Unscrupulous fisherman John Mallick and his assistant Carlo are fishing with soda bombs in open water to harvest coral reefs when they notice a large creature thrashing in the water, Mallick shoots it and discovers that it's a merman. They attempt to collect the body but the vessel is knocked by a powerful force. Mallick sees a figure in the water, pointing a trident at him and he and Carlo escape, without the body of the merman.

The figure is Diana, the merman's eldest daughter. She has superhuman strength and a magical trident that turns into a comb she can wear in her hair. Diana buries her father's body. Although she loathes humans, Diana ventures onto land for the first time to seek out her sisters Venus and June to help her find Mallick and justice for their father's murder.

The middle sister Venus is working in a cafe where she swims in a tank with a fake mermaid tail. When Diana finds her, she is appalled by her sister's behavior and suspects that there is another reason behind her choosing to perform for humans. The youngest sister June has lived among humans for three years and is working at a sea park. June is in love with Randy, a marine patrolman who has a long-term girlfriend named Cynthia. Although the three sisters don't get along because of their differing life choices, they agree to band together to find Mallick.

June and Randy are aware of Mallick's illegal fishing and attempt to hunt him down together. At one point, Randy boards Mallick's boat in search of evidence, but Mallick and Carlo knock him unconscious into the sea. June rescues him and drags him to shore. It is gradually revealed that Randy is unhappy with Cynthia and he falls in love with June instead.

Diana discovers that Venus is forced to work at the cafe because the owner Earl Barker has taken her pearl tiara: her birthright of magic that gives anyone who holds it power over the owner. Diana forces Earl to give up the tiara and also finds a large seashell, the birthright of another mermaid. Venus realizes that it belongs to Earl's middle-aged wife Betty who has forgotten her mermaid heritage. Venus returns the shell, but Betty decides to stay on land because she has a human daughter.

The three sisters learn that Mallick has discovered their father's body and is keeping it in a freezer. They confront him, but Mallick has researched mermaids and knows that they must grant one wish to anyone who asks for it. He asks them to find him a chest of sunken treasure. The sisters agree, but work on a plan: Venus finds the gold, Diana finds their father's body, and June asks for Randy's help accidentally revealing her true identity as a mermaid though Randy accepts this and is happy. When the sisters deliver the gold, the police also arrive at Mallick's warehouse. When they check the freezer, the merman's tail has transformed back into legs as the freezer is dry, and they arrest Mallick for murder.

June worries that Randy is ignoring her and Venus confesses that she used her siren ability to make Randy forget the events of the previous few days to keep the sisters' mermaid secret safe. June is crushed, but decides to stay on land in hopes of another chance with Randy. Venus wants to stay with her as all her previous time on land has been as a prisoner and she wants to explore it on her own terms. To the surprise of her sisters, Diana decides to stay on land as well so that she can watch over her younger sisters as their father would have wanted. The film ends on the implication that the three sisters will have many other adventures together.

When the curtains open, viewers find themselves caught within a nightmare that strongly contrasts the dreaminess of sequences to come: a young girl's birthday party is cruelly interrupted by Josh's (Mish P. DeLight) loss of custody over her. He wakes in a fright and squeezes the hand of his husband (James Ferguson) for comfort. Early on, a theme in ''Claire'' is identified here: the transcendence of love beyond social norms. The audience is briefly walked through the pair's daily routine. One exception emerges after the couple has lain down the following night: the appearance of Claire; their unexpected miracles, just a tiny thing inside an iridescent ear of corn. As the story progresses and Claire grows into the shape of a young woman, she enchants onlookers with her beauty and readings of fantastic poetry in various languages. Richard (Allen Jeffrey Rein) is particularly entranced; and gives her his copy of Shelley's work as a token. It is in him that Claire discovers her miraculous healing powers proceeding his dive from a cliff in an attempt to win her affection. While exemplifying the nontraditional family---two men lovingly raising a child of the moon---the film celebrates the diversity of family and also addresses the grief of losing a loved one.

Following the events of the story "The Treasure of Tranicos", Conan joins a conspiracy of former comrades-in-arms to overthrow Numedides, the mad and tyrannical king of Aquilonia. As commander of the rebel forces, he has the prospect of becoming king himself if they succeed. However, Conan has not only Numedides' loyal troops, led by General Procas, to overcome, but the magic of an evil sorcerer named Thulandra Thuu.

Chronologically, ''Conan the Liberator'' overlaps the events of the story "Wolves Beyond the Border", and is followed by the story "The Phoenix on the Sword".

Son of a notorious fast-drawing sheriff, George Kelby Jr. (Ford) and his wife Dora (Jeanne Crain) settle down in the peaceful town of Cross Creek as the owner of a general store under assumed identities to avoid having to continually face men out to become famous for shooting down the "fastest gun alive". Now known as George Temple, he becomes a mild-mannered teetotalling shopkeeper, little respected by the other townsfolk.

One day comes news that outlaw Vinnie Harold (Crawford) has gunned down Clint Fallon (Walter Coy), reputedly the "fastest draw in the west." George listens to the townsmen talk about Wyatt Earp, Wes Hardin, and other so-called "fast guns". They are also laughing at George, seeing him as nothing but a "ribbon clerk".

His pride stung, George retrieves a gun from hiding (he told his wife he had tossed it into a river years ago) and—over her desperate pleading not to destroy the peaceful life they have built—says "they have to know who I am." The men are astonished at seeing George wearing a gun, believing him to be drunk. He sets about destroying the myths these men have about gunmen, displaying a detailed knowledge of guns and gunmen they never suspected he had. George then blurts out his secret that he is the fastest gun alive, "... faster than Earp, faster than Hardin, faster than Fallon, and faster than the man who killed him."

With the citizens understandably skeptical, George takes them into the street and gives them a demonstration of his skill. First, with only two shots, he hits two silver dollars tossed into the air on the count of three. Following that, he shoots a beer glass full of beer dropped from Harvey Maxwell's (Allyn Joslyn) hand at 20 feet, hitting it almost immediately after it leaves the man's hand.

Later, while everyone is in church, where they have taken an oath not to tell George's secret, Harold rides into town. A local boy tells him about George's display of gun skill. Though he is on the run—and over the objections of his fellow bank robbers, Taylor Swope (John Dehner) and Dink Wells (Noah Beery Jr.), who just want to escape the law—Harold is intent to remain in town until he can see this George Temple face-to-face.

Harold finds out that the "fast gun" is in the church. He sends Swope there to call him out. When the townspeople refuse to send out "the man who shot two silver dollars at the same time", Harold gives an order to Dink to find some kerosene and pour it everywhere. He then instructs Swope to deliver a message to the people in the church that if their fast gun does not come out in five minutes, Vinnie and his men will burn down the whole town.

The townspeople now try to force George into the street. George must reveal the whole truth, explaining that he is no gunman, that he has never been in a real gunfight. The gun with the notches in the handle actually belonged to his father George Kelby (a famous lawman shot down in an ambush) and he is terrified at the prospect of actually facing a man in a gunfight.

With the posse approaching, Dink's nerve cracks and he rides off. Swope stays longer, but ultimately feels they are risking too much and decides to take his share of the gang's loot, is told by Vinnie to either draw or ride out, but without any of the loot. Swope toys with the idea of drawing on Vinnie, but thinks better of it and leaves.

Realizing that George is too terrified to face Harold, Lou Glover asks George for his gun. Glover intends to pose as George for the sake of the town. Reluctantly, George straps on his gun and walks toward the door, warning everyone not to say anything because it will not take much for him to change his mind.

George meets Vinnie in the street, where both men draw their guns and fire. When a posse pursuing the outlaws shows up with the bodies of Swope and Wells, the townspeople are attending the burials of both Harold and Kelby, telling the posse how the two men shot each other dead. Both the tombstones of Harold and Kelby are dated November 7, 1889. After the posse leaves, it is revealed that Kelby was not killed. A coffin filled with stones, Kelby's gun, and his reputation as "the fastest gun alive", was buried instead. This allows George and Dora to resume their peaceful existence in Cross Creek.

Volume I

The main character, Caleb Williams is of humble birth, unusual for Godwin, since his characters are often persons of wealth and title. Caleb Williams, a poor, self-educated, orphaned young man, and the novel's first-person narrator, is recommended for a job on the estate of the wealthy Ferdinando Falkland. Although Falkland is generally a reserved and quiet master, he is also prone to sudden fits of rage. Concerned about his outbursts, Caleb asks Mr Collins, administrator of Falkland's estate, if he knows the cause of Falkland's odd temper.

Collins proceeds to tell of Falkland's past, citing Falkland's long history of stressing reason over bloodshed. Falkland's neighbour, Barnabas Tyrrel, was a tyrannical master who oppressed and manipulated his tenants. Tyrrel became the enemy and competitor of Falkland, who was loved for his brave and generous demeanor. Falkland continually righted the many wrongs Tyrrel caused members of his household and his neighbours, which only elevated the community's respect and esteem for Falkland. He also saved Tyrrel's niece, Emily Melvile, from a fire, an act of heroism that caused Emily to fall in love with Falkland. The outraged Tyrrel kept Emily imprisoned in his estate, and had her arrested on false charges when she tried to escape. Emily's emotional distress at these events resulted in her falling ill and dying. The conflict between the two men came to a head when, at the funeral services for Emily, Tyrrel physically attacked Falkland. Tyrrel himself was found murdered shortly afterward. Although immediately considered a suspect in Tyrrel's murder, Falkland defended himself on the basis of his spotless reputation. Instead, two of Tyrrel's tenants were found with incriminating evidence, convicted of the murder, and hanged. Falkland's emotional state, Mr Collins explains, has been wavering ever since.

Volume II

The account of Falkland's early life intrigues Caleb, though he still finds the aristocrat's strange behaviours suspicious. Caleb obsessively researches aspects of the Tyrrel murder case for some time and his doubts gradually increase. He convinces himself that Falkland is secretly guilty of the murder.

When Caleb's distrust is exposed, Falkland finally admits that he is the murderer of Tyrrel, but forces Caleb to be silent about the issue under penalty of death. Falkland frames and falsely accuses Caleb of attempting to rob him of a large sum of money. Caleb, however, flees the estate, but is later convinced to return to defend himself with the promise that, if he can do so effectively in court, he will be freed. Falkland's brother-in-law oversees a fraudulent trial of the two and, eventually, sides with Falkland, having Caleb arrested. The anguish of a life in prison is documented through Caleb and other wretched inmates. Eventually, a servant of Falkland supplies Caleb with tools he can use to escape, which he successfully does, venturing out into the wild.

Volume III

Caleb must now live a life evading Falkland's attempts to recapture and silence him. In the wilderness, Caleb is robbed by a band of criminals, physically attacked by one in particular, and then rescued by a different man who takes him to the headquarters of this same group of thieves. Caleb's saviour turns out to be their captain. The Captain accepts Caleb and promptly banishes Caleb's attacker, a man called Jones (or Gines in some editions), from the group. Caleb and the Captain later debate the morality of being a thief and living outside the oppressive restrictions of the law. Shortly afterward, a sympathiser of Jones tries to kill Caleb and then reveals his whereabouts to the authorities, forcing Caleb to flee once more.

As he is boarding a ship to Ireland, Caleb is confused for another criminal and again arrested. He bribes his captors to obtain freedom before they discover that he is in fact wanted after all. While Caleb makes a living by publishing stories about notorious criminals, the vengeful Jones subsequently puts out a reward for Caleb's capture and keeps Caleb's movements under careful surveillance.

Ultimately betrayed by a neighbour, Caleb is taken to court; however, Caleb's accusers do not show up and he is abruptly released only to be immediately ensnared by Jones and sent to confront Falkland, face to face. Falkland, now aged, gaunt, and frail, claims that he deliberately did not show up in court, so that he could persuade Caleb to put in writing that his accusations are unfounded. However, Caleb refuses to lie for Falkland, and Falkland threatens him, but lets him go. Falkland later sends the impoverished Caleb money to try to bribe him. Next, Caleb attempts to make a living in Wales, but must move around frequently as Jones continues to track him. When Caleb finally decides to travel to the Netherlands, Jones confronts him and reveals to him the true scope of Falkland's tyrannical power, warning Caleb that he will be either murdered or caught and executed if he attempts to leave the country. At last, Caleb convinces a magistrate to summon Falkland to court so that he can make his accusations public and reveal Falkland's guilt once and for all.

Published ending

Before an emotional court, Caleb vindicates himself and makes his accusations of Falkland; however, he reveals his sadness at having become part of the same vicious mindset as Falkland that forces people into groups competing for power. Ultimately, Caleb finds a universality among all humans, whether the oppressor or the oppressed, finding humanity even in Falkland. He even voices his admiration and respect for many of Falkland's positive qualities, including his ideals. The two forgive each other and it is noted that Falkland dies soon thereafter. Despite his noble pursuit of justice, though, Caleb is not contented, believing his success a hollow one and holding himself responsible for Falkland's death. Caleb concludes with an explanation that the point of the book is merely to straighten out the details of Falkland's turbulent history, rather than to condemn the man.

Original manuscript ending

The original and more controversial manuscript ending was not officially published, though is often included as an appendix in many current editions of the novel. In this version, Falkland argues in court that Caleb's agenda is merely revenge. Caleb responds, claiming himself to be a voice of justice and offering to gather witnesses against Falkland, but the magistrate suddenly silences him and denies his offer, calling Caleb insolent and his accusations ludicrous. With some pages missing, the story jumps to the final scene of Caleb imprisoned some time later, with none other than Jones as his warden. Caleb's narration now seems erratic and disorganised, implying that he has gone mad. Caleb is informed that Falkland has died recently, but does not seem to remember who Falkland is. In his delirium, Caleb concludes that true happiness lies in being like a gravestone that reads, “Here lies what was once a man.”

A farm horse sees a poster that says the U.S. Army needs horses. The horse goes to the recruiting station and tries to volunteer, but is eventually rejected, labeled "44-F". Leaving the station dejected, he wanders into a wargames situation, and the flying bullets frighten him so much he makes a dash for home. At the end, he is serving the war effort in another way, knitting "V for Victory" sweaters for the boys overseas.

Pedro arranges to meet Silvia at Kilometre Zero to stay with her in Madrid, but ends up mistaking Tatiana for her. Tatiana was there to meet new client Sergio, who ends up meeting Maximo instead. Maximo was there to meet Bruno, whom he'd met cruising on the internet. Bruno ends up meeting Benjamin, who's had to leave his apartment so that Miguel can meet his client, Marga. Silvia sees Gerard in his car and throws herself in front of it to catch his attention. Meanwhile, Amor walks Mario to work at the bar and goes shopping for a watch for him and for a fitting of her wedding dress.

Tatiana takes Pedro to her apartment, which is filthy. She gives him a blow job and, when she realizes he's not her client, breaks down crying. Struck by her emotion, he begins framing her as if through a camera's viewfinder. To calm herself, Tatiana takes a sleeping pill, and when she awakens, Pedro is cleaning her apartment. He persuades her to believe in her own worth, buying her a new outfit (which she compares to ''Pretty Woman'') and convincing her that she can charge 50,000 pesetas instead of 5,000 as she had been.

Miguel takes Marga to his apartment for their appointment. Afterwards, she sees a wallet and finds a photograph inside. She has the same photo in her wallet; it's the only picture she has of herself and her son, whom she'd abandoned some 25 years before. Horrified, she leaves and ends up at Mario's bar.

Benjamin takes Bruno back to the apartment as well. After they spend some time together, Bruno realizes that Benjamin has lied about being his computer date. He plans to leave, but they each confess that they've fallen in love with each other. Benjamin runs to the bar to buy a bottle of champagne. There, Marga sees that it's Benjamin's wallet that she'd seen earlier and that Benjamin, not Miguel, is her son.

Gerard takes Silvia into the bar to tend to her "injuries" and she works to convince him to cast her in his new musical. She alternately recites from ''Romeo and Juliet'' and threatens to make trouble for him because of the "accident." Gerard mocks her for reciting Shakespeare to audition for a musical and threatens her back, physically. As he begins to stalk out, Silvia sings ''Maybe This Time'' from ''Cabaret''. Gerard finds her performance revelatory.

Maximo and Sergio also end up at the bar, where Maximo teases and flirts outrageously with the sexually repressed Sergio, including fondling his leg under the table. Sergio ends up in the restroom with an erection and, after Maximo gives him a neckrub, he has a spontaneous orgasm. Maximo reassures Sergio that it doesn't mean he's gay, just horny.

Amor gets robbed three times in the same day, including being dragged in the street when a man in a car snatches her purse. She reports the crimes to "Policia" (the character is not otherwise named), and as she gets up to leave, he sees that her skirt is badly torn. As he fixes it with a stapler, she notices his watch. He explains that it was a gift from his only girlfriend, who he'd met when he was twelve and whose name he never learned. Amor tells him that her name was "Amor," that she was that girl. The two have been in love ever since without knowing who the other is. They end up at the bar, where "Policia" tells Mario that he and Amor are going to marry.

The newly sophisticated-looking Tatiana enters the bar, but her nerve fails her. As she dashes out, Pedro catches her and again builds her confidence. They re-enter the bar and Maximo, calling himself Sergio's "guardian angel," arranges for Sergio to go with Tatiana. Tatiana confides in Pedro that she only asked for 40,000 pesetas instead of 50,000 and says she needs more lessons from him. They agree to live together for the three months he'll be in Madrid. Tatiana and Sergio prepare to leave; Sergio wants to say goodbye to Maximo, but Maximo has vanished. He appears sitting on a roof ledge overlooking Benjamin and Bruno as Bruno dances for Benjamin, suggesting that Maximo is their "guardian angel" as well. Miguel finds Marga at the bar and, relieved that she hasn't committed incest, Marga arranges to spend a week or longer with him. Marga also gives Mario the 2,000,000 pesetas that he needs to open his photo store. Mario discovers the birthday present, a watch, that Roma slipped into his pocket several hours earlier. He kisses her, somewhat hesitantly, and she tells him that she'll wait for him.

After fracturing a finger in a junior high school game, Takao Taniguchi is unable to play baseball. After entering Sumitani High School, he is constantly watching the baseball club even though he is unable to play. He catches the eye of the captain of the soccer club, and while he still has lingering hopes of joining the baseball club, he decides to join the soccer club. While he's a complete beginner, Taniguchi developed a strong spirit of hard work while in junior high school and his new teammates begin to see his potential. While he focuses all of his energy on soccer, he is unable to forget his youthful zeal for baseball and he begins umpiring baseball games in secret.

After someone leaks his secret to the captain of the soccer team, the captain becomes angry at him and Taniguchi decides that soccer is not really for him. At the recommendation of the captain, he resigns from the soccer club and joins the baseball club. The Sumitani baseball club would lose their big game every year due to the inexperience of the club members. After Taniguchi joined, however, the club begins to change for the better.

Rich Mrs. Phoebe Tuttle is upset that her daughter Barbara is engaged to a man beneath their social stature, Norman Phiffier. Barbara has been keeping her heiress status to the Tuttle Department Store fortune a secret from Phiffier, knowing he is a proud person who refuses to marry her until he can afford to buy her a home.

Phiffier, a dog walker, is as awkward socially as he is physically. Mrs. Tuttle despises Phiffier but arranges for him to get a job at one of her stores. She directs the store manager, Quimby, to assign Phiffier a series of impossible and outrageous tasks, hoping he will become frustrated and quit, proving to her daughter that he is worthless. Instead, even though he suffers a series of hilarious mishaps, Phiffier becomes more driven and determined, and Quimby realizes that "he's a man of character". Phiffier also meets and befriends John Tuttle, Phoebe's henpecked husband, with neither suspecting each other's true identity.

After a final spectacular failure involving a super-strong vacuum cleaner and a dog trapped inside it, Barbara's identity as an heiress is revealed. Disappointed by the Tuttles' deception, Phiffier breaks off the engagement and quits, returning to his previous job as dog walker. In this way he finally proves his worth to Mrs. Tuttle, and after she, John and Barbara temporarily join the dog-walking service to deliver their apologies to Phiffier, he and the Tuttles reconcile.

The film is about a new political party called the "Good for You" (abbreviated as GFY) which comes into power and bans chocolate. Two kids named Smudger Moore and Huntley Hunter want to get their chocolate back. They begin by selling bootleg chocolate, and go on to join an underground resistance organization.

The film climaxes in a huge revolution where people take to the streets. They demand that chocolate be brought back, and that the government be overthrown.

It tells us about how they face ups and downs on their way.

Clive Quigley starts the series thinking he is happily married to his wife Melissa, but Sonia Drysdale comes along and informs him that her husband Dave is having an affair with Melissa. Clive believes her only after spying on Melissa and Dave together, and even contemplates suicide. He and Sonia then join forces to split up the affair, but they do not know that Melissa and Dave haven't actually committed adultery yet. Sonia and Clive hire a private detective called Chuck Purvis. The other characters were Lester and Ramona Whales. Ramona was Clive's secretary, whom her jealous husband Lester always thought was having an affair with Clive.

Devereaux Burke (Clark Gable) gets a personal request from former President Andrew Jackson (Lionel Barrymore) to facilitate the annexation of Texas into the United States. Opposition to annexation is gaining favor because it is mistakenly believed that Texas pioneer Sam Houston (Moroni Olsen) opposes statehood.

The opposition leader is wealthy rancher Thomas Craden (Broderick Crawford), but when Craden is ambushed by Comanches, Dev comes to his rescue. Dev and Craden travel to Austin, where they meet Martha Ronda (Ava Gardner), who runs the local newspaper. Craden does not know Dev supports annexation when he invites him to a dinner he planned that night for a number of senators at his home. When the senators will not all agree to vote against annexation, Craden refuses them permission to leave. Dev is allowed to leave, but soon returns with a group of armed men to rescue the senators and reveal his support for annexation.

The senators inform Dev that Sam Houston is on the other side of the Pecos River, negotiating a peace treaty with the Apache. Dev leaves to find Houston, but is followed by Craden. Dev and Craden find Houston with the Apache. Dev gets a signed letter from Houston telling of Houston's actual position, but the ink smears when Dev falls into a river while fleeing from Craden's men. Dev has difficulty persuading Martha that he is telling the truth, but after confirming the facts with Craden, she publishes the correct story about Houston's position.

When the people of Austin are told the truth of Houston's position, they rally in support of annexation. Craden resorts to force to stop the Texas Congress from voting on annexation. Dev is called on to organize the defense of the Texas Congress. Craden attacks the fort-like congress building with several dozen armed men on horseback. Dev leads the defenders as they repulse two waves of attack, but the battle begins to turn against them during the third wave of attack. Houston arrives with the Apache just in time to end the battle before any senators are killed. Dev and Craden fight each other hand-to-hand until Dev knocks out Craden. Annexation succeeds, Craden concedes, and Dev wins Martha over and saves the day.

The American writer John Briley wrote this sitcom from his own experiences as a soldier stationed in England. The lead character is Sqn Ldr Heatherton who is the commanding officer at RAF Wittlethorpe. Much of his time is taken up by him being the middle man between the local community and his US airmen.

A famous comedian perishes in a plane crash. Members of his management team, worried that they will be jobless, decide to find someone to take his place as their "meal ticket". Stanley Belt is a bellboy at their hotel and they decide he will become their next star.

Stanley has no obvious talent, but his new managers use their power to open doors for him, including an appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show''. It quickly appears that Stanley will never develop any talent and the managers fire him just before he goes on stage. However, one of them, Ellen, has fallen in love with Stanley and stays by his side.

Stanley becomes a hit on the show. The others from the management team come begging for their jobs back, and Stanley magnanimously agrees.

Setting

Half of the game takes place in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward, most noticeably a recreation of Shinjuku's red-light district Kabukichō renamed Kamurocho.

The other half takes place in Osaka, with the fictitious Sotenbori and Shinseicho areas modeled after Osaka's respectively Dōtonbori and Shinsekai districts. Although these areas were recreated as fictionalized versions, many real life landmarks remain such as Dōtonbori's Sammy Ebisu Plaza (サミー戎プラザ) and Shinsekai's Tsutenkaku Tower (通天閣) and Billiken (ビリケン).

Story

In December 2006, Kazuma Kiryu and Haruka Sawamura are living a peaceful life, but Tojo Clan chairman Yukio Terada appears and asks for his help in preventing a war between the Tojo and the Osaka-based Omi Alliance. The group is ambushed by Omi assassins and Terada is fatally shot, asking Kiryu to negotiate peace in his place. Kiryu recruits former comrade Daigo Dojima to become the new chairman, and the two travel to Osaka, where Kiryu forms a rivalry with the Omi chairman Jin Goda's son, Ryuji Goda. Ryuji refuses the idea of a truce between the Omi and the Tojo and attempts to stage a coup, but they are interrupted and arrested by the Osaka police, led by Detective Kaoru Sayama. Sayama makes a deal with Kiryu to help him stop the Omi threat in exchange for information on the Tojo, as she believes they are connected to her parents' disappearance as a child.

Kiryu and Sayama discover that Omi patriarchs Ryo Takashima and Toranosuke Sengoku have placed hits on them, and that Daigo and Jin Goda have been kidnapped. The two escape to Tokyo, where they find Detectives Makoto Date and Jiro Kawara investigating a bombing of the Kazama family offices by the Jingweon Mafia, a Korean syndicate thought to have been massacred by the Tojo in 1980. Fearing an invasion by the Omi and Jingweon, Kiryu recruits former allies Goro Majima and the Florist of Sai for help and rescues Daigo as well as preventing a coup staged by Koji Shindo, the second patriarch of the Nishikiyama Family. During Terada's funeral, Ryuji warns the Tojo that he will give them three days to mourn, after which his men will attack Kamurocho.

Kiryu and Sayama learn that three Jingweon men survived the massacre and went into hiding. The two find a survivor in Osaka, who claims that the Jingweon will not stop until either they or the Tojo are destroyed. The survivor also reveals that the Jingweon boss's wife Sueyon and her child survived the massacre thanks to Kawara, but is assassinated before he can reveal more. Sengoku kidnaps Haruka to trap Kiryu, but Kiryu defeats all of Sengoku's forces. Sengoku attempts to flee, only for Ryuji to kill him, out of disgust for Sengoku's willingness to hurt children.

Date discovers Tokyo Metropolitan Police Superintendent Wataru Kurahashi is a Jingweon survivor and has been using his position to conceal the Jingweon's operations. Kurahashi takes Date and the Florist of Sai hostage and plans to bomb the room, only for Kiryu, Sayama and Kawara to arrive and defeat him. Kurahashi reveals to Sayama that her parents are Kawara and Suyeon. While they are distracted by this, Kurahashi shoots Kawara, before being shot by Sayama. Before dying, Kawara admits Suyeon was killed by the Jingweon after Sayama's birth as she refused to partake in Jingweon's quest for revenge, and he gave her and Sueyon's other child away to different families to keep them safe and ruthlessly hunted down members of the syndicate in doing so. The Florist of Sai discovers the Jingweon have placed bombs throughout Tokyo and plan to detonate them on the anniversary of the massacre, when Ryuji intends to invade the city.

On the night of the invasion, Kiryu and his allies disarm the bombs and defeat Ryuji's men. Ryuji challenges Kiryu to a final battle atop the Kamurocho Hills construction site. Arriving, Kiryu also finds Jin Goda and Sayama, who attempts to dissuade Ryuji from fighting after learning from Kurahashi's files that he is Sueyon's other child. Undeterred, Ryuji battles Kiryu, ultimately losing. Terada appears and reveals that he was the last survivor and the Jingweon's leader. He believed that gaining Kiryu's trust and faking his death would trigger a war between the Tojo and the Omi so that the Jingweon could destroy them both and fill the power vacuum. Kiryu defeats Terada's men, but Takashima appears and shoots Kiryu, who covered up Terada's truth in exchange for power. However, Takashima kills Jin Goda and Terada to usurp them, telling Kiryu that he never cared about the Jingweon's quest for revenge in the first place.

Terada reveals a hidden time bomb as he dies and Takashima attempts to launch his final attack, but is killed by Ryuji. Believing neither of them can escape in time given their wounds, Ryuji and Kiryu have a final battle, with Kiryu emerging victorious as Ryuji acknowledges Kiryu's strength and dies in his half-sister's arms. Kiryu stays behind to let Kaoru live but she decides to die with him in the forthcoming explosion. They live since the bomb's fuse was removed by Terada from the beginning because he knew that Takashima would betray him. Kiryu and Sayama become a couple, returning to Osaka with Haruka.

On a rainy day in London, private investigator Benjamin Browning (Chevy Chase) accepts a ride from his friend, Freddie (Alan Sues), who is a dangerous driver. As Freddie drops Benjamin near his office, the investigator collides on the street with writer Jackie Howard (Jane Seymour). When Benjamin asks her for a date, she tells him to contact her upon her return from Paris. Back at his office, Benjamin's secretary, Margaret (Barbara Leigh-Hunt), leaves for lunch, and a stranger named Quimby Charles (Richard Vernon), claiming to be a member of Parliament, proposes to hire Benjamin as a bodyguard for a friend, Mrs. Patricia Elliot (Marguerite Corriveau). Benjamin is uncertain, but Quimby offers a great deal of money. Benjamin accepts the assignment and goes to visit Patricia at her flat, where he discovers the door unlocked. As he searches the residence, decorated with artwork, he discovers Patricia dead on the bedroom floor, bleeding from a knife wound. Suddenly, an intruder fatally stabs Benjamin, steals Patricia's gold pendant and leaves.

In the afterlife, Benjamin awakens at an "intermediate destination evaluation facility", where a counselor named Mr. Higgins (Stuart Germain) informs Benjamin of his death. Before Benjamin can enter heaven or hell, he must complete an assignment that requires him to return to life to solve his own murder. Seeing a front-page newspaper story about the crime, Benjamin realizes that a man impersonated Quimby. Benjamin soon learns, much to his annoyance, that he will return to life in a dog's body. As Browning the dog, Benjamin lands in Paris and hitches a ride in Jackie's car.

In London, he searches for his killer, and is thrown out of Carlton Court, the building where he was murdered. Behind the hotel, Benjamin converses with Freddie, who has been reincarnated as a cat after being killed in a car accident. Freddie directs him to Patricia's flat, where he wanders around, searching for clues, while Malcolm Bart (Omar Sharif), the man who pretended to be Quimby, watches from a closet. Browning notices a telephone number in Patricia's calendar, marked on the day before he died. Using a pencil to dial a rotary phone, Browning discovers the phone number is the Needham Gallery. Soon, Browning sees Jackie in a conversation with the building manager. When the manager threatens to notify Scotland Yard about the dog, Browning disappears. As Margaret cleans out Benjamin's office, Browning appears. Jackie arrives, wanting to interview Margaret about the crime for a book she is writing. Margaret shows Jackie a photograph of Benjamin; and the writer realizes that she met him the day he was killed. Meanwhile, Jackie mentions that she lives at the Stanley Towers, and later, Browning follows her there. Jackie interviews Quimby at Scotland Yard, who insists on access to her research, which he hopes will clear his name as a suspect. Jackie soon visits the Needham Gallery, and leaves Browning in her parked car. There, she meets Montanero, an artist whose work Patricia often used in her interior design work, and Jackie invites him to her flat for dinner. Jackie is introduced to Alistair Becket (John Stride), an up-and-coming candidate for prime minister, who shows great interest in her book. Browning searches the gallery, and soon sees Jackie talking to Bart, the killer. At the sight of the dog on Jackie's lap, Bart becomes nervous and leaves. Browning wiggles free from Jackie's grasp and follows Bart.

Jackie later asks for Patricia's client list, but her building manager refuses. Later still, Jackie interviews Becket, and asks his help to gain access to Patricia's flat. He then summons Bart, his assistant. While the men talk with Jackie, a painting of the Swiss Alps hanging in Becket's office reminds Browning that Patricia vacationed there, and he suspects a connection. Later in Patricia's flat, Browning sees Bart remove evidence. Suddenly, Mr. Higgins appears, and temporarily switches the dog back to his human form to warn him that a mistake was made. His dog body will expire sooner than expected, and he will have to leave before he solves his murder. Benjamin protests, and says he will not leave before the crime is solved.

Meanwhile, Becket alerts Jackie that her dog was found by building security, and is being held in Bart's office. Browning sees a calendar entry on Bart's desk, noting Becket's birthday and a street address. When Jackie notices the entry, she wishes Becket a happy birthday. However, he says that his birthday is 3 March not October, and casually invites her to lunch. Browning soon investigates the address, which is a post office, and decides to search postal box no. thirty-three, based on the numerals of Becket's birthday. Browning grabs a letter out of the box and escapes. At Jackie's apartment, Browning rips open the envelope to find Patricia's pendant with the word "ALP" stamped on the back. Upon realizing the letters stand for "Alistair loves Patricia", Browning searches Jackie's police photographs and notices that Patricia was no longer wearing the pendent. He deduces that Patricia became a political liability for the married Becket once he intended to run for prime minister, and she became engaged to his rival, Quimby. Therefore, Becket and Bart schemed to get rid of her. Browning grabs the pendent in his mouth and heads to Jackie's lunch. However, Bart chases him until Browning runs into an alley. There, Browning transforms into human form, and Mr. Higgins appears, saying Benjamin's time on Earth is over. Bart is shaken to see Benjamin, and leaves after the dog is nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, Benjamin will not cooperate with Higgins, and shows up at the restaurant as Browning with the pendant in his mouth. Becket grabs the pendant away from Jackie, and accuses her of derailing his plan to become prime minister. Browning turns on Jackie's tape recorder just as Becket confesses his love for Patricia. When Jackie accuses Becket of murder, Bart appears and confesses to the crime. After twelve years preparing Becket to become prime minister, Bart did not want Patricia to ruin their political ambitions. Bart is arrested when he tries to shoot Browning but accidentally hits Jackie instead as she sacrifices herself to protect the dog. Although, Browning is miserable over Jackie's death, he is overjoyed to be reunited with her when she returns to Earth as a cat.

''Penrod Schofield'' and his gang are the ''Jr. G Men,'' a secret club where all members are sworn to uphold the law and turn in crooks. When the mother of the youngest member is killed by bank robbers, the boys go into action.

Myron Breckinridge flies to Copenhagen to get a sex-change operation, becoming the beautiful Myra. Returning to America, Myra goes to her uncle Buck Loner's acting school, where she pretends to be her own widow and claims that it was Myron's will that she receive half the school, or $500,000; when Loner demurs, she asks that she be given a teaching job there to provide for herself. Buck reluctantly agrees, while launching an investigation into the veracity of Myra's claims.

Although she is ostensibly assigned an etiquette class, Myra instead philosophizes about the semiotics of the Golden Age of Hollywood while also introducing concepts of femdom into the curriculum. In debates with Myron—who physically manifests to Myra to discuss their plan—it is revealed that Myra has come to the academy with the intention of "the destruction of the last vestigial traces of traditional manhood in the race in order to realign the sexes, thus reducing population while increasing human happiness and preparing for its next stage.”

On campus, Myra becomes obsessed with a pair of young lovers named Rusty and Mary Ann, whom she believes embody all the traits of American gender norms. One night, on the pretext of arranging for him to undergo a physical exam, Myra ties Rusty to a table and anally rapes him with a strap on. The assault causes Rusty to abandon Mary Ann. Myra uses the pair's breakup to move in on Mary Ann herself, encouraging her to experiment with bisexuality. Myra's pursuit of Rusty and Mary Ann is paralleled with the life of Leticia van Allen, a female casting agent who habitually seduces the young men who come to her for auditions. Leticia and Myra briefly cross paths when Leticia comes to the school scouting for talent. Following her assault of Rusty, Myra sends him to Leticia, who claims Rusty as her own lover.

Buck continues his investigation, ultimately uncovering evidence that Myron never died and that no death certificate exists for him. Confronted with the truth, Myra admits to the truth and strips naked before a horrified Buck; Buck's response indicates that Myra did not have her testes removed during her sex change.

Myra continues her pursuit of Mary Ann, who turns her down, telling her that she wishes she were a man. The next day, the manifestation of Myron—claiming that Myra has become too ambitious—runs her down in a car.

Myron awakens in the hospital from the beginning of the film, where it's indicated he has been admitted for a car accident, not gender reassignment; his nurse is Mary Ann. Looking at his bedside table, Myron sees a magazine featuring an article on Raquel Welch.

In the near future cybernetic implants are blurring the line between humans and robots. The story follows a participant in brutal cage fights between cyborgs who reaches the point where he crosses the line between man and machine and becomes part of the robotic underclass. Mikel betrays the human race and launches a coup wiping out the "core members" and declaring himself the new leader.

In his final year at school, and with his parents overseas, Dan is forced to grow up fast when he moves in with his 22-year-old aunt Jacq and her eccentric friend Naomi. His story is light-hearted and funny, with a definite twist of insanity.

In this book, Keladry of Mindelan, known as Kel, faces a tough year ahead to become a page when Lord Wyldon has put her on probation. She finds a way to cope with being in probation and trying to accept herself and push herself so Lord Wyldon will approve.

The first ''Protector of the Small'' book tells of Kel's fight to become an accepted and equally-treated first-year page. Whilst the laws of Tortall may have been changed to favour gender equality, the reality of entering into a traditionally male domain presents many hurdles. Kel is accepted into the royal page program. However, she is placed on probation for the first year. She is forced to deal with hazing from her all-male peers, including derogatory writing on her walls, the destruction of her belongings, and discrimination from the training master. This is in addition to Kel being the first female to openly try to become a knight within the century. Throughout the novel, there is the ever-lurking question of whether the training master will let her continue to train, because he, like many, does not believe that women can equal men in combat. While all this is going on a secret benefactor encourages her with gifts.

When Kel is getting ready for her first day of training, she receives an unexpected gift of a new dagger and a whetstone for sharpening of incredibly high quality, which, at that time, were unaffordable except by people who were one of the higher classes. At midwinter feast time, she also receives a powerful bruise balm from a mysterious gift-giver.

Keladry hates bullies, and after realizing that Joren of Stone Mountain and his friends were bullying first year pages, she defied tradition and started patrolling the halls, fighting the boys whenever she found them hurting others. Nealan, also known as Neal to his friends (possibly the oldest page in the history of pages) becomes her best friend as well as her sponsor, and the other first-year pages gradually accept Kel (as she is known to her friends and family) as she defends them from the bullies.

Category:American fantasy novels Category:Tortallan books Category:1999 American novels Category:1999 fantasy novels

As ''Voyager'' readies for a potentially dangerous encounter with the Botha, the Doctor orders an exhausted Captain Janeway to relax in the holodeck. Before long, she is called back to the Bridge for first contact with the Botha. The Botha representative gives the crew a chilly reception, but sets up a rendezvous to determine whether or not they will allow Voyager to pass through their space. Janeway starts seeing characters and objects from her holonovel, a story in the fashion of ''Jane Eyre''.

Janeway goes to sick-bay, but The Doctor cannot find anything wrong with her brain. Janeway experiences another hallucination, which Kes sees, too. The hallucination bounces off of her and reflects back into Janeway. The Doctor orders Janeway to her quarters for rest until he can determine the source of these events. Later, another holonovel character attacks her in her quarters with a knife. Again, Kes confirms the event, but it is a hallucination—Janeway is still in sick-bay.

Janeway puts Chakotay in charge of meeting with the Botha while she undergoes medical testing. The representative's ship engages the crew in a battle, damaging ''Voyager''. Janeway races to the Bridge, where the Bothan is on the viewscreen, but is shocked to see her fiancee Mark. The other crew members similarly see their loved ones on the screen, and they begin experiencing hallucinations and entering a catatonic state one-by-one, with only Kes and the Doctor remaining unaffected. Kes heads for engineering to block the psychic field; she starts hallucinating as well, but soon focuses herself and defeats the hallucination of burns by reflecting them back upon the intruder. Now it is he who is incapacitated by his own redirected power, while Kes manages to restore the crew to normal.

A telepathic Botha confesses to having caused the disturbance, simply because he could. Before they can confront him further, he disappears. As they continue on their way, the crew reflects uneasily about what is lurking in the subconscious corridors of their minds.

Leading an away team to an uninhabited moon, Chakotay (Robert Beltran) comes across a familiar symbol drawn on the ground. He has a flashback and remembers seeing a similar symbol drawn by his Native American tribe on Earth when he was a young boy (Douglas Spain). Tuvok (Tim Russ) attempts to question him about it, but he is reluctant to discuss it with him. He tells Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) about his discovery, though, and the two of them find a warp trail leading away from the moon to a planet. They decide to investigate, both to pursue the mystery of the symbol and because the planet contains useful minerals.

Efforts to reach the planet are inexplicably hindered. Isolated storms form instantly when the crew tries to beam down by transporter, and when they take a shuttlecraft, more intense storms develop, making approach difficult. When they finally touch down, Neelix (Ethan Phillips) is attacked by a hawk and must be transported back to the ship. Chakotay has further flashbacks, and remembers hiking through a rain forest on Earth with his father (Henry Darrow) in an attempt to locate their ancestral tribe. As a teenager, he had been unreceptive to the experience, telling his father that their heritage was unimportant and that they should embrace the 24th century rather than focusing on their past. The ''Voyager'' away team discovers structures similar to those that Chakotay and his father discovered on their journey.

Chakotay believes that they are being watched by the local inhabitants, and orders the away team to lay down their weapons, to make it clear that they are not a threat. He recalls his father doing the same thing, upon which the Rubber Tree People his father was seeking emerged from the forest. A storm appears from nowhere, and the crew are forced to beam back to ''Voyager''. Chakotay loses his comm badge and is trapped on the surface. He dons some native clothes that he finds on the ground and goes searching for the inhabitants of the planet. Meanwhile, Captain Janeway decides to land ''Voyager'' to search for their missing commander. As with the shuttlecraft, a storm forms as they begin their landing sequence. The storm quickly grows to cyclone strength, setting ''Voyager'' on an uncontrollable crash course.

On the planet, Chakotay slips through a lightning barrier to enter a cave for shelter and is confronted by the local population. They bear the same tattoo as Chakotay, who explains that he wears it in honor of his father as his father did before him. The locals describe how they gave a gift to Chakotay's ancestors to protect and care for the planet, but believed them to have been eradicated by other humans. Thus, the "sky spirits" believed ''Voyager'' s true intentions were to seek out and destroy them and had been responsible for the various storms encountered. Chakotay convinces them that humans have learned from their mistakes and truly came in peace. They dissipate the storm around ''Voyager'' mere seconds before the ship would have crashed onto the planet. For the first time in his life, Chakotay feels a connection to his people.

In a minor sub-plot, The Doctor (Robert Picardo) wants to prove to the crew that mild illnesses do not have to inhibit work. He programs a simulated flu for himself as to act as an example to the rest of the crew. However, Kes (Jennifer Lien) programs it to last longer than he is expecting, in order to prove to him that people who are sick deserve sympathy, and he becomes a terrible patient, begging for the rest of the crew to look after him.

Adrian LeDuc (Firth) is the British owner of a revival house in Buenos Aires. Apart from his mother, the core of his emotional life is movies, specifically classic American movies and stars. The story begins with Adrian in his theater, watching the final scene of ''Touch of Evil''.

As his theater loses more and more money, Adrian advertises for a roommate to share his apartment rent. After several unsatisfactory applicants, he meets American Jack Carney (Bochner), who agrees to take the room. The shy, repressed Adrian is both intimidated by and attracted to Jack, who exudes confidence and strength, and attempts to win Jack's trust and companionship. Jack seems to suspect this and doesn't mind, and he takes a liking to his new landlord.

Jack befriends some of the neighbors. Adrian complains to Jack, telling him that the neighbors aren't to be trusted. Despite Adrian's jealousy, Jack continues to socialize with several of them, becoming sexually involved with Laura, whose husband is frequently away. Claudia, the ticket seller at Adrian's cinema, is involved with a political committee investigating a series of murders that bear a striking resemblance to those committed by members of death squads that operated in Argentina during its last civil-military dictatorship (1976–1983).

Adrian learns that Jack has been lying about his employment and becomes paranoid that Jack is spying on him. He searches Jack's room and finds a number of photographs of Jack in paramilitary garb. Jack returns and calms a highly agitated Adrian, but his own suspicions are aroused when he realizes that Adrian has been in his room.

Though he's personally apolitical, Adrian allows Claudia's committee to use his theatre to view footage of death squad members. Adrian is horrified to see the same sign in the film as appeared in some of the photos of Jack he'd found earlier. Jack, realizing that Adrian is growing more suspicious, falsifies Adrian's passport and prepares to leave Argentina. Unfortunately, the passport is expired and he can't leave. Jack picks up a young gay man and murders him for his passport—but then makes a hash of trying to paste his own photos into the dead man's passport.

Meanwhile, Adrian is devastated by the death of his mother. Adrian gets drunk and creates a disturbance in his apartment, concerning his neighbors. The following morning a television report of the murder of a young man leads the neighbors to think that Adrian has done something to Jack. That evening, the neighbors confront Adrian, forcing their way into his apartment and physically attacking him. Jack returns and tends to the badly injured Adrian.

As Adrian attends his mother's funeral, Claudia comes to the apartment and recognizes Jack from the death squad photos. Adrian returns to find Claudia dead at Jack's hands. A clearly unhinged Adrian, who is as terrified of losing Jack as he is horrified by Claudia's murder, helps Jack dispose of the body. On the way out they run into Laura and her husband. Looking for an alibi, Jack says he's leaving for California in the morning.

After they dump the body in a garbage landfill outside the city, Adrian suggests they really go to California together and Jack agrees. Back at the apartment Adrian changes his mind and goes for Jack's gun in the living room. Jack realizes what's happening and begins strangling Adrian, but eventually lets him up. Adrian again goes for the gun and he and Jack struggle. With the gun pointed at him and with Adrian's finger on the trigger, Jack says "Do it" and the gun goes off.

Some days after, Adrian is having dinner when Laura comes to the door, seeking Jack's address in California. Adrian says he hasn't heard from him and shuts the door. He returns to the table and pours two glasses of wine, one for himself and one for Jack's corpse, which he has kept and sat at the table. The final scene shows a large crowd outside Adrian's cinema, which is now a porn theater. Adrian, who has never gone out in public without a suit and tie, stands in the building's doorway wearing a T-shirt and Jack's black leather jacket, while smoking a cigarette—all just as Jack used to do.

The evil god Ashura has unleashed hordes of monsters and demons onto Earth, hoping to take control of the planet as well as the hearts of men. The good god Hyperion has recruited four of Earth's most powerful warriors and assembled them into a team to fight the encroaching darkness and defeat Ashura: the ninja warriors named Kotarou and Ayame, a Buddhist fighting monk named Kidenbou, and a fencer named Senshirou. (In the game's English localization, their names were changed to Horatio, Tiffany, Marco, and Leo, respectively.)

Professor X has been kidnapped by Magneto and Arcade, and it's up to the X-Men to rescue him.

The book retells the story of the hero's youth, in a version quite different from the account established in previous tales by Howard, de Camp and Carter. Conan is the son of a blacksmith in barbaric Cimmeria, learning "the riddle of steel" from his father as the latter forges a sword. His village is massacred by the cultic followers of Thulsa Doom, an evil sorcerer, and Conan himself enslaved. Set with others to push a millstone, he develops prodigious strength over the years, ultimately pushing it all by himself. As an adult he wins his freedom and embarks on a life of adventure, ultimately wreaking his vengeance on the fiendish Doom with his father's sword.

All of the major characters of the original series appeared in the revival, along with Gertie, a receptionist seldom seen in the original (and played by Connie Cezon on the few occasions when she was), and the plots and their devices were along the lines of the original. The familiar theme song of the original, "Park Avenue Beat," was replaced by a generic dramatic fanfare.

At the beginning of the story, protagonist Hermux Tantamoq is approached by his father's friend, Birch Tentintrotter, to investigate whether the present-day rodent civilization was preceded, and its technology informed, by a feline civilization now obscured. Following an attempt by antagonist Hinkum Stepfitchler (the son of Birch's mentor) to discredit Birch's thesis, Hermux and pilot Linka Perflinger accompany Birch to the Western desert, where they confirm that the feline civilization existed, and that the rodent population were its slaves. They are thereupon captured by Hinkum Stepfitchler, who reveals that his family made their fortune by plagiarizing the cats' technology. In his subsequent absence, they escape, and expose his plan to the rodent society. Thereafter the ruined feline city is re-created at a rodents' museum, with all its artifacts, at a grand celebration.

Theatrical ''Mortal Kombat'' stage show that featured martial arts, sounds from the game and laser light effects. Three Earth warriors travel to Outworld to rescue their comrade and find an amulet that can defeat Shao Kahn and save Earth.

Jerome Littlefield is an orderly at the Whitestone Sanatorium and Hospital who suffers from "neurotic identification empathy"—a psychosomatic problem that causes him to suffer the symptoms of others and interferes with his ability to function effectively on the job. His unwitting propensity for slapstick-style mayhem sorely tries the patience of Dr. Howard and Nurse Higgins.

When his high school crush Susan Andrews is admitted to the hospital after a suicide attempt, Jerome gradually comes to the realization that his problem is a result of his years-long obsession with her. While he fails to establish a romantic relationship with Andrews, he does lift her spirits, thus banishing any thought of suicide and giving her the will to live.

A runaway gurney is chased by several ambulances and causes the destruction of ceiling-high canned goods displays in a Market Basket grocery store. Littlefield is cured of his problem, reunited with his girlfriend Julie, and looking forward to resuming his interrupted medical school career.

