fire. Lenora and Tom are able escape from the spreading fire after first encountering an agitated Petro, now in his wolfman form. The transformed Petro suddenly turns on Cameron and kills him, as the raging fire brings down the house on both of them.

When Jim Craig and his father Henry are discussing their finances, a herd of wild horses called the Brumby mob passes by, and Henry wants to shoot the black stallion leader, but Jim convinces his father to capture and sell them. Jim and Henry are making a yard to trap the mob when they reappear and trample through the area. In the mayhem, the Craig's horse runs off with the mob and Henry is accidentally killed. Before Jim can inherit the station, a group of mountain men tell him that he must first earn the right – and to do so he must go to the lowlands and work. Jim and his father's old friend, Spur, a one-legged miner, gives Jim a horse. Jim then gets a job on a station owned by Harrison, Spur's brother, on a recommendation by Harrison's friend, Andrew Patterson (a character based on the poet A. B. (Banjo) Patterson). Meanwhile, Clancy appears at Spur's mine and the two discuss their pasts and futures. Clancy goes to Harrison's station to lead a cattle muster. At dinner, Harrison tells Clancy that "he has no brother" when referring to Spur.

Harrison organises a round-up of his cattle, but Jim is not allowed to go. While the others are gone, Harrison's daughter Jessica asks Jim to help her break in a prize colt. The mob appears again, and Jim unsuccessfully gives chase to the valuable horse. When Harrison returns, he sends Jim to bring back 20 strays. Later, Harrison learns of Jim's actions and tells Jessica that Jim will be fired and that she will be sent to a women's college. Impulsively, she rides off into the mountains where she is caught in a storm.

Spur, meanwhile, finally strikes a large gold deposit. Jim finds Jessica's horse and rescues her. She tells him that he's going to be fired, but he still leaves to return the cattle. Jessica is surprised at meeting Spur, her uncle, whom she had never been told about. She is also confused when Spur mistakes her for her dead mother and refuses to tell her anything about his past. After returning, Jessica learns that Spur and Harrison both fell in love with her mother, Matilda. Matilda declared that the first to make his fortune would be her husband. Spur went looking for gold, while Harrison bet his life savings on a horse race. Harrison became rich overnight when the horse he bet on won. Having made his fortune, Harrison wed Matilda, but she died while delivering Jessica. Harrison is grateful to Jim for returning his daughter, but he becomes angry when Jim says he loves her. As Jim leaves, a prized colt is let loose by a farmhand named Curly in the hope that Jim will be blamed.

Later, while camping out, Spur tells Jim that he will inherit his father's share of the mine. Clancy joins them and informs them of the colt, but Jim refuses to retrieve the animal. Meanwhile, Harrison offers a reward of £100, attracting riders and fortune-hunters from every station in the area. Clancy does eventually show, accompanied by Jim, whom Harrison finally allows to join the hunt. Several riders have accidents in pursuit and even Clancy is unable to contain the Brumby mob. The riders give up when the mob descends a seemingly impassable grade. However, Jim goes forward and returns the horses to Harrison's farm. Harrison offers him the reward but he refuses. Having cleared his name, Jim would like to return some day for the horses and, looking at Jessica, "anything else that's mine." He rides back up to the mountain country, knowing that he has earned his right to live there.

The events depicted in ''Web'' are written from the viewpoint of Arnold Delgrange, a man whose wife and daughter were recently killed in a motor collision. They revolve around a failed attempt to establish a utopian colony on the fictional island ''Tanakuatua'' in the Pacific Ocean, far from civilisation.

After a slow start setting the scene with the mysterious "Project" being financed by the wealthy and eccentric Lord Foxfield, the island is purchased and a team of volunteers sets out by steamer for the island. A summarised back-story provides commentary on the colonising powers' impact on the native population during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Tanakuatua is now uninhabited by humans, as its native inhabitants were evacuated from the island due to British nuclear testing and were relocated. However a small group of natives refused the evacuation order and placed a curse on any people who returned to the island. When Delgrange and his fellow pioneers reach the island they are irritated and frustrated by a bizarre ceremony that their native porters conduct before proceeding with the unloading of their supplies from the steamer which brought them. As the steamer departs and disappears over the horizon, due to return in six months, a sense of their solitude descends. They compose messages to their friends and family to be transmitted by radio, but the radio operator returns looking agitated. When Delgrange follows him to investigate, they find that the transmitter has been crushed beneath a heavy packing case. Clearly they are not alone on the island after all, and from this point on the sense of brooding menace steadily intensifies.

Eventually they discover that the island has been overrun by spiders that hunt in packs.

Four of the Reno Brothers are corrupt robbers and killers while a fifth, Clint, is a respected Indiana farmer. A sister, Laura, who has inherited the family home, serves as a housekeeper and cook to the brothers. Some of them served in the Civil War, which has given them a hardened attitude toward violence. One brother is killed when they go after a bank in a nearby town, leading them to draw the conclusion that someone that they know is an informant, as the men of the town appeared to have been waiting for them. They soon learn that it was Murphy, a local bartender, whom they then murder by knocking him out, and tying him up in his barn, which they then set ablaze. The bartender was an agent employed by the Peterson Detective Agency sent to investigate and provide information about the Reno Brothers' crimes.

His replacement is James Barlow, a former secret agent for the Confederacy, who determines to join the gang by posing as a train robber, a ploy which is aided by his being allowed to pull off a staged train robbery (with the full cooperation of the train crew) in the area. He also begins courting Laura. Grudgingly accepted by the brothers, led by Frank Reno, he soon learns that they have corrupted local officials, including a judge, allowing them to operate in that part of the state with impunity. The brothers plan a train robbery with Barlow, but this proves to be a setup in which they are captured following a shootout and taken to an area jail outside the jurisdiction of the corrupted officials. Townspeople break into the jail and lynch the brothers before they can be brought to trial despite Barlow's best efforts to stop them. Laura accepts his efforts as genuine.

Lamont Granston assumes his secret identity as "The Shadow", to break up an attempted robbery at an attorney's office. When the police search the scene, Granston must assume the identity of the attorney, Chester Randall. Before he can leave, a phone call summons the attorney to the home of Caleb Delthiern, a wealthy client who wants a new will drawn up. As Granston meets with him, Delthiern is suddenly shot but not before he is able to state that his niece Marcia Delthiern "is to be completely disinherited if she marries Warran" (Berringer). The oldest nephew, Winstead Comstock is arrested as he is under suspicion since he stands to inherit half of Delthiern's entire estate, the remainder to be divided equally among the remaining heirs: Marcia, and two other nephews, Jasper Delthiern and Humphrey Comstock. Winstead is later cleared of suspicion as he was at the theater and a café at the time of the shooting.

Marcia discovers a pistol on Jasper's night stand, she and Humphrey phone "Randall" (Granston) at his private number and he agrees to come right over. After talking to Detective Kelly on the phone, Granston discovers the pistol is a different caliber than the one used in the Delthiern's murder. Marcia has Randall put the gun in the library desk drawer.

Chester Randall's secretary, Miss Hughes, phones Captain Breen to let him know she read that Randall is in town when in fact he is away on vacation. Breen finds Granston at the Delthiern's and inists he's an imposter. Granston/Randall has Breen phone his secretary to verify that he is who he says he is. Granston has his assistant, Henry Hendricks, disconnect the phone cord just before Granston talks to the secretary, but talks into the receiver as if she was still on the line. Breen is convinced and leaves.

Jasper owes casino club owner, Barney Brossett, ten thousand dollars for gambling debts. Jasper confronts Winstead and insists on an eleven thousand loan to pay off his gambling debts while holding the gun he finds in the desk drawer. A shot is fired and Winstead is killed, Granston asks Captain Breen to run a paraffin test to see if the pistol has been fired in the last two hours. Granston hands Marcia her uncle's will and asks her to keep it in a safe place.

Warran suspects that Granston is not really Randall after the telephone company repair the connection, he visits Randall's secretary and learns that Randall is supposed to be away on vacation and lets Captain Breen know. Marcia goes to Granston's home and warns him. Granston pays a visit to Brossett as Hendricks sets up a listening device in Brossett's window and overhears Brossett on the phone talking about getting the will from the Delthiern house to get Jasper to pay him to get the will back. Brossett's men go to the house and attempt to get Marcia to hand over the will, but the Shadow appears and forces them to hand it back.

Delthiern's butler, Wellington finds Granston's address on a piece of paper in Marcia's purse and goes to Granston's place and tells him he intends to kill him. Brossett now suspects that Granston is the Shadow, follows him to his residence and confronts him, while Wellington is hidden behind a curtain. Brossett and Wellington attempt to shoot Granston but instead kill each other as Granston ducks out of the way. A dying Wellington admits that he tried to get his son, Warran Berringer, some of the Delthiern money.

His life changes when a wealthy man walks into his office and asks him to find his missing daughter. After a short investigation, the Walker finds her on Library - a world full of ancient ruins. Before he can bring her back, however, she dies in a freak accident. A clue leads him to another alien planet where he finds her alive and well. Soon he discovers that the same woman exists on several other worlds, each is connected to the other. One by one, they are killed in seemingly random, totally unrelated events. It is to the Walker's great surprise when he finds himself becoming attracted to his client's daughter. It's a race against time, as the Walker desperately tries to save the identical copies of the woman, only to have them die in his arms. Can he save the last one before she perishes and, in the process, uncover a massive conspiracy going back thousands of years with the Keymasters in the middle?

Walter Matern and Eduard Amsel are friends. Eduard is half Jewish and at the young age of five is a genius at making scarecrows. The narrator in Book One, the mine owner Brauxel, tells of the friendship of Walter and Eduard when they are children in the Vistula estuary, which is a German-Polish borderland (the interwar Free City of Danzig) peopled by Mennonites, Catholics and Protestants. Eduard keeps a diary which he fills with drawings of ideas for scarecrows. The history of this country is told with cruel images of horror and violence from that past that echoes into the present, which becomes Hitler's Germany.

The story in the second part of the book is narrated by Harry Liebenau, and consists of letters from him addressed to his cousin Tulla. This part of the story occurs during the war period, when Amsel collects vast numbers of S.A. uniforms, and dresses his scarecrows in them. He also persuades his childhood friend Walter to become a member of the S.A., in order to help him obtain the uniforms. But since the confusion in this country has reached its maximum at this point in time, it is inevitable that the two friends end up on a collision course. At one point Walter denounces Amsel as a Jew, hits him in the face and knocks out all of his teeth.

The last part of the novel is narrated by Walter and takes place after he has found his new friend Prinz. They leave on a journey in the postwar West Germany, where they systematically attack former Nazis who are now posing as respectable officials throughout the country.

In the year 1750, England is rife with crime and highway robbers. To stop the wave of chaos, King George II sets up the first professional police force named the Bow Street Runners, under the command of the bellowing Sir Roger Daley (Bernard Bresslaw), and seconded by Captain Desmond Fancey (Kenneth Williams) and Sergeant Jock Strapp (Jack Douglas). The Runners are apparently successful in wiping out crime and lawlessness – using all manner of traps and tricks to round the criminals up. However their main target is the notorious Richard "Big Dick" Turpin (Sid James), a highwayman who has evaded capture and succeeded in even robbing Sir Roger and his prim wife (Margaret Nolan) of their money and clothing. After this humiliation, Turpin becomes the Bow Street Runners' most wanted man, and thus Captain Fancey is assigned to go undercover and catch the famous Dick Turpin and bring him to justice.

The Bow Street Runners nearly succeed in apprehending Turpin and his two partners in crime, Harriet (Barbara Windsor) and Tom (Peter Butterworth), one evening as they hold up a coach carrying faux-French show-woman, Madame Desiree (Joan Sims), and her unladylike daughters, "The Birds of Paradise." However, Turpin manages to outsmart the Runners, sending them away in Madam Desiree's coach.

Outraged by Strapp's incompetence, Captain Fancey travels with the sergeant to the village of Upper Dencher near to where the majority of Turpin's hold-ups are carried out. There they encounter the mild-mannered Reverend Flasher, who is really Turpin in disguise, with Tom as his church assistant and Harriet as his maidservant. They confide in the rector their true identities and their scheme to apprehend Turpin. They agree to meet at the seedy Old Cock Inn, a notorious hang-out for criminals and sleazy types, and where Desiree and her showgirls are performing. Fancey and Strapp pose as two on the run crooks – and Strapp dubs his superior "Dandy Desmond" – and they hear from the greasy old hag, Maggie (Marianne Stone), a midwife who removed buckshot from Turpin's buttock, that Turpin has a curious birthmark on his manhood. Strapp wastes no time in carrying out an inspection in the public convenience of the Old Cock Inn.

When the rector arrives, he discovers their knowledge of the birthmark, and sweet talks Desiree into assisting him with the capture of "Turpin", whom the rector has told Desiree is actually Fancey, who is sitting downstairs in the bar. She lures him to her room and attempts to undress him, with the help of her wild daughters. The girls pull down his breeches but fail to find an incriminating birthmark, and Desmond staggers half-undressed into the bar. Strapp is also dumped into a horse trough for peeping at the men in the toilets.

Strapp and Fancey send a message to Sir Roger about the birthmark, and are accosted by Harriet in disguise who tells them to meet Turpin that night at ten o'clock. Meanwhile, Tom tells the local constable that he knows where Turpin will be that night – at the location Harriet told Strapp and Fancey to wait. Thus, they are imprisoned as Turpin and his mate, and Sir Roger is yet again robbed on his way to see the prisoners.

However things fall apart when the rector's housekeeper, Martha Hoggett (Hattie Jacques) begins to put two and two together when Mrs Giles (Patsy Rowlands), apparently sick and used for a cover-up story for Dick's raids, is seen fit and well at the church jumble sale. Later that day, Harriet is caught at the Old Cock Inn where Fancey, Strapp and Daley are meeting and Fancey recognises her as the "man" who conned them into being caught. She is chased into Desiree's room and is told to undress to show the infamous birthmark. However, they soon realise she is a woman and are prepared to let her go, but lock her up after Lady Daley recognises a bracelet that Harriet is wearing as one Turpin stole from her.

With the net tightening, the Reverend Flasher gives an elongated sermon before outwitting his would-be captors and making a speedy getaway, with Harriett and Tom, across the border.

Major Kira is shocked to find out that Dukat will be captaining the freighter transporting her to a conference regarding the Klingon threat. Dukat was recently demoted when it became publicly known that he has a half-Bajoran daughter, and he now works in a dreary job flying an unremarkable trading ship.

When they arrive they find the conference site obliterated, and a Klingon Bird of Prey warship leaving the area, not even bothering to attack what it considers a lowly freighter. Kira suggests that they adapt the planet's weapons for use by the freighter, effectively turning it into a Q-ship, and then they head after the Bird of Prey. They soon find it, and after tricking the Bird of Prey into thinking they are carrying valuable cargo, use their new weaponry to cripple the Klingon vessel. After commandeering the Bird of Prey and transporting the Klingons to the freighter, Dukat mercilessly destroys the freighter. Dukat notifies his superiors of his capture of the Klingon ship, hoping to regain some respect and spur the Cardassians into fighting the Klingons; they offer him his old job back, but order him to take no further offensive actions against the Klingons.

Disgusted, Dukat vows to fight the whole Klingon Empire himself if he has to. He offers Kira a place on his crew, saying her experience as a resistance fighter would be valuable. She declines, taking Ziyal back to Deep Space Nine with her until Dukat's personal war is over.

The film revolves around the lives of three sisters – played by Fay Ripley, Claire Rushbrook, and Lindsey Coulson – who live in Stretford, Greater Manchester, England.

In what would later become the last 48 hours of his life, Jesus of Nazareth (Jean-Claude La Marre), a Black man, leads a group of 12 disciples to the biblical city of Arimathea to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover. The city of Arimathea is governed by the elite Jewish Sanhedrin under the administrative jurisdiction of the Roman Empire who persecute and discriminate against the Jewish population. Growing weary of the popular influence displayed by Jesus, a Jew claiming to be a messiah, the Sanhedrin wish to call an emergency meeting to discuss his growing power and clout. From the Sanhedrin, some of the members find it hard to believe a black man although Jewish, could in fact be the messiah. The members attempt to formulate a plan to capture and interrogate Jesus over his alleged blasphemy. Meanwhile, Jesus with the help of his disciple John (Akiva David), discovers a safe dwelling in Arimathea to consume the Passover meal away from the watchful patrol of Roman soldiers who are also attempting to subdue him over his reputation. Accordingly, Mary (Debbi Morgan), the mother of Jesus, comes to believe her son is being individually singled out on motivations based on race. In addition to persecuting Jews in general, the Romans also view Jews who are black in skin color as a more troublesome ramification than just ordinary white Jews.

After a trek through the wilderness in the province of Judea, Jesus and his followers arrive in Arimathea. During the passover meal at a secret location within a Jewish guest home, Jesus reveals a vision which he experienced from God; depicting one of his disciples will betray him and hand him over to the Romans as a blasphemous criminal against the Empire. After hearing of the so-called miracles which Jesus performed, such as the healing of a blind man, and the restoring of life to a dead person, Caiphas (Elya Baskin), the leader of the Sanhedrin remains unconvinced of Jesus' prowess. The Sanhedrin believe that Jesus may in fact be a prophet like other Jews in the past, but do not believe he is a messiah. Later, Judas Iscariot (Johann John Jean), one of Jesus' followers, betrays him for a payment of 30 pieces of silver by revealing his hiding place from the Romans to Caiphas. Against the wishes of his fellow members in not involving the Romans into the matter, Caiphas recruits a group of Roman soldiers led by Horatius (David Gianopoulos), to capture Jesus. Earlier, Jesus along with his disciples left the Jewish guest home to seek refuge in the Garden of Gethsemane within the mountains of Judea. Following his capture with the aid of Judas, Horatius leads Jesus away to a presumed trial before the Romans. Jesus is later condemned to death and crucified.

In 1917, France is embroiled in World War I. Dubois, head of the French spy bureau, offers to spare the life of a captured agent (an uncredited Mischa Auer) if he will reveal who he is protecting. Dubois suspects it is Mata Hari, a celebrated exotic dancer, but the prisoner chooses execution by firing squad.

Lieutenant Alexis Rosanoff of the Imperial Russian Air Force lands in Paris after a dangerous flight over enemy territory, bringing important dispatches from Russia. He persuades his superior, General Serge Shubin, to take him to see Mata Hari perform that night.

Rosanoff is instantly smitten by her (as are most of the men of Paris). By youthful exuberance and good looks, he persuades her to spend the night with him. However, the next morning, she makes it clear to him that it was a one-time dalliance.

Carlotta secretly instructs Mata Hari to report to Andriani, their spymaster. Andriani orders her to find out from General Shubin the contents of the dispatches Rosanoff brought.

Meanwhile, when Dubois discloses his suspicions about Mata Hari to Shubin, the general laughs them off as ridiculous. However, Shubin has himself passed secret information to his lover Mata Hari, whom he is expecting for a private dinner. Rosanoff arrives unexpectedly, in case Shubin has further instructions before the pilot returns to Russia with more important dispatches. Upon learning of Rosanoff's mission, Mata Hari arranges for a confederate to steal the dispatches, photograph them and then return them undetected, while she keeps a puzzled, but delighted Rosanoff occupied.

This is the opportunity for which Dubois has been waiting. He informs Shubin of Mata Hari's recent activities, inciting his jealousy. She comes to see the general, but is unable to persuade him she was only doing her job. In fact, she has fallen in love with the younger man. Furious, Shubin telephones Dubois and confirms that Mata Hari is a spy. She shoots him dead before he can carry through on his threat to implicate Rosanoff.

Mata Hari goes into hiding, but when Andriani informs her that Rosanoff crashed and was seriously injured on his way back to Russia, she defies him and resigns to go to her love. Rosanoff has been blinded, but may recover his sight. After a joyful reunion (in which she does not reveal her desperate predicament), she is arrested by Dubois.

At her trial, her lawyer, Major Caron, points out that Dubois' case is weak; all his testimony is second-hand. However, when Dubois threatens to have Rosanoff brought in to testify that he met her outside Shubin's office just after the murder, Mata Hari gives up. She is sentenced to death. She writes to Rosanoff, telling him that she cannot see him for a while, as she has to go to a sanatorium for her health.

Shortly before her execution, Rosanoff is brought to her. The jailor and the attending nuns all maintain the pretense that they are in a sanatorium. Rosanoff tells the prisoner that he will likely see again and he looks forward to their future life together once she has recovered her health. Finally, Mata Hari is taken away to face the firing squad, with Rosanoff under the impression that she is going into surgery for a routine operation.

The story concerns an elderly potter named Cipriano Algor, his daughter Marta, and his son-in-law Marçal. One day, the Center, literally the center of commerce in the story, cancels its order for Cipriano's pottery, leaving the elderly potter's future in doubt. He and Marta decide to try their hand at making clay figurines and astonishingly the Center places an order for hundreds. But just as quickly, the order is cancelled and Cipriano, his daughter, and his son-in-law have no choice but to move to the Center where Marçal works as a security guard. Before long, the mysterious sound of digging can be heard beneath the Center, and what the family discovers will change their lives forever.

The film stars Laurence Fishburne as aging ex-con Socrates Fortlow, who after a long incarceration, is trying hard to make a new life and to accept the regrets of his past. Meanwhile, he meets a young boy named Darryl, who witnessed a boy murdered by a friend of his. He also has to deal with his best friend's deteriorating health and finding work.

The story begins with Scrooge McDuck swimming in his money bin, speaking his now-famous line, "I love to dive around in it like a porpoise, and burrow through it like a gopher, and toss it up and let it hit me on the head!" He is watched by his nephew Donald, and they discuss the relative merits of having so much money.

While looking through the window, Scrooge is alarmed to see that the Beagle Boys have bought the lot next to his money bin. Scrooge understands that they plan to build a house on it, so they can secretly drain Scrooge's money out of the bin. Scrooge immediately faints.

His three grandnephews ask Scrooge why he is so attached to his money, and he explains that to him it's not just money: his fortune is the result of a long life of hard work and canny action. Every coin is a memento of an adventure. "You'd love your money, too, if you got it the way I did – by thinking a little harder than the other guy, by jumping a little quicker –" Scrooge also repeats another of his now-famous mantras: he made his fortune by being "tougher than the toughies and smarter than the smarties! And I made it ''square''!"

After calming down, Scrooge forms a plan: with his nephews' help, he installs a chute that allows him to empty the bin slowly. They observe the trucks the Beagle Boys are using, which end up dumping the extra dirt at the lake. Scrooge buys the lake, then empties a load of money every time a truck drives by. When the Beagles finish their building, they eagerly begin their robbery, only to be appalled to find an empty money bin.

However, Scrooge is not at peace. Worrying that the mud at the bottom of the lake will ruin the banknotes, he has the money brought up loads at a time and the banknotes placed in glass jars before being re-sunk, which was a lesson he learned when exploring a sunken Spanish galleon that had documents which were still readable. Still, with his money on the bottom of the lake, Scrooge begins to miss his daily swim in the coins. To make up for it, he decides to create a temporary money island. Meanwhile, the Beagle Boys are frustrated that they have searched everywhere and failed to find the money. One of them elects to stop obsessing over it by going fishing. When he sees the lake he considered fishing was heavily fenced, then spots Scrooge playing on a money island, he realizes he chanced upon the money.

Feeling all is at peace, Donald and the nephews demand their back pay. Scrooge tries to do so by saying they can keep whatever of his money they fish out (not realizing this is the spot where the cheap coins were hidden), until they hear a shout of "Can we go fishing too?" from the Beagle Boys. Scrooge immediately rehires the nephews to help him guard the lake. The Beagle Boys buy the land in the valley downstream from the lake, showing that their plan is to destroy a dam at the end, causing the water and the money to flow down onto their property.

Scrooge and his nephews defend against the Beagle Boys' varied assaults on the dam: first, they use a giant magnifying glass suspended from a weather balloon to focus sunlight on the dam, hoping to burn it. Donald shatters the glass with a shot from an old-fashioned cannon.

Next, they force a bomb down the gullet of a fish and send it swimming toward the dam. Luckily, Dewey is fishing, and manages to pull out the bomb and throw it away before it explodes. Scrooge tells him to chase all the other fish downstream and then string a net across.

Third, the Beagle Boys use trained cormorants who first steal beakfuls of change from the lake, then carry napalm bombs toward the dam. Scrooge, who learned cormorant language while trading pearls in Asia, orders the cormorants to turn around and drop their bombs on the Beagle Boys.

Fourth, the Beagle Boys seed the clouds, causing a thunderstorm, hoping a lightning bolt will be drawn to the metal in the lake, and set the dam ablaze. Scrooge installs a large lightning rod atop the dam, wired to a cannonball which fires into the Beagle Boys' backyard.

The Beagle Boys turn to Plan Five: breeding super-termites. They publish a story in the newspaper about how termites nest in wooden dams, scaring Scrooge. He orders Donald to go into town and find a means to prevent this, and Donald buys the super termites from the disguised Beagle Boys, thinking they are a termite-''eating'' insect, and they chew through the dam. They are unable to repair the dam quickly enough, and it breaks, sending all the money flowing down onto the Beagle Boys' land.

Scrooge, to his nephews' surprise, decides to admit defeat, and invites them to come along while he congratulates the winners. The Beagle Boys crow over him, and as he gazes nostalgically at his money, he confesses that what he will miss most is swimming around in it. The Beagle Boys are intrigued, more so when Scrooge demonstrates. They decide to take a dive in themselves – and end up bashing their heads on the hard, unyielding surface of the coins. They will be unconscious for months, more than enough time for Scrooge to transport the money back onto his land. When his nephews ask how he can dive through the money while the Beagle Boys couldn't, he admits, "it's a trick."

Scrooge pays his nephews their wages and, as they leave, Donald remarks that Scrooge's money is nothing but trouble, for all the work it takes to guard and preserve. Scrooge dismisses this advice, declaring "No man is poor who can do what he likes to do once in a while!" He then goes back to gleefully swimming through his money.

140px The author Arshaluys (Aurora) Mardiganian was born in the city of Çemişgezek, near Harput (Kharpert), (present-day Turkish province of Elâzığ), Ottoman Empire. She was the daughter of a wealthy Armenian financier in the city. The story starts in 1915 when Arshaluys was 14 years old. She personally witnessed the murder of her father, mother, brothers and sisters. She was taken to the harem of a number of Turkish pashas, but had remained attached to her Christian Armenian faith despite being tortured repeatedly at the hands of her captors.

She found refuge with Frederick W. MacCallum, a Canadian doctor and missionary stationed with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), who safely returned her to Erzurum, which had come under Russian control. She later moved to Tbilisi (Tiflis) in the Caucasus and, through the mediation of General Andranik Ozanian and orders of the Russian military leadership in the Caucasus, was sent to the United States for recovery and to bear witness to the sufferings of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

Aurora Mardiganian, a survivor of the Armenian genocide of 1915–1923, recalled sixteen young Armenian girls being "crucified" by their Ottoman tormentors. The film ''Auction of Souls'' (1919), which was based on her book ''Ravished Armenia'', showed the victims nailed to crosses. However, almost 70 years later Mardiganian revealed to film historian Anthony Slide that the scene was inaccurate. She described what was actually an impalement. She stated that "The Turks didn't make their crosses like that. The Turks made little pointed crosses. They took the clothes off the girls. They made them bend down, and after raping them, they made them sit on the pointed wood, through the vagina. That's the way they killed – the Turks. Americans have made it a more civilized way. They can't show such terrible things."

The book was written by journalist Henry Leyford Gates, whose novelist-wife Eleanor Brown Gates became Mardiganian's legal guardian in America.

''Immercenary'' is set in 2004. During the 1990s, Dr. Marcus Rand was experimenting in astral projection through time and space, and encountered a woman in the future who was able to sense his astral form. The woman (later identified as simply "Raven") told him that in her time, all of humanity is jacked into a virtual reality network called Perfect, and cannot jack out, leaving them to wither and die as their physical needs are left unattended. Determined to answer Raven's plea for help, Rand focuses his research on projecting a person's mind to Perfect. When two test subjects died using his experimental technology, Rand's project was terminated and the use of the technology forbidden. Undeterred, Rand continued research using himself as the test subject. However, during his experimentation he received a near-fatal "psi feedback"; when found in his lab three days later, conscious but unable to move or communicate, he was committed to a rehabilitation institution."The History of the PIC", ''New Recruit Manual'' [video game booklet]. Pages 3–7.

Eighteen months later, Rand escaped from the institution and formed a terrorist organization dedicated to answering Raven's appeal for help, called the Project for Intertemporal Communication (PIC). During their research, the PIC discovered that everyone in Perfect is engaged in a type of virtual reality MMORPG in which they have no choice but to endlessly battle each other for rank and survival. Those engaged in this MMORPG are known as rithms, and when a rithm is "killed", the human controlling it often goes into a potentially fatal state of shock. The silent protagonist of ''Immercenary'' is the latest of five PIC operatives sent into Perfect's core (called the Garden) in a mission to shut down the operating system, Perfect1.

The PIC operative soon finds that he can increase the power of his rithm by crashing and absorbing other rithms, thus giving him a chance of defeating Perfect1. Once he has used this means to increase the rithm's power to many times its original abilities, Raven tells the operative that to have sufficient power to defeat Perfect1, he must crash her algorithm. The protagonist obliges, and goes on to destroy Perfect1. This not only frees all the inhabitants of Perfect, but revives those who were recently put into a state of shock, including Raven. After Dr. Rand congratulates the operative, another PIC scientist tells Rand that he was able to recover the source code for Perfect from the operative's readings, and that they can use this to recreate Perfect without the bugs which caused people to become trapped inside.

The 1997 general election has Tony Blair and the Labour Party elected as government, on a manifesto of reform and modernisation. Less than four months later, Diana, Princess of Wales, is killed in a car crash at the Alma Bridge tunnel in Paris.

Immediately, her death presents problems for her former husband, Prince Charles, and the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to accord the mother of a future king who is no longer a member of the royal family. Queen Elizabeth II wonders if Blair will turn his modernisation pledge on to the royal family since he attempts to have her reconsider her views on the funeral plans. Diana's family, the Spencers, calls for the funeral to be private.

In the press, Diana is dubbed the "People's Princess"; this begins an outpouring of grief by the general public in broadcasts, and displays of floral tributes so numerous at Buckingham and Kensington Palaces that the main entrances onto the complexes have to be rerouted. The royal family's senior members make no effort to acknowledge Diana's significance to society and remain on holiday at Balmoral. The royal family's popularity plummets, while Blair's approval rises as he responds to the royal family's public outcry of inaction.

Blair's attempts to guide the royal family through the controversy are met with resistance: the Queen describes them as a surrender to public hysteria. Despite the Queen and Prince Philip's indignance toward any sympathy toward Diana or acknowledgment of the country's mourning, he is encouraged by the private secretaries of both the Prince of Wales and the Queen to continue with his attempts to change the attitude of the royal family. As Britain continues its outpouring of grief, Blair attempts to defend the royal family publicly, but his attempts are futile. Blair's compassion earns him overwhelming praise and adoration, while the royal family's indifference earns them fiery condemnation from the people. As Britain's outrage hits a critical mass, Blair cannot placate the Queen's refusal to acknowledge Diana and the public any longer, revealing to her that 70% of the country believes her actions are damaging to the monarchy, and "1 in 4" people are in favour of abolishing the monarchy altogether. Blair adamantly insists that the royal family fly the flag at Buckingham Palace at half-mast, that the Queen pay her respects to Diana, and give a public address consoling the country.

Although she is demoralised by the country's reaction and the Prime Minister's suggestions, the Queen comes to realise that the world has changed during her reign. She and Prince Philip return to London, despite their disagreement. The Queen finally pays public tribute on live television to Diana's significance to the nation and society and can somewhat quell Britain's agony. The royal family attends the public funeral for Diana at Westminster Abbey.

At Blair's next meeting with the Queen, they exchange views about what has happened since their last meeting, including the controversy surrounding Diana's death and the actions that followed. Then she cautions the prime minister that, just as public opinion has changed about how the royal family should react to a new Britain, so must he as he may very well find himself in the same position of changing public opinion.

Levi Rockwell is a retired, widowed Hollywood screenwriter and patriarch who reunites his entire family at his Long Island estate for his 77th birthday, but personal and social problems abound. His four children, son Rolo, and daughters Ruby, Rose and Aggie arrive, along with their spouses and children, to help him celebrate his 77th birthday. During the course of the family reunion, Levi's health begins to fail and he voices a sentimental request that he be given a "Viking Funeral" after his death. With his adult children consumed by their own personal worries, the grandchildren honor Levi's last wishes.

En route to California, ex-sheriff Hooker (Gary Cooper), professional gambler Fiske (Richard Widmark), and bounty hunter Luke Daly (Cameron Mitchell) are temporarily stranded in a small Mexican fishing village when their steamship experiences engine trouble. While they discuss their options in a local saloon, enter Leah Fuller (Susan Hayward), whose husband John is trapped in a distant gold mine. She needs help to rescue him. Noticing Hooker and the others, she approaches them. She offers the waylaid travelers $2,000 each, tossing a bag of coins on their table. Her gesture attracts the attention of another saloon customer, Vicente, who accepts her deal. Hooker and his companions soon sign on as well.

During the harrowing journey inland, Leah informs Hooker that the site where her husband is trapped was once a boom town, but a volcanic eruption wiped it out, leaving only a church steeple and the mine uncovered by lava. The resident priest called it the "garden of evil". The Indians now consider the volcano sacred. When the group arrives at the mine, they discover John unconscious but alive. They work to free him before the ceiling collapses further, then transport him to a nearby cabin where Hooker sets his broken leg.

With hostile Apaches nearby, the group quickly prepares to leave, but during the return journey, Daly is killed by an arrow in the back. At a burnt-out mission, Leah's husband is found dead and hung upside down on a cross. Vicente falls next, the victim of multiple arrows. At a choke point in the cliff-hugging path, which is the only way out, Hooker and Fiske draw cards to see which of them will stay behind to hold off the Indians while the other rides with Leah to safety. Fiske "wins" and succeeds in killing or driving off most of their pursuers before he is mortally wounded. After seeing that Leah is safe, Hooker returns to aid a dying Fiske, who admits he cheated on the card draw to guarantee he would stay behind. Fiske urges Hooker to settle down with Leah. Hooker returns to Leah, and they ride off into the sunset.

In a village stricken by drought, people are praying for rain and a Kurdish girl is trying to escape from an arranged marriage when she runs into a stranger.

It is the turn from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. Countess Thun asked the famous New York detective Nick Carter to travel to Prague, for assistance to solve the strange case of a missing dog. Carter is assisted by Prague police commissar Ledvina. Mysterious murder cases happen during the investigations, done by the malicious botanist Baron von Kratzmar and his carnivorous plant Adela. Von Kratzmar kidnapped his victims, bound them and whenever he played a gramophone with the melody "Schlafe, mein Prinzchen" (a lullaby by Bernhard Flies but previously associated with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) it is the time for Adela to awaken and eat her victims for dinner. Baron von Kratzmar considered himself a misjudged genius and wanted to take revenge on one of his former professors. He called himself "the Gardener" a notorious criminal, who Nick Carter thought had died in the swamps years ago. With the help of bizarre inventions, Ledvina and Carter succeed in catching von Kratzmar and delivering him to the legal authorities.

''Nomad'' is a historical epic set in 18th-century Kazakhstan. The film is a fictionalized account of the youth and coming-of-age of Ablai Khan, a Khan of the Kazakh Horde, as he grows and fights to defend the fortress at Hazrat-e Turkestan from Dzungar invaders during the Kazakh-Dzungar Wars.

Mirza, a famous Kurdish musician, hears that his (ex-)wife, Hanareh, is in trouble. Accompanied by his two sons, he embarks on an adventurous journey across the Iran-Iraq border to find her.

"Zerophilia" is a fictional condition that affects an unknown number of people with an extra "Z" chromosome. Following their first full sexual experience, zerophiliacs begin to change sex after experiencing an orgasm. Luke (Taylor Handley), a young man somewhat insecure about his masculinity, begins to exhibit zerophilia following an encounter with a woman (Kelly LeBrock). He meets Michelle (Rebecca Mozo) and experiences partial transformations when they go out together.

He confides with his best friend Keenan (Dustin Seavey) about his partial transformations, who in turn contacts Dr. Sydney Catchadourian (Gina Bellman). Dr. Catchadourian persuades Luke to go through a full transformation. Luke does this by masturbating, becoming female, and subsequently calling herself "Luca". Luca has difficulty achieving an orgasm to change back, even with coaching from Keenan's girlfriend Janine (Alison Folland). However, a visit by Michelle's attractive brother, Max (Kyle Schmid), who flirts with "Luke's cousin", enables her to get sufficiently aroused to complete the transformation back to Luke.

Luke is threatened by his sex transformation, his arousal by an attractive male, and the questions of sexual identity it raises; he seeks help from Sydney. She tells him that a zerophiliac can become "a-morphic" and stop changing sex only by having sex with another zerophiliac... such as herself. He reluctantly agrees to do it, but discovers afterward that she was not telling him the full truth: an a-morphic zerophiliac can still change by having sex with another zerophiliac, and Dr. Catchadourian was using Luke to change herself one last time (into a man), leaving Luca as a woman in the process.

Comic tensions arise from Luke's efforts to keep Michelle at a distance, Max's defensiveness about his sister, Luca's half-hearted resistance to Max's affections, and Luke's confused aggression toward Max. When Michelle discovers that Luke had sex with Dr. Catchadourian, she feels betrayed. Hoping to find Michelle, Luca seeks out Max to profess deep affection for Michelle and remorse for betraying her. Max is touched by the apology, and reveals that he is actually Michelle, also a zerophiliac. They make love repeatedly, changing sex mostly in sync with each other, but occasionally finding themselves the same sex. It ends with the happy couple apparently resolved to their 'condition' and past any questions of their gender and sexual identity.

FBI Agent Alex Cross is on vacation in Los Angeles with his family and his girlfriend Jamilla Hughes (from ''Violets Are Blue'') when he receives word that a Hollywood actress has been murdered. The actress was shot and her face violently slashed with a knife. An email describing the killer's mindset before and during the murder as well as allusions to the killer's motivation was sent to an entertainment reporter named Arnold Grinner at the ''Los Angeles Times''. The emails are signed "Mary Smith". The actress happens to be friends with the wife of the President of the United States who has asked FBI Director Ron Burns to look into the matter. Burns then gives the case to Cross, who goes to the scene, despite protests from Nana and Jamilla. He does not return until very late in the afternoon, by which time Jamilla has left to return to San Francisco, which doesn't surprise Alex, and Alex Jr. "Ali" has been taken away by Christine, who had come down to spend time with Ali and Alex.

During a trial to determine who takes custody over Ali, Christine's attorney uses evidence of a picture of Ali and Cross' family being evacuated from the house for safety (in the ''Big Bad Wolf''). Her attorney also points out that a "stranger" is carrying Ali from the house. However, Alex notices that the so-called "stranger" is John Sampson, his best friend, who works for the DCPD (the D.C. Police Department), angering Alex. Christine eventually wins custody with Alex getting over 40 days of time with Ali only. Meanwhile, Alex later meets up on another date with Jamilla, who reveals that she has been seeing another man (an unknown lawyer) since the beginning of his new case. Alex realizes that he has lost Jamilla, largely because Alex has been focusing more on his job. They both decide to end their relationship and remain friends. Alex and Jamilla say an emotional goodbye and go their separate ways. Alex constantly goes and comes from Los Angeles for the Mary Smith case, which is assigned to LAPD cop Jeanne Galleta.

Additional victims, including a movie producer and a local TV anchorwoman, turn up. Galleta and he get several leads and also go out to eat and share a kiss. After several murders, a final crime scene shows Arnold Grinner being killed. However, actions supposedly caused by Alex send Galleta off the case and she is on the case of a blue Chevrolet Suburban speeding away from one of the murder scenes, which may be a lead. Further investigation reveals the owner of one such Suburban whose owner lives near the Internet café where many of the Mary Smith emails were sent. A variety of other evidence also corroborates the conclusion that the Suburban's owner is, in fact, the Mary Smith killer. Sampson, and his wife, Billie, meet up for a welcome back party for Alex, while Alex says that he wants Sampson to work for the FBI with him while Sampson asks him to work for the DC Police Department.

Cross interviews the Suburban's owner, Mary Wagner. In doing so, he discovers that she suffers from some sort of psychological disorder that either led or caused her to kill her three children 20 years ago and has thus tried to live on by pretending they are still alive. The police show up and arrest her because of this. Alex goes to speak with her while she is in custody, and she tries to get his gun, but he eventually takes it back from her. To investigate the killings further, Cross travels to the Suburban owner's small hometown in Vermont and discovers that after her children were killed, she was institutionalized at a state mental hospital from which she later escaped. Another clue that supports she is the killer is that her children's names are Adam, Ashley, and Brendan. At each crime scene, stickers with two As and one B often show up – similar to her children's names. Other clues include her job as a maid – in one of the murders, a maid was killed and the bed in which two guests were having sex in was cleaned up and done – and that she was late to or missed work on the times of the murders.

At the mental hospital, Cross examines the log of visitors who had come to see the Suburban owner and discovers a familiar name. Upon contacting LAPD he informs them of a possible suspect and it is told that the suspect's house is being watched. He gets a taxi, which has a dead reporter named Truscott, and the actual Mary Smith killer: Michael Bell, who calls himself "the Storyteller". Bell killed his wife and others, and framed Mary Wagner. After a car crash, leading up to a fight, Cross overpowers Bell and kills him. In the hospital, he is told by Jeanne Galleta that Mary (the original suspect) killed herself. At home, Christine decides to give Ali back to Cross permanently, giving him full custody. Later on, Alex, after being told by Nana to not make his children "orphans" like Alex was, ponders if he should stay in the FBI. He refuses Samspon's offer to return to the department and decides that "something in his life needs to change".

It's the biggest trial of the decade - big time mobster Dominic Cavello has finally been put in the dock, and there's enough evidence to make a conviction. Heavy security surrounds the courtroom, and Nick Pellisante, the FBI agent who helped to nail Cavello, keeps a close eye on the proceedings. But things swiftly begin to go wrong. Faced with anonymous threats, the jury is sequestered. Then the bus escorting them to their hotel is bombed on the day of Andie's young son's birthday - Jarrod, who is on the bus with the rest of the jury. Andie DeGrasse is the only person who survives, her loss strengthens her resolve to see justice done, to Cavello as well as to whoever planted that bomb. She and Pellisante both know that this will be difficult, but they can't foresee just how difficult.

Category:2006 American novels Category:Novels by James Patterson Category:Courtroom novels Category:Little, Brown and Company books

Nazi German bombers are failing to make it to Moscow in World War II; infuriated by his soldiers' constant failure, Fuehrer Adolf Hitler announces his decision via a radio broadcast at a "New Odor" rally that he will personally fly a heavy bomber to attack the Russians. On the way to Moscow, Russian gremlins sneak onto the plane in flight and without Hitler's being aware of what's going on, begin to dismantle it while singing "We Are Gremlins from the Kremlin" to the tunes of “Ochi Chyornye” (“Dark Eyes”) and “Eh, ukhnem” (“Song of the Volga Boatmen”), and the sabotage includes a "termiteski" busily devouring the plane's wing (with loud burps) and a microscopic gremlin smashing the control panel dials with an enormous wooden mallet and announcing "I'm only three and a half years old!"

Hitler eventually discovers the gremlins after he's been stabbed in the buttocks and tries to retaliate. He fails, being severely frightened by several gremlins holding a mask of Joseph Stalin. The gremlins succeed in ejecting him from the bomber by cutting a hole in the fuselage beneath him. As he falls, Hitler comes to and realizes the plane is right behind him in a power dive. He tries to outrun the plane and to hide behind a small sapling upon landing, but the plane alters course as seen by its shadow. Both Hitler and the plane are driven into the ground. The plane's tail with its swastika insignia erupts from the ground as a headstone.

The cartoon ends with the gremlins celebrating in victory as Hitler pops out of the ground, with his face grimacing into the one of comedian Lew Lehr, and paraphrasing his famous catchphrase: "Monkeys is the cwaziest [craziest] peoples!" (only changing the word "monkeys" into "Nutzies," referring to Nazis). A gremlin pounds Hitler back into the ground with a sledgehammer, ending the film under Clampett's signature ‘‘bee-woop’’ vocalization.

''Everest '82'' tells the true story of the first Canadians to climb Mount Everest.

The film begins with Laurie Skreslet just having lost his best friend in a climbing accident, that happened near Banff. He believes the accident was his fault. The movie then switches to an Everest expedition making its way through the dramatic Nepalese countryside approaching the mountain. The expedition leaders are already fighting, which does little to reassure the conflicted doubts Laurie has about climbing and the guilt he feels over his friend's death.

Once they are on the mountain a huge avalanche kills three of them. Two days later, a collapse of ice crushes another. Everything goes wrong, the media turns against them, the sponsors cut off supplies and tell them to come home, the mountain is too unstable. Because of this half of the climbers leave. As the rest of the climbers are about to go, Laurie reflects on the situation, digging deep within himself to find inspiration and becomes convinced he must go on. He talks a couple of them into continuing up the mountain, inspired by the ghosts of past climbers, their deaths and triumphs.

Hercule Poirot is happy after his appointment with his dentist Henry Morley. He encounters former actress Mabelle Sainsbury Seale as she exits a cab outside the office. Poirot retrieves a shiny buckle for her that has fallen from her new shoe. During the dental visit, Morley tells Poirot that his secretary is away and her absence is slowing him in seeing patients. Later that day, his friend Inspector Japp informs him that Morley has been found dead, having been shot in the head, the gun in his hand. Between Poirot's appointment and Morley's death, the dentist had three patients – Mabelle, prominent banker Alistair Blunt, and a new patient, a Greek gentleman called Amberiotis. A fourth person, Howard Raikes, leaves without seeing Reilly. Raikes is an American left-wing activist who likes Jane Olivera, niece of the banker Blunt.

Amberiotis dies from an overdose of anaesthetic before Japp can interview him, leading police to the view that Morley accidentally killed him and committed suicide upon realising his mistake. Poirot does not accept this view. He knows from Morley's secretary Gladys Nevill that she had been called away by a fake telegram that day. Morley had not liked her boyfriend Frank Carter, and felt Carter did this.

Mabelle is missing after speaking with police. A month later, search turns up a body, whose face is smashed in, within a chest in the apartment of Mrs Albert Chapman, a woman who cannot be found. Poirot notes the dullness of the buckled shoes on the body, clothes like Mabelle's. Dental records reveal the body to be that of Mrs Chapman.

Blunt invites Poirot to his country house, where he meets Blunt's cousin and niece. Two attempts are made on Blunt's life; the second is thwarted by Raikes. The culprit is Carter, an assistant gardener at the house. Raikes finds Carter holding a gun, of the same make as the gun that killed Morley.

Agnes Fletcher, Morley's maid, tells Poirot that she saw Carter on the stairs to the dentist's office before Morley's death. Poirot presses Carter, now held by police, for the truth. Carter admits that while waiting to speak to Morley, he saw two men leave his office. When Carter enters the office, Morley is dead, his body cold. Carter fears that no one will believe him.

Poirot meets with Blunt and presents him with the complex truths now clear to Poirot, and listens to Blunt's explanations. The Scottish second cousin Helen Montressor is Blunt's first wife Gerda, whom he had married in secret. Blunt's second cousin of that name had died years earlier. He met Mabelle as an actress in the same company as Gerda in London. He had not divorced Gerda before he married his now-deceased and socially appropriate second wife, Rebecca Arnholt. If his bigamy were exposed, he would be disgraced, lose the fortune he inherited from Arnholt as well as the power he now has. When Mabelle recognises Blunt, she knows nothing of Blunt's present life. Mabelle mentions seeing her friend's husband to Amberiotis, whom she met by chance on her return to England. Amberiotis is a blackmailer and blackmails Blunt. Blunt then makes a plan to end the blackmail by murder.

Blunt and Gerda act jointly. The morning of the first two murders, Gerda invites Mabelle to an apartment she secured under the alias of Mrs Chapman. Gerda kills Mabelle by poison in her tea and briefly steals her identity at the dentist office. After Morley takes care of Blunt's teeth, Blunt kills him. He and Gerda move Morley's body to a side room, and he pretends to leave the office. Then Blunt acts as the dentist when Amberiotis arrives, injecting him with a fatal dose of anaesthetic. The secretary being out, Gerda changes Mabelle's records to become those of Mrs Chapman and vice versa; the double confusion is meant to mislead the police on who was murdered in Chapman's apartment. Gerda, as Mabelle, leaves. Once Amberiotis leaves, Blunt moves Morley's body back into the surgery; the scene appearing as a suicide, he leaves. Amberiotis and Blunt are the two men Carter saw leaving the dental office. The telegram to Nevill was sent by the pair, not by Carter. Gerda wore new shoes when impersonating Mabelle, as she could not fit into Mabelle's larger shoes after killing her. She put Mabelle's own older shoes on her dead body, a detail that Poirot noticed.

Blunt is calm in discussing these details of murder and false identity with Poirot, as he expects Poirot to cover for him on account of his political importance; Poirot will not do this. Gerda was being arrested as they talked, and Blunt will be arrested, no matter his public role. The three people murdered deserve justice to their murderers. Poirot meets Raikes and Olivera and tells them to enjoy their life together, asking that they allow freedom and pity within it.

When the villagers of Kleinschloss start dying of blood loss, the town fathers suspect a resurgence of vampirism, but police inspector Karl Brettschneider remains skeptical. Scientist Dr. Otto von Niemann, who cares for the victims, visits a patient who was attacked by a bat, Martha Mueller. Out of appreciation for her kindness, Martha is visited by a mentally challenged man named Hermann Glieb, who claims he likes bats because they are "soft like cat" and "nice".

On the doctor's journey home, he meets Kringen, one of the townsfolk, who claims to have been attacked by the vampire in the form of a bat, but withheld his story from the town in order to not spread fear. Dr. von Niemann encourages Kringen to tell the townsfolk of his story. Kringen becomes suspicious that Glieb may be the vampire due to his obsession with bats. Glieb lives with bats and collects them off the street.

Dr. von Niemann returns to his home, which also houses Brettschneider's love Ruth Bertin, Ruth's hypochondriac aunt Gussie Schnappmann, and servants Emil Borst and Georgiana. Fear of the vampire and suspicion of Glieb quickly spread around the town and people start fearing him. Ms. Mueller is killed that night. The analyses of Dr. von Niemann and another doctor, Dr. Haupt, conclude that the death is the same as all of the previous deaths – blood loss, with two punctures in the neck caused by needle-sharp teeth. Gleib enters the examination, and upon seeing the dead body, runs away screaming.

Next morning, Glieb enters Dr. von Niemann's garden, where Dr. von Niemann, Brettschneider and Bertin are discussing vampires inside the house. The town fathers enter the house and announce that Kringen is dead and Gleib is missing. An angry mob hunts down Gleib and chases him through the countryside and into a cave, where he falls to his death.

That night, Dr. von Niemann is seen telepathically controlling Emil Borst, as he picks up sleeping Georgiana and takes her down to Dr. von Niemann's laboratory, where a strange organism is seen. They then drain her blood from her neck.

Schnappmann then discovers Georgiana's body in her bed. Dr. von Niemann and Brettschneider investigate and find Ms Mueller's crucifix, which Glieb handled the night Dr. von Niemann visited her. Brettschneider is becoming more convinced of the presence of vampires in the village as no other plausible explanations for the deaths can be found. As Glieb was seen in the garden that morning, the two conclude he is guilty.

Upon hearing of Glieb's death, however, Brettschneider's conviction is erased. Dr. von Niemann tells Brettschneider to go home and take sleeping pills, but gives him poison instead, intent on draining his blood. Bertin discovers Dr. von Niemann telepathically controlling Borst, who is at Brettschneider's house. It is revealed that Dr. von Niemann has created an artificial lifeform and is using the blood to feed his organism. He ties Bertin up and gags her in his lab. Borst supposedly enters with Brettschneider's body on a trolley. Dr. von Niemann walks over to Borst, who is revealed to be Brettschneider (who did not take the pills) in costume, with the real Borst on the trolley. Brettschneider pulls a gun on Dr. von Niemann and walks over to untie Bertin. Dr. von Niemann then wrestles Brettschneider, who drops the gun. As the two fight, Borst picks up the gun and shoots Dr. von Niemann before shooting himself.

When Wilbur leaves the hospital after having tried once more to kill himself, the staff ask his brother Harbour to let Wilbur move in with him. The brothers thus share their childhood flat, which is adjacent to the bookshop their father left them.

Uninterested in the family business, Wilbur works in a nursery. Harbour manages the shop and meets Alice, who sells him books she finds when working as a hospital cleaner. When she is sacked for always being late, she visits Harbour to explain why she will not be coming again. Following his brother's advice on "grabbing" women, Harbour asks Alice to marry him. The wedding meal is held at an Asian restaurant and allows Wilbur to get acquainted with Sophie, Alice's ex-colleague from the hospital. The two start flirting, but Wilbur pushes Sophie away after she licks his ear. After the meal, Wilbur goes back home and slits his wrists in the bath.

Harbour finds his brother just in time and Alice saves Wilbur by using towels to stop the bleeding. While discussing Wilbur with Alice, Harbour tells her his brother feels responsible for their mother's death.

As he is about to leave the hospital, Wilbur gets a nurse named Moira, infatuated with him, to lick his ear. Instead of reciprocating the favour, he wipes his ear and leaves the room. At the same time, a few doors along, Harbour is told by a doctor that he needs to stay in the hospital for some tests. Harbour refuses because he wants to be at home with his new family.

Wilbur, Harbour, Alice and Mary live together, allowing them to get acquainted. Before Mary's birthday party, Alice asks Harbour buy some whipped cream at the supermarket, where he has a fit. He wakes up at the hospital, where Dr Horst, a psychologist he has met often through Wilbur, tries to convince him to get treatment for pancreatic cancer. The two men share a bottle of whisky, Dr Horst believing that such is the condition of Harbour's liver that a little alcohol will be insignificant. Wilbur goes back to the bookshop to bring Alice the whipped cream for Mary's party. When a little girl asks him to stand on his head, he throws up on her dress. Harbour is put to bed; as Wilbur and Alice tidy up after the party, they kiss briefly until she says she cannot continue.

The next day, Wilbur tries to jump off a building, only to realise he does not want to. He goes home to apologise to Alice for kissing her, but they do so again.

Dr Horst tells Harbour he must explain his very serious situation to his family, but he does not know how to.

To fight the mutual attraction Wilbur has with Alice, Wilbur decides to make nurse Moira his girlfriend. One evening, as they are all out for a meal, Moira tells the family they should change their eating habits to help Harbour during his chemotherapy. Furious at Harbour for not getting treatment, Alice takes him to hospital and spends the night there with him despite Harbour being scared that Wilbur might try to kill himself. The latter, having stayed at home to take care of Mary, decides not to commit suicide when he realises the little girl needs him. Wilbur resigns from his job to replace his brother at the bookshop. Harbour's condition does not improve, so his doctor allows him to spend his last Christmas at the bookshop.

After dinner, as Harbour tucks Mary into bed, she asks him if he is going to spend the night in Wilbur's room, implying that Wilbur will be in Alice's. As he is about to take a taxi back to the hospital, Harbour asks his brother to take care of Alice and Mary. In his hospital room, Harbour takes an overdose of pills and trims his fingernails before lying in bed fully clothed. The film ends with Wilbur, Alice, and Mary visiting Harbour's grave.

Asim Noyan (Yılmaz Erdoğan) and his gang make up a rambling collective, which concerns itself with a range of criminal activities, running from car theft to fraud. An inveterate womaniser, Asim meets the failed comedian Superman impersonator Samet (Tolga Cevik) while fleeing from an angry husband. Desperate Samet finds himself unwittingly implicated in the life of the gang. Meanwhile, Umut (Özgü Namal), the daughter of Mr and Mrs Ocak, a highly literate but hard-up couple, leads an altogether different life. The paths of Samet, Umut and Asim's gang cross because of a stolen car.

In order to study journalism at Istanbul University, Sadık leaves his village on the Aegean coast. This angers his father, Hüseyin, who wants him to study Agricultural Engineering so he can manage the family farm. During his years at university Sadık becomes a militant in left wing politics. Upon learning about Sadık's behavior, Hüseyin disowns him.

However worse days are ahead for Sadık. In the early hours of the morning on 12 September 1980 Sadık's pregnant wife starts having contractions. The couple runs outside, but they can't find anyone to take them to the hospital, due to a curfew. The country has been taken over in a military coup. Sadık's wife gives birth in a park and dies, but their son, Deniz, possibly named after leftist youth icon Deniz Gezmiş, survives.

Because of his political activities, Sadık is arrested, tortured, and imprisoned for three years during which time he loses his health. A few years after being released, he finds out that he will die. Having no other choice, he takes Deniz back to his family farm on the Aegean into the care of his mother and his father, who still does not speak to him. For Deniz, who is absorbed in the magical world of comic books, meeting his relatives on the farm is a new experience. There is his grandmother (Hümeyra Akbay) who drives a tractor and speaks on a short wave radio, his aunt Hanife (Binnur Kaya) who wears bracelets from her wrist all the way to her shoulder, and his uncle (Yetkin Dikinciler) who is a little naive.

There is trouble in store, however, for Sadık and Hüseyin who must come to terms with their past and each other. Sadık also needs to face his first love, now married with two children, and the question of old friends. However his sickness takes over and Sadık passes away. His parents take over the responsibility of Deniz who comes into term with his father's loss.

Howard the Duck is 27 years old and lives on Duckworld, a planet similar to Earth, but inhabited by anthropomorphic ducks and orbited by twin moons. As he is reading PlayDuck in his living room, his armchair suddenly propels him out of his apartment building and into outer space; Howard eventually lands on Earth, in Cleveland, Ohio. Upon arriving, Howard encounters a woman being attacked by thugs, whom he defeats using a unique style of martial arts. The woman introduces herself as Beverly Switzler, and decides to take Howard to her apartment and let him spend the night.

The following day, Beverly takes Howard to Phil Blumburtt, a scientist who Beverly hopes can help Howard return to his world. After Phil is revealed to be only a lab assistant, Howard resigns himself to life on Earth and rejects Beverly's aid. He soon applies for a job as a janitor at a local romance spa, but eventually quits and returns to Beverly, who plays in a band called Cherry Bomb. At the club where Cherry Bomb is performing, Howard comes across their manager and confronts him when he insults the band. A fight breaks out, in which Howard wins.

Howard rejoins Beverly backstage after the band's performance and accompanies her back to her apartment, where Beverly persuades him to be the band's new manager. The two begin to flirt, but they are interrupted by Blumburtt and two of his colleagues, who reveal that a laser spectroscope they were inventing was aimed at Howard's planet and transported him to Earth when it was activated. They theorize that Howard can be sent back to his world through a reversal of this same process.

Upon their arrival at the laboratory, the laser spectroscope malfunctions upon activation, raising the possibility of something else being transported to Earth. At this point, Dr. Walter Jenning is possessed by a life form from a distant region of space. When they visit a diner, the creature introduces itself as a "Dark Overlord of the Universe" and demonstrates its developing mental powers by destroying the table, utensils, and condiments. A fight ensues when a group of truckers in the diner begins to insult Howard. Howard is captured and is almost killed by the diner chef, but the Dark Overlord destroys the diner and escapes with Beverly.

Howard locates Phil, who is arrested for his presence at the laboratory with no security clearance. After they escape, they discover an ultralight aircraft, which they use to search for the Dark Overlord and Beverly. At the laboratory, the Dark Overlord plans to transfer another of his kind into Beverly's body with the dimension machine. Howard and Phil arrive and seemingly destroy the Dark Overlord with an experimental neutron disintegrator, but the creature is merely forced out of Jenning's body and now attacks them in his true form. Howard fires the neutron disintegrator at the hideous beast, obliterating him. He then destroys the laser spectroscope, preventing more Dark Overlords from arriving on Earth, but also ruining his only chance of returning to Duckworld. Howard then becomes Beverly's manager, hires Phil as an employee on her tour, and performs with her on stage.