''Deportee'' tells the story of a young man and his alcoholic father who live in a skid-row hotel while trying to make ends meet. The father longs for the farm they left behind when they came to the city seeking a better life. The young man falls in love with a beautiful but troubled older woman who lives down the hall. Their bittersweet romance proves to be his painful rite-of-passage into adulthood.

At the beginning, DJ, Chowder and Jenny are pulled into the home, in the police car. After that, they give a jump to avoid being eaten by the house while the police car is thrown down into the stomach.

However, Chowder and Jenny are pulled away from DJ shortly after, by two giant pipes. DJ finds a key in a chest beneath the stairs and uses it to unlock the door to the kitchen. He sees a burning toaster and quickly puts out the fire. After stepping into the house's spotlight, he fights a living chair and enters a hallway where he sees some living chairs go into a nearby room. After finding a key to the bathroom at the end of the hallway, he fights floor crawlers along the way and a living TV passes from behind him after he walks through a door. He dodges some incoming flying books and goes through the bathroom that leads him back to the foyer where he fights another living chair. Meanwhile, Jenny finds herself in the attic and after jumping across a stack of crates that swift away, she tries to get back by going through the air vents, but she gets trapped by a blockade of pipes.

Chowder finds himself in the greenhouse and after exiting the greenhouse and finding a spare light bulb for his water gun, he fights living chairs and wall lamps before arriving in the kitchen and after defeating numerous floor crawlers, he is attacked by a giant pipe, he narrowly escapes the pipe by falling down a dumbwaiter shaft. DJ meanwhile, enters the family room where the phonograph in the room begins playing music and awakens flying books. He manages to fight them off until the phonograph stops playing, unblocking a door to a hallway that leads him to a room with a player piano in it. The piano suddenly begins to play by itself, awakening two living chairs, one normal and one red that is constantly revived by the piano's music. DJ disables the piano, which weakens the red chair and allows DJ to finish it off. He retrieves a key inside the piano and makes it back to the family room where he uses the key to unlock the door to the library. DJ then searches for a dusty book and uses it to open a secret passageway and enters an air duct that leads him to the basement where he finds a crashed police car (possibly the same one that got thrown down into the house's stomach). He contacts Skull and he tells DJ that in order to get out, they have to kill the house by taking out its heart, which is the furnace. DJ goes into the next room and when he tries to open a door, the knob falls off and lands on the ceiling. He turns on two washing machines to knock a large crate down from a shelf and while he moves it over to a wardrobe to climb up it to reach the doorknob, living chairs and gas tank monsters attack him. He is able to fight them off and retrieve the doorknob. DJ then comes across a door with a unseen fiery field behind it. He find a key inside a jar and uses it to unlock a crest and finds a hook inside it. He enters a large room where blockade of pipes prevent him from going any farther. After moving a crate to an open area of the blockade to block off a section of pipes, he was able to get inside the blocked area and moves another crate under a ladder and uses the hook to bring down the ladder and uses it to get to the second floor. Finding himself back in the foyer on the second floor, DJ tries to open an unblocked door that leads to a bedroom, which suddenly throws him inside and closes. He find a key in a jar and uses it to unlock a nearby door to a sideways bedroom where he finds the missing grate handle to the fireplace back in the other bedroom. He opens the fireplace and puts out the fire, revealing a secret passage that takes him to the attic. While avoiding the house's spotlight, he moves the same pile of crate that Jenny jumped across earlier back to the middle, uncovering an air duct. He moves another large crate under the vent so he can climb up to it. He goes through the vent which takes him to a hallway where he finds a key in a nearby room and uses it to open the door to another room at the end of the hallway and finds Jenny still stuck in the vents.

The room where he finds her turns 180° (upside down) as DJ goes forward and after defeating numerous monsters, He goes over to Jenny, but can't free her. Finding another way, Jenny enters the master bedroom and after hearing a telephone suddenly ring, it stops when she approaches it and while looking at some pictures, a floor crawler comes by, getting her attention as a TV comes to life. Jenny defeats the living TV and encounters the first boss in the next room, a large doll that resembles Constance, Nebbercracker's late wife, which comes to life when the chandelier above falls on it. She fights it by destroying the light bulbs on it and finishes it off by shooting the beam holding it up and grabbing the chandelier chain while open firing her water at it. Following her fight against the doll, she finds a way back to the attic.

In the attic, Jenny finds what appears to be a painting of her and a lamp suddenly comes to life. She defeats the lamp and finds a key in the next room and fights a living stove in another room and uses the key to unlock the door there. A blockade of pipes appear and she sees DJ on the floor below. DJ comes after her, but is eaten by a canopy bed in the master bedroom after defeating many monsters and finding a key on it. Up in the attic, Jenny find a train set powered by a bicycle. Monsters ambush her while she moves the model train, which eventually comes off the track and disappears into a poster, where she find a small tunnel behind it, leading into another room. After defeating two living stoves and three living lamps and after she recovers the missing gear to the dumbwaiter, she uses it to get to the basement.

Meanwhile, having woken up in the bowels of the house after falling down the dumbwaiter, Chowder fights a living TV and enters a flooded room. He climbs up to a platform where he moves a crate to a nearby pipe with a valve and turns it to drain out the water. Chowder then fights off many monsters consisting of gas tanks, floor crawlers, and lamps and encounters the second boss, a large killer pipe. After defeating them all, he moves another crate to a high up platform and finds a key to the nearby door behind some furnaces. After using it to unlock the door, he enters an underground bathroom where a TV passes from behind while he goes through a door. Making his way through the labyrinth, Chowder fights two more living TVs and encounters the third boss, again the giant pipe, but has to defeat it three times before he can make his way to the actual basement.

Having made her way to the basement, Jenny fights two living TVs and another living stove and reunites with DJ. Meanwhile, Chowder must make his way through a maze of toys in another part of the basement.

At the end of the maze, Chowder finds his lost basketball but also finds the fourth boss, this time, two large pipes instead of one, which he defeats. Chowder enters a circus-themed area where he plays shooting games to find the missing eye and nose of the clown on a merry-go-around to move forward (all while fighting off chairs, floor crawlers, gas tanks, and a TV, which will only come alive if Chowder fails at one of the games) and reunites with DJ and Jenny.

They discover that the house is possessed by Constance. They try to destroy the furnace (the heart of the house), but fail and are separated again by three giant pipes.

The children then fight to escape the house by making their way through the maze of corridors, encountering more enemies along the way. They all then reunite again in the main entrance and narrowly escape the house thanks to Jenny, who pulls down on the house's uvula (chandelier).

After escaping, the house chases them to an abandoned construction site, in which along the way, causes a manhole to pop out of the ground and throws a car at them. Chowder fights off the house, the final boss, with a backhoe.

Then DJ, while hanging from a construction crane, throws an active dynamite down the house`s chimney, destroying the furnace and the house itself. DJ then says one last monologue, then the game's credits roll.

As seen in the movie, the monsters of ''Monsters, Inc.'' need to come up with another source of power for their worlds. The game starts off with a cut scene where the characters are doing their work trying to make the child laugh. When they fail, another character has a ball thrown at them causing an uproar of laughs. This also causes the laugh power meter to increase. This sparks their idea to start an all out war of dodge ball to keep the power running throughout their world.

It is a basic dodgeball game with sheer simplicity aimed at a very young audience. The game starts in a specially designed arena, where monsters are lined up like in actual dodgeball and throw laugh balls at each other. There are a total of seven arenas and other bonus stages and mini-games which will be unlocked as the game progresses.

The blacksmith and swordsmith John (Alan Ladd) is tutored at the court of King Arthur (Anthony Bushell), but as a commoner he can't hope to win the hand of Lady Linet (Patricia Medina), daughter of the Earl of Yeonil (Harry Andrews). The Earl's castle is attacked by Saracens and Cornishmen — disguised as Vikings — and his wife is killed, making him lose his memory. The attack was part of a plot by the Saracen Sir Palamides (Peter Cushing) and the pagan Cornish King Mark (Patrick Troughton) to overthrow Arthur and Christianity and take over the country, whilst pretending to be Arthur's friends and allies - Palamides is a knight of the round table and Mark has faked his own baptism.

John accuses Palamides' servant Bernard (Bill Brandon) of murder before Arthur, who grants him three months' grace to prove the accusation or face execution himself. Another knight, Sir Ontzlake (André Morell), takes pity on John and trains him in swordplay so that he can take on an alternative secret identity as the wandering Black Knight. The "Vikings" raid a newly founded monastery and take Lady Linet and its monks to Stonehenge for a pagan sacrifice, but the Black Knight arrives and saves her, closely followed by Arthur and his knights, who defeat the pagans and destroy Stonehenge.

Sir Palamides tricks the Lady Linet into his castle to try to get her to reveal the Black Knight's identity, but John is informed of this and saves her, still in disguise. Sir Ontzlake then sends him to King Mark's castle, where a pro-Arthur woodcarver shows him a secret tunnel into the royal chambers. John arrives in time to overhear Mark and Palamides finalising their plot but Palamides beats him back to Camelot, tricking Arthur into thinking that the Black Knight is leading the Viking raids. John arrives dressed as the Black Knight and despite revealing his identity is briefly imprisoned until Lady Linet and Sir Ontzlake free him, with the latter standing bail for John to Arthur.

John returns to Mark's castle, where he traps Mark's forces and kidnaps Mark at swordpoint. The following morning the Saracens land near Camelot and Sir Palamides and Bernard trick their way into Camelot. Bernard stabs a man in Arthur's bed, only to find it is Mark and not Arthur. John chases Bernard and he falls from the battlements, whilst Arthur's knights trick the Saracens by replying to their fire-arrow signal, which was to have been the signal for the Cornish to join the Saracen attack. The knights defeat the Saracens beneath Camelot's walls, while inside them John beats Palamides single-handed. As a reward Arthur knights John and offers him the further boon of his "heart's desire". John asks to marry the Lady Linet and both she and Arthur accept.

The five richest men in the territory gather in Laredo for their annual high-stakes poker game. The high rollers let nothing get in the way of their yearly showdown. When undertaker Tropp (Charles Bickford) calls for them in his horse-drawn hearse, cattleman Henry Drummond (Robards) forces a postponement of his daughter's wedding, while lawyer Otto Habershaw (Kevin McCarthy) abandons his closing arguments in a trial, with his client's life hanging in the balance. They are joined by Wilcox (Robert Middleton) and Buford (John Qualen) in the back room of Sam's saloon, while the curious gather outside for occasional reports.

Settler Meredith (Fonda), his wife Mary (Joanne Woodward), and their young son Jackie (Gerald Michenaud) are passing through, on their way to purchase a farm near San Antonio, when a wheel on their wagon breaks. They wait at Sam's while the local blacksmith repairs it. Meredith, a recovering gambler, learns of the big poker game and begins to feel the excitement once again. The newcomer buys into the game, eventually staking all of the family savings, meant to pay for a home.

The game builds to a climactic hand; the gamblers raise and reraise until more than $20,000 are in the pot. Meredith, out of cash, is unable to call the latest raise. Under the strain, he collapses. The town physician, Joseph "Doc" Scully (Burgess Meredith), is called to care for the stricken man. Barely conscious, Meredith signals for his wife to play out the hand.

Taking his seat, Mary asks, "How do you play this game?" At this, the other players object loudly, but eventually give in. The situation is explained to her; if she cannot match the last raise (and any others that may follow), she will be out of the hand.

Despite the men's protests, she leaves the room to borrow additional funds. With Jackie and four of the players trailing behind, Mary crosses the street and talks to the owner of the Cattle and Merchants' Bank, C. P. Ballinger (Paul Ford). After she shows him her hand, Ballinger suggests she is playing a practical joke. When he is told otherwise, he lends her $5,500 (at 6% interest) and makes a $5,000 raise for her. The other players, aware of Ballinger's tightfisted, cautious nature, all reluctantly fold. Mary collects her sizable winnings and pays Ballinger back with interest. The game then breaks up, no one ever having seen the winning hand.

The lady's determination earns her the admiration of the men. Drummond is so touched that when he returns home to the waiting wedding ceremony, he talks privately to his weak-willed, prospective son-in-law, gives him some money, and orders him to run away and find himself a better wife than his daughter.

In the end, Meredith, Mary, and even their "son" are revealed to be confidence tricksters and expert card sharps. With the help of Scully—who dreams of romance far from the tedium and poverty of a country doctor's life—and at Ballinger's behest, they have perpetrated a scam on the other poker players, who had swindled the banker in a real-estate deal 16 years before. "Mary" is actually Ballinger's mistress, Ruby. She promised him she would give up gambling after the caper, but she sits down to another poker game, much to Ballinger's dismay, as the credits roll.

The action mostly takes place in Southern California, in a few days during August 1987.

Frank Marrity (a widower) and his loving twelve-year-old daughter, Daphne, are drawn into a dangerous occult world when his grandmother (affectionately called "Grammar") dies in bizarre circumstances. Soon, Frank and Daphne are pursued by agents who know much more about their lives than they do—for example, that Grammar is Lieserl Maric, the daughter of Albert Einstein, and that she was friends with Charlie Chaplin—and that all three of them had discovered secrets to time travel and had found how to change prior events, perhaps to please themselves.

Frank and Daphne, who wish to live their normal lives (he teaches English at University of Redlands, she is also fond of English literature), find their lives invaded by secret agents and an old man who introduces himself to Frank as his missing father. In reality, he is an older Frank, from the year 2006, who has found himself in a miserable alcoholic life, but remembers an earlier time-line in which he was happy. Because Daphne died in that time-line, old Frank thinks that if she dies now, he will return to 2006's happy life.

Lieserl "Grammar" Marrity, with the help of her father Einstein and her friend Chaplin, had created a time machine (a "''maschinchen''"), which she keeps in a small outbuilding called the Kaleidoscope Shed. The machine's components are a swastika of gold filaments; a (fictional) cement slab with Chaplin's handprints, footprints and signature, dated 1928, from the forecourt of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre; a videotape of ''A Woman of the Sea'', a lost film Chaplin made in 1926; and a pack of letters from Einstein to Grammar. The time machine, as described, works mystically as well as scientifically. This sort of synthesis of modes of speculative fiction (and of MacGuffins) is typical of Powers's combined-science-fiction-and-fantasy novels.

The Chaplin film has been recorded over a commercial VHS tape of ''Pee-wee's Big Adventure''; when Daphne watches it, she reacts with such horror and fear that she strikes out pyrokinetically and burns both the tape and her teddy bear in her bedroom upstairs. This psychic action attracts the attention of two groups of foreign agents who are searching for the time machine.

The apparently sympathetic agents are of the Mossad, one member of whom wishes to travel back in time to change certain events during the Six-Day War, which left him crippled, whereas an opposing group, called the Vespers, wants to murder Frank Marrity for reasons he cannot understand.

Old Frank warns young Frank and Daphne not to eat in an Italian restaurant, but they disregard this and go to lunch at Alfredo's. Daphne chokes on a bite of food and Frank performs an emergency tracheotomy, saving her life. When she is hospitalized, they are visited by Oren Lepidopt, a Mossad katsa, who pretends to be Eugene Jackson of the National Security Agency. While there, he sees a ''dybbuk'' appear on the hospital room television and attempt to possess Daphne, but Lepidopt rescues them. Believing his statements, Frank and Daphne, by default, join the Mossad team.

The Vespers attempt to kidnap the Marritys by co-opting Frank's brother-in-law, Bennett, to deliver them for $50,000. Bennett leads them to Grammar's house, but then changes his mind and saves Frank and Daphne from assassination. Bennett brings Frank, Daphne, and his wife Moira (Frank's sister) to a house in Hollywood Hills. Frank contacts Lepidopt and tells him how to find the ''maschinchen'' in Grammar's Kaleidoscope Shed. By a matter of minutes, Lepidopt's team fetches the machine before the Vespers and old Frank can get to it.

In Hollywood Hills, the Vespers group successfully kidnaps Daphne, at which point one of them, Charlotte Sinclair, a blind psychic, switches sides and joins Frank to save Daphne. Having lost her eyesight in an accident at the age of 19, she wants the time travel machine in order to cancel her present time-line and start over, avoiding both the accident and her conflicted present life. She and Frank are romantically attracted to each other.

The Vespers bring Daphne to their hideout in Palm Springs. The Mossad team, with young Frank and Charlotte, bring the time machine components to the Wigwam Motel in San Bernardino, California in order to use it as an aid for a séance, each of them hoping to accomplish their various goals. They experience a sort of hallucination of Powers's fanciful history of what "really" happened to Einstein, Chaplin and Lieserl during the 1920s and 1930s, including a psychic/time travel explanation of the 1933 Long Beach earthquake.

Daphne, captured and tied up by the Vespers, uses her mental powers to set their headquarters on fire. They tranquilize her and flee, but Frank's telepathic link has alerted him to what she did. The Mossad agents imprison Frank and Charlotte in the back of their van and head for Palm Springs, where Lepidopt is intended to time-travel to the Six-Day War; both teams, using different magical abilities, gradually converge upon each other. Lepidopt, with his hands on the Chaplin concrete slab, hesitates, and the Vespers surround the Mossad van.

The novel climaxes with a shootout at the El Mirador Medical Plaza in Palm Springs, in which several major characters are shot and killed. Lepidopt finally gets up the nerve to "jump" but travels back only two minutes in time; still, this is enough for him to change the time-line and to save Frank, Daphne and Charlotte, though he himself dies. The details are wrapped up in the Epilogue, when the three attend Grammar's funeral. Bennett Bradley shares the $50,000 with the Marritys.

El Hadji Abdoukader Beye, a Senegalese businessman and a Muslim, takes on a third wife, thereby demonstrating his social and economic success. On the wedding night he discovers that he is incapable of consummating the marriage; he has become impotent. At the beginning, he suspects that one or both of his first two wives have put the spell on him, without realizing that he walks by the true guilty party every day (beggars and people he has stolen from). Much of his journey leads to many efforts to remove the spell, only to not notice that his business empire is falling around him. The film criticizes the African leaders' attitude after Independence, underlining their greed and their inability to step away from foreign influences. In the end, after losing nearly everything, the people he has robbed confront him, and offer to remove the spell—for a price.

The film is set in a colourful Bambara village in Burkina Faso dotted with termite mounds, and a mosque made from clay that resembles a gigantic hedgehog. The village is a symbol of green Africa, a time capsule that nonetheless is not immune to the influences of the outside and 'modern' world.

Collé is the second of her husband's three wives, and is the most beloved by her husband, a temperate and calmer man than many others in the village. Her daughter, Amasatou, has become engaged, although she has not undergone female genital cutting, considered a prerequisite for marriage in the local tradition. Collé opposes this practice, which has led the elders in the village, women as well as men, to despise her daughter. Amasatou herself unceasingly requests to have her genitals cut to secure her social status and marriage acceptance, but Collé remains unmoved. She is approached by four little girls who are afraid and escape the ritual of the practice, and Collé draws a symbolic line, the colorful rope ''Moolaadé'', a "magical protection," across the gate of the family's premises. ''Moolaadé'' prevents the women elders who carry out the practice, and who have been searching for the girls, from entering the house.

In the beginning, the first wife seems to be against Collé's plan to protect the girls. However, later they become closer and she tells Collé that she also opposes female genital cutting. She feared making it known, but has been helping her all along, without anyone's notice.

While facing her daughter's request to be circumcised, Collé explains that she does not want her daughter to end up on the same road she travelled. Her first reason is that it has too many indefinite outcomes, some of which can be fatal. An even bigger reason is that Collé had two unsuccessful pregnancies before Amasatou, which caused her great physical and emotional pain and were almost fatal. In a flashback, there is a scene of her and her husband having sexual intercourse which is clearly causing her physical pain. He falls asleep, while she is unable to do so because the sexual intercourse brings unbearable pain for her rather than pleasure. She keeps biting her ring finger, symbol of her marriage, and dares not say a single word even when her finger bleeds. At dawn, she is still awake to wash her body, as well as her blood off the bed sheet.

As Collé represents African women who awaken to resist patriarchal control, her daughter's fiancé Ibrahima, a rich and open-minded young man living in France, returns to the village, and represents the enlightened educated abroad who returns home and observes the tradition of his village. He witnesses a funeral of two little girls, who desperately drowned themselves in a well to avoid the mutilation of their genitals. The girls' relatives are sad, but the incident does not lead the villagers to question the tradition. Ibrahima is shocked and worried by this; meanwhile, Ibrahima's father wants him to renounce his engagement to Amasatou, and marry his innocent eleven-year-old cousin instead, who has already undergone female genital cutting. Ibrahima refuses to do so, recognizing such an act as child abuse, and visits Amasatou's house despite what the villagers say. He confirms her as his fiancée, regardless of her "impure" status according to the local tradition.

The African women's daily entertainment is enjoying the radio which transmits music and news of the world, which the male elders deem to be counterproductive and dangerous. The elders think that Ciré Bathiliy, Collé's husband, has lost the ability to control his own wife, so the elders insist that he beat her with a leather whip in front of the village to show that he still controls her. The elders want her to utter the word to end the moolaade, so they can take the four girls from her protection. Her husband whips her, but she endures and refuses to give her tormentors the satisfaction of a giving in. Opposite groups of men and women shout to her to revoke or to be steadfast, but no woman interferes. When she is on the verge of collapse, a merchant steps out and stops the whipping.

The womanizing merchant is called Mercenaire by people in the village. He is a war veteran who has become a travelling merchant after being discharged from the army after he accused his superiors of corruption. When he converses with Ibrahima, he accuses him, his father, and his uncle of pedophilia and is suddenly no longer concerned about the money that he could possibly get from the rich young man. He is bringing all the plastic junk to the village; the junk is brightly and boldly colored as the magnificent costumes the people wear in Africa. He sells his wares at extremely high prices. Later he is hunted out of the village and, when out of sight, murdered.

During the whipping, one of the four girls' mother steals her daughter from Collé's house and sends her to get her genitals cut, although the little girl screams and tries to resist. The girl dies as a result of the cutting and her mother regrets her previous support of the practice. The other mothers all see the tragedy happen and thus change their minds and begin opposing genital cutting. This persuades Collé to revoke the protection and return the children to their parents.

From the men's point of view, the radio is a bad influence on the women because it teaches them things from the outside world, such as the idea of equality or how excision isn't truly necessary. Therefore, the elders decide to burn the radios that they confiscated earlier. Although all the radios are supposed to be burned, some are hidden by the women of the village. The women are united because of the pain caused by the genital cutting. They are all mourning, they are all awakened, and when the elders return, they are greeted with shouts of, "No more genital cutting!". Collé demands that the women give up their knives, which she then carries to the elders, proclaiming that genital cutting is now a thing of the past. After her demonstration, Ibrahima stands up to his father, says he is not going to listen to him, and despite his threats to disown him (which is quite foolish seeing how Ibrahima is the family's breadwinner) announces that he is going to marry Amasatou because he is proud of her. The end of the movie is the smoke of the burning radios, which speaks both to speaking out and repression of speech.

A spoiled, young queen asks for the impossible during a cold winter and requests for a bouquet of Galanthus, a spring wildflower, for New Year's Day in exchange for a reward of gold. One greedy woman desires to collect the bounty and instead of sending her own daughter, readily sends her young stepdaughter, Anja, to look for the white-blossomed flowers in the deep forest during a night snowstorm despite knowing the task will be impossible. Despite refusing, Anja is cast into the blizzard by her stepmother and in the barren forest, falls unconscious from the freezing cold. Later, she is awoken and is drawn to a light in the distance from a mysterious bonfire, surrounded by spirits whom reveal themselves as the Twelve Months. Learning of her task, the twelve spirits take pity on Anja. They use their powers to temporarily bring spring to allow the flowers to grow and be collected but requests no one is to know how and where she obtained the Galanthus. A grateful Anja returns home with the requested flowers and the bouquet is presented to the Queen by her stepmother and stepsister. However, the dissatisfied queen wishes to see where the flowers grow for herself.

Nancy Drew goes to Hawai'i to serve as a research assistant to Dr. Quigley Kim, an entomologist. A devastating scourge is destroying the local pineapple crop. Residents are whispering that a secretive research compound has awoken the legendary Kāne 'Ōkala, a man who was killed in a volcano centuries ago and now prowls the Big Island wreaking havoc. Upon arriving, Nancy discovers Dr. Kim's camp has been ravaged, and Dr. Kim is missing. Coincidentally, the Hardy Boys are also on the island to complete a top-secret mission, so the three amateur detectives must team up to solve the mystery.

Roy Alston (Maxwell Caulfield) and Bo Richards (Charlie Sheen) are two outcasts of their high school community. Bo receives $200 as a graduation gift from his grandparents. Facing a lifetime of working blue collar factory jobs, the boys spontaneously decide to use the money to go on a vacation to Los Angeles.

During the drive to Los Angeles, Bo and Roy rob a gas station and beat the attendant (Joseph Michael Cala) with a crowbar. The next day, the boys go to a beach boardwalk, where Roy throws an empty beer bottle and it hits an elderly woman (Helen Brown) on the forehead. Three young women (Claudia Templeton, Mary Tiffany, and Marilou Conway) see this, and they chase Bo and Roy to a parking lot. The women yell at the boys and damage their car. Enraged, Roy starts the car and drives around in circles in the parking lot with the women still on the hood. After several loops, Roy throws the car into reverse, throwing one of the women from the hood of the car. After the incident, one of the women finds Bo and Roy's dog, Boner the Barbarian, and reads its ID tag, which leads to speculation of where Bo and Roy are from.

During a visit to La Brea Tar Pits, Bo expresses his wish that the world could just "go caveman" for one day, abandoning all rules and order. Roy agrees, and they spend their evening on the streets of Los Angeles.

Several additional encounters lead to more deaths, including a gay man Chris (Paul C. Dancer), a young couple (Richard Pachorek and Lesa Lee), and an older woman Angie Baker (Patti D'Arbanville) whom Roy kills while she is having sex with Bo. Eventually the duo are tracked and found by the LAPD and chased into a shopping mall. After unsuccessfully trying to steal some guns, Bo tries to talk some sense into Roy about surrendering. Roy refuses, and he orders Bo to give him the gun so he can go out in a "blaze of glory". Bo refuses and shoots Roy when he tries to take the gun away. The police surround Bo and ask him why he killed his friend. Bo replies, "Because I had to." Bo is then arrested and led away while reporters snap photos of him.

Maxi (Nathan Lopez) is a 12-year-old effeminate gay boy who lives in the slums with his father and brothers who are petty thieves. The story primarily revolves around the conflict between his love for handsome young police officer Victor (JR Valentin), and his family's illegal livelihood. Neo-realist in orientation, the film is a tale of lost innocence and redemption amidst the poverty of Manila's slums.

Maxi behaves like a girl, wearing clips or hairband in his hair and bangles on his wrists and even wearing lipstick. He is teased by neighbors and former school friends. His sexuality is, however, fully accepted by his two brothers and by his father. One night, he is accosted by two men who attempt to molest him, but is saved by the appearance of Victor. Victor does not have a girlfriend and his sexuality is kept ambiguous. However, he does rebuff Maxi's advances. In a key event, Maxi's father, his brother Bogs, and Bogs' friends hatch a plan to teach Victor a lesson for snooping into their business. They leave him bloodied and beat up. Just as Victor saved him, it was Maxi who arrived to clean Victor's wounds and cook breakfast for him. Maxi felt sorry and felt somehow responsible for his injuries. Victor then affectionately stroked Maxi's hair and Maxi gives him a kiss on the cheek.

After Maxi's father is killed by Victor's boss which Maxi witnesses, Maxi resists Victor's attempts to renew their friendship. The closing scene shows Maxi walking past Victor who has parked by the roadside on Maxi's way to school. He ignores Victor as he passes him, hesitates momentarily as he crosses the road, then goes on his way. This last scene is a homage to the final scene of "The Third Man".

At Christmas time, New York City convicts Dave and Alvin Firpo are paroled early and placed in the custody of their younger brother Bill, a restaurant manager. Dave and Alvin ask Bill to take them to Paradise, Pennsylvania to do a favor for a fellow inmate of theirs. Bill refuses as his brothers are not allowed out of the state; but agrees after getting linked to a robbery his brothers committed.

When they discover Paradise's bank is light on security, Bill agrees to rob the bank. The vault is locked and the president, Clifford Anderson, is on lunch. While Dave stays in the bank, Alvin and Bill charge into the restaurant, taking Mr. Anderson and the restaurant patrons back to the bank. Bill and Dave gain access to the vault and soon rush out of the bank with $275,000, with Alvin driving the getaway car.

While trying to get out of town, Alvin gets them lost. A police car turns on the sirens and they try to evade getting caught. Because of slick roads, they drive over a bridge. The police officer does not see them crash and drives past the bridge, but another car stops and offers them a ride. Due to the interstates being closed, the man takes them to his relatives. Upon arriving at the house, they find out it is the house of bank president Mr. Anderson and family. However, the relatives don't recognize them, and treat the brothers with generosity.

Vic Mazzucci, the inmate who gave Dave and Alvin the tip about the low security of the bank, gets enraged that they robbed the bank and busts out of jail. He and his henchman, Caesar, take the Firpos' mother, Edna hostage, and threaten to kill her unless they give him the stolen money.

After several failed attempts to escape and finally getting on their feet, Bill and Alvin decide to return the money to the bank while Alvin reveals to Bill he is not wanted in New York and that they scammed him. Upset, Bill leaves his two brothers, then heads off to return the money and asks strangers for a ride to Paradise. By coincidence, he winds up getting a ride with Vic and Caesar, who are holding his mother hostage in the trunk. Bill shows them his mother's picture, whereupon Vic tries to shoot him so he can get the money Bill has in the bag. Bill jumps out of the car and escapes, rescued by Dave and Alvin.

They try to get the money back into the bank but trigger the alarm. They then give the money to a church with a letter requesting to return it to the town's people. Trying to get away, inept shopkeepers Ed and Clovis (who had sold the Firpos the ski masks before the robbery) recognize them and want the money for themselves. Ed and Clovis grab the brothers and take them to the Anderson house, while followed by the police. Vic and Caesar are holding the Andersons hostage, along with Timmy (the sheriff's son), Edna and Sarah, Vic's daughter and a tenant of the family.

The police see the license plates on the car in front of the Anderson house are from a stolen car, and therefore order Vic and Caesar to come out with their hands held up. While the inmates are busy figuring out what to do, they get attacked by Timmy, who immobilizes Caesar and shoots Vic. The police rush into the house and take everyone to the office. There, FBI agent Shaddus Peyser tries to figure out what happened, and because the town's people hide what they know about Bill, Alvin, and Dave and the church pastor returns the money to the police, they release them. Bill stays in Paradise to be with Sarah, while Alvin and Dave return with their mother to New York.

Keroro skips out on destroying military planes in a simulated reality in favor of buying the newest Gundam model with Fuyuki. As they head home, they encounter a mystery shrine resembling a space fort. As Keroro prepares to give a monetary offering, he accidentally drops a 100-yen coin into the shrine, forcing him and Fuyuki to go after it. Inside the shrine is a prehistoric-looking jungle, where Fuyuki finds an ancient dome and a small glass container, inside it a glowing orb. As Keroro triumphantly finds his coin, he knocks over the container, which breaks, causing the orb to shine wildly. After Keroro attempts to fix the container with rubber cement, the duo dashes out of the shrine and toward home, leaving the remaining piece of the container to transform into a pink

As Keroro builds his new GM Sniper Custom model, he discovers a small red X on his face. He goes to both Fuyuki and Natsumi to tell them about his dilemma, but neither of them are of any help. That night, a menacing white Keronian appears from the mystery shrine, and gives numerous Earthlings the same red X. The next day, it is discovered that anyone who possesses this red mark gains telepathic powers named "Revocommi", allowing them to communicate with their minds. The X mark is also contagious: it can be spread from one person to another, allowing other people to become Revolutor. Keroro then orders Kururu to create an amplifying device, planning to use his new power to send amplified orders to the Revolutor of Earth, putting them under his control. That night, the white Keronian (who has taken residence on a tower) sends out a strange signal.

The next day, everyone has become depressed, this is because the Revolutor can sense each other's malicious thoughts, they're avoiding others, and begin to withdraw from society. What's more, because of telepathy, there's no need for cops, TV broadcasts, Internet, or cell phones, and the entire city shuts down. That night, strange green orbs emerge from the Revolutor's marks, and are fed to the white Keronian. On the same night, as Keroro's order-magnifying helmet is completed, the pink Keronian arrives in a gigantic Keronian statue. The Keronian introduces herself as Mirara, the Keron Army's ancient weapon researcher. She is fascinated by Keroro's helmet, but is frightened to see the X symbol on everyone, and tells them a story: The red X is a part of the Keronian weapon named Kiruru, which was sealed away in a vase by the Keron Army. It grows and multiplies from people's conflicts, pain, worries, and negative mental energy, after which it destroys the planet. The only thing that can reseal Kiruru is strong friendship and a heart of trust, but when Mirara reminds the group that invaders and invadees are sworn enemies, more negative energy is produced and Kiruru grows stronger. She turns to Momoka and Tamama for help, but only ends up causing the same problem.

Having absorbed everyone's malicious thoughts, Kiruru transforms into a monster and rampages through the city. The Keroro Platoon decides to take matters into their own hands and send Giroro and Tamama to attack Kiruru, but even their most powerful attacks fail to put a scratch on Kiruru. Seeing no other alternative, Keroro dons the helmet, intending to enlarge himself and send orders to Kiruru. But when that fails, he decides to stall Kiruru while Fuyuki, Natsumi, and Giroro head for the mystery shrine and figure out a way to stop Kiruru. Back at the mystery shrine, Fuyuki and Natsumi discover that it was Kiruru that destroyed the dinosaurs, and when Kiruru absorbs enough dark emotions, he starts multiplying, and only Mirara can stop Kiruru.

Keroro finally admits defeat to Kiruru, who then absorbs his energy, transforming into a large tower. Keroro returns to see the Hinata household (and all of his Gunpla) in ruins. The good memories Keroro and Fuyuki share together cause the red X on their heads to disappear. Mirara appears and gives the group red circles, after which she transforms into a key, which will seal Kiruru if it is inserted into the gigantic X on the tower. Using Mirara's Keronian statue as a mode of transportation, Keroro and Fuyuki are close to approaching the tower, but as soon as they come into close proximity, Kiruru starts to clone himself and chases after them. The statue crash lands, leaving the others to take care of the situation. Keroro and Fuyuki find a new mode of transportation in the form of Mutsumi's giant paper airplane, but the Kirurus continue to multiply. After the key continuously switches between owners, Kululu finally tosses it towards the X, which is shielded by a barrier. The barrier is broken when Giroro flies his mech into it. Natsumi and Giroro hold off the Kirurus while Fuyuki and Keroro go inside the tower. After a long stairway, the duo find a gigantic glass vase with a key-shaped slot. They finally seal away Kiruru, and the Kiruru Tower disappears in a brilliant yellow light, along with everyone's red X.

Tenchi Academy is an all-girls school that teaches regular classes as well as "Sword Arts". In Sword Arts, students attempt to perfect their combat skills by dueling each other. There are also , where students form a partnership with another and defeat other pairs to win rank and stars. There are 174 teams (348 students) that fight under the Hoshitori system. The administrator (also the student council president) of the school will give money to those with more stars, saying that "any wish will be granted, if you have enough stars."

Nagi Kurogane is a sword scholarship student of Tenchi Academy. However, she cannot go to school because she is undergoing rehabilitation. Therefore, her twin little sister, Hayate, disguises herself as Nagi to go to the school. In the school, the scholarship student must fight against other scholarship students to win higher ranks. But because Hayate's only interest is how to pretend to be Nagi, she is not interested in the mandatory fights. However, knowing that her old orphanage is in eight million yen in debt, and is being harassed by collectors, Hayate resolves her mind to take part in the fights. The participant gets 50,000 yen if she wins a bout, and she gets one million yen if she enters the next rank.

Since each participant must have her partner, Hayate asks Ayana Mudō to be her partner. Ayana is a talented swordsman, but she does not take part in the fighting because of her personal reasons. At first, Ayana thinks Hayate is annoying, but in order to face her ex-partner whom Ayana injured during the duels, she cooperates with Hayate.

The story is narrated by the thief Satampra Zeiros, who says he is writing with his left hand because he has lost his right. Zeiros and his companion Tirouv Ompallios are thieves living in the city of Uzuldaroum. They are short on money, so Zeiros suggests they plunder Commorium, the abandoned former capital city of Hyperborea. In Commorium, they stumble upon an ancient temple of the elder god Tsathoggua. The building is perfectly preserved except for a damaged lintel. A vast bronze basin stands in the middle of the temple, and a stone idol is on the far side. To their disappointment, the idol has no inset jewels. The basin contains a stinking, viscous, sooty liquid. The liquid rises out of the basin and shapes itself into a monster with an enormous head, tentacles, and a dozen legs. The monster hunts the thieves all night. At dawn the thieves realize they have circled back to the temple. They enter and bolt the door, but the monster pours in through the holes in the lintel. Zeiros hides behind the statue of the god, while Ompallios clambers into the basin. The monster engulfs Ompallios and silently digests him. Zeiros creeps to the door, but the noise of the bolt draws the creature's attention. A tentacle springs out of the basin and catches Zeiros's right wrist. As he stumbles out of the temple, the tentacle severs his hand and carries it to the basin.

The film opens with John (Jonathan Wade Drahos) regaining consciousness in a restroom stall at "The Red Party." He stares at himself in the mirror and flashes back to when he was a small-town cop from Illinois who moved to Los Angeles, hoping to find a more welcoming environment. He temporarily moves in with his cousin Tad (Daniel Kucan), who is living with his suddenly ex-boyfriend Gill (Brian Lane Green) and Tad's new boyfriend Julian (Darryl Stephens). Tad is a filmmaker, shooting a documentary on circuit parties and Julian DJs at the parties. Gill takes John to a party in the Hollywood hills, where he meets Hector (Andre Khabbazi), a hustler who is battling mounting insecurities over his looks and age as he is about to turn 30. John and Hector forge a friendship and Hector introduces John to the world of circuit parties and illicit drugs.

One of Tad's subjects is Bobby (Paul Lekakis), an exotic dancer and model who performs at circuit parties (and with whom coincidentally John tricked at a party). Bobby is HIV-positive but asymptomatic. Tad records Bobby's performance at a club. Also performing at the club, as a comedian, is Nina (Kiersten Warren), who coincidentally is a friend of John's. She is living out of her car so John invites her and her cat to stay with him in his new trailer.

Tad shows his footage of Bobby to Gino (William Katt), who is an investor, to secure the funding to finish the film. Gino is involved in a number of business ventures, including running circuit parties with his wife Louise (Nancy Allen), distributing drugs and buying viatical settlements, including Bobby's. Gino offers Tad half the money he needs. After viewing the footage Gino angrily confronts Bobby, who remarks that Gino gambled by buying his insurance policy and lost.

John follows Hector deeper into circuit scene, using a variety of drugs including Special K, GHB, cocaine, crystal meth and, suffering from body dysmorphia despite being in terrific physical shape, anabolic steroids.

Gill has grown tired of Tad and Julian living with him and gives them a deadline for moving out. Initially he agrees to let them stay until after the White Party so Julian can earn rent money and Tad can finish his film but then decides he wants them out sooner. Desperate, Tad returns to Gino for more financing. Gino refuses. Louise, growing more disgusted with Gino, later secretly gives Tad the money.

Gino becomes obsessed with Bobby and plans to kill him. He offers to pay Hector to sleep with Bobby and slip Bobby poisoned drugs.

John begins working security for Gino's parties (which is largely an excuse for his own partying). One such party is The Red Party, where John runs into a drag queen who remembers him from his small town days. This reminder of his past nearly sends John over the edge, leading to the drug binge which lands him on the stall floor.

Gill and Nina realize John is in trouble but are not able to help him. John goes so far as to prostitute himself, joining Hector for a scene in which they have sex while a client watches. John, disgusted with himself, argues with Hector and refuses to take his cut of the fee. Eventually Nina moves out after John, in a drug-induced rage, attacks her cat. John tries to seduce Gill, who refuses him because of his heavy partying and drug abuse.

John reduces his partying and drug use and goes to Gill for a job with his landscaping business. He and Gill also pursue a romantic relationship, but John, having stopped his steroid use, can't perform sexually because his body feels "soft." He returns to Hector for more "juice."

It is the weekend of the annual Palm Springs White Party. Gino has provided Hector, who has become more terrified about losing his youth and looks, with the poisoned drugs. Tad is going to the party to record the last footage he needs to complete his documentary, including Bobby's farewell performance. Julian is DJing. John is going to supervise security. He and Hector travel by limousine and they reconcile. After giving John his headphones to listen to a song, Hector confesses that he loves him. Gino and Louise are also at the party and amidst the chaos Louise leaves him.

After Bobby's farewell performance, Hector goes to his room and they have sex for most of the night. When they're spent, Bobby says to Hector, "you saved my life tonight." Hector replies, "More than you'll ever know" and ingests the poisoned drugs. He dies, on his 30th birthday.

The next morning, Bobby discovers that Hector is dead. John, on his way to find Hector, runs into Gino outside the room, who says how sorry he is about Bobby's death, but trails off when Bobby walks out of the room. John looks in and sees Hector's body. He realizes Gino is involved and starts to attacks him, then, shattered by grief, runs off weeping.

Six months later, John and Gill (still dating), Nina, Tad, Bobby, Louise, and others gather for the premiere of Tad's documentary.

On May 20, 1941, thousands of elite German paratroopers, the Fallschirmjäger, assaulted the island of Crete. It was the beginning of one of the largest paratrooper assaults in modern history, ultimately involving 22,040 German soldiers. It was also the first time German troops faced a unified resistance from a civilian populace. The Battle of Crete would become the largest German airborne operation of World War II, known as "Operation Mercury," ( , also ''Unternehmen Merkur'', ).

The Germans had expected to control the island within a few days; after all, in less than seven weeks they had defeated France and occupied Paris for eight days before an armistice was signed. What the Germans had not anticipated was the unrelenting opposition from the men, women, and children of Crete, who would fight alongside British and Dominion forces, ultimately embroiling Nazi Germany in one of its most costly campaigns of the war. Collaborating with a handful of British Special Operations Executive commandos like Patrick Leigh Fermor, William Stanley Moss (both featured in the film) and John Pendlebury, the Cretan resistance would prove to become the most dauntingly potent civilian resistance movement Nazi Germany would encounter throughout the war. Although the Battle of Crete ended after ten days with the withdrawal of British forces from the island, history would record it as a Pyrrhic victory for the Germans, as the years-long resistance that began on the "11th Day" would belong to the Cretans.

The story begins with the narrator describing the effects of opium and the fantastical vistas it can inspire. The narrator then tells of his sole experience with opium in which he was accidentally administered an overdose by a doctor during the "year of the plague".

After a disembodied sensation of falling, the narrator finds himself within a strange beautiful room containing exotic furniture, where a pounding sound from outside inspires an inexplicable sense of dread within the narrator. Determined to identify the origin of this sound, the narrator moves towards a window and observes a terrifying scene of fifty-foot waves and seething vortex consuming the shoreline at an incredible rate.

Sensing imminent danger, the narrator quickly exits the building. Fleeing the waves, the narrator travels inland. The narrator eventually arrives in a valley with tropical grass extending above his head and a great palm tree in the center. Driven by curiosity despite his fear, the narrator crawls on his hands and knees toward the great palm.

Soon after arriving at the tree, the narrator observes an angelic child fall from its branches. The child then smiles and extends its hand towards the narrator and the narrator hears ethereal singing within the upper air followed by the child saying in an otherworldly voice:

As the child speaks, the narrator observes two youths emerging from the leaves of the tree. They take the narrator by the hand and describe the worlds of "Teloe" and "Cytharion of the Seven Suns" which lie beyond the Milky Way.

As they speak, the narrator observes that he is floating in the upper atmosphere, with the palm tree far below, and now accompanied by an ever increasing number of singing, vine-crowned youths. As they ascend, the child tells the narrator that he must always look upward and never down at the earth below.

As he rises further listening to the youths singing, the narrator is disturbed by the return of the sound of the waves, and, forgetting what the child said, looks downward and observes a sight of global destruction, with the waves consuming the cities until there is nothing left. This is followed by the waters draining into the Earth's core via an opening gulf, which causes the Earth to explode.

Hayato's home city is under attack from a gigantic robot. His parents are lying dead in the rubble and the only remaining friend is his dog. His only thought now is revenge against the owner of the Phantom Ship (from where the robot said he was sent).

He ends up in the house of Kuroshio, the leader of the fight against the Phantom Ship and the most important person in the city. By complete accident, Hayato finds his way to an underground passageway where he realizes that the true nature of events does not mesh with what Kuroshio has told him.

His life is now in great danger, and only he can stop the plans of the evildoers.

The story could be said to start ''in medias res'', that is, in the middle of an action. Apparently there has been a conversation between the Prince and the Chamberlain, who does not agree to the Prince's proposal. We soon learn that the Prince wants to place a guard in the tomb of his ancestors, this in addition to the warden in the park above the tomb. The Warden is brought in, hesitant to speak in front of the Chamberlain. The Chamberlain exits and the old warden reveals to the Prince the nature of his work and his current struggles with one Duke Friedrich, who calls to his window at the hour of midnight. The Warden also speaks of a Countess Isabella, who wishes to go out of the park to offer the Prince her hand, and when the Prince ponders this a servant enters to announce that the Princess awaits him.

When the Prince exits, the Chamberlain and Steward enter the room. At this action, the warden tries to hide under a divan. The Steward speaks of the state of the Court, that the Prince has a dual nature and that the situation is desperate, apparently in attempts to convince the Chamberlain that he'd better not follow the Prince down the wrong track.* Kafka, Franz. ''The Warden of the Tomb.'' Trans. James McPherson Ritchie and H.F. Garten. In ''Seven Expressionist Plays''. Ed. James McPherson Ritchie. German Expressionism Ser. London: John Calder; Dallas: Riverrun, 1980. . p.49-77.

The film follows a nun whose life is upended when she is handed an abandoned infant in a park. She takes the baby to the hospital and proceeds to track down the mother. Along the way she meets the owner of a dry cleaning business whose sweater was wrapped around the baby, and begins to wonder if convent life is right for her.

Papa Chance is a former MLB pitcher who has settled down with his wife in the mill town of Camas, Washington. They have six children. Everett Chance, the eldest, is a natural politician and powerful speaker whose passionate opposition to the Vietnam war creates much of the family tension in the book. He spends much time and effort pursuing a young Russian literature student named Natasha and finally wins her heart from draft exile in British Columbia by sending her an epic letter/novel. Everett does not have great natural athletic gifts but is a scrappy competitor. Second oldest, Peter Chance, is the intellectual brother who will study at Harvard and then in India. Though a natural athlete, Peter spends most of the book having renounced gifts of the body in his dogged pursuit of spiritual growth. After being kidnapped by con artists on an Indian train he finds enlightenment and he returns to the family in their hour of need. Irwin is an innocent, possessing a childlike devotion to faith. He is sent to the war in Vietnam, where he is changed forever. Kincaid Chance, the youngest brother, narrates the book yet is the member of the family we finally learn the least about.

Twenty-seventh century Earth is united by a worldwide democratic government presided over by a constitutional monarch, though the former is veering toward totalitarianism and the latter is a megalomaniac. To neutralize the World Emperor the power-hungry prime minister has ceded to him control of Greece for use in a mysterious secret project. Now Greece is surrounded by a force field cutting it off from the rest of the world, and people of Greek descent everywhere have vanished, presumably spirited away to the isolated region by the Emperor's agents.

One such kidnapped citizen is Thalia, wife of classical scholar Wiyem Flin. Anxious to get her back, he recruits his friend, magazine editor Knut Bulnes, into a desperate attempt to penetrate the force barrier. Bulnes, hoping to obtain an exclusive story on the Emperor's mysterious project, agrees. The two succeed, sailing a boat through the barrier when it is temporarily disrupted by a storm.

Inside the force field, Flin and Bulnes are astounded to find themselves not in 27th century Greece, but to all appearances the Classical Greece of Pericles and the Peloponnesian War. Pretending to be foreign philosophers, they establish themselves in Athens as they attempt to unravel the mystery, and begin to discover that all is not as it seems; the wife of the playwright Euripides, for instance, appears to be Thalia, though she does not recognize Flin and has no memory of her former life.

After meeting the astronomer Meton, Flin and Bulnes discover that the north celestial pole is where it is expected to be in the twenty-seventh century, proving that they cannot really be in ancient Greece. Bulnes discovers a hidden subterranean building containing modern machinery and people speaking twenty-seventh century language. The pair eventually deduce that the entire country is an elaborate charade, with most of the inhabitants being controlled by a "mind conditioning" device that erases their memories and deceives them into believing they are living in ancient Greece. They decide to reveal this fact to Pericles by masquerading as an oracle of the god Apollo. Pericles appears for their meeting but when they reveal their news, he attempts to shoot them with a modern gun. Only then do they realize that Pericles is actually the World Emperor himself.

Escaping, they discover an elaborate system of machinery and antennas hidden in the colossal statue of Athene Promachos. They enlist the aid of Kleon, a political opponent of Pericles. They are surprised to discover that he is actually the Emperor's brother, although under conditioning like most of the people and unaware of his true identity. With the help of Kleon and his supporters, they start a fire at the Athene Promachos statue, destroying the conditioning machinery and restoring the memories of the people. Although the Emperor kills his brother and is himself killed in the ensuing melee, Flin is finally reunited with his wife Thalia.