Dr. Bernard Adrian is a kindly scientist who seeks to cure a young woman's polio. All he needs is spinal fluid from a human to complete the formula for his experimental serum. Meanwhile, a vicious circus ape has broken out of its cage and is terrorizing the townspeople.

The Ape eventually breaks into Dr. Adrian's lab. The Doctor manages to kill it before any harm can come to himself. However, the spinal fluids he requires to perform his experiments have all been destroyed during the struggle between him and the Ape.

Doctor Adrian then concocts an idea: he will tear off the ape's flesh and use its skin to disguise himself as the escaped circus animal and murder townspeople in order to extract their spinal fluid. Thus the murders will be blamed on the Ape and he, himself, will manage to avoid any suspicion.

However, one of his attacks towards the film's ending is unsuccessful; he is fatally shot and the Ape's "true identity" is revealed.

Dr. Markoff (J. Carrol Naish) has concocted a formula that spreads acromegaly, a hideous disease that extends bones and distorts facial features. Markoff has no moral dilemma in experimenting on unsuspecting human subjects. His amoral behavior assumes monstrous dimensions when famed concert pianist Lawrence (Ralph Morgan) is injected with the doctor's disease-inducing serum. In return for an antidote, Markoff intends to exact more than his pound of flesh by extorting a fortune from Lawrence and demanding the hand of the musician's pretty daughter Patricia (Wanda McKay).

Captain Thorne Sherman (James Best) and first mate Rook Griswold ("Judge" Henry Dupree) deliver supplies by boat to a group on a remote island. The group, consisting of scientist Marlowe Cragis (Baruch Lumet), his research assistant Radford Baines (Gordon McLendon), the scientist's daughter Ann (Ingrid Goude), her former fiancée Jerry Farrel (Ken Curtis), and a servant Mario (Alfred DeSoto), welcome the captain and his first mate. Before the two visitors can get too comfortable though the islanders, to their surprise, begin to insist that the ship leave immediately and take Anna with them, even though a hurricane is fast approaching the island. Thorne however insists that the storm will be too severe for them to leave that night and so instead goes with the researchers to their compound, while Griswold stays with the boat, saying that he will come ashore later.

Over cocktails at the compound, Thorne soon becomes aware of a menace threatening all their lives and the reason for why the Doctor and company were so eager for the ship to leave quickly: Marlowe Cragis as it turns out has been performing well-meaning genetic research and has been using shrews as test animals due to their short life spans allowing him to track his research's progress over multiple generations. The Doctor's purpose in these experiments is to isolate and manipulate the genes responsible for growth and metabolism in order to eventually shrink humans to half their size so as to reduce world hunger because (he reasons) being smaller, the modified humans will consume less food in a world with a limited food supply. Unfortunately, the Doctor's experiments have instead created a batch of mutant giant shrews that have escaped due to Farrel's drunken negligence and which are now reproducing in the wild, growing larger and more voracious by the day. Due to this, the group must now barricade themselves inside their compound every evening before the sun sets due to the creature's nocturnal feeding habits, with the hope being that the shrews will inevitably kill and cannibalize each other once they have eaten every other living animal on the island.

Gradually as they talk Thorne and Ann become more and more attracted to each other, causing Jerry to become jealous. Meanwhile, the giant shrews having run out of smaller animals to hunt and devour become ravenous and begin to venture out during the day in a desperate attempt to find food. As a result when Griswold comes ashore, the mutants attack and kill him. Shortly afterward the storm makes landfall and the shrews dig through the floor of the compound's barn and begin attacking the livestock. Hearing the sound and mistaking it for Rook, Thorne nearly opens the door to let him in but is stopped from doing so by Jerry and Marlowe who make him realize the truth of the matter. Marlowe then attempts to reassure Thorne that they are safe in the building from the shrews but his attempts quickly falter when Thorne points out a fact the Doctor has overlooked. As Thorne explains, while the main building's floor is indeed too hard for the shrews to dig through, the walls of the building are adobe and at the current rate, the storm will soon turn it to soft mud making the Doctor's plan to simply wait out the shrews impossible. Recognizing the truth of his statement the group makes a plan to leave the moment the storm is over. Later that night though one of the mutant shrews takes advantage of a broken window and makes its way into the basement. Mario and Thorne hearing the noise and realizing one of the creatures must have forced its way inside follow it downstairs. Mario discovers the mutant and shoots at it, but not before it bites him. The giant shrew is subsequently finished off by Thorne who then attempts to treat Mario's wound only for him to die regardless. Radford later discovers Mario's death was due to a highly toxic venom in the dead shrew's saliva, the result of the creatures adapting to the poisoned bait the researchers had placed in the wild in a previous attempt to kill them off. As day breaks and the storm fades, Thorne and Jerry attempt to scout the path out of the compound so the whole group of survivors can hopefully make a break for the boat. During this mission, the two of them discover Rook has been eaten by the creatures and Jerry's jealousy over Ann's attraction to Thorne leads him to try and shoot his rival only for Thorne to disarm Jerry. The shrews then suddenly attack the two and Thorne and Jerry race back to the compound. Jerry reaches it first and tries to leave Thorne locked outside to die but Thorne just barely manages to scale the compound's fence in time. Enraged by the multiple attempts to kill him Thorne beats Jerry senseless and nearly throws him to the shrews but thinks better of it and spares him instead. After dragging Jerry back into the main building the survivors regroup to try and come up with another plan. Before they can do so though, another mutant shrew is able to get in and bites Radford before they can kill it. As he dies, Radford, ever the dutiful researcher, records the symptoms of the venom on his typewriter, right up to the moment of his death.

As more and more of the giant shrews begin to chew through the now soft adobe walls, Thorne hits upon the idea to fashion impromptu armor by lashing together empty 50-gallon chemical drums and then duckwalking to the beach. Due to his claustrophobia though, Jerry refuses to get into the makeshift armor and remains behind, isolating himself on the roof and watching the mutants chase after the lashed-together drums. When the coast seems clear Jerry attempts to flee but is cut off and killed by another group of shrews. Thorne, Ann, and Marlowe meanwhile manage to reach the shoreline and after ditching the armor they swim out to the boat. Safely aboard and confident that the giant shrews will eventually die out from consuming one another, Thorne and Ann share a kiss.

All Paris is frightened by the murders attributed to "Bluebeard". Modiste Lucille (Jean Parker) is introduced to Gaston Morrell (John Carradine), a puppeteer and painter, by her friend. They are attracted to each other, and she accepts a commission to design some costumes for his puppets.

At home, Morrell is confronted by a jealous Renee (Sonia Sorel), who performs in Morrell's puppet show and is his lover. When she wonders what became of the models who had posed for him, he strangles her, then dumps her body in the Seine River.

Art dealer Jean Lamarte (Ludwig Stössel) is aware of Morrell's homicidal tendencies, but keeps his secret, as Morrell's paintings fetch high prices. However, the normally discreet Lamarte makes a mistake in selling Morrell's last work to a duke. When the duke exhibits his collection, a policeman on guard recognizes the portrait as being that of one of Bluebeard's victims.

Inspector Lefevre (Nils Asther) of the Sûreté calls in one of his best undercover agents, Francine (Teala Loring), who happens to be Lucille's sister. She and her "father" go to Lamarte to have her portrait done. Lamarte is on his guard, but her father is willing to pay a very large commission to find the man responsible for the duke's painting, and Lamarte's greed overcomes his caution.

Morrell has decided to give up painting (which triggers his murderous compulsion) out of love for Lucille, but Lamarte pressures him into one last picture to make him financially independent. However, Francine recognizes him, having met him briefly earlier at her sister's apartment, and Morrell has no choice but to dispose of her. Certain that Francine and her father were working for the police, Lamarte tries to flee, but Morrell catches him and kills him too, before escaping. The only clue he leaves behind is the cravat he used to strangle Francine.

At Francine's funeral, Inspector Lefevre shows Lucille the cravat. She knows it belongs to Morrell, as she had mended it for him. When she confronts Morrell, he tells her the story behind his crimes. As a starving art student, he had nursed back to health a woman who had fainted, fallen in love with her, and painted her portrait. She left without warning. When his painting was chosen to hang in the Louvre, he searched for her to tell her the news, only to discover that she was a prostitute. Enraged by her contemptuous response, he strangled her. But ever since then, every model he painted turned into her in his mind, and he was compelled to kill her again and again. When Lucille tells him she is going to the authorities, he starts strangling her too, but the police break in. Lefevre saw that Lucille recognized the cravat and had her followed. After a chase across the rooftops, Morrell falls to his death into the Seine.

15-year-old girl Darlene Joyce (D.J.) Schwenk lives on a farm in Red Bend, Wisconsin, where she and her family own a dairy farm. When D.J.'s father hurts his hip, leaving him unable to work, D.J. reluctantly leaves her high school's volleyball and basketball teams to fill in for him on the farm. In the process she gives up her chance at a college scholarship, and her grades begin to slide. Meanwhile, D.J. is pressured into training Brian Nelson, a stubborn football player who plays for the rival Hawley High School team. Over time the two become friends, and D.J. develops romantic feelings for Brian.

Over the summer, D.J. begins training to join her high school's football team, driven in part by a fight with Brian, and in part by the legacy of her two estranged older brothers, Win and Bill, who are famous in Red Bend for playing college football. D.J. makes the team but is unsure of how to tell Brian, which later results in a falling-out between the two. D.J. is also alienated from her best friend, Amber, when she realizes too late that Amber is in love with her.

Throughout the summer, many of D.J.'s problems stem from an inability to discuss important issues with her family and friends, as Brian eventually points out to her. It is through their friendship that she finds she has a lot to talk about, and begins to put her life back together.

A Grim Reaper (Mackenzie Gray) appears in a spooky classroom, then tells a tale about a student named Jesse Hackett, who hates his teacher, Mrs. Fink, and is soon doomed to be trapped in the Shadow Zone. After all, to enter the Shadow Zone, one merely needs a touch of evil....

Jesse Hackett finds a doll at a store resembling his teacher. Things start to take a turn for the worse when the doll comes to life. Jesse and his friends destroy the evil doll. Then Jesse Hackett and Mrs. Fink reconcile. Jesse never becomes an eternal guest at the Shadow Zone.

The movie ends with the Grim Reaper telling the audience he hopes to see them doomed, and that he'll have a room waiting for them in the Shadow Zone. Then with a chilling laugh, he walks down the school's hall to the entrance and disappears.

During a time in the near future, Gothenburg has been invaded by zombies. The police are powerless and a team of German zombie hunters are called in to solve the problem and clean up the city and find out what is causing the zombie epidemic. On their way through the streets of Gothenburg, they run into several obstacles. For example, they come across an Italian assassin and some Swedish reporters on the wrong side of the barricades.

In 1867, a gang led by James "Stretch" Dawson (Gregory Peck) robs a bank and, chased by soldiers, choose to cross the salt flats of Death Valley. After an arduous journey, collapsing from heat and dehydration, the outlaws come upon a ghost town called Yellow Sky and its only residents, a tough young woman called Mike (Anne Baxter) and her prospector grandfather (played by James Barton). Stretch is attracted to Mike. While the men recover at a spring from their ordeal, gambler Dude (Richard Widmark) snoops around. Dude tells the others that the old man is mining gold, but Stretch is unimpressed. The next day, Mike and Grandpa take to the hills. A confrontation between Stretch and Dude over the leadership of the gang is interrupted by Mike shooting at them. However, when Grandpa is hit in the leg by a ricochet, Mike surrenders.

Back in the house, Grandpa is persuaded into a deal to split his gold, worth roughly $50,000 by his estimate. At the spring, Lengthy (John Russell) grabs Mike, forcing himself on her. the young Bull Run (Robert Arthur) intervenes to protect her and Lengthy holds him underwater. Stretch rescues him and holds Lengthy's head underwater until he nearly drowns. That night, Stretch approaches Mike again, this time cleaned up to make a better impression on her. He assures her and Grandpa that he will keep to the bargain, swearing on a bible, with Dude eavesdropping. The next day, a large band of Apaches appear while the gang is at the mine digging up the gold. Grandpa tells Stretch that he convinced his Apache friends to return to the reservation and that he told them nothing about the gang. In gratitude for the old man not sending the Indians to wipe out his gang, Stretch tells his men that they will share the gold, but Dude has convinced them to join him against Stretch and take all of the gold. Dude draws his gun and fires on Stretch. A shootout amongst the rocks ensues with the gang against Stretch. Mike shows up and helps a wounded Stretch back to her home. Not wanting to spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders for Stretch, the gang surrounds the house.

In the ensuing gunfight they think that Stretch has been killed. Dude wants all the gold for himself and shoots at Lengthy, but misses. Bull Run is also shot and fatally wounded by Dude and so Walrus (Charles Kemper) and Half Pint (Harry Morgan) decide to help Stretch. Stretch goes after Dude and Lengthy, who have gone into the town to escape. A deadly three-sided shootout in the saloon follows. A frantic Mike finds Dude and Lengthy dead inside and Stretch unconscious but still breathing. After Stretch recovers, he, Walrus and Half Pint, who is now wearing Dude's clothes, return to the bank they robbed and give back the stolen money. Then, they ride off with Mike and Grandpa.

Set in an unnamed large city with multiple daily newspapers, the film, considered a screwball comedy, centers on a star reporter, Hildebrand "Hildy" Johnson (Pat O'Brien) and his Morning Post editor, Walter Burns (Adolphe Menjou), who hope to cash in on a big story involving an escaped convicted murderer, Earl Williams (George E. Stone). Williams is scheduled to go to the gallows at 7 o'clock the following morning for an anarchist-related murder of a black policeman. Esteemed newspaperman Johnson is about to quit the journalism trade and is on his way to marry his sweetheart Peggy Grant (Mary Brian) and relocate to New York City where an advertising job awaits him. Not surprisingly, his unscrupulous boss Burns does not want him to quit. He wants Johnson to remain on his staff so he can cover the major news story for the Morning Post.

Although he is an avowed anarchist, it is revealed that Williams is likely an innocent man who has been wrongly convicted of the policeman's murder due to rising anti-red sentiments in his city. Accordingly, Burns will do anything to make sure Johnson works on that angle of the story--including delaying his wedding trip. Hours before Williams' scheduled execution, while being interviewed by an Austrian alienist and reenacting the murder, Williams manages to escape custody with the help of Sheriff Pinky Hartman's gun which the inept lawman had carelessly loaned to the doctor. With the assistance of Johnson and Burns, the newspapermen hide the fleeing Williams in a rolltop desk in a room usually occupied by a bevy of newspaper reporters gathered to cover Williams' execution. Johnson's soon-to-be mother-in-law, Mrs. Grant, sees Johnson and Burns hide Williams in the desk. To silence her, Burns has some of his cronies roughly escort her out of the building.

Sheriff Hartman and the mayor of the city get a missive from the governor. It is a reprieve for Williams. However, Williams' execution would be a political boon for the two men in an upcoming election, so they refuse to accept it. Instead, they send the messenger away with a bribe and the address of a house of ill repute. Johnson's future mother-in-law eventually returns to the press room and Williams is found in the desk. The reporters all rush to call bulletins into their editors, each with widely varying and greatly exaggerated details about how the fugitive Williams was re-arrested.

Johnson and Burns are about to be arrested by Sheriff Hartman for aiding a fleeing criminal and kidnapping Mrs. Grant when the messenger from the governor reappears. Saying he is happily married and his conscience cannot let him accept the bribe, he tells the reporters about the politicians' refusal to accept the governor's pardon for Williams. The politicians quickly agree to drop their charges against the reporters in exchange for them not mentioning their own wrongdoings in the newspapers. Despite offers of a promotion at the Morning Post from Burns, Johnson says he is retiring from the newspaper business to go on his wedding trip. Burns seems to accept Johnson's career decision gracefully, even giving Johnson his prized gold watch as a thank-you gift for his services as a star reporter for the Morning Post. However, moments after Johnson and Mary depart for the railroad station, Burns arranges for the police to arrest Johnson at the train's first stop on the pretense that Johnson has stolen his watch.

Emmannuelle Prévert (Suzanne Danielle) relieves the boredom of a flight on Concorde by seducing timid Theodore Valentine (Larry Dann). She returns home to London to surprise her husband, the French ambassador, Émile Prevert (Kenneth Williams) but first surprises the butler, Lyons (Jack Douglas). He removes her coat, only to find that she has left her dress on the aircraft. The chauffeur, Leyland (Kenneth Connor), housekeeper, Mrs Dangle (Joan Sims), and aged boot-boy, Richmond (Peter Butterworth), sense saucy times ahead… and they are right! Émile is dedicated to his bodybuilding, leaving a sexually frustrated Emmannuelle to find pleasure with everyone from the Lord Chief Justice (Llewellyn Rees) to chat show host, Harold Hump (Henry McGee). Theodore is spurned by Emmannuelle, who has genuinely forgotten their airborne encounter, and, despite reassurances from his mother (Beryl Reid), exacts revenge by revealing Emmannuelle's antics to the press. However, after a visit to her doctor (Albert Moses), she discovers that she is pregnant and decides to settle down to a faithful marriage with Émile… and dozens of children.

After a tutorial fight with an Otamamon, Marcus Damon and Agumon take on Tylomon who is sinking ships in the area of Walter Island. After Tylomon is defeated, Creepymon appears and defeats GeoGreymon. When Creepymon tries to take down Marcus and Agumon, Creepymon notices Marcus' Digivice iC and flees. Yoshino arrives to recall Marcus and Agumon to DATS HQ. Meanwhile, a girl named Yuma ends up kidnapped by two DemiDevimon and her Renamon arrives late.

At DATS HQ, Commander Sampson and Kudamon report that 5 children have gone missing throughout the world. He sends Marcus and Yoshino to Sneyato Forest to rendezvous with Thomas and take down Bakemon who is tampering with Earth's electricity. When they catch up with Thomas, a fight ensues with Bakemon. During battle, Bakemon Digivolves into Myotismon and a mysterious transmission tells them how to defeat Myotismon. After that is done, the DATS members return to DATS HQ and discover that Thomas' old friend Tsukasa Kagura has transferred here and was the one who gave them the tactics to defeat Myotismon. He also tells them that his sister Yuma has gone missing.

Arriving at Rage Caverns, Kagura warns the DATS members that their Digimon may not Digivolve into the same Digimon due to the activity in the Dark Area. The three arrive at Rage Caverns to find another Digimon target. After a series of earthquakes, the DATS members find the source to be Belphemon. After Belphemon has been defeated, a boy named Wyiu is rescued with the Code Key of Sloth in his possession, which a private investigator, Kosaburo Katsura steals with help of his Biyomon. When he escapes, Kagura prepares an immediate evac for the DATS members to bring the boy back. Creepymon is then seen at the door to the Dark Area as a mysterious person approaches him.

Sampson tells the DATS members about Misaki Nitta, who left DATS due to harming a criminal with his Digimon partner. Yoshino reveals that Kosaburo interfered with her past missions when it came to the info of the Code Key of Sloth.

After Keenan Crier joins the team, another huge Digimon signature is detected at Mirage Museum. The four see an unknown footage that shows what might be Yuma who is replaced with Lilithmon on an island. The Mao Digimon Barbamon appears and fights the team. He is defeated and a girl named Florida is rescued. After a confusing conversation with the girl, the Code Key of Greed is spotted. Kosaburo and Biyomon appear again and steal it. He disappears as Kagura prepares an immediate evac for the DATS members and the girl's safety.

Back at DATS HQ, Kagura tells the team that his sister Yuma was nicknamed "monster girl" cause she can talk to "monsters." Kagura identifies the footage from the Mirage Museum to be an SOS from Livilus Island. The team is dispatched there to answer an SOS which turned out to be from Renamon who collapsed near them. After recovering, Renamon tells the DATS members that Yuma has become part of the material that comprises the Mao Digimon Lilithmon. They encounter Lilithmon who insults Yoshino and a battle begins. After Lilithmon is defeated, Yuma returns to normal. Gaomon manages to attack Biyomon before Kosaburo can claim the Lust Code Key. When Kosaburo Digivolves Biyomon into Birdramon, Renamon uses what she has left to heal the other Digimon. The DATS team defeats Kosaburo and Birdramon, but they escape. Kagura arrives since he lost contact with the DATS members and tells Yuma that they will treat Renamon at DATS' facilities.

At the Sea Precipice Jerapilus, Kosaburo makes contact with his client, and tells him that DATS has the Code Key of Lust. Despite this, he transfers the two Code Keys, Sloth and Greed, to his client. The mysterious person gives the 'investigator' the money agreed for the cards, and leaves with the fact that the event "ends their relationship." When Kosaburo and Biyomon talk about what to do with their pay, Creepymon arrives and attacks the two.

The DATS team arrives at the Digital Dungeon and ensue in a battle with Beelzemon. When they defeat Beelzemon, a Western Boy named Yèhèrta is freed. The teams finds the Code Key of Gluttony in his possession.

When the DATS team arrives at the Sea Precipice Jerapilus, they ensue in a battle with Leviamon and defeat him. They also find a silent cool girl named Yigua who had the Code Key of Envy. Kagura arrives to claim the Code Key. An injured Kosaburo arrives to tell them that Kagura was the unknown client, since he planted a tracking device in Kagura's pocket. As the tracking device goes off, Thomas finds the Code Keys in Kagura's pockets.

Kagura then tells Thomas that his henchmen, DemiDevimon and Devimon had kidnapped Yuma and her friends, the other missing children, because he wanted them to become the confused sins of the Mao Digimon. Two DemiDevimon snatch the Code Keys from Yoshi. After that, they battle two DemiDevimon and two Devimon and win. After the battle, Kagura disappears with all Five Code Keys.

Commander Sampson calls and the DATS team tells him everything, much to their surprise.

After Kosaburo joins the team, they find that Kagura is using the Code Keys to unlock the seal to the Cho-Mao Digimon, Lucemon. The team is sent to a forest where the Digital World begins to fall apart. In a re-match against Creepymon, the DATS team emerges as the victor. A gate to the Real World appears, which Creepymon flies through. He drops a Digivice iC, which the team identifies. Yoshino asks what he means by "going home." Yuma then joins the five.

In the Real World, after defeating some Digimon that were attacking the Real World, they find Creepymon again for a final battle against him. After he was finally defeated, it is revealed that Nitta was missing because he was used as part of the material to create Creepymon. Nitta regained awareness and accepted the fact that he had become a Digimon. The Digivice (which Yoshi had picked up), however, did not belong to him, but to his daughter. He wanted a way to see his daughter again, making the Digivice appear. He was to become her Digimon. Because the device locked on to his Digital signature, he could never go back to being a human even if he was defeated. Before Nitta vanishes, he tells Yoshino to tell his daughter that he loves her. He also reveals that Kagura has the Code Key of Wrath, thus he has all the Code Keys (Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Envy and Lust) to unseal Lucemon.

Kagura summons Lucemon. Yuma tells her brother that what he's doing isn't right. After Lucemon is defeated, he absorbs Kagura (revealing Kagura himself as the final Code Key of Pride, the first six were to free him from his physical imprisonment in the Dark Area itself and the Code Key of Pride was necessary for Lucemon to leave the boundaries of the Dark Area as well as send his power out beyond) and retreats. After a group of Mega Digimon are defeated, the DATS team confront Lucemon. After beating him, he changes into his Shadow Lord Mode. When the six emerge the victor, Kagura is freed from Lucemon and lies on the ground, asking for forgiveness.

Various events involve a dating agency run by Sid Bliss (Sid James) and his longtime girlfriend Sophie Plummett (Hattie Jacques). Their "Wedded Bliss" agency purports to bring together lonely hearts using computer-matching technology, but couples are actually paired up by Sophie. Bliss consistently avoids marrying Sophie, enthusiastically pursuing Esme Crowfoot (Joan Sims), a seamstress and client who consistently rejects his advances.

Percival Snooper (Kenneth Williams) becomes a client to find a wife for business reasons: as a confirmed bachelor, he is inept at his job as a marriage counsellor due to lack of personal experience. James Bedsop (Charles Hawtrey) is a private detective whom Sophie hires to spy on Sid's after-hours activities when he supposedly "vets" the female clients, including Esme.

Timid Bertram Muffet (Richard O'Callaghan) winds up with model Sally Martin (Jacki Piper) after the agency muddles his directions to a blind date. Client Terry Philpott (Terry Scott) suffers several failures in his dealings with the agency including a disastrous meeting with prim, sheltered Jenny Grubb (Imogen Hassall). Jenny moves in with Sally, undergoes a makeover, and becomes a model. Terry later finds romance with the "new" Jenny.

Percival's association with Sophie provokes his jealous housekeeper, dowdy Miss Dempsey (Patsy Rowlands), to reveal her seductive side. Esme's estranged lover, volatile wrestler Gripper Burke (Bernard Bresslaw), returns to cause havoc over an instance of mistaken identity.

Peter Butterworth appears in a one-minute cameo as a Bluebeard-esque character jokingly referred to as Dr. Crippen. He approaches Sid Bliss to find his third wife. His first wife died eating poisoned mushrooms, the second suffered a fractured skull because she "wouldn't eat the mushrooms."

Sid Carter (Sid James) is the cunning head of a criminal gang that includes the longhaired drip Ernie Bragg (Bernard Bresslaw), the cheeky Freddy (Bill Maynard) and Sid's honest son, Cyril (Kenneth Cope). Cyril does not want a life of crime, but is emotionally blackmailed by his father into going along with his scheme to rob Finisham Maternity Hospital for its stock of contraceptive pills and sell them abroad. Cyril reluctantly disguises himself as a new female nurse to case the hospital. Assumed to be one of the new student nurses who have just arrived, he is assigned to share a room with the shapely blonde nurse, Susan Ball (Barbara Windsor). Unfortunately for Cyril, he also catches the eye of the hospital lothario, Dr Prodd (Terry Scott).

Sir Bernard Cutting (Kenneth Williams), the hypochondriac registrar of the hospital, is convinced he's undergoing a sex change. When he consults the nutty Dr F.A. Goode (Charles Hawtrey), Goode dishes out psychiatric mumbo jumbo, stating that Cutting merely wants to prove his manhood, and Cutting decides he is in love with Matron (Hattie Jacques). Matron, on the other hand, has more than enough to contend with on the wards, with the gluttonous patient Mrs Tidey (Joan Sims) who seems more interested in eating than producing a baby, and her long-suffering British Rail worker husband (Kenneth Connor) who continually hangs around the waiting room.

When Cyril goes back to Prodd's room to get a map of the hospital, Prodd attempts to get intimate, only to be knocked across the room. Prodd and Cyril are called out on an emergency when lovely film star Jane Darling (Valerie Leon) goes into labour, but as Cyril knocks Prodd out in the ambulance, he is forced to deal with the actress's triplets being born. Jane Darling is delighted with Cyril and hails "the nurse" a heroine for her efforts, bringing fame to the hospital. Susan uncovers Cyril's disguise, but as she is in love with him, does not reveal the truth.

The much put-upon Sister (Jacki Piper) desperately tries to keep the ward in order, while Cutting's secretary, Miss Banks (Patsy Rowlands) keeps her employer in check, but nothing can cool his pent-up desire to prove himself as a man, and it's Matron who's in his sights. The criminal gang don disguises—Sid dresses as the foreign "Dr Zhivago" and Ernie as a heavily expectant mum—but the crime is thwarted by the mothers-to-be. The medical hierarchy's threat to call the police is halted when Sid reveals the heroine of the day is a man, and the hospital realise they would suffer nationwide humiliation if anyone found out. Cyril weds his shapely nurse Susan, and Matron finally gets her doctor.

The story begins with Garnet Cameron, an 18-year-old young woman from upper-class New York society. Garnet has just graduated from her finishing school and is trying to find a direction for her life now that her schooling is done. That summer, a young man by the name of Oliver Hale comes to New York. He is in town to buy supplies from the estate of Mr. Selkirk, a wealthy murdered man, to bring west with him. Oliver Hale is a frontier trader from California and Garnet is immediately drawn to him. He treats her as an equal and talks to her as "a human being", telling her about the journey to the unknown territory of California. Garnet is riveted by Oliver's tales of adventure and excitement and longs to see the things he tells her about. Promising to take her west with him, Oliver proposes marriage and Garnet happily accepts. They are quickly married and begin their journey that March. The plan is that Garnet will travel to California with Oliver while he closes up his business out west and they both will return to New York the following year.

Oliver and Garnet travel first to New Orleans. Garnet is fascinated by the grandeur of the city. Oliver takes her to a dance hall called the Flower Garden, something Garnet would never have been allowed to do back in New York. In the Flower Garden, a blonde actress named Juliette La Tour stops the show with her talent for stage presence and performance. That evening, as the couple eats dinner, Garnet has a meeting with Juliette when two drunk men try to make a move on Garnet and the actress sends them away. Juliette tells Garnet that her real name is Florinda Grove.

The next day, Garnet spots Florinda hiding in the hallways of her hotel. Florinda tells Garnet that a man from New York wants to arrest Florinda for the murder of Mr. Selkirk. Garnet and Oliver decide to help Florinda escape arrest by disguising her as a widow and sending her to St. Louis. Florinda is very grateful and she and Garnet become fast friends. Shortly after Florinda leaves, Garnet and Oliver leave New Orleans for St. Louis, themselves.

Beyond St. Louis, Garnet and Oliver set out to cross the Great Plains. The trail is hard-going, but Garnet enjoys it with wide-eyed wonder. She questions Oliver about his brother Charles, whom they will be staying with in California, but Oliver is reluctant to talk on the subject of his brother and Garnet lets it drop. They arrive in Santa Fe several months after leaving St. Louis and Garnet is reunited with Florinda, who was traveling "in sin" with a deacon from St. Louis. She and Garnet rekindle their friendship. Shortly after their arrival in Santa Fe, the traders from California arrive in the city, too. Garnet is introduced to several of Oliver's friends: John Ives, Oliver's standoff-ish business partner, and fellow traders of the Jubilee Trail (the name of the trail from Santa Fe to California) Silky van Dorn, Elijah Penrose, and Texas. Florinda drops the deacon and makes the decision to travel to California with the traders.