Professor Alexander Nichols, a friend of the unnamed and silent player character, has called the player to Easter Island, where he believes he has found a link to the legendary city of Atlantis. The player arrives at the island, picking up the Professor's Camera and Journal, only to realize the Professor is already gone. The Player then explores the island, finding the Professor's camp abandoned, and eventually stumbles upon a cave which contains a Timegate, with the Professor trapped inside. The player then uses this time gate to go to one of three time periods; Ancient Egypt, the Maya civilization, and the Anasazi civilisation. Each civilisation is deserted or almost deserted, with the people having recently left in mass exoduses. The player may visit the three civilisations in any order, but the Professor's journal claims that he visited them in the order listed; this is also the order of the game's four CD-ROMs. The player encounters a robot which appears to be constructed out of energy in each civilisation; this robot is not named in the game, but is referred to as "The Guardian" in official materials. The player's main goal in each civilisation is to collect a device known as a Gene Pod, which contains DNA from the culture, and install it into the Timegate.

Once the Genepods of the Egyptians, Mayans, and Anasazi are collected, the player is able to access Atlantis. The player traps the Guardian inside a stasis tube and discovers the Atlantis timegate, with Professor Nichols still trapped inside. The Professor failed to complete the timegate connections with the genepods before attempting to access Atlantis, so he remains trapped until the player character can free him. However, when the Professor is released back to Easter Island, the Timegate is destroyed, and a two-minute countdown begins, at the end of which Atlantis will launch into space.

If the player waits for the countdown to run out, the game plays a cutscene of Atlantis launching into space with the player aboard, then warping to the Atlantean homeworld. The player then sees a Message sent by the Guardian to the homeworld stating that he has with him crew members and 1 Terran (the player), who have been placed in Stasis for the remainder of the journey, and states that he was damaged, and that being in stasis repaired him. Instead of letting the countdown run out, however, the player can choose to escape from Atlantis. At this point the game shows a cutscene of Atlantis blasting off from the point of view of the player in an escape pod. The game ends with a series of newspaper headlines indicating that the Atlantean finds make the player rich and famous.

Six-year-old Savannah's father, a wealthy Salt Lake City businessman, is running for the United States Senate. Savannah has been relegated to the background in the lives of her mother and father. Feeling neglected, she decides to run away, packs her things and writes a note to her parents. Her aunt comes by to pick her up for a planned trip to the park, and Savannah manages to place her suitcase into the car unnoticed. At the park Savannah slips away and sneaks into the back seat of the car of Alvin "Alvie" Gibbs and Boots "Bootsie" McGaffee, two escaped, down-on-their-luck convicts. Savannah's father finds her note, but fearing that news of her running away would damage his chances of winning the election, he burns the note and orders the maid not to tell anyone. The convicts reluctantly take Savannah with them, but soon discover her parents have posted a $100,000 reward for her safe return. Alvie and Boots believe their luck has finally come in, but wonder how they could return Savannah and collect the reward without drawing attention to themselves and being sent back to prison. While trying to work it out they unexpectedly become attached to Savannah, and Savannah finds the love and attention she always wanted. Alvie confides in Savannah that he himself was a runaway, having left his abusive and neglectful next of kin as a child. The convicts arrange to return her, with the help of the family priest, but she becomes lost in the Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah. Forgoing an opportunity to escape, the convicts search for Savannah and bring her back to safety, ultimately surrendering their freedom. As Savannah drives away with her parents, Boots tells Alvie he hopes no one tells Savannah they were "bad guys", but Alvie assures him it will make no difference to her. The film ends with a flashback of a young Alvie finally catching up to the pick-up truck with his cousins welcoming him on, finally having gained the family he never had.

''Kerberos Panzer Cop'' is more of an anthology of vignettes depicting "incidents", eight acts, all of which contribute to the tale of the closing battles between Antigovernment urban guerrilla organizations, such as The Sect, and the Metropolitan Police's (M.P.) Special Armed Garrison nicknamed " ", the Greek word for the mythological "Cerberus" hellhound.

The manga ends with the fall of the M.P.'s Special Armed Garrison to the JGSDF's special force "Molosser" during a failed ''coup d'état'' in Tokyo. The ''putsch''s failing is due to a complex political conspiracy and a harsh struggle for command between rival police administrations. This Kerberos Saga key event is called "Kerberos Riot" (ケルベロス騒乱, ''keruberosu sōran''). Though, three Special Armed Garrison veterans escape, Koichi Todome, Midori Washio and Souichiro Toribe (a.k.a. the Devil's Trio).

• During the era of high economic growth, the Metropolitan Police (''Shutokei'' in Japanese, a.k.a. "Capital Police" or "CAPO" in the English adaptation) was born to battle against the anti-government military forces. Especially the conflict between the Special Armed Garrison of the M.P. called "Tokki-tai" was extraordinarily violent. This coloured introductive chapter provides a historical, political and social background of the post-World War II parallel universe Japan. Therefore the building of the Tokyo Tower (1957~1958) as well as the communist students and activists-led (Zengakuren) anti Japan-US Security Treaty protests in front of the National Diet Building (1960) - replaced by fictitious anti Weimar Establishment movement - were both removed from the English adaptation. The Prologue was replaced by a single page synopsis without any illustration nor actual reference to Japan (known as "''the country''") and its military occupation (1945~1952) by Germany (replacing the United States). William Shakespeare's ''Julius Caesar'' quote ''"Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war"'' was kept though. However, the Prologue was included in ''Jin-Roh'''s opening and it was later detailed in Mamoru Oshii's animated feature ''Tachiguishi-Retsuden''.

• The opening chapter concerns a new recruit of the Metropolitan Police, Toru Inui, who first fails to kill a suicide bomber in the sewer system and later fails to apprehend a suspicious wounded man in the company of an innocent woman escaping from a manhole. The wounded man is shot by M.P. snipers and is revealed to be an armed terrorist. Inui is reassigned to training and his superiors not only wonder why he failed to shoot, but why he transferred into the unit ("''perhaps because of the smell of his own kind''", one of many stray dog references in the series). He is sent back into the field and while covering the rear of the patrol, comes across the same woman and another injured man. Before he realizes what is going on, the seemingly innocent woman reveals herself to be a terrorist and shoots Inui dead. This first act was loosely adapted for the screen in ''Jin-Roh''.

• The second chapter concerns Hachiro Kishu, a helicopter pilot whose dream has been the thrill of flying and the challenge of aerial combat. Stuck to flying recon and traffic patrol on board an outdated Fa-330 rotorcraft, Kishu gets his chance when the Metropolitan Police's Aerial Squadron (首都圏上空) is issued a new state-of-the-art assault helicopter prototype (Fa-666 "Jagdhund") and he has been assigned to fly it. Meanwhile, outside Metropolitan Police Public Security Division agents are tracking down a mole within the Metropolitan Police, but before they can arrest him and his accomplices, the Kerberos 9th Platoon "Schweißhund" raids an accomplice's house, killing much of the cell, but the mole escapes. When the M.P. Public Security Division agents inform their director Bunmei Muroto, while they have not identified the mole, they uncovered a plot to sabotage the Special Armed Garrison's upcoming aerial demonstration. However, in order to avenge his men who had their mission ruined by the Kerberos, Muroto does not inform the M.P. Defense Division's ("Capital Area Security Police Agency" in the English adaptation) director Isao Aniya and allows the parade to go on. The Sect mole, revealed to be aircraft mechanic within the Aeronautical Experiments Platoon, plants a bomb on board the Jagdhund prototype, which explodes during the aerial demonstration. Kishu can only watch in horror as his dream falls to the ground.

• Muroto realized the society has evolved since the days of the Metropolitan Police creation, the Kerberos era's end is inevitable ("''there's not enough room for two dogs in one dog house. but if you need the bloodline of both dogs you can resolve the situation by mating them...''"). Therefore Muroto works against the M.P. Defense Division's interest throughout the series, although it is unclear if Muroto is doing this out of self-interest or for loftier goals. In addition to letting a terrorist bomb the parade flight of the Special Armed Garrison's Jagdhund helicopter, it is revealed that Muroto is planning to merge his M.P. Public Security Division with the rival Self-Police ("Metropolitan Police Force" and "NPA" are randomly used in the English adaptation) to create "''a new public peacekeeping apparatus that has the Public Security Division at its core''". A such move implies to dismantle Shiro Tatsumi's Kerberos unit. Knowing that M.P. Defense Division director Isao Aniya may see this as a betrayal after years of faithful service and loyalty and attempt to strike back, Muroto knows that in order for the Metropolitan Police merger to continue, he must publicly discredit or eliminate the Special Armed Garrison. Following a secret meeting with Self-Police Public Security Bureau officials, he confronts an underling, Tsujimura, of leaking secrets to a friend in the Kerberos unit. M.P. Public Security Division agents come to take Tsujimura away, but unmasking director Muroto's ambition ("''say, Boss, who is it the dog is supposed to preserve his bloodline for, anyway?''") he pulls a gun on him, forcing the agents to kill Tsujimura. This chapter also foreshadows the downfall of the Special Armored Garrison, when a stray dog finds the corpse of Tsujimura in a junkyard, then wanders next to a large pile of discarded Stahlhelm helmets, machineguns, and armored personnel carriers, all presumably from the Kerberos unit, with the gleaming glass office buildings of Tokyo in the background.

• English language adaptation (Act 1) The Sect creates a hostage crisis at the German embassy in Japan. If any hostages are killed during the siege, an international incident could erupt. The Kerberos Assault Platoons storm the embassy, eliminating the radicals within minutes. However, the embassy takeover was a diversion by a splinter group of the Sect. The main cell and their leader, Fujiwara, has hijacked a Luft Hansa Focke-Wulf Fw 200 at the Tokyo International Airport (a.k.a. Haneda Airport). It is soon revealed that Fujiwara's splinter cell broke off from the Sect following a series of incidents similar to the Special Armed Garrison: the Sect's leadership, behind bars, has compromised with the government and has abandoned its more extremist and violent members, calling themselves the Four Seasons League. The goal of the splinter faction's hijacking is an appointment with glory with the Kerberos unit.

• The Kerberos Assault Platoon unit is charged with the capture of Fujiwara ("''No one else is to take him''") and is dispatched to Haneda Airport, but soon has a conflict over jurisdiction with the Self-Police, who polices the airport. The jurisdiction conflict comes to a head when the unit commander, Handa, orders the Kerberos unit to ignore the Self-Police's SSG (''Spezial Sturm Gruppe'', a fictitious special assault unit inspired by the actual GSG 9) blockade, resulting in a public armed standoff inside the airport terminal. The resulting backlash quickly dumps the Kerberos unit on the tarmac, where Handa formulates one last plan to capture Fujiwara. Handa has his unit secure a Volkswagen Type 26 service truck and sends Koichi Todome, Midori Washio, and Souichiro Toribe to infiltrate the Fw 200 as caterers delivering food to the hostages, violating the Self-Police's jurisdiction. If they are caught, they can be arrested and the scandal would destroy the Kerberos unit.

• Handa launches a diversion as Koichi, Midori and Soichiro storm the plane and kill most of the splinter faction, but before they can fully secure the plane, Fujiwara orders the pilot to takeoff. Koichi, Midori and Soichiro force the plane down by shooting the engines. The plane crash-lands on a landfill on Showa Island and Fujiwara makes his escape. Koichi and Soichiro are in a daze from the crash, but Midori climbs up on the fuselage and begins setting up her Mauser C96 pistol for long-range shooting. Handa and the rest of the Kerberos unit scramble to the crash site, but are beaten by the Self-Police. Fujiwara meets a wall of Self-Police in riot gear, waiting to apprehend him, but instead of resisting arrest, he turns to face the distant crashed plane and Midori, who shoots him between the eyes.

• Tetsurō Kai, the young leader of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's (陸上自衛隊) Panzer Jäger Unit (ギア部隊) incorporates the Kerberos organization's Academy Training School (首都警·養成学校) as an undercover trainee. There he meets and falls in love with instructor Midori Washio. Special Armoured Suits Type 61 used by the JGSDF's Panzer Jäger special force (a.k.a. "Molosser") are publicly unveiled during a military parade at the Mount Fuji in December 19XX. The JGSDF's 1st Airborne Brigade (第1空挺団) is modeled after the fictitious World War II German elite unit (with Special Armored Suits Type 34 "Wolfpelz") which fought and eventually defeated the Soviets at the decisive Battle of Stalingrad that turned the tide of war (see ''Kerberos Panzer Jäger'').

• The Kerberos organization's reputation worsen further with the Fast Food Grifter Clubbed To Death Case. A Fast Food Grifter (立食師 ''tachiguishi'') that goes by the name Cold Badger Masa is brutally murdered by 7th Platoon "Schäferhund" Kerberos Chuichi Koshiramaru in a stand-and-eat soba, which is called Mach (マッハ軒・立食) as a reference to Ernst Mach. The Self-Police quickly arrests Koshiramaru and rumors of an anti-Kerberos conspiracy starts to emerge. Soon another rumor arise, the existence of a self-preservation underground cell within the Kerberos members called Jin-Roh. The police investigation led by Detective Matsui (from the ''Patlabor'' animation TV series and feature films Oshii directed) unveils the existence of Fast Food Grifters among the society, the most famous of them, Moongaze Ginji (from ''The Red Spectacles''), does a cameo. This Act is taglined "''Fast Food Grifter Clubbed to Death Case''" (マッハ軒立食師撲殺事件異聞) for it is the comic adaptation of radio drama ''While Waiting for the Red Spectacles'''s eponymous ''Third night''. This event is later adapted for the screen in ''Tachiguichi-Retsuden''.

• When two German officials have to come in Japan on a diplomatic trip, hundreds of anti-Weimar Establishment (ワイマール体制) protesters gather at a bridge junction near the airport. As the Self-Police using rubber bullets is overwhelmed by violent rioters enforcing the security barrage and eventually molesting the diplomatic convoy, standing Kerberos, which were sent in for backup, fire over the protesters. This event becomes a political scandal known as "the incident of the 200 killed" (a.k.a. "Park Incident") and the National Public Safety Committee votes for the Metropolitan Police's dismantlement order. Isao Aniya and Shiro Tatsumi refuse it and instead plan a coup d'état, then Hajime Handa gathers the three Kerberos companies and delivers a rousing speech. The climactic "Kerberos Riot" is about to begin (see February 26 incident).

• HQ is the main stage of Act 8. On February 26 of 19XX, 7:12 am, Tokki-tai Captain Tatsumi Shiro led the 1st Company "Kurzhaar" to Kasumigaseki -district of most of Japan's cabinet ministry offices- he was supported by Tokki-tai Vice-Chief Hajime Handa's 2nd Company "Langhaar". Forces were respectively about 22 vehicles per 120 men and 31 vehicles per 180 men. Aerial support was granted by the Tokki-tai Aerial Reconnaissance Platoon "Laelaps" made of 22 men (mechanics and pilots) and 5 Fa-330 rotorcraft. Hachiro Kishu, a.k.a. "Laelaps 4", launched the initial assault against a Self-Police Riot Police patrol at 7:30 am. Laelaps attacked a second patrol at 7:33 am in a joint-assault with the 1st Company. At 7:55 am, the 3rd Company "Drahthaar" led by 9th Platoon "Schweißhund" Platoon Leader Ichirō Kure stormed the Self-Police's (National Police Agency) governmental building (警察庁・庁舎). While succeeding in taking control of the Self-Police's building the 3rd Company was eventually decimated by Bunmei Muroto's agents who freed the hostages. Following these events Muroto drove to the Prime Minister's cabinet, Kantei, to a ''rendez-vous'' with Metropolitan Police's (Shutokei) director of division Isao Aniya. At 8:25 am refuelling Laelaps was attacked by Self-Police policemen who killed all mechanics and engineers, all five rotorcrafts escaped ''in extremis'' though. Laelaps fought back and killed the Self-Police agents. At 8:32 am 1st Company and 2nd Company bessieged the Self-Police HQ -Tokyo M.P.D.- (警視庁庁舎) with Laelaps harassing the defenders until Handa ordered the all-out assault. Shortly after, three incoming Japan Air Self-Defense Force (航空自衛隊) fighters Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1j were spotted by Laelaps 4. At 9:05 am, Hachiro Tohbe and a fellow 2nd Company veteran instructor are sharing their last cigarette as the Kerberos Academy Training School "Zucht Schanze" is going under siege by the Self-Police's Riot Police. 11:55 am, Tatsumi Shiro and Hajime Handa are reporting the situation from the Self-Police director's office before Protect Gear-dressed Shiro prepares to launch the final battle. 12:00 am, Shiro exits the Kerberos-held Self-Police HQ which is now under siege by the JGSDF's 1st Airborne Brigade. As Shiro leads his men rushing toward the Panzer Jäger Trooper (Molosser) lines, Tetsurō Kai shouts "fire!!". During the fierce battle, Koichi Todome, Midori Washio and Souichiro Toribe runaway on board a (military light utility vehicle) toward the docks (see ''The Red Spectacles'').

Special Issue

• The Special Issue tales the following of the "Park Incident" (Act 7) with Midori Washio, Souichiro Toribe, Koichi Todome and Kurosaki.

17-year-old, Valerie Smith, newly graduated from high school, heads off on a road trip to San Francisco with her friend Joleen. They have just started out when Joleen's car breaks down, but one of Joleen's friends, Buddy (Sam Bottoms) pulls up and offers to take Valerie the rest of the way. He is overly familiar; Valerie does not know him and is reluctant to accept the offer, but is ultimately pressured into accepting the ride. Not far into the trip Buddy decides to rob a liquor store and forces Valerie to assist him at gunpoint. The shopkeeper raises the alarm and is shot dead; the police arrive and both Buddy and Valerie are arrested.

At her trial, Buddy insists that he and Valerie were secret lovers and that it was only at her urging that he committed the robbery. All the witnesses back his version that she was a willing participant, and she is duly convicted of the murder and sent to the San Marcos School for Girls.

It is a big modern prison campus and has modern facilities like a hair salon and its own modern euphemistic language, including the rebranding of solitary confinement as "meditation". The staff meanwhile eschew all modern correctional techniques, keeping the girls in their place by reinforcing their uselessness whenever possible, and failing to intervene in their most blatant acts of skulduggery. The prisoners are divided into two rival camps - one led by the duplicitous, scheming Susie Kurosawa (Suesie Eléne), who is a favourite of the staff, and the other by the forthright Tommy Washington (Jonelle Allen). Valerie knows she does not belong in this circle and tries to avoid taking sides, but after her 14-year-old friend Sarah has a vat of boiling water tipped over her by the Kurosawa gang, she decides that aligning herself to Tommy's crew might be in her best interests. She continues to battle, aghast at the way the "school" is managed, and not fully comprehending that prison could be much, much worse. She becomes a bit manic.

Away from the prison, her attorney resorts to some very creative work to explode Buddy's story, but when he does it is almost in vain as Valerie prepares to join in on an escape attempt after suffering one tragedy, where Wanda dies from a blood clot, one unhappy setback too many, when a fight breaks out during a running exercise, and Valerie gets involved, trying to subdue Susie. However, when Tommy gets involved, Susie stabs her to death with a knife and Susie is taken away for murder.

On his first day of high school, by intervening in a bullying incident and catching the interest of Courtney, Jonathan Wamback runs afoul of Kyle, who is the leader of the school gang (Skulls) and Courtney's boyfriend. Later, Jonathan's mother Lozanne find Kyle and his gang lighting cherry bombs in the park and harassing small children. She follows Kyle home and tells his mother, who refuses to believe it.

Jonathan is then approached by Gord Nelson and Jeff Walters, two cool guys who claim to be forming a group to stand up to Kyle's gang. When the three come across Skulls' graffiti on a wall, Jonathan paints over it. Gord paints racist remarks over another Skulls tag and the gang assumes that it was Jonathan. Using a phone call from Courtney, the gang lures Jonathan to the park, where they beat him so severely that he incurs brain damage and is put on life support. Lozanne and Jonathan's father, Joe, help to care for him; as he begins to recuperate, Joe lobbies to have the Young Offenders Act rewritten to impose harsher penalties for violent crime. Eventually, Jonathan returns to school to prove that despite everything, he's no longer a victim.

''Yubisaki Milk Tea'' revolves around Yoshinori Ikeda, a high school student, who is one day convinced to fill in for his sister for a modeling job while she went on a date. He cross-dresses in his first female outfit as a bride, before ultimately discovering that he enjoys dressing like a girl. He has a young childhood friend named Hidari Morii that he is interested in, but he is unsure of his feelings, as there is another girl he likes in his own class—Minamo Kurokawa. Incidentally, Minamo is the class head, and top student, but she has trouble opening up to people, especially men, due to an incident in her past. Yoshinori remedies this by dressing up, when he is able to become Yuki—the name he chose for himself in feminine form. As the story goes on, Yoshinori is still unable to choose which of the two girls he likes more and all the while feelings of love between everyone are growing ever stronger.

(courtesy of Hobby Japan) In September 1942, Captain Maki Stauffenberg, in command of the 808th ''Propagandakompanie'', leaves Warsaw station on an armored train to start her long journey into Soviet territory. A filmmaker originally affiliated with UFA GmBH, she has been tasked with creating a propaganda film about the exploits of the 101st Panzer Jäger Battalion. Tainted by association with the displaced Nazi regime, the 101st has been committed to bloody frontline battles against the Soviets without respite, achieving stunning combat results in the process. However, Maki Stauffenberg, the half-Japanese niece of Hitler's killer, has taken on the mission for her own reasons.

Kel, though allowed to continue her training by instructor Wyldon of Cavall, is still not accepted by many of the male pages, and is therefore supported by Neal, Merric, Cleon, and Owen against Joren. At the beginning of the book, Kel hires Lalasa, after her mistreatment by other relatives. Kel also adopts a stray dog who calls himself Jump, and a flock of songbirds. Thereafter the book follows Kel's education, until Lalasa and Jump are kidnapped; whereupon Kel and her friends rescue them. Kel had proved her worthiness of being a leader when she guides her group of fellow pages through the "Battle of the Cliff". Lord Wyldon continues to make life hard for Kel by forcing her to improve her jousting skills, (She called the routine maddening) and made her join the elite page archers group, which Kel does more enthusiastically because if she advances, she gets to "play" with different kinds of arrows. Lord Wyldon also tries to humiliate Kel by making her "leader" of a fighting group while another page leads the other group, and they have a mock battle, which Kel's group always wins.

Category:2000 American novels Category:2000 fantasy novels Category:Tortallan books

The story presents many characters, including Madame Tussaud who wishes to gain weight in order to bring the police presidium to crumble down into hell, Alexander's portagé, Primář Karlach, the evil philosopher-doctor, who was deposed from his hospital and has returned; Countess Willma, a wealthy countess from a somewhat surrealist estate (e.g. the furniture in the upper floor has been burning for 200 years and there are strange things, like cigarettes in the sky) and a whole ensemble of wax dummies of historical people.

As Řezníček uses his traditional style of writing, it is nearly impossible to follow the line of events, because he often interrupts the descriptions of situations with intermezzos, such as (from another work) "a women is spinache" ("žena je špenát") around which numerous later sentences are based, showing what something is and what something else is not (this line is also special in his work, as un-traditionally it is referred and debated on the following pages as well, unlike his classic form of showing many such proclamations upon another). These types of sentences are often illogical and often they fail to actually have a point, therefore much of them are just plain descriptions (in the style of "Man on the ground" only expanded with numerous other words).

The events of this book lead through various unconnected situations up to Řezníčeks classic ending, in which all the characters are brought into one place and taken care of (another such ending was in his book ''Strop'', in which all the characters, one by one were brought into the "swamps for blind", where they stayed), this time before a tribunal from which they escape.

Another part of Řezníček's writing is the usage of himself in his novels, describing himself in the first, but also in the third person ("Řežníček, ten ......ďábel", "Řezníček that......devil...."). He frequently breaks the fourth wall by insulting the readers or the book or supremely praising them (both may occur in the same book).

Category:1994 novels Category:Czech novels

The British Secret Service agent James Bond is sent on an assignment by his superior, M. Acting on information received from Special Branch, M tasks Bond with infiltrating a smuggling ring transporting diamonds from mines in the Crown colony of Sierra Leone to the United States. Bond must infiltrate the smugglers' pipeline to uncover those responsible. Using the identity of "Peter Franks", a country house burglar turned diamond smuggler, he meets Tiffany Case, an attractive gang member who has developed an antipathy towards men after being gang-raped as a teenager.

(in 1907) Bond discovers that the ring is operated by the Spangled Mob, a ruthless American gang run by the brothers Jack and Seraffimo Spang. He follows the trail from London to New York. To earn his fee for carrying the diamonds he is instructed by a gang member, Shady Tree, to bet on a rigged horse race in nearby Saratoga. There Bond surreptitiously meets his old friend Felix Leiter, a former CIA agent working at Pinkertons as a private detective investigating crooked horse racing. Leiter bribes the jockey to ensure the failure of the plot to rig the race, and asks Bond to make the pay-off. When he goes to make the payment, he witnesses two homosexual thugs, Wint and Kidd, attack the jockey.

Bond calls Tree to enquire further about the payment of his fee and is told to go to the Tiara Hotel in Las Vegas. The Tiara is owned by Seraffimo Spang and operates as the headquarters of the Spangled Mob. Spang also owns an old Western ghost town, named Spectreville, restored to be his own private holiday retreat. At the hotel Bond finally receives payment through a rigged blackjack game where the dealer is Tiffany. After winning the money he is owed he disobeys his orders from Tree by continuing to gamble in the casino and wins heavily. Spang suspects that Bond may be a 'plant' and has him captured and tortured at Spectreville. With Tiffany's help he escapes from Spectreville aboard a railway push-car with Seraffimo Spang in pursuit aboard an old Western train. Bond changes the railway points and re-routes the train onto a dead-end, and shoots Spang before the resulting crash. Assisted by Leiter, Bond and Tiffany go via California to New York, where they board the RMS ''Queen Elizabeth'' to travel to London, a relationship developing between them as they go. Wint and Kidd observe their embarkation and follow them on board. They kidnap Tiffany, planning to kill her and throw her overboard. Bond rescues her and kills both gangsters; he makes it look like a murder-suicide.

Tiffany subsequently informs Bond of the details of the pipeline. The story begins in Africa where a dentist bribes miners to smuggle diamonds in their mouths; he extracts the gems during routine appointments. From there, the dentist takes the diamonds to a rendezvous with a German helicopter pilot. Eventually the diamonds go to Paris and then on to London. There, after telephone instructions from a contact known as ABC, Tiffany meets a person who explains how the diamonds will be smuggled to New York City. After returning to London—where Tiffany moves into Bond's flat—Bond flies to Freetown in Sierra Leone, and then to the next diamond rendezvous. With the collapse of the rest of the pipeline, Jack Spang (who turns out to be ABC) shuts down his diamond-smuggling pipeline by killing its participants. Spang himself is killed when Bond shoots down his helicopter.

Simón, the son of the great ascetic Simeon Stylites, has lived for 6 years, 6 weeks and 6 days atop an eight-meter pillar in the middle of the desert, praying for spiritual purification. A congregation of priests and peasants salute him and offer him a brand new, much taller pillar to stand on and carry on his mission. He comes down from the pillar and is offered the priesthood, but refuses because he considers himself unworthy, and forsakes his aging mother for the love of God before climbing up his new pillar. He heals an amputee missing both hands, whose first use of them is to slap his child. But the congregation quickly departs unimpressed, leaving Simón alone.

Time goes by and Simón meets a number of regular characters – a handsome priest whom he condemns on grounds of vanity, a dwarf herder and his mother, who comes to live close to him but remains neglected of his attention. Satan, appearing in female human form, visits him three times: first as an innocent girl chanting curses in Latin, second disguised as Jesus. She constantly tries to make Simón give up his task and climb down from the pillar, but he refuses every time. She even possesses one of the priests that visit him, who is consequently exorcised by the other priests.

The third time, a coffin trails across the desert and finally stops next to the pillar. It opens up to reveal Satan, clad in a toga, who at last climbs up the pillar and vanishes with Simón for good. In an anachronistic turn, the couple find themselves sitting inside a crowded, jumping 1960s nightclub with a live instrumental rock band on stage. Simón asks Satan what dance the people are doing, and she says it is the "Radioactive Flesh" (similar to the Watusi). Simón protests about wanting to go home, but Satan says he cannot.

While Briar and his teacher Rosethorn are helping the locals in Chammur, Briar realizes that all is not as it should be in Chammur's streets. As a former 'street rat' himself, he tends to have an interest in the affairs of local gangs. He discovers a gang known as the Vipers roaming through territory not their own. After further investigation, Briar discovers that the Vipers are the pet gang of a local Noblewoman.

While Briar investigates the Vipers, he discovers Evvy, a local girl with stone magic. At first, she runs away from him, but she gradually learns to trust him. When Evvy singularly refuses to study with local stone mage Jebilu Stoneslicer, Briar takes her training in hand himself. The Vipers attempt to kidnap her many times, so Lady Zenadia doa Atteneh can use Evvy's powers as a stone mage to further increase her riches. When they finally kidnap her, Briar comes to her rescue.

Mickey Stern is signed by the New York Yankees to play baseball out of high school. He also falls in love with an older woman, Leah, but his professional and personal lives are disrupted by the Korean War.

Mickey returns from military duty a changed man. His baseball career never takes off, and he becomes a magician. But when he meets the spitting image of his former love as well as a younger version of himself, Mickey attempts to bring back the past.

A security guard refuses to let Granny drive her car back into the mountain cabin because the roads are blocked due to a bad heavy snowstorm, but Granny pleads to be let through because her bird and cat are trapped inside the cabin and would fatally starve.

Meanwhile, Sylvester and Tweety are alone in Granny's mountain cabin. The radio reports that the roads will be blocked for six weeks. Panicked, Sylvester looks for food everywhere finding nothing but bird seed. While Sylvester and Tweety are initially friends in the short, Sylvester attempts to eat Tweety, tricking him into thinking various cooking methods are games, to which Tweety is oblivious. The Sylvester-chases-Tweety cycle is continually disrupted by a mouse who is even hungrier and more desperate than Sylvester, the mouse seizing upon the idea of eating Sylvester.

Sylvester suggests that Tweety play sailboat, but in a pot where he is attempting to cook him. This is interrupted by the mouse discovering Sylvester and gnawing his tail. After fighting the mouse and chasing him back to his hole, Sylvester boards it up. While checking the pot, the mouse pushes Sylvester into it and covers it. Sylvester escapes and replugs the mouse hole. Sylvester convinces Tweety to skate on an oily skillet. While being flipped in the pan, Tweety lands upon the top of the stove, requiring Sylvester to reach for him. Struggling to reach him, Sylvester places his hand on the hot stove.

While cooling his hand in the snow, the mouse places his tail in a toaster. Sylvester puts out his tail in an ashtray, with which he chases the mouse. He stops to peer in the mouse hole, whereupon the mouse drops a bowling ball on his head. The mouse drags the knocked out Sylvester into the hole but can only fit his leg, which he cooks rotisserie-style over a fire. Sylvester escapes just as Granny arrives with food. Upon opening the pack, it is full of more bird seed and no food for Sylvester. Sylvester, left with no other alternative, begrudgingly eats the bird seed. While doing so in the final act, Tweety asks Sylvester if he likes the bird seed; unknown to any of them, the mouse has grabbed the cat's tail and – after pouring milk over it to give it moisture – bites the tail, causing Sylvester to yowl in pain. "It tan't be dat bad!" remarks Tweety.

Allan, a cable television producer in New York City, is determined to find the perfect woman, and he would even go so far as having a description of what she would look like done on an artist sketch. But before he can encounter the girl of his dreams he finds himself encountering a series of disastrous dating roadblocks. He finally meets Maria, who seems to be his perfect woman, and tries to make the relationship work.

Aramoana, Tuesday 13 November 1990. David Gray, an unemployed man in his 30s who lives in his parents' small holiday home, cycles into town where he has an argument with staff at a bank over a minor issue. Unstable and angry, he returns home where he has a cache of fire-arms, including a semi-automatic rifle. Late in the afternoon, he notices children from a neighbouring house have wandered onto his yard and he angrily abuses them, sparking a heated verbal exchange with their father, Garry Holden. Gray goes inside his house and then quickly re-emerges armed with the rifle, shooting Holden dead. Holden's two young daughters, Chiquita and Jasmine, and his girlfriend Julie-Anne's adopted daughter Rewa, witness the murder and flee inside Holden's house, attempting to hide. Gray enters and soon locates them.

Chiquita is then seen fleeing, having been wounded, trying to get help for Jasmine and Rewa (whose deaths occur off-screen). She reaches Julie-Anne and they both get into her van and drive towards the scene, trying to rescue the other girls, only to find Holden's house has been set on fire. Julie-Anne is then forced to drive to safety as Gray fires at her vehicle.

Nearby residents hear the shooting and see the smoke, not yet comprehending what is happening. Gray enters a nearby house and shoots dead both elderly male occupants (their deaths occur off-screen).

Elderly widow Eva Dickson, who recently has had hip surgery, ventures out with her walking frame to see what is happening and she is joined by a neighbour Chris Cole. Earlier, Dickson's middle-aged son James had left the house, looking for his dog. An unseen Gray opens fire, hitting Cole and narrowly missing Dickson. Having collapsed and unable to stand up again, Dickson crawls inside her house to ring the police and then goes back to Cole, lying badly wounded but still conscious, to tell him that help is coming (Cole later succumbs to his injuries).

A utility with six people on board, including three children, drives up from the nearby beach, stopping near the burning house. Gray emerges and opens fire. The subsequent shootings are not shown, only the noise and the look of horror on the face of a nearby witness.

It is now getting dark and the Holden house is engulfed in flames. The first police to arrive are Sgt Stewart Guthrie, Constable Nick Harvey and Detective Paul Knox. They arrive at Gray's and Holden's houses, seeing bodies in and around the utility, including a woman on the ground who is badly wounded and calling for help. The police attempt to surround Gray's house but the gunman surprises Guthrie from behind, shooting him dead. Harvey, armed with a rifle, briefly has Gray in his sights but hesitates, missing his chance. Knox reaches the utility, discovering the woman is now dead but one of the vehicle's other occupants still alive- 3-year-old Stacey Percy, who has been wounded in the abdomen but is still conscious. Knox and Harvey enter Gray's house but find it empty. They get into a car, Harvey nursing Stacey, trying to keep her conscious and Knox holding the bodies of the other two children from the utility, and drive to where a police cordon is being established, handing Stacey over to paramedics. Harvey is physically ill as he reacts to the fear and trauma.

Eva Dickson stays in her kitchen, keeping in touch with police by phone. Her dog comes back, stained with the blood of her son James (whose death has occurred off-screen). The police seal off the town, residents spending a fearful night in their homes with the gunman still at large. Gray enters a crib and, finding it deserted, spends the night there.

The next day, police have arrived en masse and are combing the town, searching for Gray. Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) officers locate the crib and surround the small house. After a brief exchange of gunfire, the officers throw tear-gas canisters into the house. Gray abruptly emerges, screaming obscenities and firing wildly from the hip. The waiting officers open fire and hit Gray several times, the gunman collapsing. With difficulty, the AOS men restrain him and then wait nearby as Gray dies of his wounds.

A postscript follows, consisting of a montage of scenes, including the full squad of AOS officers escorting Eva Dickson from her home as a mark of respect for her bravery, Chiquita Holden and Stacey Percy in hospital, both recovering from their wounds, the deliberate torching of Gray's house that occurred several days after the massacre and a list of names of the 13 people who died on 13 November.

The novel opens with a young Russian woman of "progressive" sympathies, Varvara Suvorova, traveling to meet her fiancé Pyotr Yablokov, who has volunteered to fight in the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Her guide steals all her luggage and disappears as she approaches the war zone, but she is rescued by Erast Fandorin, who has been fighting as a volunteer to forget his tragedy. He accompanies her to Russian army headquarters to which he's bringing an important message. Upon arrival, Varvara is reunited with Pyotr, and Fandorin delivers his message: the Ottoman army is advancing towards the Bulgarian town of Plevna, which sits on the road to Sofia and must be taken so the Russian army can easily advance through Bulgaria and into Turkey.

Varvara sees little of her fiancé, who is busy with his duties as an army cryptographer, so she spends her time at the correspondents' club, where she meets various interesting characters: Irish reporter Seamus McLaughlin, French reporter Charles Paladin, Romanian army liaison Colonel Lukan (unlike Bromfield's English translation, some others use proper Romanian spelling "Lucan"), Russian hussar officer Count Zurov (Fandorin's old friend from ''The Winter Queen''), and the charismatic General Sobolev (based on the real-life Mikhail Skobelev). Fandorin is informed that a Turkish agent, Anwar Effendi, is conducting an intelligence operation against the Russian army and might even have penetrated Russian headquarters. This is confirmed when the telegram directing the Russian army to take Plevna is mysteriously changed to an order to take Nikopol, a strategically irrelevant town. Varvara's fiancé Pyotr, who encoded the telegram, is jailed on suspicion of treason. Fandorin is charged with finding Anwar and uncovering the Turkish plot.

Because of the diversion of the Russian army to Nikopol, Ottoman troops arrive in Plevna first. The French reporter, Paladin, sneaks into the Ottoman camp and determines that only a small number of troops are in the town. Based on this information, the Russians attack Plevna, only to be bloodily repulsed because Paladin's data were incorrect and the Turks are there in strength. The Russian army then settles in for a siege.

The Russians' first attempt to break the siege of Plevna ends in defeat when the Turks, who somehow have advance knowledge of the Russian attack plan, concentrate their artillery on the Russian formations before the Russians have a chance to move forward. Fandorin immediately suspects Colonel Lukan, who predicted to Varvara that the attack would fail. He asks Varvara to follow Lukan back to Bucharest and investigate him, but that effort ends when Paladin kills Lukan in a duel over Varvara's honor. Investigation of his possessions shows that he was indeed taking money from a mysterious 'J.'

In the following attempt to storm Plevna, Sobolev leads his troops in an attack that breaks through Plevna's defenses and finally enters the city, but he is unable to advance further due to insufficient strength. He sends several messengers to headquarters to request reinforcements, but all are killed in the fray. In the end, Count Zurov breaks through to the Russian side, but after meeting the journalists at their observation outpost disappears on his way to the headquarters and Sobolev, out of ammunition, is forced to withdraw. Later, a search party finds Zurov murdered on the battlefield, apparently stabbed by gendarme Colonel Kazanzaki, whom dying Zurov managed to shoot. Pyotr unsuccessfully tries to hang himself, feeling responsibility for the carnage and defeat as he left the telegram unguarded when he went to welcome Varya and then sent it without checking; for the spy, knowing the not too strong Russian cipher, it was easy to replace it.

Three attempts to storm Plevna having failed, the Russian and Romanian armies besiege the city. By December, the Turks inside Plevna are starving. Varvara, on her way back from the hospital where she had been sent due to a case of typhus, encounters McLaughlin, the Irish reporter, who informs her that he has been tipped off that the Turks will surrender that night in a distant sector. She tells Fandorin, who guesses correctly that the Turks are not surrendering but trying to confuse the Russian army so they can stage a breakout. Thanks to his last-minute warning to Sobolev, the Russians manage to repel the attack after a fierce fight, the Turks in Plevna surrender, and McLaughlin, who has disappeared, is assumed to be the spy.

In the aftermath, Fandorin and Varvara are summoned to the presence of Emperor Alexander II and his Chancellor Alexander Gorchakov. Both the Emperor and Chancellor are furious at the treachery of McLaughlin. They believe him to have acted under direct orders of the British government, which – while pretending neutrality – is in fact determined to prevent Russia from gaining a decisive victory over the Turks. Fandorin is dispatched to London to track down McLaughlin and either kidnap him, bribe him to change sides by the promise of a Russian estate, or at least denounce and discredit him in British public opinion. As later seen, Fandorin takes up the mission while having doubts – which he does not voice – as to McLaughlin's guilt.

In his absence Varvara, less and less enthusiastic about her fiancé and more and more intrigued by the dashing general Sobolev, accompanies the army as it advances through Bulgaria to Adrianople. Shortly thereafter, the Turks sue for peace, and negotiations commence. At the train station, where Sobolev has his headquarters, Paladin suggests that they ride the train into San Stefano, the undefended western suburb of Constantinople. Sobolev agrees, and he, Paladin, Varvara, and his entourage all ride in to San Stefano accompanied by one Russian battalion. En route Sobolev tells Varvara that after the war he intends to divorce his wife and proposes to then marry Varvara. She has very mixed feelings about this proposal, but before she has time to respond the train arrives in San Stefano and Sobolev must give his full attention to securing control of the town. The Russians set up headquarters in a bank building, and Paladin has convinced General Sobolev to advance into Constantinople – when Fandorin suddenly appears and unmasks "Charles Paladin", the French journalist, as Anwar Effendi, the master Turkish spy.

Fandorin recounts his investigation and notes how nobody at Paladin's newspaper had ever seen him and how Paladin's stories for years had been filed from cities where Anwar was known to be. His earliest byline "Paladin d'Hevrais" is a reference to Anwar's birthplace Hef-rais in Bosnia. (In the Russian original, the name is Charles d'Hevrais, Paladin being Bromfield's change.) Fandorin points out that it was Paladin who had distracted Peter Yablokov from encrypting the order to attack Plevna by telling him Varvara had arrived, thus gaining the opportunity to change the text from "Plevna" to "Nikopol". Having exposed Paladin, Fandorin now clears the name of McLaughlin – who was no spy, but an honest journalist, and far from being in the British government's pay, he was an Irish nationalist. McLaughlin disappeared, not because he ran away but because Paladin had him ruthlessly killed and his body disposed of.

Paladin/Anwar admits his identity, but then draws a gun and drags Varvara as a hostage into the bank's vault. Inside the vault, Anwar tells Varvara that after Sobolev entering Constantinople, the British fleet off the coast would open fire and Western powers would have declared war to Russia, bringing ruin to it. Even so, a Turkish regiment is advancing into San Stefano, originally planned to strike at Sobolev's rear.

In the meantime, Anwar explains to Varvara that everything he has been doing is in the name of his ideals. His purpose is to defend the development of human rights, reason, tolerance and non-violent progress in the Western world against the expansion of the despotic and barbaric Russian Empire. His fatherland Turkey, which he deeply loves, is nevertheless the chess piece that he has planned to sacrifice or at least risk in his gambit in order to achieve a greater purpose – namely, to "protect humanity from the Russian threat".

Anwar, a believer in Evolution rather than Revolution, dislikes both the present Romanov Dynasty ruling Russia and the Russian revolutionaries with whom Varvara sympathizes, and predicts that in future there will arise in Russia a dangerous force "taking in the worst from both the East and the West" - a kind of premonition of Stalin's Soviet Union. Varvara angrily objects to Anwar's condemnation of Russia, stating that it has great literature as exemplified in Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. Anwar counters that Russian literature is pretty good, but in general literature is a toy and can't be very important. He remarks that despite the absence of great literature in Switzerland, life there is much more dignified than in Russia. In an aside, Anwar admits to being "a bit" in love with Varvara – though, given his dangerous way of life, he can't afford emotional entanglements.

By the time their conversation has ended, it becomes clear that the Turkish attack has been driven off by Sobolev's soldiers, and Anwar, realizing that he is now trapped, lets Varvara out of the vault and kills himself.

In March 1878, the Russians, Romanians, and Turks sign the Treaty of San Stefano, ending the war. Varvara and Pyotr board the train back to Russia, and Fandorin is there to say goodbye before he leaves by ship for a diplomatic post in Japan – farthest possible from home, the only thing he asked when offered a reward. Varvara congratulates him for defeating Anwar, but Fandorin replies that Anwar did achieve his long-term goals: the peace treaty which the Russians extracted from the Ottomans is too generous, and the other great powers of Europe will force Russia to settle for less, leaving Russia weakened and impoverished with little to show for the war. Fandorin tries to say goodbye to Varvara but he cannot get the words out, and it is clear that they both have deep feelings for each other. Varvara takes his hand but says nothing, and boards the train, crying as she watches Fandorin while the train pulls away. The novel ends with a newspaper article proving Fandorin right; the European great powers – in particular, Britain – object to the treaty and will meet to agree on a new settlement much less favorable to Russia.

On the remote Caribbean island Ojeda an agitated population kills their despotic ruler Mariano Vargas. His secretary Ramón Vázquez takes over and tries to reinstate public order. Meanwhile, Alejandro Gual, leader of a special military unit, tries to take the place of Ramón Vázquez. Knowing that Ramón Vázquez had an affair with the dictator's wife Inés, he tries to turn the widow against her lover.

An unnamed narrator tells a story about the history of Texas set one million years ago, when Dinosaur Dan, the eponymous villain, terrorized the state. He rustles all the cattle (brontosaurs with the heads of Texas longhorns), and runs off with all the pretty women. The primitive Texans finally corner Dan in his mountain hideout, and cleverly chisel away the outer rock, leaving behind a small rock jail with Dan inside. The final scene shows the jail still standing in modern-day Dallas, and reveals that the narrator is really Dinosaur Dan, still in jail and sadly asking: "When are y'all gonna let me out of here?"

When a settlement of illegal diamond miners is broken up by soldiers, in revenge they attack and burn down the army headquarters in the nearest town. Next day, when reinforcements arrive, most of the surviving miners are rounded up to be shot. On a river boat, five people escape the carnage: a pacifist miner, his deaf-mute daughter, the local madame he wants to marry, a Catholic priest, and a wanted adventurer. When pursued by the army, they take to the jungle. There, the struggle for survival starts eroding their identities and in most cases their will to live. The adventurer becomes the resourceful leader, while the miner goes out of his mind and kills both the madame and the priest. After killing the miner, only the adventurer and the girl are left to find freedom together.

Patrick McCardle (Zac Efron) is a fifteen-year-old who is forced to play baseball by his former baseball player dad (William R. Moses). Patrick doesn't know what to do with his life. When he skips ball practice one day, he visits his friend Houston Jones (Bill Cobbs), a former champion steeplechase jockey. Houston dazzles Patrick with stories of when he was Patrick's age and in love with a rich white girl named Julie, who taught him to ride.

At a game, Patrick is distracted by his teammate Chuck's (Rob Pinkston) older sister Jill (Crystal Hunt) and Patrick is knocked out by the pitch. Patrick's father asks him about his fall, and Patrick confronts him about pushing him into baseball. Patrick visits Houston after the game, and Houston tells him more stories, about Julie's death when she told Houston she was going to marry him. Patrick feels sorry and asks Houston to train him to steeplechase. Houston agrees, but Patrick's parents are appalled when he asked them for permission. His mother thinks it is too dangerous, and his father is concerned about Patrick taking riding lessons from a drunk black man. When they agree, Houston buys Patrick a horse named Rusty and tells Patrick to take care of him till he says to stop.

Patrick meets again with Chuck and Jill and asks them to join him at Houston's barbecue; he also invites his parents. There, his parents begin to trust Houston more. Patrick starts to learn to ride Rusty as Jill tends to Houston's garden. One day, the rich town bully and steeplechase champion, Randy, destroys Houston's vegetable/fruit stand; Houston warns him to stop. Houston then starts to collapse while Randy leaves and Patrick arrives. Jill calls 9-1-1, but Houston refuses to go to the hospital and dies the next day, leaving Patrick devastated. Patrick drops out of the steeplechase race and stops taking care of Rusty.

While walking around Houston's home on the day of the race, Jill finds a package addressed to Patrick with an envelope containing pictures of Patrick as a boy and a small carved horse figurine. She gives the package to Patrick; and he finds Houston's old racing silks and a letter. Patrick decides to enter the race and gets there just in time. Jill kisses Patrick before he leaves and sets up. Patrick, along with strong Rusty and Houston's voice in his head, wins the race. In the end, Patrick lays his trophy on Houston's grave, along with Houston's hat and his harmonica.

In a flashback, a single mother, Corrine Morgan-Thomas (Mary-Louise Parker) drives her seven-year-old twin boys Steven (Jake Cherry) and Philip (Jeremy Shada) to the doctor's office and learns that they have autism. Philip simply repeats what he hears others say, a condition known as echolalia, while Steven is completely nonverbal. After leaving the clinic in a very upset mood, she takes the boys shopping for groceries. Her visit to the supermarket is not a pleasant one, as her two boys begin screaming throughout the store and Steven wets himself, causing others to stare at them. Upon learning about their condition, her live-in boyfriend leaves because he knows raising twins with a mental disability will be difficult.

Corrine then moves with her boys to another town and enrolls them in a public school. Their classmates are puzzled by their strange behavior, as well as their teachers. Corrine is then told at a meeting by the principal as well as several psychiatrists that they are not fit for public school, and that they will be sent to a special school. The local mental hospital then sends a learning therapist to their house in order to teach the boys basic language skills and prepare them for normal society. With his help and support, Philip's vocabulary expands, and Steven says his very first word, "Pizza".

After he is done with teaching the boys, the psychiatrist moves to another city to work with other families. Over the course of several years, the boys flourish verbally, socially, and academically. However, some of their autistic characteristics still remain, as they have somewhat nasal, robot-like voices, engage in self-injurious habits, and are very sensitive to loud and sudden noises. They also have an obsession with Rocky from the Rocky films. On their first day of high school, Steven (Zac Efron) develops a crush on a girl named Jennifer (Alicia Morton). While chatting with Philip (Bubba Lewis) in the bathroom, Steven talks about Jennifer and says "Maybe she'll be my girlfriend." Another boy, an older boy with long hair, mocks Steven and pushes him, causing both of them to start screaming and crying.

Corrine is called to the school from work by their special ed teacher, and convinces the boys to come out of the bathroom and go to lunch. At lunch, Jennifer decides to sit with the two boys. Steven sees several joggers outside from the hallway and decides to join the cross country team. Before the race, Steven sees Jennifer kiss another guy. Steven is hurt and confused. Corrine finds Steven sitting down on the grass looking sad, and she finds a love poem in his hands that Steven wrote for Jennifer. Then, Steven realizes he has to move on. He wins the first race he runs in and Philip gets into a special music school by playing his newfound guitar talent over the phone. Corrine then founds The Miracle Run Foundation for research into autism. Steven gives a speech about how his mother helped him and his brother with their autism. As the audience applauds at his speech, the credits mention about their lives from thereon and this ends the movie.

This is the story of a Mob lawyer turned mole with a million-dollar contract on his head who has clanged back and forth between sin and sainthood like a church bell clapper—a turbulent youth, a stint on Chicago's police force, law school, and then the inner sanctum of Chicago's leading mobsters and corrupt political officials. With wild abandon he chased crooked acquittals for the likes of Pat Marcy, originally an Al Capone protégé who had become the Mob's key political operative; ruthless Mafia Capo and gambling czar Marco D'Amico; and notorious hit man Harry Aleman. He dined with Mob bosses and shared "last suppers" with friends before their gangland executions. Cooley watched as Marcy and the Mob controlled the courts, the cops, and the politicians. Then, in a startling act of conscience, he walked into the office of the U.S. Organized Crime Strike Force and, without a pending conviction or a hit man on his tail, agreed to wear a wire on the same Mafia overlords who had made him a player.

Cooley's tapes and testimony would be at the center of nine landmark trials that together exposed and then broke the Mob's unprecedented stranglehold on Chicago's government and court system. With stunning detail and brutal honesty, Cooley now tells the personal story behind the federal government's most successful Mafia investigation known as Operation Gambat (from ''Gam''bling ''At''torney).

In this installment after a house with a family home blows up and Lindsay rushes in to save whoever may have survived the blast, a group of killers known as August Spies vow to kill every three days. They target various political figures time and time again. Lindsay Boxer, with the San Francisco PD, Claire Washburn, the Medical Examiner, Cindy Thomas, a Chronicle reporter who recently broke up with her pastor boyfriend from the previous novel, and Jill Bernhardt an Assistant District Attorney who is revealed to have been a victim of spousal abuse for a while, dive into the case. The case takes a deadly turn when Jill is murdered.

Oddly enough this actually leads the remaining three ladies to find a tie-in to a case that Jill's father prosecuted and to a cover-up years old that has launched this terrorist action.

Lindsay resolves the case in typical fashion by bringing in the college professor that caused it all. She had previously decided to make a go of a relationship with her FBI liaison Joe Molinari when he is introduced in the middle of the book. He is Deputy Director of Homeland Security. He ends up getting a call from the vice president while on a date with Lindsay. Lindsay and Joe have a date while traveling on the case, which ends up being mocked by her former partner (Warren J) while at work. Their second date is at Lt. Boxer's apartment although they ignore dinner because he comes early and they sleep together. Later she feels very guilty because Jill had just thrown out her abusive bullying husband, and ignored a chance to call her or visit with her because of the date.

The storyline of ''War Wind II'' involves the discovery of one of the tablets of Naga'Rom in the north pole of Earth. A military/scientific station is located at the site of the tablet's recovery. The tablet is inadvertently activated by the scientists at the facility, transporting all occupants of the facility and much of the surrounding ice to Yavaun.

Meanwhile, on Yavaun, the Eaggra have escaped Tha'Roon rule and have allied themselves with the Shama'Li, forming a faction called S.U.N. (Servants Under Naga'Rom). The Tha'Roon have retained their rule over the Obblinox and the Tha'Roon empire's mission is clear: destroy the S.U.N. Faction and rule Yavaun. As the Tha'Roon come close to victory, a sudden burst of light and a new race emerge on Yavaun: Humans. The Tha'Roon turn their attention to the new invaders and the S.U.N. slip away to regroup.

The game begins years into the conflict between all the inhabitants of Yavaun. The humans have splintered into two groups, or factions. The Marines (children of the soldiers of the facility), whose goal is to conquer the other races and rule Yavaun, and the Descendants (children of the scientists) who seek to return to Earth.

The plot for each faction varies dramatically. The Tha'Roon seek to destroy all other races, while the Marines have a similar goal. The Descendants want to simply return to earth. The S.U.N.'s objective is the most peculiar as they want to free the Obblinox, unite with the Descendants, and create peace on Yavaun.

Alex Stillman (Bret Harrison) is a law student who plays poker online and in home games. He competes in an online tournament where the final table is played live on TV. Alex reaches the final table, but is eliminated first after being outmatched by professional player Karen "The Razor" Jones. The final table broadcast is watched by retired player Tommy Vinson (Burt Reynolds), who feels that Alex has potential as a player but could use his help. Vinson tracks Alex down at a cash game and offers him his business card, which Alex refuses until Tommy impresses him by reading his last hand.

Alex finally calls Tommy and spends a few days with him watching old videotapes of poker players and learning about tells and reading players. Tommy offers the kid a deal, he will stake Alex in poker games and they will split his winnings 50/50. When Alex asks why Tommy doesn't just play himself, he reveals that he hasn't played a hand in twenty years. After going broke and nearly losing his house and wife, Tommy agreed to never again play a hand at the risk of his wife leaving him. Tommy takes Alex to Las Vegas to play in a high-stakes cash game. He buys Alex in and watches the kid take a few beatings and lose money. Tommy pulls him off the table and reveals that Alex has a tell, which he corrects. Alex turns the game around and ends up cashing out ahead. Tommy suggests Alex relax a little and gets him to approach a beautiful woman at the bar named Michelle (Shannon Elizabeth). Alex awkwardly approaches her and convinces her to go on a date with him, and she spends the night with him.

Tommy wants to take Alex to Louisiana to play in a poker tournament, but Alex is supposed to start his job at his father's law firm. Alex convinces his dad to give him a few extra days under the pretext of taking a trip with his friend. Tommy tells his wife he has to go to Cleveland for work and the pair head to the tournament. On the first day, Alex does really well and builds up a chip lead. Overnight, Tommy warns Alex that the other players will try to keep him awake with distractions such as crank phone calls and knocks at the door. Alex doesn't listen and loses sleep to the distractions, resulting in him busting out of the tournament. Upon returning home, Tommy is confronted by his wife Helen about the money he's been using. He admits to bankrolling Alex but swears he hasn't played a hand himself. Unmoved, Helen packs her things and leaves Tommy.

Tommy takes Alex back to Las Vegas for another tournament, during which he tries to reconnect with Michelle but she doesn't return his calls. Alex does well at first but starts getting flustered when he runs into another tough female opponent. Alex finally finds his stride, finishing the tournament in the money and making $120,000. Michelle finally calls Alex back, and the two spend the night together. Alex tries to convince her to spend more time with him, but she tells him her father is in town and she has to leave. Later that night, while celebrating his win with Tommy, he sees Michelle with another man and realizes she is a prostitute. Tommy tacitly admits to hiring her to help Alex relax, and an enraged Alex storms off. The next morning, Alex leaves Tommy his share of the winnings at the hotel desk and tells him never to talk to him again.

Alex returns home to his angry parents, who know he's been playing poker rather than work. When his father reminds him who paid for his law school, Alex throws his $60,000 at him. Shocked at the money Alex has made, his parents reluctantly agree to let him compete in the World Poker Tour tournament in a few weeks. Tommy, deciding he has nothing to lose, enters the tournament as well. The two play for several days, with Alex quickly building up a chip lead and Tommy slowly grinding his way up until both players reach the final table. That evening, Helen returns to Tommy at his hotel and apologizes for making him stay away from poker for so long. Alex's parents also arrive, finally supporting their son's poker playing. The next day, they both eliminate several players until it's down to just the two of them. In the final hand, Tommy busts Alex out with a pocket pair of jacks.

Later in the evening, Tommy confronts Alex to ask about his last hand. Alex confirms Tommy's suspicion that he had a lower pair than Tommy. In a flashback, we see that Alex actually folded the winning hand in order to let Tommy have the title he wanted for so long.

After becoming engaged to Emily, Gabe finds himself watching a graceful pair of dancers in a dance studio window. Hoping to learn to dance for his upcoming wedding, Gabe enters the studio to take lessons. While interested in his dance teacher, he finds that he is still looking forward to his wedding, but things change when he has Emily come in for her lessons.

Robins plays bumbling mad scientist Nathaniel Pickman Wingate, of the Miskatonic University. He works on opening a portal to another dimension while his wife, Nancy (Laura O'Malley) and family prepare his fiftieth birthday party. When he succeeds with contact with the new dimension, two triops-like creatures escape. These creatures possess shape-shifting abilities that allows them to assume the form and identity of anything, and thusly do so with Nancy's cousin, Count Desmon (Christopher Gasti) of Liechtenstein and Jasmine, a model from son Sam's (Dan Evans) poster (Dru-Anne Cakmis).

Jasmine and Desmon are shown to be polar behavioral opposites. Jasmine is friendly and intelligent. Via her telepathic abilities she quickly becomes Sam's girlfriend. Desmon on the other hand is ill-behaved, surly, and mischievously malevolent. His mischievous personality drives him to pull terrible tricks on Sam's family via his powers—for example, Lindy (Allison Rachel Golde) overuses the phone, so Desmon stuffs the receiver in her mouth, causing her to go to the ER to have it extracted. Handyman Floyd (Chuck Bartelle) is hurt by some cut wires a vindictive Desmon moves with psychokinesis giving him a severe electric shock. Suffering difficulties in retaining his new body, Desmon frightens off the maid Emma (Lynn Applebaum) when he tries to seduce her. Reverend Lawrence Newman (David Allan Shaw), Nathan's college roommate, tries some bedroom antics with Nathan's sister, Angelica (Kate Alexander); Desmon, clinging to the ceiling above them, uses his powers to transform Lawrence's penis into a dragon-like creature that attacks him.

Sam, Jasmine and Sam's best friend, Alex (Andrew Ross Litzky) run to get coolant supplies from the university, which are necessary to prevent an explosion that will destroy half the planet. Jasmine is concerned with doing anything she can to stop Desmon and get back to their own dimension. She spends time, though, with Sam in a '50s-style malt shop, sharing a milkshake with two straws.

Tommy Riley and his father have just moved to start a new life. Tommy's father has accumulated many gambling debts but has found a new job that requires him to travel extensively, leaving his son alone at home. Tommy also has a hard time fitting in at school, having crossed gang members. He takes a job at a local diner and enters into a romantic relationship with Dawn, the daughter of the owner, but is jumped by the gang members outside the restaurant. Seeing how well Tommy is able to fight, a local boxing promoter by the name of Pappy Jack offers Tommy a chance to fight in an illegal underground boxing operation. When two men arrive announcing that Tommy's father owes a large sum of money to pay off gambling debts, Jack convinces his boss, boxing promoter Jimmy Horn to buy out the debt, which forces Tommy to pay off his father's debts by boxing.

Tommy enjoys a great deal of success and develops a friendship with Romano and Abraham "Lincoln" Haines, two fellow fighters. However, he continues to be harassed by gang members, and discovers that two of them, "Black Death" and "Short Cut" are boxers who fight dirty, using elbows, kicks, knees, and low blows, and counting on the crooked refs to overlook the clear violations. Tommy defeats Black Death in the ring, but Short Cut hides a fluid in his gloves, which he uses to blind Romano during a match. Unable to defend himself, Romano is brutally beaten in the ring and is declared brain dead by the doctors. Short Cut later tries the same trick on Tommy, but Tommy has learned to fight dirty, and defeats Short Cut.

Meanwhile, Lincoln shows signs of possible brain damage and is told to quit fighting for at least 60 days or else suffer permanent brain damage. Despite this, Horn arranges a match between Lincoln and Tommy. Afraid of killing Lincoln, Tommy takes a beating until the two are unwilling to continue the match. In revenge, Horn, a former boxer who retired with only one defeat, punches Lincoln severely enough to knock him out of the ring.

Furious, Tommy challenges Horn to a match. If Horn wins, Tommy will continue to work for him indefinitely, but if Tommy wins, his father's debt is wiped clean. Horn accepts on the condition that they fight bare-knuckle. Horn's vast experience with boxing initially gives him the upper hand, and Horn's confidence influences him to play with and humiliate Tommy as a result. Tommy eventually uses the various forms of advice he has received throughout his brief boxing experience to outthink Horn: he fakes a broken hand to give Horn even more confidence, and then uses the element of surprise to defeat Horn, freeing himself from Horn's contract.

Oxford students Arthur (Arthur Askey), Stinker (Richard Murdoch), and Albert (Graham Moffatt) are in danger of being "sent down" (expelled) for bad behaviour. Learning that the Dean of Bowgate College is an amateur Egyptologist, Arthur—who had just played the lead in a stage version of ''Charley's Aunt''—poses as Albert's wealthy Aunt Lucy, who might finance an archeological expedition if the Dean is lenient on her nephew and his friends. Unfortunately, the real Aunt Lucy picks this day to pay a visit to Oxford herself, with calamitous consequences.

The film describes the carnage of extraterrestrial crafts landing on an area with many amorous teens. The plot deals with "Bionaut" (living) vessels, which have traveled back in time and have released small reconnaissance creatures that become violent when they get too far away from the Bionaut.

Christopher Pride wants to marry his girlfriend, Dr. Elizabeth Acord. However, she is too involved with her patients and she doesn't think that she would be able to leave them to live in Paris for a year. Pride decides to solve her patients' problems after finding out that most of them are merely despondent after having relationships go bad. Therefore, he decides to "date" these women, without Acord's knowledge, and give them back their self-esteem so that they will be less dependent on their doctor.

Pride adopts a separate persona for each woman, targeted to be their ideal partner. Ringo Raintree the millionaire cowboy woos a Anna Jacque, a French patient. For southern belle Mary Lou Mauve he becomes Rutherford the zoologist (and Ruther's twin sister, Heather) and for passionate athlete Susan he becomes Warren, also an athlete.

The film comes to a climax when all the women, including the psychiatrist, assemble at a party with Pride present. He quickly switches from one character to the next depending on which woman is present.

In 1989, the United States continues to be engaged in a Space Race with the Soviet Union.

The two male astronauts manning the U.S. weather station on the Moon, Hoffman and Schmidlap, are suffering the effects of their long stay in space and need to be relieved, as Schmidlap regularly ties up Hoffman and has even knocked out his two front teeth. The sex-starved Schmidlap sits around drawing lewd pictures of naked women.

Harold Quonset, the head of NAWA, is concerned that the situation with Hoffman and Schmidlap threatens to become an embarrassment to the agency. Furthermore, the Soviets have taken a step forward in the space race by placing the first (unmarried) male/female couple on the Moon. Quonset decides the United States should place the first married couple in space.

With the next NAWA space launch looming, the newlywed astronauts scheduled for the mission, Ted and Peggy, split after Ted is surprised by the expectedly normal events of a wedding night (“you should hear what she wanted to do”). Quonset quickly turns to Peter Mattemore and Eileen Forbes, unmarried astronauts who have been at NAWA for years without having flown a mission. Forbes agrees to the marriage on the condition that they be married in name only, and their vows are exchanged as they are rushed up the gantry for their space launch.

When they arrive on the Moon, they receive regular visits from the Soviet cosmonauts, Anna Soblova and Igor Baklenikov, living at the nearby Soviet lunar station. Antics ensue with vodka pill parties and the men preening for their beautiful female companions. The Soviets are suspected of trying to sabotage the American space station, but they are soon vindicated.

Anna tricks Igor into marrying her by declaring she is pregnant, having gotten the idea for this from Eileen. The wedding is broadcast via satellite to the entire planet, with Peter acting as best man and Eileen as maid of honor.

The media pick up on the Soviets being in line to have the first baby born on the Moon. NAWA head Harold Quonset tells his married astronauts of his unhappiness with the Soviets having scored this crucial first in the Space Race, insinuating that this is because Peter is less virile than Igor and Eileen less sexy than Anna. Stung by this, Eileen declares she is just as pregnant as Anna, delighting Mr. Quonset. After ending the call with Quonset, Eileen tells the startled Peter she's just as pregnant as Anna because Anna isn't pregnant at all. The two have truly fallen in love, and Eileen suggests they could make her pregnancy assertion retroactively true. They are just initiating this project as the story ends.

U.S.S. ''Voyager'' encounters a Wysanti starship, which is from the same homeworld as Rebi and Azan. The Wysanti offer to take in the two children, as well as Mezoti, leaving Icheb the remaining child that ''Voyager'' had rescued from the Borg. Icheb and Seven of Nine discuss their feelings about the others' departures, and Icheb sees that Seven is crying. She instead believes her ocular implant is malfunctioning and goes to sick bay. The Doctor agrees it is a malfunction and treats Seven, but she continues to experience headaches and strange feelings.

After successfully completing analysis of a nebula in Astrometrics, Icheb asks Seven for more challenging assignments on the bridge, then states that he would like to study under Tuvok and Seven to pass the Starfleet Academy entrance exam. Seven offers to get a letter of reference from Captain Janeway. She finds her hand is shaking, and excuses herself to the cargo bay to attempt to regenerate, but the computer refuses to engage as it states Seven's cortical node is malfunctioning. Unable to regenerate, Seven goes to the mess hall and consumes several glasses of her nutritional supplement in an attempt to make up for not regenerating. Neelix finds her there in the morning when he enters to start breakfast. When Seven starts to leave the mess hall she collapses as other Borg implants begin to appear on her body.

In sick bay, the Doctor reports that they cannot repair the node, and Seven will likely die without a replacement. Discovering a nearby Borg debris field, Janeway, Tom Paris and Tuvok take the ''Delta Flyer'' to find a replacement node. They are briefly waylaid by raiders that claim the field as their own, but they manage to chase them off, and leave with a node from a long-dead drone. The Doctor simulates the transplant of the new node into Seven, but each run is unsuccessful, as the node has been inactive for too long. Seven prepares to accept that she might die. Though the Doctor has confined her to Sick Bay, Seven deactivates him and goes to speak to B'Elanna Torres about the nature of death, worried that as she is no longer tied to the Borg collective, her contributions will be lost. Torres assures her that she has helped the crew tremendously, and will have a legacy on ''Voyager''.

Icheb, aware of Seven's condition, offers to give up his cortical node for Seven. As he was not fully assimilated by the Borg, he will be able to survive without it. The Doctor simulates the transplant and agrees it has a high chance of success, but Seven refuses to allow Icheb to do this. Icheb purposely programs his alcove to disengage the node, causing his health to falter. He is rushed to sick bay, but refuses to allow treatment to remove the node unless Seven is willing to accept it. Seven remains steadfast; she refuses to take the node. Janeway, Seven, and Icheb debate, but eventually all agree to allow Icheb's node to be removed and used to replace Seven's. The operation is successful, though Icheb must spend several days in sick bay to regain his health. Seven tells Icheb his actions were foolish and emotional, but then thanks him, and promises to help him prepare for the Academy entrance exam. Icheb agrees, and Seven finds she is crying once more, though her new node is functioning perfectly.

Gerald Clamson is a bank examiner who loves fishing on his annual two-week holiday. Unfortunately, one day at the ocean he reels in Syd Valentine, an injured gangster in a scuba diving suit. Syd tells Gerald about diamonds he has stolen from the other gangsters and hands him a map. Gerald escapes as frogmen from a yacht machine-gun the beach. They swim ashore, locate Syd and gun him down. Their leader Thor ensures Syd's demise by firing a torpedo from his yacht that goes ashore, blowing a crater into the beach.

As the police ignore Gerald's story, Gerald heads to the Hilton Inn in San Diego where Syd claimed the diamonds were hidden. There he meets Suzie Cartwright, an airline stewardess. While searching for the diamonds, he needs to avoid the hotel staff after inadvertently hurting the manager. Gerald disguises himself as a character similar to Professor Julius Kelp from ''The Nutty Professor'', while trying to stay one step ahead of the other gangsters who are on his tail, as well as the hotel detectives led by the manager—all the while courting Suzie. As each of the gangsters see Gerald, an identical lookalike to the deceased Syd, they have nervous breakdowns; one imagining himself a dog, one turning into a Larry Fine lookalike, the other becoming a stutterer. The one man Gerald meets who believes him, and identifies himself as a FBI special agent, turns out to be an escapee from an insane asylum.

The movie climaxes in a chase through Sea World San Diego, where Gerald is pursued by Thor's mob, a rival group of gangsters who had made a deal with Syd to buy his diamonds, and a group of Chinese who smuggle the diamonds disguised as plastic pearls. Gerald disguises himself as a Kabuki dancer but is pursued until Suzie rescues him by flying by with a helicopter and dropping a rope ladder that Gerald escapes on. They return to the Pacific Ocean, where Syd reappears. The rival gangsters chase Syd into the ocean, and Gerald and Suzie walk away, deeply in love. The diamonds are never located.

The final scene shows the narrator, Bogart, facing the camera and solemnly announcing that the tale is true—then the camera pulls back as De Vol turns and walks away on the breakwater where the beginning and ending action had taken place. De Vol is wearing all of a business suit except trousers, and he is carrying a briefcase.

The first part of the story takes place in 60's. It's the love story between Gabriela and Renato. The viewers will witness their marriage, the birth of their daughter, also named Gabriela and Renato's death from Nicando's hand. The second part takes place in 80's. Gabriela is the grown daughter of Gabriela and Renato. She has a rebel personality and she pretends to be a man in order to sail on a boat. Then she will be courted by two men: Carlos and Fernando. At the end it's unclear whom she marries, because the viewers only see a hand that receives her at the altar.

After calling Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) "faggy", Michael Scott (Steve Carell) learns that Oscar finds the word offensive because he is homosexual. While attempting to apologize, Michael inadvertently outs Oscar to the entire office. Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) berates Michael for his behavior, after Michael's seminar on homosexuality is a disaster. When Oscar threatens to quit, Michael attempts to reconcile with Oscar, first by hugging him, and then kissing him on the lips. Oscar is given three months paid vacation and use of a company car in exchange for not suing Dunder Mifflin.

It is revealed that after their kiss, Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) confirmed to Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) her intention to marry Roy Anderson (David Denman). However, a few days before the wedding, Pam got cold feet and decided to call it off. She moved into her own apartment and began taking art classes. Pam's rejection sent Roy into a downward spiral, hitting rock bottom with a drunk driving arrest. When being interviewed by the camera crew, Roy makes a vow to win Pam back.

Jim has transferred to Dunder Mifflin's Stamford branch and tries to settle into his new office. He then meets smug co-worker Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) who brags about his wild college days at Cornell University. Jim tries to target him like he targeted Dwight, but becomes scared of Andy's more violent tendencies. Meanwhile, sales representative Karen Filippelli (Rashida Jones) is disconcerted by Jim's constant smirks to the camera.

Ashade (Abdel Kechiche), a New York City taxicab driver from Syria encounters a strange fare in Phoebe, played by Robin Wright Penn. The lead character, bitter from a recent divorce, forces friendship upon Ashade who accepts it very reluctantly. When she learns of Ashade's family's legal problems, she imposes upon him further. This imposition reveals a dangerous side to Phoebe, causing Ashade to flee their brief friendship. Phoebe retaliates in spite, turning Ashade's life upside-down. In order to put his life back in order, Ashade must seek out Phoebe and enlist her help, and in doing so, he learns about and falls prey to her dark secret.

Charles Dickens's story of a young man's journey to maturity. This version finds David Copperfield (Robin Phillips) as a young man, brooding on a deserted beach. In flashback, David remembers his life in 19th century England, as a young orphan, brought to London and passed around from relatives, to guardians, to boarding school. He relives his struggle to overcome the loss of his idyllic childhood and the torment inflicted by his hated stepfather after his mother's death. Then virtually abandoned on the streets of Victorian London, David Copperfield is flung into manhood and contends bravely with the perils of big-city corruption and vice; hardships which ultimately fuel his triumph as a talented and successful writer.

In the early 1970s, in a small Japanese village, lives Oyuki Ogino (Ana Martín), a beautiful woman, good and honest, whose beauty and physical attributes are used by her ambitious brother Yutaka Ogino (Salvador Sánchez), who forces her to work as a Geisha and begins to exploit her.

Forced by her brother, Oyuki begins to work while men pay large amounts for her to entertain with her show. One of those men is Irving Pointer (Boy Olmi), a painter of English origin and the son of Sir Charles Pointer (Jorge Martínez de Hoyos), the ambassador of the United Kingdom in Japan. Irving begins to paint Oyuki and both end up falling in love, but Yutaka has other plans for his sister. He plans to marry Oyuki to Togo Fushoko (Yoshio), one of the richest men in Japan. Oyuki rejects Fushoko and unleash the fury of Yutaka. When Yutaka flees from justice after committing a crime, Oyuki can be together Irving. But Irving's mother, Lady Elizabeth (Martha Roth) denies that her son is related to a Japanese woman. Given the refusal of his mother, Irving decides to run away from home and marries Oyuki. The two manage to find happiness with the arrival of their first child, who was named Yuriko.

Furious Yutaka decides to take revenge on his sister and kills Irving. Yutaka manages to escape. All evidence does not favor Oyuki, who is captured, tried and sentenced to twenty years in prison. Her daughter Yuriko, two years old, is sent with her paternal grandparents.

After fifteen long years, Yutaka confesses his crime before dying, allowing Oyuki released from prison. Free at last, Oyuki travels in search of her daughter Yuriko (Cecilia Gabriela), who is now an sophisticated English lady of 17 years old and sees her mother as a stranger.

Huayna Capac, the last grand Inca, after 500 years of his death, prepares a warrior called El Dorado to gather three gems of Time, Energy and Matter, and fight Aguirre, the Spanish leader. The action begins in an asteroid space station called Paititi (its surface is marked with lines similar to the Nazca lines) from which El Dorado hurls to space flying a Tumi-shaped spaceship.

The quest brings him dodging asteroids, dogfighting with Spanish spaceships, fighting his way through mazes and performing puzzles (rituals) to summon the mummy of Pachacutec the Renovator for hints. The directions lead him to the statues of the "Founders of Huaca", Mama Ocllo and Manco Cápac, who give him the Jewel of Time. On his way back, he is captured on board the Spanish mothership (actually a galleon flying in space) trying to escape.

Afterwards he rids Paracas (a moon marked by a shape similar to the Paracas Candelabra) from Spanish ships and he meets the Aclla who acknowledges him as the new Sapa Inca and gives him the Jewel of Matter.

The Jewel of Energy is guarded by Mayans on a planet. After wandering in a maze and passing through puzzles, El Dorado reaches the "Intihuatana of Machu Picchu", where he claims the final jewel. Afterwards he uses them in combination to solve the final puzzle and is awarded the sacred tumi, sign of his anointment as son of the sun.

In the final stage El Dorado finds himself again in Aguirre's galleon, where the two duel against each other.

After the events of the first game, El Dorado has become Sapa Inca of the new Inca Empire and his Aclla has given him a son, Atahualpa. The beginning of the game is set in Machu Picchu where the player controls Prince Atahualpa in his Huarachico; the player can choose between an inventory-based puzzle, or a space simulator sequence where they are tasked to destroy moai-shaped statues.

Finally, Atahualpa is accepted to the Council where a mysterious merchant pilot Kelt Carrier reveals that Spaniard Lord Aguirre controls an asteroid which disrupts communications throughout the Empire. Atahualpa talks to the stranger abruptly, resulting to him being expelled from the council by his father. Then he is subverted by Dona Angelina to steal his father's Tumi-shaped spaceship and fight the Spaniards alone. This mindless act gives Aguirre the opportunity to declare a new war.

El Dorado and Carrier come to arrest Atahualpa and participate in the ensuing space battle, during which Atahualpa attempts to take control of Kelt Carrier's "Three-Master" and is killed when the ship is destroyed. The control shifts to El Dorado for the rest of the game.

Carrier leads El Dorado to Yuna, a hermit-astronomer in the Australian desert, who devises a plan for destroying Aguirre's asteroid. While there, they discover the plans of the "Boomerang", a legendary spacecraft. Carrier is assigned in building a fleet of Boomerangs as El Dorado travels to three planets in order to place the three Inca powers of the previous game, and visits a volcanic island named Ibis, and a planet that resembles Tibet where he seeks the help of a lama.

In the end, Carrier's fleet of Boomerangs diverts Aguirre's ships surrounding the asteroid, where El Dorado attempts to rescue Aclla, before destroying it.

Marisa (Edith González) was about to marry the love of her life Cesar (Jaime Camil) when the wedding was suddenly interrupted by a woman claiming to be pregnant with Cesar's baby. Distraught and heartbroken, Marisa then becomes a 'woman of wood': A woman hard to get to and who strives to continue her life alone. Cesar tries to amend his fault by marrying the mother of his daughter and tries to be happy. But he can't forget Marisa and turns to drinking. Carlos (Gabriel Soto) is an idealist fighting against illegal logging operations. Marisa and Carlos meet thanks to their common interest in discovering the truth behind the sell of illegal wood. Marisa discovers that her sister Aida (Ludwika Paleta) is in love with Carlos. Having had experience with men, Marisa decides to romance him to keep him away from her sister so she won't get hurt. Slowly but surely, the attraction between Marisa and Carlos grows and they begin to fall in love. Aida feels betrayed by her sister and the things get even more complicated when Cesar returns to Marisa's life.

Cesar's wife dies in an automobile accident and his little daughter Antonia, becomes temporarily paralyzed. Cesar decides to return to where it all started and will have to confront Marisa. Marisa is impacted with the return of Cesar; he discovers that she is a different woman but still the same one he loves. He is saddened to find out she loves Carlos and is willing to fight for her love. Piedad (Maya Mishalska) hates Marisa with a passion even though she's supposedly her aunt. She has a sick, obsessive love for Cesar and is, as Marisa will later discover, the main reason why Marisa and Cesar's wedding was interrupted. Will Marisa allow her relationship with Carlos to blossom even though her sister's heart is breaking into a million pieces? Or will Marisa forgive Cesar and give him another opportunity for him to prove if he really loves her as much as he says? But she is raped, becomes pregnant, and does not know who is the father.

Efrain (Carlos Cámara Jr.) starts an enormous fire at the ranch where Marisa is with her father. Thankfully, Cesar manages to save her before it was too late but the damage was already done. Marisa is left horribly disfigured, so much that she looks like a monster, totally unrecognizable. After several surgeries, Marisa wears a mask. After the mask is removed, Marisa looks like a complete different person. Marisa (now Ana Patricia Rojo) is even stronger and it will be harder for Carlos and Cesar to fight for her love. But after all Marisa only loves Cesar.

Carlos and Aida are happily in love. Cesar and Marisa are living a beautiful romance once again. Everything seems to be going well — so much so, that Cesar proposes once again to Marisa and she agrees. Cesar can't contain his joy as the date gets nearer, but what lies ahead is doom. Piedad is still sickly in love with him and tries one last desperate attempt to retain him at her side. Cesar becomes warned that if he married Marisa, his daughter will pay the price. The big day finally arrives. Cesar is shocked to discover that his daughter's nanny is part of Piedad's plot. If Cesar says "I do" at the altar, the nanny will inject a poisonous substance into his daughter and she would die a slow and painful death.

With all the pain in his heart, at the altar Cesar tells the priest that he does not accept Marisa as his wife. In front of the guests, Cesar tells Marisa how much he hates her and that he was only marrying her for revenge for all those years which she didn't correspond to his love. After leaving the wedding, Cesar and Antonia are kidnapped and held hostage by Piedad. Marisa is deeply emotionally hurt. Her wedding was interrupted again. Alone and sad, she is consoled by a fellow medic, Marco Antonio who falls in love with her. When Cesar is finally able to escape Piedad, he rushes to Marisa to explain what happened. Marisa believes him. But when he tries to kiss her, something pushes her away from him. Even though she loves him, a phobia has grown in her that is stronger than her. Every time she gets close to him, she remembers how he abandoned her for the second time at their wedding. Cesar is hurt and believes that she is in love with Marco Antonio.

Around this time, Piedad supposedly dies in an auto accident. After several arguments, Cesar and Marisa end their relationship and she begins dating Marco Antonio. But Marisa can't stop loving Cesar, and this makes Marco Antonio angry. Cesar meets Alondra and is immediately fascinated by her and starts a relationship with her. As much as he tries to make the relationship work, he can't forget Marisa. Alondra can tell. Cesar and Marisa beg each other for forgiveness and swear to never let anything separate them ever again. But Piedad is alive and more determined than ever to destroy Marisa and Cesar. She teams up with Marco Antonio to separate them. Will Piedad be able to separate Marisa and Cesar a third time? Will Marisa and Cesar finally be happy after all they've been through?

Yoon Shi-yeon (Kim Tae-hee) is a "gumiho" (or nine-tailed fox) living undercover in the human world. She has a dark past when her whole family was massacred, leaving her an orphan. By day, Shi-yeon is an employee at a natural history museum. By night, she's a top-ranking woman warrior in the Nine-Tailed Fox clan, charged with preserving the delicate balance between man and fox. But her world is sent spinning when an atrocious serial murder, where the victims have had their internal organs gouged out is uncovered. Detective Kang Min-woo (Jo Hyun-jae) believes the murders may relate to the organ trafficking trade, and goes undercover in a seedy organ smuggling ring. But Min-woo's cover is blown, and it's only through the intervention of Shi-yeon and Nine-Tailed Fox warrior Moo-young (Jun Jin) that he's able to survive. But now he's seen their true identities as Nine-Tailed Foxes.

Two slave brothers, African-American Levi (Anthony Scott) and Albino Sunshine (Chris Robinson), discover a treasure map while digging on the plantation of their master, Striker (Ted Cassidy). Though Striker initially takes the map from them, they take it back and escape, determined to find the treasure in order to set themselves free. Striker pursues them, eventually stopping at a seedy bar to recruit helpers who will aid him in his pursuit; he recruits a mysterious bounty hunter, as well as the bartender (Robert Leslie). The two slaves follow the map continuously through the woods and swamps, regularly confronting and escaping various dangers from snakes to a group of rednecks. They briefly find refuge in an escaped slaves' camp, but Striker and his men follow the trail straight to the camp and run out the population. Striker is noticeably disturbed at the bartender for killing a woman and an old man, and briefly pulls his own gun on the man.

The brothers continue on further and briefly find refuge in the stilt house of a kind woman (Phyllis Robinson), before a storm the following night knocks over a lantern and starts a fire that burns the house down. They continue on into the forest, where they encounter a Native American, whom Levi strangles to death before they appropriate his canoe. The three of them use the canoe to follow the river to the open ocean before stopping at a port town. However, the next morning, they discover that the woman has abandoned them and several of their supplies have been stolen. Nevertheless, they continue towards the treasure, thinking that they are getting closer.

Striker, the bartender, and the bounty hunter finally catch up to Levi and Sunshine at a beach, where Striker has a change of heart and even betrays and stabs the bartender. However, the bounty hunter refuses to give up the hunt, and when Sunshine attempts to flee into the water with the map, the bounty hunter guns him down, with the map washing away in the current. Levi overpowers the bounty hunter and beats him to death with the butt of his own rifle before the reformed Striker stops him and comforts him, even helping him carry Sunshine's body to shore. The film ends with Striker and Levi watching the sunset over the ocean before the end credits roll.

King Conan, in his mid-sixties, grows restless - especially since the death of his beloved wife Zenobia. With the approach of old age, what he most dreads is to die in bed – helpless, surrounded by physicians and whispering courtiers. He would much rather die in battle – but there seems little prospect of that, since he himself made Aquilonia powerful and prosperous while eliminating virtually all threats. The prospect he faces as King is many boring years of tax administration and adjudicating complicated legal cases. Meanwhile, Conan's eldest son, Conn, is now twenty years old – a very worthy son and heir who has already given a very good account of himself at the age of thirteen (''Conan of Aquilonia''), and is fully ready to assume the throne.

Suddenly, there is a new crisis: Conan's old friend and loyal supporter, Count Trocero of Poitian, is snatched away from the Council Chamber itself by '''Red Shadows''', mystical entities of unknown origin. Although it happened in front of Conan himself, inside a room filled with courtiers and guards, there was nothing anyone could do against these insubstantial shadows who suddenly appear, grab a man, and disappear along with him. This is followed by the Red Shadows striking again and again, snatching at random men and women of all ages or social positions. As would later turn out, these sinister acts were perpetrated by the wizard priests of the dark god Xotli, descendants of refugees from sunken Atlantis, who settled on the other side of the ocean and seek to placate their demon god's voracious appetite for human sacrifice.

In his troubled sleep, Conan is visited by the ghost of a wise and ancient prophet, Epemitreus, who tells him that the source of the '''Red Shadows''' is in the unknown lands beyond the Western Ocean. Epemitreus, speaking for the gods, tells Conan that this is a threat to the whole world, and charges him to do what he was half-inclined to do anyway – ''i.e.'', abdicate, sail across the ocean, track the Red Shadows to their source, and eliminate the threat. That very night, Conan writes out his abdication letter and bids farewell to his son who would become King Conan II, with some final advice on how to be a King: "Discount nine-tenths of all flattery, and never punish the bearer of bad news."

At a pirate hideout on the Barachan Islands, Conan finds out that his old reputation as the pirate captain, Amra the Lion, is very much alive. He and his old comrade, Sigurd of Vanaheim, have no trouble in recruiting a highly spirited and polyglot crew of pirates while setting off westwards on board ''The Red Lion''. They emerge victorious from their first encounter with the dark priests, one of whom is guiding a magical green galley with no oarsmen in sight. However, during his second encounter, an armada of Dragon Ships sent by the Xotli priests overcome Conan and his crew. All the pirates are knocked unconscious by sleeping gas and taken ashore, to be eventually sacrificed to Xotli with their hearts torn out of their chests.

Conan alone manages to escape, stealing a breathing apparatus from one of his attackers and diving into the sea. After some underwater adventures (he is threatened by a giant octopus and a shark; the two start fighting each other and forget about him), Conan comes ashore. Finding himself in a completely strange city with no idea of the language or culture, Conan finds his bearings at record speed. First, he finds refuge with a prostitute named Catlaxoc, while learning from her the language and customs of the ancient city of Ptahuacan. Soon, Conan proves to Catlaxoc and himself that in his sixties he's still capable of pleasing love-making, and breaking her heart with his departure a few days later. Then, realizing that a city this big must have a flourishing underworld, he makes contact with a local crime boss, Metamphoc, and whom he instantly reaches a perfect understanding "between two old thieves".

With the help of Metamphoc and his Guild of Thieves, Conan journeys through the vast caverns deep beneath the city, in an effort to save his crewmembers before they are sacrificed. The underground route is highly dangerous, and for a moment it seems that Conan's long and illustrious career would end with him being devoured by a swarm of giant rats. Fortunately, he overcomes this threat as well. After traveling across an underground river, Conan arrives underneath a dark pyramid, at the top of which the victims are sacrificed. Their life force is greedily drunk by a physically-manifested Xotli, while the victim's bodies are thrown into a cavern and eaten by flightless dragons (in fact, giant lizards). Conan, pursued by some of these dragons, manages to open a giant doorway crafted from copper and unleashes the monsters onto the gathered Xotli priesthood.

The dragon's entrance comes in the nick of time to save Sigurd and the other pirates from being sacrificed, creating a distraction which enables them to fight off their captors, while joined by Conan himself. But aside from the priests and their soldiers, there is also the direct threat of Xotli in person – the demon-god hovering in the air, annoyed at the interruption of his meal, and correctly identifying Conan as the source of his problems.

Conan finds himself in a titanic mental struggle with Xotli. He resists the dark god to his utmost, but even the strongest mortal cannot win against a god. However, before sending Conan on this mission, Epemitreus had provided him with a powerful talisman for just such a contingency. Smashing the talisman summons Mithra, an Aquilonian god, in person – who is well able to deal with Xotli. Mithra warns Conan and his pirates, as well as the citizens of Ptahuacan, to flee from the vicinity. Soon, a titanic struggle between the two gods occur, in which the sacrificial pyramid and much of the city's center is destroyed, and Xotli is finally banished for good.

When the terrified citizens return from the countryside during their escape, they discover that Metamphoc and his thieves have taken control of the battered city. While not an ideal ruler, the crime boss would in Conan's view be a definite improvement over the murderous priests. In the prisons, hundreds of intended victims are found and released, but nothing more is heard of Conan's old friend, Count Trocero of Poitian. Sadly, it seems that for him, Conan's overthrow of the dark priests came too late.

The novel ends with Conan literally sailing off into the sunset: "A few hours later, the great ship, which the natives of Mayapan were to call Quetzlcoatl – meaning "winged (or feathered) serpent" in their uncouth tongue – lifted anchor. She sailed south and then, skirting the Antillian Isles, into the unknown West. But whither, the ancient chronicle, which endeth here, sayeth not."

Timothy "Dildo/Dunph" Dunphy (Shawn Hatosy), is in the Class of 1974 in his high school senior year living in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, comes from a troubled single parent working-class family, and is friends with those who have aspirations which do not exceed smoking marijuana at the water tower that has a view of the town. His father, Pat (Alec Baldwin), suffers from his wife committing suicide and appears naïve when the boys come back to the Dunphys' house to get a bong. A regularly held poker game is in progress. Pat insists that the boys be respectful and come in to say hello. The boys' intention is undetected by Pat that they are using drugs when Dunph's wheelchair-using younger brother, Jackie (Tommy Bone), attempts to hand off the bong wrapped in Dunph's coat. It falls to the floor. Jackie suggests that it is a musical horn which Pat's friend, Joey (George Wendt), asks Dunph to demonstrate, only able to make sounds about which Pat is dismissive. Pat's friends chuckle at Pat's reaction. Off the boys go on their adventures.

The guys head home with Dunph at the wheel but he is unable to see the road with the cloud of marijuana smoke filling the cab. He rear-ends a police vehicle. Pat's poker game player, Caveech, uses his influence with a local judge to replace a reform school sentence with the stipulation of parole graduating high school at Cornwall Academy, a Connecticut boys' boarding school with a sister school nearby under the same name. Failure to graduate vacates the terms of parole and he will serve a one year jail sentence.

He meets the rigid dorm master, Mr. Funderburk (Timothy Crowe), who emphases learning the school rules book. Dunph learns that new friend Wheeler and other new schoolmates, a class of people that seem to have more opportunities than himself, are involved in their own mischief just like the boys back home. Billy Fu is one particular example. He is a middle eastern exchange student with "the best reefer on campus". He routinely misses classes without repercussion because his father pledges a large donation to the school on the condition that Billy graduate.

Dunph is no longer just any student at the school when "Drugs" Delaney (Jon Abrahams), writes Dunph with his particular colorful words and addressing the letter in the most simplest of ways that the school has to open it to learn of the contents; Dunph has low regard for both the school and Mr. Funderburk. Dunph routinely gets sanctioned with work hours as punishment for his school rules transgressions. He also develops a friendship with a sister school student, Jane Weston (Amy Smart), regarded as "hands down, the coolest girl in school". A romance develops and through her advice he learns about personal fulfillment which could be achieved by an education.

She and others are found out by Mr. Funderburk smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol in a dorm room of the boys' dorm. The incident is resolved, unknown to Dunph's knowledge until too late, with Jane expelled for school rules violations. Dunph feels responsible for dashing Jane's goal of attending Brown University following graduation. He concludes: Wheeler's acceptance at Yale University is weighed heavily by a letter of recommendation from Funderburk and Wheeler was caught with marijuana during an earlier raid; therefore Wheeler made his own deal with Funderburk to inform on others which resulted in Jane being expelled. Dunph resolves to see Jane's college plans revitalized by speaking with the Dean at Brown University, as he explains that she was the innocent party in the incident.

Dunph comes to terms with his father's apprehension discussing the death in the family because the latter felt responsible for imposing on her a life that she could not handle; she being too young when they married, depressed and agoraphobic. Dunph refuses to shake Funderburk's hand at the graduation ceremony in the auditorium and exits after asking his classmates for his "luggage". He then meets up with his father and Jackie as they arrive. Pat hands over an acceptance letter from the Community College of Rhode Island where Dunph points out that everyone is accepted although he could then transfer to a "senior college...where people sleep over and shit." Pat congratulates Dunph for being the first of the family to go to college and the younger brother not to be trumped surmises the possibility that it just very well may be that Jackie himself may be the first to graduate.

Law student Martin Bork (Nikolaj Coster Waldau) gets a student job as night watchman at the Forensic Medicine Institute, believing it will allow more time to study, with his biggest problem being his paranoia in this scary setting. When making his rounds, he finds he must go to where the deceased people are kept. At the same time, a series of murders occur among women in Copenhagen, and mysterious and unexplained things start to happen in the medical department. During all of this, Martin ends up being confused with one of the murders, becoming a prime suspect.

Albert Hackett is a middle-class man in late 19th-century Britain, who is used to getting the final word over his wife Victoria and their five children.

The mysterious Michael Rimmer (Cook) appears at a small and ailing British advertising agency, where the employees assume he is working on a time and motion study. However, he quickly begins to assert a de facto authority over the firm's mostly ineffectual staff and soon acquires control of the business from the incompetent boss Ferret (Arthur Lowe). Rimmer then succeeds in establishing the newly invigorated firm as the country's leading polling agency, and begins to make regular TV appearances as a polling expert. He subsequently moves into politics, acting as an adviser to the leader of the Tory opposition, and then becomes an MP himself, for the constituency of Budleigh Moor (a reference to Cook's frequent collaborator, Dudley Moore), along the way acquiring a trophy wife (Vanessa Howard).

Relying on a combination of charisma and deception—and murder—he then rapidly works his way up the political ladder to become prime minister (after throwing his predecessor off an oil rig). Rimmer then gains ultimate control by requiring the populace to engage in endless postal voting on trivial matters. At last, exhausted, they acquiesce in one final vote which passes dictatorial power to him. Ferret attempts to assassinate Rimmer as he and his wife ride through the capital in an open-topped convertible, but fails and falls to his death.

The story opens with the discovery of a twelve-year-old boy who has been murdered and crucified on a pair of rowing oars. Kinderman already sees that the boy is mutilated in a way identical to the victims of a serial killer known as the Gemini Killer, who was apparently shot to death by police twelve years previously while climbing the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. A priest is later murdered in a confessional, once again bearing the mutilations distinctive of the apparently deceased killer. The fingerprints at the two crime scenes differ, however. Further victims soon follow, including one of Kinderman's friends, Father Dyer (from ''The Exorcist''), who is slain in a hospital, his body drained of blood before being decapitated. Yet again the Gemini Killer's mutilations are present.

Investigations lead Kinderman to the psychiatric wing of the hospital where his friend was slain. Here he finds a number of suspects: Dr. Freeman Temple – a psychiatrist who has a dismissive and even contemptuous attitude towards his patients. Dr. Vincent Amfortas – another doctor at the hospital. He is mysterious and not very talkative, and seemingly apathetic toward everything since the recent death of his wife. (The name "Amfortas" is the name of the Fisher King in Richard Wagner's opera ''Parsifal'', which itself is derived from "Anfortas," the name of the character of the Fisher King in the Middle High German medieval Grail romance Parzival, by Wolfram von Eschenbach). Dr. Amfortas, like his literary and operatic namesakes, is a type of the Wounded King or Maimed King, a role traditionally occupied by the character of the Fisher King in medieval romances related to the Holy Grail legend, whose literary and mythological roles are discussed in detail by Jessie Weston in her 1920 examination of the Grail tradition, ''From Ritual to Romance''. Patients – there are a number of elderly people at the hospital with senile dementia. The fingerprints of different senile patients are found at murder scenes, but interviews with the patients make it clear they are seemingly incapable of carrying out the elaborate killings and mutilations. Tommy Sunlight – a mysterious patient, found wandering aimlessly eleven years ago dressed as a priest, who brags of being the Gemini Killer reincarnated and claims to have carried out the recent murders, even though he logically could not have done so, being secured in a locked cell in a straitjacket. At one point he claims the doctors and nurses let him out to kill. He also looks identical to Damien Karras, a priest who supposedly died in ''The Exorcist'' by falling down a flight of stairs. *James Vennamun – the actual Gemini Killer himself, whose body was never found, suggesting that he may have survived and resumed his crimes.

In the end, Sunlight tells Kinderman that the demon from the earlier novel (''The Exorcist'') aided him to possess the body of Damien Karras immediately after Karras's death in an act of revenge for having been driven out of the little girl. Sunlight spent many years trying to gain control of the body, which had suffered from injuries, during which time Karras was held in a mental hospital. He lacked any identification and was nicknamed Sunlight because he sat in the sun's rays as it passed through the window of his cell. Upon finally gaining control of Karras' body, the Gemini occasionally left it to possess the bodies of the patients with senile dementia, and as they were in an open ward with access to the outside world, he could use them to go out and commit murders. Thus the fingerprints of several senility patients were found at the crime scenes; their bodies carried out the murders, but the Gemini Killer was in control of them.

The Gemini's motive originally was to shame his hated father, a preacher. When his father dies of natural causes, the Gemini Killer feels his mission is over and he has no reason to remain in possession of Karras' body. Feeling compelled to explain everything to Kinderman, he summons the detective and succeeds in demanding that Kinderman tell him he believes he, Sunlight, really is the Gemini Killer. He then effectively wills himself to die from heart failure.

Dr. Temple suffers a stroke and ends up mentally disabled. Dr. Amfortas dies in a home accident after being repeatedly terrorized by a possible evil ''Doppelgänger'' of himself (although he was terminally ill in any case, from a disease he refused to treat so that he could join his deceased wife).