On the trail to California, Garnet and Florinda endure harsh temperatures, lack of water, and other such hardships with stoicism and bravery. Both women build friendships with the men of the trail, most notable of which is John's gradual warming to Garnet. They share a mutual appreciation of the scenery and he grows to respect both Garnet and Florinda for their sheer will and determination. The train finally arrives in California with much rejoicing, although Florinda quickly succumbs to exhaustion brought on by the trail. Garnet also finally meets Oliver's brother, Charles, who makes no secret of the fact that he hates her. Garnet convinces John to take care of Florinda, as she herself must leave for Charles' rancho to the north.

Garnet finds out quickly that Charles is basically controlling Oliver. Oliver, who once was a strong and outgoing man, is reduced to the attitude of a child when he is around Charles. During an earthquake at Charles' rancho, Garnet discovers a letter from Charles to Oliver. The letter reveals that before leaving California last year, Oliver had a tryst with the daughter of a wealthy native Californian and the girl gave birth to a son. Charles was delighted at the opportunity to gain control of the property and expected Oliver to marry the girl on his return. He was shocked to discover he had gotten married in New York. Garnet's respect for Oliver continues to falter as she realizes that he is not the man she thought she was marrying. Shortly after this revelation, Garnet also realizes that she herself is pregnant and will be due sometime while she and Oliver are out on the prairie for the return trip east. In the midst of all this emotional turmoil, the young Californio woman kills herself and her baby. In a grief-stricken rage, her father storms into Charles' rancho and kills Oliver.

After Oliver's death, Garnet nearly dies, but is rescued by John Ives and Florinda and taken to Florinda's Los Angeles saloon where she lives among new friends, including the magnificent Russian friend of John Ives. Her son is born amid the drama of California's joining the United States and the reality that Charles Hale wants to take her son from her. By the end of the story gold has been discovered on Sutter's Mill and John and Garnet fall in love and are married.

Category:1950 American novels Category:American historical novels

The main character receives a letter asking for assistant from an old friend named Ardo, now living in Ferdok. On the way, the character arrives at the hamlet of Avestrue and finds that the word of two notables persons are needed to proceed to the city. The characters Rhulana the amazon and Dranor the thief are met here. Upon reaching Ferdok, the character learns of the reason for the access restrictions. Recently, Ferdok is shaken by a series of gruesome deaths, and Ardo is one of the victims. Thus begins a lengthy investigation to find the connection and put a stop to the murders. They turns out to be the work of the Dragon cultists, an ancient cult which serve Ardakor, an ancient evil dragon.

After inheriting Ardo's house, the main character is chosen by the oracle of Umbracor, the Dragon Emperor, to be champion of the Dragon Quest. At the marshes of Moorbridge, the party stops an infestation of undead and saves the Archmage Rakorium. In the Blood Mountains, the party retrieves Book of Serpent from a ruined castle where the Dragon cultists are planning dark magic. Finally, they travel to Grimtooth Castle, which has been overrun by orcs and dragon cultists, to obtain the Dragon Eye. Upon defeating the boss of each quest, the hero retrieves the components of a powerful suit of armor.

The character's next task is to find the Adamantine Heart. Doing so requires traveling to the underground dwarven city of Murolosh. However, to gain permission into the city, the party needs the assistant of an emissary named Gerling, who has traveled to the town of Tallon. In Tallon, the party is drawn into a struggle to save the town from a horde of orcs, then eliminate Jafgur, a young fire dragon raised by the Dragon Cultists. With the help of Dwarven Prince Aron, they manage to slay the dragon.

Once invited to Murolosh, the main character helps investigate an attempted assassination and save Salina, an acquaintance met in Avestrue. Afterwards, they gain the means to enter the undead-infested Deeps of Gruldur, to acquire the final component for the armor. Back to Murolosh, the party find that Arombolosh the Dwarf King has been possessed by Jafgur's heart crystal, which was put on his crown as per tradition. They successfully subdue the king and destroy the crystal, foiling the cultists' plan once more.

The party then travels to Fire Falls and discovers the Adamantine Heart. As it turns out, it is the heart crystal of Umbracor the Dragon Emperor. Pal Na'Thar, last of the cyclops and Umbracor's oracle, has been guarding the heart and keeping it out of Ardakor's reach for centuries. The Dragon Quest is meant to find his successor. The Heart is then stolen away by Malgorra, a sorceress and Dragon Cultist. Pal Na'Thar forges a weapon for the Dragon Champion and urges the party to retrieve the Heart and put an end to the cultists' plan.

On Drakensang Mountain, King Arombolosh assembles his best warriors and storm the cultists' fortress. Assisted by the dwarves, the party eventually confronts Malgorra, who transforms into a great, hydra-like dragon. The party defeats Malgorra, but Ardakor successfully consumes the Adamantine Heart. However, with Archmage Rakorium's magic, Umbracor's soul awakens from the heart and takes over Ardakor's body. Umbracor commends the bravery of the party and flies off to the sunset.

After losing his son, a grieving father stumbles upon a network of people that collect souls of the deceased, preparing them for their journey out of Purgatory.

In ancient Egypt, Tutankhamun, the boy pharaoh who is said to have died young, was actually sent by the sun god Ra to protect the people from the demon Set, who escaped from the Underworld and caused chaos in Egypt. With Ra's blessing, Tutankhamun manages to overcome Set and keep the demon under control by breaking an emerald tablet into four pieces and sending the pieces to the far corners of the world. However, the tradeoff is that he must remain in the Underworld.

In 1922, Danny Fremont, an archaeologist, is searching for the last piece of the tablet, which is believed to be in Tutankhamun's tomb. He found the first three pieces earlier, but they were seized from him by his rival, Morgan Sinclair. Sinclair is in the service of the Hellfire Council, a secret committee formed by a group of influential men from around the world, and they wish to use the tablet's powers to achieve their goal of world domination. Sinclair uses the Hellfire Council's influence to damage Fremont's reputation and cause him to lose his job.

Fremont is undaunted by the challenges he faces. With help from his buddies, he manages to convince several others, including a sceptical Egyptologist named Azelia Barakat, to join him in his quest to find Tutankhamun's tomb and the last piece of the tablet. Despite their efforts, the last piece still falls into the hands of Sinclair and the Hellfire Council. Sinclair assembles all four pieces in the tomb, absorbs the tablet's powers, and unleashes Set and the demons of the Underworld. He also gets rid of the Hellfire Council's members later.

Fremont and his companions manage to hold off Sinclair and other enemies and make their way back to the tomb, where they open a portal to the Underworld. In the Underworld, Fremont and his friends succeed in finding and freeing Tutankhamun, but the boy pharaoh is too weak to help them. Meanwhile, Sinclair is absorbed by Set, who then attacks Fremont. At the critical moment, Barakat prays to Ra to empower Tutankhamun and her wish is granted. Tutankhamun springs to life, fights and destroys Set, and brings Fremont and Barakat (the only two survivors) safely out of the Underworld. Before leaving, Tutankhamun thanks them and tells them that "all things are as they should have been". Fremont and Barakat do not understand what he means and they leave the tomb just before it closes by itself.

Back in the streets of Cairo, Fremont and Barakat finally understand what Tutankhamun meant when they see that all the negative events which happened earlier have been reversed: their dead companions are alive and well; Barakat's fiancé is happily married to another woman and has a family. Fremont chances upon Howard Carter and gives him the map to Tutankhamun's tomb; Carter becomes world-famous for his "discovery". At the end, in the Museum of Antiquities, Fremont proposes to Barakat and she agrees to marry him.

Don Anderson is the Mickey's hamburger chain marketing director who helped develop the "Big One", its most popular menu item. When he learns that independent research has discovered a considerable presence of fecal matter in the meat, he travels to the fictitious town of Cody, Colorado to determine if the local Uni-Globe meatpacking processing plant, Mickey's main meat supplier, is guilty of sloppy production. Don's tour shows him only the pristine work areas and most efficient procedures, assuring him that everything the company produces is immaculate.

Suspicious of the façade he's been shown, Don meets rancher Rudy Martin, who used to supply cattle to the Uni-Globe plant. Rudy and his Chicana housekeeper both assure him that because of the plant's production level, several safety regulations are ignored or worked against; workers have no time to make sure that the manure coming from the intestines stays away from the meat. Don later meets with Harry Rydell, executive VP of Mickey's, who admits being aware of the issue, but is not concerned.

Amber is a young, upbeat employee of Mickey's, studying for college and living with her mother Cindy. While her life seems to be set, she continually faces the contrast between her current career and her own ambition, emphasized by her two lazy co-workers, Brian and Andrew, who, having heard of armed robberies at fast food restaurants in the area, start planning their own.

Amber and Cindy are visited by Cindy's brother Pete, who encourages Amber to leave town and start a real career. Amber eventually meets a group of young activists, Andrew, Alice, and Paco, who plan to liberate cattle from Uni-Globe as their first act of rebellion. They proceed to sneak up to a holding pen at the plant, but after breaking down the fence, they are shocked that the cattle make no attempt to leave. Upon hearing the police, they retreat and contemplate why the cattle decided to stay in confinement.

Raul, his love interest Sylvia, and Sylvia's sister Coco are illegal immigrants from Mexico, trying to make it in Colorado. They all go to Uni-Globe in hopes of finding a job – Raul becomes a cleaner, while Coco works on a meat processing conveyor belt. Sylvia, however, cannot take the environment, and instead finds a job as a hotel maid. Coco develops a drug habit, and begins an affair with her exploitative superior, Mike.

In a work accident, a friend of Raul's falls in a machine, and his leg is mangled. Raul, attempting to save him, falls and is injured. At the hospital, Sylvia is told that Raul was on amphetamines at work. Because Raul is now unable to work, Sylvia has sex with Mike in order to find a job at Uni-Globe. She ends up working on the "kill floor."

''Witch Week'' is set in an alternative modern-day Great Britain, identical to our world except for the presence of witchcraft. Despite witches being common, witchcraft is illegal and punishable by death by burning, policed by a modern-day Inquisition.

At Larwood House, a boarding school where many of the children of executed witches are sent, a note claiming "Someone in this class is a witch" is found by a teacher. This launches an internal investigation of the more unpopular students at the school (Nan Pilgrim and Charles Morgan), who are gradually coming to terms with the fact that they are witches. Mayhem gradually ensues as magic is used to make birds appear in the classroom, to rain shoes, to curse a classmate into having his words always be true, and other pranks. When the magic gets totally out of control, one of the students runs away, leaving notes that blame the witch for controlling him. The headmistress of the school calls in an Inquisitor to find the missing student and locate the source of the trouble.

Four more of the students flee the school and two seek help from an "underground railroad" system that is known to save witches by sending them to a world where they are not persecuted. Instead they are given a spell to summon unknown help and all five students converge where they are able to use it, summoning the enchanter Chrestomanci. He and the children conclude that their world diverged from 12B (ours) by a particular historical accident. They work to outwit the local inquisition and to merge their history, thus their world, with ours. It turns out that most of the schoolchildren are witches and all must lose any such powers by revising history in that way.

Fictional background

The Chrestomanci books are collectively named after a powerful enchanter and British government official in a world parallel to ours, who supervises the use of magic —or the Chrestomanci, a British government office that requires a powerful enchanter and is responsible for supervising. ''Witch Week'' is set in the late 20th century during the tenure of Christopher Chant, who is the Chrestomanci in five of the seven books and is often called Chrestomanci as a personal name.

The Chrestomanci is unique to what it calls "World 12A", the primary setting for the series and entire setting for some stories. There are other worlds with British governments, perhaps all of series 12 or even more. Our world is 12B, a next-door neighbour in some sense, and ''Witch Week'' is set entirely in one that is even closer to ours. The Chrestomanci has representatives in some worlds but does not know this one.

''Castle in the Air'' follows the adventures of Abdullah, a handsome young carpet salesman from Zanzib, who daydreams constantly about being a stolen prince. One day a strange traveler comes to his stand to sell a magic carpet. During the night, Abdullah goes to sleep on the carpet but wakes up to find himself in a beautiful garden with a young woman. He tells the woman, Flower-in-the-Night, that he is the stolen prince of his daydreams, believing that he is in fact dreaming. Flower-in-the-Night, who has never seen a man other than her father, first believes that Abdullah is a woman, so Abdullah agrees to return the next night with portraits of many men so that she can make a proper comparison. He does so, and Abdullah and Flower-in-the-Night decide to get married.

Abdullah returns the next night, but he arrives just as Flower-in-the-Night is snatched away by a huge flying djinn. Soon after, the Sultan of Zanzib captures Abdullah who then discovers that Princess Flower is actually the Sultan's daughter. Enraged that his daughter is missing, the Sultan blames Abdullah and throws him in jail, threatening to impale him on a 40-foot stake if his daughter is not found. Fortunately, Abdullah is saved by his magic carpet and escapes from Zanzib.

Abdullah ends up in the desert and stumbles upon a group of bandits, who have in their possession a particularly cranky genie who grants only one wish a day. In the night, Abdullah steals the genie and flees. After a wish, Abdullah is transported to Ingary and ends up traveling with a bitter Strangian soldier whose country was recently taken in a war with Ingary. While traveling to Kingsbury in search of a wizard, the two stumble upon a cat and her kitten, whom the soldier names Midnight and Whippersnapper, respectively.

As they travel, Abdullah wishes for the return of his flying carpet, who brings with it the very Djinn that kidnapped Princess Flower-in-the-Night. It is revealed that the Djinn, Hasruel, is being forced to kidnap princesses from all over the world by his brother, Dalzel. The two proceed on the carpet to Kingsbury, which is where they find Wizard Suliman, who, upon realizing that Midnight is actually a person in cat form, returns her to being a human. As the spell is lifted from the woman, who turns out to be Sophie Pendragon, her baby, Morgan is returned to his normal self as well. However, when they go to collect the baby, he is no longer in the inn, where he was left with the soldier.

Abdullah and Sophie then order the carpet to take them to Morgan. The carpet does so, taking them far into the sky, to the castle in the air, which is merely Wizard Howl's castle, having been greatly enlarged. There they meet the abducted princesses and plot with them to escape the flying moving castle. Led by Abdullah, they overpower the two Djinn, freeing Hasruel who banishes his brother. Flower-in-the-Night had by then wished the Genie free, who turned out to be Sophie's husband and little Morgan's father, the topmost-level wizard Howl Pendragon.

Phillip Sauvage (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is an American soldier recovering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by his time in Iraq and Afghanistan in a VA hospital. The release of notorious rap mogul Terrell Singletery (Viv Leacock) from prison has caused Wayne Barclay's (Raz Adoti) worried sister and manager Tamara (Vivica A. Fox) to hire increased security. Wayne, a retired heavyweight champion turned businessman and community leader, is apparently a target of Terrell's who's known to issue hits on his enemies. A member of Wayne's staff named Mullins served with Clarence Bowden (Julian D. Christopher) in the Army and brings him in on the security detail; he, in turn, brings Sauvage, whom he mentored in the Army as well.

During their first gig doing security outside a club, Terrell sends a hit squad for Wayne. Clarence is killed and Sauvage arrested for possession of an automatic weapon. After bailing him out, Tamara moves him into Wayne's guest house and hires him as head of security. Sauvage insists on bringing in his own colleagues for the security team, but Wayne forces him to train members of his boxing gym. Sauvage brings on fellow veteran Sergeant Casey Bledsoe (Mark Griffin) to train the recruits. Tamara is apparently smitten by Sauvage, who shows little interest, but her advances worry Wayne, who is informed by Detective Teague that Sauvage is actually an unstable killer who massacred children in Iraq.

Terrell sends another hit squad to stake out Wayne's girlfriend's place (Lydia) to try to hit him again; Wayne tries to sneak out to see her because Tamara does not approve. Sauvage catches him and insists on going with him. While Sauvage inspects an alley, Kujo (another bodyguard with them) sees the hit squad. After a struggle, Wayne's men manage to subdue the hit squad and leave them for the police.

The next day, Sauvage tries to dissuade Wayne from giving a speech at a sports complex opening, but he becomes angry with Sauvage's restrictions. When they see a suspicious man in the crowd, Sauvage orders the new guards to take him down, causing a riot. The man was only reaching for his cell phone and Wayne is embarrassed by the bad press. Sauvage quits and insists on fighting Wayne to prove his methods are sound. Tamara storms off and Sauvage sends Jesse, a female guard, with her.

After a vicious fight between Wayne and Sauvage, they hear that Jesse was attacked and Tamara taken. Detective Teague suspiciously asks if they heard anything about Tamara, which they did not mention. In the car, Sauvage and Wayne discuss the true Iraq incident and Terrell and Wayne's history. Lydia calls and insists Wayne come see her alone (unbeknownst to them with a gun to her head) and Sauvage hatches a plan. Wayne discovers Detective Teague inside, who has been working for Terrell, and Sauvage cuts the power. He and the guards break in and apprehend the thugs and learn that Tamara is at Terrell's house.

Wayne and his guards pose as Terrell's thugs to get inside his gate and confront him. Sauvage and Bledsoe secure Tamara and Wayne and Mullins take on Terrell's boys. The fight culminates in Wayne killing Terrell and Sauvage being shot but saved by his vest. In the aftermath, Wayne comes to terms with Tamara and Sauvage's relationship, and they kiss.

Joe/Narcissus (Jack Bittner) is an ordinary man who has recently signed a complicated lease on a room. As he wonders how to pay the rent, he discovers that he can see the contents of his mind unfolding whilst looking into his eyes in the mirror. He realises that he can apply his gift to others ("If you can look inside yourself, you can look inside anyone!"), and sets up a business in his room, selling tailor-made dreams to a variety of frustrated and neurotic clients. Each of the seven surreal dream sequences in the diegesis is in fact the creation of a contemporary avant-garde and/or surrealist artist, as follows:

:''Desire'' Max Ernst (Director/Writer)

:''The Girl with the Prefabricated Heart'' Fernand Léger (Director/Writer) Song Lyrics John Latouche Sung by Libby Holman and Josh White, accompanied by Norma Cazanjian and Doris Okerson

:''Ruth, Roses and Revolvers '' Man Ray (Director/Writer) Music By Darius Milhaud

:''Discs'' Marcel Duchamp (Writer) Music By John Cage

:''Circus'' Alexander Calder (Writer) Music By David Diamond

:''Ballet'' Alexander Calder (Director/Writer) Music By Paul Bowles

:''Narcissus'' Hans Richter (Director/Writer) Music By Louis Applebaum Dialogue by Richard Holback and Hans Richter

Joe's waiting room is full within minutes of his first day of operation, "the first installment on the 2 billion clients" according to the male narrator in voiceover.

'''Case number one''' is Mr and Mrs A. Mr A is a "methodical, exact" bank clerk. His wife "complains [he] has a mind like a double entry column; no virtues, no vices". She wants a dream for him "with practical values to widen his horizons, heighten ambitions, maybe a raise in salary". Joe asks Mrs A to leave the room during Mr A's consultation. Mr A reveals that within his ledger he has a collection of art images cut from magazines, including drawings of a woman reclining in bed; another on an old man's lap; another being shot by an animal-headed man; a filmic image of red liquid passing through water, and another of a melting wax figure of a woman.

Joe "finds a dream" for Mr A based on these interests. In the dream ''("Desire")'' leaves fall to the ground beside a red curtain. A woman in white reclines in a red-curtained four-poster bed. A small golden ball rises and falls from her mouth as she breathes. She swallows the ball, smiles and falls asleep. Jail bars appear by her bed, and a voyeuristic man watches from behind them as the woman dreams of nightingales with calves' hooves. It appears the man is part of her dream, and telephones her to ask in voiceover for details. She tells him in voiceover "they talked about love and pleasure". The telephone by her bedside falls to the floor, breaks open and exudes a misty smoke, which envelops her bed. Two young men tumble over each other in what seems like a war scene of shipwrecked sailors. One of the young men and a woman are pulled from underneath the bed by a man dressed as a formal authority figure (Max Ernst). The voyeur man watching breaks through the jail bars and enters the bedroom, raising the woman from her bed, and they embrace. They exit the room, and awkwardly tumble down through a basement corridor wreathed in steam. The authority figure impassively watches them. The voyeur plays dice in the leaves of a dark brick-lined corridor, The narrating woman's voice says "who wants to come with me under my warm white gown," repeating the last three words several times and closes with the woman tossing the small golden ball into the air and catching it.

'''Case number two''' ("The Girl With the Prefabricated Heart") begins as Joe accepts payment from Mr. A and ends his session, as a young woman wearing a suit, glasses, and a beret enters the room carrying a briefcase, and Mrs. A returns and glares. The A's leave. The young woman tries to "sign Joe up" for various causes. In voiceover, she tries to convince Joe while we hear a man's voice telling Joe to resist her. She flirts, cries, almost leaves, comes back. The music features a repeated wolf whistle over a light jazz tune. Joe signs. He removes her glasses and they almost kiss. Smoke fills the screen, and clears with a closeup on a dismembered mannequin. The music is a light tune sung by Holman with the refrain of "untouched by human hands." It segues into a sequence in which wigged and costumed mannequins seem to dance and pose. Holman and White sing. Whirling wheel graphics punctuate the scenes as jewellery is offered to "a healthy girl", Julie, as the male singer/mannequin woos her. She cries "this is ridiculous! Sisters, come to my aid!" and "so from his ardent arms she fled." The male mannequin is beheaded as Julie rides on an exercise cycle dressed in a bridal gown. "for there's no man alive who could ever survive a girl with a prefabricated heart." We transition back to Joe's office as the young woman leaves, then suddenly returns and kisses him, then leaves again.

As she leaves, Mrs. A returns with a garbled, speeded up voiceover expressing her stream of consciousness. '''Case number three''' begins. "You'll find out nothing here – this man is obviously a fake of some kind." But she wants a treatment...Joe shows the lady a photo of a young smiling couple. The young woman in the photo reminds Mrs A of herself when she was a carefree girl. Mrs. A realizes she wants to break the shell around her and has a dream of the same young couple with the man reading a declaration from a book titled “Ruth, Roses and Revolvers.” The young man is apparently trying to woo the woman “those who have insured themselves against all risks are bound to lose all.” The couple joins others at a film screening were the group watches a man on the screen who goes through various poses and gestures. The audience imitates the man in the film by repeating his gestures. After the screening the couple sees the book leaning against a tree. One woman jokes “all we need now is a revolver.” The man turns the book around. On the back cover is a photo of Man Ray, the author, and we see superimposed a procession of wounded soldiers.

Mrs. A pays in cash and leaves with the photo. Outside the room there is a chaotic riot and an impotent policeman doing nothing but holding a pose. In the ensuing commotion a gangster ('''case number four''') has made his way into Joe’s office. He wants a dream that might help him win the horse races. The dream consists of spinning disc illusions (by Marcel Duchamp) and a prism distorted version of “Nude Descending a Staircase.” The gangster is unimpressed and robs Joe at gunpoint. A policeman enters and asks the gangster for a gun license. The gangster produces it and the cop lets him go. Joe is knocked unconscious by the gangster who flees the room.

'''Case number five and six''' – A blind old man and a little girl enter the empty office. The girl plays with a ball that becomes a collection of Alexander Calder’s mobiles. A sombre mask watches the playful movements of the mobiles. Joe regains consciousness and re-enters his office to find the two new inhabitants. The blind man actually wants to sell a dream rather than buy one. He makes circus figures out of wire and the figures come to life and perform. Joe buys the dream.

'''Case number seven''': The next customer doesn’t answer the desk buzzer. Joe goes to the door and sees that the next customer is himself, standing frozen, surrounded by blocks of ice. Joe finds a blue poker chip that the little girl left on the floor and he enters his own autobiographical dream. He is playing poker with his friends around a table being watched over by a classical bust of a bearded man (Morpheus?). As Joe reaches for a liquor glass, it explodes. In the spilt fluid on the table, he sees his own reflection. Joe’s skin suddenly turns blue, causing his friends to reject him (“would you want to sit at a table with a blue man?”). They leave Joe alone in the room where his furniture becomes alive and closes in on him. He finds a blue cord and follows it (“the blue thread of hope will lead me out of the labyrinth”). The cord leads outdoors where he is accosted by the public who block his progress (“the right of being in everybody’s way is the right of everybody.”) The people turn into ladders leading up in four directions. Joe chooses a ladder and starts to climb. He remembers the jubilance at the end of World War II and the prospect of peace and optimism. Streamers fall from the sky. Suddenly Joe realizes the rungs are disappearing from his ladder. He desperately grabs a window sill and pulls himself inside a room. Dangling colorful circles surround a woman reclining in a hammock. She offers Joe a drink, a bowl of cherries and a knife. He kisses the woman and makes a move to slice open her throat but instead cuts the blue cord he’s been following. The cord bleeds red. Joe exits the room and re-enters the poker room. The bearded bust bursts into flames. He again sees his friends around the poker table but now they’ve become flaming bird cages. He takes the bearded bust and attempts to escape out his window – hanging by a rope. The woman he abandoned uses the knife to cut his escape rope. Joe and the statue fall but become balls of colored ink in water that rains down upon the broken classical bust on the pavement below that appears to be staring upward into the colored patterns.

After a dangerous tour of a nuclear power plant which was struck by an earthquake, Frank, Joe, and Chet travel to Washington, DC. This is after they receive a strange, cryptic letter from their father commanding them to go there and to be aware of Infinity. After they arrive in Washington, DC, they are threatened by a ruthless terrorist who seems to have a hobby with explosives. The Infinity clue seems to turn up everywhere and a supposedly cursed diamond is stolen. The Hardy Boys are suspect of stealing the diamond and take on this new case to try to clear their name. After failure after failure, the Hardy Boys go to a strange drilling site and find the Infinity clue there too. While staying at camp, they witness a boat disguised as carrying oysters passing by. The Hardy Boys witness strange flashes and go to the source to investigate. They find a strange island where the people seem to be living in the 18th century. They then find a supposedly dead man who is the owner of the stolen diamond. Later, they travel to a strange chain of islands and learn of a sinister plot to sabotage nuclear power plants with artificial earthquakes created by miniature nuclear bombs to harm the nuclear power industry and to make oil more popular.

Category:The Hardy Boys books Category:1981 American novels Category:1981 children's books Category:Novels set in Washington, D.C.

At Loch Ness, Scotland, scientist Dr. Abernathy is killed by slipping off some rocks, after seeing something in the loch and taking a single photograph of it. Months later, American zoologist and freshman college tutor, Dr. John Dempsey, is asked to replace Abernathy and dispel the myth of the Loch Ness Monster. Dempsey is reluctant to do so, having ruined his career by trying to prove the existence of the Sasquatch. He agrees to go for the money, which would allow him to pay alimony to his ex-wife that ran off and pay an IRS debt, naming a newly discovered species of parasitic wasp after her.

Arriving in Scotland, Dempsey meets Dr. Abernathy's assistant Adrian Foote, who fanatically believes in the monster. Dempsey rents a room at a local inn run by Laura McFetridge and her young daughter, Isabel, who grows close to him. He soon meets the other locals, fisherman Andy McLean, who aggressively comes to see Dempsey as a rival for Laura's affections; eccentric Gordon Shoals, who claims the monster is his property; and the Water Bailiff, who is highly protective of the legend, and tries to repeatedly sabotage Dempsey's efforts.

Using state-of-the-art technology, Dempsey scans the whole loch, and is unable to find any trace of the monster. When he declares the end of the myth, Adrian angrily berates him, but Dempsey admits he wants to find the dinosaur to rebuild his career, left cynical by his failure to find the Sasquatch. Dempsey later receives Dr. Abernathy's camera, discovering the photo he took on the night he died – revealing it shows a dinosaur's flipper. He and Adrian venture out to search the loch again. After tracking a 40-foot-long object, it collides with and sinks the boat. Dempsey nearly drowns, but is rescued by an unseen creature, and the Water Bailiff. A thrilled Dempsey claims to have seen the monster.

Andy assaults Dempsey for his relationship with Laura, but she defends him. Isabel gives him a get well card, with a drawing of what she calls a “water kelpie” on it. Realising she, too, has seen the monster, Dempsey convinces Isabel to show him where it lives, and he will buy her a red bicycle she has always wanted. Isabel leads him to a cavern beneath Urquhart Castle, where they encounter a family of plesiosaur and elasmosaur hybrids. Isabel can communicate with them through a series of whistles. In astonished euphoria, Dempsey takes photographs of the monsters, frightening them, and knocking Isabel into the water. He saves her, but is confronted by the Water Bailiff.

Dempsey is kicked out of the inn by a furious Laura, and Isabel is deeply hurt by his betrayal. Dempsey and Adrian travel to London to publicly reveal the dinosaurs’ existence. Dempsey meets the Water Bailiff on the train, imploring him to not reveal the truth. Dempsey reasons that exposure and science would help the creatures, but the Water Bailiff points out how it was Isabel and her faith, not science, that led him to the dinosaurs.

At a conference at the Natural History Museum, Dempsey is unable to go through with the presentation, replacing his photographs with Isabel's kelpie drawing. On the way out, Dempsey informs Adrian that he fabricated his photographs before coming to Scotland, but Adrian, knowing the truth, understands. The Water Bailiff returns to Loch Ness, discovering Dempsey slipped his photographs into his bag during their conversation on the train. Dempsey returns to the inn, reuniting with Laura and Isabel, bringing the new bicycle with him. The plesiosaurs swim through the loch, accompanied by an infant.

Frank Falenczyk is a hit man for his Polish mob family in Buffalo, New York. He has a drinking problem, and when he messes up a critical assignment that puts the family business in peril, his uncle Roman Krzeminski, head of the family, sends him to San Francisco to clean up his act. Falenczyk is forced to accept a job at a mortuary, and go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, where he confesses his job, explaining that he wants to be free of his drinking problem because it's affecting his ability to kill effectively. He falls in love with Laurel Pearson, a quirky client he meets at the funeral home. Meanwhile, an upstart Irish gang threatens the family snow-plowing business. When violence erupts, Frank returns home to face the rivals. With assistance from Laurel, he manages to suppress the Irish gang.