The final chapter of the novel, an epilogue, has Kinderman at a burger bar with his faithful partner Atkins. Kinderman explains to Atkins his thoughts and musings on the whole case and how it relates to his problem of the concept of evil. Kinderman ends by concluding that he believes the Big Bang was Lucifer falling from heaven, and that the entire Universe, including humanity, are the broken parts of Lucifer, and that evolution is the process of Lucifer putting himself back together as an angel.

One night a girl is slain in the woods of a small town, two teenagers, Sam and Les, inadvertently cross the killer's path while robbing the hens of Victor the school bully. According to Sam Edwards the film is not as bleak as the novel. Small-town New Zealand in the 1950s is puritanical on the surface but depraved to its depths.

In pre-agricultural Europe, the people of the Forest live in clans, each represented by a particular animal or life form. These clans live a hunter-gatherer existence with a shamanic belief system. Torak and his father, of the Wolf Clan, live in seclusion, far away from any other Clan. Torak’s father is killed by a bear which has been possessed by a demon. Before he dies, he tells Torak to swear an oath to find the Mountain of the World Spirit, in order to kill the bear. His father tells him that his ‘guide’ will find him and help him on his quest. Torak reluctantly leaves his father as the bear comes back to kill him.

Torak heads north and soon encounters an orphaned Wolf Cub. He discovers that he can communicate with the Cub. He realises the Cub is the guide, and the two become close. Torak holds a naming ritual for the Cub and names him Wolf. A few days later Torak and Wolf are captured by three members of the Raven Clan, including a girl named Renn, who accuse Torak of stealing one of their roebuck. They are taken to the Raven camp so Torak's fate can be decided by Fin-Kedinn, the Raven Clan leader. To regain his freedom, Torak fights Hord, Renn's older brother.

He wins by temporarily blinding Hord with steam; this action, together with a dog whistle which Torak has made to summon Wolf, leads Fin-Kedinn and the Raven mage to see Torak as the "Listener" of a prophecy. The prophecy states that the Listener, who "talks with silence and fights with air", will offer his heart's blood to the World Spirit and thereby kill the demon-bear. Many Ravens now believe that Torak must be sacrificed. Torak manages to escape his imprisonment; he is unexpectedly joined by Renn, who has also brought Wolf. Though adversarial at first, Torak and Renn develop a mutual respect, and eventually become friends.

Before they get to the Mountain of the World Spirit, the trio must locate the three pieces of the Nanuak; objects the World Spirit has imbued with power. The Nanuak pieces are found in a river, a cave, and in the hand of a dead man.

Nearly at their destination, Renn and Torak are recaptured by the Ravens. Hord argues that he should take Torak to the Mountain and sacrifice him there, to appease the World Spirit. Fin-Kedinn however releases Torak, believing him to be the one who should go to the Mountain. Fin-Kedinn also reveals that Torak's Fa was killed because he was the foremost enemy of a group of rogue mages, the Soul Eaters, who turned to evil in their determination to rule the clans. Fin-Keddin also tells Torak that it is his destiny to one day face down and destroy the Soul Eaters.

Torak and Wolf climb the mountain, followed by the bear. Torak is unexpectedly attacked by Hord, who wants to kill Torak. Torak realises that the "heart's blood" of the prophecy means Wolf, and as Wolf carries the Nanuak to the summit, Hord and the bear are engulfed by an ensuing avalanche. Hord and the Bear both die. Torak is knocked unconscious by the avalanche. Torak wakes up hours later and looks for Wolf, but he only hears his howl in the distance, along with the howls of other wolves. Torak shouts to Wolf in human language, promising that he will one day return for him, before turning to head back into the forest.

Set in 1959, Vincent "Vinnie" Vacarri (Ray Sharkey), a Brooklyn-based songwriter pursues success in the fledgling rock 'n' roll music business, along with his best friend and piano accompanist Gino "G.G." Pilato (Joe Pantoliano). After being impressed by a charismatic local saxophone player, Tomaso DeLorusso (Paul Land), Vinnie convinces him to trade his instrument for a microphone and over the next few months, under Vinnie's strict guidance, the newly named "Tommy Dee" becomes a rock 'n' roll sensation.

Searching for continued success, Vinnie prepares another act in the form of Guido (Peter Gallagher), a local teen busboy, prompting a jealous and arrogant Tommy Dee to abandon him for a new manager. With even more gusto and single-mindedness, Vinnie embarks on a destructive journey to control every aspect of his new act's image.

Despite his obvious flair for creating teen idols, Vinnie's girlfriend, Brenda (Tovah Feldshuh), a successful teen magazine editor, is concerned that his obsession is destroying everyone around him, including himself.

The Royals are a multi-ethnic street gang led by Troy (Leon Isaac Kennedy). Troy is aware that a life on the mean streets can only lead to a dead end. Therefore he has been trying through his own determination and musical ambitions to motivate the band towards a serious goal as professional performers. However within the gang there are those, specifically Joey (Nicholas Campbell), who wish to derail Troy's plan, claiming that their performing is distracting them from their business in the streets.

Meanwhile, McGruder (Floyd Levine), a corrupt police officer is making life even harder for the Royals, as are the Mechanics, a rival gang trying to take over the Royals' territory. The Mechanics have been selling bad drugs and are also trying to extort protection money from merchants in the Royals neighborhood. A violent face-off between the two gangs results in only the Royals being jailed as it is discovered McGruder is being paid off by the Mechanics. In jail, the Royals use their time to rehearse their songs.

A drunken inmate, Mr. Delamo (Michael Ansara), is impressed and offers his assistance, telling them that he owns Twilight Records. Dubious but curious, the Royals visit Delamo upon release from jail only to be rebuffed by his yuppie assistant and daughter, Brooke (Janine Turner). The Royals leave behind a recording of their music and storm out of the office.

After listening to the cassette, Brooke decides to bring the band to her father's attention. He agrees with her that they are talented, but unpolished. Unable to locate the Royals, Brooke gets the idea to stage a talent contest for local performers, claiming that there must be other talented bands out there as well. Again her father agrees - but for another reason - the contest will impress local politicians and the stockholders by the nature of its benevolence and the anticipated effect it will have on neighborhood morale.

He further stipulates that any contestants that get into trouble with police will be disqualified. Therefore, the mayor's office officially supports the contest as well. The contest galvanizes the community, thus reducing street violence and crime. The Royals concentrate on their music and less on the street, Delamo's profile in the community is boosted, and Troy and Brooke begin to fall in love.

The Mechanics, in the meantime, gear up to take over business in the Royals' neighborhood. Troy restrains the Royals from retaliating as he fears trouble will exclude them from the contest. Delamo also threatens Troy that a continued liaison with his daughter will result in serious problems for Troy. To prove his point, Delamo calls on his well-positioned contacts to exert pressure on Troy.

Troy, however, will do nothing to risk disqualification. He is convinced the Royals will win the contest. Even when Brooke decides not to see Troy until after the contest, he contains his anger and focuses all his energy into his music. It pays off, as the Royals do indeed win the contest, and the grand prize of a recording contract. Victors, the Royals' jubilation is cut short when the Mechanics savagely kill one of the Royal's girlfriends. Free to react, the Royals enter into battle with the Mechanics, ultimately vanquishing them. Their dignity preserved and their future brighter, the Royals look ahead to a new life in their city.

Beautiful young Marsha Wilson is married to Sam, a wealthy, jealous, much-older man. She is having an affair with the sheriff.

Marsha picks up a handsome hitch-hiker one day, and brings him to husband's ranch and falls for him.

Marsha wants to run off with the hitch-hiker, but he too is married and won't take her along. Sam returns home in a jealous rage, discovers what happened and kills Marsha with a rifle in a drunken rage.

The town's sheriff concocts a scheme to blackmail Sam, promising to frame the hitch-hiker for Marsha's murder if Sam provides a hefty payment.

The hitch-hiker is caught and jailed, escapes and then is recaptured. By then, a remorseful Sam has had enough. He kills the sheriff, then confesses to committing both murders.

The first part of the novel deals with the life of the medicine student Andrés Hurtado. Through his family, teachers, classmates and diverse friends, Baroja draws a merciless painting of the bourgeois and proletarian 19th century inhabitants of Madrid.

The second half of the novel tells the stay of Hurtado (now a doctor) in Alcolea, a fictitious town in Castilla-La Mancha (where the author shows the dreadful conditions the peasant had to endure such as caciquism, ignorance, apathy or resignation), his return to Madrid (where he works as a hygiene doctor – emphasizing the description that Baroja makes of prostitution in the 19th century Madrid) and, finally, his unfortunate marriage to Lulú, a young woman he met when he was a student.

IV is in direct dialogue (it is totally different from the rest of the novel in which third-person narration is predominant) and contrasts the English pragmatism (supported by Doctor Iturrioz) to the German idealism that Andrés Hurtado defends.

Category:1911 novels Category:Spanish autobiographical novels Category:Novels set in Spain Category:Fiction set in the 1890s

The plot of ''Blandia'' takes place five years after ''Gladiator'', set in the "Great Continent of Eurasia". After the swordsman Gurianos defeated the evil warrior Gildus, peace returned to Eurasia and the people forgot about the darkness sealed by the evil spirit. Five years later, living in the interior of Eurasia, Guarianos learns that Gildus has been resurrected, and returns to the to investigate.Back side of European arcade flyer of ''Blandia''.

Brendan Byers III is a rich playboy who enlists to fight in the war against the Axis powers, but is classified 4-F. He really wants to fight, so he enlists other 4-Fs and some loyal volunteers from his own service staff and forms his own army, financing their training and equipment. Once completed, they travel to the front in Italy, with Byers impersonating a Nazi general named Eric Kesselring.

The plan is to pull back the German lines, since the front has remained static for too long, enabling the Allies to push forward again. The mission does not go smoothly and they must overcome several obstacles, including the fiery wife of the local mayor who is the real Kesselring's lover, and the real Kesselring's involvement in an assassination attempt on Hitler. Afterwards, they face their next mission: infiltrating the Imperial Japanese command to influence the outcome of the Battle of Kwajalein.

''The Legacy of Goku''

The game covers the story of ''Dragon Ball Z'' up until the destruction of the planet Namek, where Goku is the only playable character. Goku travels through different stages, including several locations of the earth and planet Namek, and gains experience not only by defeating enemies, but also by completing simple missions. In the final stage, Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan in order to defeat Frieza, this being the first introduction to character transformations in the series, which will later be very common in the following games. It is also one of the first GBA games to feature full-motion video, predating the Game Boy Advance Video.

''The Legacy of Goku II''

'''''Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II''''' was released in North America by Infogrames on 17 June 2003. The plot of the game picks up where ''The Legacy of Goku'' left off, and continues until the end of the Cell Games Saga, when Gohan defeats the evil android Cell (between episodes 118 and 194).

The game introduced several new concepts to the series. The first was transformations, which allowed characters to become temporarily stronger, at the cost of slowly draining their energy bar. It also introduced the scouter, which allowed players to look up the stats of other characters in the game, as well as basic information about them. The game also introduced charged melee attacks, which allowed characters to unleash a powerful physical strike after a short charging period. The game also allowed characters to further supplement their stats with capsules that were scattered around the game world.

Despite being titled "''The Legacy of Goku''", this game featured the most limited play as Goku, with players starting play as Gohan and gradually unlocking Piccolo, Vegeta, Trunks, and finally, Goku, as playable characters. Once the story is completed, players can no longer play as Goku, but will be able to continue playing as the others to unlock a final playable character, Mister Satan/Hercule, in order to unlock an alternate ending to the game. The game's music is based on Bruce Faulconer's score for the FUNimation English dub of ''Dragon Ball Z''.

Due to the game's success, a second version was released titled '''''Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II International''''', exclusive to Japan on 23 July 2004. In this version, all characters were given new profile images and their names were reverted to their original Japanese ones. However, Mister Satan still retains his English name "Hercule" on the front of his parade float.

''Buu's Fury''

'''''Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury''''' is the third and final game in the series. It was released on 14 September 2004 in North America. The game focuses on the final parts of the ''Dragon Ball Z'' series (season 7), namely the battles with Majin Buu; the first chapter takes place during episode 195 to episode 199, whilst the rest of the game takes place during episode 200 (after a seven-year flash-forward) and the following episodes.

The game added several new additions to the series. First, the game added equipment, which could be equipped to characters to alter their stats and provide various other benefits. The game also allowed players to allocate their own stat points, of which three were given per level. Also added was the ability to block by holding the 'R' button, and also to energy block by holding the 'B' button while blocking. Using the energy block slowly drains the user's energy gauge. Both techniques greatly decrease the amount of damage that is received from attacks.

The game also added various other features, such as fusions and the ability to transform into a Super Saiyan 3. Although many features were added, the ability to use charge attacks by holding and releasing the 'A' button was eliminated. Players are able to play as Goku, Gohan, Goten, Vegeta and Kid Trunks in the game, with players able to unlock fusions with Gotenks and Gogeta. Like ''Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II'', the game's music is also based on Bruce Faulconer's score for the FUNimation English dub of ''Dragon Ball Z''.

The dialogues used in the English edition of the game are very similar, and sometimes identical, to the ones used in the English dubbed animated series (similar to ''Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II'').

Back story

In the year 1995 (1997 in the show), at the end of ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day'', Sarah Connor, her son John and the 800-series Terminator successfully destroy the T-1000, as well as the arm and CPU chip from the Terminator sent back to 1984 in the first film. The T-800 from the second film, at its own request, is then also destroyed to eliminate any future technology that could be used to create Skynet through reverse engineering. Despite this, at the beginning of the television series, a T-888 using the name "Cromartie" is sent back to 1999 to kill John. "Cameron", a Terminator that John sent back from 2029 to protect his younger self, leaps forward in time with John and Sarah to 2007 to prevent a delayed Judgment Day once and for all. Now wanted fugitives with the fear of pending leukemia preying on Sarah's mind, they must also face the reality that other enemies from the future could be after them.

Summary

Four years after the events of the second film, Sarah, her son John, and Cameron (a Terminator that has been re-programmed to protect John), are being pursued by a Terminator, Cromartie, sent back through time to assassinate John and also by FBI Special Agent James Ellison, who initially believes Sarah is an insane criminal (based on the events of ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day''). Sarah is romantically involved with a paramedic named Charley Dixon, but ends her relationship with him to stay on the run.

During the pilot, Sarah, John, and Cameron make a temporal leap to 2007. Cromartie suffers extensive damage while trying to kill them, but begins repairing his endoskeleton and artificial flesh and continues his search for John in 2007. When John is frustrated with their life of running, Sarah resolves to go on the offensive against Skynet. Yet the world in 2007 proves complex: they find Skynet has sent additional Terminators back in time to support its own creation, and the resistance movement has sent back its own fighters to interfere. As they seek out an intuitive chess computer called "the Turk" (named after the 18th-century hoax using that name), which they suspect may be a precursor to Skynet, they forge an alliance with Derek Reese, a resistance fighter who has time travelled from the post-nuclear future, and is John's uncle. As the series progresses, the Connors are confronted with the reality that they will find more enemies, either at the present or from the future, bent on reshaping the future for their own goals.

On his way to see Wild Man Moore at the train station, Ram Bowen, a jazz musician living in Paris, encounters a newly arrived tourist named Connie Lampson and invites her to see him perform that night at Club 33. Connie is not interested, but her friend Lillian insists they go see him. After Ram finishes performing with Eddie, a fellow American expatriate, the four of them leave the club in the early morning. When Ram suggests that he and Connie go off to have a private breakfast together, she becomes offended, and Ram is angered at being rejected. However, Lillian, undeterred by Ram's attraction to her friend, convinces him to apologize before pursuing him. The two sleep together while Connie and Eddie continue to walk around Paris.

Over the following weeks the couples grow closer, but Connie is angry that Eddie has abandoned America for France, insisting that the only way race relations can improve in the U.S. is if people stay and work together in order to change things. Eddie says he is content to stay in Paris, where he experiences far less bigotry and discrimination, is able to carve out a career as a talented musician. Lillian tries to convince Ram to enter into a more committed relationship and move back to the U.S. with her. Ram, aware that she has two children from a previous marriage and lives in a small town, breaks off their relationship, telling her he is dedicated to his music. Meanwhile, Eddie and Connie declare their love for one another. They discuss getting married, but this falls through when Eddie states his refusal to live in the United States for a full year. Their hearts broken by their respective lovers, Connie and Lillian make plans to return home early.

Connie, in a desperate last attempt to reach out to Eddie, follows him to a party where she tells him she is leaving Paris for good. Unwilling to lose her, Eddie decides to return to America to join Connie, but will follow in a few weeks as he needs to wrap up his affairs in Paris before leaving. Ram attends a meeting with a record producer, Bernard, who dismisses a composition Ram has been working on, dashing his hopes of a more prominent and respected music career. However, he tells Ram that he has the potential to become a serious composer, if he works hard and truly studies music. Crushed, he tracks down Lillian, and agrees to leave for America with her. But as the women depart, Ram arrives late and tells Lillian that he will not be joining her, as he does not want to give up on his music. As the train carrying Connie and Lillian leaves the station, Ram walks away with Eddie. In the final shot, French workers cover a billboard advertising Wild Man Moore's appearance with a promo for Larousse publishing.

The film is narrated by a detective, Joe Morton, who has "been working for the Greater Planceville Police Department for 30 years".

We are introduced to the main characters in the film as they prepare for school one morning. Sarah, the leader of the gang, is a Hitler-idolizing, iron cross wearing, society- and life-hating Jewish teenager. Rawhide, naïve and innocent, admires John Wayne. Fleabrain is a strong and dopey girl. Dorothea is the fourth member.

The girls drink alcohol, briefly visit and then cut from their classes at the St. Jerome's School for Girls, terrorize a series of males in the town, and return to the school for an "afternoon tea dance." The band performing at the dance is David Nudelman and the Wild Breed. At the dance, Dorothea is found collapsed on the floor, and the remaining three girls spend the rest of the film hunting down and exacting their revenge on the perpetrators.

Giovanni Pontano (Marcello Mastroianni), a distinguished writer and his beautiful wife Lidia (Jeanne Moreau), visit their dying friend Tommaso Garani (Bernhard Wicki) in a hospital in Milan. Giovanni's new book, ''La stagione'' (''The Season''), has just been published and Tommaso praises his friend's work. They drink champagne but Tommaso is unable to hide his severe pain. Shaken by the sight of her dying friend, Lidia leaves saying she'll visit tomorrow. Giovanni stays behind and as he leaves his friend's room, a sick and uninhibited young woman attempts to seduce him, and he goes into her room and reciprocates even though it is clear the woman is not in her right mind, until they are interrupted by the nurses.

Outside the hospital, Giovanni sees his wife crying but does not comfort her. As they drive off, he tells her about his "unpleasant" encounter with the sick woman and is surprised when Lidia is not fooled and dismisses the incident as his responsibility. They drive to a party celebrating Giovanni's new book, which has been well received. Giovanni signs books, while his wife looks on from a distance. After a while Lidia leaves. She wanders the streets of Milan, ending up in the neighborhood where she and Giovanni lived as newlyweds. She comes across a brutal street fight which she tries to stop and later she watches rockets being set off in a field.

Back at the apartment, Giovanni finally hears from Lidia and he picks her up from the old neighborhood, which seems to have little sentimental value for him. She bathes, but he makes no move on her. Later they decide to go to a nightclub, where they watch a mesmerizing and seductive performance by a female dancer and engage in small talk. "I no longer have inspirations, only recollections", Giovanni tells his wife. Lidia suggests they leave the club and attend a swanky party thrown by a millionaire businessman. "One must do something", she says.

At the party, Giovanni socializes with the guests and appears to be in his element, while Lidia walks around in a state of boredom. They spend some time with the host, Mr. Gherardini (Vincenzo Corbella), who seems disappointed by his wealth and exchange insincere flattery. Giovanni wanders off and meets Valentina Gherardini (Monica Vitti), the host's lively, charming daughter. As they flirt, she teaches him a game she just invented, sliding a compact across the floor to try to land on certain of the floor's large checkerboard squares, and soon others gather to watch their competition. Later they see each other alone and Giovanni makes a pass at her, kissing her while Lidia looks on from the floor above.

Later Mr. Gherardini meets privately with Giovanni and offers him an executive position with his company, to write the firm's history. Giovanni is reluctant to accept and leaves the offer open. With Lidia's family's wealth and his earnings from publishing, he doesn't need the money. Lidia calls the hospital and learns that Tommaso died ten minutes earlier. Overwhelmed with grief, she watches from a window as the guests enjoy themselves. Later she sits at a table opposite an empty chair. Giovanni walks over and does not sit down and Lidia does not tell him about Tommaso's death. Giovanni sees Valentina and follows after her, leaving Lidia alone.

Lidia walks to the band and appears to enjoy the music. A man named Roberto (Giorgio Negro), who had been following her, approaches, asks her to dance and she accepts. A sudden shower sends the guests running for cover and some jump in the pool like children. As Lidia is about to jump in from the diving board, Roberto stops her, takes her to his car and they drive off. She enjoys Roberto's company and their conversation but as he's about to kiss her, Lidia turns away from him, saying "I'm sorry, I can't."

Back at the party, Giovanni searches through the crowd and finds Valentina alone, watching the rain. She tells him she's smart enough not to break up a marriage and instructs him to spend the rest of the evening with his wife. Giovanni reveals that he's going through a "crisis" common among writers but in his case it is affecting his whole life. They return to the guests, just as Lidia and Roberto return from their drive. Giovanni seems slightly annoyed by Lidia's behavior. Valentina invites Lidia to dry off in her room, where Lidia confronts her directly about her husband. As the women chat, Giovanni overhears his wife tell Valentina that she feels like dying and putting an end to the agony of her life. Noticing Giovanni, she tells him she is not a bit jealous of his playing around with Valentina. They say goodbye to Valentina and leave the party at morning's first light, with the jazz band playing for the few couples still listening.

As Giovanni and Lidia walk away across Gherardini's private golf course, they talk about the job offer that Giovanni says he'll turn down. Lidia finally tells him about Tommaso's death and recounts how Tommaso used to support her, have faith in her and urge her to study, believing she was intelligent, and offer his affections to her, but she eventually chose Giovanni because she loved him. She tells him, "I feel like dying because I no longer love you". Giovanni recognizes the failure of their marriage but tells her, "Let's try to hold onto something we're sure of. I love you. I'm sure I'm still in love with you". Lidia takes out a love letter Giovanni wrote to her just before they were married and reads it aloud. Giovanni asks who wrote it and she replies, "You did". Giovanni embraces and kisses her but she resists, saying she no longer loves him and nor does he love her. Giovanni continues to initiate sex in a bunker on the golf course, beneath a grey morning sky.

The Teen Titans's hometown, Jump City, is attacked by a Japanese ninja called Saico-Tek. They capture him and discover Saico-Tek was sent by a man called "Brushogun" before he mysteriously vanishes after triggering the tower's fire sprinklers. Subsequently, the Titans head to Tokyo, Japan, to search for his master. Upon arriving there, after overcoming the language barrier and fighting a Gorgo-like giant reptile, the Titans meet Tokyo's own supernatural defense force—the Tokyo Troopers—led by Commander Uehara Daizo. When questioned on Brushogun, Daizo claims that Brushogun is nothing more than an urban legend. Left with no villains to pursue, the Titans decide to enjoy Tokyo.

Robin and Starfire express their feelings for each other until Robin starts to focus on Brushogun again and declares they cannot be anything more than heroes, upsetting Starfire. Investigating alone, Robin is attacked by Saico-Tek and ends up pummeling the ninja into the ground. When Saico-Tek does not rise, Robin is apprehended by Daizo for killing him. Elsewhere, Starfire is approached and comforted by a little girl, which helps to overcome her depression and makes her realize that despite Robin's earlier objections, their romantic feelings for each other are indeed truly mutual.

Just then, the Mayor of Tokyo announces Robin's arrest and orders that the other Teen Titans must either turn themselves in or leave Tokyo. Starfire calls the other Titans, but as they attempt to regroup, Brushogun sends out his minions to destroy the Titans. Meanwhile, as Robin is being transferred to a more secure facility, a slip of paper bearing the name "Brushogun" fits into the armored car carrying him and explodes, freeing him. Robin co-opts the identity of a Shinjuku mugger to collect information that Brushogun is in fact real. He is eventually found by the Tokyo Troopers, which leads to a car chase. Robin is surrounded when Starfire comes to his rescue and takes him to a shrine (where they attempt to kiss again until they are suddenly interrupted by Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy's arrival). There, Raven relates from a book she found that Brushogun was an artist who dreamed of bringing his beloved drawings to life using dark magic. The spell ultimately turned against the young artist, and he was transformed into Brushogun, a being of paper and ink capable to bring any creation he could imagine to life, until he suddenly disappeared. Robin realizes that he did not kill Saico-Tek because he was an ink-made creature, and he was set up to make him look like a criminal.

The Titans track Brushogun to a comic book publishing factory, where they discover Brushogun trap-wired into a cursed printing press that taps into his powers to create the enemies the Titans have faced. He reveals that he had sent the first Saico-Tek to the Titans to summon them to Tokyo, in order to stop the real culprit who had enslaved him. The said culprit is revealed to be Daizo, who used Brushogun's power to create both his Tokyo Troopers and the monsters that they captured in order to gain a reputation as a hero.

Daizo drops in on the Titans and forces Brushogun to create an army of animated ink minions. A mass battle ensues, culminating in Robin facing Daizo. With no options of escape left, Daizo jumps into the ink reservoir of the press, taking control of Brushogun's magic and transforming himself into a hulking mass of ink and machinery, with Brushogun at the center. As the other Titans battle the creatures Daizo hurls at them, Robin frees Brushogun, causing Daizo to lose control of his power and burst. Brushogun dies peacefully in Robin's arms, dissipating his powers and defeating Daizo. With the battle concluded, Robin and Starfire finally confess their feelings and share their first true kiss.

Later on, with Robin's name cleared and Daizo sent to prison, the Titans are awarded medals of honour by the mayor and Tokyo's citizens for their heroic actions. Robin and Starfire are holding hands, confirming they’ve become an official couple. Beast Boy asks Robin if they have to go home, but Robin allows the Titans to stay in Tokyo a little longer to enjoy a well-earned vacation. Beast Boy says that he wants to go to Mexico for their next vacation, causing Raven to slap him.

As the end credits roll, the Titans sing a literally translated version of their Japanese theme song in celebration for the defeat of Daizo and their award ceremony.

It's Christmas Eve and nothing is stirring. But Jerry emerges from his hole avoiding a Christmas-themed mousetrap placed by his hole. Jerry nears the Christmas presents, jumping merrily around the tree, licking candy canes and jumping onto a plush toy lion that squeaks. Jerry continues jumping on the soft toy, but bounces too hard and lands on Tom, who he inadvertently wakes up. Tom snarls and just before he can eat Jerry, the quick-thinking mouse grabs a nearby "Do Not Open 'Til Xmas" sticker and slaps it on Tom's mouth.

Jerry is chased among the myriad of toys (briefly stopping to fire a trick field gun's cork stopper at Tom) and hides inside a Christmas fairy light, causing him to glow. Not fooled, Tom grabs Jerry and is promptly electrocuted. Jerry hides among some toy soldiers, but Tom spots him and the mouse runs off, saluting the cat like a real soldier would. Tom chases Jerry but is stopped by the barrier of a miniature level crossing. A toy train passes by, with many carriages. Jerry sits on top of the caboose, waving cheekily at Tom and pulling faces. As the train enters a model of a tunnel and Jerry hits his head, knocking him onto the track. He runs through the tunnel, pursued by Tom, who knocks the tunnel over. Jerry hides inside a boxing glove and boxes the puzzled cat in the face before running off behind the Christmas tree. Tom, now arming himself with a boxing glove of his own, follows him and spots him jumping into a jack-in-the-box. Opening up the box, Tom is punched by the boxing glove stuck on Jack's head and is knocked out. Jerry jumps out and holds it up in victory like a boxing referee.

Tom chases Jerry once again, but Jerry holds out a piece of mistletoe in front of him and persuades an embarrassed Tom to kiss him. Tom blushes and while his back is turned, Jerry kicks him in the rear. The mouse darts through the letterbox slot into the outdoors. As Tom opens the lid of the letterbox to see where Jerry has gone, Jerry hurls a snowball at his face. Tom angrily barricades the slot to prevent Jerry from getting back into the house.

While Jerry trudges up and down in the heavy snow in a vain attempt to keep warm, Tom fluffs up his cushion and prepares to sleep. He is unable to settle himself; heavenly choirs sing carols breaking their silence, pricking Tom's conscience with the message of Christmas peace and goodwill. He first props open the slot to allow Jerry back in and when the mouse does not reappear, ventures anxiously outside to find a hypothermic Jerry, frozen into a solid popsicle. Fearing for Jerry's life, he brings the frozen mouse indoors and warms him up by the fire, saving his life. Slowly, Jerry regains consciousness but is still wary of the cat. Tom hands Jerry a candy cane, his Christmas present. A delighted Jerry licks his cane, but then quickly reacts to prevent Tom drinking from his bowl of milk. He dips his cane into the bowl and a loud snap is heard. Jerry uses the cane to fish a mousetrap that he had earlier planted in the bowl. Tom appreciates Jerry's warning and the mouse runs back to his hole. He uses his candy cane to hook the cheese off the mousetrap. Instead of snapping like a usual mousetrap does, however, the spring slowly comes down, ringing the tune of "Jingle Bells" as Jerry smiles in admiration to the "musical mousetrap".

The central character in ''Mad Cowgirl'' is Therese, a meat inspector who is dying of a brain disorder. The film follows Therese on her surreal descent into violence, in which men in her life become the Ten Tigers of Canton that she must kill in order to become a better woman.

Victims of Therese's violent surreal madness include her meatpacking brother Thierry, naughty Pastor Dylan, and a Sri Lankan doctor.

Story

The story of ''Yggdra Union'' starts with the Princess of Fantasinia, Yggdra, fleeing her besieged home with the family heirloom, the Holy Sword Gran Centurio. Throughout the story, the idea that justice lies with the Holy Sword'''Narration:''' "Since King Paltinaeas's founding of the Kingdom of Fantasinia, the Holy Sword Gran Centurio has lit a path for the kingdom in the name of justice. " is used to drive Yggdra and her army forward through their plight, as well as to provide explanation to them for the acts they commit. It is constantly used as justification for their acts, particularly those situations in which civilians are slaughtered during the war.

The story mainly details Yggdra's reclamation of her kingdom from the Bronquian Empire, and her eventual uniting of the entire world under her sovereignty, with quite a few stops along the way leading to an intricate and involving plot. The ending is split off based on the player's actions, one ending essentially being a game over and the other two being open ended with Yggdra either pursuing the ideal that justice lies with the holy sword, or sacrificing it to achieve universal peace.

In the PSP version, additions were made to the story that further develop the Dept. Heaven universe and story, deeply tying the game into mythological elements first developed by Riviera, with the more direct appearance of Diviners, and Grim Angels, and passing mention of Malice, Hector and The Seven Magi. With the events of Yggdra Union's PSP ending where the Royal Army attack Ragnarok, this is now cemented into the canon storyline, marking Yggdra Union as a prequel to Riviera: The Promised Land.

Characters

''Yggdra Union'' features a large cast of characters, the most important of which is the seventeen-year-old princess, Yggdra Yuril Artwaltz, whose plight is the center of the story. The lead male of the story is Milanor, the seventeen-year-old thief king; The Silver Wolf, whose home was burned down by the Empire in an attempt to find Yggdra. These two start and lead the Royal Army to take back the Kingdom from the Empire. One ally they recruit is Durant, the twenty-four-year-old leader of the Third Cavalry, a knight of Paltina. Nietzsche, the twelve-year-old, naïve Undine from Embellia joins the Royal Army to gain revenge on the Empire for their espionage in her country, as well as to search for the Transmigragem. Twenty-one-year-old Necromancer Roswell of the Branthese house and nineteen-year-old Witch Rosary of the Esmeralda house are met in Verlaine Hills, one of which will join the Royal Army for revenge on the Empire's involvement and betrayal in Verlaine and to recover the Ankhs, the other of which will die at the hands of the Royal Army. Kylier is a seventeen-year-old Griffon Rider from Lost Aries, with an affection for Milanor, who never really joins the Royal Army, but assists them when they need help most. She rides her Griffon Al into battle. The Astral Fencer, the twenty-five-year-old Russell betrays the Empire and joins the Royal Army for revenge for his fiancée Flone, and to repay the Royal Army for his actions against them. Cruz is a twenty-two-year-old hunter, who made it to number one on the Empire's Most Wanted List for his leadership of the Karona Resistance and joins the Royal Army after his headquarters is tracked down and attacked by Mizer. Elena is the sixteen-year-old Assassin that joined the Empire for a chance to stop her brother, Leon, to restore honor to her family, and when her betrayal becomes clear, and the Royal Army aids her, she joins to repay her debt to them. Gordon, of the Temple Knights of Welheim is another ally to the Royal Army, albeit only for a short time. He joins when the Royal Army offers assistance in saving the Pope.

The Empire contains many characters, too, starting with the twenty-year-old Bronquian Emperor, Gulcasa. A descendant of Brongaa, and seeker of his resurrection, Gulcasa took the Empire in a violent coup d'état, and immediately began conquering neighboring countries. Despite his violence, he has full support of the Bronquian people. His direct subordinates, the eighteen-year-old Twin Valkyries Aegina Eine Artwaltz and Luciana Rune Artwaltz, apparently of Royal lineage, make constant attempts on the Royal Army, Yggdra in particular. Leon is the first introduced of the five Dragon Generals, twenty-two-year-old brother to Elena, he is called the Black Knight for his excessively wanton violence and cruelty. Emilia, a Dragon General titled the Scarlet Princess, is half-sister to Gulcasa through a shared father. She abhors being labeled a child, and will do anything to defend Bronquia. Baldus, the Dragon General known as the God of War, is an older, wiser, yet extremely powerful warrior of Ishnad. The last of the Dragon Generals is Nessiah, the Imperial Army's war strategist, truthfully a Fallen Angel igniting wars to enrich the Gran Centurio with which to take revenge on the Gods. Eudy, the twenty-eight-year-old Court Magician, is another high ranking general in the Imperial army, and the cause of many cannon woes.

The game features many more characters, both enemy and otherwise that further delineate the story and lengthen the quest. The PSP version added a few new characters, including an elderly man named Bly, a woman named Mistel, and an angelic figure referred to simply as #367. The PSP version added also full voice acting.

The principal characters are Lawrence, Ellie, Alan and Sara. Lawrence, a teaching assistant, and Ellie have been together for about a year. Lawrence loves Ellie, and she outwardly reciprocates while masking her doubts about their relationship. Sara is a radio disc jockey. She meets Alan, a former member of a band called The Bumblebees, at the radio station and invites him to her apartment.

Warren Nefron is a klutz who cannot do anything right. He tells his problems to his psychiatrist, Dr. Pletchick. Through a series of flashbacks Nefron's life story is told.

Warren is such a failure that even his many attempts to commit suicide fail. Dr. Pletchick cures Warren with hypnosis, but all of Nefron's problems get transferred to him as a result.

Warren and a young woman attend a film titled ''Smorgasbord'' (the film's original title).

The Tale of Toph and Katara

The story opens at the location of the protagonists' house in Ba Sing Se, the whole group cleaning themselves up for the day aside from Toph who has yet to wake up. When Katara wakes her, Toph presents herself with messy hair and covered in dust, considering herself ready. Katara suggests they have a "Girl's Day Out," and takes her to the Fancy Lady Day Spa. Toph agrees, as long as they don't touch her feet. This request is denied and Toph sends one of the attendants through the wall during a pedicure. The girls then take a mud bath where Toph uses her Earthbending to make creepy faces with the mud and scare away the attendant. The two then relax in a sauna, using their Bending to both feed the fire and create the steam.

The girls leave the sauna now with make-up on their faces. As they cross a bridge, three older girls make fun of Toph's make-up. Toph is upset by these remarks and Katara tries to urge her to ignore them. Toph, however, laughs back at the girls and then earthbends the rock of the bridge from under them, dropping them into the water. Katara finishes with her own parting shot by waterbending the girls downstream.

Katara tries to console Toph as they continue walking on. Toph claims that because she is blind, she does not have to worry so much about personal appearance or the approval of others, the words of the girls still hurt her all the same, and she sheds a few tears. Katara compliments that Toph is not only confident and self-assured, but also pretty. Toph proclaims she would like to return the compliment but has no idea what Katara looks like. Katara laughs at this and the story ends with Toph giving her a friendly punch on the arm.

The Tale of Iroh

While strolling through a market, Iroh stops and buys a few things at a street stand. Iroh purchases a picnic basket and when the owner asks, Iroh claims that it is for a special occasion. He then aids the shopkeeper by helping a Moon Flower bloom by moving it closer to the shade. Continuing his walk, he sees a small boy crying and his mother struggling to calm him. Iroh borrows a liuqin from a nearby shop and sings a song to the weeping child. The song tells the tale of a young soldier boy marching home from war. The boy stops crying as Iroh sings to him and he then proceeds to thank Iroh by pulling his beard and laughing.

In a small street alley, Iroh watches some boys play a form of soccer that employs Earthbending. When the ball gets repelled off a rock and crashes through a window, he tells them that it is always best to admit to mistakes in order to restore honor. However, the massive owner appears in the window, and Iroh retracts his comments and tells them to run. After running down an alley, he is threatened at knife-point by a mugger. Unconcerned for his own safety, Iroh tells the mugger that his stance makes him weak to attacks and proves it by knocking him down and stealing his dagger. Iroh demonstrates a proper stance, which the man mimics, and comments that the would-be mugger does not look like a criminal. The man admits that he is confused with his life right now, and as a result has turned to crime. Iroh and the man share some tea as Iroh suggests that the man would become a good masseur. The man, more optimistic, comments that no one has ever believed in him, to which Iroh comments that help from others can be a great blessing. Iroh gave the same wisdom to Toph in the episode "The Chase."

Iroh comes to rest upon a hill with a large tree. He sets up some rocks and pulls out materials from the basket he purchased earlier. The special occasion it was needed for was a memorial for the birthday of his deceased son, Lu Ten. Iroh places a cloth out upon the ground along with a picture of Lu Ten. He then lights two joss sticks with Firebending and places them in a holder. Iroh says happy birthday to the image, and expresses regret over having not been able to help his son, as he had helped those he met along his way. Iroh then starts singing the song he had played earlier for the crying boy, though this time, it is broken up by tears as Iroh mourns Lu Ten's absence. A drawing of Lu Ten, which is a portrait of young Mako Iwamatsu, comes into focus with Chinese writing on the side stating: “To General Iroh: See you after we win the war. Your loyal son, Lu Ten.”

This segment of the episode ends with a dedication to Mako Iwamatsu, Iroh's voice actor, who died on July 21, 2006, after a battle with esophageal cancer.

The Tale of Aang

Flying high over Ba Sing Se, Aang lands at a small zoo looking for Appa. Looking around, he sees a wide variety of animals, all of whom are miserable in their small cages. Many of them are also partially starved and hungry. The Zookeeper tells Aang that the zoo is no longer receiving funding from the Earth Kingdom because it is no longer popular with the children. However, in a vicious circle, nobody comes to the zoo because it does not receive the funding and is quite filthy (one of the cages shows an animal lying near multiple piles of feces). The Keeper would like nothing more than to let his animals run wild in open spaces. Aang suggests moving the animals outside to an open area just outside the city.

The animals prove much more difficult to control than Aang originally thought and they end up running wild over the city, terrorizing the denizens. Hog-monkeys destroy a shop, various animals attack the citizens, and the Cabbage Merchant has his cabbages eaten by a Rabaroo. After trying to restore order, Aang pulls out his Bison whistle and blows a huge burst of air through it using Airbending. He then hops on an air scooter as the animals run after him.

Meanwhile, the Zookeeper frantically tries to get the guards to open the gate. They refuse until they see the oncoming stampede. Once the gates are open, Aang reaches the other side and hops on his air scooter again. Using Earthbending, he creates a wall around the animals. He continues to Earthbend paths, secluded areas, and habitat accessories. The children and their families come flocking to the new Zoo, and the Zookeeper thanks Aang for his help. The Zookeeper tells Aang he should have a job with animals. However, the zoo animals weren't the only creatures that followed the sound of the whistle, as many cats, dogs, and half cat-half-dogs are also inside the animal pens. Afterwards, the Zookeeper decides that Aang should stick to saving people.

The Tale of Sokka

In the peaceful city, Sokka is outside his element of war and battle. His boomerang has become a toy as he walks through the city. Sokka finds a haiku class full of pretty girls. While peeking through the window, enjoying the 'show', he is shoved from behind by an ostrich horse and winds up inside. While explaining the accident to the girls he accidentally rhymes in haiku. The instructor becomes upset with the intrusion and disruption of the class. She is also disgusted with the common place message his haiku presents and presents the rules of haiku to him in a much more formal tone. Sokka soon gets into a contest with the teacher, (which seems to parody a rap battle) both of whom speak only in haiku.

After each of Sokka's, the girls in the class break into giggling. After several bouts, with Sokka comically winning each one, he eventually messes up and adds an extra syllable to the final line, causing the class to become silent and hard faced. After counting the syllables and realizing his grave error, Sokka is ejected from the room by a very large guard into the street. Sokka changed his mind about liking poetry in the end.

The Tale of Zuko

Working at the teahouse, Zuko is worried that a young girl has made him out as being from the Fire Nation. When he tells Iroh about it, Iroh realizes that the girl, Jin, simply has a crush on Zuko. This is quickly proven correct when Jin comes to the counter and asks him out after paying. Iroh quickly accepts on his nephew's behalf. They meet after sundown outside the shop.

Zuko leaves the shop, polished in nice clothes and slicked hair that took Iroh ten minutes to fashion. Jin, however, messes up the hair before they leave. Zuko, not used to something as mundane as a date, is more than a little nervous, and makes a few missteps, but Jin seems to take it in stride. Such an example is when a waiter comes up and asks if Zuko's 'girlfriend' would like anything, he shouts, 'she is not my girlfriend!' causing Jin to start gobbling her food with haste. She asks Zuko about his life, which causes Zuko to make up a story that he and Iroh were part of a traveling circus before they came to Ba Sing Se. Jin asks him what he performed as, but she stops him, because she wanted to guess. When Jin guesses "juggling," Zuko flows with it. With encouragement from Jin, Zuko demonstrates and gets himself covered in food claiming a lack of practice as the problem. Jin pulls Zuko off to one of her favorite parts of the city, the Firelight Fountain. At night, the fountain is usually lit by lanterns which cause the water to sparkle. But when they get there, the lanterns are dark and unlit. Sensing her disappointment, Zuko tells Jin to close her eyes. Then, making sure no one else is around to watch, he quietly lights all the lanterns with his Firebending. Jin and Zuko stare into the fountain and Jin reaches out and holds Zuko's hand. Slyly, Jin tries to give Zuko a kiss, but as she tries, Zuko holds up a coupon for a free tea between them and gives it to her. Nonplussed, she tells Zuko to close his eyes so she could present her gift to him. She then kisses him lightly and briefly. Zuko kisses her in return, but quickly breaks away and leaves. When Jin asks him what was wrong, he simply says that it's complicated and continues to leave.

Zuko returns to his apartment. Ignoring Iroh's questions regarding the date, he disappears into his room. Iroh looks disappointed until Zuko opens his door and says, "It was nice," before sliding his door shut.

The Tale of Momo

Momo dreams about eating a peach from a tree in the clouds with Appa, but wakes up when he is startled by a loud rumbling of thunder. He leaps into Sokka's bag and comes up with a tuft of white fur on his head. Smelling it, Momo realizes that the fur is Appa's. Seeing an Appa-like shadow on the ground, he wraps the fur around his wrist and takes off after it, only to find a lone cloud. A similar sighting only turns out to be a cherry tree.

Disappointed, Momo decides to continue searching the city for Appa. Unfortunately, he soon draws the attention of a trio of Pygmy Pumas, which see him as a potential meal. Momo tries to escape, but the cats work together to try to bring him down. Momo manages to run into a crowd of people, but he is quickly grabbed by a man, fitted with a hat, and set out with a pair of dancing monkeys. He performs some weird new-age techno sort of dance to a flying lemur theme-song remix. The cats chase him out of the crowd and pin him to the ground, but all four of the animals suddenly find themselves captured.

They are brought to a butcher and the man that captured them begins haggling with the owner. Momo frees himself using his opposable thumbs and starts to run off. However, upon seeing the three pumas saddened by their fate, he frees them from their cages and all four run off on the rooftops. As they sit on a roof, one of the pumas removes the fur tied to Momo to lure him to follow them and the three run off down an alley. The cats stop and place the fur in a large three-toed footprint that appears to be Appa's. Momo lands in the print and notices the shape. He curls on top of the tuft of fur as rain starts to fall.

Momo's tale is the only one that focuses on advancing the main plot of the series, through his search for Appa.

Episode 1 - "Raksha"

The story starts with a golden jackal named Tabaqui walking towards his master, the dreaded tiger known as Shere Khan, who stretches himself and then walks to the spot of a camp with Tabaqui guiding him. Out of cruelty and hatred, Shere Khan leaps towards the campsite. Whilst doing so, he accidentally burns his right forepaw, forcing a young child, Mowgli, to wander into a wolf cave in the jungle. At that point, Shere Khan (accompanied by his servant Tabaqui) appears at the entrance and, unable to pass through the cave's aperture with his massive body, demands that the wolves give him his prey, but the wolf mother, Raksha refuses and drives him away. He taunts them and says that the wolf pack will decide as he skulks away, angered by her defiance. Meanwhile, Tabaqui runs around the whole jungle and tells all the animals that a wolf pack has adopted a human.

A moment later, Bagheera, the melanistic Indian leopard, is minding her business when Tabaqui appears to tell her the news. Bagheera scolds him for spreading malicious falsehoods, then puts up quite a display that causes Shere Khan to walk away with hatred.

The elders of the wolf pack watch a performance of the wolf cubs and Mowgli, with the protagonist matching the cubs' every step. The elders are evenly split about whether or not they should allow him to stay until they see Mowgli pinch the nose of Tabaqui, who came up to taunt him. However, at this point, Shere Khan appears and demands that he be given his prey. Akela, also known as the "Lone Wolf" and patriarch of the pack, refuses to listen, so Raksha and Baloo (the white-chested bear who instructs the young wolf cubs) come to his defence, but Shere Khan is undeterred until Bagheera also appears and offers the wolf pack a freshly killed bull in return for keeping Mowgli alive. Shere Khan is forced to admit defeat, but he vows that he will still eat Mowgli one day.

Episode 2 - "The Kidnapping"

Mowgli and Raksha's cubs are being taught to hunt by Baloo, who scolds Mowgli for running like a man, also teaches them the call of the jungle; "we be of one blood, thou and i" when they reached a watering hole infested with crocodiles. A bit earlier Bagheera appears and teaches Mowgli to climb and jump between trees. The Bandar-logs in the trees watch Mowgli free an elephant from a pit trap set by the villagers and decide that he is just like them but without a tail and that he could be useful.

A short while later, they kidnap him while he is sleeping and take him to their city. Baloo and Bagheera run after him but decide that they need the help of the Indian rock python Kaa. They don't know where to look until Chil the brahminy kite, flying above them, tells them that he saw him being taken to the abandoned city; Mowgli had used the call of the jungle as he was being carried away and asked him to help. Baloo and Bagheera arrive first and are both overwhelmed by the monkeys.

Once Kaa arrives, the monkeys go still and sit quietly on the city ruins around him. Kaa begins a hypnotizing dance, and every so often tells the monkeys to come one step closer. Bagheera and Baloo are nearly caught in the trap as well until they are pulled away by Mowgli, after which they leave the scene.

Episode 3 - "Akela's Last Hunt"

Mowgli has grown and to enable him to take his rightful place in the pack, he needs to arm himself. Python Kaa helps Mowgli find an "iron tooth", - a knife, in an abandoned cave guarded by an ancient white Indian cobra. This happens just in time, because the old enemy tiger Shere Khan raises havoc in the pack, intending to kill Mowgli since Akela has missed his kill. The intervention of Mowgli saves the pack leader from Shere Khan through the use of the Red Flower along with support from Bagheera and Baloo.

Episode 4 - "The Fight"

A terrible threat looms over the wolf tribe and all those living in the jungle. A large pack of dholes descends on the jungle, destroying everything in their path. However, Mowgli decides that he and Akela should prepare the wolf pack to battle the dhole tribes, with Baloo concurring with Akela's orders.

Tabaqui, nosy as always, reports the preparations for war to his master, Shere Khan; who muses the wolves forgot the rules of the jungle. Saying that it is every beast for themselves now, the big cat suggests heading north to wait for the battle to be over with, a suggestion his nosy majordomo agrees with.

Everyone evacuates for shelter while Bagheera relocates her three cubs (two yellow as gold and one the same color as Bagheera) to a safer spot where they remain until the war is over despite their earlier misbehavior.

At the river, Kaa suggests the aid of a huge horde of bees minding their business at the start of the waterfall. Despite getting stung, Mowgli finally convinces the bee queen and her clans to stop the dhole tribes.

The big battle comes and after many times with some dhole clansmen losing their tails to Mowgli's kukri, the dhole tribes flee thanks to the bee horde and the Seeonee Jungles are safe once more. Akela then lets forth his last triumphant warcry.