The film's plot follows a traditional theme, with Zatoichi (a blind swordsman) coming to the defense of townspeople caught up in a local yakuza gang war and being forced to pay excessive amounts of protection money. Meanwhile, Zatoichi befriends a local farmer and her gambler nephew and eventually offers his assistance to two geisha siblings (one of whom is actually a man) who are seeking revenge for the murder of their parents. The siblings are the only survivors of a robbery and massacre that was carried out on their family estate ten years ago. They soon discover the people responsible for the murders are the same yakuza wreaking havoc on the small town.

After slicing his way through an army of henchmen with his sword, Zatoichi defeats the yakuza's bodyguard, a powerful rōnin, in a duel. Zatoichi later wanders into town and confronts the yakuza bosses, killing the second-in-command and blinding the elderly yakuza boss (who had been masquerading as a bumbling old waiter up until this point) after surprising him by opening his eyes. The film ends with a dance number led by noted Japanese tap dance troupe ''The Stripes'', and Zatoichi walking down a trail and tripping over a rock, saying "Even with my eyes wide open, I can't see anything."

In the year 2039, Gotham City is very nearly a police state, its citizens subject to unwarranted search and seizure. The Gotham Police clash almost daily with Federal agents, who are pursuing the legendary "Batman". Captain Gordon, the grandson of the original Commissioner Gordon, is also trying to find Batman, and find out what he knows about the murder of a Federal agent.

The novel begins with a brief monologue by Ahmad on the condition of American youth as represented by the student body mingling in the corridors of his high school. He gets into a fight with an older boy named Tylenol who thinks Ahmad is flirting with his girlfriend Joryleen. While Ahmad has sexual impulses toward the girl, he represses them, as God instructs. Ahmad finds solace at his mosque (located in an abandoned dance studio above a bail bonds office) and in the study of the Qur'an under the guidance of his imam, Shaikh Rashid. He believes his conviction to be stronger than that of his teacher because of the Shaikh's tendency to interpret the Prophet Muhammad’s hadiths figuratively and to display traces of a skeptical mind-set.

Supporting Ahmad at home is his rather negligent mother, Teresa Mulloy, a third-generation Irish American who, while raised as a Catholic, has abandoned her religious beliefs. Because of her religious infidelity and comparative openness toward sexuality and relationships with men, she has become one of the many objects of Ahmad's hatred — although in her case she is accorded a dutiful love as well. On the other hand Ahmad idolizes his absent father, an Egyptian immigrant who abandoned him and his mother when Ahmad was three years old.

One of Teresa’s suitors in the story is Ahmad’s guidance counselor, Jack Levy, who initially visits her to try and steer Ahmad toward college and away from his chosen career path, truck driver. Levy is an American Jew who has abandoned practicing his religion yet (as many characters in the novel note) still maintains the stereotypical Jewish cynicism and depression. He can be just as critical as Ahmad about American culture, but rather than viewing it in terms of distance from God he sees it as the outcome of historical events and naked greed.

For his part, Ahmad desires to become a truck driver on the advice of his Shaikh because driving is a practical skill of good merit whereas academic studies serve only to advance (American) secular beliefs. He is also afraid that academic studies will strengthen his occasional religious doubt. Trucking is also the path that leads Ahmad toward involvement in a terrorist plot directed against the American "infidels" (non-Muslims) — an attempt to blow up the Lincoln Tunnel under the Hudson River.

Ahmad agrees to drive the truck into the tunnel and blow himself up. On the day of the planned attack, his accomplices are not at their planned meeting place. Ahmad avoids arrest by federal agents and continues his suicide mission alone. Driving the bomb-laden truck, he encounters Jack Levy on the side of the road before getting on the highway. Jack's sister-in-law Hermione Fogel has alerted him to Ahmad's involvement in a possible terrorist attack.

Jack rides into the Lincoln Tunnel with Ahmad and while sitting in traffic tries to convince him not to go through with the bombing. Jack reveals to Ahmad that the terrorist plot was a government sting and that his friend and co-conspirator Charlie Chehab was actually a CIA undercover agent who had his cover blown and was beheaded by others involved in the plot. Jack also admits to having an affair with Ahmad's mother for the previous several months.

While approaching the planned location of the bombing, Ahmad reconsiders his interpretation of Islam deciding that God does not want him to kill anyone and aborts his terrorist mission. He and Jack ride through Manhattan together towards the George Washington Bridge to return to New Jersey.

The Hardy boys track a criminal who plans to use an invention designed as a peaceful aid to the secret Four-Headed Dragon organization behind the Iron Curtain to harm the free world instead.

Category:The Hardy Boys books Category:1981 American novels Category:1981 children's books

The story begins with the Hardy Boys rescuing a boy from a road hog who looks suspiciously like a zombie wearing a Hessian uniform. The boy turns out to be Rolf Allen, who wants the Hardys to investigate a string of forest fires in Vermont, and the number one suspect is the zombie in the Hessian uniform. Shortly later, the Hardys are approached by a circus owner named Tariski, who needs their help in finding out the culprit who is sabotaging his circus. The Hardys accept both cases. They are met with Lonnie Mindo, a friend of Rolf's who is in the play Julius Caesar and playing Caesar himself. The Hardys find a crypt with a coffin of the Hessian soldiers and find the zombie has been there. Suddenly, in a bizarre forest fire, the Hardys spot the zombie and give chase, but are held back. They volunteer on playing guitar for a concert held by a chap named Pollard. Very soon, they find he is in league with the party. They nearly get caught investigating, and escape by a hair's breadth. Some days later, the Hardys go for a circus hosted by Tariski himself. Things, however, go wrong when Biff Hooper, the Hardys' pal, manages to rattle the audience with a particularly dangerous act. However, Joe Hardy saves the show and makes the audience stay. Tariski was immensely thankful to him. As though that weren't enough, someone let a circus lion out, but Chet Morton, another chum of the Hardy brothers, manages to save the day by taming the lion with a chair. Soon after, the gang is rounded up, with the zombie turning out to be Lonnie Mindo, and Pollard and Tariski being into the gang. Very soon, they were arrested too, thus putting the string of forest fires in Vermont to an end.

Category:The Hardy Boys books Category:1982 American novels Category:1982 children's books Category:Novels set in Vermont

The Hardy boys help out when a magicians' tournament ''''''Bold text''''''is threatened by mysterious happenings. Frank and Joe naturally catch the magician who kidnapped the President and all culprits by slowly closing in on their position and taking control.

Category:1982 American novels Category:The Hardy Boys books

In this book the Frank and Joe Hardy are asked to investigate a mystery involving a world-famous spy from HAVOC, an international network of terrorists, who wants to defect to the U.S. Frank and Joe know the spy as "Igor”.

Also a million-dollar emerald from South America has vanished. Joe and Frank think “Igor” was involved. Their only clue is mysterious symbol in shape of tic-tac-toe. The game lead to a building that is run by the U.S. government. The building has a bomb and the Hardys are trapped in a deadly game of tic-tac-toe.

This book opens with Frank, Joe & Chet being involved in a traffic accident with a Mack truck. As the car is damaged, the drivers of the Mack truck offer the boys a lift to the next town. Unfortunately the truck gets hijacked by a gang and the drivers locked up in the trailer. Later Mr. Hardy tells the boys that there have been a number of hijackings against that firm, the Ortiz Trucking Company, and that he's going to Washington the following day to help the FBI investigate the hijackings.

Initially, Frank, Joe and Chet work undercover as drivers at the Ortiz Trucking Company before Joe finds himself hijacked by one of the gang. Tracking the gang down, Frank, Joe & Chet stow away on a ship named the Mary Malone and find themselves facing the gang, a group of corrupt officials who plan to use nuclear weapons on every major city on Earth to take over the world.

Frank and Joe Hardy are drawn into a tangled web of danger when they are called in to investigate mysterious accidents plaguing a star college football quarterback.

Category:The Hardy Boys books Category:1982 American novels Category:1982 children's books Category:American football books

After he exposes a pair of con artists with his partner Melanie (Candy Clark) in the infamous 112 Ocean Avenue house in Amityville, journalist John Baxter (Tony Roberts) is persuaded to purchase the house by real estate agent Clifford Sanders (John Harkins). While preparing the house for John, Clifford investigates footsteps in the attic. He is locked in the room, where a swarm of flies attack and kill him. John believes Clifford died of a stroke, even after Melanie shows him some photos she took of the real estate agent before his death, depicting him as a rotting corpse.

While John is at work, he nearly dies in a malfunctioning elevator. Simultaneously, Melanie experiences bizarre occurrences in John's house. She is found later that night by John, cowering and hysterical against the wall. Her attempts to convince John that something is inside the house fall on deaf ears. Later, while looking over blowups of the photos of Clifford, Melanie discovers a demonic-looking face in the pictures. When she attempts to show the photos to John, she is killed in a horrific car accident. Melanie's death is ruled accidental by everyone, including John, who remains oblivious to the evil in his home.

While John is away one day, his daughter, Susan (Lori Loughlin), her friend Lisa (Meg Ryan), and two boyfriends use a Ouija board in the attic. The game tells them that Susan is in danger. Growing bored, Susan and the others go out in John's motorboat where she falls into the water and drowns. Susan's mother, Nancy (Tess Harper), is surprised to see a drenched Susan silently walk up the stairs. Outside John arrives home to find Susan's friends bringing her lifeless body to shore. Nancy has a nervous breakdown and believing Susan is still alive and will return shortly, refuses to leave, even for Susan's funeral.

After having nightmares about the old well in the basement and unable to deal with Nancy's delusions that Susan is still alive, John allows his friend, paranormal investigator Doctor Elliot West (Robert Joy), and a team of paranormal investigators to set up in the house, to help prove if Nancy actually saw something or not. As Elliot and John watch, Nancy is confronted by a spectral being speaking in Susan's voice. Nancy follows the spectre into the basement, where the old well has filled with liquid. Elliot urges whatever is in the well to reveal itself and restore Susan to life. Instead, a demon leaps from the well, burns Elliot's face with fiery breath and drags him to Hell. The house begins to implode. Much of Elliot's team is killed by flying and exploding objects, but John, Nancy, and several others escape through a window. As John and Nancy leave, the well bubbles ominously as an eerily glowing fly emerges from it.

The plot begins with Frank and Joe witnessing a westerner being attacked by a notorious jewel thief Oscar Tamm. The westerner reveals himself as Alfred McVay and as an avid jewel collector. Due to suspicious happenings at his ranch house in Arizona, he hires the Hardys for protection.

Upon reaching there the Hardys start to investigate the strange happenings and develop an immediate dislike of the foreman, Wat Perkins. They are also intrigued by a "mysterious rider" who seems to be sending messages to someone in the ranch house. They also grow suspicious of the butler Wilbur.

When a tornado strikes the ranch, the Crimson Flame, a priceless ruby gets stolen. McVay becomes morose and the Hardys, with a couple of clues, pursue the jewel thieves to Thailand. The rest of the plot follows how the boys help capture the crooks and eventually, how the lost ruby is found.

On a rainy night, six priests, led by Father Manfred (Norman Lloyd), enter the infamous Amityville Horror house and start to exorcise it. One of the priests, Father Dennis Kibbler (Fredric Lehne), is in an upstairs bedroom and begins to bless it when he sees a glowing brass floor lamp. As he begins to chant, a burst of energy emerges from the outlet, through the cord, and into the lamp. A demonic face appears in the large round bulb. Kibbler is knocked across the room and is unconscious.

A few days later, the real estate agency decides to have a yard sale by selling the previous owners' items left in the house. Father Manfred believes that the evil spirits are finally gone from the house. Meanwhile, at the yard sale, a woman named Helen Royce (Peggy McCay) and her friend Rhona (Gloria Cromwell) are looking through the items when Helen finds the lamp. At only $100.00, Helen decides to buy the lamp as a birthday present for her sister, explaining that she and her sister send each other rather ugly gifts as a long-running joke. While checking the lamp, Helen cuts her finger on a brass collar around the bulb. Ignoring the cut on her finger, Helen buys the lamp. Helen's finger begins to get infected and discolored as the day goes on. Helen later dies of Tetanus.

One week later, the lamp arrives at Helen's sister, Alice Leacock's (Jane Wyatt) house, a large, three-story home over a beach in a small town called Dancott, California. That day, Alice's daughter, Nancy Evans (Patty Duke), and her three children, Amanda (Zoe Trilling), Brian (Aron Eisenberg), and the youngest child, quiet, mysterious Jessica (Brandy Gold), move in with Alice. Once they arrive, Alice decides to open the package containing the lamp. Nancy thinks the lamp is hideous, while Alice finds it interesting. Once the lamp is turned on, Alice's parrot, Fred, begins to act crazy, and her cat, Pepper, scratches Amanda. While the rest of the family pays little to no attention to the lamp, Jessica seems to be drawn toward it.

The lamp then begins to manipulate electrical devices around the house or perform seemingly impossible feats, such as killing the parrot and putting it in the toaster oven, turning on the kitchen sink's garbage disposal, and cutting off the hand of the electrician's apprentice, and vandalizing Jessica's room.

When Nancy calls a plumber to fix the pipes, the lamp murders him by drowning him in sewage and then makes his van leave on its own, making it seem like he left. Jessica is drawn to the lamp and starts to believe her dead father's spirit is inside it. Meanwhile, Father Kibbler, while staying at Father Manfred's place, gets a call from the lamp, which makes smoke come out of the phone and melts the speaker. Worried, he travels to Dancott to investigate. When most of the family is away, Jessica is entranced by the lamp, which then uses its extension cord to murder their housekeeper Peggy.

The police investigate though they do not find the plumber's body. Father Kibbler contacts Nancy and tries to convince her that the evil has taken possession of an object from the Amityville house. They rush home only to find that the lamp used a window to knock out Amanda and has brainwashed Jessica, who stabs Father Kibbler in the shoulder while the lamp's extension cord tries to stop him from exorcising it. Alice saves the day by grabbing the lamp and throwing it out of the window, shattering it on the rocky shoreline below. The movie ends with the family thinking their ordeal is over, not realizing that the dead plumber is still inside their house. The camera pans to the remains of the lamp, showing the evil within has now possessed the family's cat.

In Amityville, New York, the same town in which Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his family in 1974, a Catholic priest is shot to death in a confession booth in his parish church. After the murder, the booth is removed and stored in the basement of the clergy house.

Twelve years later, psychologist Marvin and his wife Debbie purchase the clergy house. The couple invite their three friends: Frank, Bill, and Abigail, to help renovate the home. Debbie is immediately perturbed by the house and hears noises emanating from the basement, but Marvin dismisses her. Debbie suffers nightmares revolving around the basement, particularly the confession booth. Marvin urges Debbie to journal about her nightmares so he can psychoanalyze them. The next morning, the group are visited by Mrs. Moriarty, the eccentric former church secretary.

Marvin and Bill investigate the basement, and Bill comes across the confession booth, among other artifacts from the church. After an outbreak of apparent poltergeist activity occurs throughout the house, the group all become convinced the home is haunted, with the exception of Marvin. To calm their nerves, they plan to go out for dinner at a local bar. Frank, suffering a migraine, remains at the house alone. At the tavern, Marvin speaks to two older men regarding the town's paranormal activities and feels it is nothing but a case of mass hysteria. The men bring up a boy murdering his whole family and possibly being possessed, and implying the house Marvin is currently in is likely possessed. At the same time, Debbie encounters Mrs. Moriarty again in the bathroom, where she obscurely rants and raves about the priest who once lived in the home.

The next day, Mrs. Moriarty again stops by the house, but is confronted by an unseen assailant and thrown down the basement staircase to her death. Her murder is inadvertently recorded on a video camcorder Bill left in the house. Meanwhile, Debbie has a disturbing vision of a man hanging from a tree in the front of the house. Police are summoned after Mrs. Moriarty's body is found, and a detective tells Marvin about her connection to the house; he also divulges that police identified the murderer of the priest, a local teenage boy, but that he hung himself before he was apprehended.

Abigail is disturbed by the event and leaves. Marvin begins attempting to decipher Debbie's dream diaries, which Bill realizes consist of Latin exorcism writing. Meanwhile, Debbie suffers a nightmare in which she witnesses the truth of the priest's murder: He was shot to death by his illegitimate son, conceived during a sexual tryst with a female parishioner, who sought vengeance for being abandoned. She awakens and searches for Marvin, whom she finds dead in the confession booth in the basement. There, she is confronted by Frank, now possessed by the priest's illegitimate son. Meanwhile, police investigating Mrs. Moriarty's murder review the video tape, and are able to identify Frank as the perpetrator based on his shoes, which are caught on tape.

Meanwhile, Frank chases Debbie through the house, during which she disfigures him by burning his face. He continues to pursue her, attempting to impale her with a processional cross. Debbie manages to stop him by shooting at him with a nail gun. Abigail returns and finds Frank, apparently dead, but he reawakens and begins strangling her. Using the processional cross, Debbie stabs Frank through the chest, impaling him to death. Later, Debbie and Abigail are escorted out of the house by police. A detective shows Debbie a photograph of an infant boy—the priest's illegitimate son—found at the crime scene. He asks if it is hers, to which she responds that it belongs to the house.

Jacob Sterling (Stephen Macht) is an architect who has just returned home from a business trip in Amityville. Jacob lives in Burlwood, California, in a suburban housing development. Jacob's ex-girlfriend, art student Andrea Livingston (Shawn Weatherly), is watching Jacob's two teenage kids, naive Lisa (Megan Ward) and troubled Rusty (Damon Martin), while he is gone.

When Jacob returns, he informs them that Amityville wants his company to develop a new neighborhood with a timeless concept. Jacob has also brought home an old mantle clock that he found in the remains of an old house in Amityville. Jacob puts it on the fireplace mantle, stating that it's "what our house has been missing." Once it is on the mantle, things take a turn for the worse. The clock's ticking is incredibly loud; it can be heard upstairs. Unknown to the family, the clock attaches itself to the mantle, preventing it from being moved. But the strangest of all, Rusty goes downstairs in the middle of the night and turns on the living room light switch. Every time he flips the switch, the living room is replaced with an ancient-looking torture chamber. This happens until the lightbulb finally burns out.

The next morning, after Lisa and Rusty leave for school (though we later learn Rusty actually skipped school that day), Jacob decides to go jogging. As he reaches the end of the jog, his digital watch mysteriously stops. He turns around to find his neighbor Mrs. Tetmann (Terrie Snell) and her dog, Peaches, standing there ominously. Mrs. Tetmann lets go of Peaches, and Peaches attacks Jacob, viciously mauling Jacob's leg. Jacob manages to escape by slashing Peaches' face with a broken bottle. The doctor (Willie C. Carpenter) mistakes Andrea for Jacob's wife at the hospital. He tells her that Jacob's wound will have to be cleaned and rebandaged every few hours. Andrea agrees to stay with Jacob for a few more days until he is able to walk. Jacob does not take care of his wounded leg at home and refuses to let Andrea clean it out.

Meanwhile, Rusty (skipping school) visits the neighbor, Iris Wheeler (Nita Talbot). He tells her about what he saw in the living room last night. She assumes that what Rusty saw was an evil force. It was afraid of Rusty and was trying to win him over. She says it would only go to their home because where it used to be is gone: "It must find a new home." When Rusty gets home, Andrea and him go to Mrs. Tetmann's house to ask if Peaches was vaccinated. Mrs. Tetmann doesn't know what they're talking about and says that she and Peaches never even left the house that day. She even shows them Peaches' face, and there's no trace of a cut. Rusty spends a lot of time thinking about what Iris said.

Jacob, rather than resting, is busy designing a model for a new neighborhood. Andrea asks Rusty to get the phone book from the living room at dinner, which usually only takes a minute or two. However, three hours had passed when Rusty (who was talking the whole time) got back into the living room. Lisa lets Andrea have her room for the night, and she sleeps on the couch in the living room. But the loud ticking of the clock keeps Lisa awake all night. Finally, near 3:00 a.m., she asks Andrea if she can sleep with her. Andrea says yes and tells Lisa to get her pillow from the living room. But when Lisa gets her pillow, the living room doors slam shut and lock. In Andrea's room, she hears the door open, and something gets in bed with her. She finds the other side of the bed drenched in black slime. She turns the light on, but it's not there. Andrea goes downstairs and unlocks the living room doors, letting Lisa out. She suspects that Rusty may have locked them, but he tells her he went for a walk.

The next morning, Andrea learns that Peaches was killed the night before, and a swastika has been drawn in blood on Mrs. Tetmann's house. The police suspect that Rusty may have had something to do with it. That night, Andrea's boyfriend Leonard visits and had a hallucination of Jacob shooting him with a gun. The next day, Rusty visits Iris' house and tells her what he had seen in his living room and tells her that it all began the night his father had returned home from Amityville. Iris later realizes that the clock is causing everything to go wrong, but on her way to warn Rusty, she is killed by a stork statue that falls from a truck.

Meanwhile, things start to go terribly wrong at the Sterling residence with Lisa's boyfriend Andy (Dean Cochran) melting into the floor, Leonard encountering goo and a zombie that rises out of the bathtub, and Jacob acting aggressively. Both Lisa and Jacob are now under the clock's complete control, and Rusty is forced to kill Lisa in self-defense. Andrea manages to overcome Jacob's attack but learns that the clock de-aged Rusty into a child as he tried to destroy it. Andrea orders the clock to let Rusty leave, and she begins to smash open the wall. As she does, she sees giant clock gears inside the wall and is unable to destroy the clock. As it begins to age her into an old woman, she ignites an exposed gas pipe, causing an explosion.

The clock rewinds back to the first night Jacob brought the clock home. However, Andrea has retained her memories of the events that took place, and this time, she smashes the clock when Jacob comes home with it. When Jacob asks her, "What the hell was that all about?!" she replies, "It's about time, that's what!" As Andrea departs, Rusty sees Iris standing across the street, and the two exchange smiles, hinting that they have retained their memories of what occurred.

Before the DeFeos moved into 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, the Bronners occupied the house. In 1966, the Bronner family's eldest son, Franklin, killed his parents and two siblings during Thanksgiving dinner. Bronner, who had a long history of mental illness, claimed to have committed the familicide at the behest of otherworldly forces within the house and was committed to Danamore State Hospital. Years later, his wife and their young son, Keyes Terry, visited Bronner. Despite being sedated, Bronner killed his wife in front of Keyes. Keyes repressed the memory of visiting Danamore and never received any notification about his father being discharged from it in 1986.

In 1993, Keyes, now a photographer, lives in an inner-city boarding house with his girlfriend, Llanie. Dick Cutler owns the boarding house, and its other tenants include a painter named Suki and a sculptor named Pauli. Bronner tracks down Keyes and gives him a mirror that he took from the house in Amityville. The mirror is demonic, and it kills Suki and her ex-boyfriend, Raymond. After Bronner is found dead, Keyes begins looking into his past and realizes that Bronner was his father after visiting Danamore.

The demon in the mirror assumes Suki's form to kill Dick and afterward begins tormenting Keyes by turning into Bronner. Keyes gets sucked into the mirror, which brings him to a Hellish version of Danamore, where he encounters undead versions of Raymond, Suki, Dick, and Bronner. The demon then returns Keyes to the real world and makes it clear that it wants Keyes to reenact the massacre of the Bronner family by shooting Llanie, Pauli, and Dick's wife at the boarding house's Thanksgiving art show. Keyes resists the demon's influence and breaks the mirror, prompting his friend Detective Clark to sardonically quip, "Seven years bad luck."

Newlyweds Bill and Claire Martin move their new family into a new house constructed by Bill himself. Shortly after moving in, Bill finds a dollhouse (modeled after 112 Ocean Avenue) in the shed. He brings it into the house and puts it in the garage. Later that night, Bill notices the fireplace in the house turns on by itself, heating the entire home. He has a hallucination of his daughter Jessica burning to death in the fireplace. The following morning, Claire finds the dollhouse in the garage and suggests giving it to Jessica for her birthday. At her birthday party, Jessica's aunt Marla and uncle Tobias arrive. Jessica is elated over the dollhouse and finds a chest of miniature dolls inside it. Her aunt and uncle, however, seem inexplicably nervous regarding the toys.

In the ensuing days, numerous strange incidents occur: Jimmy, Claire's eldest son, loses his pet mouse, which finds its way into the dollhouse; simultaneously, Jessica is confronted by an enormous white mouse hiding under her bed. Claire also begins to have unexpected sexual urges toward Todd, Bill's eldest son, and fantasizes about him while having sex with Bill. Nightmares plague Bill about voodoo dolls, demons, and his family being murdered. In conversation with Marla, Bill reveals he suffered from similar dreams as a child, including a premonitory dream of his parents dying in a fire, which came true. Jimmy also experiences supernatural visitations from his deceased father, who appears to him as a decaying zombie, urging him to murder Bill.

One afternoon, Todd brings his girlfriend, Dana, to the home. While in an exterior shed on the property, the two find newspaper clippings about the foundation on which Bill built their new home: they surmise that the new house was built around the fireplace from the original home. The two go inside the house and begin to have sex, but a giant fly attacks them. The following evening, Bill and Claire go out for dinner, leaving Todd to babysit his younger siblings, Jimmy and Jessica. Todd invites Dana over and sends the children to bed. While Todd makes cocktails in the kitchen, Dana's hair inexplicably catches fire, leaving her with disfiguring burns. Todd blames his father for the accident, believing a faulty coil in the fireplace's gas line caused it.

Meanwhile, Marla and Tobias, who apparently practice magic, have taken one of the dolls from Jessica's dollhouse. They perform a ritual on the doll and watch it come to life. Objects begin to fly around their home, and Tobias stabs the doll with a knife, after which a large fly escapes. Later, Claire finds an unexplained bruise on Jimmy's face and believes Bill hit him. She shuts him out of the house, only to be confronted by the zombie of her deceased husband, tying her and Jimmy up and forcing them to sit by the fireplace. Bill attempts to enter the house through the garage but is knocked unconscious by carbon monoxide fumes from his car, which begins running by itself. Tobias arrives at the home and is able to save Bill. The two enter the home: Tobias has the voodoo doll he had taken from the dollhouse with him.

Tobias and Bill fight with the zombie, and Jimmy throws the voodoo doll into the fireplace, causing the zombie to disappear. Todd is then visited by an apparition of Dana, who is in the hospital: she attempts to kill him, but Claire intercedes. The family attempts to flee the house but cannot find Jessica. Scrawled on a piece of paper, they find a list of observations Jessica has made about the dollhouse, one of which reads: "My hand disappears in the fireplace." Bill realizes the fireplace is a portal to somewhere else. Bill and Tobias enter the fireplace and realize they have entered the dollhouse. They find Jessica on the floor, surrounded by bloodied remnants of the voodoo dolls. Tobias casts a protective spell, allowing Bill and Jessica to flee: Tobias, however, is dragged away by the demons that have escaped from the dolls. Bill destroys the dollhouse by tossing it into the fireplace. As they flee in their car, the house explodes behind them.

The main character, a boy named Gen (short for Eugenides), is released from prison by the magus of the King of Sounis. Gen had been imprisoned for stealing the King's seal. The magus, whose name is not revealed, finds Gen to be filthy, uncouth, and insolent, but he values Gen's skills as a thief. Without telling Gen where they are going, he takes him out of the city. They are joined by the magus's two apprentices, Sophos and Ambiades, and by a soldier, Pol.

The travelers are strained by personal conflict, as well as the dangers present due to the political and secret nature of their mission. The magus reveals that the object he wants Gen to steal is a precious stone called Hamiathes's Gift in the country of Attolia. The magus' plan is to use the long lost tradition embedded within the stone in order to claim the country of Eddis for his king. In exchange, the magus offers Gen fame and threatens him with a bounty on his head if he tries to escape. Agreeing, Gen risks death in a daring attempt to steal the stone from an almost inaccessible temple, while the entire party is pursued by the Guard of Attolia. After Gen steals the stone, the temple is washed away by a river. While traveling back, the party is captured by the Attolian guard. Ambiades turns out to be a traitor, but is later killed by Pol, who pushes him off a cliff and then jumps after him holding two Attolian soldiers, killing them, but dying himself. After being questioned by the queen of Attolia, Gen, Sophos and the Magus escape and go to Eddis. There they are taken to the palace and Gen gives the stone to the queen. It is revealed that Gen is Eugenides, the Queen's Thief, and Sophos is the heir to the kingdom of Sounis.

In 1957, seventeen-year-old Mary Lou Maloney confesses her various sins to a priest en route to her senior prom, which include having sexual relations with numerous boys. Before leaving, she defiantly tells the priest she "loved every minute of it." She arrives at the prom at Hamilton High School, which she attends with Billy Nordham who gives her a ring with her initials on it. Shortly after receiving Billy's ring, Mary Lou sends him off to get punch while she sneaks backstage with Buddy Cooper, where the two are found making out by Billy. Storming off after Mary Lou claims she used him, Billy overhears two boys preparing a stink bomb and, when the boys abandon the bomb in the trash due to a teacher approaching, Billy grabs it. When Mary Lou is crowned prom queen, Billy, having snuck up onto the catwalk, drops the bomb on her before she is crowned. To the horror of Billy and everyone in attendance, the fuse of the bomb ignites Mary Lou's dress and she burns to death onstage, but not before looking up and seeing that Billy is the one responsible.

Thirty years later, student Vicki Carpenter goes looking for a prom dress in the school prop room after being denied a new dress by her overly religious mother. While searching, Vicki finds an old trunk containing Mary Lou's prom queen accessories and takes them, releasing Mary Lou's spirit in the process. After Vicki leaves Mary Lou's clothes in the art room after school, Vicki's friend Jess finds them and, after wedging a jewel out of the crown, is attacked by an unseen force and hung from a light by Mary Lou's cape. Jess's death is deemed a suicide caused by her despair over her recent discovery that she was pregnant.

After Jess's death, Vicki finds herself plagued by nightmarish hallucinations and confides in Buddy, who is now a priest. Buddy, after hearing Vicki's stories, believes Mary Lou may be back. Going to Mary Lou's grave, where his bible bursts into flames, Buddy afterwards tries to warn Billy, who is now the principal of Hamilton High and the father of Vicki's boyfriend Craig. During a detention caused by her slapping her rival Kelly Hennenlotter, Vicki is dragged into the classroom chalkboard, which turns to liquid.