Episode 5 - "Return to Mankind"

Mowgli is the head of the wolf pack. He sees people by the village, gathering some water, but he is confused about why he feels so different than the jungle folk. Finally it is time to pay Mowgli's arch-enemy, tiger Shere Khan, who broke the peace truce during a drought, but to slay him, Mowgli must devise a plan to trap him and his bumbling majordomo Tabaqui in the ravine using the buffalo herds. The plan fails when Shere Khan leaps to a high platform, with Mowgli hot on his tail. After a short brawl, Mowgli is able to finally put Shere Khan's law-breaking habits to an end by dislocating his skull. In the jungle, the time comes to upgrade and the flowering of love. Mowgli says goodbye to all his friends who say they would be happy to aid him. It is time to leave the pack and go back to the people.

Huckleberry Finn is a half-literate son of Pap Finn, a drunk. One night, his father arrives and Huck is taken away from his foster family to his father's home. Jealous of Huck's money being kept away, he attacks Huck, but eventually passes out from exhaustion.

Huck fakes his own death and runs away. He is accompanied by Jim, a slave who worked for Huck's foster family, and escaped the family out of fear for being sold off. The duo follow the Mississippi River to Cairo, Illinois, so Jim can escape to freedom without being arrested.

They come across a wanted poster for Jim, falsely saying that he murdered Huck. Jim and Huck come across a sinking barge one night, and Jim notices Huck's father's corpse on the ship. Huck notices two sailors leaving one to drown in a room as the water comes crashing through. Huck and Jim's canoe sinks, but they steal another one, as the barge completely sinks underwater.

The canoe is struck by a steamboat, and Huck is at first captured by a few men, then taken to the home of the Graingerford family. Huck lies about his life to the Graingerfords to avoid suspicion. The Graingerfords are in a feud with another family, the Shepherdsons. Huck even befriends Billy Graingerford, the Graingerford patriarch's son, but is horrified that Jim is found by the family and has become a slave. Billy's older sister Sophie runs away to marry a Shepherdson, thus a short firefight happens, killing all the male Graingerfords, including Billy.

Jim and Huck find themselves past Cairo, and two con men: The Duke and The King, join Huck and Jim. The quartet land at Phelps Landing, and The King and The Duke impersonate British members of the Wilks family to con three sisters, Mary Jane, Julia, and Susan, out of their fortune.

Meanwhile, Jim has been taken to prison for Huck's murder, and tells Huck about his dead father, thus Huck rebukes Jim. Huck puts the money in the coffin of a recently deceased family member. He exposes The King and The Duke as con men to Mary Jane, and tells her to tell the town at 10:00, when a steamboat to Cairo departs.

Dr. Robinson doesn't trust The King and The Duke's scheme, and the real members of the family, whom The King and The Duke were impersonating, show up. The town dig up the buried coffin where the money was put, and thus tar and feather The Duke and The King, and become an angry mob. Huck breaks Jim out of prison, but they are spotted by the mob.

While escaping, Huck is shot in the back. Jim sacrifices his chance to escape to freedom and carries Huck to the mob, allowing himself to be hanged. Before the mob can hang Jim, however, Mary Jane, Julia, and Susan arrive and stop the hanging from happening. The mob sets Jim free, and Huck passes out.

Huck wakes up in the Wilks homestead and learns that Jim's master Miss Watson, who was also one of Huck's caretakers, died, setting Jim free in her will. The other caretaker plans on civilizing Huck, but Huck, narrating the story, says, "I've been there before." The film ends with Huck running off into the sunset.

Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson investigate the case of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound of supernatural origin on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country.

The story consists of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Professor Challenger in London during the Martian invasion as described in Wells's novel.

In the kingdom of Aquilonia, a year of peace for King Conan and his new queen Zenobia is broken when the latter is abducted by a demon. Conan learns from the wizard, Pelias of Koth, that an eastern sorcerer, Yah Chieng of Khitai, is responsible, and begins a quest to recover her without realizing that the fate of the world, as well as Aquilonia, rests on the outcome of the contest.

Chronologically, ''The Return of Conan'' falls between Howard's novel ''The Hour of the Dragon'' (also known as ''Conan the Conqueror''), and the four short stories collected as ''Conan of Aquilonia''.

In both the hardcover Gnome Press edition and the paperback Lancer/Ace edition of the Conan stories, ''The Return of Conan'' follows Robert E. Howard's novel ''Conan the Conqueror''; it is the final volume chronologically in the Gnome edition (though one additional volume, ''Tales of Conan'', contains stories issued out of sequence), while in the Lancer/Ace edition it is followed by the short stories collected as ''Conan of Aquilonia''.

Kerberos Koichi Todome (都々目紅一) chases elite sniper Eito Kurosaki (黒崎英斗) a.k.a. "Afghan Hound" in Asia with a vengeance. During the Kerberos Riot event (see ''Kerberos Panzer Cop'' Act 8), Kurosaki betrayed the Special Armed Garrison by letting know Bunmei Muroto about the ''coup d'état''. Kurosaki left the besieged Self-Police headquarters using a helicopter and escaped overseas, since then, Koichi is after him, the once brothers in arms are now deadly enemies.

The Killers (キラーズ)

"The Killers" (キラーズ, ''kirāzu'') is an independent short story which is a parody of Ernest Hemingway's classic "The Killers". Two Latinos dressed in black enter the bar restaurant "Papa's Lunch Room" located downtown in a Latin American city. Three other customers are silently waiting, each one on a separated table: the first is a yakuza wearing black sunglasses and a tuxedo, the second is a middle-aged hairy bearded man wearing a black cassock and a large crucifix necklace and the third is a British style old man wearing a beret and a smart costume, a violin case standing near him. The two men in black ask for the menu and order sandwiches. As they eat, a young boy enters and delivers a large package to Golgo 13, the latter goes to the toilet bringing the packet with him. A Latino hits the restaurant's chef with his sandwich plate, binds him and brings him to the toilet. The other Latino puts a Glock 17 and a FN Hi-Power automatic handguns on his table and asks for the waitress about Koichi Todome. The second Latino comes back from the toilet armed with a Lupara sawed-off shotgun, followed by Golgo 13 smoking a cigarette and holding a Colt AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. The old man takes a drum magazine M1928 Thompson submachine gun from his violin case, and the priest unveils a katana from his cassock. Each men are aiming at each other stand still. When the girl bursts her bubble gum all men suddenly attack eventually killing each other. Lone survivor, the girl frees the chef and rides her Vespa to the outskirts. She enters a coast hotel, bumps a woman and run up stairs to the room 203 to tell Koichi Todome. The latter is lying in his bed still wearing his famous trench coat, and a large suitcase containing his Protect Gear is on the ground. Midori thanks the girl who leaves, grabs her Mauser C96 pistol and heads to the staircase. The story ends with Midori entering room 203.

Jeanne Tournier (Moreau) lives with her husband Henri (Alain Cuny) and young daughter, Catherine, in a mansion near Dijon. Her emotionally remote husband is a busy newspaper owner who has little time for his wife, except when he chooses to place demands upon her; often they sleep in separate rooms. Jeanne escapes to Paris regularly when she can spend time with her chic friend Maggy (Judith Magre) and the polo-playing Raoul (José Luis de Vilallonga), Maggy's friend and Jeanne's lover.

Jeanne's constant talk of Maggy and Raoul leads to Henri demanding that Jeanne invite them to dinner and to stay as overnight guests. Jeanne's car breaks down on the day of the dinner party, and she accepts a lift from a younger man, Bernard (Jean-Marc Bory), and then asks him to drive her home. By the time they get back, Maggy and Raoul have already arrived at the mansion. It transpires that Bernard, an archaeologist, is the son of a friend of Jeanne's husband, and he too is added to the guest list. Jeanne spurns Raoul's advances, claiming it is too dangerous, but she spends time in a small boat on the river with the attentive Bernard. Clandestinely, they spend the night together. In the morning, to the surprise of everyone, Jeanne leaves with Bernard for a new life.

Peter O'Toole is Emil Saber, a retired British soldier and collector of ancient coins and Biblical artifacts. To complete his collection of king Herod's coins, Emil travels to Jerusalem to seek out the seventh and final one. In his search for the coin, Emil begins to lose his mind and eventually believes that he is the reincarnated Herod himself. This does not go well for two teenagers who possess the coin, American tourist Ronnie and Arab pickpocket Salim. As Emil continues on his murderous rampage, the teenagers must avoid him while also protecting the coin.

''Dice'' tells the story of charismatic psychology teacher, Glenn Taylor, who manipulates people by teaching them how to live by the throw of a dice. When the small community is shattered by the death of student Sally Quine, Detective Patrick Styvesant finds himself drawn deeper into a bizarre world where decisions are ruled by the dice. As Taylor's influence over the community deepens, Patrick also has his own demons to contend with as he battles alcoholism and his repressed homosexuality, all of which make him a perfect target for Taylor.

The action takes place in Moscow in 1976. Anatoly Yefremovich Novoseltsev, a clumsy single father of two sons, works at a statistical bureau. His boss is a strict single woman in her late 30s, Ludmila Prokofievna Kalugina, nicknamed "our frump" ( , also translated "our hag") by her subordinates. He dreams about a promotion and a raise, but he is too timid to talk to his boss about it. His former classmate and old friend, Yuri Grigorievich Samokhvalov suggests appointing his old friend as a head of the light industry department, but Kalugina rejects the advice. Then, following Samokhvalov's advice, Novoseltsev unwillingly tries to flirt with "the Frump" at a party in Samokhvalov's apartment, but Kalugina gets very annoyed at his attempts to impress her. Eventually drunk Novoseltsev becomes frustrated and tells Kalugina that he considers her "dry, inhuman and heartless".

The following morning Novoseltsev comes to her office to apologize, but then suddenly Kalugina bursts into tears, revealing that his accusations from the night before hurt her. They have a heart-to-heart conversation and they start getting closer and soon fall in love with each other. Kalugina, having thrown off her "protective mask" of a hard-hearted woman, becomes more aware of her femininity and surprises everyone with her new elegant clothes and charming look.

The relationship between Anatoly and Ludmila evolves, full of comical situations and repartees. At the same time drama unfolds between Olga Ryzhova and Yuri Samokhvalov who were dating many years ago at a university. Now both of them have families but Olga's romantic feelings are revived after meeting Samokhvalov at the office. However, he treats her like just a friend. She begins to write him love letters, which she passes to him through Verochka, the Frump's secretary. Samokhvalov, tired of the wave of love letters, tells about the situation to the meddlesome Shura, a local labor union committee activist and the biggest talebearer in the office. He gives her the letters and asks her to "sort out the problem" at the session of the committee. Later, Ryzhova, broken-hearted and humiliated, asks Samokhvalov to return the letters to her and gets back to her normal life.

At an earlier point when Novoseltsev had learned about Samokhvalov's showing his good friend Ryzhova's love letters to Shura, he completely boils over. Novoseltsev suddenly slaps Samakhalov hard in the face. Samokhvalov takes revenge by disclosing Novoseltsev's initial "plan" to Kalugina. She is shocked and wants to give up on Novoseltsev. She calls him up to her office, tells him about her decision to appoint him as head of the light industry department and to end their relationship. Novoseltsev feels ashamed and admits that their relationship indeed started purely for mercenary reasons, but insists that he has come to love her. Kalugina brushes him off. In his turn he rejects the appointment and tenders his resignation. Kalugina refuses to dismiss Novoseltsev to spite him. They have a fiery argument which results in a noisy scuffle right in the office. Everything ends up as Novoseltsev, trying to escape from the furious Ludmila, runs out of the building, jumps on a back seat of a car (that turns out to be Kalugina's service vehicle with a personal chauffeur), she follows him angrily, but Novoseltsev manages to soothe her, and they are seen embracing. A subtitle suggests that in 9 months there will be three boys in Novoseltsev's family, i.e. that Anatoly and Ludmila will later have a son.

Eleven days before the parliamentary election, the Centre Party's main candidate, who is about to become the next Danish Prime Minister, and his wife have a car accident. His situation is critical and nobody knows if he will survive. Even his wife, who is also hospitalised, is not informed. The next day, Torp is assigned to cover the election. Quickly, he is drawn into the internal power struggle in the Centre Party where two very different politicians, Erik Dreyer and Lone Kjeldsen, show interest in gaining power and potentially becoming the next Prime Minister. Torp, the son of a previous justice minister, writes his first front-page story after a tip-off from the Centre Party press coordinator, Peter Schou. The story turns out to be "planted spin" in order to damage Lone Kjeldsen (Nastja Arcel) to allow the advantage to Dreyer who benefits from her lost credibility.

Ulrik is determined to get to the truth behind the lies that drive Kjeldsen's vulnerable husband to suicide. Tracing the misinformation to its source, he reveals what he knows to his editor and the paper's owner who turns out to be an old college friend of Dreyer. Both close ranks and Torp is fired. Torp tries to confront Dreyer over what he knows to be a cover-up of the death of the leader Aksel Brunn who is reported as being still on life support though sources tell him the man was "brain dead from day one". Even Brunn's 22-year-old son is paid off to back Dreyer's stalling but Dreyer dismisses Torp as an unemployed malcontent. Finally, by joining forces with a left-wing stringer, Henrik Moll (Nicolas Bro), Torp succeeds in exposing the plot and Dreyer on national television. However, the effects last only a short time before Dreyer's contacts and influence push him on a wave to the top.

The series starts as Marigold Alcock inherits her husband's business ''The Alcock Group of Companies'' upon his death. The companies, whose headquarters are above a strip club in Soho, include ''Sotheby's Racing Service Ltd'' and ''Hugh Blanding's Detective Agency''. The elderly Ernest is her office assistant, while her partner is Richard Gander. He was given partnership in the company after an ''Alcock Economy Coach Tour'' went wrong.

As the film opens Ahmad (Babak Ahmadpour), a grade schooler, watches as his teacher (Khodabakhsh Defai) berates a fellow student, Mohammad Reza, for repeatedly failing to use his notebook for his homework, threatening expulsion on the next offense. When Ahmad returns home, he realizes he's accidentally taken Mohammad Reza's notebook. Against his mother's orders, he sets out in search for Mohammad Reza's house, encountering false leads, dead ends, and distractions as he attempts to enlist adults in his search. When he is unable to find his friend's home, Ahmad ends up doing the homework for his friend at night; in the next day the homework is deemed excellent by the teacher.

Moon (Juliette Marquis) is a down-to-earth young woman who happens to be one of the most popular adult film stars. She finds no fault in using her sexuality as a means of profit. While she is in the process of renewing her contract, her personal life remains a delicate issue as her father (James Woods) suffers from Parkinson's disease and a blind date (Kip Pardue) remains hesitant to get close to Moon after learning of her profession.

Moon's friend Jessie hires her to fidelity test her boyfriend, Moon agrees and decides to offer the same to other women. One of the women hires her to test her husband and Moon goes in to pretend to buy a car from the husband, a man named Terry (Michael Rapaport), and offers sex for a deal on the car. When he agrees to it, they start fooling around and she excuses herself to the bathroom, and sneaks out the bathroom window. Terry catches her before she drives off. When asking why she left she inadvertently reveals she was hired to test him by his wife. Terry gets angry, begging her not to tell his wife, saying he'll pay more. When she does not agree to remain quiet he repeatedly violently hits her car with a pipe, and threatening her.

The film cuts to scenes of a younger Moon starting out in the business. Moon starts to re-evaluate her life with the idea of starting over afresh and tells Aronson, who was interviewing two new potential porn stars, that she's an adult now and has to make better choices with herself and life. Aronson wishes her well.

After Moon leaves Aronson's place she is approached by Terry who is obviously angry that Moon told his wife about his infidelity. He attacks and threatens her with a knife saying she owes him, that she ruined his life and she needs to make it up to him. Moon tells him she quit the business. He throws her to the ground and forces himself on her. When she fights him, Terry tells her he followed her and he knows all about her. He threatens her father's safety, telling her to stop fighting him. He tries to rape her but Moon headbutts him breaking his nose and throwing him off of her. She runs out and as the film ends she goes over to see Kip.

Alexander Green is a 16-year-old boy, who lives in Golders Green in London and who wants to leave his middle-class Jewish home. He is based on the writer's fourteen-year-old son Adam. Alexander's parents, Joe and Fay Green, try to understand him and he has a sister Renata.

The story is set in 1984. Elmeri Hautamäki (Silvennoinen) is a man who has lived his entire life in a mental institution. He escapes with his homosexual nurse ''Janne-Petteri Broman'' (Hela) and is joined by the Kagelberg-twins Jönssi and Dille (Vihinen and Kahilainen) on a quest for the hidden gold treasure of his father Kyrpä-Jooseppi Hautamäki, who was killed by a deserting German Waffen-SS soldier Peter North (Jukka Puotila) back in 1944, in Lapland. Their escape leads them to be pursued by not only the Mental Institute's doctors Rasikangas and Kulokoski (Mari Turunen and Kari Hietalahti) but by the police as well.

The motley crew arrives at Elmeri's father's site but are unable to extract a reasonable amount of gold from the river. At the dead of night Jönssi stumbles on a buried German motorbike and the bodies of two dead SS-troopers. They find out that the motorbike's side-cart carries a chest full of Third Reich gold.

Later a police-pursuit lands the group on the grounds of gay baron Eugen von Lahtinen (Vesa-Matti Loiri) during a poetry-themed spring-celebration. The gold-exchanger that the group goes to, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Oiva Lohtander), turns out to be working for a secret Nazi-organization. Through this contact Peter North, still alive and well, learns that Elmeri has found his gold and he returns to Finland. When Hautamäki returns to exchange the rest of the gold for cash he ends up in hand-to-hand combat with North. Hautamäki wins the fight (by asking North for a cigarette).

The gold is split among the good guys, Broman marries baron von Lahtinen, becoming the ''mistress'' of his estate. Jönssi becomes the owner of the food-processing plant which he and his brother were fired from at the beginning of the film. Dille becomes a professor at the University of Tampere. Elmeri marries a call-girl named ''Vanessa'' and has many children. He takes Peter North's name in order to stay out of the mental asylum. Peter North ends up locked up in a Mental Institution under Hautamäki's name for the rest of his life.

Valentine Bulmer and his half-brother Francis Tyrrel had been Mrs Dods' guests at Cleikum Inn when they were students from Edinburgh, and she gladly welcomed Francis when he arrived, some years afterwards, to stay at the inn again, to fish and sketch in the neighbourhood. A mineral spring had in the meantime been discovered at Saint Ronan’s, and he was invited by the fashionable visitors to dine with them at the Fox Hotel, where he quarrelled with an English baronet named Sir Bingo Binks. On his way back to the Cleikum, he met Clara Mowbray, to whom he had been secretly engaged during his former visit; he had been prevented from marrying her by the treachery of Bulmer, who had now succeeded to the earldom, and was expected at the spa. Tyrrel was visited by Captain MacTurk, and accepted a challenge from the baronet, but failed to keep his appointment, and was posted as an adventurer by the committee of management. He also disappeared from the inn, leading his hostess to consult Mr Bindloose, the sheriff's clerk, under the belief that he had been murdered. A Mr Touchwood came to change a bill, and talked of having been abroad for many years. He showed great interest in the affairs of the Mowbray family, and, having taken up his quarters at the Cleikum, made friends with Rev Mr Cargill, who had been disappointed in love, and startled him with a rumour that Clara was about to be married.

Soon after the earl's arrival, it was reported that he had been shot in the arm by a footpad; and, while his wound was healing, he spent his time gambling with John Mowbray, the young laird of St Ronan's, who had borrowed his sister Clara's money to try to improve his luck. Having allowed him to win a considerable sum, his lordship made proposals for Clara's hand, explaining that his grand-uncle had disinherited his only son, and devised his estate to him, on condition that he chose as a wife a lady of the name of Mowbray. In a letter to his friend Jekyl, the earl confessed that he had been winged in a duel with Tyrrel, whom he met on his way to fight Sir Bingo, and that he had also wounded Tyrrel. A few days afterwards the company at the Well assembled at Shaw's Castle to take part in a play, and Mr Touchwood persuaded Rev Mr Cargill to accompany him. While they were walking in the grounds the minister reminded Clara of a secret in his keeping, which made it impossible for her to marry. He also encountered the earl, and, believing him to be Bulmer, attempted to warn him.

The next morning, as John Mowbray was endeavouring to induce Clara to consent to the marriage, he received an anonymous communication that the earl was an impostor; and, in an interview with him, she rejected his suit with loathing and scorn. His lordship then wrote to Jekyl, telling him the circumstances under which, when he was only sixteen, he had arranged with Mr Cargill for a secret marriage between her and Tyrrel; but, learning subsequently the contents of his uncle's will, had incurred their lifelong hatred by impersonating his brother at the ceremony. Tyrrel, who after the duel had gone to a nearby village to recover from his wound, reappeared just in time to rescue Mr Touchwood from drowning; and, at an interview with Jekyl, who undertook to clear his character, offered to forgo his claim to the earldom, of which he had proof, if his brother would leave Clara alone. The earl sneered at the proposal, and, as he was forming fresh schemes for attaining his end, he discovered that Hannah Irwin, Clara's former companion, was dying at St Ronan's, and anxious to confess her share in the secret marriage. Solmes, the earl's valet, was instructed to carry her off, while his master got the brother into his power by ruining him at play, and then promised to cancel the debt if Clara consented to acknowledge him as her husband within four-and-twenty hours.

Mowbray believed he had prevailed with his sister, when Mr Touchwood unexpectedly arrived, and announced himself as Scrogie, the disinherited son, who by bribing Solmes, and in other ways, had learnt everyone's secrets, and was ready with his fortune to arrange all their difficulties. However, Clara had escaped from her room during the night, and, after appearing at the manse to forgive her cousin, who had been confided to Mr Cargill's care, had made her way to the Cleikum, where, in a seeming trance, she had a final interview with Tyrrel, and died soon afterwards from congestion of the brain. Mowbray, meanwhile, in his search for her, encountered the earl and his companions engaged in a shooting match, and killed him in a duel arranged on the spot by Captain MacTurk, with whom he fled to the Continent to escape imprisonment. Mr Touchwood had consequently to seek some other outlet for his wealth, and the Etherington estates were never claimed by the rightful heir, who determined to pass the remainder of his life in a Moravian mission.

In a prologue to the novel, the narrator muses on the rural parish of Woodilee in the Scottish Borders. Looking at its now-ruined parish kirk, he recalls a legend about its last minister, who disappeared without trace 300 years ago. Locals believe that he was spirited away by the fairies or, as some maintain, by the devil.

The story opens in 1644 with the coming of David Sempill, newly-ordained minister of the Church of Scotland, to Woodilee, a parish passionate in its support of the Covenant. Sempill is less committed to strict doctrinal practices than many of the Covenanters, and he finds himself attracted to the creed of Mark Kerr, a fugitive and follower of Lord Montrose, supporter of the King and enemy of the Kirk. When Kerr is injured, the minister hides him in the manse.

One night in the feared Black Wood of Melanudrigill the minister stumbles across a diabolic rite in which figures wearing animal headpieces dance around a pagan altar. After attempting unsuccessfully to identify the ringleader, he manages to splash pungent aniseed oil onto the ringleader's clothes. The wife of a prominent elder of the Kirk, Ephraim Caird, is discovered burning clothes on a fire which smells strongly of aniseed.

The plague comes to Woodilee. Sempill works to prevent its spread helped by a newcomer named Mark Riddel who, unknown to the locals, is in fact the fugitive Mark Kerr. Nursing care is surreptitiously provided by a shadowy figure whom the locals take to be a fairy but who is in fact Katrine Yester, niece of the local laird, to whom Sempill is secretly engaged. Katrine contracts the plague and dies. A local woman is accused by a pricker of being a witch and in spite of the best efforts of Sempill and Riddel is tortured and killed.

Sempill presents his evidence of Ephraim Caird's heresy to the presbytery, the Kirk's religious court, which rejects it as circumstantial and unreliable. In retaliation, Caird brings counter-charges against the minister for harbouring a fugitive, for associating with Mark Riddel (now publicly identified as Mark Kerr), and for keeping the company of an unknown woman. Sempill is found guilty and is excommunicated and ejected from his ministry.

On his way back from the hearing, Sempill meets Ephraim Caird near the Black Wood. He forces Caird to enter, kneel before the pagan altar, and to make his choice between Christ and the devil. The effort is too much for Caird who runs off in demented terror and is killed in a fall. The minister is never after that day seen again, giving rise to the legend mentioned in the novel's prologue.

In an epilogue, it is revealed that Sempill and Kerr had ridden to Leith and had boarded the first available ship out of Scotland.

The action occurs twelve years later on from the last novel, when Hannay, now in his fifties, is called by an old oath to protect the son of a man he once knew, who is also heir to the secret of a great treasure. He obtains help from Sandy Arbuthnot, now Lord Clanroyden, and Lombard. The action takes place in England, in Scotland and on the Island of Sheep, which is in what Buchan calls the Norlands: clearly the Faroe Islands. There are several stereotypical villains, in particular D'Ingraville from ''The Courts of the Morning'', and the book also focuses on Hannay's son, Peter John, now a bright but solemn teenager.

In Book I Richard Hannay is on his way down to the Solent to lay up his yacht. He has heard a speech in Parliament from Charles Lamancha, a formidable orator. Lamancha has mentioned the name of one of Hannay's old friends, Lombard, whom Hannay had long forgotten about. By pure coincidence Hannay's train carriage mate turns out to be Lombard himself. Following promises to meet later, Lombard disembarks. Afterwards Hannay's son, Peter John, receives a vile-tempered she-hawk from Archie Roylance, which he christens Morag. Hannay takes Peter John shooting on the Hanham Flats in East Anglia. There they meet a strange man who is behaving as if he is on the run from something or someone. He says that his name is Smith, but Hannay thinks that he is Northern European. Hannay then meets Clanroyden, who reveals a Chinese jade tablet and tells Hannay about old Haraldsen. Hannay responds with his own tale about Haraldsen, also involving Lombard and Peter Pienaar in Rhodesia, which introduced the villains Erick Albinus, a Danish American, and a City of London bigshot called Aylmer Troth; the story ended with the gang's arrest and Troth's death. Clanroyden brings old Haraldsen's son to Hannay. Hannay recognises him as Smith from the Hanham shooting holiday. Haraldsen is being hounded by villains including Albinus, Aylmer Troth's son, Lancelot, and a third man, named Barralty. Hannay meets Lombard again, as well as Macgillivray, who does not know much about this gang. Clanroyden suggests Hannay and Haraldsen move up to Laverlaw.

In Book II Hannay, Haraldsen and Peter John are at Sandy's ancestral manor, Laverlaw. There they witness sheepshearing and a wedding. Lombard arrives, having only just saved Haraldsen's daughter Anna from the villains with a mad dash by car north from Northamptonshire. Clanroyden joins them later.

In Book III Hannay and his friends sail to the Island of Sheep, and meet Haraldsen and Anna there. One day Peter John and Anna go canoeing, and come upon a Danish trawler, the "Tjaldar". They meet the real villain, Jacques D'Ingraville, on board and are captured, but one of the crewmen, Martel, helps them to escape. They arrive back at the island and summon the whaling crew of the "Grind" for help. Meanwhile, Hannay, Lombard, Geordie Hamilton and Haraldsen receive a message from Morag that they are about to be attacked. They barricade the house. D'Ingraville, Martel and a Spaniard, Carreras, arrive to offer terms. Hannay lets Martel into the house to negotiate and Martel reveals himself to be Sandy Clanroyden. Clanroyden assures Hannay that the children are all right and then rejoins D'Ingraville, after which his cover is blown by Haraldsen. Clanroyden manages to escape and joins Hannay on the roof. Haraldsen goes berserk and throws D'Ingraville to his death off a cliff. Anna and Peter John then arrive with the crew of the "Grind". The criminal gang is subdued. Lancelot Troth, Albinus and Barralty make peace with Haraldsen, and are invited to dinner with him. Clanroyden gives his jade tablet to Troth.

Brad (Rory Cochrane), an out-of-work musician, is home by himself one morning while his wife, Lexi (Mary McCormack), is at work. He hears on the radio that several suspected dirty bombs have been detonated across Los Angeles, and sees large amounts of smoke rising from the city. Brad tries to contact Lexi through her cell phone, but only receives a busy signal, and when he tries to drive out to find her, he discovers that all roads now have police blockades, forcing him to return home.

Once home, Brad sees Alvaro (Tony Perez), in the house. Alvaro asks Brad if he can stay with him as there is no one at the neighbor's house where he was working. Over the radio, they hear that survivors of the blasts are being quarantined due to the bombs' deadly toxins, and that the authorities advise people to seal up their homes before the toxins reach them. Brad and Alvaro then proceed to seal up the house with duct tape and plastic. As it becomes increasingly obvious that Lexi might not come home, he takes some of Lexi's clothes and leaves them outside the back door with some food and water.

Lexi arrives home, covered in dust from the explosions, causing Brad to refuse to let her in. Lexi loses her temper and throws her cell phone at one of the door panes, breaking it. Brad and Alvaro quickly seal the breakage and manage to calm Lexi down, before then sealing off the main bedroom from the rest of the house so that Lexi can get into it. Lexi receives a call from her mother, who realizes that she was near the explosion and is probably infected, but Lexi refuses to believe that there is any danger. Alvaro decides to leave the house, saying he needs to be with his wife. Brad tries to convince him to stay, but Alvaro leaves anyway and is seen slowly walking away through a downpour of toxic ash.

Lexi hears a noise from the back and alerts Brad. A masked man appears, who introduces himself as Rick (Jon Huertas). He tells Lexi that there is a ship on the coast that has medical supplies and is helping people. Lexi and Rick leave for help, and Brad hears newscasts on the radio that elaborate on the unknown viral strain, saying it is a hybrid which attacks the respiratory system. That same night Brad is visited by Corporal Marshall (Max Kasch) and his men. He asks Brad several questions, such as how well his house has been sealed, who else is currently or recently been there, and if there has been any contact between him and anyone on the outside. Brad mentions the phone that Lexi threw the door window and the Corporal demands a sample of the dust off the phone. He tells Brad that he will soon be back with the results and that his wife under no circumstances should be let into the house.

Lexi returns home the next day without Rick, and sees a red tag placed outside the house. She calls her brother, Jason, (Will McCormack) so that she can have someone to talk to due to her mother being frantic with worry. The next couple of hours are spent with Brad and Lexi on their respective sides of the door, who talk about what they will do assuming they survive. Suddenly, soldiers appear and grab Lexi, and prevent Brad from coming outside. One soldier manages to calm Brad down and explains that the virus has been discovered not to thrive in places with large quantities of fresh air, meaning that the number of fatalities from the attack has actually been minimal.

Unfortunately, because Lexi unwittingly introduced a trace amount of the virus into the house when she broke a window, Brad's sealing off the house has created the perfect environment for it to thrive, meaning that he has been lethally exposed. The soldiers prepare to fill the house with powerful fumigation chemicals in order to eliminate any trace of the virus; Lexi protests that Brad is still inside, but is told that Brad will soon be dead no matter what they do. The house is then filled with the chemicals, killing Brad. Lexi is later seen sitting in an ambulance, being attended to by a nurse. The film ends with Lexi in too much shock to say anything, her cell phone ringing.

''Some Buried Caesar'' first appeared in abridged form in ''The American Magazine'' (December 1938), with watercolor illustrations by Ronald McLeod (1897 1977) While on their way to a rural exposition in upstate New York to show orchids, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin are involved in a minor car accident. On their way to a nearby house to phone for help, they are threatened by a large bull but are eventually rescued by Caroline Pratt, a local golf champion, and her acquaintance Lily Rowan. The house and bull belong to Thomas Pratt, Caroline's uncle and the owner of a large chain of successful fast food restaurants, and he has purchased the bull—a champion Guernsey called Hickory Caesar Grindon—in order to barbecue it as part of a publicity stunt.

While Wolfe and Archie enjoy Pratt's hospitality, they meet several of Pratt's family and neighbours—Jimmy Pratt, Pratt's indolent nephew; Monte McMillan, the original owner of Caesar, who sold the bull to Pratt after falling into financial difficulties; Clyde Osgood and his sister Nancy, the children of Pratt's neighbour Frederick Osgood; and a New Yorker named Howard Bronson, who is apparently a friend of Clyde. There is tension between the Pratt and Osgood families due to a bitter rivalry between Thomas Pratt and Frederick Osgood, and when tempers flare Clyde makes a bet with Pratt that the latter will not barbecue Caesar. As Pratt is already paranoid due to the hostility of local farmers opposed to his plans to cook Caesar, Wolfe offers Archie's services as a guard for Caesar in exchange for a comfortable stay at Pratt's house. During his watch that night, Lily Rowan shows up to keep Archie company, and together they discover Clyde's body, gored to death in the pasture.

The local authorities assume that Clyde was simply gored by Caesar during an attempt to sabotage Pratt's plans, but Wolfe believes that Clyde was murdered; the bull's face was cleaner than it would have been had he fatally attacked Clyde. His suspicions are shared by Frederick Osgood, who knows his son to be an experienced cattle-man who would not have made the amateurish mistakes that would have caused his death had the bull been responsible. The elder Osgood consequently hires Wolfe to learn the identity of the murderer and agrees to house him in comfort for the duration of the investigation. Archie is also hired by Caroline Pratt to prevent what she believes to be Lily Rowan's attempts to seduce her brother Jimmy.

In a meeting with Waddell, the local district attorney, Wolfe proposes that the murder weapon was in fact a digging pick that the murderer used to fake the attack, having first knocked Clyde out and dragged him into the paddock. Waddell, who has a petty rivalry with the elder Osgood, is skeptical but is nevertheless convinced to reopen the investigation. However, before the investigation can proceed far, sudden news comes that Caesar has died suddenly of anthrax. In order to prevent it spreading, this means that the bull will be automatically cremated. Wolfe dispatches Archie to either delay the cremation or take as many photos of the bull as possible before this, but Archie arrives too late to do either.

After interviewing Nancy Osgood, Wolfe learns that Bronson is in fact a New York loan shark who has been shadowing Clyde in order to ensure he receives $10,000 that Clyde borrowed to cover his gambling debts. When confronted by Wolfe and Archie, Bronson confirms this, but is vague and unhelpful when questioned regarding Clyde's death, leading Wolfe to suspect that Bronson knows more than he is saying. Out of respect for Nancy Osgood, Wolfe has Archie recover the promissory note Bronson was holding over Clyde by force, but warns the loan shark to be careful.

The next day, Wolfe's orchids win numerous prizes at the exposition, defeating a hated rival in the process. While following some of Wolfe's instructions, Archie discovers Jimmy Pratt and Nancy Osgood in a secret rendezvous; the two are lovers, but have kept their relationship secret from their feuding parents. By chance, during their confrontation Archie also stumbles upon the body of Howard Bronson, gored with a pitchfork and hidden under straw. He manages to conceal the body and returns to Wolfe with the news. But when the body is discovered, Archie is detained by Captain Barrow, the bullying local head of the state police, and is imprisoned by the authorities as a material witness when he refuses to reveal what he knows.

The next day, Wolfe secures Archie's release with the promise to that he knows who the murderer is and will soon expose him to the authorities. To Archie, Wolfe admits that despite knowing the murderer's identity, the evidence that will enable him to prove it has been efficiently destroyed. Nevertheless, based on his memory and official records from the local farming authorities, Wolfe draws some sketches of the bull that he and Archie encountered and uses them to confront Monte McMillan. Wolfe has deduced that the bull that Thomas Pratt purchased and intended to barbecue was not, in fact, Caesar at all. The champion bull was killed in an anthrax outbreak that decimated almost all of McMillan's herd, and the bull that was passed off as Caesar was in fact Hickory Buckingham Pell, a similar but inferior twin. Facing financial ruin, McMillan sold Buckingham as Caesar for an outrageous sum, but due to his experience with cattle Clyde realised the deception and was planning to expose it to win his bet. McMillan thus murdered Clyde to silence him, and later killed Bronson when the loan shark, realising that McMillan was the murderer, tried to blackmail him.

Although Wolfe admits that McMillan has covered his tracks well and is unlikely to be convicted of murder, the evidence Wolfe has manufactured is sufficient to convict McMillan of fraud, which would expose and ruin him nonetheless. Accepting defeat, McMillan reveals that he has infected himself with anthrax and agrees to write a confession out for Wolfe before dying. Months later, Archie records the case, revealing in the process that Jimmy Pratt and Nancy Osgood are engaged to be married and that he has begun a friendship with Lily Rowan, who has returned to New York.

Valeria and Gianna Donatti lived happily in Naples with his father, until he suddenly gets ill and dies, then the sisters must travel to Mexico City to meet with Vittorio Maglione, the fiance to Valeria. Valeria and Vittorio have never been seen since their marriage was arranged by her parents; so the two have no idea have no idea of how they appear. Believing Valeria will never arrive, Vittorio (the impatient fool he is) stops waiting.

Valeria and Gianna are lost in the city, when they get robbed and are practically on the street, at nightfall the concierge of a luxury apartment complex gives them stay in her room, finally gives Valeria Vittorio disappointment but this is an old man and Valeria decides not to marry him and to survive looking for job cleaning departments and friend Hilda ago Gianna falls ill and the doctor says Valeria need expensive treatment, while Hilda commits suicide and leaves power Valeria a letter.

Valeria reads the letter and decides to use it against Juan Francisco de Castro to blackmail him and make him marry her to pay for treatment of his sister, as Juan Francisco was the lover Hilda, same portraying him as responsible for his suicide. Before reaching the life of Juan Francisco, Valeria finds work in a couple's house very good people, and Teresa Vicente, who become friends and recommend Valeria Castro home.

After working at Juan Francisco, Valeria holds its plan and likewise discovers the opposition and enmity of Mercedes grandmother, uncle Hector and the wife of this, apart from Elena and Joseph Butler sinister mansion knows all the secrets of the old Mercedes and becomes the same helper in the task of removing Valeria their lives, Dulce cook becomes the mainstay of Valeria addition to Fanny, a friend of the family who discovers Valeria is the result of a love he had when he was admitted to a school in Naples. While Juan Francisco lives by Valeria resentful toward blackmail, gradually discovers that Valeria is the love of his life. The same applies to Valeria, who stops seeing Juan Francisco as a stranger and goes really falling for him.

Tom is a 12 year old orphan living in York in the mid-19th century. He is taken under the wing of Grimes, a roguish chimney sweep, as he is small enough to climb inside the chimneys. One day, they leave town and go to a huge country house set in vast grounds. Grimes rides a donkey - Tom and Grimes' assistant Masterman walk alongside.

At the house, Tom gets lost in the maze of chimneys and appears in a young girl's bedroom (Elly). Meanwhile Grimes is passing silverware out of the windows to Masterman. When discovered by the housekeeper Grimes blames the crime on Tom who makes a run for it with his dog Toby. They are pursued across the estate, and end up at Dead Man's Pool: a deep pool in a fast flowing river. Although the young girl protests his innocence Tom jumps in with the dog.

The film then switches to a fantasy animation of speaking sea-creatures. Here he must help rescue his new friends, the Water Babies, from enslavement by sharks. This section includes multiple musical sequences mainly involving a Scottish lobster, a seahorse and a swordfish. The story jumps to a cave in Antarctica with singing polar bears and penguins.

Lois gets a job as the new organist at the local church and forces her family to start attending mass on Sundays. After Stewie mistakes Communion wine for punch, he drinks too much and throws it up, leading the citizens of Quahog to believe Stewie is possessed by Satan. When the priest wants to exorcise him, aided by everyone in town, the Griffin family escapes to Lois' sister Carol's house in Texas. Upon arriving at the home, Peter fits in well with the cowboys, but Brian is disgusted by the bigotry of the local residents. Stewie, disguised as a girl to protect his identity, begins using the name "Stephanie Griffin" and, after being convinced by Lois, enters a "Little Miss Texan" beauty pageant. Meanwhile, as part of an initiation into an after-school club, Meg and Chris sneak into George W. Bush's Crawford ranch to steal a pair of his underwear.

Lois soon hears that the search for Stewie has ended after people got distracted by news of the Super Devil (an entity described as 6 inches taller than the Devil, driving a flying motorcycle and armed with a jar of marmalade), but since she was hoping to instill "new moral values" in her family she decides not to mention that they can go home. Meanwhile, after branding a cow, things turn worse when Peter reveals that he is mentally retarded. The men with him, who explain that Texas "executes the retarded", tie him to an electric chair, in an attempt to put him to death, but he is soon rescued by his trusty horse, revealed to be voiced by Gilbert Gottfried.

Later, Brian finds out from his girlfriend Jillian back in Quahog about the town calling off the search, and rushes to the pageant tells Lois, who says she has known for weeks which horrifies Brian. Stewie manages to win, but when his wig falls off during the crowning ceremony, the audience labels him as a "queer-o-sexual" and tries to rush the stage. The family is able to escape on the back of Gottfried, and return home to Quahog. The episode ends with Lois telling Peter that moral and family values don't come from where people live or who their friends are, but from people themselves and that they should embrace their lives, while Peter says that people should be careful what they watch, and not become religious with it, while breaking the fourth wall.

Twelve-year-old Jay Keaton's life is in grave danger, he stumbles across a shocking discovery at the company his father used to work at. He and his friend Mel are on the run from the corrupt cloning company EmbroGen! The two children are on a dangerous mission to stop EmbroGen and reveal them for what they really are.

The Griffin family decides to take a vacation at Quagmire's cabin at Lake Quahog. When they go swimming in the lake, they discover that an oil refinery is dumping toxic waste into it; as they flee the lake, their hair falls out, forcing them to wear powdered wigs until it grows back. Lois complains to Mayor Adam West, who admits that he sanctioned the dumping in exchange for free hair oil. Outraged at West’s deliberate act of corruption, Lois decides to run against him in the upcoming mayoral election. Peter and his friends become strong supporters of Lois' campaign, realizing that they'd be able to get away with almost everything, should she become mayor. But Lois' campaign soon falters as Mayor West proves more politically savvy. While Lois bores voters with detailed plans to improve the city, Mayor West uses glittering generalities and statements completely unrelated to the questions posed to him. Following Brian's advice to give short, simple answers, Lois resorts to similar tactics, dropping controversial terms such as "Jesus" and "9/11" in meaningless ways. She eventually gains the populace's support and wins the election.

After taking office, Lois attempts to propose a tax raise, though when this fails, begins to use fear tactics to raise funds to clean up the lake. Her efforts are successful and life returns to the clean lake. She even has leftover cash afterwards, so she embezzles $600 to purchase a purse, much to Brian's disappointment. Peter has also succumbed to the perks of being the mayor's husband: he has rerouted the town's electrical system and caused rolling blackouts to bring late comedian Jim Varney back from the dead (he does nothing but talk, playing his character Ernest, and repeatedly refer to "Vern".) He then remembers he actually wanted John Belushi and takes Varney outside to shoot him, only for Varney to end up taking the gun from him and Peter running away from him warning Brian. Later, Lois is tempted to buy a $4,300 fur coat, and Bob Grossbeard, president of the local oil company, offers to buy it for her if she will allow him to dump his oil runoff in the lake. Lois reluctantly accepts his offer, but as the opening of the new runoff pipe begins, Lois realizes the error of her ways and closes the valve to the pipe and resigns her position as mayor, stating that she was consumed by money and power, which led her to become the very same things she set out to destroy.

West declares himself mayor again, but a random bystander points out that he has no jurisdiction to do so, and that the city has to have a whole new election to decide who gets to be the mayor of Quahog. This prompts West to pull out a gun and shoot him, as well as two others whom he believes objected. Despite West's blatant act of assault with a deadly weapon and the fact that he murdered three people in front of witnesses, no one in Quahog defends themselves against him, attempts to arrest him, or question his moral judgment to be mayor.

The story starts when Scrooge McDuck tries to know where was his nephew going. Donald says he's going to buy an ice cream soda, much for the dismay of Scrooge, who tries to convince Donald to invest the money rather than spending it. Scrooge shows Donald his Number One Dime and the nephew notices a string attaching it to one of Scrooge's pockets. Scrooge says he also saves string and takes Donald to the Money Bin to show him the benefits of saving money. Donald still prefers a soda, so Scrooge gives up and goes to the park to find a newspaper (he's too stingy to buy one).

A two-day-old issue points a South African mine owner, named Flintheart Glomgold, as the new richest duck in the world and describes his net worth as over one multiplujillion and nine obsquatumatillion. Scrooge can't accept the idea of someone being richer than him, so he checks his fortune and learns his net worth also surpasses one multiplujillion and nine obsquatumatillion. It's: "one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred and twenty-three dollars and sixty-two cents".

Upon learning he's still not a second-class zillionaire, he goes to South Africa to meet Glomgold and check on his title as the world's richest duck. He takes Donald and his nephews along with him stating that, if he loses, he'll need them to carry him. With a list of all of his possessions and his string ball, Scrooge and co. take one of his ships to Africa. In the ship, Scrooge finds a piece of string and tries to put it on his ball, but it already belongs to another ball, whose owner gets very angry.

At Glomgold's headquarters, our heroes learn he has his own Money Bin, almost like Scrooge's (the biggest difference being that Scrooge's has a dollar sign and Flintheart's has a pound sign). At Glomgold's office, he "welcomes" them with a cannon, which Scrooge regards as a copy of his hospitality. Scrooge identifies himself and says he'd sent a telegram, but, since Scrooge doesn't pay for the messages he sends and Flintheart doesn't pay for the ones he receives, Flintheart didn't know he was coming. Flintheart lets Scrooge in anyway, claiming to know him from newspapers he found at the park. Scrooge learns Flintheart Glomgold is the duck he previously met at the ship. They start comparing wealth but, since they can't do it without losing temper, Donald and his nephews have to tie them up.

After a long night, Scrooge and Flintheart remain tied (in both ways) except for their string balls. They come to an agreement that the one who keeps more string is the richest one. They go unrolling their balls through "the heart of Africa". Scrooge tells his family he agreed to this wild rally because they are five to protect his string ball, but Flintheart is alone. On the other hand, Flintheart is armed with a better knowledge of the territory. When Flintheart becomes exhausted, Scrooge offers him a cup of coffee, and Flintheart retributes by suggesting Scrooge to put his ball on a clay pile to keep it safe. Scrooge's coffee had a sleeping potion while the clay pile is an ant-hill.

The next morning, Flintheart wakes with the upper hand (i.e. the bigger ball, but the race goes on). To make things worse for Scrooge, Flintheart pours syrup on Scrooge's ball, attracting more ants. Scrooge tries to take the ball to a river, Flintheart points out one, but Scrooge doesn't believe him. It turns out that Flintheart knew Scrooge wouldn't trust him anymore. Scrooge's ball was now small enough to be kept within his top hat, which came in handy next night to protect it from locusts, while Flintheart wasn't so lucky.

The next morning, some natives start a grass fire to keep the locusts away, causing Flintheart to run away and the others to follow him. While the fire cannot reach them, it scares all the animals into stampeding. The ducks climb a tree for protection, and Scrooge shakes Flintheart's branch trying to drop his ball (with the title of richest duck at stake, he's not so above dishonesty), although he stops when scolded by Dewey. A rhinoceros hits the tree, causing Glomgold's ball to fall and be destroyed by a bird. Scrooge was so distracted laughing he failed to notice another bird grabbing his ball. In the end, the remaining balls were very small and they seem to end tied, but Scrooge shows the string attached to the Number One Dime, making him the champ. Scrooge now begins talking to Donald about the joy of saving money, while Donald still prefers a soda as his nephews were carrying a defeated and depressed Flintheart Glomgold back to home.

María Olivares (Helena Rojo) is a beautiful but poor young provincial woman. Never having known her father and orphaned at a young age, she is raised by her maternal grandfather, Don Maximiliano (José Luis Jiménez). Her grandfather is a peasant farmer living in a hut on the grounds of his employers'land, a wealthy family, owners of Hacienda Narváez.

Javier Narvaez (Enrique Lizalde) is the handsome son and heir to half the Narvaez family fortune, who is visiting his brother Rafael (Javier Marc) and sister-in-law Carmen (Beatriz Sheridan). Javier is an independent young man and also a successful airline pilot. Rafael and Carmen meanwhile live on the Hacienda and operate the family business, viewing Javier as a sort of prodigal son, undeserving of his share of the family wealth.

María meets and falls in love with Javier during his visit to the Hacienda. María is captivated by Javier, who despite his wealth -and unlike his family- has a good soul and is unconcerned by social standings. Javier in turn, falls in love with María, realizing that her nature is even more attractive than her physical beauty.

However, Carmen and Rafael are against the relationship because Maria is poor. Carmen constantly humiliates Maria, at one point throwing a bracelet into the mud and forcing Maria to retrieve it with her teeth. Later, Carmen sets María's house on fire, hoping to force her to move away. Tragically, María's grandfather dies when her home burns down. María realizes it was an intentional act and bitterly vows to take a revenge against all the Narvaez. Meanwhile, Javier is unaware of Carmen's actions and believes María has left him.

Now homeless and pregnant, María escapes to Mexico City. She arrives at the home of Alexander Balsameda (Roberto Cañedo), a sick elderly man, where she takes a job as his caretaker. Balsameda offers her protection not knowing that María is his long-lost daughter, yet he feels strangely drawn to her with fatherly concern. Once upon a time, Alexsander had also been forced to give up true love by his wealthy hotelier family more concerned with social standings. Now, when that same fate is being repeated with María and after many years of searching for her, destiny has intervened to bring father and daughter together.

After a confused incident, the truth of María's heritage is discovered. Having lost her mother and grandfather, María realizes she still has family in this world. Unfortunately, Alexander soon dies from a heart attack, leaving María the Hotel of Santo Angelo.

Now an heiress, María takes on her rightful birth name, Alejandra Balsameda. She also proves to be a capable businesswoman managing her father's hotel and fortune. Alejandra manages the hotel and has to confront new obstacles when she discovers that her father's business associate, Dupré (Tony Carbajal) and his lover Andrea (Nelly Meden) are stealing from her.