Now fully possessed by Mary Lou, Vicki visits Buddy at the church and, revealing her identity to him, kills him by stabbing him in the face with a crucifix. Meanwhile, Vicki's new mannerisms and style of dress arouse the concern of Vicki's friend Monica. After confronting Vicki in the girls locker room, Monica is frightened into hiding from her in a locker, where she is crushed when Vicki makes the locker collapse in on her. After Monica's murder, Vicki seduces Craig and lures him away under the pretense of having sex, only to knock him unconscious and afterward confront and taunt Billy, revealing her identity to him. Finding the injured Craig, Billy takes him home and knocks him back out when Craig tries to go after Vicki. With Craig unconscious, Billy digs up Mary Lou's grave and finds the dead Buddy in the coffin. Meanwhile, Vicki's mother Virginia finds Vicki seducing her father, Walt. Horrified, she attempts to stop her from leaving for the prom, only to be telekinetically smashed through the front door.

Arriving at the prom, Vicki enjoys the festivities while Kelly, in order to become prom queen, fellates tally counter (and Monica's new boyfriend) Josh as a bribe. When Josh changes the outcome of the votes to make Kelly the winner, Vicki electrocutes Josh through his computer and changes the outcome. When she is crowned prom queen, Vicki goes up on stage, but is shot by Billy moments before getting her crown, to the horror of the crowd. Arriving after the shooting and approaching what appears to be the dying Vicki, Craig is knocked back when Vicki morphs into the charred corpse of Mary Lou. In the havoc, Kelly is stabbed and apparently killed by a falling light fixture and Craig is chased into the school prop room by Mary Lou, who opens a vortex to the Underworld that begins to suck Craig in. Before Craig is pulled through the gateway, Billy arrives and places the crown on Mary Lou and kisses her, apparently appeasing her spirit, which vanishes, releasing Vicki.

With Mary Lou gone, Vicki and Craig leave with Billy, getting into his car. When Billy turns on the radio, Mary Lou's signature song "Hello Mary Lou" plays. Revealing he is wearing Mary Lou's ring and apparently possessed by Mary Lou, Billy drives off with the terrified Vicki and Craig.

Sergei, a Red Army soldier in the First World War returns to his village on the Dnieper and finds he is no-longer in love with Natasha his betrothed. Instead, he falls in love with Olga. Olga's parents intend for her to marry another man whom she does not love. Sergei and Olga's friends fight. Sergei falls, but the lovers are saved by the compassionate Natasha who helps the couple to escape the village.

The ballet contains 12 numbers, lasting around 40 minutes:

Prelude

Scene 1: The Meeting

Scene 1: Mime Scene

Scene 1: Pas de deux

Scene 1: Variation of the First Dancer

Scene 2: Betrothal

Scene 2: Bridegroom's Dance

Scene 2: Bride's Dance

Scene 2: Men's Dance

Scene 2: The Quarrel

Scene 2: Mime Scene

Epilogue

''Cyborg'' is the story of astronaut and test pilot Steve Austin, who experiences a catastrophic crash during a flight, leaving him with all but one limb destroyed, blind in one eye, and with other major injuries.

At the same time, a secret part of the American government, the Office of Strategic Operations (OSO), has taken an interest in the work of Dr. Rudy Wells concerning bionics — the replacement of human body parts with mechanical prosthetics that (in the context of this novel) are more powerful than the original limbs. Wells also happens to be a good friend of Austin's, so when OSO chief Oscar Goldman "invites" (or rather, orders) Wells to rebuild Austin with bionics limbs, Wells agrees.

Steve Austin is outfitted with two new legs capable of propelling him at great speed, and a bionic left arm with almost human dexterity and the strength of a battering ram. One of the fingers of the hand incorporates a poison dart gun. His left eye is replaced with a false, removable eye that is used (in this first novel) to house a miniature camera. Other physical alterations include the installation of a steel skull plate to replace bone smashed by the crash, and a radio transmitter built into a rib. This mixture of man and machine is known as a cyborg, from which the novel gets its title.

The first half of the novel details both Austin's reaction to his original injuries — he attempts to commit suicide — and his initially resentful reaction to being rebuilt with bionic prosthetic hardware. The operation has a price: Austin is committed to working for the OSO as a reluctant agent. The second half of the novel describes Austin being teamed with an already experienced female operative, and his mission to the Middle East as both spy and weapon. Austin, already coming to appreciate his bionic implants, relies heavily on his augmentation during the mission and by the end accepts his role.

''Hallam Foe'' follows the life of 17-year-old boy who has a very unusual and seemingly destructive hobby. He lives most of his life up in a tree house with state-of-the-art binoculars, a telescope, and plenty of logbooks in hand, watching as the people around him live their life. Hallam keeps himself separated and lives in solitude up in the trees, away from his father, Julius Foe, stepmother, Verity, his sister, Lucy and his best friend Alex Thirtle. He had fallen into these depths when his mother, Anne Sarah Foe, committed suicide and the relentless relatives turned their attention and pity towards the boy.

Category:2001 British novels Category:British novels adapted into films Category:2001 debut novels Category:Headline Publishing Group books

The miniseries presented a dramatization of the sequence of events leading to the September 11, 2001 attacks by Al-Qaeda on the United States, starting from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and up to the minutes after its collapse in 2001. The movie takes the point of view of two main protagonists: John P. O'Neill, and a composite Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent, "Kirk".

O'Neill was the real-life Special Agent in charge of Al Qaeda investigations at the Federal Bureau of Investigation; he died in the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11 shortly after retiring from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and taking the position of Director of Security for the World Trade Center. The composite CIA agent "Kirk" is shown dealing with various American allies, especially Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, in Afghanistan. In addition, "Patricia", a CIA headquarters analyst, represents the views of the rank and file at CIA headquarters.

The miniseries features dramatizations of various incidents summarized in the'' 9/11 Commission Report'' and represented in high-level discussions held in the Clinton and Bush administrations. The final hour of the movie dramatizes the events of 9/11, including a recreation of the second plane hitting the World Trade Center, Tom Burnett's calls to his wife, and John Miller's reporting near the scene of the attacks. The film concludes with information about the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, as well as the performance evaluation the Commission gave the government when it reconvened in 2005.

''Hester Street'' tells the story of Jewish immigrants who come to the Lower East Side of New York City in 1896 from Eastern Europe, and who live on Hester Street in Manhattan. When Yankel first comes to the U.S., he quickly assimilates into American culture, and becomes ''Jake''. He also begins to have an affair with Mamie, a dancer. His wife, Gitl, who arrives later with their son, Yossele, has difficulty assimilating. Tension arises in their marriage as Jake continually upbraids and abuses Gitl. Additionally, Jake continues to see Mamie, which Gitl later discovers through Mrs. Kavarsky, a neighbor. Jake and Gitl ultimately divorce, whereby Gitl takes all of Mamie's money and marries Bernstein, a faithful traditionalist. By the end of the film, she is sartorially and lingually assimilated — walking down the street with Bernstein and Yossele (now known as Joey), speaking English, and showing her hair. But she is now liberated from Jake, who in turn has married Mamie.

The film is noteworthy for its detailed reconstruction of Jewish immigrant life in New York at the turn of the century – much of the dialogue is delivered in Yiddish with English subtitles – and was part of the wave of films released in the late 1960s and through the 1970s which began explicitly to deal with the complexities of American Jewish identity. In addition, Carol Kane's lead character posed a still-provocative synthesis as she discovers her own self-assertion on behalf of her right to maintain a traditional identity in an aggressively modern setting.

Donna Peyton is a ten-year-old girl who inherits a $30,000,000 fortune from her millionaire industrialist father. Per terms of his will, Donna must choose one of her six uncles to become her new "father". Willard Woodward, the family chauffeur, takes Donna to all of her uncles to stay with them for two weeks. Donna's uncles are:

''* James Peyton'', a ferryboat captain, her father's oldest brother who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

''* Everett Peyton'', a famous circus clown who hates kids and has moved to Switzerland to avoid U. S. taxes.

''* Julius Peyton,'' a professional photographer who photographs female models.

''* Captain Edward "Eddie" Peyton'', a pilot based in Los Angeles, California who owns his own airline ("Eddie's Airways, the Airline for the Birds") consisting of one plane, a Ford Trimotor.

''* Skylock Peyton'', a Holmesian detective who loves tea and lived in England until he lost his passport and moved back to the United States. He is accompanied by his faithful companion, Dr. Matson, but Skylock pays more attention to a pool game in Robert Strauss's pool parlour than to Donna.

''* Bugsy Peyton'', a gangster who everyone believed killed by the mob. Only interested in Donna's inheritance, he kidnaps her. Willard rescues her by tricking the gangsters into believing they are surrounded by armed soldiers.

The more time she spends with her uncles, the more Donna realizes that Willard should be her father: he was always a father to her even when her real father was still alive, because her father was too busy to spend time with her. Unfortunately the family lawyers will not allow her to choose Willard, insisting that she must choose one of her uncles. At the last minute, Uncle Everett shows up unexpectedly, asking Donna to choose him. To everyone's surprise, Donna agrees, and the two leave together. As they walk down the hallway, Donna reveals that she knows the truth: "Uncle Everett" is actually Willard in disguise. She recognized him because, as always, his shoes were on the wrong feet.

In October 1941 Stan Graham, a Westland smallholder, develops a persecution complex and starts to threaten his neighbours, in which he is encouraged by his wife. He then refuses to conform to a government order for all citizens to surrender their firearms for the duration of the war. Eventually a party of four policemen arrive to confiscate his firearms, which causes a flashpoint for Graham. With the help of his wife who shoots and injures one of them, Graham shoots and kills all the policemen and, in the ensuing altercations, three locals also. Shot and injured himself, Graham then heads into the surrounding forest. A manhunt is organised, involving police, army and local home guard members, and finally they track him down.

Over six one-hour episodes, it tells the story of Gerhard Schulz, a German fraudster and petty criminal who is forced against his will to serve in the SS. In a story based on the real, though unrealised, plot by the Germans known as Operation Bernhard, he persuades his superiors to authorise a project to print counterfeit British five pound notes for the purpose of destroying the British economy.[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1129245/index.html Screenonline – Private Schulz] Schulz has little interest in the defeat of Britain, and simply wants to steal the forged notes, although he is also strongly motivated to help a former criminal colleague, a Jewish master forger imprisoned in a concentration camp. Other elements of the story based on the history of the period, include the Venlo incident, when two British intelligence officers were abducted from the Netherlands at the start of the war. Salon Kitty was a Berlin brothel, secretly run by the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (the intelligence agency of the SS) to spy on its clientele, who were often prominent German government officials or military officers.

Note on sources.

Beautiful courtesan Jenny Wren intends to “retire” to Europe, sailing first class and “alone, for once.” She gathers four rich and powerful former lovers—Priam Andes, William Jones, Eddie Mack and Herbert Walcott—along with Walcott's wife and Jones' fiancée, for an impromptu weekend party at Andes' ranch on the California coast. She blackmails Andes into hosting the event and informs him that his nephew and heir, Frank, is engaged to her young sister, Esther. Esther and Frank arrive at Jenny's apartment and decide to go to the ranch, too.

A man named Farnsbarns has been following Jenny.

At La Casa de Andes (1804) near Crestwood, the guests are playing darts. Jenny's surprise entrance stuns the three men. Andes introduces a Mr. Vayne. Andes' sister, Faith, arrives unexpectedly, obsessed with the family's old California bloodline and worried about her nephew's engagement.

The thunderstorms begin after dinner. Alone in the library with her victims, Jenny observes that they have all been “gamboling on the same green,” unaware. She demands money from each man according to his means—$50,000 from Jones, $100,000 from Andes, $25,000 from Mack and $250,000 from Walcott. Andes reveals that Vayne wants her as his mistress: “I'm through with that,” she replies. Her maid, Carter, interrupts to give Jenny a small box, delivered to the apartment. It contains a fraternity pin. Disturbed, Jenny tells the four another reason why she is through:

Flashback: Three weeks before, in the Adirondack Mountains, an unnamed young man, scion of a wealthy family, gives Jenny his fraternity pin, and tells her that he will get no money from his father if he marries before he is 25. She returns the pin and warns him to “stay away from hungry Mama bears.” He says “Goodbye” and steps off the cliff...

Walcott scoffs—the pin was delivered “from the grave, I suppose.” Jenny goes to her room and throws the pin out into the storm. She sees the boy's face gleaming in the trees outside.

At 3 a.m., Farnsbarns is prowling downstairs. Jenny screams and staggers from her room, a dart in her neck. He catches her; she murmurs “That face.” He puts her body on the sofa and leaves, but a landslide blocks the road. The house is roused. Faith phones the Crestwood police but is stopped by Farnsbarns, who introduces himself as Gary Curtis, a New York City private detective. He has teamed up with gangster Pete Harris (a childhood friend) and Pete's henchmen to retrieve a client's love letters to Jenny. Curtis starts his own investigation, knowing the police are coming; they will pin the crime on him unless he finds the killer first.

Curtis and Frank find Esther unconscious in Jenny's room. She remembers talking to Faith and going to Jenny. She was clubbed with a candlestick.

Curtis interviews suspects, including Vayne, who confesses—that his name is really Henry T. Herrick.

The lights go out; a white face appears and disappears. A distraught Vayne/Herrick cries out: It is the death mask of his son, Tom (the unnamed youth in Jenny's story). He wore it when he knocked out Esther and tried to kill Jenny. Herrick dies of a heart attack. “Wait, I remember now!” Esther calls. The lights go out; she is stabbed with a dart that misses her neck. At 5 a.m., she is asleep, locked in her room. Faith is looking after her.

Curtis is frustrated: If Esther had been killed, Faith would be the obvious suspect.

Carter has disappeared. Exploring outside, Curtis and Harris discover a tunnel door at the cliff. Inside, they find Carter's body and the death mask. Back in the house, Curtis stands where Jenny's murderer stood and mimes the dart throw, knocking the wall with his hand. In the wall, he finds a chip from a ruby ring. Curtis realizes that Faith Andes mistook Jenny for Esther. Using the tunnel, Faith has taken Esther out to the cliff edge. Forestalled, she calmly confesses before Esther, Frank, Curtis and Harris. As the police plane flies overhead, Curtis, face to face with Faith, pushes a stone over the edge with his toe. “Thank you,” she says, and follows it. Esther and Frank cling to each other as Curtis and Harris walk away.

This book tells the story of Alexander Hale and Raphaella Phillips. Hale, a recently divorced man, takes a walk down his street, when he sees Phillips, a beautiful woman, crying on the steps. We later learn that the woman's name is Raphaella Phillips and that she is married to an eighty-year-old man who is very sick. Hale falls in love with Phillips, who is already married. Raphaella is young, while her husband is old and bedridden. Raphaella does not want to leave her husband but she does not want to stay closed away from the world with nothing to live for either. She has no children and feels like the house doesn't belong to her. In the end Raphaella's husband dies and Raphaella and Alexander can be together.

Emily, the play's protagonist and a nurse, decides to leave her fiancé, Dr. Heidkliff, after falling in love with another woman, Carmilla. Unbeknownst to her fiancé, Emily meets Carmilla, who is pregnant, through her gynecological practice. Carmilla is married to Dr. Benno Hundekoffer. During childbirth, Carmilla dies, but is turned into a vampire by Emily. When Dr. Heidkliff discovers Emily's transformation and decision to leave him for Carmilla, he and Benno decide to track down both women in order to kill them for "mock[ing] creation."

In Quark's, Odo meets a beautiful woman named Arissa and is impressed by her powers of observation. Later, he is surprised when the same woman is arrested for trying to break into the station's computer. Odo questions her about the man she was waiting for in Quark's — an Idanian named Tauvid Rem. Arissa tells Odo Tauvid has information about the daughter she gave up fifteen years before. Odo takes her to Tauvid's quarters, where they discover he has been killed.

Soon afterward, Odo catches Arissa retrieving a datacrystal Tauvid hid. She admits to Odo that she doesn't really have a daughter, and tells him that she came to meet Tauvid because she wants to escape working for the Orion Syndicate — a notorious criminal organization. Her boss, a man named Draim, probably had Tauvid killed to keep her from getting the unknown information contained in the crystal.

Odo hides Arissa in his quarters as he begins an investigation, while Dax and O'Brien attempt to access the heavily protected datacrystal. Arissa tells Odo how she began to work for Draim, only to want out when she learned the deadly consequences her assignments meant for others. Odo encourages her to testify against Draim and take back her life. That night, he returns to his quarters, where the two of them give in to their growing attraction to each other.

After spending a passionate night with Odo, Arissa sends a message to Draim proposing an exchange — the crystal for her life. Draim agrees, but instructs his hit men, Traidy and Sorm, to kill her after the crystal is retrieved. Meanwhile, an Idanian official arrives, informing Odo that Arissa is not who she appears to be, but actually an Idanian agent given a new identity in order to infiltrate Draim's organization. Even Arissa does not know this, since her memory has been erased. The crystal contains all of her real memories. The Idanian asks to be taken to Arissa, and Odo quickly complies — only to find both the woman and the crystal missing.

Arissa prepares to give Traidy the crystal in exchange for her life. But just as he and Sorm are to kill her, Odo and the Idanian save Arissa. Later, her memories and true appearance are restored. She and Odo then meet one last, painful time, after which Arissa returns to her married life — and Odo is left broken-hearted.

After his release from prison, an inventor develops an eerie purple light that renders him invisible, enabling him to seek revenge on his unfaithful wife and his crooked business partner.

On a stormy night, a theatrical producer, his secretary, and playwright Prescott Ames are stranded when their car skids off the road and gets stuck. The three take refuge in the nearby home of Dr. Kent, a friend of Ames's. One of Kent's patients, who is staying at the house, is acting strangely, and the others in the house tell the newcomers that she is behaving this way because it is the anniversary of her husband's murder. At dinner, the group begins exchanging accusations about the murder, when suddenly the lights go out, and soon afterwards comes the first in a series of mysterious and fearful events.

The producer thinks all the strange occurrences are part of a ploy to get him to produce a play for Ames: One of the other characters exclaims, "These fools think we are putting on a play for their benefit!"

''Voyager'' encounters a strange energy field during a surprise party on the holodeck for Kes's second birthday. Many members of the crew are at the party, including Captain Janeway and The Doctor. Eventually the ship becomes stuck in the field, causing the internal communications system on board ''Voyager'' to fail. Unable to communicate with Tuvok, who is acting captain during the party, the crew attempt to return to their posts. However, the ship's layout has mysteriously changed and they are unable to find their way. The crew eventually become separated and hopelessly lost within the labyrinthine corridors. Meanwhile, The Doctor becomes unable to return himself to sickbay and finds himself amorously pursued by the hologram Sandrine, while Neelix once more becomes jealous of Tom Paris's relationship with Kes.

The crew, including Tuvok, who has left the bridge and become similarly lost, all find themselves back at the holodeck. They organize themselves in an attempt to reach crucial areas of the ship such as engineering and the bridge; B'Elanna and Paris are successful in reaching engineering, but when they try to transport to the bridge they find themselves back at the holodeck. Meanwhile, Janeway becomes delirious after coming into direct contact with the energy field, which is penetrating further into the ship, and is brought to the holodeck by Harry Kim in the hope that The Doctor can help her.

B'Elanna returns to Engineering and makes an attempt to stop the field with a ship-wide energy burst, but this only makes the field envelop the ship at an accelerated rate. With the holodeck as the last refuge, the crew gathers there, and Tuvok suggests that the most logical course of action is to simply do nothing, as any attempt to stop it has only made the situation worse, and they so far have no evidence that being engulfed by the field is fatal. They do as Tuvok suggests and neither the crew nor the ship is harmed by passing through the field. Janeway is returned to health and surmises that the energy field was somehow sentient and trying to communicate with them – her theory is backed by the fact that the ship's entire memory has been downloaded and that 20 million gigaquads of data have been uploaded to ''Voyager'' s computer.

While discussing heredity, a man recalls the story of two orphan girls to a pair of cohorts at a ball. Angel (Carmen) is adopted by crooks who teach her to steal, while Evelyn (Valli) is the criminally inclined girl adopted by a wealthy family. When Angel steals a watch from a passenger on the train, the man refuses to press charges and enlists her help in his confidence scheme in Havana. Evelyn is engaged to marry the promising author Robert Ellington (Austin), but after a quarrel, the writer goes to Havana and meets and falls for Angel. Ellington is scheduled to leave on a ship but gives his ticket to Johnson (Albertson), the secret agent and con man. Angel watches tearfully as the boat pulls away before Ellington reveals he loves her, and the two are left in happiness. The film ends as the story teller turning and pointing out the couple dancing at the ball.The film is summarized in

The Challengers

Champions from various cultures return with the Tiste Edur fleet to challenge Rhulad Sengar, emperor of Letheras. Among them are Icarium with Taralack Veed, Karsa Orlong with Samar Dev, a Seguleh girl found unconscious near MoI, and a monk from Cabal. Icarium begins acting strangely, and Taralack Veed starts doubting that Icarium can beat Rhulad. Samar Dev believes Karsa will die, but Karsa is confident. Eventually all the challengers die except Karsa and Icarium. Karsa fights Rhulad and severs Rhulad's sword arm, then uses all his ghosts and the ones in Samar's knife to manipulate the sword's power and travel to the Crippled God's island. There he flips the Crippled God's tent, slays Rhulad with finality, slaps Withal and enters a portal aimed vaguely at his home after refusing to take the sword for himself (which was apparently the Crippled God's plan ever since Karsa left Laederon). Withal and the Nachts destroy the sword.

The Shake

Varat Taun warns Twilight of what Icarium can do, so she flees up the coast. We learn she is a princess of the Shake. At Maiden Island she confronts Brullyg who declared himself king and makes herself Queen. Deadsmell makes some comments about the Shake being descended from the original Tiste Andii guardians of the Shore (but also having Tiste Edur blood).

The Awl war

Redmask unites the Awl and initially defeats the Letherii army he encounters, but before long the Letherii begin to make progress against him. There is a large clash and Redmask's two K'chain Che'Malle guardians, deciding that Redmask is not suitable for the K'chain Che'Malle, execute him mid-battle. The Letherii win and the Awl are slaughtered. Toc the Younger sacrifices himself to save a dozen or so Awl children, witnessed by Tool. The Barghast, who had been watching the battle, slaughter the Letherii forces in response to Toc's death.

In the Refugium

The Refugium is dying. Menandore teams up with Sheltatha Lore and Sukul Ankhadu to try and take Scabandari's Finnest, but Quick Ben defeats them and Hedge slays Sheltatha and Menandore. Sukul gets away but is then killed by the three T'lan Imass who and had wanted to usurp Ulshun Pral but chose to sacrifice themselves to help their clan escape. Onrack the Broken and Trull Sengar defend the portal entrance. Silchas Ruin, Clip, Wither, Kettle, Udinaas, Seren and Fear come through. Silchas, Clip and Wither try kill the rest. In the resulting fight Fear is slain by Clip, Wither is destroyed by Seren, Clip is defeated by Trull and retreats, the rest are wounded except Silchas who takes the Finnest but commits no more injury for fear of Kilava Onass, except for stabbing Kettle and making a new Azath, Kettle being revealed to be a seed of the Azath. Scabandari's soul is imprisoned inside the new Azath. The survivors recover and Quick Ben, Hedge, Trull and Seren teleport to Letheras.

In Letheras

The marines arrive outside the capital only to be met by a large Letherri army. Beak dies to save them from a giant wave of magic. The Tiste Edur, realizing they were about to be sacrificed, decide to return to their ancestral home. The main Malazan army arrives by sea and clashes with the main Letherii army, allowing the marines to enter the city and head for the citadel. Fiddler's group make it to the coliseum, where Trull has found his dead brother and is promptly stabbed and killed by Sirryn Kanar.

Brys Beddict returns from the undead. Feather Witch tries to make him the mortal sword of her new Errant cult, but the Errant drowns her. Brys gives Pinosel and Urkel the name of the sea-god so they can restrain it. The Huntress kills Hannan Mosag. Brys kills Karos Invictad. The Rat Catchers' Guild pays people to shout Tehol's name. Tehol is pronounced Emperor by the will of the people and marries Janath.

Icarium tries to replicate K'rul's forging of the warrens by slitting his wrists and walking into one of his magic constructions. It is broken and explodes outwards in a big white wave which kills people directly and indirectly (i.e. by debris). The ones killed directly appear to have their spirits sucked out of them. Among the affected are Taralack Veed and Rautos Havanar. Triban Gnol and Senior Assessor also die, and Varat Taun surrenders.

After Crewman Dalby is insubordinate towards security chief Tuvok, the Vulcan discusses the situation with Captain Janeway. Janeway understands Tuvok's frustration but points out that the Maquis have never been trained in Starfleet procedures or philosophies. A class is organized to teach several Maquis crew members Starfleet protocol, taught by Tuvok, a former academy instructor. At first, his efforts are unsuccessful; the trainees walk out of their first lesson despite Tuvok's orders to stay. Later in the mess hall, Dalby makes it clear to Chakotay that he wants to do things the Maquis way. Chakotay punches Dalby, saying that if Dalby wants to do things the Maquis way then so will he, by using violence to enforce discipline. With his point made, the students return to Tuvok's training sessions.

When Tuvok shares with Neelix that he is frustrated with the Maquis's unwillingness to adapt to Starfleet protocol, Neelix indicates that perhaps it is Tuvok who is being inflexible in his strict adherence to procedure, and that perhaps if he were to "bend the rules" a little bit, the trainees would respect him more. Tuvok attempts to get to know Dalby socially, but makes little progress.

Meanwhile, it is discovered that the bioneural circuitry that runs many of the crucial systems on the ship has become infected with disease. Tuvok and the Doctor trace the infection to a batch of homemade cheese that Neelix has prepared. The Doctor discovers that the only way to kill the microbe is to heat the bioneural gel packs. The crew runs the warp core at 80% without going to warp, which produces enough heat to kill the virus; however, it also initiates a pulse surge, causing many power conduits to be blown out.

At that moment, another class is in progress in a cargo bay when a power conduit blows and the room begins to fill with noxious gas. One of the trainees is unconscious but Tuvok orders the rest to leave him behind and save themselves. The trainees are angered at his apparent disregard for their friend's life, and initially refuse, but Tuvok forces them out. He then contradicts his own order, going back to save the injured crewman, and in the process succumbs to the gas and passes out. The other trainees work together to rescue Tuvok and their friend. Afterwards, Dalby tells Tuvok that if he is willing to bend Starfleet protocol to save one of them, perhaps they can bend to accept the Starfleet rules after all.

The film was directed by Stephen Frears and stars Ian McKellen as Walter, a man with a learning difficulties. The story focuses initially on his youth in which his parents attempt, with little success, to have him adapt into the conditions of a "normal" life. Walter's father dies, followed soon after by his mother. The social services bureaucracy then place him in a psychiatric institution. Walter is molested by another patient, witnesses the murder of a patient by another patient having a breakdown and remains in the institution for the rest of the film.

Sitting in deck-chairs and touring churches is not the holiday 17-year-old Richard wants, but his parents insist on taking him. They are staying at the Tregarron guesthouse in the (fictional) seaside town of Easton in Suffolk. This traditional English boarding house is owned and run by the formidable Miss Wilbraham. Meals are served according to a very strict schedule and are very simple.

On arrival, Richard befriends Edwin, who is girl-crazy and takes Richard under his wing. In search of girls, Richard and Edwin attend a beach service organized by the local church youth group. After the type of evening one might expect at such a gathering, they enjoy a brief tryst with the twin daughters of the minister.

The following evening another visitor, Julia, agrees to a date with Edwin but only on condition that Anna, her Dutch foreign exchange student friend, can join them. Edwin persuades Richard to join them to make up a foursome. Escaping from his parents on the pretence that the quartet is heading to the youth group's ''Sausage Sizzle'', Richard and his friends visit a local jazz club instead.

Anna attempts to sneak away with some local bikers and Richard gives chase. As Anna rides away on the back of one biker's machine, Richard jumps on the other. The bikes race off into the sand dunes; where Richard and Anna fall off the pillions and into each other's arms. Richard is annoyed but Anna finds the whole affair amusing. Reaching for a handkerchief to clean a cut on his head, Richard also pulls out a condom that he has taken from Edwin's room.

Julia and Edwin, meanwhile, have been to fetch help. Julia's father, Richard's parents and the minister from the youth group set off to rescue Richard and Anna. A lady walking her dog along the beach stumbles across Richard and Anna as it becomes clear that Richard has experienced sexual initiation. The parents and the minister round the corner just in time to catch the teenagers ''in flagrante delicto''.

Both families make excuses to end their holidays early and head for home.

As the game begins, school is over for the player character (who is never named) and his friend Louis. Summer vacation has begun, and Louis hears about an upcoming tournament involving modelers and is excited about his chances. He is dismayed, however, when he remembers that the player's allowance cannot cover the cost of a model. He has been saving for quite some time and only has enough for one part. The duo then return to the player's house, whose mother has a surprise for him. He has won the grand prize in the model contest that he entered. The grand prize is one model of his choosing. Filled with confidence from his new model, the two decide to enter the tournament.

Since the tournament will not be starting for quite some time, the two decide to warm up on the other modelers around town. After several victories, the two hear rumors about a no good group called "The Hyena Gang" who use cheap and under-handed tricks to win and steal people's money. Several Hyena Gang members eventually meet up with the player and are bested at his remote control. The last gang member that is defeated warns the main character that their boss will not be bested so easily. Heading to the playground the leaders of The Hyena Gang are found. The first member that is fought at the playground is the Colonel, a high leveled member of the gang (perhaps General's right-hand man). The leader of the gang, General, then steps forward to challenge the player and punish him for harassing his boys. First, however, he has the Scientist turn on a suspicious machine. General the defeats the player who leaves and goes to the local shop. Surprisingly, the shop owner knows how to defeat The Hyena Gang. He reveals that they use radio waves to disrupt a persons communications with their robots, making it impossible to beat them. However, he knows of a way to block these radio waves, by painting the player's robot with a special paint. The player then returns to the playground and defeats General, thus forcing The Hyena Gang to retreat from the town.

After more bouts with the local modelers, the player and Louis are approached by a girl named Ann who challenges them. Louis loses quickly and runs away. Ann muses that men are just as fragile, if not more than women. After Ann leaves, another girl approaches the player and mentions that Ann has never lost to a boy in a robot fight.

Later the Spring Tournament is held, and the player enters. The player defeats both Scientist and General again, and faces Ann in the finals. He defeats her, making the player the first boy Ann lost to, much to her own amazement. After the tournament, the player is summoned to a Japanese castle. The owner has heard of the player's exploits, and wishes to challenge him. After fighting through two overzealous bodyguards, the player meets the owner of the castle. The owner apologizes for what his underlings tried to do to the player, then challenged the player to a fight. Upon his defeat, the owner is excited, since he has not been defeated in such a long time.

The player then returns to his home and discovers that Louis left him a message that says to meet him on the school rooftop. Upon arriving there, Louis reveals that he is moving and will not be able to compete in the upcoming tournament. He also reveals that he will not be able to see the player ever again, so he wants to challenge the player to a battle, model to model. Here Louis is shown to be the only character in the game to use Borot, the game's weakest robot. Upon his defeat Louis gives the player an item allowing the player to use special attacks. He then runs away crying because he will never be able to see the player again.

After all of the events thus far the player is ready for the National Tournament. The player arrives at the National Tournament and is greeted by three past competitors waiting to take him down before the finals. He is greeted first by General who is still sporting his Gong model. After the player quickly defeats General he says 'Hello' to Ann and her Speed model. They fight a slightly harder battle than General but the player defeats her in the end. The player is feeling pretty confident by now since there is only one opponent left to go. Next up is Won from the Japanese castle and his Lon model. They prove to be a tougher opponent for the player, but are bested nonetheless. Everything is going great and then there is one final opponent. A rather large man by the name of Don Quixote. Scientist and General are seen trying to rig the players model to fail. Don Quixote interferes and gives a speech to The Hyena Gang. After that, it is game on between the player and Don Quixote and his model, which is the same as the player's model. After the player beats him in a true contest of strength the game is over. The player is National Champion and their journey to the top is over.

In 1961, an unpopular boy named Harold leaves a Valentine's Day card at the home of the beauty Susan Jeremy. Susan and her friend David mock and crumple up the card, prompting an enraged Harold to break into the house and kill David by hanging him from a hatstand.

Nineteen years later, Susan is divorced, has a daughter, and a new boyfriend named Jack. On Valentine's Day, Susan has Jack take her to a hospital to pick up the results of a standard physical exam, which her new health insurance plan has requested. On the way into the building, she is observed from a window by a man in surgical garb. The man strokes a photograph of a young Susan, and sabotages the elevator Susan boards in order to delay her while he kills the doctor who has her paperwork, which the murderer tampers with. A janitor finds the doctor's body, and has his face dunked into a sink full of acid by the killer.

While looking for the doctor, Susan coerces a friendly intern named Harry into getting her results, which Harry notices are abnormal, prompting him to bring them and Susan to Doctor Saxon. The peculiarities of Susan's paperwork (which the murderer further sabotages after killing a pair of laboratory workers) cause Doctors Saxon and Beam to order that she be detained for observation. Harry uncovers evidence suggesting that someone is pulling a "con job" on Susan, but he disappears after promising Susan he will straighten things out. Jack, who had fallen asleep in his car while waiting for Susan, enters the hospital to look for her, and is lured to an empty hospital room by the killer, who beckons him. Behind a curtain, Jack finds the corpse of one of the nurses before the killer decapitates him with an electric orthopedic saw.

The killer places a large box next to Susan's bed, which she opens to find Jack's severed head. Susan flees in terror to get help, eventually being found by Saxon and a nurse, who return her to her room. When she attempts to show them the contents of the box, it contains only a cake. After Susan tells Saxon about Harry's findings, Saxon goes to look over the copies of her paperwork in the archives, where he is murdered with a hatchet, an act witnessed by Susan. Susan's claims of there being a killer on the loose are disbelieved, and she is strapped to a gurney after being deemed delirious. The staff prepare to perform emergency surgery on Susan, but are killed in rapid succession by the murderer, who takes Susan to a vacant operating room. Susan pulls off the killer's mask to reveal he is Harry, who is really Harold. When Susan asks what he wants, Harold responds, "What I've always wanted. Your heart".

Before Harold can cut her open, Susan stabs him, and escapes. Susan is pursued to the roof by the wounded Harold, who she sets on fire, and sends plummeting onto the street below. The next day, Susan is released, and reunites with her daughter and ex-husband outside of the hospital.

After leaving his lover Angel McGinnis behind in London, rich playboy Barney Lincoln breaks into a playing card manufacturer in Geneva to mark the cards, and then proceeds to break the bank at major European casinos.

Barney meets up with Angel again in Monte Carlo, where he wins a great deal of money, but her suspicions after he left England caused her to consult her father, a detective from Scotland Yard. He blackmails Barney into helping him catch a drug smuggler named Harry Dominion, who owns a casino and also has a weakness for high stakes poker.

''DeepStar Six'' is an experimental deep-sea US Naval facility, crewed by a mix of 11 military and civilians, now in the final week of their tour. The project is headed by John Van Gelder, to test underwater colonization methods, while overseeing the installation of a new nuclear missile storage platform. Already nearing his deadline, Van Gelder's plans are threatened when geologist Burciaga discovers a massive cavern system under the site. Van Gelder orders the use of depth charges to collapse the cavern, to the dismay of Dr. Scarpelli, who wants to study the potentially primordial ecosystem inside.

The ensuing detonation collapses part of the seabed, forming a massive fissure in the ocean floor. Submarine pilots Osborne and Hodges send an unmanned probe to explore, but lose contact and venture in after it. Upon finding the probe, they detect a large sonar contact moments before being attacked and killed by an unseen entity. The aggressor then attacks the observation pod, leaving Joyce Collins and a dying Burciaga trapped inside as it teeters on the edge of the ravine. Captain Laidlaw and submarine pilot McBride - who is also Collins' lover - attempt a rescue. They dock with the pod and rescue Collins, but the unstable hatch door closes on Laidlaw. Mortally wounded, he floods the compartment, forcing McBride and Collins to return to their ship and leave without him.

The remaining crew now prepare to abandon the base, but the missile platform must first be secured. Without Laidlaw, facility technician Snyder is forced to interpret the unfamiliar protocol. When prompted by the computer to explain the reason, Snyder reports "aggression" (due to the creature). The computer jumps to the conclusion that an enemy military force is attacking and advises the humans to detonate the missile warheads. Snyder complies and the resulting nuclear explosion creates a shockwave that damages DeepStar Six and the cooling system for the base's nuclear reactor. With failed life support, they begin repairs to restore power and pressure for the decompression procedure.

Engineer Jim Richardson ventures outside in a JIM suit to effect repairs, but the creature comes after him, leading Scarpelli to conclude it is attracted to light. The crew retrieves his suit and hauls him through the airlock, but the creature forces its way inside and bisects him. The team retreats as the creature consumes the panic-stricken Scarpelli. Arming themselves with shotguns and harpoons with explosive cartridges, they venture back in to finish repairs. They succeed, but the creature attacks and Van Gelder dies when he accidentally backs into Snyder's harpoon. They escape to the med lab. Already badly stressed, Snyder quickly begins to unravel with guilt and fear. After a hallucination of Van Gelder, Snyder jumps into the escape pod and launches. However, since he has not undergone decompression, the pressure change from the ascent causes him to burst.

McBride swims through the flooded base to the minisub, to use it as their means of escape. While he is gone, the creature bursts into the med lab and Diane Norris attacks it with an overcharged defibrillator. Norris electrocutes herself and the creature as it attacks her, allowing Collins and McBride to escape, fleeing before the reactor goes critical. The sub breaches the surface, where they deploy a raft, only for the creature to emerge. McBride discharges the minisub's fuel, then fires a flare, killing the creature as the sub explodes. McBride soon resurfaces and joins Collins, as they wait for a Navy rescue team to arrive.

Max Cash is a down-on-his luck fisherman and charter boat captain living in the Bahamas when his life takes a turn when he meets Sarah Livingstone, a tourist who is seeking to find the treasure of accursed shipwreck, 'The El Diablo' which has been rumored to have sunk on an offshore reef near one of the many islands. Max and Sarah then team up to locate the wreck while dodging a local crime boss as well as a mysterious businessman who claims that the wreck is guarded by supernatural forces in form of a sea monster that no one claims to have ever seen and survived.

Set on board an undersea laboratory in a near-future ocean where the Earth's ozone layer has been depleted and new means of habitation and survival are being explored, biologist Claire is working on an unknown specimen when she experiences psychic visions. Meanwhile, a routine crew replacement is inbound in a minisubmarine when an undersea quake occurs. Contact is lost with the sub and a search sub is sent out to investigate the silence, while one of the lab's crew works on exterior repairs in a diving suit. The search sub discovers the relief sub is now derelict and the hatch blown with no sign of the crew and is promptly attacked by large, stingray-like creatures. After repelling one creature with an electrical discharge, the second sub is overpowered by more of the rays and contact is lost again.

The crewman working outside the lab is then attacked and the crew find him half out of the lab's moon pool. When his mask is removed, he is revealed to have been totally transformed into a gelatinous mass. Commander Dobler orders the mass quarantined, but Claire and Barbara the medical officer over-ride him and the mass is moved to the lab, where it is discovered to be both identical in composition to the substance Claire was studying, and also to be mutating into a man-sized stingray-like creature.

The creature escapes its tank and proceeds to move about the station while crew attempts to find it. Claire experiences more visions and is called, too. A crew member is discovered dead after finding himself unable to get out of a room, and the commander denies autopsy. Quakes continue periodically, and a sub sent out to salvage one of the lost subs is also taken by the creatures outside.

Claire and her lover O'Neil must work to uncover the mystery of her visions and the contradictions of the creatures behavior when crew members are vanishing or being killed.

NYPD detective Buddy Manucci has been getting flak from the higher-ups in the New York City police force because his team of renegade policemen, known as the "seven-ups" (so called because most criminals they arrest receive sentences from seven years and up) has been using unorthodox methods to capture criminals; this is illustrated as the team ransacks an antiques store that is a front for the running of counterfeit money.

There has also been a rash of kidnappings of mafia figures and white-collar criminals, such as when Max Kalish is kidnapped and a ransom is paid at a car wash.

Manucci and the squad learn of the kidnappings when crooked bail bondsman Festa is grabbed in public by two men claiming to be from the district attorney's office. Buddy gets information from his regular snitch, informant Vito Lucia, who turns out to be untrustworthy. When they stake out a funeral meeting of Kalish and his people, disaster follows, and it leads to the death of one of the seven-up officers. A violent car chase ensues as Buddy chases after the killers, Moon and Bo, and other officers attempt to block the two at the George Washington Bridge but Moon and Bo crash through the police barricade then escape when Buddy's car violently collides into a truck, shearing off the roof. Miraculously, he survives the almost fatal accident.

Manucci figures out the puzzle after the squad and he break into the house of Kalish and his wife and confront them at gunpoint. The squad and he then must stake out the house of a garage worker who knows too much, to smoke out the killers.

In 1955, a toy salesman and his wife turn a business trip into a brief vacation by planning to visit Disneyland, which has just opened. They stay at the Sunset Motel in Anaheim, California, where affairs and sexual crimes among the motel guests and staff quickly develop and cause trouble.

Based partially on the life of Genghis Khan, the plot involves an unidentified character (the player) who has appeared in the Stevenson Museum where ancient Mongolian artifacts are being displayed. The protagonist must find out who they and the other people in the museum are and solve the mysteries of unusual events occurring at the museum. Along the way, the player is aided by a ghost girl, Mei, who is freed after the first mission.

Cynthia (Hobel), Marc (Lucas) and Robert (Williams) are young friends in New York City and recent New York University graduates. Marc is a struggling actor, Robert is an actor/songwriter and Cynthia is desperately trying to attract the attention of Tina Brown to break into magazine publishing. Cynthia and Marc find an apartment together in Greenwich Village. Robert is secretly in love with Marc, who's oblivious.

Marc falls into a relationship with David (Panaro), an aspiring musician who lives with his boyfriend across the alley from Marc's apartment. David's boyfriend throws him out and David moves in with Marc.

Robert, trying to get over Marc, becomes interested in a man who works in a local card and gift shop (Marc and Robert refer to him as "Zola"). Taking Marc's advice to "make the grand gesture," he sends Cynthia in with a gift from him as a secret admirer. "Zola" turns down the gesture, and Robert is humiliated.

Marc and Robert discover that David supports himself as a hustler and Marc breaks up with him and throws him out. Robert makes "the grand gesture" for Marc by singing a song he's written for him. Before Marc can respond, Cynthia, whose attempts to get through to Tina Brown have become increasingly bizarre, has a nervous breakdown. She returns to her parents' home on Long Island.

In the end, Marc and Robert visit Cynthia on Long Island. Free from the drama of his relationship with David, Marc realizes that he has feelings for Robert. Cynthia gets a call from Tina Brown's assistant, setting up a meeting for the following day.

The L & R Railroad is in competition with an airline for lucrative transport contracts. When the "Hurricane Express" is sabotaged and involved in a train wreck, one of his victims is Larry Baker's father, Jim. A mysterious figure known as "the Wrecker" is responsible for the train crashes. Air Transport Company pilot Baker wants to find the Wrecker, but with a host of suspects, it will be difficult, since the murderer can disguise himself to look like almost anyone.

One of the main suspects in the train crashes is Walter Gray, the airline manager and Larry's boss, who stands to gain if the L & R Railroad loose contracts. Suspicion is also cast on Tom Jordan, a recently discharged and disgruntled railroad engineer. Another suspect is Frank Stratton, an escaped convict who had wrongfully been convicted. Complicating matters is that Gloria Stratton is Frank Stratton's daughter, and Larry is in love with her.

Gloria tries to help Larry find the villains behind the train crashes, and when the "Hurricane Express" is again ready to go back into service, the pair are in air, flying as an escort to the speeding train. With a full load of gold, the train is a tempting target for the Wrecker.

The continuing attacks on the L & R Railroad put Gloria and Larry in danger, but they are determined to bring the Wrecker and his gang to justice. Finally, the young pilot is able to capture the murderers and can to look forward to a happy future with Gloria.

Clara and Don Justo struggle with their children as they have modern ideas against the conservative ideas of their parents. Don Justo works in the government as the Minister to Victoriano Huerta, president of Mexico at the time. Carlos is influenced by his more left-wing friends and disagrees with his parents' ideology. Laura's parents want her to marry Milito Carral, but she loves Octavio Galvez, a well-educated lawyer and revolutionary. Luisito, the youngest son, tries to run away from home because he is "afraid of Don Justo." Clara and Don Justo send him off to boarding school because of his reckless habits.

Don Justo, the Minister to Victoriano Huerta, starts to throw the revolutionaries into jail after they have a manifestation in the Casa de Obrero Mundial. Many of these revolutionaries are friends of Carlos's, such as Jorge, Diana, and Horacio. Don Justo demands that his accomplice Paez torture the prisoners to discover the leaders of the manifestation. In the end, Don Justo orders their execution. Carlos is angry with his father because he agrees with the people that his father killed. Diana was Carlos' girlfriend and Carlos at one time says that he "wanted to marry her."

When Venustiano Carranza overthrows Huerta, Don Justo is forced into hiding. Octavio becomes "Subsecretario de Justicia" or "Secretary of Justice" in the government. After Don Justo leaves, Laura and Octavio get married and Laura soon becomes pregnant. Clara is upset because her husband is gone, but she continues to keep the children together. Luisito, who has come back from boarding school, is still scared that he is going to get sent back.

After 3 months, Don Justo returns to his family and house. Before any of the family members have seen him, Don Justo goes around the house and sees the changes that have occurred. He sees a picture of Carranza along with a picture of Octavio and Laura's wedding. It makes Don Justo upset for not being there. While Don Justo looks at these pictures, Octavio and Carlos are visited by Captain Aguirre, a member of Carranza's army and friend of Carlos. Captain Aguirre has come to the house with a search warrant. The government believes that Don Justo is hiding in the house, and that he is storing weapons for the counterrevolution. The Captain is friends with Carlos and Octavio and will not search the house.

Later that night, Don Justo spawns near Carlos and the rest of the family. They debate what to do with Don Justo, and consider that Octavio could write him a pass to safety (salvoconducto) to leave Mexico. Octavio says that it is his "obligation as a man" to save Don Justo but his "responsibility as a revolutionary" to turn him in. Carlos is angry and threatens to turn in Don Justo on the spot, and runs out of the room. Clara begs Octavio to write him the pass, but Octavio is reluctant because he could be killed if the government were to find out. Laura wants Octavio to do it because she thinks that if Octavio doesn't love her father that he can't love their child. Eventually, Octavio agrees to write the pass. Carlos is still gone and Clara thinks Carlos turned in Don Justo, but when Carlos returns the police are not with him. Carlos and Don Justo talk and Carlos tells him how upset he has been with him after Diana was killed. He fills Don Justo in on what he missed while he was gone and informs him of Laura's pregnancy. Carlos eventually changes his mind and asks Don Justo to accept the pass. Octavio's only condition is that Don Justo leaves Mexico and never comes back. Don Justo refuses this proposition and says he "cannot betray those who trust in him" and that it is "too late to change his life."

The story ends with Don Justo anonymously calling Captain Aguirre and telling him "It would be useless to tell you my name. The lawyer Don Justo del Prado, enemy of the public, will be detained for 10 minutes in the entrance of his old house. Be careful with him. He is armed." Don Justo speaks with each member of his family, telling them he loves them and complimenting them on their strengths. He gives Clara a letter to present to Octavio saying that he "died so the new Mexico, strong and free, could be born", speaking of both Laura's child and Mexico itself. As he walks out of the building, shots ring out and he dies.

Following Don Justo's death, Octavio discovers the letter and reads it to the family, and the curtain closes.

Nancy and her friends Bess and George stumble across a Persian cat on the road. They return the cat to Annie Carter, an elderly woman who keeps twenty-five cats in her house. The girls befriend the kindly Miss Carter, but while at her house, they are disrupted by neighbors who are annoyed with the cats. It is here that Nancy uncovers her next mystery. Fred Bunce, one of the neighbors, had taken care of a boy named Gus Woonton, who was reportedly mentally and physically challenged. Miss Carter took a liking to the boy while he was with Fred Bunce and his wife, so she paid for him to live at the Riverside Institution, in hopes of Gus receiving proper care for his ailments. Miss Carter receives a telegram that Gus Woonton has died, and Fred Bunce seems quite eager to pay for funeral expenses, which makes Nancy suspicious.

Once the neighbors leave, Nancy meets a man in front of Miss Carter's home asking for a Lady Violette. Nancy informs him that there is no such person at this address, only to be informed that Miss Carter, a former actress, played a character named Lady Violette in one of her past plays. Nancy quickly tracks down the man, Horace St. Will, and he and Miss Carter are happily reunited. Mr. St. Will tells Nancy that he used to know a Ralph Woonton, which was the name of Gus's father. Mr. St. Will gives Nancy and her father some old letters from Ralph Woonton, however he tells them that Ralph Woonton and his wife never had a son. Nancy believes that Gus Woonton received an inheritance in trust from his parents, which was stolen by Fred Bunce. Her suspicions grow stronger when she trails Bunce into a stock market firm, where she sees the considerable amount of money he has lost in faulty stocks. But soon after the episode, the Bunces mysteriously leave their apartment. Nancy, Bess and George investigate the vacated apartment, where they find two of Miss Carter's Persian kittens, and returns them to her.

Miss Carter has very little money, as she sends regular checks to a young actress named Beverly Barrett in New York City. Miss Carter injured her leg when she first met Nancy, so the girl detective engages Mrs. Bealing, a cousin of Hannah Gruen's, to take care of her and her cats. The action soon takes Nancy to New York and a cruise ship, where she meets further peril in her attempt to restore the child's funds, and help restore Miss Carter's financial position. Nancy's tapping becomes the means by which she is rescued after being kidnapped, and leads to finding the missing child.

Around the turn of the century, Carrie Meeber (Jennifer Jones) leaves her family in a small rural town and heads to Chicago. On the train to Chicago, Charles Drouet (Eddie Albert) approaches her. Although Carrie is reluctant to speak to him, the salesman persists and the two chat until they reach Chicago. Carrie gets off in South Chicago, the slums as Charles Drouet points out, after taking Drouet's business card.

In South Chicago, Carrie stays with her sister and her husband Sven who have one child. Carrie loses her sweatshop sewing job after injuring her hand. After an exhausting and fruitless day of job hunting, Carrie looks up Charles Drouet. He not only talks her into having dinner with him at Fitzgerald's, an upscale restaurant, but also gives her $10.

Carrie heads to Fitzgerald's to return the money to Drouet. While there she meets George Hurstwood (Laurence Olivier), the manager of the restaurant, who is immediately smitten with her.

Carrie ends up moving in with Drouet. He is a big talker but basically harmless. She pressures Drouet to marry her because the neighbors are talking about them. He tries to distract her and invites Hurstwood, whom he had run into by sheer coincidence, into their home. With Drouet's permission, Hurstwood takes Carrie to the theater while Drouet is on one of his many business trips. Hurstwood and Carrie end up spending every free minute together, and the two fall in love. Just before she is about to run off with Hurstwood, she finds out that he is married. She is distraught and confronts Hurstwood, who admits that he is married although terribly unhappy.

At the restaurant, Hurstwood cashes up for the night and, by accidentally locking a timed safe, finds himself stuck with $10,000 of his boss's money. He goes home with the money and is initially pleased to find his boss there. He tries to give the money to his boss, but when he learns that his boss intends to give his salary directly to Hurstwood's wife because of his relationship with Carrie, he decides to take the money to run away with Carrie. He leaves an I-O-U intent on paying his boss back as soon as he made it on his own feet.

He coaxes Carrie, who initially refuses to see him, out of the house by telling her that Drouet had injured himself and that he would take her to see him. On the train to Drouet, Hurstwood tells her that he loves her and that he wants to be with her, asking her to leave Drouet. Carrie is torn, but does love Hurstwood, so she decides to stay with him.

The first few days are blissful, but then reality catches up with them. Hurstwood's boss sends an officer from the bond company after Hurstwood to collect the money Hurstwood took. Hurstwood, who has already been looking for work, finds out quickly that word of his stealing the money has gotten around. Unable to find a job, Hurstwood and Carrie soon find themselves living in poverty.

When Carrie finds out that she is pregnant, the two think that things might take a turn for the better. But Hurstwood's wife shows up, wanting his signature and his agreement to sell the house they own jointly. Hurstwood wants his share of the proceeds but she says she will press charges against him for bigamy if he insists. Carrie is devastated. Hurstwood's wife refused to consent to a divorce and Hurstwood didn't know how to tell Carrie.

Hurstwood tells his wife he will sign and will not ask for money if she'll grant him a divorce. She does, but it is too late. Carrie loses the baby and decides to try her luck at acting. Hurstwood reads in the newspaper that his son is due in New York after his honeymoon and decides to see him at the docks. While he is there, Carrie leaves him (even though she still loves him) because she thinks he will use this opportunity to re-enter his family's life.

While Hurstwood drifts further and further into poverty and ends up living on the streets, Carrie's star in the theatre rises until she is a well-regarded actress on the cusp of fame.

Hurstwood, entirely starved, visits her at the theatre stage door, and she wants to take him back. She had found out from Drouet that Hurstwood had taken the money to start a life with her and blames herself for his predicament. She wants to make it up to Hurstwood but he won't take more than a quarter and disappears after toying with the gas burner in her dressing room.

Sonosuke Asai (Benkai Shiganoya) is the owner of the Asai Drug Company. He is unhappily married to Sumiko (Yoko Umemura), and they are mutually unkind to one other. Mr Asai tries to get one of his employees, telephone operator Ayako Murai (Isuzu Yamada), to meet him for dinner. She discusses this after work with a male colleague (and apparently boyfriend), Mr Nishimura, revealing that her father is in serious difficulties: unemployed and threatened with arrest after embezzling 300 yen.

After an argument at home she decides to take up Mr Asai's offer and become his mistress. She quits her job and lives alone in a modern apartment block, bored and waiting for Mr Asai. When they attend a Bunraku puppet show, Dr Yoko calls them out. His wife greets them, furious that they are having an affair. However, Mr Fujino, a business acquaintance of Asai intervenes, lying that Ayako was his date, not Asai's.

Ayako accidentally meets Mr Nishimura and explains her geisha-like attire as being due to now working in a beauty salon. She is told that her father is now working at her old company for Mr Asai. Mr Nishimura asks to marry her and she runs off in embarrassment. Due to a misunderstanding, the doctor goes to Mr Asai's house when he is told Asai is ill and the wife guesses that he is with Ayako and tracks him down in his sick-bed with Ayako tending him. Mrs Asai demands that the affair ends and it does, but Ayako has paid her father's debt and keeps her apartment.

Ayako learns that her brother needs 200 yen for his tuition fees and sends the money, acquiring it from her new admirer, Mr Fujino. She leaves Fujino once she has the necessary 200 yen and contacts her old love, Nishimura, confessing everything to him and hoping they can still marry. Mr Fujino comes to her door, demanding she returns the 200 yen, but Ayako responds with disrespect and he leaves, saying there will be trouble.

The police then interview Ayako and Nishimura. Ayako hears Nishimura say that he never wanted to marry her and was dragged into the affair, and he is released. As it is her first offence, she is also released without charge, but into the care of her father. At their home, Hiroshi is there and Ayako joins them and tries to make conversation. Her sister says she can no longer go to school due to the story being in all the papers. Her brother calls her a delinquent and says she should leave. Ayako leaves into the night and stops at a bridge. The doctor passes and she asks if there is a cure for delinquency. He answers in the negative and walks off, leaving her alone and homeless in the dark night.

Michiyo has moved from Tokyo to settle down in Osaka with her salaryman husband, whom she married against her parents' wishes. A few years later into the marriage, her husband treats her carelessly, and she is slowly worn down by domestic drudgery. The situation worsens when her pretty niece, fleeing from her parents' plans for an arranged marriage, comes to stay and the husband responds to her flirtatious behaviour. Dissatisfied with his efforts to improve their household life, she leaves with her niece for Tokyo to stay with her family for a time, but finally returns, resigning to marital conventions.

On Halloween 1962, nine-year-old Frankie Scarlatti is tricked and locked inside his classroom coatroom by schoolmates Donald and Louie at the end of the day. Trapped well after dark, he witnesses the apparition of a young girl being murdered in the coatroom, though her assailant is invisible. Moments later, a man enters the coatroom and attempts to open a vent grate on the floor, but notices Frankie. He strangles him to unconsciousness. In a near-death vision, Frankie again sees the girl, who asks for his help to find her mother. Frankie is revived by his father, Angelo, and rushed to the hospital. Frankie was unable to see his attacker's face. The school janitor, Harold "Willy" Williams, found drunk in his office, is arrested as he was on school grounds at the time of the assault.

As Frankie recovers at home, his brother, Geno, shows him a newspaper article about the attack. He learns it is linked to eleven killings, all apparently by a serial killer targeting children. The ghostly girl is Melissa Ann Montgomery, and she continues to appear to Frankie. They form a tenuous friendship. Striving to help Melissa, Frankie returns to the coatroom and removes the cover of the net to discover several dust-laden objects, including toys, a hair clip, and a high school class ring. Later, he overhears the chief of police telling Angelo that the case against the janitor is crumbling and that the coatroom is also the scene of Melissa's murder. After considering this new information, Frankie confides in Phil, a family friend, that the class ring likely belongs to the killer and that he thinks the killer returned to the coatroom to retrieve it as the school's heating system was being replaced. Unbeknownst to Frankie, the ring, which had accidentally fallen out of his pocket earlier, was found by Geno and hidden away again.

Later, Donald and Louie lure Frankie out to the nearby cliffs, where they encounter a ghostly lady dressed in white. All three boys take off running and Frankie collides into Geno in the surrounding woods. Frankie tries to explain the link between Melissa, the attacker and the lady in white, but is unsuccessful. One evening, Melissa appears to both Geno and Frankie. The town clock begins to chime and Frankie realizes that her nightly death re-enactment is about to commence. They follow her ghost to the school then wait until her lifeless body reappears, which is carried by an invisible figure from the school and onto the cliffs. At the last minute, Melissa awakes and begins screaming as she is thrown over the cliffs. A pale, blond woman dressed in white then comes out of the cottage. Upon seeing Melissa's lifeless body on the rocks below, she flings herself off the cliff and also plunges to her death. The ghostly scene ends and the brothers head home. Finally, Frankie understands the source of Melissa's anguish. He vows to help her bring her killer to justice.

A grand jury fails to indict Willy due to insufficient evidence. Outside the courthouse, the distraught mother of one of the murdered children shoots and kills him. Researching the class ring, Geno examines one of Angelo's old yearbooks and realizes that he and the killer wore the same type of class rings. The yearbook reveals that the initials on the ring, "MPT", belong to Michael P. Terragrossa. Geno quickly deduces that the "P" stands for Phillip—as in their family friend Phil—and he rushes to tell his father. Frankie happens to be with Phil at that same time, and realizes Phil is the killer after he begins whistling "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?", Melissa's song. Phil realizes that Frankie has deduced his secret and attacks him, but Frankie escapes and runs to the cliffs. Phil catches him and confesses to the murders just before he starts to strangle Frankie again. Suddenly, Phil is struck from behind and they both collapse to the ground.