With a new name, nice clothes and wealth, few people recognize her from her past life. Yet her life is still full of hatred and the desire for revenge. Now that she has inherited Alexsander's wealth, María sees it as destiny's way to help her achieve her revenge on the Narvaez family.

Fate seems to set circumstances in María's (now Alejandra) favor to accomplish her revenge. To Alejandra's surprise, the airline has placed employees as permanent residents in her hotel: Javier Narváez, Eduardo (Raymundo Capetillo) and flight attendant Sonia (Marcela Rubiales). Later, at a hotel party, Alejandra encounters Javier. He's struck by the resemblance with María Olivares, but thinks he's mistaken because Alejandra is a refined and elegant woman.

At the party, the Governor of San Angelo (Germán Robles) falls in love with Alejandra, while his daughter Lucy (Karina Duprez) becomes engaged to Javier. Alejandra's beauty also attracts new arrival to San Angelo, the Sultan de Oman (Rogelio Guerra) is also madly in love with Alejandra. However, despite her wealth, refinement and the interest of other men, Alejandra's desire for revenge continues to blind her to opportunities for happiness. Meanwhile, Rafael and his wife Carmen leave Hacienda Narváez to live in San Angelo.

Now that Alejandra has gotten restitution from Dupré and she is 100% owner of the hotel, Andrea becomes her employee, ally and confidant. Alejandra begins to plan her revenge with Andrea's help. During a visit to the hotel, Rafael meets Andrea and falls in love with her. Andrea gets Rafael drunk and takes to the hotel's casino every night.

Eventually, Rafael becomes addicted to gambling and alcohol, loses all his money and Andrea - following Alejandra's orders - makes him sign an IOU with the Hacienda Narvaez as collateral, which he also loses. With Rafael's great debt to the hotel, Alejandra demands payment, otherwise she will take possession of Hacienda Narvaez.

When Carmen finds out her husband's predicament, she begs for mercy from Alejandra. Alejandra tells her to show up at the hotel the following day, where she will give her back the IOU. Before Carmen arrives, Alejandra orders a mud pit be built at the hotel and invites the governador, his daughter and Javier as witnesses. When Carmen arrives, Alejandra tells her in front of everyone that she will give her the IOU and forgive the debt if Carmen picks up the document from the mudpit with her teeth. Desperate and crying, Carmen throws herself toward the mudpit. However, Alejandra reaches for the IOU and retrieves it before Carmen humiliates herself, explaining that she cannot be as cruel as Carmen had been with her years before. Now that her identity has been revealed, everyone realizes that Maria and Alejandra are one and the same. Then Sultan de Oman was attempt by some of people of his agents and after that he was pull down from his kingdom.

Javier wants to reestablish his relationship with Alejandra, but she says no. Javier decides to marry Sofía (Luz Adriana), who owns the lands next to his property at Hacienda Narvaez. Alejandra, utilizing a middleman buyer(Estela Chacón), makes an offer to Rafael Narváez for the Hacienda, which he accepts to avoid bankruptcy caused by his addictions. Carmen dies run over by a car, Rafael becomes an alcoholic and Alejandra returns as owner of Hacienda Narváez. Finally, Javier se divorces Sofía, begs Alejandra's forgiveness and they marry.

The novel follows al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad as the head of his household; Amina, his sons, Yasin, Fahmy and Kamal, and his daughters, Khadija and Aisha. He sets strict rules of Muslim piety and sobriety in the household. al-Sayyid Ahmad permits himself conventionally forbidden pleasures. In particular, these include music, drinking wine and conducting numerous extramarital affairs with women he meets at his grocery store, or with courtesans who entertain parties of men at their houses with music and dancing. His insistence on his household authority forbids his wife and children from questioning why he stays out late at night or comes home intoxicated.

The family house, in Cairo's Gamaliya district, is in the exact location of the Beshtak Palace.

Yasin, the eldest son, is al-Sayyid Ahmad's only child by his first marriage, to a woman whose subsequent marital affairs are the source of acute embarrassment to father and son. Yasin shares his father's good looks, and, unbeknownst to al-Sayyid Ahmad, Yasin also shares his tastes for music, women and alcohol, and spends as much time and money as he can afford on fine clothes, drink and prostitutes. Fahmy, Amina's elder son, is a law student, who is heavily involved in the nationalist movement against the British occupation; he also pines for his neighbor, Maryam, but cannot bring himself to take any action. Khadija, the elder daughter, is sharp-tongued, opinionated, and jealous of her sister Aisha, who is considered to be the more beautiful and marriageable. Aisha, meanwhile, is more mellow and conciliatory, and tries to maintain peace. Kamal, the baby of the family, is a bright young boy who frightens his family by befriending the British soldiers who have set up an encampment across the street from the Abd al-Jawad house; he is also very close with his mother and his sisters, and is deeply dismayed when the prospect of marriage for the girls arises.

Major elements of the plot include al-Sayyid Ahmad's philandering, Yasin's cultivation of the same hobbies, Fahmy's refusal to cease his political activities despite his father's order, and the day-to-day stresses of living in the Abd al-Jawad house, in which the wife and children must delicately negotiate certain issues of sexual chastity and comportment that cannot be discussed openly. Through the novel, Yasin and Fahmy gradually become aware of the exact nature of their father's nighttime activities, largely because Yasin begins an affair with a young courtesan who works in the same house as al-Sayyid Ahmad's lover. After glimpsing his father playing the tambourine at a gathering in the house Yasin understands where his father goes at night, and is pleased to find that they have similar interests. Amina, meanwhile, has long ago guessed her husband's predilections, but represses her resentment and grief so intensely that she behaves almost wilfully ignorant of the whole matter.

The family provides the novel with its structure, since the plot is concerned with the lives and interrelationships of its members. However, the story is not set in isolation; indeed, the characters themselves are important mediators between issues of local or wider scope. For example, the theme of 'authority' (particularly its establishment and subversion) is woven into both the maturation of the children of the al-Jawad family and the wider political circumstances which provide the novel with its temporal boundaries.

The novel's opening chapters focus upon the daily routine of the al-Jawad family. Amina, the mother of the family, greets the return of her husband, al-Sayyid Ahmad, from his late-night socialising. She rises once again at dawn to begin preparing food, assisted by her daughters Khadija and Aisha. Her sons join their father for breakfast. At this meal, as with any other dealing with the patriarch, strict etiquette is observed. The following chapters describe the characters of the family members and their relationships with each other. At the same time, the children's marriage is a challenge to the supreme authority of the family patriarch.

Married couple Lynn and Doug Kaines (De Mornay and Silver), owners of an exotic furniture design company, visit Mexico, while Lynn is in the first term of her pregnancy. On their nighttime return trip, with her at the wheel, they accidentally run into and kill a Mexican police officer in the middle of the road. They make no report of the accident, wary of the perils of a Mexican jail, but slide the dead cop to the side of the road and return to the United States. They have the front end damage to their car repaired clandestinely and appear to have gotten away with the killing.

Quite unexpectedly a vagabond named Jake Shell (Hauer), driving a dumpy old camper truck, shows up at their door hinting that he witnessed the entire incident. Shell blackmails the Kaines, who attempt to appease him. There is a physical confrontation with Shell and the Kaineses, along with perverse sexual innuendo, and an attempt by the Kaines to rid themselves of their nemesis without revealing their scary secret.

The story of ''You Suck'' continues directly from the previous novel, ''Bloodsucking Fiends''. Jody, one of the mature suckers and a newly minted vampire, has remained in San Francisco despite her promise to the police to move away after previous incidents. Tommy, her boyfriend, is shocked at the beginning of the sequel to discover that Jody "turned" him (i.e., made him a vampire). Upon learning he is a vampire, Tommy shouts, "You suck!" to Jody—hence the title of the novel. Jody explains that she did it so that they could be together forever. They struggle to survive and to maintain their relationship despite the efforts of others to eliminate them.

The game's story centers around a group of knights called Chevalet Blanc and how the protagonist and her knights take back the kingdom of Elesius, which is being controlled by the Council of Elder Statesmen. The Princess Royal of the kingdom died in an accident, and the king is too ill to rule, which brought about the rise of the council. Like other ''Wild Arms'' titles, this takes place on the dying planet Filgaia, this time where the remaining natural resources, food, land and financial assets are at the center of continued armed confrontations. Despite this, Elesius is one of the few peaceful places on Filgaia.

Chevalet Blanc's beginnings are anything but noble: two Drifters, Clarissa Arwin and her adoptive brother Felius come to the kingdom of Elesius in pursuit of a Drifter named Rupert Dandridge, who five years ago slew Clarissa's mother, itinerant archaeologist Melissa Arwin, and took from her the powerful sword "Iskender Bey". Clarissa's mission is solely to retrieve that sword, but before much time has passed, she has been confused for Alexia Lynn Elesius, the heir-presumptive to the throne of Elesius who died a year ago under mysterious circumstances. While the Council's rule is generally self-centered, their most constant presence in Elesius takes the form of the "Martial Guard", a mercenary "peacekeeping" force who steal and oppress with impunity. To rally the citizens of Elesius, Clarissa publicly declares herself to be Alexia, and founds a rebel movement called "Chevalet Blanc", after the Founding Knights of Elesius. Its established goal is to defend the citizens of the nation, which will involve defeating the Council. The fact that Rupert is the leader of the Martial Guard only strengthens Clarissa's resolve.

The world of the "Down in the Bottomlands" The story concerns a field biologist working at "Trench Park" named Radnal vez Krobir. He is a citizen of Tartesh, a ''Homo neanderthalensis'' nation which seems to take in much of the west part of the Bottomlands and what in the real world is France and Spain. He is doing a two-year stint as a field guide to tourists from his and other nations who are visiting the Park to see the plants and animals there. During one of those tours, a military officer of the "Kingdom of Morgaf" (real-world Britain and Ireland) is killed by one of the other tourists in his party.

Radnal must call higher authorities to investigate the matter, and in the course of their investigation, they determine that the deceased man had a microprint in his effects outlining a plot by another nation to set off a "starbomb" (nuclear weapon) near the "Barrier Mountains" (a range of mountains joining the Sierra Nevada and the Rif across where the real-world Strait of Gibraltar is located). This would have affected one of the many geologic faults in the area, knocking a gap in the mountains and flooding the Bottomlands to form a new central sea. This had been apparently instigated by the Krepalga (a ''Homo sapiens'' nation occupying all or part of the Middle East, which would have benefited by having a real-world-type Mediterranean Sea at to its west border).

Radnal and other characters eventually find who killed the Morgaffo officer, and with the unwitting help of a koprit bird (similar to a shrike) native to the Park, track down the location of the bomb, where it is defused. Koprit birds apparently have a habit of stealing bright shiny things; it stole the detonator wire from the bomb and used it to decorate its food-hoard bush to attract a mate, as the wire had been disguised as jewelry to smuggle it in past security.

The conspirators had sabotaged all the tour party's transport, leaving them stranded far below sea level on the hot dry abyssal plain. This leaves a squad of Tarteshan secret police, the police, and the army with the job of evacuating the tour party, by giving each member a big backpack tank of drinking water and marching them out. Partway up to sea level a helicopter finds them and flies the party the rest of the way. The author erroneously describes people living on the small ration of a capful per day from a water bottle, which is far too little in the real world.

The story ends with Radnal being honored by the "Hereditary Tyrant" (i.e., King) of Tartesh at a great festival in Tartesh's capital Tarteshem, for saving the Bottomlands from certain destruction. There he meets again a woman named Toglo zev Pamdal, who was in his tour party. She had told him she was a "distant collateral relative" of the Hereditary Tyrant but it turns out is actually his niece. They shake hands at the story's conclusion and presumably begin a romantic relationship.

The story is told from Radnal's point of view, to include descriptions of Trench Park and its animals and plants to the tourists. Through these descriptions, the reader comes to understand the unique geography and ecosystem contained within the Bottomlands and its Trench, and how animals and plants would have adapted to a desert environment two kilometers below average sea level. The reader can also see how the geography of the area would have been different from our timeline, including things like deep river canyons as the rivers around the Mediterranean would have incised such canyons in their descent down the old continental shelf; hydroelectric dams on such rivers generated 80% of Tartesh's electricity.

The grief-stricken Captain Fritz Schoeller has assisted his terminally ill wife with her wishes for euthanasia. A party of men whisk him from his wife's funeral, not for arrest, but to be briefed on a special mission he will lead. The Captain, Lt. Roland Wolf, Sgt. Erich Huber, Corporal Hans Ludwig and Private Willy Mainz are all skilled in commando tactics and have excellent English language skills. They are dressed in British Commando uniforms and parachuted into Morocco where Faddja Hassen, an Arab woman will guide them to Casablanca where they will assassinate Allied leaders.

In ''Killing Time'', the main character is an ex-Egyptology student out to discover the mystery behind a missing Egyptian artifact. The ancient "Water-Clock of Thoth" had been discovered by his professor of Egyptology, Dr. Hargrove, but the artifact went missing soon after a visit by the expedition's patron, Tess Conway. Tess is the rich inheritor of her family's estate on Matinicus Isle, where she keeps her friends, and pawns close by so that she might gain the true power of the Water-Clock. As the game progresses, the player finds out that Tess has used a number of people to gain what she desires, but at a price. Something went horribly wrong, transforming everyone on the entire isle into either restless ghosts, demons or the undead. In the opening cinematic on all versions of the game, Boldt Castle located on Heart Island in the Thousand Islands region of the Saint Lawrence River is used as the visual representation of the Conway Estate.

In 1862, a ship sails from London to Bangkok, on board are Anna Leonowens and her son Louis. Kralahome, Prime Minister, uses his powers of illusion to cause it to appear as if a massive sea serpent is attacking the ship as it's battered in a storm. Anna, with the help of Captain Orton, manage to save Louis from drowning. As they approach Bangkok, the captain explains to Anna how the kingdom is politically structured.

In the Grand Palace, in Siam, Anna witnesses King Mongkut receive a gift in the form of a slave, Tuptim, a young woman from Burma. Despite being promised her own house outside the palace, Anna is denied it. The King drags Anna to his workshop in which he tests new inventions such as hot air balloons and trains. Louis is taken on a tour of the armory by the Kralahome's henchman, Master Little, who barely misses an injury. In the palace gardens, Prince Chulalongkorn meets Tuptim and they fall in love, but Chulalongkorn keeps his true identity hidden. The King's wives help Anna unpack and Anna sees Chulalongkorn and Tuptim in the courtyard and supports their relationship. Anna wants to leave since she will not receive the house, but changes her mind after she meets the royal children, especially Chulalongkorn.

With the Kralahome still plotting to overthrow the king, he writes a letter to the British Empire that claims that Anna is in danger. Anna begins to teach the children and learns that they never been outside the palace walls. To give the hands-on experience, she takes all of the royal children around the city to see how other people live, which, in turn, angers the King. The Kralahome reports it from Master Little, who tells him of seeing the outing. It boils over into a fight, with Anna still complaining about the house that she was promised but has yet to receive.

Chulalongkorn meets with his father to discuss traditions. He wants to be with Tuptim but knows that his father would never allow it. Confused, Mongkut goes to pray to Buddha. The Kralahome then uses his powers on the statues in the room to try and attack the king, which the king's black panther, Rama, fights off. When Chulalongkorn is kickboxing, Tuptim finally learns that he is the crown prince and that their love is forbidden. However, he tells her that he does not care about tradition and wants to be with her. Master Little learns of their relationship and tells the Kralahome, who plans to use it to anger the King at the right time.

Anna goes to the King to learn that he is troubled after he learned that the British are coming because he is allegedly a barbarian, which she knows is false. Anna advises the King to throw a banquet for the British when they arrive so that he can show that he is civilized. At the dinner, the Kralahome mentions the royal ivory pendant that the King is supposed to wear, which he gave to his son, who then gave it to Tuptim. When it is revealed that Chulalongkorn gave it away, Tuptim is brought in by guards. Dishonored by the relationship, the King threatens to whip Tuptim to death, but finds that he can't do it; she and Chulalongkorn later escape into the jungle with Louis.

While they escape, the Kralahome uses his powers to guide them through the jungle across a rope bridge. The bridge collapses, and Tuptim and Chulalongkorn are almost swept away by a river. The King, having had a change of heart and using one of his hot air balloons, rescues them with Louis's help in distracting Master Little's interference. However, on their journey back to the palace, the Kralahome fires a firework, destroys the balloon, and causes it to crash. Everyone but the King is able to jump into a lake to safety. The Kralahome celebrates his apparent victory of killing the King, but ends up exposing his true nature in front of Sir Edward and the royal guards.

An injured, bedridden King tells his son to be ready to lead Siam if he dies and allows him and Tuptim to be married and becoming king and queen. With his evil schemes of overthrowing the King exposed, the Kralahome loses his position, and as a punishment, he is forced to clean the elephant stables, with Master Little as his boss (who now loses all his teeth and attacks him). The King heals from his injury and presents Anna with her house outside the palace walls, and the two of them dance.

Shadow Moon returns to life and revives five mutants previously defeated by the Kamen Riders to serve as his personal army. He plots to defeat the Kamen Riders with his army in order to conquer the world. Berry witnesses Shadow Moon's plot and is attacked by the mutants. Masato and his sister Ayumi stumble onto an injured Berry by chance and are chased by the revived mutant army as a result.

However, they are saved by the sudden arrival of Kamen Rider ZO on his ZO Bringer motorcycle, who thwarts off the monsters into a nearby abandoned warehouse. ZO is suddenly assisted by Kamen Rider J, who arrives into the warehouse on his J Crosser bike. The five mutants are defeated by the combined forces of the new Double Riders. The two are then challenged by Shadow Moon, who enlarges himself into giant proportions. J grows into giant size as well and fights off Shadow Moon by himself. Shadow Moon is defeated and peace returns to the day.

Quince and Jason (played by Larry Hagman and Louis Gossett Jr.), two grifters on the make in the Old West, are arrested by Prudy Jenkins (Blythe Danner), the zealous, rifle-wielding daughter of a small-town sheriff (Harry Morgan). The charge: They look like typical criminals. But as soon as she delivers her quarry to the sheriff, he orders her to release them. Later, though, the sheriff witnesses the two in a gunfight outside a saloon. This time, the sheriff locks them up. Then the lawman makes his first blunder. He leaves Prudy in charge of the prisoners while he goes on an errand. Sure enough, two outlaws, Sam and Ed (Gene Evans and Dick Peabody), break into the jail, tie up Prudy, and abscond with Quince and Jason, mistaking them for two suspected bank robbers.

The quartet ride out of town where they meet Sam and Ed's boss (Jack Elam). As one would never suspect, his name is Boss, and he does what most bosses do. He has a temper tantrum. He then lays into Sam and Ed for breaking the wrong criminals out of jail. Later, Prudy stumbles upon the gang's encampment. Boss has another tantrum. This time, he is so mad he decides to rob the town's bank. But the gang arrives a split second late as they witness the "right" criminals carrying out the job. Naturally Boss has another tantrum. He then organizes his gang to catch up with the bandits and their loot—which they do. Then the sheriff and his posse wander onto the scene. In the confusion that results, the criminals are all arrested, Quince and Jason are kicked out of the county, and Prudy is saved from a fate worse than sanity.

Prequel

Dredd and Alpha had previously met in "Top Dog", published a year before, in which he and his partner-in-crime-fighting Wulf Sternhammer went back in time to Dredd's Mega-City One in order to capture two criminals wanted in their own time period. Dredd refused to accept them as law enforcers like himself and was determined to capture them, even after they managed to return to their own time from right under his very nose.

In the previous Dredd mega-epic, "Necropolis", 60 million citizens of Mega-City One were killed; with no way to dispose of them all with dignity, Chief Judge McGruder had them buried in vast pits outside the city.

Judgement Day

Judgement Day opens with Sabbat, in an unknown location underground, beginning to raise the dead. Judge Dredd is one of the first people to encounter the zombies while leading a group of cadets (including Cadet Giant), on a training mission in the Cursed Earth. Although Dredd leads the cadets back to the relative safety of Mega-City One, Judge Perrier (Dredd's main sidekick during Ennis' tenure on writing for the strip) is killed only yards from home.

On his arrival Dredd is informed that the dead are rising all over the world. Minor foreign Judges from earlier Dredd strips are shown protecting their respective cities - Judge Armour in Brit-Cit, Judge-Sergeant Joyce in Murphyville, Judge Bruce in Oz, etc. Mega-City One, due to Necropolis, finds itself facing the largest number of zombies: sixty million. Soon into the battle for Mega-City One, Dredd's protégé Judge Dekker is also killed and Dredd has to give the order to set fire to part of the cities' wall to hold back the zombies.

Meanwhile, in Hondo City (future Japan) bounty hunter Johnny Alpha arrives in pursuit of Sabbat, time-travelling from the year 2178. It later transpires that Sabbat is from Alpha's time and has already wiped out the entire population of another world, Bethsheba. Alpha has been sent to stop him. (It is never explained how the outbreak of a world war in 2114 does not seem to affect history in 2178.) However Alpha is apprehended by Judge Sadu (effectively Hondo's equivalent to Dredd), who assumes he is a criminal, and Alpha is forced to spend some considerable time proving his good intentions.

The Hondo authorities organise and host an international conference of chief judges from all over the world to decide how to deal with the zombie threat. It is attended by Dredd and Chief Judge McGruder, who leaves Judge Hershey in charge of the city in her absence. Alpha and Sadu also attend, Sadu by now being convinced that Alpha is on the level. Most of the foreign Judges Dredd met in earlier strips attend the conference too.

The conference is interrupted by the unexpected intrusion of Sabbat himself, who teleports in to warn the judges not to interfere with his plans, which are to kill everyone in the world and then use the army of zombies to conquer the Galaxy. Dredd shoots Sabbat in the head, apparently causing a mortal wound, but to no effect, as Sabbat simply removes the bullet and vanishes.

Reports come in that five mega-cities around the world have been overrun by the zombies, including Mega-City Two on North America's west coast (a city which Dredd had previously saved from destruction in "The Cursed Earth"). Dredd proposes that instead of allowing the cities' populations to serve as more undead soldiers for Sabbat, they should be annihilated with nuclear weapons, even though there may still be survivors trapped within them. Although horrified by the plan, the chief judges agree to carry it out, with the loss of two billion lives. (Another billion are lost in the cities which survive.)

Once scientists figure out where Sabbat is based, Dredd leads a suicide mission to assassinate him; all the previously-introduced foreign Judges are drafted, backed up by Hondo's Samurai battle armour. He bans Alpha from attending because he is a mutant and a wanted criminal in Mega-City One. Alpha proceeds to knock out Judge Joyce and take Joyce's place aboard Dredd's spaceship, his face concealed by a Samurai visor.

Dredd's team are forced to parachute from low orbit into Sabbat's lair, as Sabbat is using his powers to prevent all flying vehicles from working outside the mega-cities. They land in the radioactive Radlands of Ji (in post-nuclear China), where most of them are slaughtered. Judge Bruce dies in Alpha's arms; out of the twenty who started the mission, soon only Dredd, Alpha and Sadu are left, and are taken prisoner.

While Sabbat taunts his prisoners about his imminent victory, Sadu manages to escape and release Dredd and Alpha, but sacrifices his life in the process. After a lengthy fight, Dredd and Alpha eventually manage to decapitate Sabbat, and leave him helpless, powerless, but still alive (although a story published three months later reveals he has lost his mind and is reduced to a drooling vegetable). At the moment of Sabbat's defeat, his zombies instantly "switch off" and collapse all over the world at the eleventh hour.

In recognition of Alpha's help, Dredd recommends that he be pardoned for his earlier crimes. However they still face a long walk back to civilization through hundreds of miles of radioactive desert populated with hostile mutants and outlaws. Dredd is optimistic about their chances though, saying "Who the ''hell's'' gonna mess with ''us''?"

Crypt Keeper intro

The Crypt Keeper is in Jamaica wearing his hair in "deadlocks" as he states that one of his favorite things about Jamaica are the "eye-popping honeys" as it shows different bikini-clad women that are nearby. He then talks about how he just finished wrapping up his new movie in Jamaica. He introduces the movie and tells them "Don't worry, the beast is yet to come."

Story

Dr. Alice Dodgson (Jennifer Grey) is fired from a hospital due to her involvement in the death of a patient. With few options, she decides to take a job as a nurse in Jamaica caring for Wesley Claybourne (Daniel Lapaine), a young man apparently suffering from encephalitis. Alice falls in love with Wesley, but she fears that she and Wesley are the targets of a voodoo cult.

She befriends Caro (Kristen Wilson), a local girl. Caro advises Alice that any recrimination from the Voodoo community will only come as a result of her interference with their practices. Tension mounts as Alice suffers additional unexplained phenomena.

Caro is revealed as the cause of the strange goings-on; she is seeking revenge against Wesley because their father killed Caro's mother and rejected Caro as his daughter, denying her an inheritance. Caro attempts to paralyze Alice and turn her into a zombie, but Alice is only partially paralyzed. Alice causes Caro's plan to backfire, and Caro is turned into a zombie instead.

Alice and Wesley abandon Jamaica and move back to the United States. The local Police Chief takes Caro into his home and puts her in his bed.

In the post-credits, there are bloopers of the Crypt Keeper's intro as the credits for the Crypt Keeper's intro are shown.

A king, driven from his capital by an emperor, was forming an army and demanded that one person from every noble household become a soldier or face a heavy fine. An impoverished nobleman, too old to serve himself, with three daughters was distressed by this news. His oldest daughter offered to go and was equipped. She told a shepherdess whose sheep were in the ditch, that she pitied her. The shepherdess thanked the daughter calling her a "beautiful girl." Ashamed that she could be recognized so easily, the oldest daughter went home. The second daughter also set out. She scorned the shepherdess for her folly, but the shepherdess bid farewell to the "lovely girl." The second daughter also returned home.

The youngest, Belle-Belle, set out. She helped the shepherdess. The shepherdess, a fairy, told her that she had punished her sisters for their lack of helpfulness and stopped them from their mission. She gave Belle-Belle a new horse and equipment, including a magical chest that would appear and disappear. The horse would be able to advise her. The fairy told the girl to call herself Fortuné.

The youngest daughter, now called Fortune, set out and reached a city. There she wanted to send gold back from the chest, but when she discovered that she had lost the key, the horse told her how to open the chest. She sent back gold and jewels, but as soon as her sisters touched some, the jewels became glass and the gold turned into counterfeit coins; they told their father to keep the rest safe.

Fortuné went to join the king. At the horse's advice, she met a woodcutter who cut down an enormous number of trees, and took him into her service. Then she did the same with a man who tied up one foot to hunt, so there would be some chance of his prey escaping, then a man who put a bandage over his eyes so that he would not shoot everything, a man who could hear everything on the earth, a man who blew hard enough to move windmills (and if he stood too close, knock them over), a man who could drink a lake, and a man who could eat an enormous amount of bread. She asked them to keep their abilities secret.

Fortune met the king and queen-dowager, his sister-in-law, who made her welcome. The queen found the knight attractive, and Fortuné found the king attractive. Many ladies also paid her attentions, greatly to her embarrassment. A lady-in-waiting, Florida, whom the queen sent to woo the knight on her behalf, was so in love with Fortuné that she defamed the queen instead. The queen managed to question Fortuné and learn that "he" was not in love, though he sang love songs after the custom of the land, but eventually grew so displeased with his refusal that when news of a dragon came, she told the king that Fortuné had begged leave to be dispatched against it.

When the king summoned him, rather than denounce the queen, Fortuné went. The man with the super hearing, heard the dragon coming. At the horse's advice, he had the drinker drink a lake, the strong woodcutter fill it with wine and spices that would make the dragon thirsty, and had all the peasants hide in their houses. The dragon drank and grew drunk. Fortuné attacked and killed it. The king was pleased, but the queen was still displeased with Fortuné. She told the king that he had said he could win back the treasure that the emperor had taken, without any army.

Fortuné went with his men, and the emperor said he could have back the treasure only if one man could eat up all the fresh bread in the city. The glutton ate it all. The emperor added that one man must drain all the fountains, reservoirs, and aqueducts, and all the wine-cellars. The drinker did so. The emperor's daughter suggested a race against her, and shared with the fleet-footed hunter the cordial she used, but it put him to sleep. The man who could hear heard him snoring; the sharp-eyed man shot and waked him, and he won the race. The emperor said he could carry away only what one man could carry, and the strong woodcutter carried off everything he owned. They came to a river while they were leaving, the drinker drank it so they could pass. The emperor sent men after them, but the man who powered windmills sank their boats. The servants began to quarrel over their reward, but Fortuné declared that the king would decide their reward, and they submitted themselves to him. The king was pleased.

The queen made an open declaration to Fortuné. When Fortuné refused her, she attacked him and herself and called for help, saying that he had attacked her and her injuries stemmed from her resistance. Fortuné was sentenced to be stabbed to death, but taking off the clothing revealed that she was a woman. The king married her.

In the South American jungle, the narrator introduces us to the various birds living there and to wildlife photographer Donald Duck intent on getting some pictures. Unfortunately, all his attempts to photograph birds are ruined by the "clown of the jungle", the Aracuan Bird. Example: when Donald attempts to photograph a chorus line of hummingbirds, the Aracuan Bird interrupts the picture with a Russian kick dance. Donald becomes aggravated to the point where he gives chase but the bird always manages to outsmart Donald and make short work of his sanity.

The movie follows a man's search for perfection in a world where life rarely measures up to the idealized images that constantly bombard us.

Gary Shaller (Freeman), who gained commercial success in the past as the keyboard player in the band "On the One", is in a failing relationship with Dora (Gwyneth Paltrow), and working for his former bandmate Paul (Simon Pegg), writing and recording commercial jingles. Gary is having lucid dreams about a woman named Anna (Penélope Cruz), with whom he is deeply infatuated. He learns more about lucid dreaming by buying books and attending classes taught by lucid-dreaming guru, Mel (Danny DeVito).

Gary eventually discovers that the girl he dreams about does, in fact, exist. Paul arranges for Gary to meet her, but this proves disappointing, as she fails to live up to the expectations that Gary has built up in his dreams of her. He eventually continues to dream about her, even soundproofs his apartment, and makes other efforts to be able to sleep longer, so that he can remain with Anna for longer periods of time.

Eventually, feeling as though he is betraying Dora, he attempts to go back to her. While crossing the street to reach her, he is hit by a car. As the movie ends, he is fully immersed in his dream world, apparently while being in a coma in a hospital.

Grand Nagus Zek, the "financial leader" of the Ferengi race and Quark's idol, arrives on the station and shows Quark and Rom his new project: he has rewritten the Rules of Acquisition, the sacred business proverbs by which the Ferengi live. In the new book, Zek encourages Ferengi everywhere to renounce selfishness and greed and become kind and giving. Zek now wants to lead a life of altruism and wants Quark and Rom to run his charitable foundation. This horrifies Quark, because profiteering lies at the heart of Ferengi identity, and the Grand Nagus is supposed to be the paragon. Quark warns Rom that other Ferengi will violently depose the Nagus if he tries to change the Ferengi way of life.

Doctor Bashir can find no sign of mental or physical illness in Zek, and his uncharacteristic behavior does not appear to be a ruse. Wanting answers, Quark and Rom break into Zek's shuttle and discover an Orb of the Prophets, which Zek is planning to give to the Bajorans. When Quark is exposed to the Orb, he has a vision in which Zek describes the New Rules of Acquisition as a "gift". Quark deduces that Zek visited the wormhole and contacted the Prophets so that he could use their knowledge of the future for profit, and that they are responsible for Zek's transformation.

Quark forcibly takes Zek back to the wormhole to ask the Prophets what they did to him. The Prophets, being immaterial creatures who do not experience time linearly, found Zek's obsession with accumulation of material wealth to be strange and adversarial. They "de-evolved" him to a more primitive state resembling the less greedy ancestors of the Ferengi. They threaten to de-evolve Quark as well, but Quark warns them that if he is also changed, more curious Ferengi will visit the wormhole looking for answers. Because the Prophets like their privacy and find Ferengi annoying, they release Quark and restore Zek to normal.

Zek dismantles his charitable foundation and has all copies of the New Rules of Acquisition destroyed. After Zek leaves, Rom confides that he embezzled money from Zek's foundation, which delights and impresses Quark.

A subplot involves Bashir being nominated for a medical award which he ends up not winning. Bashir feigns nonchalance, but inside he is seething.

It is the first novel featuring Capt. Jean-Luc Picard to be set after ''Star Trek Nemesis''. The plot concerns an attempt to stop a plague on a Romulan colony called Kevratas, and the relationship between Picard and Dr. Beverly Crusher. It also describes Dr. Crusher's first encounter of a similar plague as a teenager on the colony of Arvada III. A faction of the Romulan Star Empire wishes to keep the plague alive in an attempt to undermine newly appointed Romulan Praetor Tal'aura. Picard will be faced with working alongside allies new and old, as well as an enemy from the past who has a way of turning up when Picard least expects.

This book also includes characters Doctor Carter Greyhorse, a scientist whose past has landed him in a penal colony, along with Pug Joseph, a former member of Starfleet turned merchant, both of whom served with Picard aboard the USS ''Stargazer''.

By the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, the United States has plunged into a state of civil and economic unrest. The military launches a coup d'état, led by Vice President Richard Hawk, and succeeds in gaining control of the nation's government institutions. During this time, Michael Wilson, a fictional relative of Woodrow Wilson, is serving as the 47th President of the United States. Wilson realizes he is the country's last hope for freedom, and he dons a special mech developed in secret by the military to fight Hawk and the rebel forces, aided by his secretary Jody Crawford.

Wilson flies aboard Air Force One to the west coast of the United States and begins to liberate cities and outposts, traveling from west to east across the country. After retaking the White House, Wilson pursues Hawk to Las Vegas, but Hawk escapes aboard a Space Shuttle and goes to a space station, planning to launch a nuclear missile at the United States in retribution. Wilson and Hawk battle in space, with Wilson ultimately defeating Hawk and saving the country from nuclear destruction.

Ben Holiday, court magician Questor Thews and the sylph Willow each have a vivid, prophetic dream. Ben dreams that Miles Bennett, his former law partner back in Chicago is in trouble. Questor dreams of the location of two ancient books of magic and Willow dreams of a black unicorn containing great power and a golden bridle that can harness the animal. Only the half-dog court scribe Abernathy voices his misgivings about the dreams.

Upon returning to the old world, Ben discovers that Miles is fine. Suspicious, he hurries back to Landover. Unbeknownst to him, Meeks (the evil wizard that originally sent Ben into Landover) has stowed away in Ben's clothing using his magic, returning as well. At the castle, Ben finds that Questor has found the books of magic, though they seem useless. One is filled with illustrations of unicorns and the other appears burned from the inside. Willow is still missing.

That night, Ben is attacked by Meeks. The old wizard casts a glamour over each of them, so that Meeks appears as Ben and Ben appears as a common peasant. Failing to recognize his true identity and thinking him an intruder, Questor has Ben thrown out of the castle.

Ben searches for Willow, hoping to convince her of his identity and prevent her from delivering the bridle to Meeks. Along the way he encounters Edgewood Dirk, a prism cat from the fairy world. Dirk is able to recognize Ben as the High King, and taunts him for his inability to overcome his situation. Ben is able to arrange a meeting with Willow's father, the River Master, who fails in an attempt to capture the Black Unicorn and keep it as his own. The River Master blames Ben for his loss and sends him away without help. Later, Ben encounters the Earth Mother, who tells them that Willow has gone to the Deep Fell to retrieve the golden bridle from the witch Nightshade.

Unsure if the witch has returned to the Deep Fell since their last encounter, Ben enlists the help of the G’home Gnomes, Fillip and Sot, to investigate. They find that she has indeed returned and are apprehended. Nightshade reveals that she is no longer in possession of the bridle, it having been stolen by the dragon Strabo some time ago. Seeing an opportunity to regain the bridle from the dragon, Nightshade transports herself and her captives to Strabo's lair.

Meanwhile, Questor and Abernathy have been evicted from the castle for failing to capture the black unicorn. They make their way to Strabo's lair, seeking the dragon's help in determining the nature of the black unicorn. Nightshade and her prisoners appear, and Strabo admits that he has already given up the bridle to Willow for the price of a song. This infuriates Nightshade, and the meeting devolves into a furious battle between dragon and witch, while Ben and company escape.

Ben is finally able to convince his friends of his identity, and they eventually come across Willow, who has harnessed the black unicorn in a small meadow. Meeks arrives, still in disguise, and tries to persuade a confused Willow into bringing the unicorn to him instead of the true king. Edgewood Dirk enters into the confusion, prompting Meeks to launch an explosive attack against the Prism Cat. Willow mounts the black unicorn and flees, while the firefight turns the meadow into a scorched battlefield and scatters the party.

Abernathy, Questor, and Willow are captured by Meeks and his army of imps. Alone, Ben and Edgwood Dirk have one last cryptic conversation, and the cat disappears. Thinking on the cats’ words, Ben acknowledges his love for Willow, and finds that he can break Meek's spell by conquering his self-deception. Ben summons the Paladin, who charges off to rescue Willow. As the Paladin battles with skeletal creatures summoned by Meeks, Abernathy bites the wizard in the leg, making him drop the books of magic. Streaking through the air, the black unicorn rips the binding from the books, releasing a multitude of white unicorns who scatter. A brief but intense battle of magic between the unicorn and Meeks erupts, and Meeks is finally vanquished.

It is revealed that the fairy world sent unicorns into various worlds to help restore peoples' faith in magic. Landover wizards from long ago captured these unicorns, imprisoning their spirits in one book and their bodies in another. Occasionally the spirit of the unicorns would break free, manifesting as the black unicorn, and the bridle was created to recapture this creature. Meeks had hidden the books before becoming exiled to Earth, and sent the dreams to set into motion events that would return possession of the books to him.

In the epilogue, a white unicorn dashes down the streets of Chicago, leaving onlookers in wonder.

The novel begins with Ben Holiday, a trial lawyer from Chicago, lamenting the loss of his wife and unborn child in a car accident. He finds an advertisement in an upscale Christmas catalog claiming to offer a magical kingdom for one million dollars by a man named Mr. Meeks. Although skeptical, Ben pursues the offer out of a desperate need to start a new life.

Ben receives a magical medallion and is transported through a swirling mist to the kingdom of Landover. He learns that Landover is a world that connects many other worlds such as Earth. It is surrounded by the Fairy Mist wherein reside creatures of Fairy that created Landover and guard the passages to these worlds. Unfortunately, he finds it not exactly as described. He soon finds that Landover has not had a true king in twenty years. The son of the last king did not wish to take up the throne and escaped with the court wizard, Meeks, to Earth. They have been selling the throne to dozens of people in the past two decades, but no one has been able to face the challenge and successfully complete so much as a few months as king. Further, kings of Landover used to be protected by a magical knight called the Paladin, but he has not been seen since the last king's death.

Further, Ben has only four loyal subjects. The court wizard is a hack named Questor Thews, who is also Meeks' half-brother. Abernathy is the court scribe, who was unfortunately transformed into a large dog by one of Questor's spells gone awry. Finally, two creatures called Kobolds, Bunion and Parsnip, serve Ben as caretakers of the castle and as protection against the wild creatures of the kingdom.

Ben's coronation is barely attended, so he decides to travel the land to gain the pledges of the local rulers. He travels first to meet with the Lords of the Greensward, the most prominent landowners in the kingdom. They agree to serve Ben only on the condition that he rid them of Strabo, a dragon that ravages their countryside.

Next Ben visits the River Master and the Fairy fold of Elderew, a city of outcasts from the Fairy Mists. The River Master also places conditions on his pledge, requiring Ben to stop the Lords of the Greensward from polluting their rivers. In the river country Ben stumbles upon a sylph named Willow. She is also a fairy creature who turns into a tree some evenings. She claims that the Fairies have foretold that she will marry Ben. Though he initially rebuffs her, he finds himself falling in love with her over time.

Ben is entreated by Fillip and Sot, two of a race of thievish "G'Home Gnomes" to rescue some of their people from a clan of trolls. They manage to do so, but barely escape with their lives. They finally decide to ask for the help of the witch Nightshade, and travel to her home in the marshes known as the Deep Fell. She tells Ben to enter the Fairy Mists, where he may be able to obtain mind-controlling Io Powder to use on Strabo. Ben does so and endures a series of frightening trials by the Fairy creatures to obtain the powder. Emerging from the mists, he finds that Nightshade has used her magic to banish all of his companions to Abbadon, Landover's underworld. Nightshade attempts to trick Ben out of his Io Powder, but Ben uses some of the substance on the witch and sends her to an uncertain fate in the Fairy Mists.

Ben travels to the Fire Springs to confront Strabo, and is surprised to find the dragon to be sentient and rather well-spoken, if still vicious. Ben uses the Io Powder on Strabo, and rides him to Abaddon to rescue his friends with the help of two g'home gnomes He also extracts a promise from the dragon to stay out of the Greensward.

Finally, Ben is challenged by the Mark, lord of Abaddon, to a duel for the throne. Ben's medallion responds during the fight and transforms Ben into the Paladin, allowing him to subdue the demon. The challenge is witnessed by the leaders from the Greensward, Elderew, and the Troll tribes, who then swear their allegiance. Ben Holiday, King of Landover, then sets about to restore Landover to its former glory.

The Elves and Paranor are both now back in the Four Lands, and the former Walker Boh has inherited Allanon's powers. Moreover, the Sword of Shannara has been found. Knowing all these, Rimmer Dall decides to attempt to destroy all of The Scions of Shannara. Rimmer Dall dispatches the Four Horsemen (Famine, Pestilence, War and Death) to Paranor, sends Wren an untrue friend and wants to deceive Par Ohmsford, whose wishsong is growing steadily more uncontrollable.

All the traps laid by Rimmer Dall come to fruition even before the Ohmsfords realize that all of the charges laid by the shade of Allanon have been fulfilled. The Scions struggle to control their powers: Walker Boh has problems using the knowledge and power he received, Wren Ohmsford has to gain the confidence of the Elven minister as well as the head of the Elven army, and Par Ohmsford struggles to use the Sword of Shannara.

In a clash with a Shadowen, which happens to be Coll in disguise, Par Ohmsford finds out that the Sword really works and is truly the lost Sword of Shannara. During the fight, through the truth that is revealed by the Sword, Par discovers who he had really fought, and then follows Coll to help him. Together they go to Rainbow Lake and finally, with the help of the King of Silver River, Par saves his brother from Rimmer Dall, the leader of the Shadowen. However, due to back-firing of his own wishsong magic, he is left behind. Rimmer Dall imprisons Par Ohmsford at Southwatch and starts trying to break into his mind.

At Paranor, Walker Boh fights the Four Horsemen, defeating all of them but losing his old friend Cogline in the fight with Death. Later, Walker dreams of Allanon, who asks him to help the Ohmsfords before they are lost. At Arborlon, Wren Ohmsford sets out to war against a Federation army. With the help of Triss and Tiger Ty, she manages to lead the Elves to a first victory, but then Creepers, who are responsible for the fall of the Dwarves, come to the aid of the Federation army.

Damson Rhee, with help from Matty Roh and Morgan Leah, rescue Padishar Creel, who goes north to summon the army of the Free-born to aid the Elves in their war against the Federation. Damson Rhee, Matty Roh and Morgan Leah then travel further south in search of Par Ohmsford. At the same time Coll realizes what has happened to him and starts traveling north to Southwatch to rescue Par Ohmsford. However, he is captured by a group of slave traders.

Wren Ohmsford is deceived by Shadowen and captured to be taken to Southwatch. Morgan Leah manages to attack the wagon in which she was being carried and rescues her. On her way back to the elves she is rescued from the Shadowen by Tiger Ty and his Roc who tracked her. Tiger Ty informs Wren Ohmsford that he met Padishar Creel and the free born army were on their way to help the elves. Wren Ohmsford with Tiger Ty and Triss by her side fly south to destroy the Creepers. At Southwatch Walker Boh and Rumor, the moor cat, appears and helps Morgan Leah just as he is about to be attacked by a Shadowen patrol. Coll Ohmsford is rescued by Damson Rhee and Matty Roh from the slave traders. Coll Ohmsford, Damson Rhee and Matty Roh travel towards Southwatch to meet with Morgan Leah and rescue Par Ohmsford.

At Matted Brakes, Wren Ohmsford successfully destroys Creepers with the help of Triss, Tiger Ty, Stresa and Faun. As the Elven army battles the Federation, Shadowen attack Wren Ohmsford from the deep forest and are about to kill her when Faun, the tree squeak, gives up her fears and attacks the Shadowen just to give Wren enough time to call the magic of the elf stones and burn them up. Wren discovers Faun's dead body lying among her Home Guards. On the same day Desidio is also lost. Just then, when the Elven army is almost about to lose, the Freeborn army appear out of eastland with men and Rock Trolls. Elves headed by Triss and Barsimmon Oridio, Men headed by Padishar Creel and Chandos and Trolls headed by Axhind join forces under Wren Ohmsford to attempt to crush down the Southlander army.

Walker Boh, Coll Ohmsford, Damson Rhee, Matty Roh, Morgan Leah, and Rumor (the moor cat) journey into Southwatch, the Shadowen stronghold, from where they have been draining the Earth's magic. They rescue Par Ohmsford by help of the Sword of Shannara. Par learns that, being half elven and half Shannara, he is partially Shadowen. He finally frees "The stolen Earth Magic" which was bound by Shadowen, bringing down Rimmer Dall and other Shadowen and dark creatures of its type. Walker Boh, Par Ohmsford, Coll Ohmsford, Damson Rhee, Matty Roh, and Morgan Leah escape just before Southwatch crumbles to the ground. With the release of the Earth Magic, the lands' beauty is restored and the sickness that was destroying the land is cured. The Earth Magic kills all the Shadowen and Creepers in the Federation army which leads to victory of the elves and their allies.

Wren Ohmsford, a descendant of the legendary Jerle Shannara, was charged by the shade of the Druid Allanon to travel to the distant island of Morrowindl and find the Elves to return them to the Four Lands. The catch was that not one Elf had been seen in the Four Lands for more than a hundred years. No one in the Westlands knew of them---except, finally, the Addershag, who told Wren how to locate one.

To Morrowindl

Tiger Ty, the Wing Rider, carried Wren Ohmsford and her friend Garth to the only clear landing site on the island of Morrowindl, where the Elves might still exist. A Splinterscat, Stresa, and a Tree Squeak, Faun, help her reach the city of Arborlon. The island has become a prison since demons began appearing. Only the magic of the Loden keeps Arborlon safe, but its power is failing, and if the Elves are not returned to the Westland soon, they will not survive. When Wren reached the Elves, she learns of her past and discovers that she is of true Elven blood, because the current Elf Queen, Ellenroh Elessedil, is her maternal grandmother.

Back to Westlands

Nine companions set out on a journey to the Westland: Aurin Striate, an acquaintance Wren and Garth befriend on their way into the city; Triss, Captain of Home Guard; Cort and Dal, Elven Hunters; Ellenroh Elessedil, current queen of the Elves; Eowen, the queen's closest friend; Gavilan Elessedil, the queen's nephew and Wren's cousin; Wren; and Garth. Ellenroh becomes fatally ill, and before she dies, she informs Wren that she is to inherit the Loden and become the Queen of the Elves after Ellenroh, though she was orphaned at birth and raised as a Rover. Upon Ellenroh's death, Eowen reveals that the demons they are trying to avoid were created as an accident by Elves. She reveals that the elves succeeded in regaining their lost magic and to protect their nation from the Federation they created an army of replica elves, but that they became addicted to the magic and transformed into the demons. Wren leads the company with the Loden, but loses all her companions to the demons, Drakuls, and the Wisteron. Only Wren and Triss, Stresa, and Faun remain when the volcano on the island of Morrowindl erupts, destroying the island. Tiger Ty gathers the small company and flees Morrowindl, where Wren restores Arborlon to its original location in the Westland.

''The Druid of Shannara'' takes off where ''The Scions of Shannara'' left off, focusing on the story of Walker Boh as he attempts to fulfill the task given to him by the shade of Allanon, to return the Druid castle of Paranor to the Four Lands. Left in the Hall of Kings with the Asphinx attacking, Walker fends off the poison with his magic for days whereas the Asphinx could have killed any normal mortal. Finally realizing that there is only one way out of his predicament, he breaks off his arm in terrible agony. He fights his way through the Hall of Kings and amazingly finds his way to Storlock for the Gnome Healers to help him to the best of their abilities.

We are told right away that Coll is still alive, and the thing Par killed was a fake. Coll is imprisoned in a prison called Southwatch and is trying to figure out a way to escape.

Meanwhile, The King of the Silver River realizes the state of the Four Lands and makes a beautiful woman out of the elements surrounding him in his garden including a dove for a heart. The King tells his daughter, Quickening, of the task that she must carry out, for there is trouble in a lost city to the north, and the people to take with her.

Morgan Leah returns to Culhaven to carry out a final request from his old friend Steff who met his demise in ''The Scions of Shannara'' and quickly becomes imprisoned.

Rimmer Dall hears about Quickening and the rumors surrounding her appearances: that she's the daughter of The King of the Silver River and is making miracles happen. Rimmer Dall dispatches a dangerous assassin known as Pe Ell to kill her.

When Quickening goes to Culhaven, she quickly restores hope in the land by bringing back the beautiful Meade Gardens. Doing this, though, takes a toll on her and she becomes weak. Quickening falls into Pe Ell's arms and asks him to find her somewhere to sleep. Pe Ell does so, but doesn't kill her because he is attracted to her.

After Quickening recovers she requests Pe Ell to break Morgan Leah out of prison, and he does so, reluctantly. Morgan Leah is also attracted to Quickening and both he and Pe Ell agree to go on a journey with her. Morgan Leah because of his instant emotional attraction and Pe Ell because he wants to find out what makes her so special.

The three set off to go find Walker Boh.

While this is happening, Walker had returned home under the care of Cogline. Walker, still very weak, lies in bed as Cogline tries to coax Walker to get up and think positively. Rimmer Dall with a handful of Shadowen confront Cogline, bound to take out the last of the messengers of the druids. Cogline knew this was coming after hearing from Allanon and grabbed the Druid Histories before he and Rumor were killed.

Finally, Quickening reaches Walker Boh and heals him the best she can, though his arm is still missing. She takes the party north to get the black elfstone and in return Morgan will get his sword back, Pe Ell will increase his magical abilities, and Walker Boh will become whole.

They travel north and meet Horner Dees who is the only known survivor to ever go into Eldwist, an ancient city turned completely to stone. He had no intentions of ever going back, but he is soon persuaded. They finally make it to Eldwist and confront Uhl Belk, a brother of The King of the Silver River who has been there just as long. Days go by avoiding a creeper called The Rake, and the Maw Grint, the child of the Stone King, which is in the form of a gigantic worm-like creature that turns to stone everything in his path. Finally they were able to trick Uhl Belk into letting go of the black elfstone and as soon as this happens Pe Ell takes off with Quickening as a hostage. Confronted by Walker, Dees, and Morgan, Pe Ell stabs Quickening, though it appears that Quickening actually pushes herself against Pe Ell's magical blade, thus taking from Pe Ell the choice of killing her. Surprised, confused and enraged, Pe Ell flees. He doesn't get far before he dies in consequence of having killed Quickening, apparently from some kind of retaliatory magic which Walker suggests might have been placed on Quickening by the King of the Silver River to avenge her death.

Walker Boh, Morgan Leah, and Horner Dees take Quickening out of the city and up to the cliffs above Eldwist. Quickening bids farewell to Morgan and the others. She tells Morgan to sheath the broken Sword of Leah in the earth. Quickening then calls for Walker, who takes her to the edge of the cliff. Using her magic, she communicates to Walker the purpose for her existence, which is to restore Eldwist, freeing it from its stone shell. At Quickening's request, Walker releases her, and she falls from the cliff and disintegrates. The dust of Quickening's body settles over Eldwist, and plant life spontaneously grows, quickly covering the whole peninsula, leaving the only visible stone the domed building wherein Uhl Belk resides. The magic also restores the broken Sword of Leah, a final symbol of the love between Morgan and Quickening.

The three of them leave, all taking different paths. Horner goes home, Morgan leaves to find Par, and Walker leaves to recover lost Paranor.

Also mentioned briefly in the book, Wren journeys with Garth to the village of Grimpen Ward in the Wilderun to seek out a seer called the Addershag, hoping to learn the fate of the Elves. Wren is told by the Addershag to go south to the Blue Divide and light a fire for three days above the caves of the Rocs. Wren and Garth escape Grimpen Ward, chased by the men who have been keeping the Addershag as a prisoner.

John Ross, having failed on a mission from the Word in which fourteen school children were killed in San Sobel, California, tries to leave his life as a Knight of the Word behind him. He returns to the Fairy Glen in Wales to tender his resignation to the Lady, but she refuses to appear to him; instead, he meets the ghost of his ancestor, Owain Glyndŵr, who tells him that the decision to give up being a Knight is not his to make. Frustrated, John returns to America, where in Boston he meets and instantly falls in love with the beautiful Stefanie, who seems to amply reciprocate his feelings. Deliriously happy, he embarks together with her on a long trek across the United States, culminating with both of them finding work at a homeless center in Seattle. Feeling that he has found a very satisfactory new life, with a loving woman at his side and a demanding job helping an important social cause in cooperation with idealistic, sympathetic activists, he increasingly feels that his time as a Knight of the Word can be relegated to the past. He ignores the infrequent dreams of a demon-haunted future, including one in which he kills his much-beloved boss, Simon Lawrence.

Lawrence is known locally as "the Wizard of Oz" because of his successful charity ventures in Seattle (AKA the Emerald City); by energetic campaigning, and building up a reputation as an idealistic, dedicated activist, Lawrence succeeded in pushing many politicians to support the homeless - though this is not a very popular cause and with little electoral benefit accruing. However, Lawrence's sterling reputation is threatened when he is being investigated for alleged financial impropriety, by a famous reporter named Andrew Wren who is (without his own knowledge) - influenced and manipulated by a demon. This demon is a changeling - during the day it works to subvert, and at night morphs into a giant hyena-like creature to feed on the homeless living in the ruins under modern Seattle.

Nest Freemark, now a 19-year-old college student, has returned to Hopewell, Illinois for the weekend before Halloween. She muses on events over the last five years, including her grandfather's death in the spring, Wraith's disappearance when she turned 18, and the fact that she is no longer in touch with most of her childhood friends (or John Ross). She has not used her magic in years and is unsure if she has it any longer.

She travels with her twiggy sylvan companion, Pick, through the park and has an encounter with the tatterdemalion Ariel, a ghost-like messenger of the Word formed from the memories of dead children. Nest learns that John Ross is in need of her help and reluctantly agrees to fly to Seattle to talk to him. She is disturbed to learn that John is now especially vulnerable to falling to the side of the Void, and the Word has dispatched someone to kill him if this happens. This resounds with Nest, as she recalls that John admitting that he would have killed her five years ago if she had been turned to the Void.

Arriving in Seattle, Nest takes a walk at night with Ariel; they hear the demon hunting and killing people in the underground city, but Ariel will not let her pursue it. She meets with John the next day, but cannot convince him to return to his duties as a Knight; however, she does cause changes in his dreams - now John also dreams about killing her. Nest also runs into O'olish Amaneh, the Word-serving Native American that she met five years before, and finds that he is the one sent to kill John if he should turn to the Void.

That night, Ariel informs Nest that Boot, a sylvan in a local park, has seen the demon. Just as they're getting crucial information from Boot, the demon attacks them in its hyena form and kills Boot, his owl Audrey, and Ariel. It chases Nest through a nearby residential area, but she narrowly escapes on a bus. Later that same night, the demon sets fire to the homeless shelter and John and Stefanie rescue many tenants, but one of their coworkers is killed in the fire. John was exceedingly groggy and foggy-headed when Stefanie tried to wake him to help deal with the fire, and he's troubled by this.

The next day, Halloween, John and Nest meet. They share information and decide that Nest should leave town. Andrew Wren, in possession of (demon-provided) evidence that John and Simon are embezzling from the shelter, meets with John and leaves him with the suspicion that Simon is the demon. His suspicions are reinforced when Stefanie tells him that Simon has fired him, to distance himself from the scandal. John heads to a fund-raising event at the art museum and confronts Simon, who reveals himself as a demon, nearly kills John, and leaves him on the floor. John repents for faltering in his service to the Word and is once again infused with magic to heal and strengthen him. He searches for Simon with the intent to kill him, but just as he finds him, Nest intervenes. On the way out of town, she realized that Stefanie is actually the demon, because of parallels between Stefanie's actions and those of Nest's father (also a demon), not to mention the timing issues and other evidence that lead her to this truth. John realizes that he's been subtly led toward the Void ever since Stefanie came into his life, after San Sobel; as a shape-shifting demon, Stefanie forged documents to support the embezzlement accusations, attacked Nest and her friends in the park, set fire to the shelter to explain the wounds she'd sustained trying to kill Nest, lied about John being fired, and morphed into Simon at the museum so John would be tricked into killing the real, innocent Simon and completing his turn to the Void.

Finally, John confronts Stefanie at his apartment. She does not deny being a demon, but tells John that even so he is still in love with her (which he feels to be true) and that she could continue to make him happy. When he rejects the offer, the demon-Stefanie, afraid of his now-returned magic, leaps out a window. Faced with the demon's onslaught when it crashes to the street below, the waiting Nest finds that Wraith has not left her- he lives within her and Nest can assume his form in response to threatening dark magic.

Together, she and John destroy Stefanie - or, in fact, they destroy the shape-changing demon who had taken her form as well as various other forms, human and non-human, male and female. (Though the term is not explicitly used, Stefanie in fact fits well with the traditional depiction of a succubus - a female demon who takes the form of a human woman in order to seduce men.)

Nest returns to Hopewell, and John resumes his service as a Knight of the Word, once again using his dreams of the future to change things in the present and keep the Void at bay.

Nest Freemark is a fourteen-year-old girl of Hopewell, Illinois, who has inherited magical powers from her mother's lineage. She lives with her grandmother Evelyn and grandfather Bob, as her mother apparently committed suicide at a young age. She is one of a rare few in the world who can see the spiritual warfare underlying the events in the real world. She can see "feeders" - small shadowy creatures that feed on human emotion, influence thoughts, and ultimately attempt to "devour" people, causing their real world demise. Nest is enlisted to guard the nearby park and wilderness, a regional feeding ground for feeders, as many generations of Freemark women before her. She is aided in this task by a six-inch tree-like sylvan named Pick, an insightful barn owl named Daniel, and an ethereal wolfen creature named Wraith, who appears at opportune moments to protect Nest, but whose origins are initially unknown.

On July first, Nest is awakened by Pick and informed that a young local girl, Bennett Scott, has run away from home (and her mother's abusive boyfriend) into the park and is at risk of being attacked by feeders. She rescues the girl and is almost overrun by feeders when Wraith appears to fend them off and help her escape. Meanwhile, a demon of the Void has come to the town of Hopewell. Once a human, this demon now possesses magical powers including the ability to blend in easily among other people and influence their thoughts. He befriends Derry Howe, a less intelligent resident of Hopewell, and places in his mind the idea of setting a bomb during the fireworks display on the Fourth of July. Since the display is sponsored by the company that owns the factory, Derry is fooled into believing that the company will have to end a town-crippling strike in apology for the injuries at the show.

The following morning, Nest meets up with her friends, including Bennett's older brother Jared, on whom she has a crush. They run into a teen bully named Danny Abbot, and Nest uses magic to knock him to the ground to protect her friends. Later that day, an alarmed Pick leads Nest deep into the park forest and shows her a great oak tree with crevasses in its trunk. The tree is actually a prison for a maentwrog - a powerful magic beast known for devouring multitudes of people. The demon has weakened the tree and the maentwrog is threatening to break free, but Nest and Pick do a patch job to strengthen the tree's integrity.

At dinner, Nest is introduced by her grandfather to a traveler named John Ross, who has recently come to town. He claims to have known Nest's mother, but his true purpose for being in Hopewell is to track and defeat the demon. John is a "Knight of the Word", charged with helping preserve the balance between the Word (the representation of goodness and light in the world) and the Void (the summation of evil and darkness). After his post-graduate work, John traveled to Wales and happened upon a glade called Fairy Glen in the country around Betws-y-Coed. He is met by the Lady (the voice of the Word) and learns that he is the descendant of Owain Glyndŵr, a great Welsh "patriot and warrior" who served the Word. John was then charged by the Lady to embrace the Word and fight against the Void whenever he is called on. After returning to America, he is visited by a Native American named O'olish Amaneh, who reminds him of his oath and hands him a rune-engraved staff of great magic. Upon taking the staff, John's leg is crippled as a reminder that he is dependent upon the staff, and through it, the Word.

John fights the Void in both the present, and an apocalyptic future where demons are beginning to enslave humanity. When John sleeps, he has unavoidable dreams in which he experiences his life in this horrific time. In these visions he finds clues concerning his new mission, as well as the consequences if he should fail. During these visions, he is a skilled warrior of magic, free of his limp, fighting valiantly to free slaves and thwart the demons. However, if John uses his magic in the present, he finds himself without that magic for the duration of his next dream. He is reduced to a vulnerable fugitive who has to scurry and hide to avoid the demon armies. John has found through his dreams that the demon is Nest's father, and if John does not stop him, Nest will be converted to serving the Void and will be a great leader of the demons in the future.

That evening, Nest sneaks out after dark to meet with O'olish Amaneh, whom she fatefully ran into earlier that day. O'olish Amaneh is the last of the Sinnissippi tribe that used to live in the area, and invites her to dance with the spirits of the Sinnissippi. At midnight, he summons the spirits of his tribe and dance among them. Nest sees a vision of her grandmother as a young lady, running with feeders and interacting with the demon. O'olish leaves Hopewell that night contemplating his own visions, while Nest struggles with the meaning of hers.

The next day, July 3, John attends church with the Freemark family when they find the feeders crawling all over, invisible to the congregation, but Wraith appears and scares them off. The feeders have never entered the church before, and Nest realizes that the demon must be nearby. The demon confronts her in a wing of the church, threatens her, and demonstrates his power by killing a church member. That night, the demon influences Danny Abbot to tie up Nest and leave her in a cave. The demon comes to Nest and taunts her, telling her he can do anything he wants to and she is powerless. While the demon is away, Nest is rescued by her friends and grandfather. In addition, while John Ross is spending a romantic evening with his new love interest Josie, the local cafe owner, the demon influences a group of townspeople to attack him. John is incapacitated and forced to use magic to escape. While everyone is otherwise engaged, the demon confronts Nest's grandmother, Evelyn, at the Freemark house and is surprised to find that she no longer has magic of her own. She assaults him in futility with a shotgun, and he kills her. However, anticipating her death, Evelyn had left Nest a secret note telling her to trust in her magic and in Wraith.

Finally, on July 4, Jared Scott is beaten by his mother's boyfriend and slips into a coma. The feeders, however, drive the boyfriend into a craze and he ends up accidentally killing himself. Pick is captured by the demon, and Nest and John confront him at the site of the maentwrog tree. While Nest's grandfather stops Derry Howe from injuring anyone at the fireworks show, the demon manages to release the maentwrog. Through extensive magic use, John is able to defeat the creature, but passes out. The demon confronts Nest alone and teaches her of her past. She learns that her grandmother once became friends with the demon and would "run with him" instead of fighting against him. At this time, she thought him simply another person, not a demon. The demon tried to seduce her grandmother, but she resisted, and turned to the side of the Word. In revenge, the demon seduced her daughter, Nest's mother, and she bore him a daughter, Nest. When Nest's mother found out after Nest was born that he was a demon, she apparently lost her mind and committed suicide. Now the demon is back for Nest, and by touching her, he can convince her to join the Void. Wraith appears, but the demon reveals that Wraith is actually a gift from the demon, sent to protect Nest until he could come back and claim her. Nest holds the demon at bay for a time, but when he is about to lay his hand on her, Wraith turns on the demon and tears him to pieces. Nest learns from Pick that even though Wraith was created by the demon, her grandmother long ago expended all of her magic to convince Wraith to defend Nest against the demon as well.

The next day, Nest and her grandfather decide to be foster parents for Bennett Scott, as the kids have been legally removed from their home situation. Nest visits the hospital and uses her magic to bring Jared out of his coma, while John Ross leaves Hopewell on a bus, knowing his life cannot afford him the luxury of staying with Josie. He falls asleep, anticipating a new mission from the Word.

John Ross has a vision of the future where a crucified Knight of the Word (one that resembles himself) tells him that a "Gypsy morph" is about to be created in the present. The creation of a Gypsy morph is a rare event - it is a convergence of magic that can become a powerful tool for either the Void or the Word depending on who unlocks its secret. The morph, however, will dissipate within a month if the secret remains hidden and the magic will be lost. John manages to catch the morph in the Pacific Northwest and escape his demon pursuers. The morph changes from creature to creature before settling on the appearance of a four-year-old boy. The only word the boy says is "Nest", prompting John to head back to Hopewell, Illinois to find out if Nest Freemark, whom he has not seen in ten years, can help him. However a resourceful demon named Findo Gask has been tracking John. He has recruited three other demons - Penny Dreadful (a young goth-type girl with crazy red hair and a penchant for self-destruction), Twitch (a half-crazed hulking albino man), and an ur'droch (a lethal demon who remains in its dark, shadowy form instead of taking on a human guise). Findo has heard the Gypsy morph's words in the ether and knows where to go to intercept John Ross. He and the three other demons arrive in town before him.

Nest, now a 29-year-old divorcee, had won several Olympic track gold medals, but had to retire from running because she nearly turned into the ghost-wolf Wraith during an event. She still lives in her house near the park and tends to the area with the sylvan, Pick. Four days before Christmas, she is visited by Findo Gask and immediately recognizes him as a demon. He threatens her but does not harm her. She also meets Penny at church, but does not realize she is a demon. Later that day, Bennett Scott, whom Nest saved from falling off a cliff when Bennett was a preschooler fifteen years earlier, appears on her doorstep. Bennett is now a single mother of a young girl, Harper, and trying to get clean from a drug addiction. Nest naturally invites her to stay with her. That night, while Christmas caroling, Nest and her church group are attacked by Twitch. Nest nearly has to call on Wraith when Penny appears, calls him off and pretends that he is a mentally disabled relative, and no one is seriously hurt. Later that night, John Ross arrives with the Gypsy morph boy, whom they decide to call "Little John".

The next morning Nest and John fill each other in on recent events. Bennett and Harper go for a walk in the park where they meet Penny. Penny offers Bennett drugs, but before she can accept, O'olish Amaneh appears and takes them home. Nest then goes for a walk in the park with O'olish, whom she also has not seen in ten years, who suggests that if Nest spends some time attempting to communicate with Little John instead of waiting for him to open up to her it may help unlock his secrets. He also tells her that soon he may never see her again as he plans to return to his ancestors. He then mysteriously disappears, as usual. Nest takes his advice and tries to talk to Little John, but no progress is made. Later that day the group does some tobogganing and narrowly avoids an assassination attempt by Findo Gask, thanks to Pick's last-minute warning. Instead, Findo Gask kills the park worker Ray Childress that night with the trap he intended for Nest and her guests.

The next evening O'olish Amaneh again appears to Nest, and encourages her to persevere with Little John. After he leaves her, he is pursued by Findo Gask and his demon minions. Surrounded, he disappears in a whirlwind of snow. That night, Nest, Bennett, and the kids go to a neighborhood Christmas party while John spends some time with his old flame, Josie Jackson. Bennett abandons her child at the party, leaving Nest a note explaining how she intends to leave for a while. She meets up with Penny who gives her drugs, then Penny and Findo Gask trick her into falling off the cliff in the park that nearly claimed her fifteen years ago. Nest returns home with Harper and Little John and is attacked by the ur'droch. Wraith comes forth from her to successfully repel him. Before Wraith reenters Nest, Little John calls her "Mama" and runs into her arms, but refuses to do so after Wraith returns to Nest, foreshadowing what is to come.

The next day, Christmas Eve, Bennett's body is found and Nest has to tell Harper that her mother has died, and that now she will be Harper's family. That evening, however, Harper and Little John are kidnapped by Findo Gask. Nest knows from previous interactions with Findo Gask that he doesn't know that Little John is the Gypsy morph. She also realizes that Penny is in league with Findo Gask and they are likely hiding out at the house where she was attacked by Twitch. She and John head over to the house for a preemptive strike, but before doing so, Nest knows she needs to check to see if the demons have booby-trapped or otherwise warded the house with invisible magic. She needs Pick to find this out for her, so she sends out Wraith to find Pick in the park. Wraith bounds forth and runs from within her, this time severing their magical tie. Nest realizes neither one of them was happy with Wraith being trapped within her, and knows it is for the best that he remain separate but near to her, still remaining her protector. Nest, Wraith and John Ross are successful in destroying Findo Gask's three demonic henchmen (Penny, Twitch, and the ur'droch) and rescuing the children, but John is mortally poisoned. Finally, when Little John sees that Wraith has left Nest permanently, the Gypsy morph is able to become what it was meant to be: an unborn child of destiny within Nest's womb.

Findo Gask, thinking that the Gypsy morph's time ran out and its magic had dissipated, leaves town. Nest, perceiving her magical conception, decides to name the child John Ross Freemark, and heads back for home to start a new life with Harper and her future child. John Ross, weak and poisoned, lays down by the river in the park. As he passes into death, he sees the Lady, the voice of the Word, reaching out to him and calling him home. As John takes her hand his body disappears and his staff falls to the ground. O'olish Amaneh appears from the shadows, picks up the staff and surveys the horizon in contemplation of the continuous struggle between the Word and the Void.

The novel is divided into three sections. The first and third section depict the historical investigation of a fictional Javier Cercas into the life of the falangist Rafael Sánchez Mazas. The second section is a biographical retelling of Mazas's life.

In the first section of the novel, a fictionalized version of the author, also called Javier Cercas and a journalist, interviews the son of Mazas. During the interview Cercas is told the story of how Mazas's escapes from execution by the Republicans at the end of the Spanish Civil War with the help of a lone soldier. Encouraged by his eccentric girlfriend, a TV fortune teller, Javier begins investigating the incident. Early on, he writes a brief article in his newspaper based on the retelling by Mazas's son. In response to this Cercas becomes obsessed with finding the soldier who spared the life of Mazas.

The second section of the novel takes place during the war itself (1936–1939). The nucleus of this section of the book is Rafael Sánchez Mazas's life. Cercas presents him as a writer and idealist of the Falange Española and close collaborator of José Antonio Primo de Rivera. The narrative in this section focuses on the particulars of his escape from execution at the end of the Spanish Civil War. When a group of prisoners is taken to the forest to be executed, Mazas is able to flee and hide in the bush. A Republican soldier finds him but decides to spare his life and when asked by another soldier if anyone is there he replies that no one is. Helped by several deserters, Mazas evades the retreating Republican forces and eventually returns to Nationalist custody where he became an important propagandist for Francoist Spain.

In the third section in the novel, after having written the biography in the second section, the Cercas character is still curious about the story of Mazas's escape. Following a series of leads, Cercas comes in contact with an old man named Miralles. Miralles had fought for the Republicans in the civil war and later became a member of the French Foreign Legion responsible for heroic feats during the Second World War. Cercas discovers him sequestered in a retirement home in his old age. Cercas comes to believe that Miralles was the soldier who saved Mazas from execution. However, Miralles will neither confirm nor deny having been the soldier to save Mazas. The fictional Cercas ends the novel with a monologue questioning the historical explanation which he had investigated and the nature of heroes.

''Old Joy'' tells the story of two friends, Kurt (Will Oldham) and Mark (Daniel London), as they reunite for a weekend camping trip in the Cascade mountain range and Bagby Hot Springs, east of Portland, Oregon. Kurt lives a hand-to-mouth hippie lifestyle, while Mark has moved on from that scene and gotten a proper job and a house. The film is a story of friendship, loss and alienation. For Mark, the weekend outing offers a respite from the pressure of his imminent fatherhood. Tagging along for the ride is Lucy, Mark's dog, played by Reichardt's dog of the same name.

Henery Hawk discusses his cravings with his father, who then reveals the reason behind so: "Your mother and I are outcasts, hated and hunted because of what we are: chicken hawks. And you, you, Henery, you're a chicken hawk too. And like all chicken hawks, you crave to eat - a chicken." More enthusiastic than his father, Henery sets out to find a chicken. Meanwhile, in a barnyard, the Barnyard Dawg deliberately throws a watermelon on an unsuspecting Foghorn Leghorn, who is done filing his nails ("Every day is the same thing!", complains Foghorn). As payback, just as the Dawg goes to sleep, Foghorn spanks the Dawg with a paddle, angering him into chasing Foghorn, but his leash stops him from going further. To add insult to injury, Foghorn slaps the angrily barking Dawg, while yelling at him to "SHUT UP!".

Henery meets Foghorn, who, seeing the hawk as a potential pawn against the Dawg, convinces Henery that he is a horse, while the Dawg is a chicken, and Henery goes up to the Dawg and bites his tail, causing the Dawg to wake up from his nap in pain. The Dawg grabs Henery and growls at him. Henery warns the Dawg, "Are you coming quietly or do I have to muss ya up?!", but the Dawg chases Henery, but gets choked on the leash again and falls again while Foghorn whacks the Dawg in the head like he's playing croquet with croquet mallet and runs with the Dawg angrily barking again, only with a headache. Henery is still running, but Foghorn tells Henery not to give up, and Henery literally carries the dog house with the Dawg in it like a train while the Dawg investigates with a mirror, sees Henery, and lifts up his house and gives chase, but is choked and falls again and Foghorn puts a knight's helmet on the Dawg and whacks the Dawg in the side of the head many times, causing the Dawg's head to literally shake inside.

Foghorn soon gives Henery an idea to "outsmart" the "foxy chicken". Henery lures the Dawg out with music, causing him to suffer mishaps culminating in him landing on a rollerskate. When the Dawg surrenders and asks Henery what he is looking for, Henery tells the Dawg his intentions ("''You're'' a chicken, ''I'm'' a chicken hawk, and ''I'm'' gonna eat chicken!"). The Dawg realizes he's been the victim of Foghorn's prank and points out that ''Foghorn'' is the one he should be going after, being a chicken. Foghorn tries to deflect his argument by accusing the Dawg ("Don't you call me, I say don't you call ''ME'' a chicken, you... chicken!"), but by then, Henery realizes he's been tricked.

Henery pays Foghorn back by releasing the Dawg on Foghorn, who barely manages to escape and is chased by the angry Dawg... into a barn, where an ''actual'' horse forcibly ejects them, clunking their heads together in the process. The two foes, shaking hands to prove solidarity, re-enter to double-team the horse. Henery marches in after them and, in a few seconds, captures Foghorn, the Dawg, ''and'' the horse, with the hapless rooster vainly trying to escape. Mimicking Foghorn, he tells the camera that "One of these things, I say, ''one of these things'', has ''got'' to be a chicken!" as he walks off with his prizes.

In 1843, the fourteenth year of the Tenpō Era, ten years before the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry and the Black Ships, Edo is under attack by beasts from the underworld, known as . Members of the Bansha Aratamesho, called the , are assembled to repel the emergence of these yoi.

Most of the key events in the movie are based on historical events or reports about the life of Saint Joseph of Cupertino. Born Giuseppe Desa, he was said to have been remarkably unclever, but was recorded by many witnesses during his life as prone to miraculous levitation and intense ecstasies.

The film begins with Giuseppe (Maximilian Schell) spending his final days at home with his mother (Lea Padovani). Because of his slow wits, she has kept him in school despite his being a grown man, older than the other students. He is seen bearing patiently and good-heartedly the ridicule of his fellow villagers, and enduring failed attempts at work as a laborer. At the insistence of his mother (who saw no viable alternatives), he enters a Franciscan friary through the influence of his uncle (Harold Goldblatt), an authority in the religious order. But trouble follows Giuseppe wherever he goes, including the friary, because of his slow wits. Eventually, his good heart is noticed by the visiting Bishop Durso, (Akim Tamiroff), who orders that he be trained to be a priest.

Despite Giuseppe's incapacity for the necessary scholarly studies, and preference for just managing the sheep and other animals in the friary's stable, he is ordained a priest. Although he learns little from the tutoring by the friars, Giuseppe passes the necessary examinations for the priesthood through a series of unlikely or possibly miraculous events. Soon after, when Giuseppe is seen levitating during ecstatic prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary and during conventual Mass, one of the superiors in the community, Father Raspi (Ricardo Montalbán), claims that Giuseppe suffers from demonic possession. Giuseppe is bound in chains by his brother friars and then exorcised, but his levitations continue, persuading everyone—including his former critic—of the divine origins of his powers.

In his late 50s, King Conan of Aquilonia engages in his final struggle with his arch-foe, the black magician Thoth-Amon of Stygia, servant of the evil god '''Set'''. First, Conan must journey into Hyperborea and rescue his kidnapped son, Prince Conn, from an unholy alliance between Thoth-Amon and the witch queen, Louhi. Next, Conan and Conn carry the struggle to their enemy's stronghold in Stygia itself at the head of an invading army, with the aid of a white druid named Diviatix. Pursuing their defeated foe southward, they confront him again, first in the kingdom of Zembabwei and, at last, near the very edge of the world, where Conan and Thoth-Amon face each other in a final astral duel.

''Conan of Aquilonia'' depicts the coming of age of Conan's son, Conn. In the beginning, Conn is still very much of a boy and is afraid of a heavy belting which he could expect from his father for disobedience. By the end, he's already a seasoned warrior, who took part in various kinds of battle, escaped from capture, avoided imminent death, saved his father's life, and has a crucial role in the final defeat of Conan's old enemy Thoth-Amon—making him ready to succeed as King Conan II (which he would seven years hence, in ''Conan of the Isles'').

The story takes place roughly sixteen years after the events of ''Far-Seer''. In lieu of Afsan's discovery of the Quintaglio's real place in the universe, the Larskian faith has been abolished and worship of the Original Five hunters reinstated. Dybo is now the Emperor, with Afsan as his court astrologer, and Novato has been put in charge of the ''Quintaglio Exodus''; a project meant to help the Quintaglios escape from their doomed world before it breaks apart. Toroca, son of Afsan and Novato, is now head of the Geological Survey of Land, meant to take a global inventory of the resources available for the Exodus project.

While undertaking the Geological Survey, Toroca finds a mysterious blue artifact, made of a seemingly indestructible material even harder than diamond. It appears to be mechanical, with moving parts, but having been found in some of the oldest rocks, is too old to have been manufactured by Quintaglios. He also begins to take notice of clues which cast into doubt his belief in the origin of the world as set forth in the book of Lubal. The world appears to be much older than five thousand kilodays, due to the rate of erosion being too slow, and during an expedition to the South Pole, he finds that it is inhabited entirely by many unique types of Wingfingers. Toroca hypothesises that they evolved from a common wingfinger ancestor.

Meanwhile, Dybo's rule has been challenged by Rodlox, the governor of the province Edz'Toolar. As Afsan had previously suspected in Far-Seer, Rodlox claims that the children of the previous Empress were exempted from the culling of the Bloodpriests, with the weakest child being made the future Emperor (as opposed to the strongest as tradition dictates) and the rest being sent away so that the royal family could be more easily manipulated. Rodlox claims that he is Dybo's brother, and that he was the strongest child and thus the rightful emperor. The Imperial Bloodpriest goes missing shortly after, his absence bolstering Rodlox's conspiracy theory. Much political turmoil follows; all across the land, Bloodpriests are driven out and sometimes killed. With no means of birth control, the Quintaglio population begins to swell eightfold as a result. With the Quintaglios' natural predisposition towards territorial aggression, it is only a matter of time before civil war erupts.

Dybo consults Afsan, his most trusted advisor, to come up with a solution for the problem. If Rodlox were to become the new Emperor, he would cancel the Exodus and doom the Quintaglios to extinction- Dybo must win Rodlox's challenge. Rather than face him in single combat, as Dybo would most certainly lose to Rodlox, Afsan suggests that all eight of the Empress' children participate in a replay of the culling, against a scaled-up Bloodpriest: a Blackdeath. Such a scenario would give Dybo a one-in-eight chance of victory. Afsan helps Dybo prepare for battle against the Blackdeath.

When Afsan finds out that one of his children has been murdered, her throat slashed open by a piece of broken mirror, he undertakes an investigation to try to find her killer. Dybo begins to train for his battle against the Blackdeath. Toroca finds himself increasingly attracted to Babnol, a member of the Geological survey team. Babnol in turn worries about Toroca's obsession with the blue artifact, and she sneaks into his cabin, steals it, and dumps it overboard. The Geological Survey team must now head back to where the original artifact was discovered, to try to find another one.

Meanwhile, back on land, the congestion has gotten unbearable. With the Bloodpriests in dispute, seven out of every eight Quintaglio hatchlings have not been culled, and the population has swelled. Tensions are boiling, and the situation explodes when mass ''Dagamant'' (a Quintaglio bloodlust fueled by territorial aggression) occurs. Many Quintaglios are killed in the ensuing battle before the situation is defused. It becomes apparent that this will happen again and again until the Bloodpriests are reinstated.

The Geological Survey team returns to the coast of Fra'Toolar, where the original artifact was found, to search for another. To speed up the process, they resort to blasting the cliffs, surmising that the mysterious blue material will not be damaged by the explosions. Their blasting exposes an enormous object made of the blue material, and after finding a mysterious double door, explore the inside. Within, they find the mummified remains of an extraterrestrial, and various creatures that are extinct on the Quintaglio's world, among them, birds.

Another of Afsan's children has been murdered. Suspicion falls upon another of Afsan's children, Drawtood. Afsan confronts Drawtood, who confesses to his crime. Suffering from paranoia, Drawtood had intended to murder all of his siblings, out of fear that they were going to come after him. Rather than face the consequences of his actions, Drawtood commits suicide, and drinks a vial of poison.

Soon, it is time for the battle against the Blackdeath. After being starved for several days, the Tyrannosaur is released into an arena, where it proceeds to devour each of the Royal siblings one by one. Rodlox does not go down without a fight, and indeed, almost defeats the Blackdeath by utilising his superior agility to disorient it. It topples over and he leaps on its back to deliver the finishing bite; however, he is killed when the Blackdeath suddenly rises to its feet and somersaults forward, crushing him with its massive bulk. Dybo has studied natural Blackdeath behavior prior to the battle, and has come up with a strategy. He positions himself carefully, with the sun setting behind him. As the Blackdeath prepares to attack, Dybo bites off its own arms, reducing them to stumps, and mimics the dinosaur's roar. In profile, Dybo resembles a juvenile T. Rex, and the Blackdeath retreats, refusing to accept a challenge from what it perceives as a lesser male. Dybo is declared the winner, and has earned the right to rule.

In the aftermath of the battle, Dybo sets about cleaning up the mess the challenge has caused. The Bloodpriests are reinstated. The Imperial Bloodpriest is found, but he has been injured; before he dies, he reveals that Dybo was in fact the weakest of the Imperial hatchlings; however, the switch was not pulled as an attempt to control the Royal family. It is revealed that because the Bloodpriests had been saving only the strongest offspring, that the Quintaglios had become too aggressive; the Bloodpriests were performing a breeding experiment with the Royal family, to try to usher in a less violent generation.

With the Imperial Bloodpriest now dead, he needs a replacement; Afsan suggests that Toroca be appointed as his replacement. With Toroca's theory of evolution, Afsan presumes that he would be the best person for the job. Dybo concurs, and assigns him to the task.

Meanwhile, Wab-Novato has finished construction on a prototype glider, based on bird remains recovered from the giant blue structure. The test flight of the machine is a success; the Quintaglios have taken their first step towards flight.

Studies on the giant blue artifact have made it apparent that is an alien starship, and that these beings brought dinosaurs and other creatures to this world from another, millions of years ago; explaining why species in the Quintaglios' fossil record appear suddenly rather than gradually. The book ends with Dybo declaring that the Quintaglios are not merely going to the stars; they are going home.

John Wyatt is a government agent sent to smash a counterfeiting operation near the Mexican border. Joining Doc Carter's medicine show, they arrive in the town where Curly Joe, who once framed Carter, resides. Learning that Curly Joe is the counterfeiter, Wyatt goes after the man himself.

Buster plays a farmhand who competes with his housemate (Roberts) to win the love of the farmer's daughter (Sybil Seely). Running from a dog (played by Luke, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle's real-life pet) that he believes is rabid, Buster races around brick walls, jumps through windows, and falls into a hay thresher that rips off most of his clothes. He is forced to borrow a scarecrow's clothes in a nearby field. He then trips into a kneeling position while tying his shoes, and Sybil believes he is proposing marriage. They speeds off on a motorcycle, with Joe and the farmer (played by Buster's father, Joe) in hot pursuit. Scooping up a minister during the chase, they are married on the speeding motorcycle and splash into a stream, where they are pronounced man and wife.

While giving a private performance for a visiting monarch, renowned concert pianist Montgomery Royle is permanently deafened when a bomb is detonated in an attempt to assassinate the foreign ruler; for him, his love of music and his career are over. Royle returns to New York City from Paris with his sister Florence, close friend and confidant Mildred Miller, and his considerably younger fiance Grace Blair. His longtime manservant and admirer saves him from committing suicide. Mildred convinces Royale that he has never known true adversity, and he reveals that he no longer believes in God.

Abandoning thoughts of death, he learns to lip read perfectly from a skilled teacher. Thereafter, using a pair of powerful binocular's from his 3rd story window, he spends his days observing and reading people's lips in nearby Central Park. As he becomes aware of other people's struggles, he helps them anonymously in his pursuit of "playing God"; his actions lack true sincerity. During the next six months of self-imposed withdrawal, he grows to accept his fate and continues with his Philanthropy, becoming truly altruistic; he also reacquires his faith in God.

Month's later, following Grace's return from an extended California visit with friends, he witnesses a conversation in the park between her and Harold Van Adam. She tells the young man that while she has fallen in love with him, she will not leave Montgomery due to his affliction and their long, close friendship. Moved by the generosity of her sacrifice, Montgomery talks with Grace and soon ends their engagement. He convinces her to follow her heart, the result of a true concern for her well-being.

Montgomery continues his philanthropy, while drawing even closer to Mildred, who he learns has always loved him; the two find mutual love and happiness together.

Freevill is deeply involved with the "Dutch Courtesan" Franceschina but he is about to marry Beatrice, daughter of Sir Hubert Subboys and decides to break with Franceschina. He introduces her to his friend Malheureux who at once desires her. Humiliated, she promises to submit to him if he kills Freevill and bring her a ring he has received from Beatrice. The two friends pretend to quarrel, Freevill vanishes, the ring is brought to Franceschina. She goes off to inform Freevill's father and Beatrice's father of what has happened. Malheureux is arrested and condemned to die. At the last moment, Freevill appears and explains he has done this to cure Malheureux of his passion. Franceschina is whipped and imprisoned.

Tommy Fawkes is the son of British comedy legend George Fawkes. After his own Las Vegas comedy act flops with his beloved father in the audience, Tommy returns to Blackpool, where he spent the summers of his childhood.

Disguised with a new identity, Tommy intends to seek out unique performers and purchase their acts. During this time, Tommy encounters his father's old comedy partners, Bruno and Thomas Parker. Once great performers, they now work as ghouls on a ghost train at Blackpool Pleasure Beach Circus.

Bruno's son Jack is a brilliant comic, but psychologically troubled. He has also been manipulated by a corrupt policeman known as Sharkey into stealing valuable wax eggs from smugglers. Tommy meets Jack's mother Katie, and even though Tommy is in disguise, she suspects that he is somehow connected to the family.

Tommy eventually realises that his father stole his original act from the Parker brothers. He then reveals himself to be Tommy Fawkes and Katie tells him that Jack is his half-brother. Tommy phones his father about the revelation and George gets on the next plane to Blackpool.

As part of their reconciliation, George arranges for the Parkers to top the bill at a Blackpool Tower Circus event. However, Jack is still hounded by Sharkey and cannot perform. During an elaborate Egyptian act, Katie gets rid of Sharkey via a sarcophagus, which is then kidnapped by the smugglers. The wax eggs (Chinese inscription on egg is read "Eight Immortals") contained a mystical, ancient Chinese rejuvenating powder. Jack had previously placed the powder within a makeup tin, which Bruno and Thomas accidentally use, helping them to perform brilliantly.

Toward the end of the show, Jack is seen being chased by a policeman and climbing a giant flexible pole to escape. The pole rocks side to side and Jack spins around on the flexing pole, and smacks the climbing policeman in the face. The policeman begins to fall and is revealed to be Tommy.

In the last moments, Jack clasps Tommy's hand and saves him, both now wildly swinging around at the end of pole. The circus audience claps wildly with relief. Jack yells to Tommy, "I think they're beginning to like you." Jack laughs and Tommy, suddenly no longer afraid, waves at the audience spinning past and laughs joyfully.

Jerry Logan is a Las Vegas police officer who is visiting France to see his ex-wife, with whom he is still friendly. She is remarried to Laurent Martin, who is a police officer in France.

The two men do not hit it off very well at first, but eventually they team up to solve the case of some art smugglers.

Clovis Blaireau is a private detective who is hired to spy on the cheating husband by his wife.

Although Clovis fails to gain any evidence that he is cheating, he does wind up becoming friends with the husband. The two new friends get involved with mobsters and they flee to Tunisia. Once there they are mistaken for mobsters, themselves, and get mixed up in a fast-food empire war. Eventually they straighten everything out and open a restaurant together, a combination American Fast Food and Oriental Slow Food establishment.

Admiral Theodore McKee is retired, when following the events of 9/11 he receives a call from the White House informing him that his commander in chief requires him to serve his country once again. Shortly after this he is sworn into office as a senior member of the Office of Homeland Security (OHS) under Tom Ridge. Once in office Admiral McKee faces the challenge of organizing this new office so as to prevent further terrorist attacks against the United States. With this in mind Admiral McKee's wife, Elise, recommends he speak to his friend, NSA agent Sol Binder.

Following a meeting with Binder, McKee recruits him into OHS. After which Binder comes up with a plan for the new agency, all law enforcement agencies within the United States will have to put their rivalry aside and funnel all intelligence into the OHS. We first meet Binder at the beginning of the film prior to the events of 9/11, where he is meeting with a group of NSA agents with intelligence on a planned terrorist attack that is to take place in the United States where the number Nine and Eleven keep popping up, it is not until the day of the attacks that Binder was able to piece it together. It is Binder's belief that had there been a cooperative organization such as the OHS, the attacks could have been averted.

While the main concern of the film is the establishment of the OHS, which following Congress' approval would become the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), there are a number of subplots, out of chronological sequence, involved in the film. Such subplots are, the invasion of Afghanistan, use of precision-guided air strikes with weapons such as GPS-guided JDAMs, the customs agent on the Canadian border stopping the vehicle carrying explosives for the failed Millennium bombing, the pursuit of Osama Bin Laden and the destruction of Al'Qaeda training camps in the Middle East, as well as in the beginning of the film. Admiral McKee's daughter, Melissa, is due to leave New Jersey for San Francisco on September 11, 2001, on United Airlines Flight 93. Following hearing an announcement on the news that United Airlines Flight 93 was hijacked and has gone down over Pennsylvania, the Admiral and his wife are distraught; shortly thereafter she contacts her parents to tell them she was late and had fortunately missed her flight.

That is not all Melissa saw that day. After the Pentagon was attacked, military command had received the executive order to investigate various aircraft that were off course, including Melissa's later flight, and to shoot down any that failed to comply with visual command. In a fictional engagement, three military jets engage the airliner, setting off the near collision alarm, one positioning itself in front of the airliner, another to the left. The nervous jet pilot behind the airliner nearly shoots it down before the airliner pilots comply with visual command and respond. The jet pilot is ordered to stand down, take a deep breath, and escort the airliner to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, where Melissa first vigorously demands to know if they had almost been shot down. From a pay phone, Melissa called her parents and her boyfriend. Melissa demands from her mother, "Who is doing this to us?"

The story is set in an alternate universe, taking place after the "Voodoo Wars", a conflict between humans and the "Others". The Others mainly consist of vampires, werewolves, and demons, though the main conflict occurs between humans and vampires. As a result of this war, "bad spots", or places where black magic thrives, have appeared more frequently.

Rae "Sunshine" Seddon, the pastry-making heroine of the novel, has the misfortune of being caught off-guard at her family's old lake side cabin and is abducted by a gang of vampires. She is confined to the ballroom of an abandoned mansion with Constantine, a vampire shackled there by vampires of a rival gang, led by Constantine's enemy Bo. Bo's intention is to allow Constantine to slowly die of hunger and exposure to sunlight. Rae is brought as bait for him, and the vampires cut her upper chest as temptation. However, Rae not only manages to defy the supposed power that any vampire has over a human, but also uses her all-but-forgotten magical powers of transmutation, taught to her by her grandmother, to effect an escape.

Rae realizes that the magical lineage she has ignored allows her to draw power from the sunlight, ergo transferring her ability through touch to Constantine and allowing him to be under the light of day, so long as contact is maintained. Through this symbiotic relationship, the two of them make an escape.

Despite her best efforts, all does not return to normality once Rae is back home. Her friends and family are shocked by her survival of an encounter with vampires, and over time she both starts to become more affected by the trauma and refuses to tell anyone the circumstances leading to her alliance with a vampire. As it becomes clear that the conflict with Bo and his gang is only beginning, Sunshine begins to embrace her magical ability, is coerced into working with the "Special Other Forces", wonders what kind of tentative partnership can exist between two individuals whose races are bitter enemies, and, finally, works with Constantine to overthrow Bo for good.

Investigative journalist Mort Whitman (Cliff Curtis) is onto the story of his lifetime, the most important story in the nation. It was huge, involving a big payoff from a multinational bank to a second-hand computer dealer Kevin Jones (Christopher Hobbs). Tracing the days leading up to Kevin's suspicious death, Mort reveals Kevin's increasing paranoia and erratic behaviour through the eyes of his best mate Jimmy Blick (John Leigh) and girlfriend Ruby Elder (Miriama Smith). What dangerous secrets had he stumbled upon? Did the forces - private security, police, SIS or CIA - that increasingly menaced his life, kill him? Or did he simply drink too much and crash his car? Mort is determined to get to the bottom of it if it kills him.

Maureen Lipman played Sheila Haddon, whose husband had died 18 months before the start of the first series. He died without any insurance, so on top of her grief she has to pay off the mortgage of her house (No 20). To do this, rather than ask for help, she decides to take in young lodgers. Monica, her twenty-year-old student daughter, is asked to help. She brings back her fellow art student Carol, a doctor called Henry, as well as Chris, Hamish, Candy and Frankie. Sheila also gets many part-time jobs, while her old friend Richard Beamish proposes marriage to her.

In a number of episodes Conan, now in his mid to late twenties, is followed from the end of his career as a mercenary soldier for King Yildiz of Turan to his initial adventures in the black kingdoms of Kush. In between, he visits his native Cimmeria and the far north. Soon, Conan journeys southward where, in Argos, he gets his first taste of life as a sea rover as the right-hand man of the pirate queen Bêlit.

Chronologically, the eight short stories collected as ''Conan of Cimmeria'' fall between ''Conan'' and ''Conan the Freebooter''.

Setting and characters

Set in the Continent of the Witcher franchise, the player assumes the role of Geralt of Rivia, a wandering genetically enhanced monster hunter for hire. The game takes place directly after the events of The Lady of the Lake. Geralt is accompanied by his longtime allies and fellow Witchers, Eskel, Lambert, and instructor Vesemir, as well as sorceress Triss Merigold of Maribor and the field medic Shani. In addition, characters in the game originally from the books include Geralt's companions Dandelion the poet, Zoltan Chivay, the regent King Foltest of Temeria, his daughter Princess Adda (who was previously cursed into the form of a striga but was cured by Geralt), King Radovid of Redania, and the spectral King of the Wild Hunt, a conqueror from another world. Characters original to the game include the boy Alvin, the sorcerer Azar Javed, the mercenary Professor, and Jacques de Alderberg, the Grand Master of the religious faction Order of the Flaming Rose.

Plot

Geralt awakens at the School of the Wolf's mountain fortress Kaer Morhen, with no memory of who he is or how he is to have arrived there. He is taken in by his Witcher brothers as well as Triss Merigold, who seeks a remedy for his mysterious condition. Kaer Morhen is suddenly attacked by an unknown group of assailants, who escape with the School of the Wolf's key mutagens and formulae that detail how to create Witchers. Pursuing this faction, Geralt travels to the Temerian capital Vizima. On the way, he saves Alvin, a magically gifted peasant child. Triss determines that Alvin is a Source, a genetic magic prodigy similar to Ciri, Geralt's foster daughter. The player has the choice of leaving Alvin in the care of either Triss or Shani, a Redanian medic and Geralt's friend. Alvin is given a magical amulet meant to keep his abilities in check while he learns magic.

Geralt pursues several leads on the group that attacked Kaer Morhen and learns that they are known as Salamandra, and ostensibly led by the foreign mage Azar Javed. To further complicate matters, tensions are high in the city due to the conflict between the religious fanatics the Order of the Flaming Rose, and the elven terrorist faction the Scoia'tael. With the help of various allies in Vizima, Geralt assaults a Salamandra base in Vizima and kills the Professor, a dangerous mercenary in the employ of the criminal syndicate, but is then betrayed by Princess Adda and is teleported to a village on the outskirts of the city by Triss. The previously peaceful hamlet becomes a battleground when armed conflict breaks out between the Order of the Flaming Rose and the Scoia'tael. Geralt is forced to choose to support either faction, or make enemies of them both. Alvin is frightened and, using his Source abilities, magically disappears.

When Geralt returns to Vizima, he finds that Temeria's regent King Foltest has also returned while Adda has relapsed in her curse and is in striga form once more. Under Foltest's direction, Geralt either assists the knights or the elves to restore order to the city as well as deals with Adda. Geralt then storms the Salamandra headquarters and kills Azar Javed, only to find that the gang's true leader is Jacques de Aldersberg, the Grand Master of the Order of the Flaming Rose. Foltest hires Geralt under a contract to slay Jacques to end the Salamandra threat. Geralt confronts Jacques, who explains that due to his Source abilities he has seen the eventual extinction of humanity due to the world-ending White Frost, and was attempting to engineer a genetically enhanced superior race of humans to survive this apocalypse. Geralt is also confronted by the King of the Wild Hunt, who warns him of an impending conflict.

After Geralt defeats and slays Jacques, he notices that the Grand Master was wearing the same amulet as Alvin, revealing that de Aldersberg was actually the village boy he saved earlier, who traveled back in time by accident. After Geralt returns to Foltest with news of his success, the king is attacked by an assassin. Geralt defeats the attacker, only to find that the corpse was a Witcher, leading directly into ''The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings''.