Regaining consciousness, Frankie finds himself in Melissa's old cottage with Amanda Harper, and learns that she was the one who saved him from Phil, and that she was the lady in white Frankie saw earlier when he was with Donald and Louie. Amanda reveals that she is Melissa's aunt and has been living in the cottage since the deaths of her sister and niece. Without warning, Phil attacks and kills Amanda, setting the building ablaze in the process. Pulling Frankie from the burning cottage, Phil attempts to throw him over the cliff. However, Frankie drops safely to the ground when the ghostly lady in white suddenly appears and frightens Phil, causing him to tumble over the cliff's edge. Melissa emerges from the burning cottage and the two ghosts happily reunite, ascending into the sky in a cascade of light. As Frankie crawls away from the ledge, Phil grabs his ankle. Angelo, Geno, and the police arrive and save Frankie. Angelo also tries to save Phil, but overcome with shame, Phil lets go and falls to his death. Everyone watches the cottage burn to the ground as the snow begins to fall.

A stork (the same stork from ''Dumbo'') delivers a flock of newborn lambs to their expectant mothers but finds that he had mistakenly brought along a lion named Lambert (apparently misinterpreting its name), which was supposed to go to South Africa; one of the mother sheep, who was heartbroken at not receiving a lamb, forcefully demands the stork leave Lambert with her.

Lambert lives his life thinking he is a sheep, but is ostracized by his peers for being and acting different; he is also defenseless against the other lambs' head-butts. One night, a hungry wolf (the same wolf from the "Peter and the Wolf" segment from ''Make Mine Music''), attacks the flock. At first timid like the other sheep, Lambert's lion instincts kick in when the wolf corners Lambert's mother; with an aggressive roar, Lambert butts the wolf off a ledge.

Thereafter, the now-adult Lambert is wholeheartedly accepted by the other sheep as one of the flock and the narrator tells us to not worry about that wolf, which hangs precariously from a bush—the berries on the bush will sustain him.

As the game begins, the player is stationed on the United Nations moon base, Lunicus, to defend against the threat of the alien attack, led by the Hive Queen.

The aliens are present as an archeological dig in 2023 unearths several alien artifacts, one of which is mistakenly activated and alerts the alien force.

While driving home from a bar one night, straight-talking singer Ruby Diamond (Dolly Parton) crashes her car and dies. In heaven, she meets Saint Peter (Roddy McDowall) who reveals she can return to Earth, but only to reunite an estranged suburban family who have been torn apart since the mother died. If she succeeds by midnight on Christmas Eve, she will be granted her wings as an angel.

Ruby arrives at the Bartilson house, masquerading as a housekeeper and a nanny for rebellious teenager Sarah (Allison Mack) and her younger brother Matthew (Eli Marienthal), both of whom have trouble bonding with their distracted father Ben (Brian Kerwin) and spend most of their time alone in their bedrooms. The three are initially cold towards Ruby, but as time goes by, she slowly manages to bring the family back together.

Ruby develops feelings for Ben, much to Saint Peter's dismay who tells her a romantic relationship is against the rules of the deal. As Christmas Eve comes around, Matthew runs away from home, and Saint Peter appears to remind Ruby she must reunite them all by midnight. Ruby replies, "I don't care; I'm fixing this family whether I get into Heaven or not." Upon the successful completion of her mission, Saint Peter urges her to leave. As she has become very close with the family, she protests, but Saint Peter reminds her they will no longer remember.

As Ruby is finally awarded her wings, we see the Bartilson family celebrating their first Christmas together in years.

''Amelia'' is a domestic novel taking place largely in London during 1733. It describes the hardships suffered by a young couple newly married. Against her mother's wishes, Amelia marries Captain William Booth, a dashing young army officer. The couple run away to London. In Book II, William is unjustly imprisoned in Newgate, and is subsequently seduced by Miss Matthews. During this time, it is revealed that Amelia was in a carriage accident and that her nose was ruined. Although this brings about jokes at Amelia's expense, Booth refuses to regard her as anything but beautiful.

Amelia, by contrast, resists the attentions paid to her by several men in William's absence and stays faithful to him. She forgives his transgression, but William soon draws them into trouble again as he accrues gambling debts trying to lift the couple out of poverty. He soon finds himself in debtors' prison. Amelia then discovers that she is her mother's heiress and, the debt being settled, William is released and the couple retires to the country.

The second edition contains many changes to the text. A whole chapter on a dispute between doctors was completely removed, along with various sections of dialogue and praise of the Glastonbury Waters. The edition also contains many new passages, such as an addition of a scene in which a doctor repairs Amelia's nose and Booth remarking on the surgery (in Book II, Chapter 1, where Booth is talking to Miss Matthews).

Max and Antonio are stepbrothers. Max loathes his stepbrother Antonio because his father, the husband of Max's mother Victoria, left all his fortune and the business to his son Antonio. Max hatches a plan to take all of Antonio's money by marrying Raquel, a girl of humble origins that lives in the city of Guadalajara with her sister & father. Max marries Raquel under the name of Antonio and on their wedding night he is called away. Max leaves Raquel informing her that he has to go away on business. Max returns home to see his brother Antonio off on a business trip. The plane that Antonio boards was sabotaged by Max and when the plane goes down it is presumed that Antonio perished. Max plants the marriage license in Antonio's room, and their mother contacts Raquel informing her of Antonio's death and that she should come right away to the funeral.

When Raquel arrives at the mansion she is in disbelief that Antonio lived there since she thought she had married a middle-class man. During her stay Max presents himself to her she is stunned but he explains to her that he had to create this whole story to regain what was rightfully his and paints Antonio as a despicable man. At first Raquel figures out that Max had his brother killed but Max convinces her otherwise that he did not do it, it was just luck. Max tries to have her go along with the story. But Raquel being of good will and not wanting to be a delinquent rebukes his plan. Max tells her they only have to live out the lie until things calm down then he will marry her to then in turn have access to the fortune. Raquel declines to go along with the ruse at first, but is then blackmailed since Max knows that Raquel's father is into some shady business and if she does not go along with his plan he will send her dad and sister to jail and blame the death of Antonio on her.

As days go by she comes to realize what an evil person Max is and no longer loves him. Antonio then resurfaces alive. When he is told that he will go home to his wife Antonio is a bit perplexed as he is pretty sure he would remember a wife however, doctors have convinced him that he has amnesia. Antonio remains still unsettled. When Raquel and the real Antonio first see each other they are a bit surprised but yet enthralled. Eventually with time they began to fall for each other, to Max's dismay since he actually loves Raquel.

Antonio's former lover Maura teams up with his sister setting a plot against Raquel by bringing a fictive secret lover to the later whose repetitive calls start to unsettle Antonio. Antonio and Raquel's love holds on despite the challenges. A second assassination attempt is mounted by Max and his aid Luis yet again fails at killing Antonio. the latter recovers at Maura's place before leaving to seek personal revenge against his stepbrother. The 2 ultimately confront with guns in the final episode and Antonio kills Max in self defense. Raquel who is few months pregnant is shattered and decides to leave. After her daughter's birth she gets a visit by Victoria Maximiliano's mother who asks her to give Antonio another chance. Antonio, Raquel and their daughter ultimately reunite.

Tagline: "Which one is your depravation?"

Eight stories ranging from the story of a woman who awakes at an unknown person's apartment to the rejoining of two underground lovers. From the warm flirtings of two women to a girl captive in an elevator. Other stories are tied among these: a female teacher who is flirted by one of her students; a teenager's deception that joins again with her best friend from secondary school: the adventure of two porn actors who find love, and the amusing plans of a single man who just wishes to be kind with his old mother...

From the producer and director of Todo el poder, and Cero y van cuatro, Fernando Sariñana.

Pyotr Andreyich Grinyov (the narrative is conducted on his behalf) is the only surviving child of a retired army officer. When Pyotr turns 17, his father sends him into military service in Orenburg. En route Pyotr gets lost in a blizzard, but is rescued by a mysterious man. As a token of his gratitude, Pyotr gives the guide his hareskin coat.

Arriving in Orenburg, Pyotr reports to his commanding officer and is assigned to serve at Fort Belogorsky under captain Ivan Mironov. The fort is little more than a fence around a village, and the captain's wife Vasilisa is really in charge. Pyotr befriends his fellow officer Shvabrin, who has been banished here after a duel resulted in the death of his opponent. When Pyotr dines with the Mironov family, he meets their daughter Masha and falls in love with her. This causes a rift between Pyotr and Shvabrin, who has been turned down by Masha. When Shvabrin insults Masha's honor, Pyotr and Shvabrin duel and Pyotr is injured. Pyotr asks his father's consent to marry Masha, but is refused.

Not much later, the fortress is besieged by the insurgent Yemelyan Pugachev, who claims to be the emperor Peter III. The cossacks stationed at the fortress defect to the forces of Pugachev, and he takes the fortress easily. He demands that Captain Mironov swear an oath of allegiance to him, and when refused, hangs the Captain and kills his wife. When it is Pyotr's turn, Shvabrin suddenly appears to have defected as well, and upon his advice Pugachev orders Pyotr to be hanged. However, his life is suddenly spared as Pugachev turns out to be the guide who rescued Pyotr from the blizzard, and he recognizes Pyotr whom he remembers with affection.

The next evening, Pyotr and Pugachev talk in private. Pyotr impresses Pugachev with the sincerity of his insistence that he cannot serve him. Pugachev decides to let Pyotr go to Orenburg. He is to relay a message to the Governor that Pugachev will be marching on his city. The fort is to be left under the command of Shvabrin, who takes advantage of the situation to try to compel Masha to marry him. Pyotr rushes off to prevent this marriage, but is captured by Pugachev's troops. After explaining the situation to Pugachev, they both ride off to the fortress.

After Masha has been freed, she and Pyotr take off to his father's estate, but they are intercepted by the army. Pyotr decides to stay with the army and sends Masha to his father. The war with Pugachev goes on and Pyotr rejoins the army. But at the moment of Pugachev's defeat, Pyotr is arrested for having friendly relations with Pugachev. During his interrogation, Shvabrin testifies that Pyotr is a traitor. Not willing to drag Masha into court, Pyotr is unable to repudiate this accusation and receives the death penalty. Although Empress Catherine the Great spares his life, Pyotr remains a prisoner.

Masha understands why Pyotr wasn't able to defend himself and decides to go to St. Petersburg, to present a petition to the empress. In Tsarskoye Selo, she meets a lady of the court and details her plan to see the Empress on Pyotr's behalf. The lady refuses at first, saying that Pyotr is a traitor, but Masha is able to explain all the circumstances. Soon, Masha receives an invitation to see the Empress, and is shocked to recognize her as the lady she had talked to earlier. The Empress has become convinced of Pyotr's innocence and has ordered his release. Pyotr witnesses the beheading of Pugachev. He and Masha are married.

The series is based around the efforts of humanity to quarantine and eradicate the diclonius, a species of mutant humans with horns. It focuses on "Lucy", who escapes her holding facility and is believed to be the first diclonius, and on two teenagers, Kohta and Yuka, whom Lucy encounters in the Japanese city of Kamakura.

The episode begins in November 1648. King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland (Stephen Fry) has already lost the Civil War. Only two men remain loyal to him: Sir Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson), the sole descendant of the Blackadder dynasty at the time, and his servant Baldrick Esq. (Tony Robinson). They have given refuge to the King in Blackadder Hall, where he is hiding in a thorn bush, having assured him that he is as likely to be caught "as a fox being chased by a pack of one-legged hunting tortoises". Sir Edmund remains loyal because, as a known royalist, he sees the King's survival as his only hope of survival. He also fears the spread of Puritanism, full of moral prohibitions (as he describes it, the Puritans will "close all the theatres, lace handkerchiefs for men will be illegal, and I won't have a friendly face to sit on this side of Boulogne!"). During Sir Edmund's short absence, Oliver Cromwell (Warren Clarke) himself suddenly arrives at Blackadder Hall, accompanied by a number of his Roundheads – supporters of the Parliament of England. Baldrick attempts to deny knowing the King's whereabouts, but blows the gaff when he asks Cromwell later to put down a purple cup, because "that's the King's".

The second scene takes place in the Tower of London, two weeks later. King Charles's prayers are interrupted by two subsequent visits. The first is from Cromwell, who warns him of his doom; and the second is by Sir Edmund, disguised as a priest, who informs the King (Stephen Fry) that he is planning to aid him in his escape. While Sir Edmund is still there, the King receives a notice that he has been sentenced to death. (This occurs in late November or early December 1648 within the context of this episode, though historically the death sentence came on 27 January 1649.)

As 29 January 1649 arrives and his execution approaches, King Charles is again visited by Sir Edmund. Though his plans for an escape have not materialised, he informs the King that there is still some hope. The Parliament has yet to find a man willing to be the King's executioner. Charles, rather philosophically, proclaims that he is not looking forward to his execution but "It's a question of balance, isn't it? Like so many other things." (Charles is very much a pastiche of his modern day namesake the Prince of Wales). Sir Edmund proceeds to assure Charles that no one would dare to become the King's executioner. Just as he says that, the King receives a notice that they have found his executioner.

Back at Blackadder Hall, Baldrick is singing happily as Sir Edmund proclaims his life to be in ruins. While Baldrick informs him that he has accepted a job, Sir Edmund wonders who could be so utterly without heart and soul, so low and degraded, as to behead the King of England. As his own words sink in, he questions Baldrick, who admits that it was he who accepted the position. (Historically, King Charles' executioner was suspected to be Richard Brandon.) Baldrick explains to the understandably enraged Blackadder that he has a cunning plan to save the King. He presents Sir Edmund with a huge pumpkin, poorly painted to represent a human face. He plans to place it on the King's head and chop it instead. Sir Edmund dismisses the plan, as Baldrick will have to hold the monarch's head in front of the crowd and proclaim "This is the head of a traitor", to which Sir Edmund predicts the response "No, it's not! It's a large pumpkin with a pathetic moustache drawn on it!" He then criticises Baldrick's stupidity ("Your head is as empty as a eunuch's underpants"). Baldrick, though saddened, says that at least the money, £1000, is good. At this, Sir Edmund's greed awakens, and he proceeds to take the money from Baldrick, announcing that he will replace him as the executioner, saying it needs somebody who actually has an axe. (From this point, Sir Edmund – who has hitherto shown uncharacteristic touches of conscience – behaves like a typical Blackadder.)

30 January 1649 arrives, and with it King Charles' day of execution. He is left alone for a few minutes with his executioner (Sir Edmund, in a hood and with a false voice). Sir Edmund takes advantage of these minutes to relieve the King of his remaining wealth: however, the King eventually recognises him, but mistakes Blackadder's intentions and congratulates him for trying to save him even at the last minute, before giving him custody of his infant son, the later King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. (Historically, he was 19 years old at the time of his father's death.) As he cannot explain his betrayal to the King, Sir Edmund panics and uses the plan that Baldrick had suggested earlier. The camera then focuses on Baldrick, who is listening to the sounds of the execution. Sir Edmund chops the pumpkin and proclaims "This is the head of a traitor." Predictably enough, the crowd answers him, "No, it's not! It's a huge pumpkin with a pathetic moustache drawn on it!" Sir Edmund apologises and says he will try again. Baldrick continues to listen as Sir Edmund beheads the King and the crowd cheers.

As the last scene begins, Sir Edmund and Baldrick have returned to Blackadder Hall. A disgusted Blackadder cradles the infant Charles in his hands. Baldrick tries to console him by saying that at least he tried, and that now the future of the British monarchy lies fast asleep in his arms in the person of this infant prince. He suggests to his master that he should be ready to escape to France, because as a known Royalist, he is in danger of being arrested by the Roundheads and beheaded. Sir Edmund, who apparently had forgotten that he is in danger, immediately rises from his seat, ready to take action. But it is too late; Roundheads are already at the Hall's doors, demanding his surrender. Sir Edmund explains to Baldrick that there is no choice for a man of honour but to stand and fight, and die in defence of his future sovereign. However, as a Blackadder, he was never a man of honour. Passing the prince to Baldrick, he proceeds to remove his long black hair (which was apparently a wig), his false moustache and beard, to reveal a Roundhead appearance – short blond hair and a clean-shaven face. Thus unrecognisable, when Cromwell enters the room, he denounces Baldrick as "royalist scum". The episode ends with a hapless Baldrick, still holding the Prince in his arms, being approached by Cromwell, sword drawn.

Trapped in hell, murderous prom queen Mary Lou Maloney (Courtney Taylor), who burned to death in 1957, manages to escape her chains by severing them with a nail file. Returning to her place of death, Hamilton High School, Mary Lou kills the school janitor and one of her many former boyfriends Jack Roswell (Terry Doyle) by electrocuting him with a jukebox to the point that his pacemaker bursts from his chest. The day after Jack's death, Principal Weatherall (Roger Dunn) officially opens Hamilton High's recently reconstructed gymnasium, accidentally severing one of his own fingers while cutting the ribbon with a pair of scissors, an act which prompts an unseen force to wreak havoc through the gym with powerful winds.

Hours after the gymnasium opening, largely average student Alexander Grey (Tim Conlon), who dreams of going to medical school, leaves a date with his girlfriend Sarah Monroe (Cynthia Preston) to get his textbooks from school to study for an upcoming test, having been told by snarky guidance counselor Ms. Richards (Lesley Kelly) that his grades mean he will never reach medical school and he'll be left to do little more than menial labor. While at the school, Alex is approached by Mary Lou, and the two ultimately have sex on the American flag in a hallway. Waking up, Alex redresses and, throughout the day, Mary Lou appears to him, both during his biology test and during a football game, which Mary Lou helps Alex win, much to the anger of Alex's rival Andrew Douglas (Dylan Neal).

With Mary Lou's help, Alex's grades skyrocket and he makes the honor roll and becomes a football star, though his secret romance with Mary Lou also strains his relationship with Sarah. After Mary Lou burns Ms. Richards to death with battery acid after the counselor becomes suspicious of Alex's grades, Alex, having received a motorcycle and leather jacket from his parents as gifts for his achievements in school, buries Ms. Richards's body in the football field. After disposing of Richards, Alex is confronted by Andrew, who had earlier kicked him off the football team, and the two get into a fight, which ends when Mary Lou kills Andrew by impaling him to the football goal post by hurling a football, which changes into a spinning drill in mid-flight, at him. Growing tired of Mary Lou's murders and her obsession over him, Alex tries to break things off with Mary Lou, which enrages the ghost.

Trying to go on with his life after dumping Mary Lou, Alex tries to patch things up with Sarah by asking her to the prom inaugurating the new gym, only to learn she is going with nerdy Leonard Welsh (Jeremy Ratchford). Finding himself stalked by Mary Lou, Alex tells his best friend Shane Taylor (David Stratton) everything, which prompts Mary Lou to kill Shane by ripping his heart out. Shane's death is then blamed on Alex, who Shane's parents see fleeing from their house with blood on his hands. Tracked down to his house, Alex is arrested and put in jail. While in his cell, Alex is approached by Mary Lou who, after Alex rejects her once more, leaves to kill Sarah, electrocuting a pair of officers and leaving behind the keys to Alex's cell, which Alex uses to escape.

As Alex races to the prom, forcing Officer Larry (Brock Simpson) to drive him there at gunpoint, Sarah is attacked by Mary Lou, who had killed Leonard by wrapping him in magnetic tape. Reaching the gymnasium as Mary Lou is about to kill Sarah on stage, Alex willingly goes to Hell with Mary Lou, making her promise that if he goes with her she will leave everyone else alone. As Mary Lou and Alex descend into the ground, Sarah follows them, jumping into the portal before it closes.

After fighting off zombified versions of Shane, Leonard and Andrew in a nightmarish version of Hamilton High with a makeshift flamethrower, Sarah tracks Alex down to Hell's equivalent of Hamilton High's gym. There, she sees Mary Lou about to kill Alex so he can be her prom king for all eternity. Sarah interrupts and, after a brief fight with Mary, manages to blow up Mary Lou by using her flamethrower as a bomb. Alex and Sarah make their way to a garage in the school and hot wire a car. Upon seeing a charred Mary Lou in the way, Alex drives into her and they disappear, reappearing on a street, no longer in Hell.

Believing the event to be over, Alex and Sarah drive to a diner to contact their parents. However, Mary Lou reappears as well and drives her arm through Sarah, killing her. While Alex tries to get others around him to help, he realizes he's in the 1950s where everyone around him apparently cannot see or hear him. Losing the last of his sanity, he admits defeat to Mary Lou and is left laughing hysterically.

At Hamilton High School's 1957 prom, students Lisa and Brad leave the festivities to have sex in Brad's car. Before the two can undress, they are distracted by a noise, revealed to be someone putting candles on the hood of the car. After spotting the candles, Lisa has her throat slashed by a metal crucifix, wielded by psychotic religious fanatic, Father Jonas; he then stabs Brad in the chest before igniting the car in flames. After committing this double homicide, Father Jonas reveals he had suffered sexual abuse from priests in the church and displays stigmata. He is transported from St. Basil Seminary to the St. George Church by a group of fellow priests led by Father Jaeger, who refers to the rambling Father Jonas as an abomination and believes him possessed by dark forces.

In 1991 at St. George Church, young Father Colin is informed by the now-elderly Father Jaeger that his trip to Africa for missionary work has been put off and that he has been ordered by the church with watching over Father Jonas, who has been held captive in the church basement for thirty-three years in a drug-induced stupor. Shortly after showing Colin the catatonic Jonas, Jaeger passes away, officially leaving Colin as Jonas's new guardian. Believing he can help Jonas, Colin neglects drugging him, an act which allows Jonas to regain consciousness. Father Jonas escapes, killing Colin before fleeing to St. Basil Seminary. Discovering Colin's death and Jonas' escape, Cardinal Turint stages Colin's murder to appear as a suicide before going off in search of Jonas.

At the St. Basil Seminary, which has long since been abandoned and converted into a summer home, two young couples—consisting of the summer home owner's son Mark, his girlfriend Meagan, the mischievous Laura and her boyfriend Jeff—arrive, planning to celebrate their graduation privately instead of going to prom, but find most of the electronics and appliances in the house have been stolen. Deciding to stay and party anyway, the group is stalked by Jonas, who acquires his old metal crucifix and uses it to kill Mark's younger brother Jonathan, who had followed the group to the house.

After injuring herself in the wine cellar, Meagan receives an obscene phone call from Jonas while Mark is away, getting the first-aid kit to tend to her wounds. After calling Meagan, Jonas enters the house through his old lair and kills Laura, subsequently moving her body. While looking for the missing Laura, Mark and Meagan find Jonas's lair, while Jeff searches the attic. Finding what looks like Laura, Jeff approaches the figure, only to find it is Jonas wearing Laura's scalp; Jonas proceeds to kill Jeff by crushing the boy's skull with his bare hands.

Going outside to look around, Mark and Meagan rush back inside where they find Laura and Jeff's bodies crucified and ablaze. As Meagan tries to call the police Mark arms himself with a gun and has Meagan flee outside when Jonas appears. Rushing to the roof of the house, Mark is stabbed in the foot through the roof by Jonas, causing him to fall to the ground below. Jonas stabs Mark to death with his crucifix, and then pursues Meagan, who temporarily manages to incapacitate him by spraying him in the face with bug spray. Outside, Meagan arms herself with a gun Mark had dropped, gets bullets from inside and, after being phoned by the police (a call which is interrupted by Jonas) goes to the wood shed. After missing several times, Meagan manages to shoot Jonas and, believing him dead, begins praying for forgiveness, only to be attacked mid-prayer by the still-living Jonas, who begins setting the barn on fire using an aspergillum that emits flames instead of holy water. Grabbing a shovel, Meagan beats Jonas with it and rushes outside and locks the door, leaving Jonas to burn and subsequently be blown up when the shed explodes.

In the morning, Meagan is loaded into an ambulance while the charred and seemingly dead Jonas is placed in another, which is manned by Cardinal Turint and his followers. While in the back of the ambulance, Jonas opens his eyes, while elsewhere Meagan does the same simultaneously.

Relations between Neelix and Lt. Tom Paris fall to a new low when they have a food fight in the mess hall over Kes. Captain Janeway calls them to her ready room for an assignment. Janeway cautions them to put their differences aside. ''Voyager'' s food supplies are low, and scans of a nearby planet have detected proteins. Due to Neelix's role as chef, and Paris's position as the ship's most experienced pilot, they are sent to the planet, which they call "Planet Hell", to scout for edible material. On their way to the planet their shuttle crashes because of environmental interference.

The planet is coated in a poisonous trigemic vapor that forces Paris and Neelix to seek shelter. They find a cave and blast the rock to cover the entrance, assuming that they will be rescued before long. They discover a nest of eggs, and as one hatches, they debate what to do, with Paris wanting to leave the hatchling and Neelix believing that they have a responsibility to care for it. ''Voyager'' is attacked by an alien ship, which places itself between ''Voyager'' and the planet in an attempt to block access to the surface.

Paris and Neelix discuss their argument over Kes. Paris confesses that he is attracted to her, but that he respects her choice to be with Neelix. The two care for the creature, but before long it appears to be dying. It will not eat their rations, but they surmise that the vapor outside must be the source of the protein they saw in their scans, but the stone they blasted in front of the entrance has prevented the hatchling from feeding. Once they bring the creature outside and force-feed the vapors to it by a medicine dropper, the creature recovers. Paris and Neelix are overjoyed, though they exhibit symptoms from the trigemic poisons. ''Voyager'' disables the weapons aboard the enemy ship, and moves into the planet's atmosphere to rescue Neelix and Tom. They refuse to be transported off until they are sure that the creature will survive. They hide, and beam away only when an adult of the creature's species collects the infant.

Back aboard ''Voyager'', Kes, who is glad to see Neelix's return, observes that Paris and Neelix have formed a friendship based on respect.

In Athens, Azad (Jean-Paul Belmondo), Ralph (Robert Hossein) and 2 other accomplices, Renzi and Helen, steal a suitcase of emeralds from a rich Greek citizen, M.Tasco, when the latter is away on vacation.

The thieves break into the house, manage to open the safe, and escape with the jewels. A police detective, Abel Zacharia (Omar Sharif), spots the burglars’ car in front of the house. Azad chats with the detective telling a cover story of being a salesman with engine trouble. Zacharia leaves and Azad thinks he has gotten away with it.

The thieves plan to leave the country immediately on a merchant ship. However when they arrive at the dock they discover the ship is undergoing repairs and will not be ready for five days. They hide the money, split up, and agree to wait out the delay.

Zacharia reappears, having decided to find and keep the emeralds himself. Azad falls in love with Lena.

Zacharia identifies the thieves and kills Renzi, seeing to it that Ralph seems guilty of the crime.

Azad narrowly escapes the police with Lena, but he soon discovers that she is conspiring with Zacharia.

Ralph is arrested by police.

Azad and Zacharia have a confrontation which results in Zacharia being buried under wheat.

Growing up in Hastings, Minnesota in 1970, young David Leary was bullied by Roscoe Bigger, nicknamed "Fang" because of a pointed tooth. David is ecstatic when his parents announce they are moving to Oakland. David informs teachers about Fang stealing a moon rock and Fang is arrested.

Twenty-six years later in 1996, David is divorced and raising his troubled son Ben as a single parent. Not having much success as a writer, David's old school offers him a job teaching creative writing for the semester. He meets his neighbors Art and Betty Lundstrum and begins rekindling a relationship with his old flame Victoria. He also encounters the school librarian Mrs. Rumpert who is still waiting for David to return ''Green Eggs and Ham'' to the library. After Ben begins picking on a kid named Kirby, David meets the boy's father Ross Bigger when both are called to the office of Principal Kokelar. Following a fire drill, David meets with his old friend Ulf, a fire fighter. When meeting with Ulf, Alan and Gerry at a bar, David learns that after Ross got out of juvenile hall, Ross' parents skipped town which led to him growing up in an orphanage.

When Ross learns who David is, he reembarks on his old routine of bullying him to make himself feel better. Ross drops his mild-mannered and pushover attitude and begins taking charge in his classroom and home. David's son begins bullying Ross' son, but after a discussion, they become friends. Ross begins to intimidate until David becomes paranoid, and begins freaking out another teacher, Clark, who thinks he is on crack. When David brings Ross' actions to Principal Kokelar after a recent pranking, David is told by Principal Kokelar that Ross has been a teacher longer than David has and even states that he had gotten some complaints from Clark about David and that if David can't straighten up his act, he will get another teacher to cover for him for the remainder of the school semester.

Later that night, they meet at the old see-saw where Ross reaffirms that David has never stood up for himself at which point David admits snitching to get Ross put in Juvenile hall. After a game of cat-and-mouse in the school after hours, David flees to his hiding place he used when he was a child, a cave. Ross chases him onto a waterfall and tells David that he always thought of him as a friend, before an enraged Ross attacks him. David hits him with a piece of driftwood causing Ross to fall into the river. Fearing that he has killed his enemy, David tries to turn himself over to the police only to find that the cops are out. Ulf drives David to his home while he tries to find Ross' body. After a talk with Art, David attempts to go to sleep only to discover Ross alive and well. The two men fight once again until Kirby and Ben come in and reveal that they've made up and encourage their fathers do the same. Ross reveals he stole the moon rock because he wanted to be an astronaut. It was also shown that during their recent fight, Ross' "fang" was chipped. They finally patch things up.

With nothing left for him in Hastings, David's semester teaching job was over. David begins to pack up and move to New York. He has Victoria return Green Eggs and Ham to the school library for him. Ross arrives and has a goodbye present for David, Ross gives him an Evel Knievel action figure identical to the one David had as a child before Ross threw it into a river. David tells them to visit whenever, and the changed family leaves. Ross hooks up his mobile home to his truck, and follows David telling his family that they have been "invited" to come to New York.

"Karate master and anti-drug vigilante Chiba returns to his home in Japan, where he holds a press conference announcing his intention to wipe out the nation's drug industry. He also offers his services as a bodyguard to anyone who is willing to come forward and provide information about the drug lords' activities. He is soon approached by a mysterious woman claiming to have important information and asking for Chiba's protection. She seems to be legitimate, but is she really what she appears to be?"

Angelina (Emily Hampshire) is a shy and whimsical waitress forced to leave her home in Italy to be married to a man she is not in love with in order to fulfill a family vow. After Angelina moves into a new neighborhood in Little Italy, Toronto, she is torn with the idea of marrying a man she is not in love with. However, in the days leading up to Valentine's Day, Angelina encounters Mike (Sean Astin) and the two seemingly are shot with Cupid's arrows. Angelina and Mike's searches for love come to an end after realizing how connected they truly are to each other.